Guard attacked, hurt in field trial attack A new attack on field trials in Germany has included an attack on the guard assigned to protect them. The masked attackers climbed a fence surrounding the trials of GM potatoes, wheat and barley, and began spraying them with an unknown liquid. When the guard attempted to apprehend the sole female member of the group of five attackers, she bit his hand, and the other four joined in beating him on the head and face. More†

Europeans celebrate, desecrate On the peaceful bank of the Oderbruch, Germans celebrate the ban on GM crops, and the destruction of a field trial in the vicinity that saw 52 arrested. Not far away, in Düllstadt, activists destroy the last remaining field trial of GM maize in Bavaria. A bit further south, in Switzerland, activists hurl a "lethal cocktail" into a field trial of GM wheat, while another Swiss field trial is enclosed by a double fence, patrolled by a guard and a dog. This all happened in the last few days. Europe isn't looking civilized. More†

NZ uproar over banishing GM trees Organic advocates in New Zealand are reacting with shock and horror at the prospect of GM trees. Not that the trees will overshadow their cabbage-patches, but that the trees will be sent out of the country and grown in the US. You'd think they'd welcome this banishment, but they don't. You figure it out. More†

Gloomy report for British organic A report commissioned by the Soil Association has led Peter Melchett, its policy director, to conclude: "If we want to continue eating huge quantities of cheap chicken, pork and dairy products and other mass produced foodstuffs, organic faming cannot deliver." According to the report, a major shift towards oganic farming in the UK would see food supplies plummet, and a vast increase in farm laborers performing the back-breaking tasks which modern agriculture had made unnecessary. More†

German biotech succumbs in activist onslaught The forces of ignorance continue to prevail in Germany, and to broaden their swath of destruction. Today, in what was once the cradle of modern science and philosophy, not a single farmer grows a modern biotech crop. No longer able to target farms, the activists have focused their barbaric attentions on research crops -- with six experiments destroyed so far this season, and much of the season remaining. More†

European lobby group invades Indian field trial Representatives of the European lobby group Greenpeace have invaded a field trial in India. Sponsored by the European Union, and funded by the government of the Netherlands, the activists struck a government-approved 1,440 sqm field trial of rice in Chinnakanjarla village of Medak district. No injuries were reported, nor any complaints lodged regarding India's territorial sovereignty. More†

EU's NGOs declare they are lobbyists It's official: Europe's government-paid NGOs are lobbyists. In a new report, an "Alliance" of various groups complains that most of those who lobby European governments have failed to voluntarily register themselves as lobbyists -- supposedly showing that "the voluntary approach is failing to secure adequate coverage." It's not a total failure, though. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (FOE), both of which squander public funds, have registered themselves as political lobby organizations. As a result, they are now subject to a formal process for handling complaints that they have breached their promise to provide information that is "unbiased, complete, up-to-date and not misleading". Lodging a complaint is easy, and that's not just because you can do it online. More†

Parade of the unscrupulous? (UPDATE 12) Opponents of engineered crops will say or do anything to get their points across. Many of them feign philanthropy, and glorify dishonesty -- and for them, the simple lure of profit operates in the stead of a functioning conscience. Even so, there are others who seem stranded in a nightmare realm, where fact and fantasy play equal roles. But which are which? All we know for sure is that none of them are embarrassed, and all of them want our attention... More†