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The European Union on Thursday delayed a vote on renewing sales approval for the pesticide glyphosate, used in Monsanto's weed-killer Roundup, amid a transatlantic row over whether it may cause cancer.

Experts from the EU's 28 nations had been due to vote on a proposal, seen by Reuters, to extend by nine years licensing of the herbicide, widely used by farmers and gardeners.

EU sources said the vote was postponed due to opposition in France and Germany, which have big farming and chemicals industries.

Without those two countries' support, the European Commission lacks the majority it needs for a binding vote: "Since it was obvious that no qualified majority would have been reached, a vote was not held," a Commission spokeswoman said.

Maui, Hawaii — Maui’s State Department of Transportation just agreed not to spray Monsanto’s RoundUp along roadways. All purchases of the glyphosate-based, carcinogenic weed killer have been halted, according to Maui Mama. What’s more, the department is about to change the signs on all of their spray trucks to say “Certified Organic Herbicide.”

Beyond Pesticides has also agreed to teach county workers how to make the switch from the health-damaging RoundUp chemical applications to a non-toxic solution, FREE OF CHARGE. The county of Maui has yet to take the offer to heart, but with some world-wide support, they could be gently urged to do so.

GMO-free zone national exchange conference held in Sendai.

Philippines GMO-Free Zones: Successful Roots in Organic Policy and Law

Brussels, 17 May 2016 – Tomorrow, a symposium on patents and plant breeders’ rights will be hosted by the Dutch Minister for Agriculture. IFOAM EU welcomes the Dutch Presidency initiative and urges the Commission to take concrete, legal action to put an end to patents on seeds. This comes in the context of a new resolution by the European Parliament calling for a ban on conventionally bred products (1); a groundswell against a patent requested by Syngenta for a conventionally bred tomato (2); and recent revocation of a patent that had been issued by the European Patent Office for a conventionally bred melon from Monsanto (3).

Thomas Fertl, IFOAM EU Board Member and Farmers’ Representative, said: “The European Commission should urgently clarify that seeds and genetic traits that can be found in nature and obtained through conventional breeding cannot be patented. The patent legislation has increasingly been used to grant patents on natural traits, which is a complete misuse of the patent system. This kind of patents fosters further market concentration in the seed sector and hamper competition and innovation. Today, only 5 companies control 75% of the seeds sold throughout the world and own most of the patents. This is corporate control over farming and the food chain at its most dangerous.”

Press release - May 16, 2016

Brussels – The FAO /WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) released an assessment today, which concludes that the controversial weedkiller glyphosate is “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet”. The finding contradicts an earlier assessment by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which stated that glyphosate was a probable cause of cancer. However, the industry ties of at least two experts involved in the JMPR’s evaluation call into question whether the organisation has ensured the independence of its advice.

Alan Boobis and Angelo Moretto (please see more information below) have ties to the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). ILSI Europe receives a majority of its operating and research funding from private companies, including glyphosate producers Dow and Monsanto. ILSI’s Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) is primarily funded by private companies, including glyphosate producers Dow, Monsanto and Syngenta.

Most scientists involved in the glyphosate assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which also contradicted the WHO cancer warning, refused to be named.

The National Research Council's ties to the biotech industry and other corporations create conflicts of interest and raise questions about the independence of their work.

05.16.16

The National Research Council (NRC) — the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences — enjoys a reputation as one of the elite scientific bodies in the United States, an independent institution that Congress calls on fro impartial scientific advice about topics like genetically engineered crops (commonly called GMOs). However, the NRC's far-reaching ties to biotechnology companies and other agricultural corporations have created conflicts of interest at every level of the organization, which greatly diminish the independence and integrity of the NRC's scientific work.

Among other conflicts, Food & Water Watch found that the NRC (and its parent organization, the National Academy of Sciences):

- takes millions of dollars in funding from biotechnology companies

- invites sponsors like Monsanto to sit on high-level boards overseeing the NRC’s work

- invites industry-aligned, pro-GMO scientists to author NRC reports

- draws scientific conclusions based on industry science

- operates at times as a private contractor for corporate research.

March 2016

Swiss Confederation

Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology ECNH

In recent years technologies have been developed or employed in plant breeding which have replaced genetic and conventional techniques, and combinations of the two; these are known collectively as (NPBTs). As with methods in genetic engineering, NPBTs can also be used to modify the genome of a plant. This means new characteristics can be created; for example, a plant’s components can be altered to generate resistance to disease, infestation by insects or weed killer. NPBTs have become increasingly important in crop research and development. Like other methods in breeding technology, NPBTs do not cover the whole of the breeding process. They are used in the laboratory at the beginning of

the process. A large part of the work in plant breeding takes place outdoors in the field, where the plant reacts to its environment, and new characteristics must be tested for biological stability in a “real-life” situation.

Information about Czech Republic is updated.

Information about New Caledonia is updated.