How to...

Questions

... find information and material to print out and inform others?

... find basic information about genetic engineering?

... find information on a specific GMO?

... find the key documents on the planned Seed Directive?

... find the relevant institutions in the European Union?

... find the relevant institutions in my country?

... find background information about the current situation in my country?

... send letters to Members of the European Parliament or get in contact with them?

... get in contact with other supporters of the SOS initiative in my country?

... find out more about the Pro-GMO lobby, PR agencies and companies activities

Answers

... find out more about genetics, molecular biology and genetic engineering?
Here is a list of links to web pages, which will provide you with introductions to the technologies and the issue of genetic engineering from different perspectives.

DNA Tour of the Basics short introduction to basic concept of DNA

DNA from the beginning A sophisticated educational introduction to classical and molecular genetics

Glossary of Biotechnology terms a searchable glossary maintained by Kimball Nill of the American Soybean Association

Introduction to Genetic Engineering by The Union of Concerned Scientists including explanations and links

The Pesticide Action Network online presentation on Genetic Engineering

Environmental Media Services reporters guide to genetic engineering

Origins - How James Watson's Cold Spring Harbour Laboratories present the discovery of DNA (including the original submission of Watson and Crick 1953)
DNA interactive a very fancy (flash) presentation of some basic concepts of DNA and Genetic Engineering as well as a celebration of the short history of molecular genetics in the form of a scientists personality show also from Cold Spring Harbour

Biotechnology for Dummies a slide-show by the Penn Biotechnology group illustrating the key processes of cells, proteins and DNA (then dwelling more on pharmaceutical aspects)

Mendelweb contains Mendels original in full text (German and English) and a lot more around it.

The Tree of Life Web Project is collaboratively produced by biologists from around the world to provide information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their history, and characteristics on 2600 web-sites.

Of Cabbages and Kings - a 90 page anti-GMO Comic Book by A Seed Europe

Fed up - an online video from San Francisco interviewing many critical and not so critical scientists about Genetic Engineering

What is genetic engineering? a short introduction with many links by an organisation called "Physians and Scientist for Responsible Application of Science"

Harvest of Fear a sophisticated pro and con argument site by public broadcasting services in the US

... find information on a specific genetically modified organism

The European Unions Joint Research Centre (JRC) runs the Communities official homepage on deliberate releases and placing on the EU market of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

It includes a list of experimental releases and a list of applications for placing on the market (commercial releases, also called part C) in so called SNIFs (Summary Notification Information Format) and "assessment reports" about each GMO. The public can submit comments within 30 days after publication of these SNIF directly on this web-site. A short explanation of the procedure can be found here.

The JRC also provides a database on all GMO detection methods available and tested.

The most comprehensive inventory of GMOs approved world wide with details about the DNA transformation and worldwide approval status (June 2003, updated all 6 months) can be downloaded from the Swiss Centre for Biosafety Assessment, Technology and Sustainability (BATS). It is a big 199 page pdf file, which we advise you to download (also as zip) once and then use offline.

For a quick overview on which GMOs are presently approved for what purpose and which GMO approvals are presently pending within the EU, have a look at the Annexes of the EU Commissions general Questions and Answers on GMOs (July 03).

The OECD also runs a database of GMOs which is searchable by organism, country, company and unique identifier.

In the US the USDAs Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (Aphis) provides a list of GMOs for which a non-regulated status (approval) has been sought and/or applied for. The US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) provides a list of GMOs, for which the consultations have been completed, which includes some explanation of the US approval system as well.

In the future you can also check in their minutes whether the European Food Safety Authoritys Scientific Panel on genetically modified organisms took any position on individual GMOs.

Background
GMOs are the result of a specific transformation method (e.g. viral vector) and usually include a specific DNA insert, which consists of the trait(s) (genes having names like 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase, epsps) and promoter(s) (to turn on the "reading") and additional DNA such as an antibiotic or other marker. This construct is called an "event", which may then be bred into different varieties.
They are supposed to have a "unique identifier", which indicates the method of detecting them (e.g. MON-ØØ6Ø3-6) and have a unique commercial code such as "NK603", "Mon810" or "Bt11", for which you can also search the entire internet. In addition they are given a European notification number such as C/ES/03/01 (Part C application / issued in ESpana/ 2003 / January).
Approvals are issued for specific uses of the GMO. Many GMOs are approved (or look for approval) only for use in food and feed but not for cultivation (i.e. release into the environment of fertile seeds).

