25/November/21

 

Owen Paterson recently quit the House of Commons amid a scandal in which he was revealed as having breached the MP's Code of Conduct in his lobbying activities. Among Paterson's other lobbying interests, he popped up promoting GMOs in places like South Africa, Australia and the US. The Register of Members' Interests shows he got around £40,000 purely to fund his overseas trips. But every trip is shown as funded by his own private company, UK 2020. And UK 2020 kept its donors secret! His lobbying partners, who either provided him with public platforms or shared them with him, included Rothamsted Research, Mark Lynas, Europabio, and Syngenta. GMWatch

 

 

On November 29, the European Commission led by Vice-President Timmermans will discuss the deregulation of a new generation of GM plants, also called new genomic techniques, with stakeholders. The conference already presents new GMOs as a "way forward for safe and sustainable innovation in the agri-food sector", while other voices and arguments are being brushed aside by Health and Food Safety Commissioner Kyriakides. GMWatch

 

 

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has joined over 100 organisations in calling for greater transparency and government oversight in the regulation of genetically modified foods and seeds. Led by the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), the organisations have sent a letter to the health and agriculture ministers. The signatories wrote, “The regulatory guidance proposals would result in an almost total lack of transparency over the use of genetic engineering in food and farming in Canada — the government itself would not know which genetically engineered foods and seeds may be on the market." NUPGE

 

 

The EU wants to crank up soy production in eastern Europe. But with illegal genetically modified soy crops rife, who will benefit? Field research by the Romanian NGO Agent Green and the Austrian government’s Environmental Institute shows that up to half of all soya exported from Ukraine could be illegally grown GM crops. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) puts it higher still: it estimates, on the basis of industry rumours, that up to 65% of all Ukrainian soya exports could be illegal. Open Democracy