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On December 23 2015, Venezuela’s national assembly passed a new seed law banning the import, production, and planting of GMO seeds and protecting the production and free exchange of seed varieties of Venezuela’s farming communities (Indigenous, peasant, and Afro-descendant) among other provisions. The law is significant both for its content and for the process through which it was passed.

The banning of GMOs follows the precautionary principle in that the effects of transgenic technology are not yet fully understood and what has been documented thus far in terms of impacts on human health and the environment raises significant concerns. These are in addition to concerns over socio-economic and human rights impacts on the small-scale producers who make up the majority of the world’s hungry. Special protection for locally adapted seeds recognizes the importance of local conservation for maintaining maximum genetic diversity, increasingly important for building resiliency in the face of climate change. Additionally, the law is a product of bottom-up policy-making, resulting from a three-year process in which social movements opposed an industry-backed seed law. Instead they pushed for more transformative legislation, holding a series of participatory public consultations throughout the country to develop an alternative.

The passage of the law thus marks a historic win for agroecology and food sovereignty movements in Venezuela and beyond. It is perhaps one of the few national laws in the world which guarantees and protects the right of peasants to seeds. However, despite widespread domestic support and the international interest it has garnered, the law is under attack by industry representatives and their supporters for being “anti-scientific.” This places the seed law at risk of being overturned by the current national assembly, which has had an opposition majority since January of this year.
As scientists, practitioners and advocates involved in food and agriculture, we question the grounds for such attacks. The thrust of the law toward a prioritization of agroecological farming practices is in keeping with a mounting scientific consensus of the importance of a shift from conventional to ecologically-based agricultural systems that value the knowledge of local food producers and involve them in decision-making. This has been emphasized, for instance, in the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) developed by 400 of the world’s leading experts and endorsed by 59 countries.

We are therefore following the emerging struggle over the law and its implementation with great interest, not only for its implications for Venezuela, but for its broader implications in the face of increasing corporate consolidation of the genetic resources critical for present and future food security and food sovereignty. We stand with the food producers, scientists, and grassroots movements in Venezuela urging the National Assembly to maintain the integrity of this law and to support its full implementation.

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1. Olivier De Schutter, Co-Chair, International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (2008-2014), Member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Professor, University of Louvain, Belgium

2. Jack Kloppenburg, Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison and founder, Open Source Seed Initiative, USA

3. Sofia Monsalve, Secretary General, FIAN International

4. Frances Moore Lappé, Small Planet Institute, USA 

5. Miguel Altieri, Professor, University of California Berkeley, USA

6. Raj Patel, Research Professor, Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

7. Fred Magdoff, Professor Emeritus, Plant and Soil Science, University of Vermont, USA

8. Philip McMichael, Professor, Cornell University, USA

9. Ian Scoones, Professor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK

10. Eric Holt-Giménez, Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy, USA

11. Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, Professor, Wageningen University, Netherlands

12. Bernardo Mançano Fernandes, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil

13. Gayatri Menon, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University, India

14. Esteve Corbera, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

15. Frederick Mills, Professor, Bowie State University, USA

16. Anna Lappé, Small Planet Institute, USA 

17. Jennifer Clapp, Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability and Professor, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Canada

18. Ivette Perfecto, Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, USA

19. Juliette Majot, Executive Director, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, USA

20. Sophia Murphy, Researcher and Scholar, University of British Columbia, Canada

21. Alastair Iles, Professor, University of California Berkeley, USA

22. Susanna Hecht, Professor, Luskin School of Public Affairs and Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA, USA

23. Nettie Weibe, Farmer and Professor, St. Andrew’s College – University of Saskatchewan, Canada

24. Tamara Wattnam, M.Sc. in Agroecology and PhD candidate in Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

25. M. Jahi Chappell, PhD, Senior Research Fellow (as of August 2016), Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, UK

