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Staff at a Monsanto 'GMO Answers' booth Associated Press

EU countries won't be able to opt out from genetically-modified food

…For now, at least.

EU LAWMAKERS HAVE rejected a hard-won compromise which would have allowed member states to decide whether or not to import Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) for use in food and animal feed.

The European Parliament voted 557 to 75 against on a law which took the European Commission years to negotiate amid deep suspicions about the possible health and safety implications of GMO products.

The outcome, however, turned on a matter of principle – allowing member states to ban GMO products would mean erecting barriers within the EU’s most cherished achievement, its single market of more than 500 million people.

“Today’s vote gave a clear signal to the European Commission,” said centre-right Italian MEP Giovanni La Via, who chairs parliament’s environment committee.

This proposal could turn on its head what has been achieved with the single market and the customs union.”

La Via said the new rules – first proposed in 2010 – could have harmed EU agriculture “which is heavily dependent on protein supplies from GMO sources.”

Finally, there are concerns over whether this proposal could even be implemented, because there are no border controls in the EU.”

La Via said previously he believed existing legislation should be retained with national bans excluded.

Oregon Election GMO Labeling A field of genetically-modified sugar beets in Oregon, USA Associated Press Associated Press

Controversy

GMOs are hugely controversial in the EU, stirring sharp debate over their use and impact.

Some member states say they may carry as yet unknown health risks and are not necessary in any case, while others believe they are essential for the future and to ban them would turn the bloc into a scientific backwater.

The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, tried for years to bridge the positions but eventually decided to offer member states an opt-out mechanism to end the impasse.

Those that want to grow and import GMOs would be allowed to do so, while those that do not, could ban them.

Serbia GMO Protest Associated Press Associated Press

In January, lawmakers approved the opt-out legislation on cultivation and it is unclear what the next step is now after today’s vote to reject the same compromise on import and use.

EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis said the proposed legislation would not be withdrawn and the matter will have to be discussed with ministers.

The Commission said recently that 19 of the 28 member states had asked to keep GMOs out of their territory, creating a complicated patchwork even within member states themselves.

For example, the British government which strongly supports GMOs, but sought opt-outs for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, leaving only England to allow GMO crop cultivation.

GMO Whats in the Pipeline A genetically-engineered potato plant Associated Press Associated Press

No GMO crops are grown commercially in the Republic, although imported foods and animal feeds containing the ingredients are allowed.

The situation is further complicated by ongoing talks on a massive EU-US free trade accord, with Washington backing GMO use and hostile to any restrictive measures on them.

So far only one GM crop is cultivated in the EU: Monsanto’s MON 810 GM maize, which has been bio-engineered to protect against a harmful pest.

There are also eight pending applications for GMO cultivation, including the renewal of the MON810 authorisation. Additionally, 58 GMOs are authorised for import into the EU for food and feed uses.

- © AFP, 2015, with additional reporting TheJournal.ie staff

READ: Buying online? Here’s what you’ll be charged if you’re importing from outside the EU >

READ: These figures show Irish people lost more than anyone in the financial crisis >

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    Mute Conor
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Paving the way for TTIP.

    434
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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:51 PM

    wait till that takes hold. sh@t will truly hit the fan

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    Mute Mick Hannigan
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:11 PM

    paving the way to leave the EU more like it

    141
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    Mute Morgan Freeman
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:13 PM

    Wahoo. A petition.

    48
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    Mute ÉireBlood
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:45 PM

    There is a massive opportunity for Ireland to promote itself as the world centre of NATURAL ORGANIC FOOD. All the rich don’t touch GM, they know it is poison and carcinogenic. Most of the rest of the world are starting to say no to it too. Irish food products will be seen as the premier gold standard in pure good food, large business and income to be derived from this image. But our gov must push Ireland as anti GM and a protector of pure and natural food. FG being a globalist party will not do this.

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    Mute James O Donoghue
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:48 PM

    Neil deGrasse Tyson on gmo food!” on YouTube https://youtu.be/1ecT2CaL7NA

    38
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    Mute Marcus Clifford
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:56 PM

    This would be my hope too. However is there any hope that the food chain will not be compromised one way or another.

    29
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    Mute JohnAbbs
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    Oct 28th 2015, 7:50 PM

    MONSANTO = 666

    America’s toxic poison will be forced upon us through Obama’s TTIPs

    Jason explain yourself out of that one you Shill.

    http://www.gematrix.org/?word=monsanto

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    Mute Aine Duggan
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    Oct 28th 2015, 7:57 PM

    I agree wholeheartedly with you , what a golden opportunity for Ireland (y)

    42
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    Mute bingo
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:02 PM

    ÉireBlood, Good point.

    33
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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:12 PM

    US food is terrible. Look at size of average american. Ban GMO’S. If u dont believe me go to US urself and u will see.

    70
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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:15 PM

    Best way for EU economy AND employment is: local farmers-local food. Less co2 (transport) too !

    61
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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:18 PM

    Industry in Ireland is US owned. We should keep our Irish Agri Sector (pure). No gmo crops or feed should be allowed.

    76
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    Mute Margaret Daly
    Favourite Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:29 PM

    US where subway served rubber in their bread until recently!

    42
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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:33 PM

    Before we joined ec we were told-access to eu markets etc. Lie, we could never compete with giant german companies. We used to sell local food to local shops in galway. Was best for environment too (low co2/no transport). What happened? Local shops closed as large multiples moved in. They wouldnt buy produce from local farmers. Our business closed down. The locally owned shops closed. Unemployment increased. The eu expansion is about large companies mainly in germany dominating the market of the many small eu member states. it’s bad for local employment and it’s bad for the environment and it’s bad for food quality.

    69
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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:38 PM

    Mags, was in florida. Put what was suppose to be milk in my coffee. Had a sip. Strange taste. Stuck in spoon…..a highly viscous (white) substance resided undissolved in the bottom of my cup. Tasted like a hydrocarbon! It was actually akin to molten plastic. Unreal. Needless to say I got a coke to wash down my burger instead. Have u ever gone to the biscuit section in a US supermarket. Unreal. Terrible food over there.

    49
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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:06 PM

    EU Agri Commissioner Phil Hogan cannot be trusted. He’s only interested in No.1 ie. Himself. So if going with Monsanto is in his interest that is what he’ll do. We should leave the eu and they can keep him.

