I have just used the email form on this FoE campaign page to ask the UK Government to protect our interests by resisting WTO effort to overturn national GM bans in Europe.
The final ruling in the WTO dispute on GM foods has been sent in secret to the countries in the dispute and it is thought that the conlusions are mostly unchanged from the draft report which was leaked to Friends of the Earth.
This week the World Trade Organisation released its draft ruling on the GM trade dispute to the parties involved. It has sided with the US, claiming Europe's national bans on GM are a barrier to trade and illegal under WTO rules. Friends of the Earth are still running their Biteback campaign on this issue. What would happen if a coca or opium producing country were to complain to the WTO that national laws against cocaine and heroin use are a barrier to free trade?
A plan to make it more likely that GM crops are grown across Europe has been rejected by EU ministers - despite UK support for the idea.
The fourth and final test of a GM crop grown under UK farm conditions has highlighted the detrimental effects the novel plants can have on wildlife.
The FOE Scarecrows against GM contamination campaign will be holding a rally and mass lobby of Parliament on 2005-02-23.
Under the guise of helping get Iraq back on its feet, the US is setting out to totally re-engineer the country's traditional farming systems into a US-style corporate agribusiness. Read about it in Jeremy Smith's Order 81: Re-engineering Iraqi agriculture.
Friends of the Earth Europe are running a campaign to stop the EU backing down on GM food under WTO pressure.
A survey reveals that Britons are increasingly worried about genetically modified foods.
Greenpeace volunteers have boarded a French cargo vessel carrying GM Maize from the US, in a bid to stop it entering Britain.
Unfortunately, under US pressure, the European Union has lifted its six year moratorium on genetically modified food.
Monsanto drops plans for GM wheat.
The US government is attempting to use the WTO to force us Europeans to swallow the GMO bullshit - what can we do about it? To start with you could sign and publicise the Bite Back Citizens' Objection.
With the announcement by Bayer that it will not be cultivating Chardon LL maize, GM crop growing in the UK has been shelved for the "foreseeable future" according to the UK government:-)
According to this report genetically modified strains have contaminated two-thirds of all crops in the United States, but despite intense opposition the UK Government has approved the growing of one variety of GM maize for animal feed. The struggle continues though, as demonstrated by yesterday's announcement of an enquiry into the decision by the Commons environment committee.
It looks like qualified approval for GM maize production in the UK is imminent according to this BBC report which emphasises the anger which this decision would likely provoke.
I recently made use of the excellent GM Watch website and in particular the Profiles of the main people and organisations promoting GM. Useful if you want to check out the credentials of anyone putting out suspicious looking information.
What is all this fuss about Genetically Modified Organisms? Do they present a serious danger to the environment? Who knows. Do they present an opportunity for huge multi-national Agri-Business and Bio-Tech companies to make billions of dollars? You bet!
In the United Kingdom most people don't want to eat GM products and they have made their feelings pretty clear - so much so that all the big super-markets have had to introduce GM free policies to avoid loosing customers. Unfortunately, the companies which stand to benefit from GM have been working away behind the scenes using all sorts of devious tactics to persuade the Government to effectively force GM on an unwilling public.
For further information check out the Genetic Engineering Network and consider signing the Green Gloves Pledge.
www.zenatode.org.uk Ian Gregory 2010