Save our Seeds

Genetically-modified crops cannot be planted in the UK for at least another year, and maybe not even then, the environment minister, Elliot Morley, said yesterday.</p><p><a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,1156357,00.html">Guardian: GM crops delayed by at least a year after cabinet leak</a></p><p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3501669.stm">BBC: government to give go ahead for GM maize</a></p><p><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-1008415,00.html">The Times: Critics of GM crops furious at ministers' approval</a></p><p><a href="http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=493177">Independent: Why are they foisting GM crops on us?</a></p><p><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N2W228815.htm">Reuters: UK government in new storm over GM crops</a>

The European Commission on Thursday failed to get a qualified majority of member states to approve Monsantos GM-maize NK 603, resistant to the companies pesticide "Roundup" in the Standing Committee on GMOs. Italy, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg and Austria voted against it, Germany abstained. The approval would have been for food and feed use only. But Monsanto has filed already an application for cultivation as well. The proposal will now be forwarded to the Council of Environment Ministers.</p><p><a href="http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/46970-600?204&OIDN=1507222&-tt=bi">Authorisation of GM maize fails despite Commission efforts</a></p><p><a href="http://www.saveourseeds.org/downloads/com_draft_NK603.pdf">Draft Decision presented by the Commission</a></p><p><a href="http://gmoinfo.jrc.it/csnifs/C-ES-00-01.pdf">notification for NK 603 in food and feed</a></p><p><a href="http://gmoinfo.jrc.it/gmc_browse.asp">EU overview of all GMO applications</a></p><p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/newswire/2004/02/18/rtr1265806.html">Forbes: Chronology of the EU moratorium</a>

The European Unions new member states in Central Europe do have laws on GMOs, but not all of them have laboratories and experience to implement them. Biotech giants accused of using new member states as 'trojan horse'.<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,1147866,00.html">Guardian Unlimited - Special reports - EU races to thwart influx of GM food from east</a>

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill regulating the cultivation of genetically modified organisms. The bill passed by Germany's ministers aims to codify European Union legislation and guidelines for the cultivation and export of genetically modified organisms (GMO) into national law.<a href="http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1433_A_1112230_1_A,00.html">Schröder's Reluctant Cabinet To Allow GMO Foods - Europe - Deutsche Welle - 11.02.2004</a>

The British government has been forced to postpone plans to announce today the go-ahead for a GM crop in Britain (Bayers T25 maize) after Wales and Scotland refused to cooperate.<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1143929,00.html">The Guardian: Wales blocks go-ahead for Britain's first GM crop</a>

A fiercly disputed new law on GMO approvals passed the Brazilian Parliament thrusday and will now go to the Senate before final adoption. The environment ministry re-gained some control over approval processes in the last minute, but the agro-lobby seemed satisfied with the result as well.</p><p><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=22281">IPS: Genetically Modified Law Advances</a>

Greens hail an environmental victory for biodiversity as Belgium rejects Bayer application and urges all member states to follow suit.</p><p><a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,1137558,00.html">Guardian: EU on line to prohibit GM oilseed rape crops</a>

The EU-Commission held an orientation debate about GMO related issues today. The authorisation of 2 new GMOs for use in food and feed will be further pursued in the Council of Ministers. Coexistence measures in member states were discussed and gmo free zones "on a voluntary basis" were accepted. The Commission was also in favour of proposing labelling thresholds for the adventitious presence of GM seeds in non-GM varieties in the near future. An internal note of the Commission reveals its strategy on this.<a href="http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/04/118-0-RAPID&lg=EN">Commission Press Release and Communication of the Commissioners</a><br><a href="http://www.zs-l.de/saveourseeds/downloads/com_inf_note_28_01_04.pdf">Documentation and SOS-Comments on the Commissions internal note regarding labeling thresholds for seeds</a><br><a href="http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=447442&section=news">Reuters: EU backs GM maize</a><br><a href="http://www.zs-l.de/saveourseeds/downloads/gp_com_28_01_04.pdf">Greenpeace comments on the Commissions decisions</a>

The commercial development of GM spring oilseed rape was dealt a heavy blow today when Belgian GM advisors outlined serious concerns about its impact on the environment. The GM oil seed rape, which was found to damage farmland wildlife when grown in the UK Farm Scale Evaluations is currently being assessed by Belgium for commercial growing in Europe.</p><p><a href="http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/euro_blow_to_gm_oil_seed_r_28012004.html">Friends of the Earth Press Releas</a>

"Next Wednesday, 28th January, I will be taking the conclusions of today`s discussions into the Commission meeting, which is specifically dedicated to the issue of GMOs in a broader context. I have listened carefully to the many interventions defending the crucial importance of GMO thresholds for seeds, whether organic or not, to the future of organic farming, and next week we will decide the best way forward on this specific issue of the general GMO threshold in seeds. What is already clear to me is that operators need to be properly informed, by indications on the seed lots themselves, that the lots at hand could contain GMOs, regardless of whether they are present at levels above or below the thresholds. " EU Commissioner Franz Fischler told organic farmers on Thursday.</p><p><a href="http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200401/15357358-4014-4c9d-9c77-afedefc60bdd.htm">Europolitix: GM free is "paradise lost"</a></p><p><a href="http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200401/d11284ce-cbd7-4797-a7ab-48f4acc981b9.htm">Europolitix: Commissioners plough through GMOs</a>