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Police kept hundreds of protesters at bay as they attempted to destroy a field where genetically modified wheat is being tested in Hertfordshire. Mounted officers helped bring activists to a halt in front of the entrance to land owned by the Rothamsted research institute [...] Hertfordshire police handed out leaflets at Harpenden station warning that St Albans council had forbidden “trespassory assembly” under section 14A of the Public Order Act as anti-GM campaigners gathered in a park next to the estate.

Supporters of a council resolution banning genetically modified crops packed city hall Monday calling the practise of growing such foods “immoral” and “dangerous.” “The motivation of the companies that create this is profit, which is fine except that it’s not for the benefit of the community,” said Sandra Bourque, a former school trustee, one of dozens of speakers at the council meeting. Opponents to the crops turned out by the bushel after getting wind that CropLife Canada was set to delegate to city council before its final vote. That vote, which took place about three hours after the meeting started, was unanimous.

Azerbaijan strongly opposes the import of genetically modified food products, the country’s Minister of Agriculture Ismet Abbasov told reporters on Saturday. “Neither the Ministry of Agriculture nor other relevant departments would permit the import of such products,” said the minister. According to Abbasov, Azerbaijan’s farm products are environmentally friendly due to the limited use of fertilizers, and there is no need for importing foreign GM food products.

The European Food Safety Authority has demanded that Diána Bánáti resign as chairwoman of its management board because she is rejoining the board of the International Life Sciences Institute Europe, a research and advocacy organisation for food science. She is to become the executive and scientific director at ILSI. Bánáti was the centre of controversy in 2010 when it was revealed that while chairing the EFSA board she also held an undeclared position on the board of ILSI. José Bové, a French Green MEP, demanded her resignation from EFSA, saying that her ILSI position was in conflict with EFSA’s role approving foods in the EU, including genetically modified organisms.

BASF Plant Science will again conduct field trials this year with genetically optimized potatoes which are undergoing the EU approval process. The field trials will take place at various sites in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. In addition to the starch potato Modena, the company will also be planting its late blight resistant variety Fortuna. [...] Besides multiplication, the aim of the current cultivation is to test and document the performance of the potato varieties under different environmental conditions as well as the resistance characteristics of the Fortuna potato.

Poland has now officially imposed a ban on Monsanto’s MON810 GMO maize. Recent protests by beekeepers and anti-GMO activists have resulted in a successful conclusion. [...] Minister of Agriculture in the Polish Government, Marek Sawicki says that as well as being linked to range of health ailments, the pollen originating from this GM strain might actually be devastating to the already reduced bee population in the country. “The decree is in the works. It introduces a complete ban on the MON810 strain of maize in Poland,” Sawicki told the press.

Protesters are planning to descend on the gates of Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire as part of a campaign against genetically modified wheat. The group, called “Take The Flour Back“, has launched a website campaign to protest against the aphid-resistant wheat trial at Rothamsted. They say they are planning a “mass action against genetically modified wheat” at the research institute’s headquarters. An announcement on their website says: “Bakers, farmers, growers, allotment holders, scientists, beekeepers, and people who eat food are turning out to voice their opposition to GM crops coming back to the UK.

Field trial of the genetically modified eggplant in Cotabato province has finally taken off last week. Dr. Lourdes D. Taylo, an entomologist from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños-Institute of Plant Breeding, confirmed that Bacillus thuringiensis eggplant, or Bt Talong, has been planted at a trial site at the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, Cotabato province. “The field trial would run for about three months,” she told BusinessWorld, thumbing down “possible contamination of conventional eggplants since the Bt Talong test site has been isolated.

María Elena Rozas, leader of Alianza por una Mejor Calidad de Vida/RAP-Chile (Alliance for better Quality of Life/Pesticide Action Network-Chile) praised Transparency Council’s final ruling on publishing the exact location of GMO crops, confirming a former decision issued on 2010. It was published on March 21 and supports Rozas action on the citizens’ right to know, denied by Agriculture and Livestock Service Agency. Transparency Council’s former decision was appealed in 2010 in Court by the TNC Monsanto and most of the companies growing GMO seeds for export from Chile.

Today, the international coalition of “No Patents on Seeds” is publishing a report on patents connected to the conventional breeding of plants and animals granted by, or applied for at the European Patent Office in 2011. The report gives examples of patents on sunflowers, melons, cucumbers, rice and wheat. Patents were granted despite a decision of the highest court of the EPO in 2010, reaffirming the prohibition of patents on conventional breeding as written in European patent laws. As the new report shows, industry and examiners at the EPO are systematically using legal loopholes to grant patents on seeds, plants and even harvest and food products derived thereof.