Petition challenges 'green' soy label

Tell supermarkets not to mislead their consumers by committing "label fraud" - sign the petition here and help discredit the new label for ‘responsible’ soy, due to be launched by the Round Table on Responsible Soy this spring. There are separate actions for Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain.

The petition can be found on:

English: http://www.toxicsoy.org/toxicsoy/Action/action.html 

German: http://www.regenwald.org/mailalert/681/verantwortungsbewusste-soja-ein-f...

French: www.sauvonslaforet.org/mailalert/682/soja-responsable-duperie-pour-les-c...  

Spanish: http://www.salvalaselva.org/mailalert/678/soja-responsable-confundiendo-...

Dutch: http://www.gifsoja.nl/Gifsoja/Actie/actie.html

The ‘responsible’ soy label has been set up by the Round Table on Responsible Soy, made up of representatives from the food and biotech industries including Cargill, Unilever and Monsanto, along with Dutch NGOs Solidaridad and WWF. These organisations have been heavily criticised for participating in the ‘Round Table on Responsible Soy’.

The German League for Nature and Environment DNR (Deutscher Naturschutzring, comprising some 80 organisations) wrote to WWF saying:

“Deutscher Naturschutzring cannot accept that WWF International protects a failed system of agriculture and secures the profits of companies like Monsanto and BP. [..] if WWF International blesses GM soya as ‘sustainable’ or ‘responsible’ it protects narrow business interests and not people and the environment. [..] The reputation of WWF as an environmental organisation will be affected and perhaps be ruined on the long run.”

Nine Belgian NGOs, active in the North-South, agriculture and environmental fields, wrote to Dutch NGOs that had been promoting RTRS-soy to Dutch retailers. They said:

“In our opinion the RTRS-criteria do not bring us ‘responsible’ soy, but rather a legitimation of an unsustainable production system, namely the large scale cultivation of herbicide-resistant crops. This will mislead critical consumers and delays other approaches such as decreasing factory farming and shifting to locally produced feed.”

GM Watch, Friends of the Earth and Corporate Europe Observatory published a background document spelling out why the RTRS criteria will not deliver a responsible product. For example, it shows how ‘responsible’ soy could be produced on recently deforested lands. RTRS-members Nidera, Pioneer and Monsanto have all been found guilty of keeping workers in slave-like working conditions on their hybrid maize seed fields. This while they say to adhere to adequate labour standards for ‘responsible’ soy, which is produced in a way that does not even require any manual labour and therefor will benefit very few people. Nor do the criteria address in any substantial way the issue of pesticide spraying and consequent health problems for the local population, and the development of Roundup-resistant weeds.

In the mean time, it has become clear that the first loads of certified soy will not even meet the RTRS-criteria. According to the Dutch industry ‘Initiative Sustainable Soy’, in 2011 at least 250.000 ton soy meal will be imported of which a ‘substantial part’ is certified according to the RTRS-standard. The rest will meet only part of the criteria. During a meeting on 10 March 2011 organised by WWF, Solidaridad, Cargill, AHOLD and the Belgian/EU animal feed lobby groups Bemefa/FEFAC in Wageningen, Netherlands, it became clear that demand will be a problem since the costs of getting the label does not mean that producers get a higher price. Bemefa’s president Yvan Dejaegher recently in a meeting with environmental campaigners refused to disclose the location of the fields that will produce this year’s ‘responsible’ soy.

BP and Shell are member of the RTRS because they need certified ‘sustainable’ agrofuels to meet the mandatory 10% EU target. The European Commission is currently assessing voluntary schemes like the RTRS for their ability to certify agrofuels for the EU market. However, the EC has refused to even name the schemes that have applied, now about 16 in number. Friends of the Earth, FERN, Corporate Europe Observatory and environmental lawyers Client Earth have demanded access to documents regarding the voluntary certification schemes that have applied for accreditation under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). This is important since these schemes have to implement the so-called ‘sustainability criteria’ that are incorporated in the RED. Groups including CEO however have always maintained that these criteria are severely flawed and cannot remedy the damage done by industrial monocultures that will expand to meet the EU 10% agrofuel target.

Please find here:

- Briefing "Certified Responsible? Critical assessment of the Round Table on Responsible Soy"


- Letter from the German League for Nature and Environment DNR to WWF on RTRS


- Letter from Belgian NGOs to Dutch NGOs on RTRS