06/December/19

 

Through his campaigning against pesticide restrictions, in favour of GMOs, and in defence of companies like Bayer/Monsanto, "Farmer Willi" has become one of Germany’s best known farmers. But according to an article in the German newspaper Taz, a more accurate nickname for Kremer-Schillings might be “Chemical Willi”. That’s because, despite promoting himself as a small farmer working a “traditional farm”, his career turns out to have involved very little active farming and a great deal of working with agrichemical interests. And Farmer Willi is far from alone among “grassroots farmers” opposing farm chemical restrictions, and/or promoting GMOs, in having a PR platform that airbrushes out his corporate connections. GMWatch

 

 

Austria is set to become the first EU country to ban the controversial weedkiller glyphosate, having completed the EU’s single market notification procedure on Friday 29 November. However, Austria’s government cast doubt on Monday as to whether a total ban on the world’s most widely used herbicide would be implemented next month, despite MPs voting for the measure earlier this year. Parliament approved the ban in July, making Austria the first EU member state to do so, but the government has now warned of a possible legal clash with Brussels if it implements the ban. EURACTIV with AFP

 

 

In advance of the public release of a petition requesting unprecedented USDA permission for the unregulated planting of the first genetically engineered (GE) plant, a GE American chestnut tree, into the wild, experts are calling attention to the risks. Campaign to Stop GE Trees, via GMWatch

 

 

On 27 November 2019 the UK's Labour Party revealed copies of the meeting notes from all six of the US and UK trade and investment working group (TIWG) meetings. These were meetings that took place between US and UK trade representatives. The papers reveal that the US wants UK to speed up GMO approvals after Brexit and doesn't like GMO labelling. The US is also attacking food standards in other ways, for instance, by insisting that the UK accept practices like chlorine washing of food and abandon the relatively precautionary approach to pesticides that the EU has established. Sustain

 

 

During the prorogation of Parliament in September several key pieces of legislation slipped through undebated, including two on GMOs. The new regulation is largely the same as current EU regulations with one notable exception. It mandates that GMO regulations are reviewed and revised every 5 years (first report due Sept 2024) – and that these should prioritise, where possible, "less onerous regulatory provision". Beyond GM, via GMWatch