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:11 PM
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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:29 PM

    good link thanks

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:37 PM

    Then what will that do with the following with a DNA database, will companies have access to all DNA under TTIP?
    http://www.genewatch.org/sub-566778

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:38 PM
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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:44 PM

    No problem Mags. This is all about large corporations making money. I’m more of a local business and local jobs guy. Keep it simple etc. Unfortunately the EU is all about large corporations and vested business interests. I don’t trust Phil Hogan either not to sell out quality local producers.

    34
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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:49 PM

    Hmm what about “cross-contamination”. Eg. My greedy neighbour doesnt care and grows high yield disease resistant gmo crops. I dont want gmo crops by my field is next door…

    22
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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:50 PM

    phil hogan? another low life

    25
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 10:10 PM

    http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/23/ttip-eu-negotiators-appear-to-break-environmental-pledge-in-leaked-draft
    “The EU appears to have broken a promise to reinforce environmental protections in a leaked draft negotiating text submitted in the latest round of TTIP talks in Miami..”

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    Mute Brendan McGill
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    Oct 28th 2015, 10:29 PM

    Monsanto is the epitome of evil!

    32
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    Mute Michael Lumley
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    Oct 28th 2015, 11:08 PM

    Eireblood. It will be implemented across the EU. No opt out. So there goes Irelands good name for good fresh food.

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    Mute John Ryan
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    Oct 28th 2015, 11:14 PM

    I did’t realise GMOs were responsible for obesity. I think they’re responsible for global warming too. And autism. Down with them.

    11
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    Mute JohnAbbs
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    Oct 29th 2015, 12:45 AM

    In 2012, Monsanto and company spent $46 million to kill Proposition 37 in California to force corporations to label their products.

    On Monsanto’s 13 member board of Directors you will find the former president of McDonald’s Jenice Fields. McDonald’s also has a 13 member board of Directors and “M” is the 13th letter of the alphabet.

    http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/pages/board-of-directors.aspx

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    Mute Freebetcitydcom Mike
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    Oct 29th 2015, 5:07 AM

    Coveney voted on behalf of monsanto when neonicotinoid pesticides went to vote in the commission last year. Monsanto make those pesticides, shown categorically to be killing bees, which pollinate monsantos main competition- natural self regenerating food/seeds.

    Coveney is utter korrupt filth, and an enemy of the people. Watch the filth.

    16
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    Mute Freebetcitydcom Mike
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    Oct 29th 2015, 5:08 AM

    Coveney voted on behalf of monsanto when neonicotinoid pesticides went to vote in the commission last year. Monsanto make those pesticides, shown categorically to be killing bees, which pollinate monsantos main competition- natural self regenerating food/seeds.

    Coveney is utter korrrupt filth, and an enemy of the people. Watch the filth.

    11
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    Mute The Dude
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    Oct 29th 2015, 12:29 PM

    Ireland already feeding gmo protein to its livestock.
    http://youtu.be/a8IMQVg6_hQ

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    Mute ÉireBlood
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    Oct 29th 2015, 2:18 PM

    So Ireland, you are paying to have a carcinogen in your water….flouride and now if “The Dude” is correct we hear you are paying to have GM in your meat. Ireland truly does seem to be the test laboratory for the roll out of globalist policies. From triple taxations, fluoride in your water, chemicals in your food, promotion of cheap labour through multiculturalism, destruction of the ethnic identity and promotion of a herd of workers constantly on the move for work through mass-immigration, every step being monitored and taxed. The creation of the mass peasant class ruled by the banker-class with the business class as middle-management.

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    Mute Pete Gibson
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    Oct 29th 2015, 8:26 PM

    All living things are ORGANIC.
    As for NATURAL.
    Ebola is ORGANIC and NATURAL.
    So is snake venom,rabies,plague, potato blight, polio,malaria,smallpox and anthrax.
    The dread fear of GMOs is old fashioned fear of the new.

    3
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    Mute William Grogan
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    Oct 29th 2015, 10:39 PM

    The level of scientific ignorance here is breathtaking.

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    Mute TommyRyder
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:14 PM

    This should have been left to national governments to decide not Brussels bureaucrats who now want to dictate to us what we eat.
    There’s no democracy anymore.
    This is totalitarianism.

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:43 PM

    So totalitarianism is when you allow farmers make decisions for themselves whether or not to grow demonstrably safe, more environmentally sustainable, and more profitable crops, rather than the government dictating that certain types can’t be grown, because…reasons? RIIIGGGHT!

    42
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    Mute Al Ca
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:27 PM

    My own concern isn’t about the consumption of GMO food but more to do with the replacement of a large variety of crops such as ie: wheat to a few strains, there are 30 species of wheat, divided into more than 30,000 varieties.
    To become reliant on a few patented crops could mean serious trouble should something go amiss and trying to come back to a wider variety would take quite some time and in the meantime people would starve.
    If farmers are lured with the promise of bigger yields and cast aside age old practices as has happened in places like India and China, they become reliant on the supplier as the old practice of holding seeds is gone and they must pay every year for new GMO seeds.
    The reduction in diversity and the future reliance on patented seed would see a shift in power to companies who control the patented seed and the inevitable undermining of the politics of countries.
    It is a worry…..who ever controls the food controls the world.

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    Mute Trea Lynch
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:35 PM

    As well as the reduction in strain diversity I would be concerned about a few multinationals basically owning the world food supply.

    115
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    Mute bingo
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:44 PM

    Leonie Hilliard
    HUNDREDS of scientists at The European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER) disagree with you! They suggest there is “No scientific consensus on GMO safety….Published results are contradictory, in part due to the range of different research methods employed, an inadequacy of available procedures, and differences in the analysis and interpretation of data. Such a lack of consensus on safety is also evidenced by the agreement of policymakers from over 160 countries – in the UN’s Cartagena Biosafety Protocol and the Guidelines of the Codex Alimentarius – to authorize careful case-by-case assessment of each GMO by national authorities to determine whether the particular construct satisfies the national criteria for ‘safe’. Rigorous assessment of GMO safety has been hampered by the lack of funding independent of proprietary interests. Research for the public good has been further constrained by property rights issues, and by denial of access to research material for researchers unwilling to sign contractual agreements with the developers, which confer unacceptable control over publication to the proprietary interests.” So would I advocate anyone growing GM food for human consumption – absolutely not.

    http://www.enveurope.com/content/27/1/4/abstract

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:44 PM

    wait for TTIP

    42
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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:45 PM

    Don’t worry. All crop variety seeds are kept in a massive underground warehouse in a remote island in the arctic circle. Every single crop variety known to humans is kept there at temperatures of minus twenty degrees. No crop species will go extinct because of lack of use.

