
Genetic Engineering
GMO = Genetically Modified Organism
GMOs are created in a lab, by inserting a gene from one organism into another unrelated organism, producing plants and animals that would never occur in nature. No long-term safety studies have been done on humans, but animal studies link the consumption of GMOs to an increase in allergies, kidney and liver disease, ADHD, cancer, infertility, chronic immune disorders and more.
PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: Friends of the Earth International
In Curitiba, Brazil Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth International / Friends of the Earth Nigeria
Tel: +234 8037274395 (Nigerian mobile) or email nnimmo@eraction.org
Adrian Bebb,
Read moreDr. Charles Benbrook is a consultant on agricultural policy, science and regulatory issues. He was formerly an agricultural staff expert on the Council for Environmental Quality at The White House at the end of the Carter Administration, Executive Director of the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture, and Executive Director of the Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Benbrook was interviewed by Arty Mangan of <http://www.bioneers.org/Bioneers.
Arty Mangan: Has anything changed in terms of the
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CONTACT:
Benedikt Haerlin, Greenpeace International spokesperson, +55 411 682 3117
Michael Kessler, Greenpeace International Communications, +34 660 637 053
CURITIBA - March 13 - Greenpeace today called upon the representatives of the 132 member states of the International Biosafety Protocol to agree upon reliable and fair standards of identification and labelling of genetically engineered organisms (GMOs) in international shipments of food and feed products. (1)
Earlier today Greenpeace also handed over to the Clearinghouse and Secretariat of the
Read moreGreenpeace announced in Beijing today that non-approved genetically-engineered (GE) rice has been detected in Heinz's Baby Rice Cereal and the environmental group called for an immediate recall of all the contaminated products.
It also asked on the government to control the spread of GE rice in the food chain.
The test results were provided by GeneScan, a Germany-based independent laboratory, which tested 19 food samples that Greenpeace had collected in the supermarkets in Beijing.
Heinz Baby Rice Cereal with a best before date of March 12, 2007 is the only product
Read moreMarch 14, 2006
Dear Travis County Judge Biscoe and County Commissioners Davis, Daughterty, Sonleitner and Gomez:
Exposure to Bt sprays may lead to allergic skin sensitization and induction of IgE and IgG antibodies, or both based on recent scientific studies. Although health risks to pesticides containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been minimal, the potential allergenicity of these organisms has not been evaluated. Today large acreage of US crops like soy, corn, canola and others are genetically engineered (GE) to contain Bt in every plant cell and USDA has failed to
Read moreJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - An ordinance from a sparsely populated northern California county has some Missouri lawmakers worried that local regulation of genetically modified crops could hamper agriculture's future in the state.
Mendocino County, Calif., banned all genetically modified crops and animals in March 2004, prompting activists to attempt to do the same in four other counties. They were successful in one.
Since then, 14 states have banned local regulation of the types of seeds farmers can use and another five - including Missouri - are considering bans.
MONTEVIDEO, Mar 15 (IPS) - Genetically modified organisms are leaving an indelible mark on several Latin American countries, regardless of the standards for their use and the attempts to adopt an international regime governing their production and transportation.
Extensive areas under transgenic soybean cultivation mark the landscape in Argentina and Brazil, and are expanding in Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay as well.
Argentina, the United States and Canada are responsible for 90 percent of the world production of transgenic crops.
Soybeans are vital to the Argentine
Read moreThe unrestricted development of biotechnology- without any reservations, let alone precautionary measures- is the public policy of the government of Puerto Rico.
Governor Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá has been pretty explicit about it in his economic policy, which he pompously calls the "knowledge economy". Back in January the PR Senate approved a bill making the "knowledge economy" official government policy. The bill, which was presented by right-wing senator José Garriga-Picó and had the support of all political parties, stresses attracting investment in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology
Read more"In summary, the risk to Monsanto's shareholders from the company's genetic engineering business are substantial. the company faces business constraints in the form of market rejection by consumers, producers, and farmers; significant legislative hurdles to commercialization; uncertainty in the face of human health and environmental impacts stemming from the company's products; and finally, significant risk exposure from potential contamination of the human food chain by unapproved genetically engineered traits." Monsanto & Genetic Engineering: Risks for Investors A report prepared by
Read moreIn January, a biotech industry front group, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), announced, with great fanfare, that global acreage of genetically engineered (GE)crops had increased 19% in 2001. According to ISAAA, 5.5 million farmers last year planted 130 million acres (52.6 million hectares) of GE crops, a 30-fold increase since 1996. For the year 2000, ISAAA had reported a somewhat smaller 11% growth in GE acreage. Cheerleaders for Frankenfoods, including Monsanto and the American Farm Bureau, hailed ISAAA's most recent projections as "proof
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