Organic news archive: July 2005
Swedish retail giant IKEA has unveiled plans to replace its standard food products with organic varieties. IKEA, which is the largest food exporter in Sweden, has begun the project with the launch of organic coffee. Strawberry jam, marmalade and blue cheese. This winter, IKEA is set to launch organic schnapps and an organic certified meat sauce will be served in IKEA restaurants. (Eurofood)
An undercover film taken at a farm in south west England by the animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming shows cows being kept in a 'zero grazing' intensive production system. Sean Poulter in The Daily Mail writes that they are effectively 'udders on legs'. Zero grazing systems make it easier to keep breeds of cattle the CiWF object to, like Holsteins, to maximise milk yields. (The Daily Mail)
Jamie Oliver says that Ruth Kelly has not gone far enough to improve school meals despite all the "headline-grabbing words". He is also infuriated by the reluctance of the Government to ban junk food in schools. On a recent visit to a deprived township in Johannesburg Jamie Oliver claimed the school meals were better than those in Britain. He said, "It completely astounded me that in a place of unbelievable poverty, the love and care put into children's meals was greater than in inner London, and resulted in a more nutritionally balanced lunch." (The Times - 26/7/05, The Daily Mail - 27/7/05)
"Badly informed governments and corrupt members of governments everywhere in the world are the main obstacle to an objective discussion of the true problems of world food supplies." Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, minister of the environment, Ethiopia.
"Hunger and misery will increase if we allow agro-genetic technology to spread. World food supplies can only be secured through seeds adapted to local conditions." Vandana Shiva, Environmental campaigner. (The Guardian - 27/7/05)
The German firm Bayer has withdrawn three applications to grow GM oilseed rape in Britain and Europe. However, it is still trying for approval of the crop as a human and animal feed, so foods containing it can be legally imported from North America. (The Daily Mail, 27/7/05)
"Britain cannot afford to take the risk of spreading genetically modified genes to wild plants and should ban GM crops that have wild relatives in the countryside," the former environment minister Michael Meacher said yesterday. Mr Meacher, who was the minister responsible for introducing the farm-scale trials of GM crops in Britain to test their effect on the environment, said he was shocked at research results revealed in The Guardian on Monday 25 July. (The Guardian, The Daily Mail)
Geoffrey Lean in the Daily Mail: "The time has come to call a halt to this disgracefully dishonest charade. The scandal of the herbicide resistant super-weed should be the last nasty GM surprise ever inflicted on the long-suffering British public." Elliot Morley, the environment minister, said: "The so-called hybrid has not been confirmed by researchers as a cross between oil seed rape and charlock, but it is a finding we can't ignore." (The Daily Telegraph)
The system for approving, regulating and monitoring the use of pesticides is 'deeply flawed', a leaked draft report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution says. The document, seen by Channel 4 News, also questions the independence of the Pesticides Safety Directorate from the industry it regulates. (The Times)
Following the report in The Sunday Times which stated that at least 80% of chickens sold in supermarkets have spent much of their lives in pain The Daily Telegraph says that the researchers also inspected 25 organic, free range chickens. 62% of the organic chickens had marks and 42% had burns; 12% had medium and large burns. This is compared with the figures found from inspecting 384 Grade A British Farm Standard birds: 80% had marks, 82% had burns with 42% suffering medium or large burns. We at organicfoodee.com recommend our readers who eat animal products choose organic poultry which is certified by the Soil Association or a similarly stringent organic certifier instead of organic certification bodies who allow the minimum legal requirements for organic classification.
Michael Meacher examined recent evidence of the damage caused by chemical pollutants for The Guardian, asking why very little has been done to protect us from exposure to pesticides. He gave three reasons why this may be the case. Firstly, the fees the Pesticide Safety Directorate receive from companies wanting approval for pesticides accounts for the majority of their income. Secondly, the advice on which the Advisory Committee on Pesticides relies on to make decisions about the health impact of pesticides is provided by the Medical and Toxicological panel, whose meetings, discussions and recommendations are not made public. And third, the kind of data needed to establish links between pesticides and health are not being collected. However, in an important step last year the government asked the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution to consider those in the vicinity of sprayed fields, to examine the scientific evidence on which decisions are based, and to look at current policy on access to information. This report is due to published in September. (The Guardian - 20/7/05)
A cluster of BSE, believed to have been found on a dairy farm in England, is being investigated by scientists who fear that contaminated feed is still being given to British cattle, nearly 10 years after it was banned. The cluster involves three young cows born long after the 1996 ban. (The Independent)
The FBI has come up with some useful tips to help US farmers avoid 'agro-terrorists', such as: "For instance, if your neighbour does not like cow's milk or GM food and he/she experiments with explosives in the back yard, you should probably report them." (The Guardian - 20/7/05)
Modified genes from crops in a GM crop trial have transferred into local wild plants, creating a form of herbicide-resistant "superweed". The cross-fertilisation between GM oilseed rape, a brassica, and a distantly related plant, charlock, had been discounted as virtually impossible by scientists with the environ
Swedish retail giant IKEA has unveiled plans to replace its standard food products with organic varieties. IKEA, which is the largest food exporter in Sweden, has begun the project with the launch of organic coffee. Strawberry jam, marmalade and blue cheese. This winter, IKEA is set to launch organic schnapps and an organic certified meat sauce will be served in IKEA restaurants. (Eurofood)
An undercover film taken at a farm in south west England by the animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming shows cows being kept in a 'zero grazing' intensive production system. Sean Poulter in The Daily Mail writes that they are effectively 'udders on legs'. Zero grazing systems make it easier to keep breeds of cattle the CiWF object to, like Holsteins, to maximise milk yields. (The Daily Mail)
Jamie Oliver says that Ruth Kelly has not gone far enough to improve school meals despite all the "headline-grabbing words". He is also infuriated by the reluctance of the Government to ban junk food in schools. On a recent visit to a deprived township in Johannesburg Jamie Oliver claimed the school meals were better than those in Britain. He said, "It completely astounded me that in a place of unbelievable poverty, the love and care put into children's meals was greater than in inner London, and resulted in a more nutritionally balanced lunch." (The Times - 26/7/05, The Daily Mail - 27/7/05)
"Badly informed governments and corrupt members of governments everywhere in the world are the main obstacle to an objective discussion of the true problems of world food supplies." Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, minister of the environment, Ethiopia.