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    Mute bingo
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:59 PM

    Jack Bowden, Are you being ironic?

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Oct 28th 2015, 7:01 PM

    That is true Jack and it’s a great idea…….but how many years would it take to get a stored strain back into full production?
    More than one or two years I suspect.

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    Mute bingo
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    Oct 28th 2015, 7:10 PM

    Al Ca, Yes, How long production would take is one issue?…And who would have access to this seed bank is another? I would doubt there would be enough seed to go around…what then…

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:20 PM

    Bingo, gmo food is dodgy, simple!

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    Mute bingo
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:47 PM

    Gregory, I agree! Even if the entire scientific community came out and said it was fine – why take the risk! It is stupid to mess with the world’s food source in possibly irreversible ways…

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:55 PM

    Bingo! Local food for local populations=local jobs and no co2 (transport) to destroy environment! {And conserve fuel}

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:38 PM
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    Mute Trevor Beale
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:10 PM

    Big business over rules again

    224
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    Mute Sertorius
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:15 PM

    The sooner the EU implodes and it will implode because of the hubris of Brussels bureaucrats and politicians the better it will be for Europe.

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    Mute Stephen
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:20 PM

    We don’t need GMO produce in Europe as we can more than adequately grow enough food to feed our populations many times over with contemporary methods.

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    Mute Bren MC
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:45 PM

    GMO Is basically modifying roundup into a seed. Nowadays we spray poison on our food on its exterior but we can wash it off. Now we have no choice but to consume it.

    83
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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:53 PM

    Bren, if you’d like to learn more about GM crops, this is a very good start, and is generated by a team of scientists. GMO technology is not about putting glyphosate in your bananas. Really. It isn’t.
    http://www.senseaboutscience.org/resources.php/9/making-sense-of-gm

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:11 PM

    bren if you’d like to learn more about GMO plenty of articles from technological institutions e.g. MIT

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:16 PM

    You’re dead right Margaret. Bren, there’s really good stuff if you go to the MIT website, and search ‘GMO’. MIT are doing a huge amount with transgenic crops, and GM technology, and most of it is quite good.
    http://search.mit.edu/search?client=mithome&site=mit&output=xml_no_dtd&proxystylesheet=mithome&num=15&submit=Search&as_q=gmo

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    Mute Bren MC
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:22 PM

    @leonie We’ve been down this road before. Fertiliser was hailed as the final solution to world povery etc but at what cost ? I’ll tell you ,pre fertiliser age there was clean water everywhere. Fast forward a few decades and now pretty much all of the water supply is polluted. I don’t buy it and I don’t believe it’s safe either.

    In america all the milk is tainted by HGH meanwhile in europe we have butter mountains. I believe the ultimate aim of the scientific community is to be like god. Every intervention by science has ended up in an opposite reaction. Feed unatural food to calves you get BSE. Theres tonnes of examples where science has made a balls of it. DDT sprayed in countries as well had bad effects , The universe is totally in balance we are destroying it by trying to improve it.

    The whole sytem works on creating scarcity or indeed a sense of scarcity and then capitalising on it.

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:30 PM

    Bren, you’re conflating a whole lot of different subjects there, and drawing hyperbolic conclusions that are not substantiated by any evidence. I’m happy to have a discussion on the scientific merit of GM technology, or related subjects, but if you’re going down the line of ‘scientists are conspiring to kill us all…because reasons’, I’m out.

    16
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    Mute ÉireBlood
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:38 PM

    “is generated by a team of scientists”

    Because scientists are not open to human frailty, scientists never lie, scientists work is never skewed in order to render biased results for the coporations that employ them, scientists never start with conclusions and work to fit the data to the conclusion…never, scientists are the new priesthood. Yup you can trust science, 100% human tamper-proof system, unbiased and totally objective….

    ..naive much?

    42
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    Mute ÉireBlood
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:40 PM

    Bren,

    “the final solution to world poverty”

    better be careful using innocent and well-meaning phrases like “the final solution”, you will be accused of trying to holocaust the world’s poor

    17
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    Mute Bren MC
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:47 PM

    Leonie , theres a common thread there science interfering in the nature of things and getitng it wrong. Thanks for the links btw. I never said that they were trying to cull the population. Science should be for the greater good of all not for the coffers of the corporations. I don’t like the idea of GMOs plus the disgusting contracts they give out to the farmers. The GMOs will in time will taint the indigenous stock and if GMOS wasa bad idea then it is too late. Its the corporate takeover of food and thats no conspiracy theory.

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    Mute James O Donoghue
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:50 PM

    perfectly safe https://youtu.be/1ecT2CaL7NA people panic. it classic response with ignorance

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:43 PM

    The great scientist Alber Einstein designed a Nuclear Bomb that killled and maimed for generations the Japanese people. Be careful what u wish for. Scientists only know what they learned in school. Nature has served us for millions of years.

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:52 PM

    Einstein did not design any atomic bomb…..that was Oppenheimer.
    In fact Einstein was one of the first scientists to object to fellow scientists producing weapons of war and even started the first petition against the use of Mustard Gas in WW1.
    Einstein was a pacifist.

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:59 PM

    Al ca, that was after it was too late. He already advised the US President of the potential for weapons development based on nuclear science. He was not given clearance to engage in the programme that was launched. He advised the US President that if the US did not do it the germans would.

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    Mute Al Ca
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:24 PM

    He did not design the bomb and was not given clearance because he did not want it. He spoke his mind to the President only after he was asked to do so…his mass–energy equivalence theory was produced in 1905 with regard to his desire to understand that mass and energy are the same thing…he did not propose the idea to develop a weapon but to understand the universe. Others used his theories to produce weapons.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 10:35 PM

    you’re not the only one with a science degree .

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    Mute john doe
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    Oct 28th 2015, 11:27 PM

    James,
    The safety of GM or not to the consumer is not the biggest concern for me. My concerns are
    1) giving intellectual property rights for DNA, the essence of life to corporations. Nature cannot be owned in this manner.
    2) the reduction of biodiversity created by “supercrops”
    3) the effects of cross breeding GM’d strains with natural strains, and the passing of strange genetic variations with unknown consequences.
    4)labelling requirements, if out food contains GM ingredients surely we have the right to know so that we can choose to eat/buy it as consumers. Let the free market decide.