... find the relevant institutions in my country

If you click on your country in the "activities" menu on the top and then on "institutions". If you dont get a specific file for your country then here are some generic hints how to find out yourself:

Biosafety regulatory ministries and institutions
In your country there is a ministry in charge of the safety assessment and approval of GMOs. You can find out by checking the OECD database on Biosafety Regulatory developments, which provides a list of regulatory institutions in all countries.

Standing Committee on Seeds
There is a seed regulatory institution, which represents your country in the "Standing Committee on Seeds". It is appointed by the ministry. Below is a participants list of one of the last meetings. We also have collected a partial list of persons attending the Seed Committee, but they may change. Please let us know, if you have newer information.

List of participating institutions in the Standing Committee on Seeds (June 2003)

Belgium
Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap
Ministère de la Région wallonne
Ministry of Economic Affairs
Czech Republic
Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture (ÚKZÚZ)
Denmark
Plantdirektoratet
Germany
Bundessortenamt
Estonia
Estonian Plant Production Inspectorate
Estland
Ministry of Agriculture
Spain
Ministerio de Agricultura Pesca y Alimentacion
Ministerio de Ciencia y Technologia
France
Ministère de l’agriculture et de la pêche
GNIS
Ireland
Department of Agriculture and Food
Italy
Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali
ENSE
Hungary
National Institute for Agricultural Quality Control
Malta
Agricultural Service Laboratories
Netherlands
Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries
Naktuinbouw
Austria
AGES - Federal Office for Food Safety
BM Land- und Forstwirschaft
Poland
Research Center for Cultivar Testing (COBORU)
Mission of Poland
Portugal
Ministerio de Agricultura
Slovenia
Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Food
Finland
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Sweden
Swedish Board of Agriculture
United Kingdom
DEFRA
Norway
Norwegian Agr.Insp.Service/Landbrukstilsnet
Island
Feed, Seed and Fertilizer Inspectorate

... get in contact with the Members of the European Parliament

You can find a list of all Members of the European Parliament on the European Parliaments web-site. It includes their party affiliation, the committees they work in and other functions. It even contains a (usually short) declaration of financial interests. At least there will be an office contact information in Brussels (forget Strasbourg). But you should try to find out their local address and contact, which is either listed directly or may be found on the homepages some of the members list there. The most effective way is to call their home offices or to write or fax a letter there and to ask for a reply. The least effective (but easiest) approach is an email to them.

... get in contact with other supporters of the SOS initiative in my country?
1) click on "Activities" on the top bar and select your country to look for organisations
2) click on "check who signed already" and select your country
3) post a message on the Forum and invite them to contact you. If you have a  really important message and suggestion to supporters in your country, send it to us and we may forward it.

... find background information about the current situation in my country?

Visit GMO-free Europe an excellent site hosted at Friends of the Earth and the Biotechnology Regulatory Developments from OECD to retrieve information about your country.

... find out more about the pro-GMO lobby network and PR activities of GM companies

Europa-Bio is the capital EU Biotech-Lobby organisation based in Brussels. It has a large membership both of "red" and "green" biotech industries and provides a complete membership register of national biotech organisations and companies.

There is a very instructive web-page on the biotech-boom in the USA, including an impressive listing of all presidential campaign contributions and lobby expenditures of major GMO industries in the USA according to Congress-reports by "Capital eye"

GM watch, an anti-GMO campaign, provides a list of lobbyists, scientists, institutions and PR companies world wide, who actively promote GMOs in agricultural and whom the call the "Biotech-Brigade". Not all of their judgments may be unbiased, but its a very useful list to find out about frequently quoted and publishing individuals and institutions affiliations.