GM sugar in but not sugar beet

Voices of discontent have started to be raised in EU over GMO regulations. According to an EU member of parliament, while EU can import GM sugar beet grown in the US and sold in the supermarkets, it can not be grown by EU farmers. This would drive EU farmers away from  sugar beet. The EU is allowing imports of GM sugar beet products after stringent bio safety tests but does not allow its cultivation in the EU. According to reports the US sugar beet crop is predicted to be nearly 100 per cent GM in 2009 after widespread adoption of Monsanto’s Round-up Ready herbicide-tolerant beet.

EU asks Austria to lift GM ban

The European Commission is trying to persuade Austria to lift the ban it has put on GM maize. Austria banned the growing and marketing of GM maize MON810 and T25, invoking a safeguard clause that allows a member state to ban GM crops if it finds new threats to the environment or human health. Austria argued that the safeguards were justified to preserve the region’s agriculture and ecology. But the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in an opinion published in December 2008 said that the Austrian evidence did not constitute new scientific proof that would invalidate its own risk assessments, which cleared the GM in question. EFSA's GM panel also said that Austria had not supplied scientific evidence to  justify the ban.

France to continue ban on Monsanto GM maize ---

The French prime minister said that France will continue the ban on  Monsanto’s GM maize from US biotech giant Monsanto until the environmental risks are clarified. France is maintaining the suspension while it awaits EC’s decision on the same. Earlier France's food watchdog had concluded that the GM maize was safe, contradicting an earlier report that led to the ban on GM maize by France. The watchdog report however is related to the health aspect than the environmental risk. The report, which appeared in the media before it was officially released, said there was no evidence to support the view that the MON810 strain of GM maize under cultivation in France posed a health risk.

GM crops: feed profit, not poor  ----

Friends of the Earth International, in its latest report, has alleged that biotech firms are using GM crops to earn profits rather helping to tackle the world food crisis. The report, ‘Who Benefits From GM Crops?’ outlined how agri-biotech giants have seen increased profits on the back of rising food prices. The report is particularly critical of Monsanto’s ‘Roundup Ready’ seeds, which are modified to be resistant to Roundup, the world’s biggest selling herbicide, also marketed by Monsanto. The report claimed that the company is incorporating the ‘Roundup Ready’ trait into nearly all its seeds, so that farmers who once bought insect resistant maize, for example, now find that it also has the herbicide resistant trait. This means higher profit for Monsanto, both from seeds and Roundup herbicide sales. It added that Monsanto’s total revenue is expected to increase from $8.6 billion in 2007 to $14.9 billion in 2010 and highlighted that GM seeds cost two to four times as much as conventional seeds. The US plants almost 50 % of the world’s GM crops. The report also claimed that companies have manipulated statistics to show increase in area under GMO cultivation. The group inflated the figures by almost a quarter in 2008 to mask an actual decline. The misleading numbers are used by companies to make GMO farming appear more widespread than it really is.