Two untested varieties of genetically modified (GM) maize could find their way on to European fields with potentially negative impacts on nature, according to Friends of the Earth Europe.

The European Commission will soon initiate a vote on whether Syngenta's Bt11 and Pioneer's 1507 maize should be grown in the European Union, despite incomplete safety tests. If approved, these would be the first new GM crops legally authorised for cultivation in the EU in almost 20 years, at a time when biotech companies are merging to consolidate their control on the food chain.

The European Parliament vote today on their position on the GM maize proposals.

Mute Schimpf, food campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said: "European farming needs urgent support to make it greener, safer and better for farmers. We need to break away from even more corporate control in order to increase our sovereignty so that we can feed future generations sustainably. GM crops have no place in our food and farming and there is no reason to open the door for more to be grown."

Germany's federal and state governments will in future decide together whether to ban the cultivation of crops with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are allowed in the European Union, a draft law showed, ending a long dispute.

An EU law in March 2015 cleared the way for the approval of new GMO crops after years of deadlock. But it also gave individual countries the right to ban GMO crops even after they have been approved as safe by the European Commission.

In Sept. 2015, Germany told the EU it would not permit the cultivation of GMO crops but there has been disagreement whether this ban should be undertaken by federal or state authorities.

A new publication from GenØk shows that maize farming by smallholders, for local food production, is particularly vulnerable to the introduction of genetically modified (GM) maize. The reason is that the fields are situated very close to each other (distance often 2-5 m) and that pollen will cross-hybridize at a high rate. In addition, farmers recycle their seeds year after year and share seeds with neighbors and family. Seed sharing may transfer viable seeds up to 100 km.

The study performed fieldwork in Zambia, uses mathematical modelling of pollen spread and interviewed farmers about their seed management practices. Globally, 85 % of all farms are small-scale (< 2ha).

The study concludes that segregation of GM and non-GM maize varieties is likely not an option in these systems. If GM maize is introduced, farmers will contribute to uncontrolled spread of GM maize. One further negative effect is that cross-hybridization of GM (Bt-maize) and non-GM maize may give increased risk of resistance development in pest insects

Clover Stornetta Farms is committing to produce its milk and dairy products without using biotech feed ingredients.

The European Commission and a handful of EU governments want

Europe to grow more genetically modified (GM) crops. In the coming months, they want to authorisethe cultivation of two GM maize varieties (DuPont Pioneer’s 1507 and Syngenta’s Bt11), and to renew the licence for another maize (Monsanto’s maize MON810), the only GM crop currently grown in the EU.

The proposed authorisations would only be valid in 9 out of 28 European Union (EU) countries, as well as in three regions (England in the UK, Flanders and the Brussels region in Belgium). The rest of EU countries and the remaining four regions in the UK and Belgium were excluded under the EU’s new opt-out mechanism. The Commission is hoping that EU governments will accept GM crops so long as they are not grown in their territories.

Franziska Achterberg, EU Food Policy Director for Greenpeace, said: “GM crops have no place in sustainable farming. Rightly, the majority of EU governments and parliamentarians have rejected them.

China National Chemical Corp. sought European Union approval for its US$43 billion takeover of Syngenta AG, one of a trio of mega-deals reshaping the global agrichemicals industry already described as “quite concentrated” by the bloc’s antitrust chief.

The European Commission set an initial October 28 deadline to rule on the deal, according to a website filing on Monday.

ChemChina agreed to buy Syngenta earlier this year in a deal that would transform it into the world’s largest supplier of pesticides and agrochemicals. It is the biggest foreign acquisition for a Chinese firm. ChemChina, which is state owned, received approval from US national security officials for the takeover last month.

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EU regulators opened an in-depth probe into a Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. merger last month and suspended the deadline earlier this month to seek missing data.

EU lawmakers and environmental campaigners have been been calling on EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to block Bayer AG’s bid for Monsanto.

Iran is seeing its most vociferous outcry yet over the use of genetically-modified ingredients in food production.

Opponents of food products with GMOs have recently elicited fatwas from top clerics, declaring commercial sale and cultivation of genetically-altered crops “not permitted.”

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Last year, Iran imported $5.5 billion of GM products, according to head of the Iranian Organic Association Ali Nourani who said the imports were threatening the health of consumers.

Nourani has said Iran’s move toward embracing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) makes no economic sense.

“The Iranian society is not starving to say we must move toward genetically modified products, which amounts to toying with the health of the people.”

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The European Union has rigorous restrictions in place on GM cultivation in the 28-member bloc while countries such as France have banned the cultivation of genetically modified crops.

A variety of GM products, chiefly rice and cooking oil, is imported into Iran, however. Iran has also been dabbling with biotechnology for years, cloning its first sheep in 2006.

The first GM rice is already grown in Iran for human consumption. In May 2015, the first sample of Iran’s GM cotton was unveiled by Minister of Agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati.

Noted molecular biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava on Saturday said the commercial cultivation of Genetically Modified (GM) mustard would be "disastrous" as it would eventually open the doors for multinational corporations to control India's agriculture.

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The transgenic crop, Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) has been developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), University of Delhi.

Currently, GM cotton is the only transgenic crop commercially available in fields.

NASHVILLE, Tenn (RFD-TV) Bayer AG, a German-based pharmaceutical company recently proposed a $66 billion takeover of U.S. seed company, Monsanto Co. – an idea that was not well received by the German people.

From one perspective, Monsanto was an advocate of genetically modified crops and a weed killer that could cause cancer, and had no place in the German market.

Greenpeace warns trade ministers not to feed EU resentment with misguided decisions on trade

Press release - September 23, 2016

Bratislava/Brussels – A daring protest high above the Slovak capital on Friday morning concluded an intense week of mobilisation across Europe against EU trade deals with Canada (known as CETA) and the US (known as TTIP). Greenpeace called on EU trade ministers meeting in Bratislava today to oppose the deals and put the protection of people and planet ahead of trade.

Ten climbers from Austria, Slovakia and Croatia scaled the imposing UFO tower on the Bridge of the National Uprising over the Danube to display a 2.5 by 10-metre banner reading “NO TTIP”. The futuristic tower faces Bratislava castle and stands 85 metres above the old town, where the ministers are meeting.

Immediately before the tower protest, demonstrators representing a broad coalition of NGOs and trade unions marched in Bratislava to call on European governments to rethink the EU’s external trade agenda. Over the last week, hundreds of thousands of Europeans have demonstrated against CETA and TTIP from Berlin to Brussels, and Vienna to Stockholm.