Germany has told the European Union it will ban cultivation of crops with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), under new European Union rules allowing member states to opt out of GMO cultivation, a document seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.

German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt has informed the EU Commission that Germany will not permit GMO cultivation on its territory, a letter from Germany's Agriculture Ministry to the Commission seen by Reuters shows.

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

Under the new EU rules, countries must by Oct. 3, 2015, inform the EU Commission if they wish to opt out of new EU GMO cultivation approvals.

New report on recent and emerging cases

Monday, 21. September 2015

Testbiotech will publish a report providing a global overview of recent cases of uncontrolled spread of genetically engineered organisms able to persist and propagate in the environment. The report will be presented to a working group organised by the Secretary of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) at a meeting taking place in Montreal (Canada) from 21 - 25 September.

The evidence presented in this report comes from China (rice), Mexico (maize and cotton), Japan (oilseed rape) South Korea (maize and cotton), Switzerland (oilseed rape) and the USA (grasses). Further emerging examples are likely to include eggplant (India / Bangladesh), trees such as pine and eucalyptus in North and South America and genetically engineered insects (Brazil and Panama).

Germany: No More GMO Seeds

Germany is taking steps to outlaw the cultivation of genetically modified crops in the Europe’s biggest economy.

The Agriculture Ministry plans to officially request that producers of GMOs exclude Germany when applying to sell seeds in European Union, Christian Fronczak, a spokesman for the government, said Tuesday. Scotland took similar measures earlier this month.

“The German government is clear in that it seeks a nationwide cultivation ban,” Fronczak said by phone from Berlin. “There’s resistance from all sides, from the public to the farmers.”

Testbiotech - Tuesday, 18. August 2015

The EU Commission is refusing to let independent experts have access to the report prepared by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) on the risk assessment of glyphosate. In a letter to Testbiotech dated 10 August 2015, the Commission says that the documents made available to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) by the German government “are protected in their entirety” as confidential. The EU Commission can see “no overriding public interest” that would justify access. There is, however, clearly public interest in the matter since the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World health Organisation (WHO) has already declared that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans. However, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), is claiming there would be no risk to human health.

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Despite a court ruling made by the European Court of Justice in 2013 (Case T‑545/11), which said that data relevant for the risk assessment of herbicides have to be made public, there is still no sign that the EU Commission and EU Member States are complying with this process to create more transparency.

Contact:

Christoph Then, Tel + 49 151 54638040, info@testbiotech.org

Stop the toxic soybeans! Support our call!

Testbiotech, 23 July 2015

Testbiotech is warning that EU market authorisation might be given to a new genetically engineered soybean produced by Monsanto. Soybean MON 87708 × MON 89788 was made resistant to two pesticides, glyphosate and dicamba. Spraying soybean crops with these herbicides leaves residues in the plants which might be carcinogenic. Glyphosate was recently classified as “probably carcinogenic” by an international expert group. Dicamba degrades to compounds such as formaldehyde, which has already been classified as carcinogenic for several years. It follows that the harvested soybeans will regularly contain a combination of residues from these herbicides. If they are imported, the food and feed chain could be permanently exposed to this specific mixture.

This is the first time that this combination of herbicides will be used to spray soybeans.

Non-GMO labels are on the rise in European countries – but unlike the US, EU legislation requires all food containing above trace levels of GM to be labelled. So is there even a need for GMO-free?

Five state governments in Germany are putting pressure on Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt, introducing a bill for a nationwide ban on GMOs instead of his “patchwork” proposal. EurActiv Germany reports.

Germany’s debate over banning genetically modified (GM) plants has come to a head: Green/Social Democratic coalitions in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein presented a bill on Tuesday (30 June) proposing a nationwide ban on GM plants effective “in the entire sovereign territory”.

Agriculture Minister Schmidt is in a tight squeeze. Though he hopes to reject the cultivation of GM crops, Schmidt has left it up to German states to decide on a ban. “Now I expect the participants not to further set themselves in stone ideologically,” he said.

Freedom from GM food only through national regulation

German beekeepers have called for a nationwide ban on cultivating GM plants, reports the German NGO keine-gentechnik.de.

The call by the German Beekeepers Association (DIB), which represents almost 100,000 beekeepers, comes after Europe adopted controversial legislation enabling member states to opt-out of the cultivation of GMOs that have been approved at the EU level.

Under the law, a member state can ban a GMO in part or all of its territory. But the law has come under heavy criticism for failing to provide a solid basis for such bans.

The beekeepers are urging Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt (CSU) to implement a Germany-wide ban on cultivation. The Minister pleads, however, for letting each state decide individually.

The beekeepers counter that a piecemeal approach will not work. Bees fly up to eight kilometres in search of food, the DIB said, so a juxtaposition of GM crop cultivation zones and GMO-free zones within Germany would be "environmentally and agriculturally unacceptable".

“Bees know no borders," the DIB added.

Monsanto: German companies stop glyphosate sales

Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (German Economic News)

According to Swiss supermarkets, German companies have announced halting sales of Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide. In 1971, Monsanto patented glyphosate. Today its glyphosate (“Roundup”) constitutes two billion US dollars in annual sales.

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The registration of glyphosate is currently being re-examined by the EU, because the current authorization of the active ingredient ends in December 2015.

Now you can enjoy watching the videos from this year´s GMO-FREE EUROPE Conference.

http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/gmo-free-europe-2015/videos-from-gmo-free-europe-conference.html

GMO-FREE EUROPE Conference Berlin May 6, 2015 (Time 1:24:43)

GMO-FREE EUROPE Conference Berlin May 7, 2015 pt1 (Time 1:17:04)

GMO-FREE EUROPE Conference Berlin May 7, 2015 pt2 (Time 1:32:21)

GMO-FREE EUROPE Conference Berlin May 8, 2015 (Time 2:15:52)

GMO-FREE EUROPE Conference Berlin May 6 to 8, 2015: Interviews (Time 27:05)