GMOs Archives

The High Council of Biotechnology (HCB) held a conference on the implementation of the EU's GMO rules. HCB President Christine Noiville and Frans Brom, a member of the Dutch government’s scientific council, answered EURACTIV France’s questions on the subject.

The Pan-European Farmers’ Association (Copa-Cogeca) said on Thursday (28 July) that innovation in plant breeding should be further encouraged in order to help the EU combat hunger and malnutrition worldwide.

The European Commission launched talks with member states today (9 July) to authorise two new GMOs, maize Bt11 and maize 1507, for cultivation in the EU.

The precautionary principle may be scrapped in the EU's free trade agreements with Canada and the United States. According to the NGO Foodwatch, this could call into question the bloc's bans on hormone-treated beef and GMOs. EURACTIV France reports.

Calls for the European Union to dramatically change its decision making and get closer to citizen’s daily concerns have piled up in the wake of Britain’s shock decision to leave the EU.

Seemingly insurmountable differences in food standards are threatening to sink trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union.  EURACTIV Spain reports.

Ahead of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture's second forum, numerous associations have criticised the group, citing the prevalence of greenwashing and lack of actual positive impact on climate change. EURACTIV Germany reports.

French President François Hollande threatened on Sunday (1 May) to reject the ambitious TTIP trade pact if it endangers the future of French agriculture, triggering similar warnings from the US regarding exports of farm produce to Europe

US and European Union trade officials said yesterday (28 April) they would not settle for a limited trans-Atlantic free trade deal that ignores deep divisions on agricultural products, services, public procurement and dispute resolution.

European lawmakers have urged the EU not to support the introduction of GMOs in Africa, in a resolution criticising the G8's New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. EURACTIV France reports.

Humankind needs to take a more collaborative approach to agriculture in order to sustain its future nutrition needs, while at the same time minimising environmental harm to the planet, global leaders and luminaries have warned.

EXCLUSIVE / After Europe's decision to keep its door shut to GMOs, the European Commission is trying its best to avoid opening a new trade row with the United States over how to regulate so-called 'new plant breeding techniques' (NPBTs).

The French High Council for Biotechnology (HCB) is shedding members. Seven associations have left the organisation, claiming their opinions on new plant breeding techniques, or "new GMOs", were ignored. EURACTIV's partner Journal de l'Environnement reports.

The European Commission further delayed a much-awaited legal analysis of whether new plant breeding techniques should be considered as GMOs, EURACTIV has learned.

MEPs have voted not to strip organic agricultural products of their certification if they are contaminated with GMOs or pesticides, as the majority of cases of contamination are accidental. EURACTIV's partner Journal de l'Environnement reports. 

Organic farmers have raised the alarm over the potential “severe” economic and environmental consequences of new plant breeding techniques for Europe’s farming sector, calling for GMO legislation to apply when approving new seed traits.

After decades of generous subsidies from Brussels, some British farmers are starting to think the unthinkable - that they might be better off outside the European Union.

EXCLUSIVE / A legal analysis of whether new plant breeding techniques should fall under EU GMO legislation will be completed by the first quarter of 2016, a European Commission spokesperson has told EURACTIV.

Britain should challenge "woefully inadequate" European regulations and launch field trials of genetically modified insects designed to wipe out disease-carrying bugs that harm crops and people, lawmakers said on Thursday (16 December).

The EU's food safety agency on Thursday (12 November) said that one of the world's most popular weedkillers was "unlikely" to cause cancer, putting it at odds with findings by the UN.

Four large seed companies will no longer grow genetically modified maize in Germany. "We have achieved our goal," said Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt on Tuesday (3 November). EURACTIV Germany reports.

Legislators on Wednesday (28 October) rejected by a huge majority a hard-won compromise that would have allowed member states to decide for themselves whether or not to import Genetically Modified Organisms for use in food and animal feed.

SPECIAL REPORT / 'New plant breeding techniques' focus on developing new seed traits within a given species through genetic engineering. A troubling question for policymakers is whether these techniques should fall under GMO legislation.

SPECIAL REPORT / Organic farming has a role to play in the new Common Agricultural Policy, but it cannot address the perplexing issue of food security, an EU spokesperson said.