News

2014-07-15 | permalink

Global Non-GMO Food Market Growing at 15.92% CAGR to 2018

GMO stands for genetically modified organism and the Global Non-GMO Food Market 2014-2018 research report, available with SandlerResearch.org, forecasts the industry to grow at a CAGR of 15.92 percent over the period of 2013-2018. Complete report spread across 50 pages is available at www.sandlerresearch.org/global-non-gmo-food-market-2014-2018.html .
For non-GMO food products, scientists remove one or more genes from the DNA of an organism, such as a bacterium, virus, or animal, and recombine them into the DNA of the plant they want to alter or make genetic changes in the DNA of the crops. As a result, crops become intolerant to most of the herbicides and pesticides and even to some of the crop diseases. However, such modification in the genes of the crops and foods has resulted many health and environmental risks. As a result, more consumers in the US, Japan, Europe, Canada, and other nations are demanding non-GMO foods as it is better for their health and has lower environmental risks.
The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the Global Non-GMO Food market for the period 2013-2018. To calculate the market size, the report takes into account revenue generated from retail sales of non-GMO food products.

2014-07-05 | permalink

AFSA appeals to ARIPO, AU and UNECA for protection of farmers’ rights and right to food

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), a Pan African platform comprising civil society networks and farmer organisations working towards food sovereignty in Africa, has today lodged an urgent appeal to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to urgently revise the draft ARIPO Plant Variety Protection Protocol, recognise farmers’ rights and facilitate the right to food. AFSA is requesting that such revision be based on a broader consultation process with farmer organisations and experts from outside of the plant breeders’ rights sector.

African civil society organisations, many of them members of AFSA, made submissions to ARIPO on its draft Plant Variety Protection (PVP) law and policies in November 2012. AFSA has itself submitted comments on ARIPO’s Response to Civil Society: Draft Legal Framework for Plant Variety Protection, March 2014. In both submissions, several serious concerns were raised about the law, which later was titled “the draft ARIPO Plant Variety Protection Protocol”, being based on UPOV 1991 (the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants), a restrictive and inflexible legal regime focused solely on promoting and protecting the rights of commercial breeders that develop genetically uniform seeds/plant varieties suited to mechanised large-scale mono-cropping agriculture systems. Of particular concern, is that the draft ARIPO PVP Protocol renders the centuries-old African farmers’ practices of freely using, exchanging and selling seeds/propagating material illegal and undermines the right to food.

2014-06-26 | permalink

Stop the Spread of Transgenes: EFSA gives carte blanche to the uncontrolled spread of Monsanto's genetically engineered oilseed rape

Transgenes - moving without control

Transgenes - moving without control
www.stop-the-spread-of-transgenes.org
...

EFSA gives carte blanche to the uncontrolled spread of Monsanto's genetically engineered oilseed rape

German government urged to take action to stop the flow of transgenes into the environment

26 June 2014. In a letter addressed to the German government, ten organisations are warning
that genetically modified rapeseed could spread uncontrollably throughout the EU. The letter
voices concern about a current European Food Safety Authority EFSA opinion, which argues
in favour of an EU import approval for Monsanto's rapeseed MON88302. The glyphosate
resistant plant is to be imported in the form of viable seeds and, in Europe, will only be
processed into feed. The plants have shown unexpected side effects due to a genetic
modification that causes the plants to flower earlier than their natural counterparts. In its
opinion, EFSA confirms that "the occurrence of feral GMHT [genetically modified herbicide
tolerant] oilseed rape plants are likely to occur wherever GMHT oilseed rape is transported."
Even so, the authority sees no problems for agriculture and the environment.

2014-06-25 | permalink

The health effects of a Roundup-tolerant NK603 genetically modified (GM) maize

Research
Republished study: long-term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize
Gilles-Eric Séralini1*, Emilie Clair1, Robin Mesnage1, Steeve Gress1, Nicolas Defarge1, Manuela Malatesta2, Didier Hennequin3 and Joël Spiroux de Vendômois1
Environmental Sciences Europe 2014, 26:14 doi:10.1186/s12302-014-0014-5
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: www.enveurope.com/content/26/1/14

2014-06-24 | permalink

FAO Study Reveals Increase in GMO food and feed Trade Incidents

The results of a recent U.N. Food and Agriculture (FAO) survey on genetically modified crops in international trade, reveals that trace amounts of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are being detected with increasing regularity. The survey, conducted between February 2013 to June 2013, collected responses from 75 country officials. Participants were asked questions relating to internal GMO crop production, how GMO crops were labeled, and whether countries had domestic capacities to detect GMO crops. Because there is no international agreement or consensus for what qualifies as “low level,” as it relates to GMO crop presence, the survey notes, “the data may not perfectly correspond to the actual events monitored elsewhere.” Among the 75 FAO member countries that participated in the survey, there is a variety of GMO monitoring protocols.