"Hunger and misery will increase if we allow agro-genetic technology to spread. World food supplies can only be secured through seeds adapted to local conditions." Vandana Shiva, Environmental campaigner. (The Guardian - 27/7/05)
The German firm Bayer has withdrawn three applications to grow GM oilseed rape in Britain and Europe. However, it is still trying for approval of the crop as a human and animal feed, so foods containing it can be legally imported from North America. (The Daily Mail, 27/7/05)
"Britain cannot afford to take the risk of spreading genetically modified genes to wild plants and should ban GM crops that have wild relatives in the countryside," the former environment minister Michael Meacher said yesterday. Mr Meacher, who was the minister responsible for introducing the farm-scale trials of GM crops in Britain to test their effect on the environment, said he was shocked at research results revealed in The Guardian on Monday 25 July. (The Guardian, The Daily Mail)
Geoffrey Lean in the Daily Mail: "The time has come to call a halt to this disgracefully dishonest charade. The scandal of the herbicide resistant super-weed should be the last nasty GM surprise ever inflicted on the long-suffering British public." Elliot Morley, the environment minister, said: "The so-called hybrid has not been confirmed by researchers as a cross between oil seed rape and charlock, but it is a finding we can't ignore." (The Daily Telegraph)
The system for approving, regulating and monitoring the use of pesticides is 'deeply flawed', a leaked draft report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution says. The document, seen by Channel 4 News, also questions the independence of the Pesticides Safety Directorate from the industry it regulates. (The Times)
Following the report in The Sunday Times which stated that at least 80% of chickens sold in supermarkets have spent much of their lives in pain The Daily Telegraph says that the researchers also inspected 25 organic, free range chickens. 62% of the organic chickens had marks and 42% had burns; 12% had medium and large burns. This is compared with the figures found from inspecting 384 Grade A British Farm Standard birds: 80% had marks, 82% had burns with 42% suffering medium or large burns. We at organicfoodee.com recommend our readers who eat animal products choose organic poultry which is certified by the Soil Association or a similarly stringent organic certifier instead of organic certification bodies who allow the minimum legal requirements for organic classification.
Michael Meacher examined recent evidence of the damage caused by chemical pollutants for The Guardian, asking why very little has been done to protect us from exposure to pesticides. He gave three reasons why this may be the case. Firstly, the fees the Pesticide Safety Directorate receive from companies wanting approval for pesticides accounts for the majority of their income. Secondly, the advice on which the Advisory Committee on Pesticides relies on to make decisions about the health impact of pesticides is provided by the Medical and Toxicological panel, whose meetings, discussions and recommendations are not made public. And third, the kind of data needed to establish links between pesticides and health are not being collected. However, in an important step last year the government asked the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution to consider those in the vicinity of sprayed fields, to examine the scientific evidence on which decisions are based, and to look at current policy on access to information. This report is due to published in September. (The Guardian - 20/7/05)
A cluster of BSE, believed to have been found on a dairy farm in England, is being investigated by scientists who fear that contaminated feed is still being given to British cattle, nearly 10 years after it was banned. The cluster involves three young cows born long after the 1996 ban. (The Independent)
The FBI has come up with some useful tips to help US farmers avoid 'agro-terrorists', such as: "For instance, if your neighbour does not like cow's milk or GM food and he/she experiments with explosives in the back yard, you should probably report them." (The Guardian - 20/7/05)
Modified genes from crops in a GM crop trial have transferred into local wild plants, creating a form of herbicide-resistant "superweed". The cross-fertilisation between GM oilseed rape, a brassica, and a distantly related plant, charlock, had been discounted as virtually impossible by scientists with the environ