Farmers and growers from the Land Workers' Alliance has called a protest in London for the 12th July. Members of LWA – a farming union in the Via Campesina movement set up earlier this year – is calling for the free trade negotiations between the EU and the US to be scrapped.

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The controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the biggest bilateral trade deal in history, but negotiations taking place behind closed doors have attracted a great deal of controversy. Amid criticism of the lack of transparency involved in the negotiations, the EU agreed to open a consultation on the most contentious aspects of the talks, including Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement or ISDS.

EU and US negotiators claim that the deal will tackle 'regulatory obstacles to trade,' which will grow the economies of the two powers. However, campaign groups 38 Degrees and Friends of the Earth claim that, in many cases, these regulatory barriers are in place for the protection of workers, the environment and public health.

FoE has warned, "The suggestion is that these should be sacrificed for (yet unproven and contested) economic benefits." The civil society groups claim that ISDS could "Empower foreign investors to challenge national authorities in international courts, in order to claim financial compensation if they deem that their investment potential (and related profits) are being hindered by regulatory or policy changes that have occur at the national level."

This, they say, would inhibit states from introducing progressive laws.

The Commission's website crashed in response to the amount of traffic its consultation on ISDS attracted last week.

On Tuesday, LWA said an attempt to 'harmonise' standards and regulations "will mean a shift towards the lowest common denominator, with serious repercussions for farmers' livelihoods and public health."

The Alliance claimed that, if the negotiators and corporate lobbyists shaping the talks get their way, we will see the increasing import of inferior produce into the EU which will depress prices for farmers. Important health and safety standards are also at risk, LWA warned, with US negotiators pushing to remove regulations on GM foods, increase the quantity of pesticide residues permitted and allow the use of dangerous chemicals, antibiotics and growth hormones previously banned in the EU.

"The EU's pre-negotiation concession to allow imports of American beef decontaminated with lactic acid spray is indicative of what is to come – quality in farming and food processing will be driven down into a race to the bottom with farmers and the public loosing out," said LWA spokesperson Humphery Lloyd.

"This agreement is shaping up to be a hand out to corporations at the expense of public health and food security. If we degrade our import standards in line with the demands consumers will have more than just chlorine soaked chicken to worry about – this will force farmers out of business and seriously erode UK food sovereignty. We demand that the government stops selling out UK farmers and consumers in these negotiations."