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GMOs, Food and Farming campaign
Working for healthier, tastier food that is good for the environment and people



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5th European Conference on GMO Free Regions
Food and Democracy

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Critique of inflated GM crop data out today
11 February 2009

Joint NGO letter to European Ministers about an Austrian study which shows that feeding GMOs to mice impacted on fertility
November 2008

 

 Further reading


Zero tolerance resource pages

EU debates GMOs at highest levels

Brochure on the French GMO law
From InfoGM, France (July 2008)

Joint NGO briefing on 'zero tolerance' and 'asynchronous approvals'
Briefing (May) in response to the 7 May orientation debate

An analysis of the DG AGRI report on the economic impact of unapproved GMOs
May 2008

Read the NGO response to the Plenary oral question on feed price increases and the EU's GMO policy
April 2008

EU's GMOs policy is NOT threatening Europe's livestock industry
December 2007

 
 Wider Food and Farming issues
 

arrow Agriculture
arrow Agrofuels
arrow Nanotechnology in food and agriculture


 
 Explore the GMO issue
 
What's wrong with GMOs
 
What European think about GMOs
 
Co-existence
 
The Failure of Genetically Modified Foods and Crops in Europe EN ES FR
 
 European legislation and approvals archive

Click here
 
 GMO protests from across Europe

Actions and events from across the Friends of the Earth Europe network and other partner groups

 

Right to national GMO bans upheld: European Commission defeated


Campaigners in Hungary demonstrating for the GMO ban to be upheld (Photo credit: www.g2foto.hu)

March 2, 2009 Brussels – Today, the European Commission was defeated in its latest attempt to force two countries to drop bans on controversial genetically modified maize. It was the second and third time that Hungary and Austria respectively had come under attack by the European Commission for refusing to grow GM maize. Friends of the Earth has welcomed the vote.  More...

Biotech industry fakes growth of GM crops in Europe


(Photo credit: j.christiansen/onehemisphere)

On the eve of the release of annual industry-sponsored figures by the ISAAA, a new report today from Friends of the Earth International reveals the failure of genetically modified crops around the world, and how statistics showing their increase in Europe have been manipulated. Read the full report here

Figures issued by the European biotech industry lobby group EuropaBio erased the latest country to have banned growing GM crops – France – from its calculations. By doing this, the biotech industry could falsely claim an increase of 21% in the area under cultivation in the EU in 2008. Infact there has been a 2% decline over the last year, and 35% decrease for all of Europe in the last 4 years.

The benefits of this kind of manipulation were made apparent when a couple of months after this data was first published, the President of the European Commission’s office quoted the false figure in a high level political meeting as a justification for the “growing interest in using GMOs in the EU” (see leaked documents here

The cultivation of GMOs remains a fraction of agriculture, with GM maize, the only GM crop approved, constituting a mere 0.21% of agricultural land in the European Union. Globally, GM crops are still confined to a handful of countries with highly industrialised, export-oriented agricultural sectors. Nearly 90% of the area planted to GM crops in 2007 was found in just six countries in North and South America, with 80% in the US, Argentina and Brazil. One country alone, the United States, plants over 50% of the world’s GM crops. Just 3% or less of cropland in India and China is planted to GM crops.

Read the Executive Summary

Read the EU media briefing

Read the critique on the ISAAA inflated GM crop data

European Commission pushes for new GM crops in Europe


(Photo credit: www.flickr.com)

On 21 January 2009, The European Commission issued proposals for two new varieties of genetically modified (GM) maize to be grown in Europe despite outstanding safety concerns.

In a proposal sent to EU member states, the Commission also says it wants to force Greece, Hungary and France to drop their national bans on a similar GM maize. Read more


Rising prices for animal feed
The facts behind the fiction

cows eating
Heartland Jerseys

The EU's stance on GMOs is not a threat to the livestock industry, contrary to claims by the industry and the European Commission. This scaremongering is an attempt to use rising animal feed prices to weaken EU GMO policy. This is also being used by the biotech industry to push for the "zero tolerance" policy to be dropped.
But it is in fact the blind rush for agrofuels and poor weather conditions that are causing the worldwide shortages in key feed crops.

Click here for more information and resources on zero tolerance.

Read Friends of the Earth's GMO livestock briefing for the facts behind the fiction.

Friends of the Earth's European GMO Campaign is working to safeguard GMO-free agriculture and to ensure that European citizens have the right to choose GMO-free food. To achieve this, Friends of the Earth's national groups across Europe are working together to:

  • actively lobby at EU and national level to strengthen GMO legislation;
  • promote the creation of GMO free zones;
  • increase public awareness and participation in decision-making about GMOs, and help ensure that consumers can exercise their right to choose about GM crops and food;
  • research information and propose policy solutions.

Contact:
Helen.Holder(at)foeeurope.org

 

 

Quick Navigator

arrow Position papers and briefings
arrow Reports and publications
arrow GMO events and actions

 
 Press releases
 

 30.06.09 EFSA back in bed with GMO industry

 27.05.09 Public warned over "green" soy scam

 02.03.09 Right to national GMO bans upheld: European Commission defeated

 25.02.09 No agreement on future of GM maize in Europe

 16.02.09 GMO votes: Commission fails to get EU countries' support

 
 Position papers &  
  Briefings


Joint NGO briefing on 'zero tolerance' and 'asynchronous approvals'
In response to the 7 May orientation debate.
Briefing (May)

BRIEFING: EU's GMOs policy is NOT threatening Europe's livestock industry
Briefing (December 2007)

Hidden uncertainties -
What the European Commission doesn't want us to know about the risks of GMOs

From FoEE and Greenpeace, (April 2006)

  

more


Reports and publications
   
Who benefits from GM crops?
The executive summary of the report
The full report
Questions and Answers about the report (2008)
Other language versions
   
Throwing caution to the wind
A review of the European Food Safety Authority and its work on genetically modified foods and crops
.
   
 
 
 Campaigners resources
 

Links

FoEE GMOs contacts

GMO-free Europe campaign materials

GMO contamination register
List of rice contamination incidents in Europe

European Coalition for Corporate Justice

Aarhus Convention

FoE International website



         

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