Europe
‘Green wave’: Environmentalist gains in EU elections could cut farmer access to key pesticides
The ‘green wave’ which saw environmentalist parties make major gains across the continent in the European elections could threaten the ...
Monsanto PR firm FleishmanHillard defends effort to gather data on EU pesticide regulators, journalists
FleishmanHillard president and CEO John Saunders defended his agency’s work for Monsanto, which included compiling lists about stakeholders, in a ...
14 EU nations call for ‘unified’ CRISPR crop regulation to boost sustainable farming
The Netherlands and Estonia are leading a coalition of 14 EU member states calling on the next European Commission to ...
Irish scientist calls for reopening GMO debate
Award-winning Irish biochemist Dr. Richard Murphy says it’s time to revisit the debate around the use of genetically modified organisms ...
Plant-based Burger King whopper heads to Sweden, sans key GMO ‘Impossible’ ingredient
.... Burger King [began] selling a new plant-based burger in Sweden [on May 23]. [T]he new menu offering [is] “a ...
EU Commission prepares for possible ‘overhaul’ of GMO crop rules to address CRISPR gene editing
The EU executive has already prepared the ground for a new initiative on gene editing to overhaul the current GMO ...
French President Macron pledges glyphosate ban, halving of pesticide use by 2025 as EU election nears
Emmanuel Macron’s EU election campaign, dubbed Renaissance, finally released its manifesto for the European election taking place later [in May 2019] ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s ‘de facto’ GMO crop ban, mandatory labeling scheme ‘hinder innovation’
An excellent new paper from a trio of Danish researchers, two of whom are based out of the University of Copenhagen, argues that the European ...
Viewpoint: ‘Political populism’ dictates Europe’s bureaucratic anti-GMO crop rules
As individuals, we’re able to decide whether a single action is acceptable to us, or deemed to be too risky ...
Danish Council of Ethics urges EU to revamp GMO rules—’very new stance’ for Denmark
The Danish Council of Ethics recommends that legislation regarding the approval of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) be changed to help ...
European companies, farm groups urge EU to revamp regulations that effectively ban CRISPR gene edited foods
Dear Madam, dear Sir, We, the undersigned European organizations, are writing to reiterate our concern about the European Court of ...
Danish researchers take on flawed assumptions behind Europe’s strict GMO regulations
The EU's policy on GMO is extremely strict and prevents new GMO crops from being authorized. The policy is based ...
Viewpoint: EU precautionary pesticide bans threaten sustainable agriculture
Don’t blame it on sunshine or moonlight … Don’t blame it on good times (remember them?) … Don’t even blame ...
Drought, neonicotinoid insecticide ban cut EU’s canola yields 18 percent, USDA reports
The European Union is picking a good time to produce its second straight subpar rapeseed crop. The United States Department ...
EU adopts new rules to quell mistrust of food safety studies based on industry data
New rules designed to increase transparency in the EU food safety risk assessment process have been adopted. The European Parliament ...
Viewpoint: Biotech industry should rebuild EU’s trust in science to foster farming innovation
The global environmental challenges are changing too fast and we therefore need speedy reactions too, including innovative plant breeding technologies ...
‘Bee safe’ pesticides that replaced neonicotinoids may harm pollinators, activist-funded study finds
New pesticides regarded as “bee safe” could actually be causing harm to these vital pollinators when combined with other chemicals ...
Belgium permits CRISPR-edited corn field trial, halted after landmark EU court decision, to continue
On April 12, 2019 [the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie in Belgium] was granted a permit for its field trial with ...
EU neonicotinoid insecticide ban spurs farmers to abandon canola crops, important resource for bees
When neonicotinoid seed treatments were first banned in flowering crops, control of cabbage stem flea beetle in oilseed rape [OSR] ...
Viewpoint: Europe’s overregulation of CRISPR-edited crops ‘cripples’ Africa’s food security efforts
Current GMO regulation is crippling advancements in sustainable development and food security, according to agricultural economist Matin Qaim, who told ...
Crop biotech industry fears ‘mistrust of science’ stifling farming innovation in Europe
For several weeks last fall I spent much of my time traveling across Europe, visiting with many of the representatives ...
International group of economists, geneticists calls for relaxed crop gene-editing rules to promote food security
With renewed attention to implementation and regulation, new plant breeding technologies such as gene editing could make an important contribution ...
EU bans popular fungicide chlorothalonil, citing ‘high risk’ to amphibians, fish and bumblebees
One of the world’s most common pesticides will soon be banned by the European Union after safety officials reported human health and ...
New study claims first farmers in Europe were direct descendants of region’s hunter-gatherers, challenging belief migrants introduced agriculture
For several years it has been broadly acknowledged that agriculture in Europe was first established in the Anatolian peninsula in modern day ...
Viewpoint: It’s time Europe updates its 18-year-old GMO rules to regulate CRISPR-edited crops
‘In lectures, I often try to clarify things by using the tomato as an example,’ says Ernst van den Ende, ...
Neonicotinoid insecticide ban, bad weather could cut Europe’s already slumping sugar beet yields
Farmers in western Europe have begun sugar beet planting, with first indications pointing to a drop in area for the ...
As EU glyphosate-cancer debate rages, 4 countries may take over herbicide safety evaluation from Germany
France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden have agreed to take over from Germany as the lead countries responsible for assessing ...
