European Union is soon to ban all natural seeds.

An upcoming EU directive prohibits everyone from growing, using their own seeds and cuttings - even on a small scale.
Anyone who wants to grow at home will have to use industrially produced seed varieties that the EU commision has approved.
Breaking this upcoming law can render you as much as 2 years in jail.

The new EU law, which was recently submitted as a proposal from the EU Commission to the EU Parliament, threatens to significantly reduce biodiversity when several traditional crops practically becomes forbidden to cultivate.

The law covers all plants and all cultivation, professional farmers as well as small scale growing at home.
What will be illegal under the directive is to cultivate with own seeds, and taking roots, tubers, seeds or cuttings from your own plants.
Even sharing, selling or gifting your seedlings will become illegal.

Anyone who wants to continue to grow at home will be referred to certified varieties of seed, or "licensed plant material" as it says in the proposal.
These seed varieties have been approved in advance by the EU, and the complex process of approval is likely to lead to the fact that only large companies can afford to certify their seed varieties in the EU.
Practically making big corporations in charge of what may be grown in Europe in the future.

Before a type of seed or plant may be made available on the European market, they will be marked with one of three types of licenses, "basic", "certified" or "standard."
These requirements also apply to plants that have grown freely in the wild, for thousands of years, on the European continent.

Your thoughts about this?

News is translated from Swedish media site friatider.se and was published on may 16th 2013.
Link to original (untranslated) story at: www.friatider.se...

If true I hope we vote out when we can...
I grow organic veg, I get my seeds from the guys down the local allotments.
Mind you remember the EU tried to ban a certain shape banana at one point so I doubt this will pass.
Good find S&F.

reply to post by Tollon

An upcoming EU directive prohibits everyone from growing, using their own seeds and cuttings - even on a small scale.

No it doesn't. This was covered before by Natural News, who flat out lied in their coverage. Methinks this is just more fear mongering perpetuated by their coverage of the story.

This following source claims the original draft was going to restrict individual seed law, but the copy I remember reading had nothing to do with personal seed ownership, but only dealt with larger corporations. Perhaps I read the later drafts?

In any case, what you are saying in the OP is not true:

The key last minute concessions that were made – and this really was only due to public pressure, because they were not in the draft just 3 days previously – are as follows:

Home gardeners are now permitted to save and swap unapproved seed without breaking the law.
Individuals & small organisations can grow and supply/sell unapproved vegetable seed – as long as they have less than 10 employees.
Seedbanks can grow unapproved seed without breaking the law.
There could be easier (in an unspecified way) rules for large producers of seeds suitable for organic agriculture etc, in some (unspecified) future legislation – maybe.

www.nationofchange.org...

reply to post by boncho


What does it do then? I did not see it?

Originally posted by boymonkey74
If true I hope we vote out when we can...
I grow organic veg, I get my seeds from the guys down the local allotments.
Mind you remember the EU tried to ban a certain shape banana at one point so I doubt this will pass.
Good find S&F.

I agree. This is too stupid to ever be passed. People would go ballistic if they actually implemented this law.
But the mere fact that they are even thinking about propositions like this makes me worried...

Even if this is true it would never work. They will have to arrest entire villages

Originally posted by boncho
reply to post by Tollon

An upcoming EU directive prohibits everyone from growing, using their own seeds and cuttings - even on a small scale.

 

No it doesn't. This was covered before by Natural News, who flat out lied in their coverage. Methinks this is just more fear mongering perpetuated by their coverage of the story.

This following source claims the original draft was going to restrict individual seed law, but the copy I remember reading had nothing to do with personal seed ownership, but only dealt with larger corporations. Perhaps I read the later drafts?

In any case, what you are saying in the OP is not true:

The key last minute concessions that were made – and this really was only due to public pressure, because they were not in the draft just 3 days previously – are as follows:

Home gardeners are now permitted to save and swap unapproved seed without breaking the law.
Individuals & small organisations can grow and supply/sell unapproved vegetable seed – as long as they have less than 10 employees.
Seedbanks can grow unapproved seed without breaking the law.
There could be easier (in an unspecified way) rules for large producers of seeds suitable for organic agriculture etc, in some (unspecified) future legislation – maybe.

www.nationofchange.org...

edit on 30-5-2013 by boncho because: (no reason given)

Looks to me that you forgot the follwing part of that news snippet you quoted:

But the rest of the law is still overly restrictive, and in the long run will make it much harder for people to get hold of good seeds they want to grow at home. There are also clauses that mean the above concessions could be removed in the future without coming back to the Parliament for a vote.

So basically, people are outraged, they therefor add some last minute concessions to calm people down.
Those concessions can however be removed without a parliament vote at any time.
This is not a good thing. In fact, it's even more evil then the original proposition in my opinion.

It's like: "People are livid. We cannot go through with this proposition at this time. Just wait until people calm down and forget about it, and THEN implement the full original proposition without any new vote."
Evil...

Originally posted by papazen
Even if this is true it would never work. They will have to arrest entire villages

Yeah, and that has never happened before. Never have entire groups of people been arrested, detained, and certainly they have never been executed or anything. Right?

