The way food is produced has a profound impact on its nutritional profile, according to research published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Not only is organic farming better for animal welfare, the environment and wildlife, writes Peter Melchett, but organic meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables all have tangible health benefits for the people who eat them.
… Organic food is well worth paying for - for … | 4th March 2016 News Food Farming Regulation Organic UK Health organic-boxes-cut.jpg The way food is produced …
Organic farming has changed, but for the better, writes Soil Association head of policy and Norfolk organic farmer Peter Melchett. As never before, organic inspections are central to the delivery of environmental and animal care, and food you really can trust.
… Organic inspections, organic growth Peter Melchett | 24th May 2014 Comment Food Farming Regulation Organic UK farm-cut.jpg Organic farming has changed, but for the …
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.
GM 2.0? 'Gene-editing' produces GMOs that must be regulated as GMOs Janet Cotter Ricarda Steinbrecher | 13th January 2016 News Science Technology GMOs Regulation EU canola-seed-cut.jpg The EU is …
Organic certification used to be carried out by real farmers in wellies, who knew all the tricks and could spot dodgy practice on the land at 100 paces, writes Julian Rose. Today's certifiers arrive in patent leather shoes and get no further than the office - and this is meant to be an improvement?
… Organic certification - inorganic bureaucracy Julian Rose | 17th May 2014 Ethical Living Food Farming Organic Regulation UK organic-sow-piglets-cut.jpg Organic …
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 Helena Paul Elisabeth Bücking Ricarda A. Steinbrecher | 4th April 2017 News GMOs Technology Regulation Farming EU …
New EU regulations forbid the use of herbal remedies and plant essences to maintain animal health instead of antibiotics, reports Sandra Saadi. An organic ewe breeder in France has already been threatened with the loss of EU farm support payments.
… EU outlaws animal use of herbal remedies on organic farms Sandra Saadi | 11th July 2014 … News Farming Food France Regulation EU Health Organic sandrine-cut.jpg New EU regulations … of antibiotics, reports Sandra Saadi. An organic ewe breeder in France has already been …
The EU Commission has caved in to US pressure in TTIP trade talks by deciding to consider organisms modified by new 'gene editing' techniques as non-GM - in violation of the EU's own laws. The move could make the 'new GMOs' exempt from labeling and from health and environmental testing.
… organisations, small-scale farmers and the organic sector have called on the Commission …
As scientific evidence grows of the many ways in which glyphosate - pipe-cleaner, herbicide and antibiotic - damages the environment and health, governments and regulators turn a blind eye, writes Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji, and the EU has even raised allowable residue levels. It's time for us all to put bans in place wherever we can!
… respectively. Those who ate predominantly organic food had lower levels, along with … residues from their foods by buying organic. Environmental toxicity a concern for …
A growing body of scientific evidence show that cell phone users suffer a range of negative health impacts from infertility and brain tumors to hyperactivity and memory loss, writes Gary Null. Yet the Center for Disease Control has taken a weak and ambiguous stance on the issue, reflecting industry interests at the expense of citizens. We deserve - and must demand - better.
Radiating corruption? The frightening science and politics of cell phone safety Gary Null | 8th February 2016 News Radiation Health Regulation Science USA cellphone-cut.jpg A growing body of …
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'.
Gene drives: the scientific case for a complete and perpetual ban Jonathan Latham | 13th February 2017 News Regulation GMOs Health Toxics Ecology Pesticides chemical-valley-cut.jpg At what point are …
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.
… Regulation Law Natural World USA Toxics GMOs Organic milkweed-monarch-cut.jpg The US EPA … suit. When people ask me why we switched to organic farming, that swirling yellow tank mix … available to growers." (These are tactics organic farmers have always used). But for …
While the fossil fuel industry and Republican states and senators step up legal and political challenges to Obama's Clean Power Plan, protests have also been flooding in to the EPA's ten regional offices from climate activists - demanding that it cut out dirty biofuels and 'carbon trading' loopholes, and protect vulnerable communities from fossil fuel pollution.
Climate Justice activists to EPA: make Clean Power Plan work for fossil fuel afflicted communities! Kate Aronoff Waging NonViolence | 24th January 2015 Activism Climate Change Fossil Fuels Community …
The European Parliament voted this week to regulate nano-materials in the pending EU law on novel foods, write Jaydee Hanson & Evan Bromfield. But no such moves are taking place in the US. Let's make this the last time our children are exposed to these hazardous substances in their Halloween candy!
… over prospects of nanomaterials seeping into organic foods. Nanomaterials are synthetic, … in nature and they certainly don't belong in organic. Against widespread agreement from the wider organic community that nanotechnologies and …
Are GMOs safe? Up to a point, writes Jonathan Latham - provided you're not eating them. That's certainly not proven to be safe, indeed the hazards are numerous: protein encoding viral DNA fragments, herbicide metabolites, biotoxins whose operation is not understood, poorly conducted experiments ... and those are just the ones we know about.
