Danish fish feed manufacturer, Aller Aqua, says it will cease sourcing the soy it needs for its formulations from South America, with its European manufacturing bases privileging regional purchasing of soy products instead.

Council was advised – and misled – by scientists whose links to the GMO industry were not disclosed to the public

The Danish Council on Ethics has published a report recommending that the EU's GMO legislation be changed to facilitate the introduction of gene-edited plants on the grounds that they could help achieve sustainability objectives. The report calls for the current process-based regulation to be abolished in favour of much weaker product-based regulation.

However, GMWatch has discovered that two external advisors on the report have links to the GMO industry, which were not disclosed to the public.

Carlsberg claims barley and beer as its invention

17 November 2016

In 2016, the European Patent Office (EPO) granted three patents to the Danish brewery, Carlsberg. The patents cover barley plants derived from conventional breeding, their usage in brewing as well as the beer brewed thereof. In a joint letter, several civil society organisations are now calling on Carlsberg to drop these patents. They consider the patents to be an abuse of patent law and in conflict with the interests of consumers.

“There should be no patents on beer and barley. Breeding plants and brewing beer are not inventions, but based on centuries-old tradition,” says Erling Frederiksen from Friends of the Earth in Denmark (NOAH). “Carlsberg should make it clear that they just want to produce good beer and are not acting against the interests of citizens and consumers. We do not want corporate control of our food or patent monopolies. No matter whether they are held by Monsanto, Bayer or Carlsberg.”

The letter to Carlsberg is supported by: Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft, AbL (Germany), Arche Noah (Austria), BioAustria (Austria), Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz, BUND, Friends of the Earth (Germany), Frøsamlerne/Danish Seed Savers (Denmark), Die Freien Bäcker (Germany), GAIA - Environmental Action and Intervention Group (Portugal), GeneWatch UK (Great Britain), Gesellschaft für ökologische Forschung (Germany), IG Saatgut (Germany), IG Nachbau (Germany), NOAH – Friends of the Earth (Denmark), No Patents on Life! (Germany), Plataforma Transgénicos Fora, PTF (Portugal), PublicEye (Switzerland), ProSpecieRara (Switzerland), Pro Regenwald (Germany), Safe our Seeds, SOS (Germany), Sambucus (Germany), SWISSAID (Switzerland), Umweltinstitut München (Germany), Utviklingsfondet / The Development Fund (Norway), Verband Katholisches Landvolk e.V. (Germany), WeMove (EU), Zivilcourage Miesbach (Germany).

European Union ministers are unlikely to agree draft rules to let countries decide themselves whether to grow or ban genetically modified crops, despite efforts by Denmark’s EU presidency to reach a compromise. [...] ”Things are still looking extremely difficult,” Danish Environment Minister Ida Auken, who will lead the discussions, told Reuters by telephone on Thursday. ”We have a small blocking minority at the moment, but we still hope that we will dissolve it, and it’s going to come down to one or two countries in the end.” While France, Germany and Belgium are unlikely to reverse their opposition, Britain and Spain had initially appeared willing to support the Danish compromise, EU sources involved in the talks said.

The Danish government thinks that genetically modified organisms may be the way to feed the increasing world population. Danes are going to have to get used to their cows chewing away at genetically modified maize and soya beans, at least if the Danish Minister for Food Eva Kjær Hansen (Lib) could decide. The minister wants to make it much easier to get approval for GMO products – initially GMO feed, in order to help the world’s starving millions.

A 46 page report by the Nordic Council of Ministers describes and compares regulations of coexistence between genetically modified (GM), conventional and organic crops in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.