How to improve the CAP?

[Greet Goverde-Lips]

The Common Agricultural Policy is a thing of the past - we should have a new one catering for the current situation, and giving farmers a fairer deal. In my country (the Netherlands) half the farmers were on a minimum income or less in 2007, and it's getting worse with the low milk prices. I think the Greens are good on nature but not good enough on farming. So I hope we can here discuss ideas that might help the Green Group in the European Parliament on this point.
I know there is José Bové in the French group (anti-GMO activist) , and martin Häusling (organic farmer) in the German group. I will later add a document with mnore info about MEPs and about agricultural points in programmes of different countries. I put the manifesto in the attachment - the bit on farming is the bit that starts with 'The Greens want Europe to ensure its citizens have access to healthy food at fair prices' (not very handy that the pages of the manifesto are not numbered!)
See website www.epfs.eu for lots of interesting reading materials on different issues ( see 'library'). Via Campesina and the EPFS and Friends of the Earth Europe are trying to put together ideas for a new CAP - see the attachment for a text which is their starting point, now they need agricultural researchers to come up with new proposals for more regulation istead of the free market. underpinned with data and a budget.

[Regan Smyth]

Thanks. Thats very interesting and will be useful for discussion here in Northern Ireland too where we're still developing our own regional policies.

Regards, Regan

[quentin pauluis]

As a doctor, I think that we could have some generic GMOs as we have some generic drugs.
But I am not a lawyer...

Yours sincerely,

Quentin

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

Codex Alimentarius is not a phrase you are likely to hear or read in the mainstream media. The phase simply means ‘Food Code’ or ‘Food Law’, yet the 27 committees of the International Codex Alimentarius Commission are advancing global legislation which will effectively eradicate Organic Farming, in favour of irradiated GM/GE products; and will destroy the Complementary & Alternative Health Community by making it illegal to prescribe, or even recommend, nutritional supplements, vitamins, herbs or other natural health remedies.
This pernicious attack on our Health Freedoms is being driven by the corporatocracy of Big Farmer & Big Pharma … yet few people are aware of the Codex steam train coming down the tracks at an alarming rate!

Visit www.thealternativeview.co.uk

www.healthfreedomusa.org

[quentin pauluis]

Dear Daniel,
I went on your links. However, they seemed flawed to me, at least the co.uk one. Could you check them ?

Daniel P. Voglesong said:

Codex Alimentarius is not a phrase you are likely to hear or read in the mainstream media. The phase simply means ‘Food Code’ or ‘Food Law’, yet the 27 committees of the International Codex Alimentarius Commission are advancing global legislation which will effectively eradicate Organic Farming, in favour of irradiated GM/GE products; and will destroy the Complementary & Alternative Health Community by making it illegal to prescribe, or even recommend, nutritional supplements, vitamins, herbs or other natural health remedies.
This pernicious attack on our Health Freedoms is being driven by the corporatocracy of Big Farmer & Big Pharma … yet few people are aware of the Codex steam train coming down the tracks at an alarming rate!

Visit www.thealternativeview.co.uk

www.healthfreedomusa.org

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

http://www.flickr.com/groups/gmo-free/discuss/72157621873164852/ - Quentin, See this GMO Discussion Group. -Dan

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/food-beware/
We are being poisoned by MONSANTO, BAYER and DuPONT

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPKoSrc99p4 Preview of “DAVID versus MONSANTO” Film
http://www.denkmal-film.com/abstracts/preise.html “DAVID vs MONSANTO” DVD cost: 16 Euros
This “Denkmal Film” from Munich, Germany, is a 2009 documentary about PERCY SCHMEISER, Organic Farmer from Canada, and two other farmers from Indiana, USA, who were sued by MONSANTO for not buying the MONSANTO Genetic GMO Seeds. All three organic farmers won their expensive lawsuits.

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

US Federal Court Finds USDA Violated Federal Law by Allowing Genetically Engineered Sugar Beets on the Market
Center for Food Safety
September 22, 2009
US Government Failed To Evaluate Environmental and Economic Risks of Monsanto Product
San Francisco, CA - In a case brought by Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice representing a coalition of farmers and consumers, a Federal Court ruled yesterday that the Bush USDA's approval of genetically engineered (GE) "RoundUp Ready" sugar beets was unlawful. The Court ordered the USDA to conduct a rigorous assessment of the environmental and economic impacts of the crop on farmers and the environment.
The federal district court for the Northern District of California ruled that the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service ("APHIS") violated the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") when it failed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") before deregulating sugar beets that have been genetically engineered ("GE") to be resistant to glyphosate herbicide, marketed by Monsanto as Roundup. Plaintiffs Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, Sierra Club, and High Mowing Seeds, represented by Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety, filed suit against APHIS in January 2008, alleging APHIS failed to adequately assess the environmental, health, and associated economic impacts of allowing "Roundup Ready" sugar beets to be commercially grown without restriction.
"This court decision is a wakeup call for the Obama USDA that they will not be allowed to ignore the biological pollution and economic impacts of gene altered crops," stated Andrew Kimbrell Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. "The Courts have made it clear that USDA's job is to protect America's farmers and consumers, not the interests of Monsanto." http://www.saynotogmos.org/ud2009/usept09b.php#monsanto

