Food & agriculture

How do agribusiness corporations impact decisions on our food system?

New brochure: TTIP: A recipe for disaster

10.12.2014

CEO, Compassion in World Farming, ARC2020, Friends of the Earth Europe and Via Campesina co-publish a brochure spelling out the threats of a potental Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to the future of good food and farming. Proponents of TTIP argue that it will increase trade leading to economic growth and jobs. But opponents have voiced many concerns, including its impact on food and farming on both sides of the Atlantic and its potential to underm ine a more sustainable food system.

EU food safety system

EFSA's director thinks Juncker does not need a Chief Scientific Adviser

03.12.2014

Heard by the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Bernhard Url, EFSA's director, said that the EU had "enough scientific capability around [...] without a chief scientific adviser".

EFSA's credibility loopholes

20.11.2014

An analysis of the revised independence policy of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). More reworded than revised, actually.

Towards a "transparent EFSA"?

27.10.2014

Will EFSA become more transparent, and to lobbyists or scientists? After its public consultation on its draft transparency policy, the Authority must now choose.

Campaign groups call on Parliament to ensure real rights to ban GMO cultivation

02.09.2014

Campaign groups today called on members of the European Parliament to back citizens' demands for improved rules to prohibit the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops. A letter signed by five environment, consumers and farmers groups was sent to all members of the parliament's environment committee, which will debate this controversial issue later in the week.

EU institutions

Chief Scientific Adviser: remarks on a problematic position, and a suggestion to Sense about Science

08.08.2014

A few observations on the debate sparked by our open letter on the position of Chief Scientific Advisor to the President of the European Commission, and on the need for proper scientific advice to EU legislators.

EU institutions

The position of Chief Scientific Advisor to the President of the European Commission

22.07.2014

The position of Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission is problematic, concentrating too much influence in one person and undermining other Commission research and assessment processes. We ask Mr Juncker, the new President of the European Commission, to scrap the position.

TTIP: A lose-lose deal for food and farming

08.07.2014

Food is on the table at the negotiations for the EU-US trade deal the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). From a look at their lobbying demands, the agribusiness industry seems to regard the treaty as a perfect weapon to counter existing and future food regulations.

Synthetic biology is not “natural”

10.06.2014

Open letter to Ecover and Method regarding the decision to use ingredients derived from synthetically modified organisms

Why EFSA is not (yet?) independent

05.06.2014

A presentation explaining the situation at the European Food Safety Authority and why conflicts of interest scandals keep accumulating there.

Biotech lobby's fingerprints over new EU proposal to allow national GMO bans

27.05.2014

A proposal to allow member states to ban specific GM crops from their territories looks set to have a giant biotech-industry-friendly loophole. On Wednesday 28 May, EU countries will have what could be a decisive meeting on the text of the proposal. And paradoxically, this text is turning out to be rather Monsanto-friendly. A final decision could be taken at the Environment Council in June. So how did we get from a national ban proposal to an industry-friendly opt-out?

Food lobbyists look set to join EFSA’s board

07.05.2014

According to several EU sources, member states’ diplomats in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) this morning pre-selected a food industry lobbyist to become a member of the board of the EU Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This is Mr Jan Mousing, a director at the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, a lobby group representing the interests of the Danish food industry.