As GMO seeds start becoming available to home gardeners, Seed Integrity Pledge for Safe Seeds hosts a database of seed companies that have pledged to not sell GMO seeds and plants.
Seventy garden seed companies have taken the Seed Integrity Pledge for Safe Seeds, a new initiative to ensure a non-GMO seed supply is available to home gardeners. The initiative was launched by GMO/Toxin Free USA to raise awareness about the increasing availability of GMO seeds, none of which have been safety tested, in the consumer market, and to provide a resource for non-GMO seeds.
We want to encourage as natural as possible
The Seed Integrity Pledge campaign actively promotes seed companies that have pledged to not sell genetically engineered seeds, aiming to help them survive and thrive.
To date, nearly 70 seed companies have taken the Seed Integrity Pledge for Safe Seeds, and more are signing every day, according to Lakin Bayless, project manager at the Seed Integrity Pledge for Safe Seeds. Some of the companies that have taken the pledge include Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in Missouri, Fedco Seeds in Maine, Territorial Seed Company in Oregon, Hudson Valley Seed Company in New York, and Prairie Road Organic Seed in North Dakota, to name a few. Many of the pledge companies sell certified organic seed.
“We believe it is critically important to maintain the diversity of independent seed companies. These companies are our champions for biodiversity. We hope many more companies will take the pledge to help preserve the genetic integrity of our seed supply,” said Diana Reeves, executive director of GMO/Toxin Free USA.
Luke Marion, owner of MIgardener in St. Clair, Michigan, said his company took the pledge because it aligns with his company’s ethics.
“The reason we signed the pledge was because we have a stance that when you begin to alter the genetics beyond what could be done naturally you create a Pandora’s box of potential outcomes, and we don’t know what those outcomes are. We want to encourage as natural as possible,” he said.
GMO seeds now being sold to home gardeners
Seed companies that have taken the Seed Integrity Pledge for Safe Seeds can be found on the website, SafeSeedPledge.org. The searchable database is a resource for gardeners and farmers to help them find seed companies that have taken the pledge. An up-to-date list of new GMOs is on the website, and is provided directly to seed companies to help them keep their catalogs free of genetically engineered seeds and to help preserve the genetic integrity of our seed supply.
The original “Safe Seed Campaign” and “Safe Seed Pledge” were created by the nonprofit Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG) in 1999.
Since CRG and the Safe Seed Pledge website no longer exist, GMO/Toxin Free USA adopted the mission of the original Safe Seed Campaign while incorporating critical updates to the original pledge, including the addition of unregulated gene-editing that became prevalent only within the last decade.
A major reason for launching the Seed Integrity Pledge for Safe Seeds initiative is that GMO seeds are now starting to be sold to home gardeners. These include the GMO purple tomato developed by Norfolk Plant Sciences, which received a lot of media hype even though non-GMO purple tomato seeds have been available to home gardeners for more than 10 years.
Will provide ongoing research and monitoring of GMOs
Luke Marion says consumers need to be educated about GMO seeds becoming available to home gardeners.
“There is a lack of education about how prevalent they are for home gardeners,” he said. “They’re not as prevalent as people make them out to be, but we want to inform customers that we are a safe source, and we do our very best to make sure that ourselves and our growers are saving seeds in a way that are not going to be cross contaminated with any patented genes as well.”
The Seed Integrity Pledge campaign will provide ongoing research and monitoring of GMOs that receive regulatory approval or otherwise enter commercial markets. The campaign will provide seed companies with regular updates to help them remain compliant with the Pledge.
GMO/Toxin Free USA has been a leading advocate for organic and non-GMO foods for more than 10 years, while educating the public about the risks of genetically engineered foods and pesticides.
For more information, visit: https://www.safeseedpledge.org/.
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