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GMOs

Genetically modified organisms

Free trade for ’high-risk biotech’?
23-Jan-2014 Testbiotech
New report from Testbiotech on the potential influence of the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on the authorisation of new genetically engineered organisms for use in agriculture and food production.
The TTIP: How a new secret ’trade’ treaty could put the world’s biggest firms beyond government control
21-Jan-2014 International Business Times
The US/EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is intended to set global trade rules, bypassing the World Trade Organisation which has up to now allowed developing countries to resist such an agreement.
American agriculture, GMOs and Europe
22-Oct-2013 The Hill
European law firm advises on how US companies should lobby the EU to get doors opened to GMOs
Trans Pacific Partnership might include international ban on GMO labeling
13-Sep-2013 Mint Press
A burgeoning global trade agreement with nations such as Japan, Vietnam and Australia is leaving GMO-labeling advocates concerned that it could result in a ban on GMO labeling not only in the US, but in all countries taking part in negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement.
Will European requirements for labeling GMO foods survive new trade negotiations?
4-Jul-2013 Huffington Post
Will US trade negotiators seek the elimination of GMO restrictions in Europe through the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership?
France draws red lines for EU-US free trade negotiations
20-Mar-2013 EurActiv
Food safety, GMO cultivation and France’s cherished “cultural exception” for audiovisual services are non-negotiable areas in view of upcoming EU-US free trade talks, the French stressed. The message was apparently well received by the European Commission in Brussels.
EU-US free trade deal will dismantle EU public health protections on GM foods
18-Feb-2013 Earth Open Source
An EU-US free trade deal would obliterate EU safeguards for health and the environment with regard to genetically modified (GM) crops and foods, warns Earth Open Source.
Transatlantic trade talks near lift-off
10-Jan-2013 Ip-health
Like putting an astronaut on Mars, a US-EU bilateral transatlantic trade deal has been a long-held dream of policy makers that seemed always out of reach. Yet Brussels and Washington are edging closer to the launch pad.
Commissioner ’optimistic’ of speedy start to EU-US trade talks
8-Nov-2012 The Parliament
EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht has voiced optimism that negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EU and the United States could start at the beginning of next year.
Occupy, social justice groups blockade entrance to Monsanto
16-Mar-2012 Indybay
"We are calling for a ’global class-action’ against Monsanto," said Steven Payan, one of the Davis protest organizers. "We are joining the world in solidarity to demand a ban on all GMO foods and hold Monsanto accountable for its actions throughout history from Agent Orange to Deforestation to current and past deaths to preying on small farmers through a broken court system and also through International Free Trade Agreements."
Will the US push for non-labelling of GMOs in trade pact?
9-Dec-2011 TWN
Commentators are worried that the US may be pressuring countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) - an Asia-Pacific-wide free trade pact - to abolish the labelling of GM foods, which it regards as a trade barrier.
The great food labelling debate
26-Jul-2011 The Mark News
After 16 years of bitter debate, it has been agreed at the international level that governments are free to decide on whether and how to label foods derived from modern biotechnology, including foods containing genetically modified organisms.
5 WikiLeaks revelations exposing the rapidly growing corporatism dominating American diplomacy abroad
27-Jun-2011 Alternet
One of WikiLeaks’ greatest achievements has been to expose the exorbitant amount of influence that multinational corporations have over Washington’s diplomacy.
Government plans safeguards for farmers
27-Dec-2009 Bangkok Post
Thai authorities are taking precautions to shield businesses and farmers from the fall in farm product prices after tariffs are cut under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) at the start of 2010.
Sri Lanka pressed by USTR on IP protection, GM food
19-Oct-2009 Lanka Business
The United States has asked Sri Lanka, ranked high for software piracy in Asia, to better enforce intellectual property rights and also lift restrictions on American imports like genetically modified food.
For safety’s sake
13-Oct-2009 The Star
Malaysia is about to adopt its biosafety regulations despite pressure from the US Biotechnology Industry Organisation that called on the US trade representative to reject mandatory labelling of GM products in the US-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement, claiming that labelling is tantamount to trade barrier.
BIO position on Trans-Pacific Partnership FTA
8-May-2009 BIO
Position paper of the US-based Biotechnology Industry Organisation on the US negotiation of a Trans-Pacific Partnership FTA with Singapore, Chile, Brunei, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand and Peru
US to push back on SPS farm trade barriers -Kirk
13-Mar-2009 Reuters
The United States will make it a priority to get rid of barriers to US farm exports based on unjustified sanitary and phytosanitary concerns about human, animal and plant health — including the EU ban on GM crops — the designee for US Trade Representative said on Thursday.
Food safety - rigging the game
2-Jul-2008 GRAIN
In the food safety arena, both the US and the EU are pressing their standards on other countries through bilateral free trade agreements.
UN Committee recommends that India assess likely impacts of EFTA and EU trade talks
5-Jun-2008 3D
A leading UN Committee has recommended that India review all aspects of its trade negotiations - particularly those with EU and EFTA - to ensure that they do not result in a situation which undermines the rights of people within the country, particularly the most disadvantaged and vulnerable. Meeting last month in Geneva, the Committee also noted its concern about the impact of genetically-modified seeds in India on farmers’ livelihoods.