News

2015-01-27 |

Europe's food fight shifts after GM crop vote

Campaign groups and the biotech industry are digging in for a new round of conflict, following the European Union's decision to allow member states to set their own rules on growing genetically modified organisms.

Environmentalists who favor a GMO ban say the crops have not been properly tested - posing health risks for consumers and giving a small group of corporations too much control over food supplies. The biotech industry says farmers should be free to grow whatever crops they want, and GMOs are a safe way to boost food production and feed the planet's growing population.

Since the European Parliament vote on Jan. 13, neither industry nor campaigners have claimed victory.

Under planned legislation, expected to be finalised in March, member states would not be able to block GMOs with domestic health or environmental regulations.

Instead, countries that oppose cultivation can negotiate with companies individually, to ask them not to market the products on their territory. States would also be able to block GMOs under town planning and other rules.

2015-01-26 |

Caution Sounded on GM Mosquito Strategy to Control Diseases

FDA could set millions of genetically modified mosquitoes loose in Florida Keys (January 26, 2015)

---
Third World Network: Caution Sounded on GM Mosquito Strategy to Control Diseases

Recent research in Panama, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, raises concerns about the strategy of using GM Aedes aegypti mosquito to control diseases. The GM mosquitoes, genetically modified by the British firm Oxitec to render the mosquito larvae unviable, were released in field trials in Panama in April 2014. The aim is to greatly reduce Ae. aegypti populations and with it, the incidence of dengue.

However, Ae. aegypti and the Asian tiger mosquito, Ae. albopictus are ecologically very similar. Both can spread Chikungunya as well as dengue. Chikungunya, a tropical disease that causes fever, fatigue and joint swelling, spread rapidly throughout the Americas in 2014 and the first case was reported in Panama in May 2014. The research found that Ae. albopictus was spreading across the country, relying on road networks to disperse.

Two main concerns were raised in relation to GM mosquitoes:

(1) Ae. albopictus’ aggressive invasive nature could help it colonize areas where GM mosquitoes have wiped out local populations of Ae. aegypti and elevate Chikungunya to a more widespread public health threat; and

(2) Ae. aegypti (including wild forms) could re-establish itself in the absence of continuous release of the GM versions, which would be very expensive for Panama.

Either occurrence could facilitate the spread of Chikungunya and dengue in Panama. “In this particular case, where you’ve got two mosquitoes that can do the same thing, but the GM approach is only going to affect one of them, it doesn’t make sense at all,” says Matthew Miller, one of the researchers of the study.

2015-01-23 |

Newly published Consumers´ surveys show GMO-free important

Nielsen: Global consumers partial to natural, GMO-free foods

Asked what health attributes are very important when buying food, consumers in a global survey by Nielsen ranked “all-natural” and “GMO-free” at the top. Nielsen, a market researcher, polled 30,000 online respondents in 60 countries to gauge healthy eating trends, releasing the results Tuesday. Consumers were asked to rate 27 “health attributes” of food from “very important” to “not important” in their purchase decisions. The top two, each considered very important by 43 percent of global respondents, were foods with all natural ingredients and foods without ingredients containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

---

Farm-state poll asks consumers about 'organic' and 'GMO' food label claims - Food labels indicating 'GMO,' 'organic,' or 'hormone-free' are helpful, but their claims raise skepticism, Iowa's Food & Family Project study finds.

More consumers say they find food labels helpful, but confidence in the trustworthiness of labels has declined, and falls even more when consumers are provided additional information about such claims, according to a new poll conducted in by the Iowa Food & Family Project. The poll included responses from 353 health-conscious Iowans who make the majority of their household's food purchases. With a 4.3% margin of error, it asked participants' take on food labels like "natural," "local," "organic," "hormone-free," "antibiotic-free" and "GMO-free." Food labels indicating GMO, organic, or hormone-free are helpful, but their claims raise skepticism, Iowas Food & Family Project study finds
Food labels indicating 'GMO,' 'organic,' or 'hormone-free' are helpful, but their claims raise skepticism, Iowa's Food & Family Project study finds

2015-01-22 |

Sustainable farming systems in Bangladesh and Japan receive global recognition

Four new sites designated Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems for innovation, sustainability and adaptability

15/12/2015 Rome, Italy
Four traditional farming systems in Bangladesh and Japan have been designated today by FAO as "Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems."

They include Bangladesh's floating gardens, a unique hydroponics production system constructed with natural grasses and plants, which have been developed in flood areas; and a trio of sites in Japan: the sustainable river fisheries utilizing Sato-kawa system in Gifu, the Minabe-Tanabe Ume approach to growing apricots on nutrient-poor slopes in Wakayama; and the Takachihogo-Shiibayama mountainous agriculture and forestry system in Miyazaki which allows agricultural and forestry production in a steep mountainous area.

The sites were officially recognized during a joint meeting of the GIAHS Steering and Scientific Committee at FAO headquarters in Rome.

These new designations bring the number of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) systems to a total of 36 sites located in 15 countries in Africa, Latin America, Near East and Asia.

2015-01-20 |

Hungarian farm minister: The whole EU should be a GMO FREE ZONE

Hungary will initiate a joint alliance of European Union member states rejecting the use of genetically modified organisms in farming with the aim to make the entire European Union free from GMO crops, Hungarian farm minister Sándor Fazekas said on the sidelines of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin at the weekend. István Fazekas said the countries committed to GMO-free farming must forge an alliance because “we would like to keep our food and our environment healthy and we are convinced that the agriculture of the EU and Hungary can remain competitive with conventional crop and livestock production”.

Farm Ministry said last week that Hungary’s interests were fulfilled when a vote passed in the European Parliament allowed individual member states to ban the cultivation of GM crops. “It is an especially important strategic interest for Hungary laid down in its constitution also to ensure that its agriculture is GMO-free,” it said.

Go to page: ← ... 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 ... →