In the red corner, the increasingly successful citizens' campaign to label foods containing GMO ingredients. In the blue, a supine government and powerful GMO and grocery industry that will fight it all the way. Welcome to 2014 ...
… GMO and 'natural' food - let the fight begin Ronnie … genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as "natural" . The response: 'voluntary' and … chemically-intensive foods and crops. Since natural health and food activists discovered …
Monsanto was accused of 'crimes against humanity and the environment' at COP21 in Paris this week, writes Pavlos Georgiadis. And now the evidence against it is being gathered for presentation at a 'Monsanto Tribunal' taking place next October in The Hague.
… as a prosecutable criminal offense, so that natural persons could incur criminal …
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.
… of genetic material that do not occur naturally, and alterations to genetic material … has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination;" Likewise, the …
Green soap-maker Ecover is the first company to openly admit that that it's using ingredients derived from 'synthetically modified organisms' - the next wave of GMOs - writes Jim Thomas. So why are they risking their ‘natural' brand for this experimental biotechnology?
… Jim Thomas. So why are they risking their ‘natural' brand for this experimental … a bit of all of these when I discovered that 'natural' soap-maker Ecover had become the … had been using Ecover products as a trusted 'natural' brand for over 20 years. Using …
Vandana Shiva is more than just a leading scientist, author and campaigner on green issues and anti-globalisation, writes Scott London. She is also among the most prominent of Mahatma Ghandi's intellectual heirs. In this interview, she discusses how this led her to be an outspoken voice on such crucial environmental issues as seed legacy, biopiracy and economic injustice.
… Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy in Dehra Dun. She is … of India - people who are dependent on natural resources, on biodiversity, on the …
Monarch butterfly numbers are dwindling despite protection of their wintering forests in Mexico, and voluntary schemes to restore their food plant, milkweed, in US field margins, writes Eva Sirinathsinghji. These measures alone are insufficient: no less than an end to the mass spraying of glyphosate on crops, predicated by 'Roundup-ready' GM corn and soy, will do.
… ISIS | 2nd March 2016 News Biodiversity Natural World USA GMOs Farming Mexico Forests … as one of the world's most spectacular natural phenomena but over the last few years, … WWF of Mexico and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) from the …
Following The Ecologist's revelation about Ecover's use of synthetic biology to make laundry detergent, the company has put its trials on hold, writes Jim Thomas. But to regain public trust, the company must re-engage honestly with its critics, and its customers.
… should be avoided in public. Consumers prefer natural to synthetic, and 'syn' brings up … is hard to guarantee. Even discounting natural disasters (Solazyme's labs are a few … are referring to developing products from natural materials that address environmental …
A synthetic biology plant producing the anti-malarial drug artemisinin has just shut down as it's much cheaper to use wormwood grown by African farmers, writes Almuth Ernsting. The technology is even further from making affordable diesel, with a production cost of $20-50 per litre. No wonder investors are losing patience - and confidence - in loss-making synbio companies.
… in the article explains that if the price of natural artemisinin, derived from sweet … These are carbon molecules only found naturally in plants. Isoprenoids are not just …
Scotland's small-scale farmers have welcomed their government's decision to prevent the growing of GM crops, aimed at enhancing the country's 'clean, green status', among a coalition of green NGOs.
… is known around the world for our beautiful natural environment - and banning growing …
Ecover refutes allegations that it has been using 'synthetic biology' to make soap ingredients from algae. On the contrary, write Tom Domen & Dirk Develter, it's just old fashioned fermentation, and the company remains at the forefront of sustainability and responsible practice.
… by the supplier of our algal oil employs the natural mutation process of algae and standard … than we have, and they work within their natural oil producing pathways using … algae produce the oil that the algae produce naturally; they do not and cannot produce …
Reports show that traditional breeding techniques are years ahead of GM technologies in developing crops to withstand drought and poor soils, writes Lawrence Woodward. Yet GM advocates are sticking rigidly to their script even as the evidence mounds against them ...
Resisting drought: conventional plant breeding outperforms GM Lawrence Woodward | 4th October 2014 Comment Farming GMOs Science failed-corn-crop-cut.jpg Reports show that traditional breeding …
The US EPA has approved new GMO corn and soybean varieties resistant to both glyphosate and 2,4-D, writes Jim Goodman - and the highly toxic herbicide mix itself. In this latest escalation of the chemical war against nature there is one clear winner - Dow AgroSciences. But everyone else loses - farmers, consumers and our increasingly endangered wildlife.
… October 2014 Comment Farming Regulation Law Natural World USA Toxics GMOs Organic …
A radical new Seed Law drafted by Venezuelan people, farmers and NGOs was signed into law in the closing days of 2015, write William Camacaro, Frederick B. Mills & Christina M. Schiavoni. Striking back against the corporate takeover of seeds and peddling of GMOs, the Seed Law bans transgenic seeds, protects the country's germplasm, and establishes the legal foundation for a participatory, agroecological food and farming system.
