Soil Association

Press response to David Willetts, science minister, GM comment

ncollins-daniel — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:31:00 GMT

China moves to source GM-free soya supplies: why will Tesco not do the same in Britain?

ncollins-daniel — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:07:00 GMT

Joint Press Release: Soil Association, GeneWatch UK, EcoNexus, Food and Water Europe, GM Watch, Earth Open Source
Campaign groups today welcomed news from Brazil that China plans to source non-GM soya for customers that want it (1). The organisations highlighted the contrast with Tesco’s announcement on 11th April that it would be allowing its suppliers to use Monsanto’s GM soya as feed in production of poultry and eggs.

Soil Association comment: M&S, Sainsbury’s, Co-Op and Tesco - GM animal feed

ncollins-daniel — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:16:00 GMT

Following announcements from M&S, Sainsbury’s, Co-Op and Tesco that they will no longer require that the farm animals in their supply chains are fed a non GM diet, Peter Melchett, Policy Director of the Soil Association said;

“Tesco and the Co-Op are misleading their customers by claiming that the GM feed will not be detectable in products like eggs, milk or chicken. This is not true. Several research studies have found that GM DNA in animal feed is taken up by the animal’s organs and can then be detected in the milk, meat and fish that people eat. This has been confirmed today by the Government’s Food Standards Agency. (1)

Soil Association comment: FSA report - “GM Labelling: exploring public responses to the labelling of GM food and the use of GM-free labelling”

ncollins-daniel — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:37:00 GMT

A report from the Food Standards Agency has delivered a major blow to Owen Paterson’s GM food labelling policy. The report reveals “67% of the public think it is important (very or quite) to write on the label if the food product e.g. meat, egg, milk, is from animals that have been fed from genetically modified plants.” 1

Oxford Farming Conference - Soil Association response to Owen Paterson / Mark Lynas talks

ncollins-daniel — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:06:00 GMT

Speaking from the Oxford Farming Conference, Tom Macmillan, innovation director at the Soil Association, responded to comments by the author Mark Lynas and Defra Secretary of State Owen Paterson.

Vote for the dinner party

tyoung — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:39:00 GMT

US food writer Michael Pollan’s article below was first published in October in the New York Times, and is an eloquent argument in support of California’s Proposition 37 – a proposal to introduce mandatory labeling of GM food in California, voted upon by Californians in the recent US elections. While naturally US focused, the piece, with its distinction between the existing ‘soft politics’ of farmers’ markets and voting with one’s fork, and the harder politics of forcing legislative change and catching the attention of elected officials, is certainly of direct relevance to the organic movement in the UK.

The pro-GM lobby's seven sins against science

tyoung — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:36:00 GMT

The role that genetically modified (GM) food should play in our food chain is a highly contested political issues. One interesting facet of the debate in the past year has been the pro-GM lobby's interest in staking the 'scientific high-ground'; simultaneously positioning itself as the voice of reason and progress, while painting its opponents as unsophisticated 'anti-science' luddites, whose arguments are full of dogma and emotion, but lack scientific rigour. In this essay Peter Melchett explores how such crude characterisations are themselves based on logic that is itself profoundly damaging to the concept and representation of 'science' in our national culture.

Soil Association response to Owen Paterson GM crop comments

fnorris — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:11:00 GMT

Commenting on Defra Secretary of State, Owen Paterson’s recent interview with the Daily Telegraph regarding GM crops, the Soil Association said;

"Owen Patterson is wrong to claim that GM crops are good for the environment. The UK Government’s own farm scale experiment showed that overall the GM crops were worse for British wildlife. US Government figures show that overall pesticide use has increased since GM crops have been grown there, because as scientists opposed to GM predicted, superweeds and resistant insects have multiplied.

The launch of our big cotton campaign

jstevenson — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:46:00 GMT

Cutting through eco-confusion: the world’s first global organic cotton campaign launches at Hong Kong’s Sustainable Textiles Conference on October 4th.

Major players in the international textiles industry are being challenged to sign up to organic – the most reliable and trustworthy standard of sustainable textiles production.

Useful new report on GM

cturton — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:32:00 GMT

A useful report on GM has recently been published by a team of genetic scientists at London’s King College, Michael Antoniou, Claire Robinson and John Fagan. It takes a thorough look at the scientific evidence around claims made about GM.