Seed Savers Pledge

Seeds are essential for the provision of healthy food, our well-being, and that of our environment and planet. We must protect the diversity and genetic integrity of our seeds to provide the foundation for a stable, safe food supply for us and for generations to come.

The mechanical alteration of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods within or between genera, families or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as well as environmental, economic, political, and cultural threats. New methods of genetic engineering such as CRISPR and other genome editing or gene silencing technologies are touted as precise and safe by the biotech industry. Independent studies, however, document the same risks of off-target and unintended changes to the organism as older genetic engineering methods. Yet, the U.S. and other governments have declined to regulate organisms produced with newer genetic engineering technologies and no safety testing is required prior to their release.

An ever-increasing number of organisms are being genetically altered in labs and are quietly making their way into our gardens, farms, and food supply. The increased pace of commercialization of whole foods that are directly eaten by consumers such as salad greens, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, pineapples, apples, and chestnuts, as well as flowers such as pollinator-favorite petunias, increases the urgency of protecting the genetic integrity of our seeds.

We wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, genetically stable and diverse agricultural ecosystems, and ultimately people and communities.

For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners, and consumers, we pledge that we do not knowingly buy, sell, or trade genetically engineered seeds or plants created using transgenic, cisgenic, RNAi, CRISPR/cas9 or any other genetic engineering technology.