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    Mute Jindrich Marz
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    Oct 29th 2015, 3:40 AM

    Whatever about the impact of GMO’s on health might be (scientific research is not really conclusive at this day, as projects done on mice for more than five generations actually points towards risks), the main problem would be for small and local farmers due to cross-pollinating and polluting their fields with the GMO’s and thus making these farmers liable to pay to Monsanto for patent infringement. This is the experience from USA.

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    Mute ispycoffee
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:17 PM

    The only way I’ll be happy with this situation is if they solve the problem by banning GMOs. The stuff that Monsanto get away with in the US is almost unbelievable. They would behave in exactly the same manner in Europe, no question.

    And then with the TTIP, they’ll then be able to sue any government that tries to prevent them from bankrupting farmers.

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    Mute RJ.Fallon
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:36 PM

    Then I read the name Monsanto,and all was explained.we have been sold out.need to get the hel out of Eu fast before we are destroyed.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:38 PM

    Monsanto largest supplier of GM seeds largest producer of pesticides and herbicides.

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    Mute Harry Hill
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:12 PM

    looks like a dick

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    Mute Paul Radburn
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:45 PM

    I think she’s asking him ‘is yours this size?’

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    Mute Marcus Clifford
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:43 PM

    Ho Ho Ho Green giant.

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    Mute Joachin Peiper
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:50 PM

    I am mesmerised looking at her looking at that firm ear of corn…..

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    Mute RJ.Fallon
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:37 PM

    Correct Margaret,but the little people in the Eu don’t have a say in anything anymore.

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:45 PM

    Rj, hopefully uk will exit the eu and we will have no choice but to follow. Imagine no ecb either! We could do a lot better outside of the eu.

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 29th 2015, 6:27 PM

    RJ, this EU decision is putting the power back into the ‘little people’ (i.e. farmers whose livelihoods rely on growing crops) as to whether or not they want to adopt safe, regulated, well-tested, more environmentally sustainable, and more profitable new technologies. It was individual governments’ pressure pulling that power away by blanket bans. Nobody is going to be forced into growing things against their will. There will always be non-GM alternatives available. If people want to label their food products ‘GM’ or ‘GM-Free’, they’ll be able to do that too. I find it so depressing that incompetent reportage, and a malicious agenda by large organisations who profit immensely from keeping GM tech out of the marketplace, are winning the propaganda war by scaremongering with arguments that range from irrelevant to downright dishonest. It’s the equivalent of oil companies denying anthropogenic climate change and denouncing solar energy as a threat to the sun. Ironically, there is a greater consensus amongst scientists about the safety of GM than there is about anthropogenic climate change than there is about GM….but don’t let the experts in the field cloud your opinions with their ‘facts’ and ‘data’ when hyperbolic paranoia and misinformation is so much more satisfying.

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    Mute John B
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:32 PM

    It is only the scientifically illiterate (and those with hidden agendas) that would seek to ban GMOs. Those with even an undergrad University level understanding of the basics of genetics would realize there is nothing scary about GMOs at all which is essentially a precise refinement of what farmers have been doing for millenia with selective breeding.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:34 PM

    some of us like to stay as close to natural as possible (yes even with all its mutations). it’s called choice

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:37 PM

    Choice Margaret? That’s great. You have a choice. You can select non-GM varieties or brands (organic for example). I would like a choice too. I would like to be able to choose sustainably grown local crops that reduce the reliance on pesticides, and result in better yields for farmers :) That would make GM varieties the obvious choice for me. I hope you agree we should be able to choose, right?

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:43 PM

    I grow my own tomatoes, among other veggies, here where i live (Bulgaria) from the seeds of the years previous crop. Monsanto are trying to patent the tomato. That would mean they could sue me for daring to grow a tomato, even when i have nothing to do with Monsanto, or any GMO veggie.
    Monsanto, like other GMO food companies, want to control the world’s food supply. That’s what GMO is all about. Profit, nothing else.

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    Mute Bondage Informer
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:45 PM

    GMO crops probably for the most part do not cause much direct damage but the problem but if they become naturised then potentially they could out-compete other plants and their veracious consumption could collapse an ecosystem.
    Another big problem is the huge quantities of associated chemical herbicide use which have been proved to be carcinogenic to mammals and a damage a whole range of organisms.
    Then of course there are the insanely unethic practices that Monsanto and others are getting away with – suing farmers that do not use their seeds because pollen from neighbouring farms blew into their lands with judgements from judiciaries with industry histories.

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:45 PM

    Leonie, why wont Monsanto allow the labeling of foods as GMO if they are GMO? Is that to further “choice” ?

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    Mute Barry Davidson
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:46 PM

    Surely Margret must have been joking with such a ridiculous post. Ha, she wasn’t a choice of one. Ha ha.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:48 PM

    obviously you didn’t read my comment. As for pesticides one of my favourite books is ‘silent spring’ by Rachael Carson. i dont eat processed foods, i wont use pesticides, i dont freaken want GMO foodsthough hard to avoid. i want choice.

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    Mute Bren MC
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:49 PM

    @john thats nonsense farmers haven’t crossed grains with fish dna. Go away with your pseudo argument.

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    Mute The Shape
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:50 PM

    John, you’re getting all the red thumbs for being right. Just shows the high levels of scientific illiteracy in society. People would rather believe anti-GMO nonsense than actually educate themselves in basic science. Stick anti-GMO nonsense in the bin with anti-vax rubbish…

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    Mute John B
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:51 PM

    Margaret when you say you don’t use pesticides, I assume you mean therefore that you grow all your own food? Also what do you mean natural? Because most of the food we eat today is very far from how mother nature intended. The naturalistic fallacy is appealing to again the scientifically illiterate but it actually doesn’t mean anything. Heroin and cocaine are natural, doesn’t mean they are full of mother nature’s goodness.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:55 PM

    oh please strawmans argument

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:58 PM

    Dave, Monsanto, like many other companies, oppose MANDATORY labelling of foods that have been produced using GM technology, for many reasons, not least because the label adds expense and tells you nothing about the safety, nutritional value, sustainability, or ingredients in the food. Here are some other reasons why mandatory labelling is a bad idea. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/labels-for-gmo-foods-are-a-bad-idea/

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    Mute John B
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:08 PM

    Margaret Daly, ironic that you appeal to the naturalistic fallacy with no relevant example and then I I give an example to explain your flaws you reply with no example. Again I will repeat, if anyone here actually understood the basics of genetics, then they would realize that GMOs are nothing more than cross bred species, except performed with surgical precision rather than the sledgehammer of cross breeding which alters multiple genes in an uncontrolled fashion.

