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International Green Week: 45 organisations call for the retention of GMO labelling
Resolution for the 2026 International Green Week: "Reject the draft legislation on new GMOs!"
One of the key demands is to retain the labelling requirement for all types of new genetic engineering (NGT), which is to be abolished under the current draft legislation. "Consumers and industry must be able to decide for themselves whether they want to eat, produce and sell genetically modified food or not. Deliberately concealing this information would be poison for trust in politics and the food industry," says VLOG Managing Director Alexander Hissting.
"It is a good thing, that Germany has not approved this plan. Especially now, during the International Green Week, the Federal Government should send a clear signal that it is using all its political weight to support consumers and the economy and ensure that this ill-conceived proposal does not pass at the EU level. The European Parliament should also remember its majority position and reject this plan."
Other joint demands in the resolution relate to mandatory verification procedures, the retention of binding regulations on risk assessment, coexistence and liability, and a ban on patenting genetically modified plants. The associations are calling on the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers not to approve the proposed legislation until all these conditions are met.
In December 2025, negotiators from EU Member States and the European Parliament provisionally agreed on a genetic engineering deregulation without all these components in the so-called trilogue procedure. However, the European Parliament or the Council of Ministers can still stop this agreement.
The Joint Genetic Engineering Resolution at the 2026 International Green Week is supported by 45 associations, organisations, institutions and foundations from the fields of environmental protection, animal welfare and nature conservation, development policy, churches, consumer protection, social justice, agriculture, breeding, seed production, preservation of livestock and crop diversity, the food industry, food producers and beekeeping, as well as youth movements, initiatives from the climate protection movement, and from the movements for socially and ecologically responsible food systems.
At this year’s International Green Week, VLOG and Bioland will host a panel debate on 16 January 2026 at 1:15 p.m. in the Organic Hall 22a titled "Genetic engineering in food – How can consumers still recognise it in the future?" with Gunther Weiss (Alnatura), Lukas Nossol (dennree), Alexander Hissting (VLOG) and Carolin Pagel (Bioland).
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