2 May 2016 / A newly published report shows that the introduction of the free trade agreements between EU and Canada (CETA) and the US (TTIP) will almost certainly lead to lower EU standards in protection of consumers and the environment. Contrary to some public statements that have been made, both the German government and the EU Commission are aware of these consequences. The report written by Christoph Then was published by Greenpeace Germany.
EFSA and Monsanto are ignoring risks for farmers and the environment
Friday, 22 April 2016
In an open letter to the EU Commission, several Spanish, British and German organisations are urging that effective measures be taken to prevent genetically engineered maize from spreading into the environment. As evidenced by the organisations, the ancestor of cultivated maize, teosinte, is widely invading agricultural landscapes in several regions of Spain where, in some cases, the genetically engineered maize MON810 is also cultivated which is producing an insecticidal protein.
EU Commission intends to have a much stricter regulatory approach than the US
21 April 2016 / Greenpeace, Gene Watch UK and Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) today published internal European Commission documents on TTIP and new genetic engineering methods such as CRISPR / Cas. They show that the United States is exerting enormous pressure in a bid to stop plants engineered with new genome editing technologies from being subject to EU genetic engineering regulation. According to industry and the US government, these plants should be commercialised without having to undergo the authorisation process.
Concerns about health risks due to residues from spraying glyphosate in combination with other herbicides
Friday, 8 April 2016
In a recent letter to Testbiotech, EU Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis made it clear that the Commission finally wants to allow the import of genetically engineered soybeans produced by Bayer and Monsanto, despite concerns about health risks. These soybeans can be sprayed with a combination of glyphosate and other herbicides such as dicamba or isoxaflutole. The European Food Safety Authority EFSA just recently stated that the health risks of these residues cannot be sufficiently assessed and safety levels cannot be defined since the relevant data are missing.