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Glyphosate-based herbicides are the major pesticides used worldwide. The most common is Roundup. A new peer-reviewed study has examined the effects of a very low dose of Roundup weed killer on the pattern of gene function (transcriptome) in rats over a 2-year period. It is the first study of its kind to do this at environmentally relevant doses.

The study found a distinct and consistent alteration in the pattern of gene function in both the liver and kidneys of the Roundup treatment group. These changes correlate with and confirm observations of pathology made at an anatomical, histological and blood/urine biochemical level. Taken together, the evidence indicates that chronic/long-term exposure to Roundup at an ultra-low, environmental dose can result in liver and kidney damage.

It is with great sadness that we inform you that EGP Committee member Steve Emmott, at the age of 71, passed away on Thursday, 24 September 2015.

Steve Emmott was Member of the European Green Party Committee since October 2009 and was running for reelection at the upcoming Lyon Council in November. He was also member of The Green Party of England and Wales and member of Ecolo and he was a former Advisor of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament.

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The EGP Committee members express their heartfelt condolences for this tremendous loss to Steve's partner Nicole, family and friends.

The funeral has taken place Friday, 2 October.

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You may want to leave your obituary comment on:

http://europeangreens.eu/news/memoriam-steve-emmott

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We lose a great fighter against GMOs in the fields and regions of Europe. Steve was among the first to join this campaign in the 1990ies and continued to participate. We did not know what this was about, when he cancelled his participation in the 8th GMO Free Regions Conference (and he had not missed a single one before!). Now we realize with sadness and gratitude.

And we lose a very fine partner in so many respects and discussions!

I will always remember Steve's smile at an early butterfly during a hike in the Swiss mountains around Lucerne. Oh boy! Thanks and take care, man!

Benny Haerlin

ICSA president Patrick Kent has criticised the Government’s decision not to avail of the opportunity to ban the sales of genetically modified (GM) crops for cultivation by the October 3rd deadline. He is calling on Minister Kelly at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to explain his reasons for neglecting to ensure Ireland remains GM free. Mr. Kent has described the decision as “very troubling” given the importance of both the farming and food processing industries to the Irish economy. Mr. Kent had previously noted that he was concerned Ireland would become caught out of step with key EU competitors and markets who had already availed of the EU opt-out clause regarding the growing of these GM crops.

BRUSSELS, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Nineteen EU member states have requested opt-outs for all or part of their territory from cultivation of a Monsanto genetically-modified crop, which is authorised to be grown in the European Union, the European Commission said on Sunday.

Under a law signed in March, individual countries can seek exclusion from any approval request for genetically modified cultivation across the 28-nation EU.

The law was introduced to end years of stalemate as genetically modified crops divide opinion in Europe.

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The 19 requests are from Austria, Belgium for the Wallonia region, Britain for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany (except for research), Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia.

Farmers’ Rights and Food Sovereignty Under Fire

Submitted on 02 October 2015

At a time when just three corporations – Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta – control 55% of the world’s commercial seeds, industrial farming interests in the Brazilian Congress have introduced a bill that aims to overturn the country’s 10-year old ban on Terminator technology – seeds that have been genetically modified to render sterile seeds. The technology is designed to secure corporate profits by eliminating the age-old right of farmers to save and re-plant harvested seeds.

If passed, the bill before the Brazilian Congress – PL 1117/2015 – would violate an international moratorium on the field testing and commercialization of Terminator seeds – unanimously adopted in 2000, and re-affirmed in 2006 by 192 governments at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Curitiba, Brazil.

For nearly two decades, the controversial Terminator technology has been widely condemned by farmers, scientific bodies, governments and social movements/civil society as a threat to food sovereignty, biodiversity and human rights. In May, Pope Francis wrote of the threat posed by “infertile seeds.”

Ministry of Agriculture and Food reaffirms its position: Bulgaria to be exempted from GM crops. This is stated in the 10 notification letters that the Ministry sent to the European Commission in order to be guaranteed that GM products would not be cultivated our country. Thus, it would be impossible corrections of the geographical coverage to be made, based on the submitted applications or authorizations of GMOs cultivation. Under Directive 2001/18 / EC by October 3, 2015, each Member State has the opportunity to indicate whether it wishes to ban the cultivation of GM products.

Two scientists in the U.S. have published an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine, on GMOs (genetically modified organisms), herbicides and public health. Herbicide resistance is the main GM trait for plants. Corn and soybeans genetically engineered to resist glyphosate (Roundup) were introduced in the mid-1990s and these “Roundup-Ready” crops now account for more than 90% of the corn and soybeans planted in the U.S. Along with this, glyphosate use increased by more than 250 times, from 0.4 million kg in 1974 to 113 million kg in 2014. Glyphosate-resistant weeds are now found on nearly 100 million acres in 36 states. Farmers have to resort to using stronger herbicides. Residues of glyphosate have been detected in food and water.

Press release - October 1, 2015

PRESS RELEASE UPDATED ON 2 OCTOBER TO INCLUDE NOTIFICATIONS FOR GM CROP CULTIVATION BANS BY BULGARIA, CYPRUS, LUXEMBOURG AND WALES

Brussels – In the latest blow to the European Commission’s laissez-faire approach to GM crops, at least 16 EU countries and four regions (in two other countries) are in the process of banning the cultivation of GM crops on their territories, with more expected to follow by a 3 October deadline for notifications to the EU, said Greenpeace.

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On 2 October, eleven EU countries (Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Poland) and four regional administrations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the UK, and Wallonia in Belgium) had already formally notified the Commission of their intention to ban GM crop cultivation under new EU rules [1]. Statements by the governments of five additional countries inform of more impending notifications (Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg and Slovenia).

Poland is the latest country to reject genetically modified organisms in their food production, thus exercising a right granted to all EU member states earlier this year.

Poland is the eleventh country so far to officially abstain from using GM food approved by the European Commission. In a drive to address national concerns, in March Brussels authorized countries to opt out of genetically engineered crop cultivation if such a step is to be taken as a safety measure to protect not only human health and the environment, but also consumer interests and the internal market. - See more at: http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/223049,Poland-opts-out-of-GMOs#sthash.G4igiRcd.dpuf

With the deadline for EU countries who wish to ban genetically GM crops drawing near, writes Oliver Tickell, Poland is the latest to register with the European Commission to go GM-free. Now the division of the EU into pro and anti-GM zones may test the single market beyond its limits.

Poland has just registered with the European Commission as an official GM-free zone. This makes it the tenth EU member state to opt out of cultivating genetically modified (GM) crops.

It joins France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Lithuania and Latvia in either filing the necessary papers with the Commission, or announcing their intention to do so.