AWARE about the many cases across the world of the widespread failures of GM crops in fields that have rendered farmers even more economically disadvantaged and have caused environmental damage due to increased use of toxic chemicals, loss of biodiversity and genetic contamination of native and local crop species.even as the spread of GMOs have mainly benefited and strengthened the control of agro-chemical seed companies over the world’s food system and agriculture through ownership of the technologies and proprietary rights;

ALARMED by the continuing policies of the many governments including the developing countries favoring or promoting the commercialization and propagation of genetically modified organisms as well as ongoing researches and experiments on transgenic organisms that have potential harmful impacts on human health and agro-biodiversity;

CONCERNED about the absence of legislations or policies in many countries that require mandatory labeling of GM products including GM seeds, thereby denying and violating the rights of farmers and consumers to know and to choose with regard to their seeds and food;

NOTING the growing movement across the world and in the country advocating for safe food and sustainable organic agriculture with several national and local governments that have officially declared themselves zones for sustainable organic agriculture production and GM-free;

KNOWING that under international standards organic agriculture explicitly prohibits GMOs, that co-existence between organic farming and GMOs is not possible and that we are faced with the choice of

either going organic and non-GE, of which there is an exponentially expanding global market, or adopting GMOs, of which there is widespread rejection by consumers and farmers worldwide;

PARTICIPATING in this International Conference on Safe Food: Your Human Right held December 9 and 10, 2005 at Miriam College, Quezon City, Philippines we hereby call for:

The total ban on all field releases including field experimentation / testing, commercial propagation, importation and exportation of GMOs in food, agriculture and fisheries;

The adoption and enforcement of national legislations requiring mandatory labeling of all GMO products and seeds in order to protect the rights of consumers and farmers to know and to choose;

· The ban on patenting on any life forms;

· The enforcement of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and its ratification by non-member countries, such as the Philippines;

· The promotion of sustainable organic agriculture as a response to addressing our human rights to safe food and a safe planet; and,

· The people’s active participation in policy-making processes in all levels of government and in international agreements related to food and agriculture policies.