… guarantees the rational and optimal use of natural resources, respecting the processes … and rational and optimal utilization of vital natural resources." (p. 19-20) In closing, … a common good of public, cultural as well as natural material and immaterial interest of …
While GM labeling is slowly gaining ground, the Non-GMO, GM-Free, and Organic labels are taking US health food markets by storm. Dr Mae Wan Ho reports ...
… Project began as an initiative of independent natural foods retailers wanting to provide … one of the fastest growing labels in the natural products industry. Annual sales topped … egg products. Also in 2013, a record 1,850 natural food retailers took part in the fourth …
Advanced molecular genetic techniques are allowing scientists to breed disease resistance from wild grape varieties into susceptible domestic cultivars used for making wine, writes Andrew Walker. And it's all being done by conventional plant breeding accelerated by the use of DNA markers - with not a GMO in sight!
… through clonal selection. People watch for natural mutations in vine offshoots called … by cuttings and distributed. But these naturally-occurring mutations don't provide … traditional breeding can't. There are some naturally PD-resistant grapes. Grape breeders …
It looked like such a good idea: take the pressure off wild fish stocks by growing GM oilseeds that produce health-enhancing long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, writes Claire Robinson. But as a new study has established, those fish oils, novel in terrestrial ecosystems, cause wing deformities in cabbage white butterflies. Yet a third open field trial of these GM crops could soon be under way.
… and function, and the immune system. They are naturally found in oily fish and algae. Many … their wild counterparts, which enjoy a diet naturally rich in these oils. But as fish …
GMOs have been in our diets for about 20 years, writes Rupert Read. Proof that they are safe? No way - it took much, much longer to discover the dangers of cigarettes and transfats, dangers that are far more visible than those of GMOs. On the scale of nature and ecology, 20 years is a pitifully short time. To sustain our human future, we have to think long term.
The Precautionary Principle: the basis of a post-GMO ethic Rupert Read | 18th April 2016 Comment GMOs Society Science Technology cig-cut.jpg GMOs have been in our diets for about 20 years, writes …
GMO crops are marketed as providing quick fixes to complex problems, writes Julia Wright. But they only perpetuate 'business as usual' farming that's depleting soils, water and biodiversity, and entrench unsustainable models of agriculture in place of agroecological systems that work with, not against, nature.
Farmers would do better to understand the land than grow GM crops Julia Wright Coventry University | 11th April 2016 Comment Farming GMOs Agroecology Cuba Organic crops-cut.jpg GMO crops are marketed …
Scientists, environmental and consumer groups have decried USDA's approval of two 'Arctic' apple varieties, while major food companies and apple growers have no plans to source or grow them - despite their potential to 'generate consumer excitement in the apple category.'
… to air, because the enymes that catalyse the natural browning process have been diasabled. … the environment, in a number of ways. Without natural browning, apples may look fresh when … senior scientist at Consumers Union. The natural browning enzyme in apples may also …
Next to McDonalds, Burger King and KFC, Chipotle's Mexican Grill is a minnow, writes Jonathan Latham. But its decision to go GMO-free will ultimately compel all America's consumer-facing food brands to follow suit - because that's what their customers want. Could this be the beginning of the end of GMOs? That's what Monsanto, Dupont, Bayer and Syngenta fear.
… , which describes itself as "a leading natural and organic food and personal care … products ... gluten-free products and ... natural products. [But] where the big, big …
A coalition of fishing, consumer, and environmental groups are suing the FDA for its 'unlawful' approval of Aquabounty's GM salmon, as it relied on treating the fish as an 'animal drug' under a 1938 law, and ignored serious risks to wild salmon and fishing communities.
… high risk for GE organisms to escape into the natural environment, and that GE salmon can … it could have irreversible impacts on the natural world" , said Dune Lankard, a salmon … that hasn't eventually escaped into the natural environment " , said Golden Gate …
At what point are technologies so complex, uncertain, or unmanageable as to be beyond regulation? The question is key to human and ecological health, writes Jonatham Latham. But instead of learning from successful approaches, such as aviation safety, we are throwing the lessons away when faced with truly complex problems - like chemicals, GMOs, and now 'gene drives'.
… deaths given the inherently hazardous and unnatural nature of flight. In significant … soybeans in most of the United States. This natural biological containment acts as a … however, which are not subject to such natural containment. Creeping bentgrass ( …
Following the retraction of the Seralini et al scientific paper which found health damage to rats fed on GM corn, over 100 scientists have pledged in this Open Letter to boycott Elsevier, publisher of the Journal responsible.
… Chesham, UNITED KINGDOM Michael Arconada Natural Biological Medicine www.naturalhealthmethods.org Director of Research, … Hughes B Sc Dip Chem Eng Dip Stats Lic Ac, Natural Medicine Clinic, Dublin , IRELAND …
This Tuesday voters in Oregon and Colorado will have the chance to strike a decisive blow for consumers' right to know by forcing the labeling of GMO ingredients. Big Food is spending big to mislead and confuse voters, writes Ronnie Cummins - but the outcome is looking too close to call.
… also prohibits labeling GMO-tainted foods as 'natural'. And although the Vermont law (which … the nation's largest retailer of organic and natural foods, Whole Foods Market, to announce … labeling or marketing GMO-tainted foods as 'natural' or 'all natural'. The Pompeo …