| Public register for GMOs in France / Mexico's farmers slam GM imports (11/7/2007) | |
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1.France puts GMO culture register in line 1.France puts GMO culture register in line France announced Monday it was putting in line a national register of plots of land growing genetically modified organisms (GMO) food crops, which will henceforth be accessible to the general public, according to a statement issued by the French ministry of agriculture and fisheries. This register gives the exact number and surface areas of GMO plots of land cultivated per district, which is a little more than 19,800 hectares of land declared in 2007 across the entire country. According to the ministry, the register was drawn up from compulsory declarations made by producers and operators using a variety of genetically modified maize seeds approved in the European Union (EU) market. French minister for agriculture Michel Barnier said during the announcement that the setting up of this register falls within the government's transparency policy. In France, anti-GMO sympathizers have in recent years destroyed several dozens of GMO experimental fields, seriously threatening, according to experts, French research in this field. --- 2.MEXICO FARMERS SLAM US FOOD IMPORTS Mexico, Jul 9 (Prensa Latina) Mexico National Farmers Confederation (CNC) denounced Monday genetically modified food imports coming from the United States and demanded the government's protection of biodiversity and human health. According to Cruz Lopez, CNC President, from over 11 million tons of corn purchased by Mexicans importers in US by 2006, 70 percent was genetically modified. The Farmers Union demanded federal government to strictly impose protection mechanisms on biodiversity and human health into Mexican law to face genetically modified food, especially corn, rice and wheat. The farmers' leader considered that the entrance of that type of food into the country began over 10 years ago with the signing of the Free Trade Treaty between Mexico, Canada and United States in 1994. The implementation of Cartagenas Protocol is not currently fulfilling its function that involves actions for the mobilization in the borders to prevent geneticaly modified import. |
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