Advocates claim that synthetic biology and the so-called New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) are distinct from genetic engineering (GE), write Helena Paul, Elisabeth Bücking & Ricarda Steinbrecher. In fact synthetic biology and NBTs carry similar risks to old-style GE, and even create novel hazards. The 'new GE' techniques - as they should be named - and their products deserve regulation at least as strict as those applying to GMOs.
… 'New Breeding Techniques' and synthetic biology - genetic engineering by another name … Advocates claim that synthetic biology and the so-called New Breeding … & Ricarda Steinbrecher. In fact synthetic biology and NBTs carry similar risks to …
Three in one: EFSA set to re-licence glyphosate based on secret industry studies; Monsanto moves against IARC verdict that glyphosate is a 'probable carcinogen'; and new science shows that FDA principle of GMO 'substantial equivalence' is bunk.
… Disrupt Molecular Systems Equilibria? Systems Biology May Provide Answers ', authors V A … Prabhakar Deonikar report on their 'systems biology' approach to the question, and find … targeted GM is not plant breeding." "Systems biology" , they propose, "which aims to …
The European Commission has just cleared Monsanto's GM maize for use in the EU. Yet, as Jeffrey M Smith reveals, proper analysis of tests done to gain that approval suggest it should never have been given
Cause For Concern Jeffrey M Smith | 17th February 2009 Comment Gm Maize GM Testing Gm Products EU Food And Farming Health Archive_183.jpg The European Commission has just cleared Monsanto's GM maize …
The US looks set to approve GM crops that resist the 'Agent Orange' pesticide 2,4-D as well as glyphosate, writes Helena Paul. If it does, the toxic chemical - created in WW2 to destroy enemy food supplies - will soon end up in animal feeds, and the food we eat.
Coming to your table? GMO crops resistant to 'war herbicide' 2,4D Helena Paul | 8th May 2014 News GMOs USA Brazil Argentina Toxics Farming Food EU crop duster-cut.jpg The use of 2,4D - a toxic …
The EU is considering the exclusion of gene-edited plants and animals from GM regulations, write Janet Cotter & Ricarda Steinbrecher. However gene-edited organisms clearly fall within the definition of GMOs in both European and international law. They also present real risks to the environment and human health - and must be regulated like any other GMOs.
… engineered organisms and synthetic biology. She's a founding member of the …
As 300 protestors gather at the European Commission to protest at the resumption of TTIP trade talks between the EU and the USA, Oliver Tickell finds that the EU's newly released draft 'chapter' on food safety and animal welfare is a disastrous capitulation to corporate interests that will strip governments of their powers to regulate.
… cloning, genetic modification or synthetic biology. The purpose of the draft proposal, in … technologies like nanotechnology, synthetic biology, animal cloning and genetically … microbes being introduced through synthetic biology, unless plant pests are involved." And …
It was 28 years ago today that Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine ruptured and ignited, sending a massive plume of radiation across Europe. Jim Green assesses the scientific evidence for how many people died as a result of the catastrophe.
Chernobyl - how many died? Jim Green - Nuclear Monitor | 26th April 2014 News Nuclear Power Radiation Health Ukraine EU Science fuku-angels-cut.jpg It was 28 years ago today that Reactor 4 at the …
Greece's economic woes will never be solved by merely moving money around the banking system, writes Oliver Tickell. The lasting solution is to restore native forests to her barren hills and mountains, invest in large-scale solar power to energise Europe, and create an examplar of sustainable development for our global future.
… and economics, but life sciences such as biology, medicine and, in particular, ecology. …
MEPs have voted against a proposed EU sed regulation that would further concentrate the seed market and discriminate against genetically diverse traditional seeds.
MEPs vote against EU seed Regulation Oliver Tickell | 31st January 2014 News Food Farming Seeds EU Regulation heritage-seed-library.png MEPs have voted against a proposed EU sed regulation that would …
Europe did not light the fires ravaging the Amazon, but it did provide some of the matches.
Europe can help save the Amazon by changing itself Khaled Diab | 10th September 2019 News Amazon Rainforest EU Deforestation Trade Thought Leaders amazonburning.jpg Europe did not light the fires …
Poland's environment ministry has a plan for a huge increase in logging in Europe's last great primeval forest, writes Zachary Davies Boren. Officials claim it's to control bark beetles. But ecologists say the insects are regulated naturally within the forest ecosystem, while logging threatens huge damage to irreplaceable biodiversity.
