latest news http://www.foei.org daily 1 2012-03-19T04:00:20Z Genetically modified crops: European farming at risk http://www.foei.org/en/blog/genetically-modified-crops-european-farming-at-risk Environmental and agricultural organisations have launched a new campaign today to prevent the further spread of genetically modified (GM) crops in Europe. The European Commission is currently considering reviving talks to approve 25 new GM-crops for cultivation in Europe – including crops resistant to the pesticide RoundUp and insecticide-producing varieties of GM maize, soybean and sugarbeet. The groups claim that such a move would drastically change farming in Europe, leading to a big increase in pesticide use, contamination of conventional and organic crops and a further industrialisation of the countryside.  

Mute Schimpf, food campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said: "This campaign aims to stop further genetically modified crops from being licenced in the European Union. Experience shows that this way of farming leads to an increase in pesticides and the further industrialisation of the countryside. If this happens any more in Europe then our landscapes will be poorer, our nature damaged and our food contaminated."

 

 

The campaign launches with a new film documenting GM-crop cultivation and extensive pesticide use in Latin America, and the negative environmental and human health issues experienced by local communities.

 

Nina Holland, campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory said: "Currently, the EU imports soy from large-scale monoculture plantations in South America, causing not only deforestation and displacement of people, but also a public health disaster among rural communities living nearby. In those areas, citizens have taken legal action and have brought soy farmers and agribusiness companies to court."

 

The introduction of patented GM-crops has increased the corporate control of the food chain. Moreover, contamination of other fields is unavoidable. In the USA Monsanto has so far sued 410 farmers and 56 farm companies for patent infringements; a situation that could be repeated in Europe if GM-crop cultivation is expanded.

Genetically Modified Food

The campaign also claims that the push for GM crops draws attention away from sustainable alternatives, while failing to find real solutions to alleviate hunger or poverty.

 

Mute Schimpf continued: "GM crops are unnecessary, risky and profit large multinational companies at the expense of small scale and sustainable farming. The public clearly demands greener farming that doesn't include genetically modified crops or foods. It's time to plough all our resources into making farming really sustainable and to stop pandering to the biotech industry and their empty promises of reducing hunger or feeding the world."

 

Visit the campaign site: Stop the Crop

 

Photo Credit: Peter Blanchard via Compfight cc

 

VIDEO NEWS RELEASE AND MATERIAL

ITN Productions have produced a video news release (VNR), including interviews with farmers, researchers, campaigners and politicians on the upcoming authorisations. The VNR is available in English, French and German, in different sizes, as well as scripts for translation into other languages. Longer interviews and other materials are also available. All materials are open-source and are available here:

http://www.itnproductions.co.uk/CEO/

]]> No publisher Friends of the Earth Europe gmos biodiversity agriculture GM genetically modified 2013-03-18T15:40:00Z Page Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific (FoE APac): statement on the duplication of the Four Rivers Project in Thailand http://www.foei.org/en/blog/friends-of-the-earth-asia-pacific-foe-apac-statement-on-the-duplication-of-the-four-rivers-project-in-thailand Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific(FoE APac) is very much concerned that the Korean government is distorting the true consequences of the Korean Four Rivers Project to win a contract for a similar project in Thailand. It is also regrettable that South Korean environmental NGOs who have been critical of this project were described as "unpatriotic" and "anti-state" in a Korean Cabinet meeting last January 15th. When FoE APac visited the Four Rivers Project construction sites on the South Han River on 30th of June, 2011, it was clear that the project had damaged the river ecology, blocking the river flow by constructing dams, and making the serpentine river a straight one.  Despite the  information circulated by the Korean government, we believe the dams cannot prevent floods or provide clean water.

Construction went ahead despite requests from FoE APac for the suspension of the project.  We learned that the Korean government is now chasing another contract for a similar water management project in Thailand, despite the ecological impact of the  Four Rivers Project.  The Four Rivers Project was nothing but the destruction of the river ecosystem due to unnecessary construction, which was obfuscated by supposed benefits such as flood control, improvement of water quality, securing water supply, job creation and so on.

Thailand is our neighbor in Asia Pacific, with high riverine biodiversity, and we are concerned that the model of the Four Rivers Project may cause severe damage to Thailand’s  rivers and ecosystem, and neighboring countries on the Mekong.

FoE APac is also worried about the suppression of civil society voices in Korea in this regard. Last January 15th when there was a Cabinet meeting, President Myeongbak Lee said that it is obviously "unpatriotic" and "anti-state" for some NGOs to hinder efforts by Korean companies to win the Thailand contract.  This is an attempt to politically constrain our collaborative response – the natural duty of environmental organizations – to environmental problems, whose impacts spread beyond national borders.

We further request that the Korean government stop citing the Four Rivers Project as a great achievement and stop promoting this ecosystem-destruction model to other Asia Pacific countries.  We appeal to the President of South Korea not to block the voice of civil society who are searching for the truth. FoE APac stands with Korean civil society.

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