Save our Seeds

Since the introduction of genetically modified cotton crop, which accounts more than 90% in the total area under cotton in the country, there has been a fear of genetic erosion and loss of biodiversity, a group of reputed cotton breeders have expressed. [...] ”Research on cotton gene has gone backward by more than 10 years as scientists have simply stopped working on the genetic mechanism of controlling bolwarm pests,” SS Patil, senior Cotton Breeder, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka) told FE. He said due to overdependence on GM crop farmers have lost their traditional knowledge on seed production.

On the night of 9 July, half a dozen masked attackers overpowered the security guard watching over test fields in Gross Lüsewitz, near Rostock. They then destroyed a field of wheat resistant to fungal diseases and a field of potatoes engineered to produce cyanophycin, an amino acid polymer that could potentially be used to make plastics. [...] Two nights later, a dozen attackers threatened guards with pepper spray and bats at a demonstration garden in Üplingen, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. They destroyed a field of potatoes and trampled wheat and maize.

In the Netherlands, the Community Council of Nijmegen last night declared the city GE-free. After Culemborg and the province of Friesland, this is only the third GE-free region in the country, whose national government considers itself neutral as to GE agriculture, but is seen as a staunch supporter of it by industry, other governments and civil society alike.

Hungary will uphold strict measures against genetically modified seeds, a deputy state secretary of the Rural Development Ministry told a press conference on Thursday. Lajos Bognar said that the government would also seek an amendment to the Penal Code to introduce strict punishment for distributors of seeds polluted with genetically modified organisms. He added that Hungary’s GMO-free status was an important, strategic asset.

Greenpeace protesters have broken into a CSIRO experimental farm in Canberra to destroy a crop of genetically modified wheat. In the early hours of this morning a group of Greenpeace protesters scaled the fence of the CSIRO experimental station at Ginninderra in the capital’s north. Greenpeace says activists were wearing Hazmat protective clothing and were equipped with weed string trimmers. They say the entire crop of genetically modified wheat has been destroyed. About half a hectare of GM wheat is being grown on the site, as part of Australia’s first outdoor trials. No genetically modified wheat strain had ever been approved for cropping in Australia before.

Some 400 hectares of maize have been destroyed throughout Hungary after the crops were found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds, the deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development in charge of supervision of the food supply chain and agricultural administration told MTI on Friday. [...] Authorities have been checking for GMO crops since the beginning of this year as a new regulation came in force this March which stipulates GMO checks before seeds are introduced to the market. The checks will continue despite the fact that seed traders are obliged to make sure that their products are GMO free, Bognar said.

BASF SE (BAS), the world’s biggest chemical maker, may withdraw genetically modified crop research from Germany in response to growing political opposition, three people familiar with discussions said. The maker of the Amflora scientific potato is considering the future of its research facility in rural Limburgerhof in southwestern Germany, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. A move to the U.S. is possible for the plant biotechnology operations, which employ 700, said one of the people.

Greenpeace EU agriculture policy adviser Stefanie Hundsdorfer said: “The European Parliament today added real punch to draft laws to protect our farms and food. But let’s not forget that GM contamination doesn’t respect borders. National bans are no substitute for thorough safety testing at a European level, something the EU is failing to do so far. We and a growing majority of the public remain seriously concerned about unanswered health and environmental questions around GM crops. Ecological farming is the correct response to the challenges of food security, climate change and long-term productivity.”

Consumers International and its member organisations celebrated victory today as regulators from more than 100 countries agreed on long overdue guidance on the labelling of genetically modified food. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, made up of the world’s food safety regulatory agencies, has been labouring for two decades to come up with consensus guidance on this topic. In a striking reversal of their previous position, on Tuesday, during the annual Codex summit in Geneva, the US delegation dropped its opposition to the GM labelling guidance document, allowing it to move forward and become an official Codex text.

Bayer CropScience agreed Friday to pay up to $750 million to settle several lawsuits with U.S. farmers who claimed a strain of the company's unapproved genetically modified rice contaminated the food supply and hurt their crop prices.