Timber! Poland's bid to increase logging 8-fold in primeval Bialowieza Forest Zachary Boren Greenpeace Energydesk | 18th February 2016 News Forests Biodoversity Ecology UNESCO Poland Belarus EU Law …
While mainstream media promulgate a fictitious message of Russian threats in the Baltic, Vladimir Putin's next big play lies far to the south, writes Oliver Tickell. The gross intransigence of the EU, the IMF, the European Central Bank and Germany are forcing Greece into a powerful new economic and energy alliance with Russia that will reshape Europe - and for the better.
NATO invents Russian threats in the Baltic - but Putin's next big play is Greece Oliver Tickell | 19th February 2015 Comment Politics Energy Finance EU Greece tsipras-cut.jpg While mainstream media …
A year ago today, Europe-wide protests defeated an EU regulation that would have outlawed many seed saving activities, writes Ben Raskin. Now growers are taking matters into their own hands, saving and developing open-pollinated seeds - and campaigning for a seed regulation that supports them, not the monopolist seed corporations.
The seed saving rebellion is growing - and banging at the Commission's door Ben Raskin | 29th January 2015 News Farming Seeds EU Law Politics Commons hayes-valley-farm-seed-library-cut.jpg A year ago …
Whale and dolphin experts from across the world today launched a new campaign at the European Parliament to ban dolphin captivity in Europe, putting an end to a long saga of abuse and exploitation.
Call goes out for dolphinarium-free Europe The Ecologist | 4th March 2015 News Cetaceans Oceans EU Law loro-parque-cut.jpg Whale and dolphin experts from across the world today launched a new …
A pilot study of American mothers' milk has found levels of the herbicide glyphosate around 1,000 times higher than allowed in European drinking water. Campaigners are demanding a ban on the use of glyphosate on food crops.
… scientist at the Institute of Integrative Biology in Zurich, stated, "If confirmed in a …
Brussels is a city of ruthless, well-resourced corporate lobbyists. And unlike ordinary EU citizens, they enjoy priviliged access to officials, negotiators and parliamentarians, and are used to getting their own way. That's a state of affairs that David Lundy & Olivier Hoedeman are determined to end with their 'citizens tours' of EU Lobbyland ...
Exposing the secrets of the EU's corporate Lobbyland David Lundy Olivier Hoedeman Corporate Europe Observatory | 28th April 2015 Activism EU Trade Corporations Corporate Europe Observatory …
The proposed structure of Juncker's new European Commission sidelines sustainability issues and risks undoing years of environmental legislation. The European Parliament must now block his deregulatory assault on the EU’s climate, energy, biodiversity, pollution, chemicals and environmental health policies.
EU Parliament must reject Juncker's anti-environment Commission Green10 | 29th September 2014 Comment EU Regulation Pollution Climate Change amsterdam-harbour-cut.jpg The proposed structure of …
We, the signatories of this declaration, are calling on the European Union (EU) to exclude bioenergy from its next Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and thereby stop direct and indirect subsidies for renewable energy from biofuels and wood-burning.
Large-scale bioenergy must be excluded from the EU's renewable energy definition Biofuelwatch co-signatories | 10th February 2016 Comment Biofuels Climate Change Indigenous Peoples EU Law …
Europe's most important laws for wildlife, the EU's Nature Directives, are under threat in from a recently launched 'review', writes Martin Harper. The official purpose is to make the laws more effective, but in reality it's all part of the Commission's agenda to strip away regulations that impede business in its pursuit of profit.
We must defend Europe's wildlife laws! Martin Harper | 12th May 2015 Comment Conservation Protected Areas Natural World EU Law Politics avocet-cut.jpg Europe's most important laws for wildlife, the …
European Union regulations stop exposure to pesticides that are mutagenic, carcinogenic, or that disrupt endocrine systems - but that protection may not last.
EU 'may legalise human harm from pesticides' Hans Muilerman Dr Jonathan Latham | 12th April 2019 News EU Pesticides Science And Systems 13393612819686.jpg European Union regulations stop exposure to …