The Gaia Reports

By Theodora Filis A press release issued today by Greenpeace - European Unit said the European Union (EU) is now allowing untested Genetically Modified (GM) crops into the European food chain. The end to Europe's zero-tolerance approach to untested GM crops in animal feed was made final today by EU member state representatives in Brussels, allowing the unintended mixing of approved and unapproved GM varieties to enter Europe. Both the animal feed industry and biotech industry have been lobbying individual countries to vote in favor of a proposal to allow imports of animal feed to contain up to 0.1 percent of non-approved GMOs. They claimed the current restrictions are costing the EU 4 billion Euros and leading to a 'crisis' of supply that will lead to higher meat prices for consumers. Because of the new rules, adopted today and expected to come into force in early summer 2011, the EU will be allowed contamination of up to 0.1% by crops that have not undergone safety te...

 By Theodora Filis Consumers will see food labels that now say "bioengineered" or "derived from bioengineering," replacing the acronym "GMO" (genetically modified organism).  The federal standard replaces the former requirements as of January 2022. The new standard applies to genetically modified foods as well as foods with genetically modified ingredients that are "detectable" by certain standards. Critics say the rules devised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will actually confuse consumers further and make it harder to know what's in any given product. The new rules give food producers a few options. Commonly bioengineered foods include corn, canola, soybeans, and sugar beets. Most GMO crops are used for animal feed, according to the Food and Drug Administration. But they are also used to make ingredients that routinely find their way into human diets, such as cornstarch, corn syrup, canola oil, and granulated sugar. The Center for Fo...