26. Nora McKeon, Terra Nuova, Italy

27. Mindi Schneider, Assistant Professor, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

28. Rachel Bezner Kerr, Associate Professor, Department of Development Sociology, Cornell University, USA

29. Peter Newell, Professor of International Relations, University of Sussex, UK

30. Robin Broad, Professor, School of International Service, American University, USA

31. Tony Weis, Associate Professor, University of Western Ontario, Canada

32. John Vandermeer, Asa Gray Distinguished University Professor, University of Michigan, USA

33. Edmund Oh, Associate Professor, ELM Graduate School, HELP University, Malaysia

34. Jessica Duncan, Assistant Professor, Wageningen University, Netherlands

35. Josh Brem-Wilson, Research Fellow, Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, UK

36. Laura Enríquez, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California Berkeley, USA

37. Elizabeth Fitting, Graduate Coordinator & Associate Professor, Dalhousie University, USA

38. Sarah Lyon, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, University of Kentucky, USA

39. Simon Nicholson, Director of the Global Environmental Politics Program, American University, USA

40. Molly D. Anderson, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Food Studies at Middlebury College, USA

41. Brian Tokar, Lecturer in Environmental Studies, University of Vermont, USA

42. Dr Francisco Dominguez, Head of Latin American Studies, Middlesex University, London, UK

43. Marc Edelman, Professor of Anthropology, Hunter College & the Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA

44. Wendy Wolford, Polson Professor of Development Sociology, Cornell University, USA

45. Timothy A. Wise, Researcher, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University, USA

46. Michel Pimbert, Professor, The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience at Coventry University, UK

47. John Bellamy Foster, Professor, University of Oregon and Editor, Monthly Review, USA

48. Hannah Wittman, Associate Professor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems and Academic Director, Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Canada

49. Harriet Friedmann, Professor, University of Toronto, Canada

50. Jun Borras, Professor, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

51. Eva Frankova, Department of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University,  Czech Republic

52. David Primrose, Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney, Australia

53. Stephen Bartlett, Agricultural Missions, USA

54. Dave Murphy, Food Democracy Now!, USA

55. Joan P Mencher, Emerita Professor, Anthropology, City University of New York (CUNY), USA

56. Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director, The Oakland Institute, USA

57. Dr. Charles Francis, University of Nebraska, USA

58. Natalia Mamonova, PhD Researcher, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

59. Sara Keene, PhD Candidate, Cornell University, USA

60. Huei-Ling Lai, PhD Researcher, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

61. Judith McGeary, Esq., Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, USA

62. Youjin Chung, PhD Candidate, Development Sociology, Cornell University, USA

63. Wittawat Prayookwong, alumnus, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

64. Shoshana Perrey, Graduate Student in Development Sociology at Cornell University and Gardener & Chef at Liberation Supper Club, USA

65. Arnim Scheidel, PhD, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

66. Lisa Stokke, Executive director, The Next 7 Project, USA

67. Pierre Merlet, AGTER, Nicaragua/France

68. Sharmini Selvarajah, Research Programme Manager, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

69. Amelie Huber, PhD Candidate, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain

70. Elyse Mills, Researcher, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

71. Alberto Alonso-Fradejas, Transnational Institute (TNI), Netherlands & Instituto de Estudios Agrarios y Rurales (IDEAR), Guatemala

