Speakers/Presentations

Maria ARENA
Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Member
Belgium - Parti Socialiste

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Since 2015 Aina Bartmann has coordinated the GMO Network Norway. This is an umbrella organisation for 18 farmer-, environmental-, consumer and solidarity organisations, representing more than 2 000 000 citizens in Norway. Since 2019 GMO Network Norway has contributed to 3 Nordic GMO-conferences. Bartmann was formerly a goat farmer, and was president of the Norwegian Farmer- and Smallholders Union between 1992 and 1996. She has also been a member of the Biotechnology advisory Board and chair for GenØk – Centre for Biosafety. In 2022 Bartmann became chair of  The Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre. Bartmann is currently a member of Genteknologiutvalget, a public committee in Norway who will publish their proposal for future GMO-regulation in June 2023.

Benoît BITEAU
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance Member
France - Europe Écologie

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Claire Bury
Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety
European Commission

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Pascal DURAND
Renew Europe Group Member
France - Liste Renaissance

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Margaret Engelhard
Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
bfn GMO Regulation Dr., Dipl. Biol.

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Presentation: A nature conservation and risk assessment perspective 
Recording: "A nature conservation and risk assessment perspective" by Margret Engelhard, GMO-Free Europe 2022 

Fabrizio Fabbri
European Community of Consumer Co-operatives
Sustainability Policy Manager

Presentation: Consumers’ Cooperative view on NGTs 

Interview with Fabrizio Fabbri from Eurocoop

Eva Gelinsky is an independent scientist in Switzerland (semnar/seed policies and science). She is also working as policy coordinator of the Initiative for GE-free seeds and breeding. She is a member of the Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology ECNH.

Presentation: Climate change, agriculture and the role of biotechnology
Recording: "Climate change, agriculture and the role of biotechnology" by Eva Gelinsky, GMO-Free Europe 2022 

Benedikt Haerlin works for the German Foundation on Future Farming in Berlin, Germany. He co-ordinates the European initiative "Save our Seeds" to keep seeds free of GMOs and works on European Agricultural Policy issues and networks. He represented NGOs in the Worldbank and UN led IAASTD from 2002-2008. Haerlin was the global coordinator of Greenpeace International’s Genetic Engineering Campaign from 1996 to 2002 and worked for the organisation since 1990. From 1984 to 1989 Haerlin served as a Member of the European Parliament (Green Group), where he first specialized in genetic engineering issues. Before he worked as a journalist and editor.

Nina Holland holds a master's degree in Environmental Sciences from Utrecht University. She now works with Corporate Europe Observatory, a research and campaign group based in Brussels that aims to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making. Her focus is on lobbying by agribusiness and food industries covering issues like pesticides, food labeling and GMOs. She is involved with in various grassroots initiatives at local level such as on sustainable and just food systems and air quality. 

Martin HÄUSLING
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance Member
Germany - Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

Martin Häusling is a German Member of the European Parliament for the Greens/EFA group and their spokesperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and a substitute member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Besides this, he runs an organic farm with his sons in Hesse (Germany) with 90 dairy cows and its own offspring, 50 laying hens, three sheep, two goats and a farm owned cheese dairy.

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Interview with Martin Häusling, Member of the European Parliament

Stefan Kaineder
Member of the provincial government of Upper Austria (Provincial Council)

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Tia Loftsgard is the Executive Director of the Canada Organic Trade Association, an umbrella organization, covering the entire organic value chain, from farmers to retailers. She will share her experience in safeguarding co-existence in the organic sector in a pro-GMO regulatory context.

Silke Malorny
State of Hesse
GMO Free Regions network

Heike Moldenhauer has been Secretary General of ENGA (European Non-GMO Industry Association) since January 2021. Previously, she served as an EU Policy Advisor for VLOG (German Association of Food without Genetic Engineering). She was head of section for GMO policy at Friends of the Earth Germany for 17 years and was active as a member of the GMO steering group of Friends of the Earth Europe. She has been promoting Non-GMO food and agriculture in Europe for nearly 30 years.

Jan Plagge
President of IFOAM Organics Europe
Bioland

Interview with Jan Plagge from IFOAM Organics Europe and BIOLAND

Michele Rivasi
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance Member
France - Europe Ecology

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Trained as a bank clerk, Jörg Rohwedder studied social economics in Hamburg. Jörg was a senior campaigner for WeMove Europe, as well as the executive director of the Movement Foundation (Bewegungsstiftung). The year prior to joining foodwatch as international executive director he worked as political director of LobbyControl.

Presentation: Freedom of Choice Only with Transparency  

Mute Schimpf, Master of agronomy, work experience for various civil organisations on agricultural trade, biodiversity, food and GMO in Germany and at European level. Since 2010 food campaigner with Friends of the Earth Europe. Board of TP Organics.

Christoph Then studied veterinary medicine and has been working for about 30 years on issues in the field of biotechnology from the perspective of the protection goals of health, environment and nature. Since 2008, he is executive director of Testbiotech. Testbiotech is working as an industry-independent expert group. Relevant issues are new methods of genetic engineering such as genome editing and EU authorisations of genetically engineered plants. Christoph Then authored many publications in the field, most recent can be found under www.testbiotech.org/publikationen. Beyond that, since 2007, he acts coordinator for the international coalition No Patents on Seeds!.

Presentation: New genomic techniques (NGTs) - agriculture, food production and crucial regulatory issues
Recording: "NGTs - agriculture, food production and regulatory issues"by Christoph Then, GMO-Free Europe 2022 

Pat Thomas is an award-winning campaigner, journalist and author. A former editor of the Ecologist magazine Pat has run campaigns for Paul McCartney's Meat-Free Monday, Compassion in World Farming and Neal's Yard Remedies. In 2014 she co-founded the advocacy group, Beyond GM and in 2017 A Bigger Conversation – both aimed at raising the level of the debate around GMOs in food and farming. Pat is the author more than 40 books for adults and children and was inducted into Who's Who in 2014 in recognition of her environmental work. She continues to write in a freelance capacity and makes regular public speaking and media appearances. She has been a trustee of the Soil Association and the Organic Research.

Presentation: Consequences of deregulation 

Interview with Pat Thomas from BEYOND GM UK

Thomas WAITZ
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance Member
Austria - Die Grünen - Die Grüne Alternative

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Sarah WIENER
Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance Member
Austria - Die Grünen - Die Grüne Alternative

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Interview with Sarah Wiener, Member of the European Parliament