Tag: GM crops

The European Food Safety Authority, seeking to deflect criticism over the independence of its work, yesterday (5 March) announced moves to clarify disclosure rules and guidelines on who can serve as scientific experts.

The EU agency charged with reviewing the safety of biotech crops and food products has “frequent conflicts of interest” with the industries it is supposed to evaluate, says a report that adds renewed doubts about its scientific assessments.

Biotech companies should agree not to market genetically modified (GM) crops in member states wishing to ban their cultivation before seeking EU approval for their products, a draft Danish proposal shows.

In a bid to resolve a deadlock over the approval of new genetically-modified (GM) crops, EU environment ministers yesterday (14 March) discussed the grounds for allowing member states to decide individually whether or not to ban the cultivation of transgenic crops on their territory.

The European Union is to radically overhaul its approval system for genetically modified (GM) crops from next month, opening the way to large-scale GM cultivation in Europe, EU sources said on Friday (4 June).

The EU has rightly identified innovation and science as major drivers for economic growth, but the European Commission should not attempt a ''politically bruising'' legislative review of genetically-modified (GM) approvals as it would only disadvantage farmers and hurt EU competitiveness, writes Martin Livermore, founder of public affairs consultancy Ascham Associates and director of the Scientific Alliance.

Responding to Commission President José Manuel Barroso's request, the EU executive's ethical advisory body will issue an opinion on modern agricultural technologies by the end of 2008. 

The Commission has referred a number of pending GMO approvals back to the EU's food safety agency (EFSA) for further review of scientific evidence of the GMOs' potential effects on the environment and human health.

Chinese scientists claim they have developed a simple strategy to kill unwanted GM plants which are accidentally spread to conventional fields by pollination and seed dispersal.

The EU-27's agriculture ministers have agreed to new organic food production and labelling standards from 2009, but green groups say that the rules are lax and will allow widespread contamination of organic products by genetically modified organisms.

The EU is pondering whether to block imports of US long-grain rice after being informed that the US food chain has been contaminated with an illegal and untested genetically modified strain.

The World Trade Organisation has ruled against the EU in a case brought by the US and other nations against a de facto moratorium on genetically modified products.

Farm ministers are on 29 September to discuss the controversial issues related to the coexistence of GM and conventional crops and the dangers of cross-contamination.