Wow.......when you see sh@t like this getting proposed you know that there is trouble ahead for us as a civilization. So now according to the expert liars and shills in government natural plant seeds must be bad for us? I am really curious as to the actual reason for the thinking behind this proposal, other than the fact that lawmakers are either extremely bored and feel they must do something regardless of how stupid it is, or they are so corrupted with the desire to rule us that they actually believe that they have the right to impose their will on everyone and every thing.

There is absolutely no legitimate scientific reason for this. It's not as if natural foods are bad for us, and perhaps that is the reason for this move. If they can control what you put into your body and can make it so you have to eat GMO foods then perhaps we run a chance of increased health problems and they see that as more dependence on their tyrannical government.

What ever the reason this is a very bad deal if it does in fact happen. I wonder what will happen to all the orchards and vinyards around the EU that have very long established fruit trees and grape vines. So will all of those have to be dug up and replanted with the EU's "approved" seeds?

Originally posted by boymonkey74
If true I hope we vote out when we can...
I grow organic veg, I get my seeds from the guys down the local allotments.
Mind you remember the EU tried to ban a certain shape banana at one point so I doubt this will pass.
Good find S&F.

The law makers in Europe (The comissioners) are all unelected, so no, you won't be voting them out any day soon.

This will never happen imo. Those who try to impliment this will be run out of town with pitchforks....literally.

Here in France it is a nation of farmers where most rural properties have an allotment and grow their own, with experienced growers often using their own seeds. Ebay.fr has loads of people selling their own seeds and cuttings are exchanged on a normal basis.

Every time "they" push for a foot, people give an inch because of fear and ignorance.

GLOBAL REVOLUTION IS THE ONLY WAY, and I fight an inch each day for my part.

I collected thousands of seeds from my last few crops, they are kept in the bottom of my fridge and get donated to anyone who wants some. They last years and the germination rate is good.

I cannot say what they are for except the plants aren't usually for eating.

I ****ing hate big brother!

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


I meant If the UK gets a referendum to get out of the EU.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
reply to post by Cobaltic1978

 

I meant If the UK gets a referendum to get out of the EU.

Ah, sorry misunderstood.

It will be interesting to see if we actually get a referendum. I'm not sure we will.

Originally posted by Nucleardiver
There is absolutely no legitimate scientific reason for this. It's not as if natural foods are bad for us, and perhaps that is the reason for this move. If they can control what you put into your body and can make it so you have to eat GMO foods then perhaps we run a chance of increased health problems and they see that as more dependence on their tyrannical government.

This is exactly what I think this is all about. Total control of what people eat.

Best case scenario: They want you malnourished. Vitamin deficient. Weak and sick. Sick people comply. They dont have the strenght to resist and rebel. Easily controled sheeple that the elite can imply their will on.
Worst case scenario:
Just imagine how easy it would be to spread diseases to the population if you modify the cerfied seeds and inject them with some sort of disease/poison.
Since no other natural seeds for that particular crop will be allowed, an entire continent would be infected with the disease of choise at the next harvest if they so wish.
Meanwhile the elite just avoid that particular crop and watch the herd thin without having to lift a finger.

Blaming the disease on "terrorists", natural genetic evolution/resistances , the too big too fail corporation manufacturing it (this would be awesome - they would then also use the tax money from the people that suvived, to bail that Corporation out of bankrupcy), hacking of the fully computerized seed control program etc etc.

The idea behind this proposition may not be this sinister, heck it may even be witten with some sort of twisted good intentions.
But in my experience - if something possibly can be used for doing harm, it most certainly also will be used for that purpose at some point in time.

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


Just gotta vote tory in the next election lol...If he doesn't and he gets in it will be time for another Guy Fawkes lol.

So at this stage it's merely a proposal. You do realise that people propose all sorts of things to the EU every year, don't you? And not every proposal is approved?

I won't be holding my breath over this one.

reply to post by Tollon


Can anyone explain what exactly is wrong with natural seeds?

Originally posted by Cobaltic1978

Originally posted by boymonkey74
reply to post by Cobaltic1978

 

I meant If the UK gets a referendum to get out of the EU.

Ah, sorry misunderstood.

It will be interesting to see if we actually get a referendum. I'm not sure we will.

#

The UK will get a referendum, you wont be able to understand it, it will be typed in old English, or Latin, Greek, Double Dutch, High German (even they don't understand it!) Walloon, Russian etc.

It's just another example of the "government" and the corporatocracy wanting to monetize everything. The Chairman of Nestle says waster should be vended by corporations, people have no water rights. Carbon credits and the tax that goes with them is an attempt to monetize the air we breathe if the concept is ever implemented.
Just because Mother Earth provides everything we need for free doesn't preclude humanity's exploitation of it for profit.

ganjoa

Originally posted by DarthMuerte

Originally posted by papazen
Even if this is true it would never work. They will have to arrest entire villages

Yeah, and that has never happened before. Never have entire groups of people been arrested, detained, and certainly they have never been executed or anything. Right?

There is no way this would be work for example in Portugal. There are entire regions of middle and lower class people spread in to remote areas that are growing their own and have done so for centurys. How are they going to control all these people and their seeds. Some people dont even know we landed on the moon and dont know or care about what goes on and they are old. Who is going to sit and watch these people be arrested and shot. And they are not nice people when you tell them what to do...goodluck.