International News
2013-04-12 | permalink
German fields are GMO-free in 2013
Because of the very strong anti-GMO-movement and anti-GMO stance in Germany, 87% of Germans are against GMOs in agriculture and food production. In 2012 there were no commercial GM crops grown in Germany, and this will remain the case in 2013. Monsanto´s Mon 810 maize has been banned since 2009 and BASF´s Amflora potato was an economic disaster from the very beginning – authorised in 2010 for cultivation, it was grown by just one farmer on 15 hectares in 2010 and 2 hectares in 2011, and then never again.
Stop the Crop, UK: German fields are GMO-free in 20132013-04-10 | permalink
Tunis 2013: If we rely on corporate seed, we lose food sovereignty
It has become crucial to defend seeds. In the past 20 or 30 years, what was once seen as normal – peasant farmers growing, selecting, saving and exchanging seeds – has come under attack from corporations seeking to control and commodify the very basis of agriculture. This was the subject of the session at the World Social Forum in Tunis on Peasant Seeds jointly organized on March 28, 2013 by La Vía Campesina, GRAIN and the ETC Group. There are four pillars of agriculture, says Nandini Jairam, a member of La Vía Campesina and a peasant farmer from Karnataka, India, “these are soil, water, seeds, and peasants.”
2013-03-19 | permalink
Obama administration establishes Monsanto’s sovereignty over the U.S. seed industry
Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice quietly closed a three-year antitrust investigation into Monsanto, the biotech giant whose genetic traits are embedded in over 90 percent of America’s soybean crop and more than 80 percent of corn. Despite a splash of press coverage when the investigation was initially announced, its termination went mostly unreported. The DOJ released no written public statement. Only a brief press release from Monsanto conveyed the news. The lack of attention belies the significance of the decision, both for food consumers around the world and for U.S. businesses. Experts who have examined Monsanto’s conduct say the Justice Department’s decision not to act all but officially establishes the firm’s sovereignty over the U.S. seed industry.
2013-02-26 | permalink
IRRI: No Golden Rice in the next 2 years
The International Rice Research Institute, IRRI, based in the Phillipines has corrected recent media stories that the 30 year old GM rice, which is supposed to provide beta carotine to vitamin A deficient mothers and children, was about to be planted and disseminated this year. The rice would only be commercialised if it was deemend safe and proven to actually improve the vitamin A status of its consumers. This was still to be proven: "This process may take another two years or more."
2013-02-18 | permalink
U.S. Supreme Court to hear Monsanto seed patent case
Yet the 75-year-old farmer from southwestern Indiana will face off Tuesday against the world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, in a Supreme Court case that could have a huge impact on the future of genetically modified crops, and also affect other fields from medical research to software. At stake in Mr. Bowman’s case is whether patents on seeds — or other things that can self-replicate — extend beyond the first generation of the products. It is one of two cases before the Supreme Court related to the patenting of living organisms, a practice that has helped give rise to the biotechnology industry but which critics have long considered immoral. The other case, involving a breast cancer risk test from Myriad Genetics, will determine whether human genes can be patented. It is scheduled to be heard April 15.
2013-02-15 | permalink
As Indian Bt cotton acreage stagnates, seed firms eye food crops in big way
Stagnating acreage is prompting Bt cotton seed makers to diversify into food crops such as hybrid rice, corn and vegetables, where they see a big market potential. Companies such as Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd and Rasi Seeds (Pvt) Ltd, which currently earn a major share of their revenues from Bt cotton seeds, are aggressively charting plans to scale up exposure to food crops. The Rs 500-crore firm [...] plans to scale up its breeding programme to introduce more hybrids. Rasi Seeds has partnered with Israeli firm, Evogene Ltd, to develop yield-enhancing and drought-tolerant rice varieties.
2013-01-14 | permalink
Toxicity confirmed for a GMO and the pesticide Roundup - Raw data released to a notary
Séralini’s team and CRIIGEN have just filed complaints of defamation against claims of “fraud” and “falsified data” that were respectively published in “Marianne” and “La Provence” by Jean-Claude Jaillette and Claude Allègre who is a member of the French association for plant biotechnologies (AFBV).
In 2013 Séralini’s team and CRIIGEN will launch other legal actions to force disclosure of hidden and poor quality toxicological data. To set an example, we are arranging the formal delivery of the raw data of our last study to a notary. We will make these public as soon as the regulatory agencies or Monsanto do the same for their data, or when governments consent to publish the industry data.
2013-01-03 | permalink
Cautious welcome for GMO Freeze in Europe
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
2012-11-19 | permalink
U.S. closes antitrust investigation into seed industry and Monsanto with no results
The U.S. Justice Department has closed a formal antitrust investigation into the U.S. seed industry, which is led by crop biotechnology giant Monsanto Co., without pursuing charges, the government said Friday. [...] The Justice Department, along with the Department of Agriculture, conducted a series of workshops around the country in 2010 examining concentration in the seed, livestock, poultry and dairy markets. The highly-publicized workshops did not result in any major regulatory changes, and Christine Varney, who was the head of the Justice Department's antitrust enforcement at the time, has since left for the private sector.
2012-11-16 | permalink
The great Mexican maize massacre
Agribusiness giants Monsanto, DuPont and Dow are plotting the boldest coup of a global food crop in history. If their requests to allow a massive commercial planting of genetically modified maize are approved in the next two weeks by the government of outgoing president Felipe Calderón, this parting gift to the gene giants will amount to a knife in the heart of the center of origin and diversity for maize. The consequences will be grave – and global. With the approvals and December planting deadlines looming, social movements and civil society organizations have called for an end to all GM maize in Mexico. Mexico’s Union of Concerned Scientists (UCCS) has called on the Mexican government to stop the processing of any application for open-field release of GM maize in Mexico.
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