Food & agriculture

How do agribusiness corporations impact decisions on our food system?

Hunger is not an issue of production but of political failure

04.06.2023

In this episode of EU Watchdog Radio, Hans van Scharen talks to Special UN Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri.

Pesticides & GMOs

Timmermans: Prevent deregulation of GM now!

22.05.2023

300+ NGOs call on Vice-President Timmermans to intervene and prevent the far-reaching deregulation of new genomic techniques at the expense of nature and the climate, and of farmers’ and consumers’ rights.

Dutch biotech researchers with conflicting roles lobby for deregulation of new GMOs

18.04.2023

An intense lobby battle is currently being waged by industry to try to make EU GMO rules on environment, health and freedom of choice obsolete. Dutch TV Zembla's recently broadcast programme "Tinkering with Seed" (13 April 2023) assesses the reality behind the wild promises attributed to a new GMO technique (Crispr-Cas), by the biotech industry. It also exposes the corporate interests promoted by a small group of biotechnology researchers, fulfilling multiple contradictory roles.

Environment

Chemical romance: how politicians fell for BASF

15.03.2023

The biggest chemical producer in the world, German company BASF is a political powerhouse and has used its influence to push back against chemicals regulation in the EU. No wonder, when its products include ‘forever’ chemicals and hazardous pesticides. Check out our new profile.

The not so soft killing of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy

17.12.2022

On Monday the 19th the European Council is about to softly kill the main legislative part of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategy in the name of food security. EU ministers and their experts are, at the COP15 in Montreal negotiating an international treaty for bold action to stop the dramatic decrease of biodiversity to be announced on Monday the 19th. But on the very same day their colleagues in Brussels will agree to taking a step which will delay and derail the most meaningful legislative proposal from the European Commission to protect… biodiversity.

The need for an EU-wide ban on the export of banned pesticides and hazardous chemicals

24.11.2022

Although many pesticides and hazardous chemicals are banned in the European Union in order to protect human health and the environment, huge quantities of these very same toxic products are still produced and exported by EU companies to third countries, where often safety regulations are weaker and less strictly implemented. CEO is organising - with a coalition of NGO's - a series of actions to urge the EU to stop this double standard,

A Toxic Lobby vs. The Green Deal

07.11.2022

In this episode of EU Watchdog Radio, we talk to Hans van Scharen and Vicky Cann, campaigners and researchers at CEO about the pressures of the chemical industry and AgriBiz lobby and the EU Commission's reaction.

Health

EU lobby profile: Syngenta

20.10.2022

As agrichemical giant Syngenta hits the news on its extremely toxic herbicide Paraquat, Corporate Europe Observatory reveals the company’s years of lobbying in Europe on behalf of its toxic trade, which involves everything from exporting chemicals banned in the EU, to its defence of bee-killing neonicotinoids, to its all out war on the new Farm to Fork strategy to cut pesticide use by half.

Exposed: How biotech giants use patents and new GMOs to control the future of food

20.10.2022

Big global biotech corporations like Bayer and Corteva, which together already control 40% of the global seed market, are dangerously trying to reinforce their monopoly and threatening food security. A new report reveals how these companies seek to increase their control over the future of food and farming by patenting new GM techniques.

Researchers with vested interests lobbying to undermine GMO safety rules

28.09.2022

The EU’s green ambitions are in great jeopardy. The agribusiness industry is using the cost-of-living crisis as an excuse to push stronger EU environmental legislation off the table and weaken already existing legislation. For instance, they are pushing against tighter pesticides rules and in favour of relaxing GMO rules. But the lobby is increasingly driven by GM researchers and institutes with links to industry or with vested interests. The Commission seems to be listening to these pro-deregulation voices and a proposal to change EU GMO rules is in the works.

Event: Science, lobbies and the environment

02.09.2022

CEO and the University of Bergen co-organised an event on 6 October 2022 in Brussels on the role of science in corporate lobbying, to commemorate Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring. Published 60 years ago, we owe to Rachel Carson's work the birth of the environment as a subject of public discourse and policies. Carson's book documented the devastating ecological impacts of pesticides, a theme that is still hot today. She was fiercely criticized by industry lobby, and chemical companies launched vicious anti-Carson campaigns.

Take action! Stop the biotech industry's deregulation push for new GMOs

05.04.2022

The EU GMO safety rules are under threat. Big chemical and seed corporations are pushing the EU to allow new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) onto the market without safety tests, monitoring nor consumer labeling. These companies have been lobbying the European Commission for years to exclude new GMOs from the European GMO regulation, making unsubstantiated claims on the supposed benefits for sustainability. But as they also hold patents on the seeds engineered with these techniques, their true motivation remains to increase their profits.

Food & agriculture

Hunger is not an issue of production but of political failure

Timmermans: Prevent deregulation of GM now!

Dutch biotech researchers with conflicting roles lobby for deregulation of new GMOs

Chemical romance: how politicians fell for BASF

The not so soft killing of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy

The need for an EU-wide ban on the export of banned pesticides and hazardous chemicals

A Toxic Lobby vs. The Green Deal

EU lobby profile: Syngenta

Exposed: How biotech giants use patents and new GMOs to control the future of food

Researchers with vested interests lobbying to undermine GMO safety rules

Event: Science, lobbies and the environment

Take action! Stop the biotech industry's deregulation push for new GMOs

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