Articles

Germany has told the European Union it will ban cultivation of crops with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), under new European Union rules allowing member states to opt out of GMO cultivation, a document seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.

German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt has informed the EU Commission that Germany will not permit GMO cultivation on its territory, a letter from Germany's Agriculture Ministry to the Commission seen by Reuters shows.

An EU law approved in March cleared the way for new GMO crops to be approved after years of deadlock. But the law also gave individual countries the right to ban GMO crops even after they have been approved as safe by the European Commission.

Under the new EU rules, countries must by Oct. 3, 2015, inform the EU Commission if they wish to opt out of new EU GMO cultivation approvals.

New Poll Shows Canadians are Highly Concerned About GM Foods and Want Mandatory Labelling

September 29, 2015.

Ottawa, ON. A national Ipsos Reid poll commissioned by the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) reveals 88 per cent of Canadians want genetically modified (GM) foods labeled on grocery store shelves. Of the over 1000 Canadians polled, over half oppose genetically modifying crops and animals to produce food.

“Our poll shows that Canadians have a range of concerns about genetically modified foods,” said Lucy Sharratt of CBAN. “The vast majority of Canadians who want labelling just want to know what’s in the food they’re eating. Canadians are also concerned about safety, the environmental impacts and some have ethical concerns about genetically modifying plants and animals.”

Since the first GM foods were approved for sale in Canada twenty years ago, polls have consistently shown that the overwhelming majority of Canadians want mandatory labelling.

The new poll comes as the world’s first GM food animal – a GM Atlantic salmon – is pending approval from Health Canada. “45 per cent of Canadians polled said they definitely don’t want to eat the GM fish, but without labelling how can they make this choice?” asked Thibault Rehn of Vigilance OGM.

BELGRADE – Serbia will not allow cultivation of GMO seed on its plots, State Secretary in the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Danilo Golubovic said on Monday.

This is the official stand of the incumbent government and it will never change for as long as the current government structure remains in power, Golubovic told Tanjug.

He noted that potential changes in the Law on GMO could only lead towards additional strengthening of consumer safety, and underscored that this matter will not be realised behind the backs of the public.

European Parliament

2014-2019

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

2015/0093(COD)

18.9.2015

AMENDMENTS 1 - 55

Draft report (PE560.784v01-00)

The possibility for the Member States to restrict or prohibit the use of genetically modified food and feed on their territory

Proposal for a regulation

(COM(2015)0177 – C8-0107/2015 – 2015/0093(COD))

Amendment 1

Bart Staes

on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group

Lynn Boylan

on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group

Piernicola Pedicini, Eleonora Evi, Marco Affronte

Natexpo - Revealing Organic Trends

The event for the whole organic sector.

18-19-20 October 2015

Paris Nord Villepinte - Hall 7 France

- Meet suppliers from all over the world

- Nearly 100 international exhibitors from 20 countries

- A growing participation in 2015

- Exhibiting countries: Germany, Belgium, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, The Netherlands, Switzerland...

- News countries in 2015: Peru, Turkey,Luxembourg, Romania, Mexico...

Foodservice operators on Natexpo 2015

- The Organic Cooking Workshop: demonstration area

- Famous Chefs and “Meilleurs Ouvriers de France” will marry organic food and excellence during tasty workshops

- Conferences for catering industry

- Organic Catering Path

The second most common trait of genetically modified (GM) plant is insect resistance. This is usually obtained by introducing, into the plant’s genome, genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which produce insecticidal proteins. A new study has compared the quality of a GM insect-resistant maize (MON810) and its appropriate non-GM near-isoline counterpart as feed for Daphnia magna (a water flea) and found significant differences.

D. magna fed with the Bt maize leaves displayed a significantly smaller body size as well as reduced fecundity later in the life cycle, indicating increased stress levels, compared to those fed non-Bt leaves. They reproduced approximately 20% less offspring.

This is the first study to examine GM-plant leaf material in the D. magna model and provides evidence of negative fitness effects of a GM maize hybrid on a non-target model organism under chronic, high dietary exposure. The scientists postulate that the transgenic proteins exert a non-target effect in D. magna and/or unintended changes were produced in the maize genome by the transformation process, producing a nutritional difference between GM-maize and non-GM near-isoline.

The scientists call for further studies over the full life cycle of model organisms, considering that important biological effects may only be detected after chronic exposure. Furthermore, they highlight the importance of conducting safety testing for GM plants with plant material and plant-produced recombinant proteins, rather than with microbially produced recombinant proteins.

Tweet by Arnaud Apoteker

https://twitter.com/ArnaudApoteker

@ArnaudApoteker

No a 8 prodotti Ogm, l’Italia contro l’Ue

http://www.testmagazine.it/2015/09/18/no-a-8-prodotti-ogm-litalia-contro-lue/2714/

Gentechnik: Oberhauser nützt "Opt-Out" für Anbauverbot

http://www.bmg.gv.at/home/Startseite/aktuelle_Meldungen/Gentechnik_Oberhauser_nuetzt_Opt_Out_fuer_Anbauverbot

---

Member States/Regions wishing to use the transitional arrangements to opt out of growing EU approved GM maize MON 810 or any of the GM maize varieties currently awaiting EU approval must notify the European Commission by October 2, 2015.

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/GM-crop-ban-1bd2.aspx

DON'T BE FOOLED!

CIVIL SOCIETY SAYS NO TO “CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE” AND URGES DECISION-MAKERS TO SUPPORT AGROECOLOGY

SEPTEMBER 2015

We, the undersigned, belong to civil society organizations including social movements, peasants/farmers organizations and faith-based organizations from around the world. We are working to tackle the impacts of climate change that are already disrupting farming and food systems and threatening the food and nutrition security of millions of individuals. As we move towards COP21 in Paris, we welcome a growing recognition of the urgent need to adapt food systems to a changing climate, and the key role of agroecology within a food and seed sovereignty framework in achieving this, while contributing to mitigation through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

However, despite these promising signals, we share deep concerns about the growing influence and agenda of so-called “Climate-Smart Agriculture” (CSA) and the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA). Climate change is the biggest and the most urgent threat our societies face. We need a radical transformation of our food systems away from an industrial model and its false solutions, and toward food sovereignty, local food systems, and integral agrarian reform in order to achieve the full realization of the human right to adequate food and nutrition. We therefore urge decision-makers at country and UN levels to reject the dangerous rhetoric of Climate-Smart Agriculture.

Climate Smart Agriculture must not be confused with agroecology

Order your FREE leaflets now

If you'd like FREE copies of one or more of our leaflets (see pdf versions here) to put in local shops, libraries, meetings or to take to events, please send the number you'd like and a postal address to info[at]gmfreeze.org or call 0845 217 8992 (see below).

New report on recent and emerging cases

Monday, 21. September 2015

Testbiotech will publish a report providing a global overview of recent cases of uncontrolled spread of genetically engineered organisms able to persist and propagate in the environment. The report will be presented to a working group organised by the Secretary of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) at a meeting taking place in Montreal (Canada) from 21 - 25 September.

The evidence presented in this report comes from China (rice), Mexico (maize and cotton), Japan (oilseed rape) South Korea (maize and cotton), Switzerland (oilseed rape) and the USA (grasses). Further emerging examples are likely to include eggplant (India / Bangladesh), trees such as pine and eucalyptus in North and South America and genetically engineered insects (Brazil and Panama).