News
2012-08-20 | permalink
Nearly $25 million to defeat the Prop 37
Yes on Prop 37
Recent media coverage of Prop 37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, which would permit companies to label foods made with genetically engineered (GE) crops, highlights the gulf between citizens demanding the right to know what's in our food and corporations desperate to keep the public in the dark. According to the California secretary of state, Monsanto and the rest of the pesticide industry's "Big 6" have contributed $13.5 million so far to defeat this initiative, and have put stopping it at the top of their agenda. Add the money from "Big Food" companies and the opposition funding grows to almost $25 million, with an even bigger "gusher" of corporate cash on its way.
Pesticide Action Network North America: Why GE labeling is Monsanto's worst nightmare2012-08-18 | permalink
Immediate stay on illegal planting of GE canola in the Willamette Valley
The Center for Food Safety (‘The Center’) is pleased to announce that the legal action filed yesterday at the State of Oregon’s Court of Appeals requesting an immediate stay on illegal planting of genetically engineered (GE) canola in the Willamette Valley was successful. The Court found sufficient cause to order an immediate halt to planting subject to further judicial review. The Center and its partners are gratified by the Court’s preliminary decision and look forward to a fair and open review process that reasonably evaluates the purported value and legal basis for ODA’s proposed opening of 1.7 million acres in the Willamette Valley to industrial, GE canola growth earmarked for biofuel production at the expense of Oregon’s invaluable organics industry.
2012-08-17 | permalink
U-turn on GM in Turkey
Türkische Greenpeace-AktivistInnen gegen Gentechnik erfolgreich (Foto: Greenpeace Akdeniz)
Turkey's food industry has reversed plans that would have led to a fuller exploration of genetic modification (GM), bowing to pressure from a Greenpeace campaign.
2012-08-16 | permalink
Blocking transgenic soy sowing in Mexico
Greenpeace Mexico made another step forward blocking transgenic soy sowing. In addition to the two suspensions handed down by the Courts of Yucatan and Campeche, on August 08 lawmakers of the Third Committee of Finance, Agriculture and Development, Communications and Public Works decided to call Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada, head of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), to submit a report - in a set time of 10 days - that supports with full, technical and scientific explanations his decision to adopt a favorable opinion for commercial cultivation of GM soy. The background to this decision was threefold:
- Greenpeace Mexico started a process for administrative responsibility to the Internal Control Body of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) against Alfonso Flores Ramirez, head of the Directorate General of Environmental Impact and Risk (DGIRA) and Mauricio Limón Aguirre, Secretary of Management for Environmental Protection, because they granted to Monsanto the permission for commercial cultivation of 253 500 hectares of GM soy -tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate- in the states of Yucatan, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz and Chiapas despite of suspension by the First District Court of Merida (Yucatan) to plant 30 000 hectares of GM soy, requested by Monsanto in 2011, motived by of the irreparable damage that can cause to the environment and risks to human health.
- At the Session of July 4, 2012, Deputies urged Secretary of Agriculture (SAGARPA) to apply the “precautionary principle”, based on UNESCO’s international values and on national Biodiversity Law of Genetically Modified Organisms (LBOG, art. 90), because of the risks inherent in beekeeping and honey trade.
- At the Session of July 11, 2012, Deputies urged the Federal Executive Branch to report on the purpose for granting authorizations for the cultivation of 253 500 hectares of GM soy and suspend and / or revoke, as appropriate, these authorizations.
2012-08-09 | permalink
Maharashtra (India) ban on Bt cotton seeds sold by Mahyco
Confirming the widespread doubts in the Indian farming community about the efficiency of genetically modified cotton seeds, the Maharashtra government has banned the sale and distribution of Bt cotton seeds by a US multinational giant. The state announced its decision after Mahyco, the Maharashtra-based partner of the Monsanto group, failed its appeal against a show-cause notice. The company was served a notice over allegations of hoarding and over-pricing. Mahyco accounts for 5% of the total demand of 165 lakh seed packets supplied to farmers annually.