Growing doubts over GMO safety: a scientist's experience Jonathan Latham | 31st August 2015 News GMOs Science Technology Health Corporations Regulation gmo-experiment-cut.jpg Are GMOs safe? Up to a …
A major US wind energy company is fined $1 million in the country's first-ever settlement over bird deaths caused by wind turbines, after 149 protected birds were killed.
Wind turbine bird deaths - company pays $1m fine Eco-Watch | 29th November 2013 News Wind Renewables Energy Regulation golden-eagle.png A major US wind energy company is fined $1 million in the …
Forty years ago Monsanto carried out detailed studies of glyphosate and Roundup toxicity, write Richard Gale & Gary Null. But they have remained buried in filing cabinets ever since. Now a determined scientist has breached the wall of secrecy - and all the evidence is that Monsanto knew just how toxic its products were all along, while claiming they were 'safe as lemonade'.
… are sprayed with Roundup. According to the Organic Consumers Association, non-organic and non-GM foods such as wheat, … Roundup. Enough to Make You Sick ', Organic Consumers Association. January 21, …
Apparent 'victories' in the fight against toxic chemicals - like the EU's failure to re-approve glyphosate yesterday - are illusory, writes Jonathan Latham. The real problem is not one of specific 'bad actors', but the entire system that allows new, likely to be toxic compounds to pollute the environment in near-total ignorance of their impacts. It's time to take our campaigning to a whole new level.
The problem is not glyphosate, or DDT, or BPA - we must challenge the entire system! Jonathan Latham | 20th May 2016 News Toxics Pesticides Regulation Corporations Campaigning Science …
Boosters of 'free trade' agreements - like the Trans Pacific Partnership that's being signed today - like to make big promises, writes Pete Dolack: trillions of dollars of economic gains, billions of dollars of investment, millions of new jobs. But there's only one certainty, and it's one they never mention: the permanent redistribution of power and income from working people to capital.
Promises be damned: TPP 'benefits' are strictly for the corporations Pete Dolack | 4th February 2016 News Trade Politics Regulation Economics Corporations New Zealand Pacific tpp-free-cut.jpg …
The global pesticide and bioscience giant Monsanto is a byword for evil for millions of campaigners and concerned citizens, writes JP Sottile. But that has never stopped it getting its way with the people that matter - politicians and regulators. And now the company is on the verge of biggest victory ever - winning clearance to spray biologically active RNA sequences on US crops.
… . It has also beaten back challenges from organic farmers who fell victim to ' genetic … farmers while also quietly eliminating their organic competition through the sheer ubiquity …
Whatever people were voting for when they elected President Donald Trump, very few were seeking to remove the already scant protections afforded to dogs and puppies kept in unregulated 'factory farm' breeding sheds, writes JP Sottile. But that's the effect of the deregulatory whirlwind that's hit USDA: more profit for the animal abusers, and more suffering for the animals.
And then he came for the animals - is Donald Trump trying to make puppy mills great again? JP Sottile | 15th February 2017 News Animal Welfare Regulation USA Politics Farming puppy-mill-cut.jpg …
The risk of cancer from the world's top herbicide, glyphosate, is just the tip of the iceberg of health damage caused by exposure to pesticides and other toxic agrochemicals, writes Georgina Downs. It's time for governments to correct their scandalous failure to protect rural residents from the cocktails of poisons sprayed on crops.
… food production projects involving simple, organic type techniques in different countries … of 205 comparisons made of yields from organic and conventional farming systems in … G. Stanhill, 1989. Another report found that organic and agro-ecological farming in the …
The Government is preparing 'rules' that will enable the planting of GM crops in the UK as soon as 2017, writes Lawrence Woodward. A ministerial letter also signals a significant weakening of GMO safeguards compared to the Tories' 2010 manifesto. Now is the time to exert maximum pressure and fight off a planned GMO invasion.
… serious consideration of co-existence of GM, organic and non-GM crops it commissioned … who want to be made exempt from liability if organic and non-GM crops and habitats are contaminated - rather than for organic producers and others who want to avoid …
Each year the US Department of Agriculture manages to test for over 400 pesticides in food, writes Carey Gillam. But glyphosate, the world's biggest-selling herbicide, is not among them, even as evidence of its dangers mounts. It's time for USDA and EPA to stop their buck-passing - and give consumers their right to know.
USDA and EPA must come clean over Roundup residues Carey Gillam USRTK | 12th January 2016 Comment Toxics Farming Regulation Health GMOs cereal-cut.jpg Each year the US Department of Agriculture …
The health of Europe's citizens is on trial as the EU's food safety regulator challenges the World Health Organisation over glyphosate and cancer, writes Corporate Europe Observatory. On the WHO side, published, peer reviewed science, real world epidemiology and open processes. While the EFSA conclusion is based on secret industry studies and opaque procedures. Will science or realpolitik win the day?
EFSA and EU member states vs. WHO on glyphosate as carcinogen: can science win? Corporate Europe Observatory | 2nd December 2015 News Health Science Regulation EU Corporations Toxics …