| | 20/February/25
| | Joint letter to the EU Commission: Pseudo-science must not be an option for Europe! Today several civil society organisations (CSOs) – including GMWatch – and industry associations published a joint letter to the European Commission, demanding that they withdraw their proposal for deregulation of plants obtained from new genetic engineering (new genomic techniques, NGTs). They stress that any new regulation for NGT plants must be based on science and ensure safety. In this regard, the proposal made by the Commission suffers from irreparable flaws, since the criteria for speeding up market access are not science-based, but arbitrary. The organisations warn that, with new genetic engineering methods and tools such as the CRISPR/Cas gene scissors, the technical potential, but also the potential damage, has grown rapidly. These tools make it possible, for the first time, to genetically engineer every gene of every life form and to spread these genetic changes within the respective species. This technical potential has also to be taken into account in future regulation of NGT plants. GMWatch Poland's latest proposal on new GMOs/NGTs ignores farmers' rights Yesterday Poland presented a new "improved" proposal to the Council of the EU on the deregulation of so-called "new" plant GMOs obtained by new genomic techniques (NGTs). ECVC (European Coordination Via Campesina) welcomes the importance given to the issue of patents, which are the main concern of farmers, but says the solutions proposed by Poland will not be able to solve it. ECVC says this latest proposal does not provide for any obligation to publish the detection and identification processes for genetically modified and patented plants. These are wrongly presented as "similar" to "natural" or conventionally bred plants, which should never be patented. Farmers and traditional breeders will therefore not be able to know whether the conventional seeds they have bred, cultivated or marketed, contain (naturally or as a result of unavoidable genetic contamination) a genetic sequence presented as "similar" to a patented sequence obtained by NGT. If this is the case, they may be prosecuted for patent infringement and their produce may be seized. GMWatch Fresh documents show member states still at odds over new GMOs Following a freedom of information request from ENDS Europe, the Council of the EU has published detailed comments from member states on a draft compromise text relating to the proposed new genomic techniques (new GMOs, NGTs) Regulation. National attachés are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Friday for another round of discussions on the file. Several member states – Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia – said they were still opposed to the proposal, voicing concerns about any deregulation of the next-generation GMOs. Meanwhile, Germany maintained a hesitant stance on draft compromise texts. German officials asked if Poland, which holds the EU Council presidency until the end of June, is considering including “labelling that goes beyond plant reproductive material” as a potential way to break the deadlock on the file. The country’s agriculture minister previously called for a labelling requirement for all produce containing NGTs – whereas the European Commission has proposed to only label seeds. ENDS Europe (paywalled) Asilomar déjà vu? On February 23-26 of this year, there will be a conference on the future of biotechnology at Asilomar, this one marking the 50th anniversary of the 1975 conference. Tina Stevens and Stuart A. Newman, authors of Biotech Juggernaut: Hope, Hype, and Hidden Agendas of Entrepreneurial Bioscience, ask: What social function will the 2025 Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology come to serve? Will it recapture those expansive moral considerations of the pre-1975 Asilomar discussions? Or will it shore up the ‘keep out’ boundaries that the 1975 conference famously cemented? Balanced consideration of emerging technologies will be particularly challenging this time around because, unlike Asilomar 1975, Asilomar 2025 will be convening in the era of “pervasive commercialisation”. GMWatch, republishing article first published by A Bigger Conversation Exposure to glyphosate herbicide adversely affects perinatal health – study Researchers at the University of Oregon found that the rollout of genetically engineered corn in the early 2000s, followed by exponential increases in glyphosate-based herbicides, “caused previously undocumented and unequal health costs for rural US communities over the last 20 years.” Their results “suggest the introduction of GM [genetically modified] seeds and glyphosate significantly reduced average birthweight and gestational length.” Beyond Pesticides US: Catastrophic losses of bees (video) US beekeepers are discussing the catastrophic losses happening right now in the commercial beekeeping industry. It's estimated the current winter loss rates are averaging as high as 70%-80% industry wide. They finger pesticides as a key factor. The beekeepers say the public needs to understand they are in dire straits. The extent of the problem is covered up by the incredible hard work of beekeepers, who keep finding ways to cover up the losses and make it through one more year. But they can only do that so many times. BeeFit Beekeeping We hope you’ve found this newsletter interesting. Please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org
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