Genetically-Modified Foods: How Safe Are They To Eat?

Since 1994, when grocers began selling the Flavr Savr, a genetically-engineered tomato bred to stay firm after harvest, many people have worried about the potential risks of consuming bioengineered food.

Few trends in food and nutrition elicit greater interest. Every week, it seems, some new study or research finding is released adding to a controversy that shows few signs of going anywhere. Since much of the under-developed world of the Southern Hemisphere is, literally, starving, the future of public policy regarding genetically modified foods has yet to be decided in most cases.

Full story

Heritage vegetables aren't necessarily the best

It is interesting to leaf through seed catalogues from the early 19th and 20th centuries. They often include pictures of white-coated scientists in their laboratories, surrounded by test tubes. The fact that science lay behind these new products was a big selling point.

Full story

GM food: Monster or saviour?

I have to confess, until now the whole debate about genetically-modified (GM) food has pretty much passed me by. Most of my career has been spent as a foreign correspondent. But last summer I returned to the UK to start a new job with the BBC. I now glory in the title Rural Affairs Correspondent.

A big part of my new brief is to report on farming. It is my (sometimes painful) duty to attend agriculture conferences and seminars. I also meet many farmers on their farms. And over the months, time and time again the issue of GM has been raised.

Full story

La CE discutirá esta semana si debe cambiar su política sobre los transgénicos

La Comisión Europea (CE) debatirá el miércoles sobre si debe cambiar o no su política para la aprobación de transgénicos, en un momento en que hay crisis de abastecimiento de alimentos y altos precios.

EFE El Ejecutivo comunitario celebrará un debate interno sobre "el camino a seguir" respecto a la aprobación de Organismos Genéticamente Modificados (OGM), que ahora es muy lenta, porque dentro de los países comunitarios no existe una postura unificada y algunos estados votan en contra.

La discusión, prevista dentro de la reunión semanal del Colegio de Comisarios, ha sido impulsada por el presidente de la CE, José Manuel Durao Barroso y también incluye decisiones sobre expedientes concretos de transgénicos, según han informado hoy fuentes comunitarias.

Ampliación de la noticia

Africa: How Media is Pushing GM Crops

Unwitting African countries are being coaxed and coerced to cultivate and consume genetically modified crops in a campaign bankrolled by giant biotech multinationals and executed by cash-rich "scientific" organisations who extol technology as the panacea for the continent's hunger and low agricultural productivity.

Full story

Defra approves GM potato trial

After public consultation, Defra has given approval to Leeds University to conduct a research trial this year of GM potatoes. The research is on potatoes that have been genetically modified to resist infection by potato cyst nematodes.

Full story

UE sigue dividida por OGM, pero insta a Austria a levantar salvaguarda

La Comisión Europea volvió a negarse el miércoles a autorizar el cultivo de una papa y variedades de maíz genéticamente modificados, aunque exigió a Austria levantar sus salvaguardas contra las importaciones de dos productos de este tipo.

Ampliación de la noticia