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:08 PM

    Leonie, the actual reason is that people will not but GMO labeled foods. That is in fact the choice you are talking about. But Monsanto don’t want to give people the choice, do they?

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:12 PM

    *buy*

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:17 PM

    If you don’t want to buy food that has been produced using GM technology, then you have the option of organic food, but I shouldn’t have to pay more for my food, because of the scientific illiteracy of others.

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    Mute Bren MC
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:31 PM

    @leonie its not going to be labelled so how will we know. If I get manuka honey it says it has undergone radiation treatment for sterility I have tthe option to buy it or not. I don’t want to buy anything associated with that monstrous company if you want to know more google “agent orange” and “vietnam” and click images its not for the faint of heart. I dont even use roundup. I use salt.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:36 PM

    DNA RNA roundup and the villian of the piece Monsanto. No im not buying into it yet. Rachael carson was vilified by members of the scientific communitity so starting your initial comment with your admiration for the science doesn’t matter one iota to me.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:40 PM

    if I purchase organic produce I wouldn’t want it contaminated by Monsato’a GM seeds. oh wait that’s already happened.

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:46 PM

    Bren, whatever your feelings about Monsanto (and yes, I know the Agent Orange story), GM technology is not limited to one company, or one product. Monsanto produces many other non-GM seeds and products, and other companies produce GM seeds and other products. There are different ways the technology is used, and again, labelling doesn’t mean anything in terms of its safety, its efficacy, its nutritional content, its sustainability etc. It’s equivalent to saying ‘at some stage a green pot was used in the production of this product’. It doesn’t have a defined outcome like sterilising manuka honey. I applaud your environmental conscientiousness, and share similar leanings myself, but after studying science, and in particular ecotoxicology, I realised some of my preconceptions were wrong. Glyphosate is actually less toxic than salt to rats (and probably most other animals, and is far more target specific (so doesn’t have as many nasty side effects), doesn’t bioaccummulate, and is quickly broken down. Here’s some interesting information on it if you like. It might enable safer choices when it comes to gardening. http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/04/30/is-glyphosate-used-with-some-gm-crops-dangerously-toxic-to-humans/

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:54 PM

    Monsanto’s herbicide, Roundup, is killing bees. But that’s ok i suppose. As Monsanto has developed self pollinating plants. Leaves us all dependent on Monsanto. What wonderful choice that leaves us.
    Bees are big business here in Bulgaria. Not alone for the honey industry, but bees are exported for pollination purposes.
    Am happy to say that GMO crops have to be labeled where they are planted. Most end up being burned out of the ground.

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    Mute Sean Murphy
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    Oct 28th 2015, 7:01 PM

    Thanks for link. Interesting article. Especially: ‘To curb vitamin A deficiency—which blinds as many as 500,000 children worldwide every year and kills half of them—researchers have engineered Golden Rice, which produces beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Approximately three quarters of a cup of Golden Rice provides the recommended daily amount of vitamin A; several tests have concluded that the product is safe. Yet Greenpeace and other anti-GMO organizations have used misinformation and hysteria to delay the introduction of Golden Rice to the Philippines, India and China.’

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Oct 28th 2015, 7:02 PM

    Monsanto is an evil in this world. Monsanto is to food as Nestle is to water.

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    Mute Bondage Informer
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:42 PM

    It is very naive to believe that corporate products are here to help mankind feed the world. These products and claims are here to create profit. In this particular case the farmer and consumer will pay for the most essential resource – food.
    Pure GMO food will not cause harm unless the inserted gene which results in a protein is toxic. The manipulation of natural selection results in completely chaotic changes in organsims within an ecosystem rather than slowly evolving changes which prevent the collapse of an ecosystem due to the blunt domination of one participant.
    The parallell use of toxic agents such as glyphosate with Round-up ready GM crops is the real issue here. It was known by Monsanta that glyphosate was carcinogenic to mammals (and it is now banned in France). It still got the co ahead from the completely discredited FDA. These corporations have their agents rotating between the company, judiciary and political office.
    The debt enslavement of farmers globally by such corporations is very much highlighted by the incidence of suicide in India.
    All our essential resources are being plundered by corporations with the primary objective of profit. Water, food, healthcare, energy. If you think that their profit costs the rest of us nothing then you really are foolish.

    By the way our representing FG MEPs didnt even ready the TTIP document – they just signed it in. At best incompetence, some would describe it as treason.

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 8:47 PM

    John b, what are ur academic credentials? I have a university education in science and engineering and I do not like this gmo stuff at all.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:32 PM

    well said we are in bondage and not only to unsecured bond holders. frankly im sick of. what type of world are we to leave behind

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:54 PM

    Bondage: excellent points regarding “natural selection” which has served us well for the last few million years but which Monsanto et al wish to circumvent and is hugely detrimental to society and the natural world. Regarding Brussel politics EPP=FG=Phil Hogan=Opportunist. Shallow to the core.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:58 PM
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    Mute John B
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:58 PM

    I agree with Bondage that GMOs are profit driven, however the means required to maximise profit via GMOs involve increasing farming efficiency, reducing pesticide use and other beneficial products such as golden rice. So in this case the goals to me are unified. As for interfering with natural selection? Ever since human kind evolved the ability to defy mother nature’s plans (death by the age of 35), we have been altering nature. Mass farming, modern medicine, housing, all these things have impacted on the world. GMOs are no different and in fact unlike cross breeding where we cannot seine the genetic changes, GMOs created in a lab are very precise and we actually know what gene is being altered. As for my credentials? University Medical degree, post grad research doctorate and 10 years experience in basic science biomedical research. Why do you think that surveys of biomedical researchers (not directly involved in GMOs) almost uniformly support them? Do you think they all somehow are receiving backhanders and are happy to poison their own bodies and their childrens bodies? Or perhaps, because they understand the science, they do not fear it. Primarily fear of the unknown is what drives public fear of GMOs.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 10:14 PM
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    Mute Barry Davidson
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:13 PM

    There’re dead right the single market is key. Also gmo is safe and necessary. Red thumb tin foil hat people.

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:36 PM

    If GMO is so safe and wholesome, why dont they allow the labeling to show that what’s in the pack is GMO food?

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    Mute Barry Davidson
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:43 PM

    I don’t know if it’s true or not, but of course manufacturers should be allowed put on their packets of its contents are gmo.

