09/December/21

 

Consumer, environmental, and farmer groups across Canada are denouncing new regulatory changes expected to be published imminently by Health Canada that will allow private corporations to release onto the market many new genetically engineered foods without any government oversight. The groups are alarmed that the new guidance relies on corporate product safety determinations and limits the government to simply asking corporations to provide “voluntary transparency”. CBAN

 

 

Many US consumers are worried about possible health risks of eating food produced with pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones, as well as about climate change. One way to address all these concerns is to expand organic agriculture. But the US isn’t currently setting the bar high for growing its organic sector. Across the Atlantic, Europe has a much more focused, aggressive strategy. The European Union’s Farm to Fork strategy, the heart of the European Green Deal, calls for increasing the percentage of EU farmland under organic management from 8.1% to 25% by 2030. The Organic & Non-GMO Report

 

 

Agrochemical and pesticide giants like Bayer, BASF, and Corteva are pushing for weaker action on harmful chemicals and climate goals. These companies have made significant efforts to lobby the EU and its decision-makers in the wake of announcements about the Green Deal and other policies. Others that have been active in pushing for the EU to continue to allow the use of certain controversial chemicals, include CropLife Europe and the Glyphosate Renewal Group. DeSmog

 

 

French presidential candidate Yannick Jadot predicts that if he wins the 2022 French election, by the end of that year glyphosate will no longer be allowed throughout the European Union. (In 2017 President Macron promised to phase out glyphosate in France within 3 years — it didn't happen.) @GMWatch on Twitter

 

 

At a webinar hosted by Friends of the Earth Europe, Luxembourg's environment minister, a food retail executive, and a researcher all agreed that new GMOs must be kept regulated, for the sake of a biodiverse and climate-friendly EU. @foeeurope on Twitter