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From golden rice to anti-viral tomatoes, is the biotech industry's third generation good medicine or good marketing? And, activists ask, what are the environmental consequences?
Mexican farmers say their crops are contaminated by GM corn. At stake: their harvest, native seeds and very livelihood.
Nature magazine's flip-flop today over the testing protocols involved in determining GM maize contamination in Mexico is just the latest in a string of absurdities as the scientific community struggles over what to do as genetically-modified germplasm invades the genetic homelands of the world's food supply.
Farmer, environmental, indigenous, and consumer groups will stage protests and hold press conferences across North and South America the week of April 10-17 -- launching a Continental Campaign Against Genetically Engineered Corn.
Starbucks serves fair-trade certified drip coffee on campus through Sodexho, the food-services vendor. But with the school considering bids for a new 10-year food-services contract, McDonald and the group he leads, Students for Fair Trade, are pushing for all coffee including decaf and espresso drinks on campus to be fair-trade certified. To be certified, third-party monitors must have confirmed that farmers were paid a fair price for their beans.
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada -- Canada's largest food distributor has made a public commitment to stop marketing chemical pesticides by next spring. Loblaw Companies Limited announced today that it will no longer sell chemical pesticides in all of its 440 garden centers across Canada by 2003.
Scott Good, 42, is the target of a federal lawsuit he fears could break him financially. It is one of about two dozen pending suits, not to mention hundreds of complaints, pursued by Monsanto about alleged misuse of its genetically altered cotton, canola, corn and soybean seeds.
France's highest court upheld on Wednesday a three-month jail sentence for anti-globalization activist Jose Bove over his ransacking of a McDonald's restaurant to protest U.S. trade barriers.
In the sixth article in our series on Global Compact companies, Indian journalist Nityanand Jayaraman looks at the Oslo-based corporation Norsk Hydro, a partner in the Utkal bauxite mine and alumina smelter in Orissa State. He provides evidence that the corporation has violated human rights Principles 1 and 2 of the UN Compact. Nor has the company withdrawn plans for a project that would violate Principle 9 which promotes eco-friendly practices. While the company has put the project on hold for the moment, officials indicate that violations of these principles could resume at any time.
The McDonald's hamburger chain that occupies villages throughout modern-day France has commandeered a Asterix, a national cartoon character, to promote its food as part of a marketing campaign launched yesterday that pushes aside the venerable clown, Ronald McDonald.
Confidential documents obtained by Friends of the Earth Europe underline American opposition to European Union plans for compulsory tracing and labeling rules for all food and animal feed containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) above a certain threshold.
Saskatchewan, Canada -- On the Great Plains of Canada, farmer Percy Schmeiser has engaged in a David v. Goliath battle which could save farmers and consumers around the world from a genetically modified food nightmare beyond anything they have experienced so far.
Nearly everyone debating the mapping of the human genome now agrees on one thing: that the identification of our genes invokes an unprecedented danger, as it might assist a handful of companies to seize something which belongs to all of us. I wish this were true.
RIO DE JANEIRO -- The Brazilian Consumers Defence Institute (IDEC) asked the courts to issue arrest warrants for the members of a government scientific commission that gave the go-ahead to imports of transgenic corn, on the argument that the decision was released in violation of the law.
ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistani government is inviting foreign business into the country's farms, giving rise to fears that this will finish off millions of small tillers and reduce national food supply.
The European Union is trying to regain the public's confidence in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by strengthening the laws that govern their release onto the market.
The controversial insecticide lindane could be subject to a partial ban by the Europe Union's 15 member countries within 18 months.
In the final hectic days before Congress adjourns for the year, lobbyists are swarming around the Capitol, trying to adorn a bill on bioterrorism with all sorts of special-interest provisions.
India said on Wednesday it had allowed production of three genetically modified cotton hybrids by a private company which has U.S. biotechnology giant Monsanto as its partner
The fourth article in our series focuses on the International Chamber of Commerce -- the self-described world business organization -- which has played a key role in shaping the UN Global Compact. Based on its ongoing violation of the Compact's Principles 7 (supporting a precautionary approach to environmental challenges) and 8 (promoting greater environmental responsibility), the Corporate Europe Observatory argues that it's high time for the UN to break its partnership with the ICC.