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    Mute Bren MC
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:46 PM

    @barry mobiles phone were supposed to be safe too.

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:49 PM

    There is no ban on labelling something ‘GM’ however, GM is a process, not an ingredient. A label saying ‘GM’ tells you nothing about the food’s safety, nutritional content, allergenic status or environmental sustainability, therefore food companies rightfully assert that labelling means nothing, and would serve to add cost to the products we buy. If you don’t want GM food, just buy organic. For me, I’d rather know that my food is grown safely, sustainably and with a reduced reliance on pesticides :)

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    Mute Barry Davidson
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:54 PM

    Ha ha. They are! More tin foil hat nonsense.

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    Mute John B
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    Oct 28th 2015, 6:40 PM

    Leonie, please don’t try and educate the organic shills, they will Lynch you for your witchcraft heresy! The evidence of scientific achievement in the modern world does not imply scientific literacy and unfortunately it’s much easier to cry “frankenfood” and convince the masses to go for the organic food movement rather than try and explain 4 years of science education.

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    Mute Cg dublin
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    Oct 28th 2015, 7:49 PM

    Mobile phones? No evidence they have any detrimental effects.

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    Mute gregory
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:45 PM

    Rubbish. Have a look at the sheer size of an average american and that’ll tell u all u need to know about their (gmo+poor quality) food.

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    Mute John B
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    Oct 28th 2015, 10:21 PM

    Gregory, so you are saying regular old fashioned natural sugar and excess carbs doesn’t make you fat?

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    Mute Tadgh Smith
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:45 PM

    The people who support the production of GM foods are the same people who would have supported the feeding of animal brain-matter to herbivores like sheep and cattle. Sure wasn’t it was cheap and there was no evidence that it was harmful!

    There was no evidence that it was harmful alright, until cows and then people started developing devastating brain diseases and keeling over. Only then was the practice was stopped.

    GM will most likely be the same story. You can’t just mess around with nature without understanding the systems you are interfering with and expect there to be no repercussions. Putting freeze-resistant genes out of fish into tomatoes (to name but one example) will lead to completely unforeseen and unforeseeable results. As we sit at our respective screens I’d be willing to bet that some new inter-species disease or deformity is making it’s way to us via our supermarket shelves.

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 10:20 PM

    too right tadgh! people have to wake up!!

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    Mute Leonie Hilliard
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:35 PM

    Great news. This opt-out clause was a result of politicians pandering to a loud minority, rather than doing what’s best for the environment. The Scottish government admitted they didn’t consult any actual scientific experts on the matter when they attempted to opt out. GM technology is a great process which has led to massive reductions in pesticide use, and big increases in yield and profitability for farmers. The best part is, if farmers choose not to grow GM crops, they can grow alternatives :) Well done EU lawmakers. Please let science and concern for the future be your guides for lawmaking.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:26 PM

    TTIP will allow GM companies to operate here but GM crops have been grown here before and this is of environmental concerned and pesticides will be used to allow GM crops in by the back door as the humble bee will be in the firing line. AS MANY GM CROPS ARE GM TO SURVIVE PESTICIDES and have pesticides in the crop then that even kills off bees? Saying nothing about people?
    NewScientist, Issue No. 2877, 11th August 2013 Page 42. Has “Plight of the Bumble Bee” A story about how pesticides have annihilated the bee population and that “Hand pollination is a necessary chore where bumble bees die out”.
    In China, “South West China where bees have all but disappeared” all the pollination is done by human hands now” otherwise there would be no food. But at least this led the story in NewScientist, Issue No. 2915, 4th May 2013 Page 6. Bees get pesticide ban – E.U. restricts use of 3 insecticides, neonicotinoids for 2 years from 1 Dec 2013. Although anything sowed before this date can have the seed coating on it?
    http://rt.com/news/bees-pesticides-pollen-study-553/
    “Bees exposed to “field-realistic” doses of insecticides gather less than a half the pollen that they normally do, dooming their young to starvation, UK researches have said. While some scientists hailed the findings, pesticide makers remained unimpressed In a spin-off of their earlier study, a team of British scientists have revealed how the neurotoxic chemicals contained in agricultural neonicotinoids affect the very basic function of the honeybees – the gathering of pollen, or flower nectar.”

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:28 PM

    http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1033178/chemical_warfare_the_horrific_birth_defects_linked_to_tomato_pesticides.html “The ‘Immokalee babies’ were born with severe deformities after their mothers were each exposed to pesticides whilst harvesting tomatoes. Barry Estabrook reports on the case that shocked the U.S.
    Tower Cabins is a labour camp consisting of about thirty drab wooden shacks and a few deteriorating trailers crammed together behind an unpainted wooden fence just south of Immokalee, a city in the heart of southwest Florida’s tomato-growing region.”

    So it is pesticides versus GM crops and this is strange as some of the heirloom crops have more disease resistance than the new varieties but under the E.U. these varieties are illegal to grow commercially. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Plant_Variety_Office
    “The Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) is an agency of the European Union, located in Angers, France. It was established in 1994. Its task is to administer a system of plant variety rights, also known as plant breeders’ rights, a form of intellectual property right relating to plants. The CPVO works rather like the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market: it grants intellectual property protection for new plant varieties. These rights are valid for a period of either 25 or 30 years.” But old is illegal and even to buy old varieties of vegetables is illegal under E.U. laws?

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:14 PM

    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/28/study-gm-maize-cancer
    “Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini, professor of molecular biology at Caen university in France, knows how to inflame the GM industry and its friends. For seven years he and his team have questioned the safety standards applied to varieties of GM maize and tried to re-analyse industry-funded studies presented to governments.
    The GM industry has traditionally reacted furiously and personally. Séralini has been widely insulted and smeared and last year, in some desperation, he sued Marc Fellous, president of the French Association of Plant Biotechnology, for defamation, and won (although he was only awarded a nominal €1 in damages).
    Study linking GM maize to cancer must be taken seriously by regulators.”
    http://www.independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/regulators-discover-a-hidden-viral-gene-in-commercial-gmo-crops/ by Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson
    “How should a regulatory agency announce they have discovered something potentially very important about the safety of products they have been approving for over twenty years?
    In the course of analysis to identify potential allergens in GMO crops, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has belatedly discovered that the most common genetic regulatory sequence in commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of a viral gene (Podevin and du Jardin 2012). This finding has serious ramifications for crop biotechnology and its regulation, but possibly even greater ones for consumers and farmers. This is because there are clear indications that this viral gene (called Gene VI) might not be safe for human consumption. It also may disturb the normal functioning of crops, including their natural pest resistance.”

