Food & agriculture

How do agribusiness corporations impact decisions on our food system?

Chemical romance: how politicians fell for BASF

15.03.2023

The biggest chemical producer in the world, German company BASF is a political powerhouse and has used its influence to push back against chemicals regulation in the EU. No wonder, when its products include ‘forever’ chemicals and hazardous pesticides. Check out our new profile.

The not so soft killing of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy

17.12.2022

On Monday the 19th the European Council is about to softly kill the main legislative part of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategy in the name of food security. EU ministers and their experts are, at the COP15 in Montreal negotiating an international treaty for bold action to stop the dramatic decrease of biodiversity to be announced on Monday the 19th. But on the very same day their colleagues in Brussels will agree to taking a step which will delay and derail the most meaningful legislative proposal from the European Commission to protect… biodiversity.

The need for an EU-wide ban on the export of banned pesticides and hazardous chemicals

24.11.2022

Although many pesticides and hazardous chemicals are banned in the European Union in order to protect human health and the environment, huge quantities of these very same toxic products are still produced and exported by EU companies to third countries, where often safety regulations are weaker and less strictly implemented. CEO is organising - with a coalition of NGO's - a series of actions to urge the EU to stop this double standard,

A Toxic Lobby vs. The Green Deal

07.11.2022

In this episode of EU Watchdog Radio, we talk to Hans van Scharen and Vicky Cann, campaigners and researchers at CEO about the pressures of the chemical industry and AgriBiz lobby and the EU Commission's reaction.

Environment

EU lobby profile: Syngenta

20.10.2022

As agrichemical giant Syngenta hits the news on its extremely toxic herbicide Paraquat, Corporate Europe Observatory reveals the company’s years of lobbying in Europe on behalf of its toxic trade.

Exposed: How biotech giants use patents and new GMOs to control the future of food

20.10.2022

Big global biotech corporations like Bayer and Corteva, which together already control 40% of the global seed market, are dangerously trying to reinforce their monopoly and threatening food security. A new report reveals how these companies seek to increase their control over the future of food and farming by patenting new GM techniques.

Researchers with vested interests lobbying to undermine GMO safety rules

28.09.2022

The EU’s green ambitions are in great jeopardy. The agribusiness industry is using the cost-of-living crisis as an excuse to push stronger EU environmental legislation off the table and weaken already existing legislation. For instance, they are pushing against tighter pesticides rules and in favour of relaxing GMO rules. But the lobby is increasingly driven by GM researchers and institutes with links to industry or with vested interests. The Commission seems to be listening to these pro-deregulation voices and a proposal to change EU GMO rules is in the works.

Event: Science, lobbies and the environment

02.09.2022

CEO and the University of Bergen co-organised an event on 6 October 2022 in Brussels on the role of science in corporate lobbying, to commemorate Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring. Published 60 years ago, we owe to Rachel Carson's work the birth of the environment as a subject of public discourse and policies. Carson's book documented the devastating ecological impacts of pesticides, a theme that is still hot today. She was fiercely criticized by industry lobby, and chemical companies launched vicious anti-Carson campaigns.

Take action! Stop the biotech industry's deregulation push for new GMOs

05.04.2022

The EU GMO safety rules are under threat. Big chemical and seed corporations are pushing the EU to allow new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) onto the market without safety tests, monitoring nor consumer labeling. These companies have been lobbying the European Commission for years to exclude new GMOs from the European GMO regulation, making unsubstantiated claims on the supposed benefits for sustainability. But as they also hold patents on the seeds engineered with these techniques, their true motivation remains to increase their profits.

Ukraine crisis

31.03.2022

CEO brings you its latest analysis on lobbying and the Ukraine crisis, from energy policy, to tracking the corporate opportunists and their lobby demands.

Joint open letter: Publication of the revision of the legislation on the sustainable use of pesticides

23.03.2022

Fifty three organisations and federations of NGOs and farming groups warn in an open letter about the misuse of the current situation to advance the political agenda of private sector lobby groups with regards to the EU environmental and health commitments in general and pesticides in particular.

Pesticides & GMOs

A loud lobby for a silent spring

17.03.2022

In order to tackle the grave threat of the biodiversity crisis, the EU will table a proposal for targets for the reduction of pesticide use. This has put the pesticide industry into survival mode. A new leaked document from pesticides lobby group CropLife Europe shows that while it talks a big talk about backing the Green Deal, in reality it is employing a wide variety of lobbying tactics to undermine ambitious, binding targets.