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtJDZmwh5Bc&feature=related
MONSANTO will own all seeds (a worldwide GMO monopoly)

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

> Global alert against 'Monsantosizing' our food
> UN General Assembly to discuss patents on seeds and right to food
>
> 21 October 2009. Today a global alert is being filed by farmers and
> development and environmental organisations warning about a new class of
> patents covering plants and animals and endangering innovation and food
> security. It is being presented on just the same day as the UN Special
> Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier de Schutter, is presenting his
> new report in front of the UN General Assembly, warning that seed patents
> might increase food crises. New rules to restrict patents on seeds and
> animals therefore have to be enacted urgently.
>
> The global appeal is being filed by the international coalition "no
> patents on seeds", organised and supported by farmers and development and
> environmental organisations. The alert is directed at governments,
> parliaments and patent offices like the European Patent Office, and warns
> about a new class of patents covering plants and animals derived from
> conventional breeding. These patents even claim harvests and derived food
> products such as milk, butter and bread. By speaking of 'Monsantosizing'
> the signatories are warning that the whole chain from seed to food
> production might be controlled by a few big international companies like
> Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta, leading to a process of oligopolies and
> increasing concentration.
>
> "A radical change in both patent legislation and the practice of patent
> offices is needed to eliminate patents on plants and farm animals," says
> François Meienberg of the Berne Declaration. "Corporations should not be
> allowed to continue to misappropriate and monopolise seeds, plants and
> farm animals via patent law. If they are, these patents will become a
> major threat to global food security, food sovereignty and innovation."
>
> The alert was initiated by the organisations Berne Declaration, Swissaid,
> Misereor No Patents on Life , Greenpeace and The Development Fund
> (Norway), and is supported by farmer organisations from Europe, South
> America and Asia. They include Coldiretti in Italy, COAG in Spain, dairy
> farmers from Germany, Federación Agraria Argentina and Bharat Krishak
> Samaj, an Indian farmer organisation. "The big companies are about to
> control seed, harvest, trade and even food production," warns Luis
> Contigiani at Federación Agraria Argentina. "We can see how Monsanto tries
> to license fees on soy production , imposing embargoes on European
> importers of Argentinian soy and derivatives based on patents that are not
> valid in our country. This is an example of the consequences when genetic
> resources are subjected to the logic of monopolisation by patent rights."
>

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC8ml_Mpn3Y&feature=player_embedded

GREENPEACE Petition against BAYER Genetic Modified Rice delivered by Organic Farmers to the European Commission.

[Daniel P. Voglesong]

The six main culprits of commercialised genetic engineering in the world for monopolies and profit according to Reuters.Three are mid west USA based ,two German, one Swiss, all dire.

www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1040099820091111

Monsanto Co (MON.N) – Based in St. Louis, the company posted record net sales of $11.7 billion and net income of $2.1 billion for fiscal 2009. Among its key products are corn, soybeans and cotton that tolerate weed-killing treatments and resist pests. Attempts to also buy water and seed companies.

Pioneer Hi-Bred – Subsidiary of DuPont (DD.N) based in Johnston, Iowa. Produces, markets and sells hybrid seed in nearly 70 countries worldwide and is the closest rival to Monsanto for market share in U.S. biotech corn seed market. Revenue totaled $4 billion in 2008.

Syngenta AG (SYNN.VX) – The Basel, Switzerland-based company operates in 90 countries and generated 2008 sales of $11.6 billion. Collaborating with International Rice Research Institute to improve rice. Bought Novartis pharmaceuticals a while back.

Dow AgroSciences – Subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N) based in Indianapolis, Indiana. With global sales of $4.5 billion, company offers insect-protected corn and cotton, among other seed products, and is expanding its research into wheat.

BASF (BASF.DE) – Based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, this leading global chemical company is increasingly focusing its health and nutrition division on plant biotechnology to increase crop yields. Like its rivals, BASF is working on a drought-tolerant corn seed. Revenue in its agricultural division totaled 3.4 billion euros in 2008.

Bayer CropScience AG – The unit of Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE), had 2008 sales of 6.4 billion euros and operates in 120 countries. The company is pursuing 56 “bioscience” research projects involving six experimental crops.
Originally posted 3 hours ago.