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The Alphabet of Complexity Webinar Series!

N as in "narrative" - 8th of February 2023

This webinar will be our fourteenth meeting within the series of The Alphabet of Complexity webinars. The letter N (as in “narrative”) will guide us through the main question of the day: How can the narrative of restoration and reciprocity influence the course of agricultural policies? The lectures of three key speakers (Nara Petrovic, Anna Nacher, Marek Styczyński) will be followed by a discussion on how the perspective of restoration and reciprocity can inform our actions for the purity of seeds and against GMOs.

N as in Narrative:

How can the narrative of restoration and reciprocity influence the course of agricultural policies?

Key speakers: Nara Petrovic, Anna Nacher, Marek Styczyński

Time and date: 8.02.2023, 11a.m. - 1 p.m. CET

The Marine Stewardship Council, the Non-GMO Project, and Fairtrade America have joined forces to launch a campaign to promote the contribution of third-party certification labels on food products in ensuring sustainable and resilient food systems.

The “Little Labels, Big Impact” campaign will run through January 2023, MSC said in a press release.

Environment ministry releases response to Coalition of GM-free India’s allegations over environmental approval to GM crop

The Coalition for a GM-free India, a pan-Indian citizen’s platform, has claimed the Union environment ministry’s response to allegations over violating statutory regulations to approve genetically modified (GM) mustard were evidence that due procedures were not followed.

The coalition, a group of farmers, activists, researchers and scientists, has locked horns with the Union government, demanding adequate information on the grounds for the approval of the controversial Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11), which received the nod October 18, 2022.

There were 15 instances where the Union government compromised on appraising and approving the GM mustard, the coalition claimed January 6, 2023.

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.