72. Tsegaye Moreda, PhD Candidate, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

73. Elizabeth Henderson, Organic Farmer, Peacework Organic CSA, Newark, New York, USA

74. Hana Bernardová, AMPI (Association of Local Food Systems), Czech Republic

75. Salena Tramel, PhD Researcher, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

76. Will Fantle, Co-director, The Cornucopia Institute, USA

77. Mercia Andrews, Rural Women’s Assembly, Southern Africa

78. Nancy Romer, Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, USA

79. Grace Gershuny, Faculty, Green Mountain College, MS in Sustainable Food Systems, USA

80. Andrianna Natsoulas, Food Voices, USA

81. Martin Dagoberto, Mass. Right to Know GMOs, Massachusetts, USA

82. Ken Thesing, ICR, Rome, Italy

83. Eneko Garmendia, Ikerbasque Research Fellow, Spain

84. Ben McKay, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

85. Hannes Lammler, founding member of the European Cooperatives of Longo Mai, France

86. Amy & Bryan Willoughby, Patchwork Farm, Copper Hill, VA, USA

87. Russell Dale, Science and Society, USA

88. Angela Adrar, Ecohermanas, USA

89. Andrew Kang Bartlett, Food in Neighborhoods Community Coalition, USA

90. Tania Salerno, PhD Candidate, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

91. Marta Zygadło, Lawyer and Masters Student of Food, Society and International Food Governance at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain

92. LaDonna Sanders Redmond, Campaign for Food and Community Justice Now, USA

93. Laurence Levine, Co-Founder, Kids Can Make a Difference, USA

94. Antonio Roman-Alcalá, Alumnus, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands and Founder, San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, USA

95. Giulio Locco, Food Activist, Italy and Netherlands

96. Denise O’Brien, Farmer and Farmer Activist, USA

97. Jane Hodge, Rise & Root Farm, USA

98. Jose Oliva, Food Chain Workers Alliance, USA

99. Sarah Laeng-Gilliatt, Owner, Main Street Cheese LLC, USA

100. Monica Ibacache, Beyond Organic Design, USA

101. Christina M. Schiavoni, PhD Researcher, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

102. Madison Monty,Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, USA

103. Kelly Moltzen, Franciscan Action Network, USA

104. Annie Shattuck, Fellow, Food First, USA

105. Zainil Zainuddin, Local Food & Urban Agriculture Advocate/Researcher and PhD Candidate, RMIT University, Australia

106. Fern Gale Estrow, FGE Food & Nutrition Team, USA

107. Joann Lo, Food Chain Workers Alliance, USA

108. Denis Mpagaze, Journalist, Author, Lecturer and Right to Food Activist,Tanzania

109. Arnaud Apoteker, Coordinator of the International Monsanto Tribunal, France

110. Klara Kyralova, Friends of the Earth Czech Republic

111. John Wilson, African Food Sovereignty Activist

112. Yunan Xu, PhD Student, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

113. Karen Washington, Farmer, Rise & Root Farm, USA

114. Rev. Dele, Nature’s Friends, USA

115. Johanna Rosen, Community Organizer and Communications Specialist, Massachusetts, USA

116. Philip L Bereano, Professor Emeritus, Technology and Public Policy, University of Washington, USA

117. Claire Robinson, Editor, GMWatch, UK

118. Elsadig Elsheikh, Researcher, University of California Berkeley, USA

119. Dr. Laura Rival, Department of International Development, University of Oxford, UK

120. Cécile Famerée, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands

121. Erika Allen, Growing Power – Chicago, USA

122. Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South, India

123. Colleen Cordes, Director of Outreach and Development, The Nature Institute

124. Michael O’Callaghan, Director, Global Vision Foundation, Switzerland

125. Afsar Jafri, Focus on the Global South, India

126. Prof. Dr Arpad Pusztai, FRSE, formerly at the Rowett Research Institute, UK

127. Prof. Dr. Susan Bardocz, FRSE, formerly at the Rowett Research Institute, UK

128. Judith Hitchman, President, Urgenci International Network for Community Supported Agriculture

129. Catherine Ponte, Master of Landscape Architecture, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, USA

130. Margaret Nakato, Katosi Women Development Trust, Uganda

131. Simon Anoumou Todzro, West Africa Producers and Consumers Network

132. Gertrude Kenyangi Kabusimbi, Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN), Uganda

133. Hannah Twomey, Alumnus University of Oxford, UK

134. Beatriz Gascó Verdier, Diputada en Corts Valencianes, Spain

135. Ivo Zdráhal, Associate Professor, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic

136. Scott Freeman, Professorial Lecturer, American University, USA

137. Laura Calvet-Mir, Associate Researcher, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, UAB, Spain

138. Whitney Richardson, The Kitchen Community, USA

139. Frank Ademba, Program Officer, MVIWATA- Kilimanjaro Network of Small Scale Farmers Groups  in Tanzania

140. David Raby, International Committee, Green Party of England & Wales, PhD University of Liverpool, UK

141. Jonathan D. Hill, Professor, Southern Illinois University, and President, Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America (SALSA), USA

