2011-07-06 | permalink
Consumer rights victory as US ends opposition to GM labelling guidelines
Consumers International and its member organisations celebrated victory today as regulators from more than 100 countries agreed on long overdue guidance on the labelling of genetically modified food. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, made up of the world’s food safety regulatory agencies, has been labouring for two decades to come up with consensus guidance on this topic. In a striking reversal of their previous position, on Tuesday, during the annual Codex summit in Geneva, the US delegation dropped its opposition to the GM labelling guidance document, allowing it to move forward and become an official Codex text.
2011-07-02 | permalink
Bayer to pay $750M in genetic rice settlement
Bayer CropScience agreed Friday to pay up to $750 million to settle several lawsuits with U.S. farmers who claimed a strain of the company's unapproved genetically modified rice contaminated the food supply and hurt their crop prices.
2011-06-15 | permalink
Illegal GM rice spreads and prompts debate in China
Genetically modified rice has been spreading illegally for years in China, officials have admitted, triggering a debate on a sensitive aspect of the food security plan in the world’s most populous nation. [...] In January, the agriculture ministry said ”no genetically modified cereals are being grown in China” outside the test sites. But in April, an environment ministry official told the weekly Nanfang Zhoumo that a joint investigation by four government departments had found that ”illegal GM seeds are present in several provinces because of weak management”.
2011-05-12 | permalink
Monsanto’s drought-tolerant GE corn does not perform better than comparable conventional varieties
The Obama administration will seek to allow the unlimited sale of a corn variety genetically engineered by Monsanto Co. to resist drought [...] While the agency’s draft environmental assessment of the modified corn found the crop unlikely to pose a plant pest risk [...] the agency also noted that many corn varieties on the market match Monsanto’s strain in their water use. ”The reduced yield [trait] does not exceed the natural variation observed in regionally-adapted varieties of conventional corn,” the report says, adding that ”Equally comparable varieties produced through conventional breeding techniques are readily available in irrigated corn production regions.”
The New York Times, USA: USDA looks to approve Monsanto’s drought-tolerant corn- U.S. Department of Agriculture - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USA (USDA - APHIS): USDA prepares draft environmental assessment for drought tolerant corn
- GeneWatch UK, UK: Drought tolerant GM corn will not feed the world
- Scientific American, USA: Coming to a cornfield near you: Genetically induced drought-resistance
- Public Service Europe, UK: GM corn failure - a lesson for the future?
2011-04-20 | permalink
U.S. researcher finds GMO traits in non-GMO canola
former Oregon State University researcher Rich Affeldt [...] found that non-genetically modified canola purchased for the trial tested positive for the glyphosate-tolerant trait found in genetically modified canola. [...] Affeldt said he found just 0.01 percent of the glyphosate-tolerant trait in the non-GMO canola seed he tested. [...] ”Before canola is approved for commercial production in Central Oregon, I recommend that this potential for GM contamination be more thoroughly investigated,” Affeldt wrote.
2011-03-21 | permalink
Arkansas (USA) Circuit Court awards Riceland USD136.8 million in rice GE contamination case
A Circuit Court jury in Stuttgart awarded $136.8 million Friday to Riceland Foods Inc. in a lawsuit against Bayer CropScience LP over genetically modified rice. Riceland, a farmers cooperative based in Stuttgart, is the world’s biggest miller and marketer of rice. It sued Bayer over losses it suffered when Bayer’s experimental varietyof genetically modified rice made its way into the U.S. rice supply.
- Arkansas Democrat Gazette, USA: Jury awards Riceland $136.8 million
- Stuttgart Daily Leader, USA: Closing arguments heard in Riceland-Bayer case
- Thomson Reuters, USA: Bayer ordered to pay $136.8 mln in U.S. rice case
- Stuttgart Daily Leader, USA: Riceland Foods receives $136.9M verdict from jury Friday
- Dewitt Era Enterprise, USA: Jury finds Bayer negligent - Riceland awarded $136.8M in damages, fines
2011-02-28 | permalink
Agrotoxics spraying banned in Santa Fe, Argentina - Landmark legal case
The judiciary of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina has banned the spraying of agrochemicals in the vicinity of urban areas. The case sets a precedent for judges elsewhere in the country and establishes a legal basis for questioning the GM soy/agrochemical spray agricultural model.
The decision comes after two years of legal dispute, during which first and second instance judges questioned and limited the use of agrochemicals. The Santa Fe court strictly bans spraying in Urquiza neighborhood near the town of San Jorge. It is the first case in Argentina where a Court has made a firm decision to prohibit the spraying to protect health.
2011-02-23 | permalink
Chinese public has doubts over GE food
The survey result was released on Tuesday by Greenpeace China, which had polled 1,300 people who ranged in age from 18 to 55 and lived in six cities in the country. [...] The survey found that about 60 percent of Chinese consumers were against all kinds of genetically modified food, including rice, oil and soymilk. The most severe objections came in response to the use of genetically modified rice in baby food. The rejection rate for such products was 77 percent in large cities and 83 percent in smaller cities.
Global Times, China: Food fears2010-12-20 | permalink
Sloppy seed-sorting main culprit in GM crop escapes
Careless handling of seeds may be the key reason for the unintended spread of genetically modified crops, a study has found. The discovery challenges the widespread belief that the main source of GM contamination is the transfer of pollen by bees from GM crops to non-GM counterparts in neighbouring fields. Human error during seed production and handling is the more likely culprit, say the researchers.
2010-11-24 | permalink
Constitutional Court approves strict liability and public register provisions of German biosafety act
Germany's top court approved Wednesday some of the world' most rigorous restrictions on genetically modified crops, ruling they were in accordance with the country's constitution. [...] 'Given that the state of knowledge about the long-term consequences of deploying genetic modification is not fully researched, the legislative arm has an especial duty of care,' the court judgement said. Farmers must publicly disclose what seed they used. The court also approved a no-fault-liability rule which obliges a farmer to compensate his neighbours for any loss in market value of their crops if the natural and GM variants become mixed.
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News on this page
- Consumer rights victory as US ends opposition to GM labelling guidelines
- Bayer to pay $750M in genetic rice settlement
- Illegal GM rice spreads and prompts debate in China
- Monsanto’s drought-tolerant GE corn does not perform better than comparable conventional varieties
- U.S. researcher finds GMO traits in non-GMO canola
- Arkansas (USA) Circuit Court awards Riceland USD136.8 million in rice GE contamination case
- Agrotoxics spraying banned in Santa Fe, Argentina - Landmark legal case
- Chinese public has doubts over GE food
- Sloppy seed-sorting main culprit in GM crop escapes
- Constitutional Court approves strict liability and public register provisions of German biosafety act
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