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Californians considering ban (update 1)
Lake County, Calif. is once again considering an ordinance
banning GM crops. The ordinance says
federal and state governments do not have regulatory systems
"sufficient to ensure public health, environmental safety and freedom
from genetic contamination in agriculture", and proposes a six-month
jail term for using GM seeds.
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Europe faces self-made crisis
The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) is forecasting disaster
for farmers and consumers alike if EU pest management restrictions come
into effect. New legislation set to replace Directive 91/414/EEC will
remove so many critical
pest management tools that prices
for cereals and vegetables could rise by 73% and 104% respectively, as
farm productivity plummets.
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India passes responsibility on labeling
Last year in March, an ad hoc committee set up by India's health
ministry passed a unanimous recommendation that foods with GM
ingredients be labeled, with no minimum threshold level. That
recommendation has now been passed to the newly-constituted Food Safety
and Standards
Authority (FSSA) for action.
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Labeling backfires in EU
Anti-biotech elements in the European Union, under the guise of
representing consumer interests, succeeded in imposing labeling
requirements on food containing GM ingredients. Ever since, many have
wondered about the true
attitudes of European consumers. That's because food
manufacturers and retailers feared consumers would shun GM-labeled
food, and thus kept most of these foods off the market. This victory
for anti-biotech elements has turned against them, as labeling the few
GM foods available has helped prove that most EU consumers are
unconcerned about GM.
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