GMO news related to the European Union

Many European distributors and supermarket chains, mainly German and Austrian, are mobilizing. They demand that all GMOs, transgenic or resulting from new techniques of genetic modification, be correctly labelled.

Activists write to environment ministry against allowing commercial use of genetically modified crops

The Indian variety of GM Mustard was conceived in 2022 by Deepak Pental, the then-vice chancellor of Delhi University.

Genetically modified crops may soon get the central government nod, a move that could pose a threat to crop diversity, food security and increase tolerance for use of pesticides. The move might also severely affect the agrarian sector, as the seed market will be in the hands of private companies instead of farmers, according to experts.

Brussels/Vienna, October 20, 2022 –The two biotech companies Corteva and Bayer have accumulated hundreds of patent applications on plants in recent years. Corteva has filed 1,430 patents - more than any other company - on crops using genetic engineering methods. A joint international research by GLOBAL 2000, Friends of the Earth Europe, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), ARCHE NOAH, IG Saatgut - interest group for GMO-free seed work and Vienna Chamber of Labor examines this flood of patents against the background of the currently discussed deregulation of EU genetic engineering law with imminent Exceptions for New Genetic Engineering (NGT). "The growing number of patent applications to increase the profits of these NGT methods reveals the double play of the corporations," say the authors of the report published today.

In the EU, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are strictly regulated in order to protect human and animal health and the environment. We examine why the current EU legislation works well for both the industry and the consumer.

In the EU, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are strictly regulated, by a legal framework, which - according to the EU Commission’s website - aims to protect human and animal health and the environment, by having a safety assessment “of the highest possible standards” at EU level before any product is placed on the market.

The growing demand for non-GMO products is driving the growth of the market. The demand for non-GMO products is increasing, as they are healthier alternatives to GM food products. Consumers are willing to pay high prices for these products. Animal-derived produce from GM-fed animals is considered harmful to health and the environment. Moreover, there have been concerns regarding the use of GM crops and animal-derived produce, which has encouraged producers of eggs, meat, and dairy to switch to non-GMO feed. Hence, many leading vendors are switching to non-GMO products to meet the demand.

Misleading report published on behalf of the EU Parliament

13 October 2022 / On 20 October, the ‘Panel for the Future of Science and Technology’ (STOA) at the European Parliament will host a presentation of a new report on plants derived from new genomic techniques (NGT, also New Genetic Engineering or genome editing). The authors of the report “Genome edited crops and 21st century food systems challenges” and their institute, the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), are actively lobbying to deregulate agricultural plants derived from new genomic techniques (NGTs). However, the report fails to make this background transparent.

Together with 39 organisations we have sent a letter to EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides to express our serious concerns over the way in which the Directorate-General for Health (DG Sante) is organising the impact assessment on new GMOs – new genomic techniques (NGTs) – and in particular, the consultations that will feed into the assessment. The outcome of this assessment could have far reaching impacts on consumer choice, food safety, organic and conventional farming and the environment.

In 2018 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that new gene-edited organisms are covered by the EU’s GMO laws and are subject to the same safety assessments and labelling requirements as any other GMOs. The ruling galvanised a concerted lobbying response by promoters of new GM technology to get these new GMOs exempted from the EU’s GMO laws.

The EU’s green ambitions are in great jeopardy. The agribusiness industry is using the cost-of-living crisis as an excuse to push stronger EU environmental legislation off the table and weaken already existing legislation. For instance, they are pushing against tighter pesticides rules and in favour of relaxing GMO rules. But the lobby is increasingly driven by GM researchers and institutes with links to industry or with vested interests. The Commission seems to be listening to these pro-deregula

September 16 at 1 pm with Claire Robinson from GMWatch!

Ever heard of new plant breeding techniques or new genetic engineering techniques with a reference to tools such as CRISPR-Cas and wondered what it’s all about?

Those terms might sound technical, but they are actually referring to a new generation of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) that bear similar risks and threats to the previous generation of GMOs.