Articles

Brazilian scientists and members of social movements have appealed to Pope Francis to join forces in an attempt to persuade the Brazilian government no longer to allow growing and using genetically modified foods and its by-products in Brazil.

In a letter sent to the Vatican late in April, eight researchers from six countries argue that, if international companies are authorized to register manipulation processes or the properties of life forms, like seeds, food security would be threatened and biopiracy encouraged.

The letter includes a commission given by the Via Campesina (the International Peasant's Movement) to scientists involved in social movements and includes a number of initiatives launched by organizations from the civil society, like the petition, drawn up in 2009, that shows over 800 researchers who oppose the genetically modified organisms (GMO).

A copy of the document sent to the pope was delivered to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil ("CNBB").

Two decades after the first genetically engineered seeds were sold commercially in the U.S., genetically modified organisms—the crops grown from such seeds—are the norm in the American diet, used to make ingredients in about 80% of packaged food, according to industry estimates. (.....) "Non-GMO" is one of the fastest-growing label trends on U.S. food packages, with sales of such items growing 28% last year to about $3 billion, according to market-research firm Nielsen. In a poll of nearly 1,200 U.S. consumers for The Wall Street Journal, Nielsen found that 61% of consumers had heard of GMOs and nearly half of those people said they avoid eating them. The biggest reason was because it "doesn't sound like something I should eat."

A small group of beekeepers in Mexico has inflicted a blow on biotech giant Monsanto, which has halted the company’s ambitions to plant thousands of hectares of soybeans genetically modified to resist the company’s pesticide Roundup.

A district judge in the state of Yucatán last month overturned a permit issued to Monsanto by Mexico’s agriculture ministry, Sagarpa, and environmental protection agency, Semarnat, in June 2012 that allowed commercial planting of Roundup-ready soybeans.

The permit authorised Monsanto to plant its seeds in seven states, over more than 253,000 hectares (625,000 acres), despite protests from thousands of Mayan farmers and beekeepers, Greenpeace, the Mexican National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity, the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas and the National Institute of Ecology.

In withdrawing the permit, the judge was convinced by the scientific evidence presented about the threats posed by GM soy crops to honey production in the Yucatán peninsula, which includes Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán states. Co-existence between honey production and GM soybeans is not possible, the judge ruled.

A letter was sent to German MEPs signed by 11 German/European NGOs concerning a draft directive granting to EU member states to decide whether or not they wish to cultivate genetically modified organisms(GMOs) on their territory.

---

EU needs a legally sound mechanism for prohibiting GM cultivation and independent risk assessment

(.....)

Please, make sure that 'Opt-Out' is considerably revised in the relevant committees. It should protect consumers and the environment, not the interests of GM companies. On the basis of the European Parliament's decision of 05.07.2011, we are asking you to:

strengthen the precautionary principle in the risk assessment and cultivation of genetically modified plants;

ensure that EFSA's risk assessment of GMO is independent and rigorous;

ensure that national prohibition of GM cultivation is based on EU environmental law (Article 192 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union) which would make them more legally sounder and binding;

help to protect the sovereignty of the EU and its member states by ensuring that they are not obliged to ask GM companies before they can prohibit the cultivation of GM plants;

ensure that prohibiting the cultivation of GM plants will be possible at any time without having to provide 'new objective circumstances';

help protect the many GM-free farmers and food producers by ensuring that an appropriate period of time must be respected before a ban on the cultivation of GM plants can be revoked.

Numerous opinion polls have shown that EU voters oppose genetically modified plants in agriculture and in their food. Now it is up to you to engage in the negotiations with Commission and Council to provide member states with a genuine opportunity to prohibit the cultivation of GM plants, to ensure that risk assessment is carried out rigorously and that member states' full sovereignty is protected.

(Download the letter: EU needs a legally sound mechanism for prohibiting GM cultivation and independent risk assessment)

Today, 64 established scientists, researchers and professionals submitted an open letter to the National Academy of Science’s National Research Council (NRC), strongly criticizing the council's proposal of a panel of experts tasked with completing a new NRC study, "Genetically Engineered Crops: Past Experience and Future Prospects." According to NRC, “the committee was drawn from nominations submitted, considering the full range of expertise and experience needed to address the study's statement of task.” NRC offered the public an opportunity to comment on the committee's composition through August 5.

Croatia's Agriculture Ministry on Thursday stated that no genetically modified seeds had been donated by the Monsanto company to eastern areas hit by recent flooding and that the entire territory of Croatia was free of GMO seeds. The ministry gave this statement following media reports in connection with GMO seeds donation from Monsanto to the flood-ravaged areas,

Report from the Center for Food Safety - HONOLULU – A coalition of local farmers and environmental groups today filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit to defend a Hawai‘i County ordinance that imposes a moratorium on the expansion of genetically engineered (GE) crops on the Big Island. Sustainable agriculture nonprofit, Center for Food Safety (CFS), and three Hawai‘i Island farmers asked the court permission to join as defendants in a biotech industry lawsuit challenging the County of Hawai‘i’s Ordinance 13-121. The ordinance regulates GE organisms to prevent their environmental and economic harms, such as contamination of organic and conventional crops and wild plants and associated pesticide use. The coalition is jointly represented by counsel from CFS and Earthjustice. “Hawaii County, like every county, has the right to protect its farmers and native environments from genetically engineered crops,” said George Kimbrell, CFS senior attorney. “Having GE-free zones is

Brazilian farmers are asking Monsanto and other producers of pest-resistant corn seeds to reimburse them for money spent on additional pesticides when the bugs killed the crops instead of dying themselves. The so-called BT corn seeds are genetically modified to produce an insecticide that will kill the corn leafworm (also known as the southern grassworm). After the insect eats the corn, the toxin inside paralyzes the insect’s digestive system, forming a hole in the gut wall. This forces the bug to stop eating within a few hours, and subsequently starve to death, according to a Colorado State University fact sheet. The GMO seeds are produced by four major manufacturers: Dow Agrosciences, DuPont, Monsanto and Sygenta AG. In Brazil, however, the farmers say that the seeds did not deliver as promised.

CCTV, China's state broadcaster, has discovered genetically modified rice being sold in two southern provinces, the second such allegation it has made in two years at a time when public opinion seems to have hardened against the technology. An investigative report aired last Saturday said GM rice was found in the market in southern Hubei and Hunan province, where rice remains the staple food. The allegation by the television network has been substantiated by the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau after samples took from the two provinces were tested positive for GM elements.

After identifying one gene that manifested itself in all the salt-tolerant beans yet mutated in all the salt-sensitive ones, they inserted it into salt-sensitive soybean roots and tobacco cells and found that the gene caused them to become more tolerant to salt. Lam said it would be much quicker to genetically modify the soybeans to make them salt tolerant, but the regulatory process for approving genetic modification in China was still "unclear". "There is too much controversy about GM technology today, so we [are] taking a longer route," Lam said, adding that he wanted to work with as many farmers as possible to begin cultivating salt-tolerant soybeans. Two institutions - in northeast and northwest China - have expressed interest in using Lam's methods.