Brazilian news reported last week that GM maize fields are being destroyed by the pest the crop was designed to resist, the Fall army worm. Brazilian news reported last week that GM maize fields are being destroyed by the pest the crop was designed to resist, the Fall army worm. Farmers have reported that in the Federal District around the nation’s capital Brasília, and the state of Paraná, growing resistance in pests to the crop’s toxins is making GM-technology redundant. The maize variety is sold under the name Herculex.

Because of the very strong anti-GMO-movement and anti-GMO stance in Germany, 87% of Germans are against GMOs in agriculture and food production. In 2012 there were no commercial GM crops grown in Germany, and this will remain the case in 2013. Monsanto´s Mon 810 maize has been banned since 2009 and BASF´s Amflora potato was an economic disaster from the very beginning – authorised in 2010 for cultivation, it was grown by just one farmer on 15 hectares in 2010 and 2 hectares in 2011, and then never again.

The next time you buy chicken or eggs from Tesco, they may come from birds fed genetically modified soya. The supermarket chain yesterday abandoned its 11-year commitment not to sell poultry reared on the controversial GM feed. The original controls were put in place to reflect the concerns of shoppers, who question the impact of GM crops on human health and the countryside.

The Consumer Rights Association (TDH) claimed yesterday that several different genetically modified organism products that jeopardize people’s health are being imported as the companies involved in 21 tons of seized GMO rice still deny the allegations. Turkey imported officially and legally goods like soya bean, soya oil, corn, cotton and rice worth more than $12 billion from producer countries between 2008 and 2012, said THD in a statement. Turkey imported $6 billion of these goods from the United States, one of the biggest GMO producers in the world.

In no uncertain terms, the amendment tells the secretary how he must respond the next time a court order challenges one of Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds for which the St. Louis-based giant is a pioneer in commercializing. The real life impact is unclear as the underlying spending bill expires Sept. 30. But Monsanto gets a foot in the door toward mandating some type of stewardship program under which farmers can continue to plant its seeds as the court fight continues. The language is unusually strong: the secretary “shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law… immediately grant” temporary permits to continue using the seed at the request of a farmer or producer wanting such a stewardship program.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest announced today in a press release that the U.S. Department of Agriculture should require that biotechnology companies, like Monsanto, mandate that farmers who purchase genetically engineered seeds take steps to limit GE crops’ unintended impact on neighboring farms. The nonprofit group says the USDA needs to do that and more to ensure that conventional and organic crops successfully coexist with their genetically engineered cousins. Organic farmers and conventional farmers that don’t plant GE seeds are concerned about keeping biotech products out of their fields. If pollen flows from a GE to a non-GE crop, it may not pose a food safety hazard, but it can create financial losses for farmers, who often sell their crops at a premium price.

Since its introduction of genetically modified crops, Monsanto has generated a sea of controversy among small farmers across the U.S., and the company is now trying to expand south into Mexico. After years of trying to penetrate the Mexican market, Monsanto, Dupont, and Dow had a breakthrough when outgoing Mexican president Felipe Calderón granted them the right to cultivate GMO corn in various northern Mexican states. Protesting the influx of genetically modified crops in their country, activists, farmers, and academics all across Mexico have been mobilizing to urge the new Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto to reject these permissions.

FARMERS AND green groups have joined together to launch a new campaign aimed at halting the authorisation of 25 genetically modified crops currently being considered for cultivation in Europe. The ‘Stop the Crop’ campaign claims that GM technology is having a ‘devastating impact’ in other countries as a result of the increased pesticide use it involves. [...] In the coming months, the EU Environment Council is expected to decide on whether or not to approve the 25 new GM crops for cultivation in Europe.

Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice quietly closed a three-year antitrust investigation into Monsanto, the biotech giant whose genetic traits are embedded in over 90 percent of America’s soybean crop and more than 80 percent of corn. Despite a splash of press coverage when the investigation was initially announced, its termination went mostly unreported. The DOJ released no written public statement. Only a brief press release from Monsanto conveyed the news. The lack of attention belies the significance of the decision, both for food consumers around the world and for U.S. businesses. Experts who have examined Monsanto’s conduct say the Justice Department’s decision not to act all but officially establishes the firm’s sovereignty over the U.S. seed industry.

Mullins and his team have spent the winter cloning new potato stock in a locked, temperature controlled room and, nearby, a secured greenhouse bay where the plant is isolated and any waste must be sterilized in a steamer. In the spring, they will start the test by setting out more than 2,000 transplants in a fenced field at the Irish agricultural research service’s farm. “There’s a lot of public interest” in his work, Mullins said. Not all of it is friendly. Genetic engineering remains highly controversial in Europe, and the research in Ireland has spawned a campaign against it. The field trials in Carlow are harming Ireland’s reputation for local, organic and artisanal food, said Kaethe Burt-O’Dea, a Dublin-based local-food activist. “People feel that once you let GM in, there’s really no turning back,” she said.