It really is a case of old wine in new bottles.
And this is not lost on a coalition of 162 civil society, farmers and business organisations which has called on Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans to ensure that new genetic engineering techniques continue to be regulated in accordance with existing EU GMO standards.
The coalition argues that these new techniques can cause a range of unwanted genetic modifications that can result in the production of novel toxins or allergens or in the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes. The open letter adds that even intended modifications can result in traits which could raise food safety, environmental or animal welfare concerns.
Gates Unhinged: Dystopian Vision for the Future of Food
Published: April 19, 2021
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also involved (documented in the recent report ‘Gates to a Global Empire‘ by Navdanya International), whether through buying up huge tracts of farmland, promoting a much-heralded (but failed) ‘green revolution’ for Africa, pushing biosynthetic food and new genetic engineering technologies or more generally facilitating the aims of the mega agrifood corporations.We are currently seeing an acceleration of the corporate consolidation of the entire global agrifood chain. The high-tech/data conglomerates, including Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, have joined traditional agribusiness giants, such as Corteva, Bayer, Cargill and Syngenta, in a quest to impose a certain type of agriculture and food production on the world.
“
The keys of the food system are being handed over to data platforms, private equity firms and e-commerce giants.” – Pat Mooney, lead author of the report
A Long Food Movement: Transforming Food Systems by 2045
The converging global crises provide a perfect catalyst for change – for worse, or better. Now is the time, the report argues, to unite to forge a new, improved food future. Civil society needs to act fast – and more systematically than ever – to quell the corporate tidal wave. Doing so, the authors suggest, will reclaim $4tn US and cut 75% of the sector’s GHG emissions.
The core premise of a Long Food Movement is that civil society needs not only to collaborate more effectively, but also to think strategically over the long term. Organisations must plan for future catastrophes, the inevitable – if not wholly predictable in date or detail – grey swan events such as food price or energy crisis, or livestock disease. Long-term planning coupled with cross-
https://www.afinalwarning.com/488465.html (Natural News) A growing number of people around the world are calling for the public ownership of seeds, which they say is essential for a more democratic and ecologically sound food system, as the coronavirus-driven spike in empty supermarket shelves and the continued loss of biodiversity this year sparked a rise in the popularity of saving and swapping seeds and shed more light on the negative consequences of allowing a handful of agrochemical corporations to dominate the global seed trade.
(Article by Kenny Stancil republished from CommonDreams.org)
In the United Kingdom, the seed saving movement had been “quietly growing” for awhile, but “from March onwards, when the pandemic hit the U.K., seed producers and seed banks across the country were overwhelmed with demand,” with multiple organizations experiencing a “sharp surge in orders, 600% in some cases,” Alexandra Genova reported Monday in