Articles

"Only if the European Commission comes up with a explicit position about policy change we will consider this issue," said the chairman of Bulgarian Parliaments Environment Committee, George Bozhinov. Under pressure from industry the Committee had discussed whether to uphold the GMO law, which is stricter than EU legislation and prohibits the release of a number of GM plant varieties. It also sets buffer zones of 30 kilometer around protected areas.

As in France up to 30.000 hectares of GM maize might be planted this spring season, the "Apell d"Orleans" calls for a moratorium on GM planting, especially Monsanto"s Mon810 maize. Several activists have startet a hungerstrike on March 10th, reacting to French government decree.

Environmentally-friendly farming will create more jobs and make the EU more competitive than if it grows genetically modified (GM) crops, shows new research published by Friends of the Earth Europe.

Biofuels have been an increasingly hot topic on the discussion table in the last few years. The main argument behind the policies in favour of biofuels is based on the idea that biofuels would not increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, a more careful analysis of the life cycle of biodiesel reveals that the energy (and CO2) savings is not so high as expected. It might even be negative.

The U.S. Agriculture Department ordered seed dealers not to sell BASF"s "Clearfield" rice as it"s seeds are contaminated with Bayer"s illegal GM Rice LL 601. At the same time preliminary approval was given to grow a GM rice variety that contains human genes.

A scientific analysis of the contradicting approaches and agricultural paradigms of European and national legislators, industry and GMO free Regions and movements on the issue of GM contamination and coexistence between GM and non-GM agriculture.

On July 1, the city of Moscow will introduce a voluntary system of food labels indicating that a product does not contain genetically modified ingredients. The city duma has declared Moscow a "gmo free region" and more Russian regions are expected to follow.

With a two third majority EU environment ministers slapped down an attempt of the EU Commission to order Hungary to lift its ban on Monsanto"s GMO maize "Mon810", delivering a third stinging rebuff to the European Commission.

A 46 page report by the Nordic Council of Ministers describes and compares regulations of coexistence between genetically modified (GM), conventional and organic crops in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

The GM contamination register, maintained by Greenpeace and GeneWatch UK, documents incidents of contamination arising from the intentional or accidental release of GMOs world wide, including illegal plantings. In 2006, records of twenty-four incidents were added to the register. The highest number in a year since 1996.