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:15 PM

    http://www.fromdusktildawn.org.uk/Joining%20Dots/gm/banned_gm_corn_growing_ireland.htm
    “DUBLIN and GENEVA — The Irish Government has been accidentally growing GM maize, despite its policy to ban field trials and commercial cultivation of GM crops in the Republic. The blunder is doubly embarrassing because this GM maize is an illegal variety that is not allowed for cultivation anywhere in the European Union. The discovery was made by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAFF) at four of its own field trial sites including the National Crop Variety Testing Centre at Backweston in Co. Kildare, and at three other undisclosed locations in Counties Kildare, Kilkenny, and Cork. DAFF carried out the field trials with a supposedly Non-GM maize variety PR39T83 supplied by Pioneer Hi-Bred Northern Europe, a subsidiary of DuPont, the world’s second biggest seed company and sixth biggest agrochemicals company. The purpose of the trials was to find out if this conventional maize is “suitable for cultivation and use under Irish farming conditions”.
    According to a press release issued late yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [2], routine tests by DAFF discovered that the Pioneer Hi-Bred maize is contaminated by Monsanto’s patented GM “event” NK603. The genetic modification forces the crop to survive heavy spraying with glyphosate, part of the cocktail of toxic chemicals contained in Monsanto’s controversial Roundup herbicide. Cultivation of this GM maize is illegal the EU, although importation is allowed for animal feed and human food.” Then…
    http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0211/503566-eu-may-permit-new-type-of-gm-maize/
    “European Union ministers have hit deadlock on whether to let a new strain of genetically modified maize be grown on EU soil for human consumption.
    The minister’s vote clears the way for the bloc’s executive arm to approve the crop automatically. European Commission endorsement of insect-resistant Pioneer 1507, developed jointly by DuPont and Dow Chemical, would end a decade-long debate and break Monsanto’s monopoly in Europe’s small market for GMO crops.”

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:16 PM

    http://www.gmfreeireland.org/press/GMFI50.pdf
    GM-FREE IRELAND, 23 JULY 2010 “ILLEGAL GM MAIZE GROWN IN IRELAND”
    And yet the following makes you question everything said earlier?
    http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/gm_coexistence/
    “Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine Cookie Usage… list.
    Coexistence of GM and non-GM Crops in Ireland”

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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:17 PM

    http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/publications/2005/coexistenceofgmandnon-gmcropsinireland/introduction.pdf
    “With adherence to recommended measures for crop management, it is the view of the Working Group that the coexistence of GM and non-GM maize, beet, potato and cereals can be successfully achieved within current Irish production systems. The degree of additional management input will vary significantly depending on the crop.” http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12380-illegal-gm-maize-grown-in-ireland
    “This is the first time a GM crop has been grown albeit accidentally – in Ireland since protestors destroyed field trials of Monsanto’s patented GM beets in 1998.
    Economic threat to Irish farmers and food producers
    It is unclear how much, if any, of the illegal GM maize seeds have been sold and are now being cultivated by Irish farmers. This would cause large economic losses, and would be an ironic blow for farmers who would lose their biggest maize crop in history, thanks to this year’s unusually hot and sunny summer. Contamination by pollen drift and seed dispersal from GM maize has already contaminated hundreds of conventional and organic farmers in Spain.”

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:06 PM

    GM food is on sale here already…
    https://www.fsai.ie/legislation/food_legislation/gmos/labelling_of_gm_food.html
    “Specific GM labelling under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 is not required if a food contains, consists of or is produced from a GMO in a proportion not higher than 0.9% of the food ingredient considered individually,”

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:11 PM

    GM is dangerous in so many other ways as well…
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html
    “When Prince Charles claimed thousands of Indian farmers were killing themselves after using GM crops, he was branded a scaremonger. In fact, as this chilling dispatch reveals, it’s even WORSE than he feared.”
    “Distressed: Prince Charles has set up charity Bhumi Vardaan Foundation to address the plight of suicide farmers
    Beguiled by the promise of future riches, he borrowed money in order to buy the GM seeds. But when the harvests failed, he was left with spiralling debts – and no income.
    So Shankara became one of an estimated 125,000 farmers to take their own life as a result of the ruthless drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops.
    The crisis, branded the ‘GM Genocide’ by campaigners, was highlighted recently when Prince Charles claimed that the issue of GM had become a ‘global moral question’ – and the time had come to end its unstoppable march.
    Speaking by video link to a conference in the Indian capital, Delhi, he infuriated bio-tech leaders and some politicians by condemning ‘the truly appalling and tragic rate of small farmer suicides in India, stemming… from the failure of many GM crop varieties’.
    Ranged against the Prince are powerful GM lobbyists and prominent politicians, who claim that genetically modified crops have transformed Indian agriculture, providing greater yields than ever before.”

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:12 PM

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/09/75-year-old-soybean-farmer-sees-monsanto-lawsuit-reach-u-s-supreme-court/#.URib3RSeUng.facebook
    “Who controls the rights to the seeds planted in the ground? A 75-year-old farmer takes the agricultural giant to court to find out.”
    “On the one side is Bowman, a single 75-year-old Indiana soybean farmer who is still tending the same acres of land as his father before him in rural south-western Indiana. On the other is a gigantic multibillion dollar agricultural business famed for its zealous protection of its commercial rights.” “After all, just three firms now control more than 50% of the global seed market.”
    http://www.anh-europe.org/news/gm-cocoa-to-flood-70-of-the-global-supply
    “With cocoa demand being high, one of the world’s largest chocolate producers, Mars, became the primary backer for scientists to produce a genetically modified (GMO) cocoa tree hybrid. In 2010 scientists based at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the US Department of Agriculture and Science and researchers working at IBM’s Thomas J Watson Research Centre achieved the initial unlocking of the chocolate genome and, with the aim of improving yields, the plan has been to flood West Africa and therefore 70% of the global cocoa supply. Concern over the loss from pest and plant disease led to the research and scientists are determined to finalise gene sequencing of the cocoa genome.”