142. Emilio Rodríguez Caballero, Postdoc, Microbial Surface Communities and Processes Group, Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany

143. Juan Manuel Castellanos Obregón, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Universidad de Caldas, Colombia

144. Wendy Godek, Managua, Nicaragua

145. GRAIN

146. ETC Group

147. FIAN International

148. IFOAM – Organics International

149. Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy, USA

150. Alianza Biodiversidad, Latin America

151. Terra Nuova, Italy

152. La Red por una América Latina Libre de Transgénicos, Latin America

153. El Grupo Semillas, Colombia

154. La Red de Coordinación en Biodiversidad, Costa Rica

155. Sociedad Científica Latinoamericana de Agroecología (SOCLA), Latin America

156. National Family Farm Coalition, USA

157. Community Alliance for Global Justice, USA

158. Kenya Food Rights Alliance (KeFRA)

159. The Second Chance Foundation, USA

160. Rural Advancement Foundation International, USA

161. Food Empowerment Project, USA

162. Research Institute of Agriculture and Peasant Policy – Established by Korean Peasants League & Korean Women Peasant Association,South Korea

163. Global Justice Ecology Project

164. Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), USA

165. Family Farm Defenders, USA

166. Rural Vermont, USA

167. Arid Crop Seed Cache, USA

168. Growth Partners Africa, Kenya

169. Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project, Oakland, CA, USA

170. WhyHunger, USA

171. National Farmers Union/Union Nationale des Fermiers, Canada

172. The Oakland Institute, USA

173. GMWatch, UK

174. Border Agricultural Workers Project, El Paso, Texas, USA

175. Community to Community Development, USA

176. Hawai`i SEED, the Island Chain of Hawai`i

177. The MOM Hui, the Island Chain of Hawai`i

178. GMO Free Kaua`i, Kaua`i, Hawai`i

179. The NETWORK for Sustainable Development Organization, Thailand

180. African Centre for Biodiversity, South Africa and Tanzania

181. Food Sovereignty Ghana, Ghana

182. Pan-Africanist International, Belgium

183. USC Canada

184. Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA), USA

185. Friends of the ATC, USA/Europe/Nicaragua

186. Red de Semillas “Resembrando e Intercambiando”, Spain

187. Washington Biotechnology Action Council, Seattle, Washington, USA

188. Roughwood Seed Collection, Devon, PA, USA

189. Philadelphia Seed Exchange, Philadelphia, PA, USA

190. Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), Canada

191. Farmworker Association of Florida, USA

192. Becket Films, USA

193. CONAMUCA (Confederación Nacional de Mujeres Campesinas), Dominican Republic

194. Focus on the Global South, Thailand

195. Urgenci International Network for Community Supported Agriculture

196. JINUKUN, National Network for Sustainable Management of Genetic Resources, Cotonou, Benin (Focal Point of the Coalition to Protect African Genetic Heritage, COPAGEN)

197. Friends of the Earth Australia

198. Semillas de Vida, Mexico

199. Via Organica, Mexico

200. BIOTHAI, Thailand

201. Sustainable Agriculture Foundation, Thailand

202. Alternative Agriculture Network, Thailand

203. Thai Climate Justice Working Group, Thailand

204. Frédéric Prat Inf’OGM France fred@infogm.org

205. Friends of the MST (US) info@mstbrazil.org

206. Philip H. Howard Associate Professor of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University  info@mstbrazil.org

207. Patti Naylor Farmer and Farm Activist, USA edwardsonp0625@gmail.com