Organic news archive: May 2004
A six-year European moratorium on new GM foods has ended after bureaucrats in Brussels approved imports of GM sweetcorn despite health worries. Opponents attacked the decision for failing to protect the health of consumers. They accused the European Commission of bending over backwards to appease GM supporters in the U.S. where the sweetcorn is grown. Approval for the crop, which has been genetically modified to include a toxic insecticide in the leaves and stem, was given by Commission officials rather than elected politicians because the member states could not agree that the product is safe to eat. The governments of France, Austria, Portugal, Greece, Denmark and Luxembourg all objected to approval of the sweetcorn. Germany, Spain and Belgium abstained in a vote. (Daily Mail, 20/5/04)
The US said yesterday it would maintain its challenge against the European Union over restrictions on imports of genetically modified products. The US administration has long argued that it wants to be certain that approval of Bt-11 is not a one-off event. Nine other GM food products are awaiting clearance. (Financial Times)
Genetically modified crops were given a cautious endorsement as a means of solving world hunger by the UN's food agency yesterday. The backing, from the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is at variance with the views of many leading aid agencies, which say that such claims made for GM are misleading. The FAO was at pains to point out that benefits from GM developments had still not reached small farmers or the world's poor, because the technology was so far concentrated on a few lucrative cash crops such as soya beans, rather than on staples such as potatoes. But it gave a favourable view of GM as a whole. Its report - "Agricultural Biotechnology: Meeting the Needs of the Poor?" - continues the UN's position of recognising the potential of transgenic crops to help fight world hunger, while s
A six-year European moratorium on new GM foods has ended after bureaucrats in Brussels approved imports of GM sweetcorn despite health worries. Opponents attacked the decision for failing to protect the health of consumers. They accused the European Commission of bending over backwards to appease GM supporters in the U.S. where the sweetcorn is grown. Approval for the crop, which has been genetically modified to include a toxic insecticide in the leaves and stem, was given by Commission officials rather than elected politicians because the member states could not agree that the product is safe to eat. The governments of France, Austria, Portugal, Greece, Denmark and Luxembourg all objected to approval of the sweetcorn. Germany, Spain and Belgium abstained in a vote. (Daily Mail, 20/5/04)
The US said yesterday it would maintain its challenge against the European Union over restrictions on imports of genetically modified products. The US administration has long argued that it wants to be certain that approval of Bt-11 is not a one-off event. Nine other GM food products are awaiting clearance. (Financial Times)
Genetically modified crops were given a cautious endorsement as a means of solving world hunger by the UN's food agency yesterday. The backing, from the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is at variance with the views of many leading aid agencies, which say that such claims made for GM are misleading. The FAO was at pains to point out that benefits from GM developments had still not reached small farmers or the world's poor, because the technology was so far concentrated on a few lucrative cash crops such as soya beans, rather than on staples such as potatoes. But it gave a favourable view of GM as a whole. Its report - "Agricultural Biotechnology: Meeting the Needs of the Poor?" - continues the UN's position of recognising the potential of transgenic crops to help fight world hunger, while s