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:12 PM

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12541465
    “GM crops continue spread, passing ‘billion hectares” and after all the scandals I mentioned earlier GM is dangerous but excuses like the following http://anh-europe.org/news/more-gm-for-africa-courtesy-of-the-gates-foundation
    “Gates Foundation to put £6.3 million ($9.8 million) into the UK’s John Innes Centre. The Gates investment will be used to test the feasibility of engineering crops to use bacteria, which have evolved over millennia in leguminous crops like peas and beans, to create their own fertilizer from the nitrogen in the air around them.” Sounds good but what could go wrong… “After 5 years of research between 2003 and 2008, a United Nations project involving 400 scientists from 60 countries firmly concluded that GM technology had no place in the alleviation of poverty. Among the most serious GM-related problems cited in the report was the issue of seed ownership. GM technology, which generally produces infertile crops that have to be purchased from the producer, prevents farmers from generating their own seeds. With GM, the seed is effectively owned by the patent holder. The notion is repugnant to many, as clearly depicted in films like The World According to Monsanto and Food Inc.”

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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:34 PM

    great post michael. thank God people have access to different views im the journal

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:53 PM

    Thanks Margaret. GM crops are scary in so many ways frpm who owns the seed to who owns the right to grow them to the impact they have on nature, health and well being. Some GM crops are GM only to survive the weed killers used on them, the whole thing is crazy.

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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:54 PM

    http://naturalsociety.com/bill-gates-dodges-questions-owns-500000-shares-of-monsanto/
    by Anthony Gucciardi February 12th, 2013 Updated 07/03/2013 at 3:21 am
    “It should come as no surprise, then, that Gates owns 500,000 shares worth 23 million US dollars (or more) of Monsanto stock. The very same company that has been caught running slave rings in Argentina in which workers were forced to work 14+ hours a day while withholding payment, has used their massive finances to fund organizations that literally fake FDA quotes to support GMOs, and of course peddling through GMOs that have been linked to numerous health concerns.” “This is not even taking into account the farmer suicides that occur around every 30 minutes due to Monsanto’s failing GMO crop yield bankrupting small-time farmers in India’s notorious ‘suicide belt‘.”

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 9:50 PM

    http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/05/08/hidden-viral-gene-discovered-in-gmo-crops/
    “Another reason for you to avoid health depleting genetically modified organisms is here. A recent discovery of a hidden viral gene deep within genetically modified crops has us asking more questions. Despite numerous studies, experts and scientists speaking out about the dangers of GMOs to human health, the United States government, and other major manipulating organizations like the council on foreign relations continue to support and promote GMOs.
    European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) researchers have discovered a previously unknown viral gene that is known as “Gene VI.” (1) It’s found in most prominent GMO crops, and can disrupt the biological functions within living organisms. What do you expect? Genetically Modified Organisms contain a number of cell altering chemicals, that’s what chemicals do. Don’t forget about the chemicals used to spray the crops as well. Certain corn crops were found to contain the gene that creates physical mutation within the body. Roundup-Ready soybeans were also found to contain the gene. Don’t forget about NK603, which was recently linked to the development of mass tumors in rats.
    This Gene helps to assemble virus particles that inhibit the natural defense of the cellular system and produces proteins that are harmful. The most common genetic regulatory sequence in commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of this viral gene. The presence of this “hidden” gene is likely to result in unintended phenotypic changes (DNA mutations.) Of the 86 different transgenic events (unique insertions of foreign DNA) commercialized and mass marketed today, 54 in the United States contain some of the harmful Gene V1 within them.”
    Then http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2565-gm-crop-dna-found-in-human-gut-bugs.html#.Uyutv2dOXIU
    “For the first time, it has been proved that bacteria in the human gut can take up DNA from genetically modified food.”
    Then the NewScientist, Issue No. 2832, 1st October 2011 Page 10 has the following…
    “Genetic material in food survives digestion and circulates the body, fragments of plant RNA have been found swimming in the blood stream of people and cows.”
    “Zhang found some 30 known plant miRNA’s floating in the blood of people and cows”.
    He also states that “cooking does not destroy the plants miRNA’s”.
    “All the plants we eat have been modifying our gene expression for as long as we have been eating them”.
    Chen-Yu Zhang of Nanjing University in China.
    Then another story like NewScientist, Issue No. 2920, 8thJune 2013 Page 6.
    “Unauthorised genetically modified wheat has been discovered growing on a farm in Oregon nine years after a research program was abandoned. How it got there is a mystery.”
    “Monsanto which says that the farm in question was not part of its original testing program and that all GM material was destroyed in 2004.” Proving that GM crops are themselves unstable and dangerous but all many want to do is hide all the facts. NewScientist, Issue No. 2891, 17th November 2012 Page 28. Wrong-headed Victory, California voted down Manetory labelling of GM food.

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    Oct 28th 2015, 11:14 PM

    So the E.U. has killed democracy now, no sovereignty and now food choice is gone, wait until TiSA agreement comes in and no more medical cards then?

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    Mute Vincent O Mahony
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    Oct 29th 2015, 8:38 AM

    The business plan of Monsanto and others is to monopolise the market for food and take profit to the maximum extent that they can get away with. Same goals as every business – yes – but because people rightfully don’t want their sh*t they need to force it on us:

    Remove choice from consumers by opposing labelling.

    Lobby politicians to remove choice from governments and the people about whether they can refuse GM or not – like we are reading in this story.

    Pay for a big tobacco style propaganda campaign. Including internet shills – see the creepy posts with links to industry sponsored articles that you see on these threads that try to pass themselves off as unbiased science.

    Remove choice from farmers – once you start using GM you cant just switch back to non GM. The “pesticide” that comes with the GM seeds helps to ensure that only GM crops will grow in your field. If GM seeds blow into your field and you dont pay you get sued. If you save seed you get sued.

    Result is to monopolise the food supply. We now have to pay Monsanto et al whatever they want to “charge” us for the privilege of eating their foods.

    And why? There is actually no shortage of food in the world. And there is no (impartial not industry sponsored) scientific consensus that these foods are safe.

    We need to put a stop to this sh*t.

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    Mute JIMINYJELIKERS
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    Oct 28th 2015, 5:36 PM

    black guy just said yeah it is that big

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 28th 2015, 10:02 PM

    Wrong, scientifically Greeks and Italians win…

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    Mute Mr D
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    Oct 29th 2015, 12:29 PM

    GMOs are fine. After all, if it’s not wild, it’s GMO.

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    Mute Pete Gibson
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    Nov 1st 2015, 3:28 PM

    Nature invented GMO.
    When the flu virus genetically modified itself in 1919 it killed more people than the First World War.

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