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In December a decision made by the Cabinet of Ministers, has approved the rules for determining the possible dangers posed by genetically modified plants for consumers and the environment in Azerbaijan. These rules in particular provide the establishment of the Expert Group of the Scientific and Technical Council, who will determine the direction of research into the possible harm of the genetically modified organisms. Azerbaijan plans to establish a control system to clarify how dangerous the GMO products are that currently can be found on the markets of human food and animal feed.

A Washington state ballot initiative that seeks to require GMO labeling is nearing its goal of 320,000 signatures, a goal organizers are confident that it will reach. “We are in the last three weeks of our signature drive. We hired paid signature gathers and we have volunteers. We are locked and loaded,” Chris McManus, one of the sponsors of the initiative, told FoodNavigator-USA. The initiative, I-522, titled “The People’s Right To Know Genetically Engineered Food Act” would require labeling of food products (including dietary supplements) that contain GMO ingredients. It bears some resemblance to California’s Proposition 37, which went down to defeat in the November election.

On November 6, in the wake of one of the most expensive and scurrilous smear campaigns in history, six million voters scared the hell out of Monsanto and Big Food Inc. by coming within a razor’s edge of passing the first statewide mandatory labeling law for genetically modified organisms.Prop 37, a citizens’ ballot initiative that would have required the mandatory labeling of billions of dollars of genetically engineered foods and put an end to the routine industry practice of fraudulently marketing GE-tainted foods as “natural” or “all natural,” lost by a narrow margin of 48.6% to 51.4%. [...] Jennifer Hatcher, senior vice president of government and public affairs for the Food Marketing Institute, came closer to expressing the real sentiments of the big guns who opposed Prop 37, a measure she had previously said “scared us to death,” in her official statement: “This gives us hope that you can, with a well-funded, well-organized, well-executed campaign, defeat a ballot initiative and go directly to the voters. We hope we don’t have too many of them, because you can’t keep doing that over and over again . . .”.

After years of encouraging developing countries in Africa and elsewhere to grow them, but unable to allow its own farmers to do so, the environment secretary Owen Paterson has told a major conference that GM can secure countries’ food supplies, is good for the public and can help limit climate change. [...] But despite billions of dollars spent on research by rich countries on feeding hungry people, most developing countries remain suspicious of the claims, or convinced that the benefits will go mainly to the corporations that control the seeds and chemicals needed to grow the crops. What is remarkable is not that GM crops have, after 20 years and so much money spent, now reached 19 out of more than 150 developing countries, but that most nations have managed to keep out a rapacious industry, and that only a handful of GM food commodity crops like oilseed rape, soya and maize are still grown, mainly for animals and biofuels.

New Mexico state senator Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) has filed an amendment to the state's food act to require the labeling of genetically modified food ingredients. Working with the NGO, Food & Water Watch, Wirth drafted the amendment, SB 18, to require that foods sold in New Mexico be labeled if they contain more than one percent of genetically modified food ingredients. So, will visitors to Santa Fe and the rest of New Mexico soon be reassured that their green chile-slathered meals and sopapillas will be over 99 percent GMO free?

Center for Food Safety sharply criticized today's U.S. Food and Drug Administration's announcement releasing an Environmental Assessment on the controversial AquaBounty AquaAdvantage transgenic salmon. The FDA action is widely viewed as confirmation that the Obama Administration is prepared to approve shortly the first genetically engineered animal intended for human consumption in the face of widespread opposition. ”It is extremely disappointing that the Obama Administration continues to push approval of this dangerous and unnecessary product,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director for Center for Food Safety. ”The GE salmon has no socially redeeming value; it's bad for the consumer, bad for the salmon industry and bad for the environment. FDA's decision is premature and misguided.”

NGOs have given a cautious welcome to the announcement that the European Commission has entered a “period of reflection” with regard to GMO crops and products. The “freeze” announcement, made by Food Safety Director Eric Poudelet of DG-SANCO at a meeting of the EU Petitions Committee on 3rd December, arises out of the intense public debate within Europe on the apparent chronic toxicity of GM food and Roundup residues in the food chain. Mr Pouldelet suggested that he and his colleagues had to be sensitive to public concerns and also mindful of the scientific debate arising from the publication of a recent paper by Prof Gilles-Eric Seralini and colleagues

In September 2011 a Green Member of the Dutch Parliament, Rik Grashoff, put forward a Parliamentary motion proposing a ban on the “commercial use” of Roundup outside agriculture. In the motion, Grashoff cited evidence presented in Earth Open Source’s report, “Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?“. [...] Grashoff’s proposal has been watered down and has been made part of the Dutch national pesticide action plan which says they want to stop local communities from using it on pavements and streets by 2018. But the proposed ban on sales to non-professional users was dropped.

Scientists will go ahead with plans to plant genetically modified crops in the UK next year, despite vandalism during the summer. The Rothamsted Research institute are planning to plant GM wheat in fields in Hertfordshire. Protests were held at the site last year and an intruder was charged with criminal damage after allegedly scaling the fence and sprinkling natural wheat. But a spokesman for the institute insisted the experiment will continue. The scientists are trying to create the world’s first GM strain to repel insects rather than killing them.

Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, and M.S. Technologies LLC have unveiled Enlist E3™ soybeans as the brand name for the industry’s first-ever, three-gene herbicide tolerant soybean. This advanced technology was submitted for U.S. regulatory approval in August 2011 and is anticipated to be launched in 2015 pending U.S. and import country approvals. [...] These genes provide tolerance to Dow AgroSciences’ new 2,4-D product, glyphosate, and glufosinate. Enlist E3 soybeans will be another product offering in the Enlist™ Weed Control System.