Europe Still Resisting GMOs

The authorisation of Bt 11 sweet maize for food use in May this year marked the end of Europe’s de facto moratorium on GM approvals. However, there is by no means consensus on GMOs in Europe.


Secret Trials in GM-Free Australia Raise New Fears of Contamination

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho reports

Julie Newman is a conventional grain and canola farmer with 12 000 hectares in Newdegate, Western Australia; she also owns one of the largest seed grading factories in Western Australia, and has been a contract crop-sprayer for 20 years. Julie is just the sort of big farmers that would embrace GM crops, right? Wrong.

Defenders of the biotech industry in Australia have nicknamed her “the laughing assassin” for good reasons. She strikes terror into their very heart, for being both extremely well informed and articulate; and not afraid to challenge the industry's propaganda at every opportunity. But, she does it ever so pleasantly. “ I don't take the debate personally, I enjoy talking to people on both sides of the debate, and what I am asking for is not unreasonable.” She explains.