By Dr. Sue Mayer, Executive Director, GeneWatch UK

Publication date: May 2005

Summary
In May the journal Nature revealed that Syngenta had inadvertently produced and distributed a variety of GM maize, Bt 10, which did not have regulatory approval. Several hundred tonnes of the Bt10 maize was grown and distributed in the US between 2001 and 2004 and possibly exported elsewhere. It has emerged that the Bt10 also contains a gene that gives resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin. Yet Syngenta will not disclose the full details of how Bt10 has been genetically modified.

Publication date: March 2005

Summary
Greenpeace has discovered that GE rice seeds have been sold and grown commercially for a number of years. The GE rice is illegal, and has not been approved as safe for either human consumption or the environment. It has entered the Chinese food chain and environment, and may have contaminated Chinese rice exports.

Publication date: April 2005

Summary
Swiss chemical giant Syngenta has admitted it sold hundreds of tonnes of an illegal variety of GM maize to farmers in the USA over the past four years. The illegal GM crop, called Bt10, was modified with a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which makes the crop produce its own pesticide to kill insects.

Publication date: 21 March 2005

Summary:

As European Commissioners gather to debate the future of Genetically Modified (GM) crops and food in Brussels, environment and consumer representatives have exposed an EC Recommendation, guiding member states on GM crops, as legally and fundamentally flawed. The NGOs are calling for the Recommendation to be withdrawn and are calling for an urgent meeting to discuss its legal status and content.

Paul Lasok QC, a leading European Lawyer, was asked by Greenpeace, Which? (the UK consumers’ association), Friends of the Earth, The Soil Association,, the Five Year Freeze Campaign and GeneWatch UK to advise on the EC Recommendation on the growing of GM crops alongside non GM and organic crops (co-existence) [1].

Publication date: May 2004

Summary
At a time when GM food continues to cause controversy worldwide, and the legitimacy of the WTO itself has come under question, the WTO GM dispute between the US and EU looks set to be one of the most challenging in the WTO's history. The outcome of the WTO GM dispute will have major ramifications for the development of the environmental, social and health aspects of trade policy and is likely to have both substantive and symbolic importance worldwide.

A Greenpeace International briefing prepared for the World Social Forum Porto Alegre, Brazil

Publication date: January 2003

Summary
Monsanto is the leading company responsible for contaminating the environment with genetically engineered (GE) crops. Its products accounted for over 90% of the total area planted with GE crops in the world in 2001.