Articles

The Georgian parliament passed a law on "Live genetically modified organisms". The law was supported by 65 deputies and opposed by two deputies.

The only country in francophone West Africa that has approved a GE crop for cultivation is Burkina Faso. Bt cotton, developed by Monsanto in collaboration with INERA, is the only GE crop approved and registered in Burkina Faso for cultivation. (GAIN Report)

Argentine researcher confirms scientific evidence on harmful effects of agrochemicals

Preliminary results show severe damage to the human genome in sprayed populations in GM soy-producing areas

The good work of the late Prof Andres Carrasco continues in Argentina, as the interview below with his colleague, the biochemist Raúl Horacio Lucero, shows. Dr Lucero's new research has revealed severe damage to the genome of people exposed to agrochemical spraying in Chaco province.

(.....) Dr Lucero explains in the interview, recently the Ministry of Health of Córdoba released a comprehensive report on cancer in Córdoba province, with numbers confirming researchers' worst suspicions. The finding that caused most alarm is that the highest rate of cancer deaths occur in the "pampa gringa" area, where more GMOs and chemicals are used. Here, the cancer death rate is double the national average. Dr Lucero says, "This was official confirmation of what we have denounced for years. Cancer cases multiply like never before in areas with massive use of pesticides."

Big Agriculture has targeted Africa with GMOs. Monsanto and friends, with USAID, are targeting several African countries as insertion points, and Ghana is one of these. Their plan for Ghana is described here: G8 Cooperation Framework to Support The “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition” In Ghana PDF , also known as the G8NA. If you read it there is lots of flowery language about helping smallholder farmers and women. The program it spells out does exactly the opposite and will destroy lives and livelihoods. (.....) We should forget GMOs and concentrate on agroecological agriculture. The only reason why our “development partners” are opposed to this is because their multinational corporations shall lose the attempts to monopolize our food through GMO patents. They see our agricultural wealth as raw material to be extracted from Ghana in order to power their economic engine. We need to control and develop our agricultural wealth to power Ghana’s economic engine. For Life, The Environment, and Social Justice!

What Size Farm Is Best for the Planet?

There’s a kind of farm that has caught the imagination of the food-conscious among us. It’s relatively small, and you know the farmer who runs it. It’s diverse, growing different kinds of crops and often incorporating livestock. It may or may not be organic, but it incorporates practices — crop rotation, minimal pesticide use, composting — that are planet-friendly. Customers are local restaurants, local markets and us: shoppers who buy into a farm share or visit the farmers market. There’s a lot to like about that kind of farm, and advocates believe it’s the pattern for what our agriculture ought to look like. The vision of small, diversified farms feeding the world, one community at a time, is a popular one. But is it a viable one?

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Ultimately, we all vote with our wallets, every day. The best way to get an environmentally sound system that grows healthful food is to buy healthful food from environmentally sound farms. And it doesn’t have to be farmstand kale. It could be frozen peas.

Agriculture experts raised a number of concerns with genetically modified crops, including safety and spreading weed resistance, at the first public meeting of a U.S. government sponsored study of genetically engineered crops held Monday.

Mark Retzloff, a natural foods veteran who twice co-founded Alfalfa’s Market, has stepped down as the company’s CEO and chairman, Alfalfa’s said Monday.

James Searcy, a board member for the Boulder, Colo.-based natural foods chain, will take over as CEO and chairman on an interim basis. Retzloff will remain involved with Alfalfa’s as a member of the company’s board of directors and shareholder, the company said.

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“We appreciate all that Mark has contributed in his leadership of Alfalfa’s, and are pleased to have his continued oversight and guidance as a board member,” Searcy said in a statement. “We have a strong management team in place, with a great depth of natural and organic retail experience. This group is committed to do what is best for our customers and our community, and to bring the highest quality organic, natural and GMO-free products to Boulder County.”

Following questions raised over just how organic some of their free-range products actually are, local retail giant Woolworths is embarking on a campaign to reduce the number of genetically modified (GM) labelled products on their shelves by half next year

Three months ago travel journalist Caroline Hurry set the cat among the pigeons with an open letter penned to the retailer challenging the authenticity of its organic egg range.

She made two significant claims: firstly, that no genetically modified organism (GMO)-free hen food was available for purchase in the country and secondly, that SA doesn’t have an organic regulation, begging the question: how can the retail giant justify its labelling of products as organic.

Responding to Hurry’s allegations at the time, Woolworths MD of Food Zyda Rylands said Woolworths had launched their GMO policy in 1999 and followed it up by labelling products that may contain GM ingredients in 2000 to give its animal- and health-conscious customers the information they need to make the “right choice for themselves”.

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“Currently only 5,3% percent of Woolworths’ private label foods contain ingredients from potential GM crop sources. That should drop to less than 2,7% within 12 months,” Rylands said in a statement.

“Many of our customers have told us that they would prefer not to buy products that may contain ingredients from GM crop sources and we respect their wishes. In addition to our commitment to remove GMOs where possible, we will continue to offer alternatives, such as our certified organic products, which are guaranteed free of GMOs,” she said.

Starbucks customers and activists came out to participate in a demonstration calling on the company to stop sourcing milk from cows fed genetically modified crops. GMO Inside, a campaign led by Green America, a national consumer advocacy group, held this demonstration as part of a national campaign to increase awareness and visibility around the issue of genetically modified crops used for animal feed. “Starbucks is a global company that purchases a substantial amount of milk each year and is in a position to trigger shifts in the dairy supply chain,” said Green America Food Campaigns Director Nicole McCann. “By supporting conventional dairy operations, Starbucks is lending power to a destructive food system fueled by GMOs, factory farms, and pesticides that are devastating for human, animal, pollinator, and environmental health. We know Starbucks can do better, and their customers want this.”

Japanese consumers´ groups meet the Japanese government to discuss the upcoming UN conference about biological diversity. Consumers Union of Japan and the many groups and networks that follow these issues will ask questions to the government and elected representatives in the Parliament (Diet) that also care strongly about these issues. The goups will participate the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) conference in South Korea this fall. Leading up to that conference, they hope this event will be a fruitful discussion about Japan’s lack of progress to ratify the Nagoya Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol, that was agreed upon in Nagoya fours years ago at the UN CBD conference held in that city (after very successful negotiations held in Kuala Lumpur, thus the joint name). The aim of the protocol is to aid countries in the case of disputes when there is a need to assess the liability and redress, if genetically modified organisms cause harm to the natural environment or human health. Japan has also made little progress to address the problems with wild-growing genetically modified canola near harbours and food oil factories over the past 10 years. These GM crops pose a real risk to local biological diversity as a number of related food crops may be contaminated with GMOs. Meanwhile, Japanese farmers have completely rejected genetically modified organisms. There is no cultivation of GMOs in Japan for commercial purposes.