The new EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides recently told EURACTIV.com that her “priority is to gather more information” on gene editing. To this end, she said, "we will be preparing a study on new genomic techniques, foreseen for spring 2021”. Clearly, the design and set-up of such a study will be crucial to its outcome, writes Nina Holland.
Although everyone can benefit from a healthier diet, the impact of good nutrition can be life-changing to vulnerable populations affected by malnutrition. Share your support on social media with #NutritionForZeroHunger.
The EU is leading the science-based fight against climate change and it will also lead on science-based plant innovation, writes former EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis.
Europe seems increasingly ready to face the challenges of the 21st century and to lead the way to a ‘greener’ and more sustainable future. But what role can the EU Parliament play in the face of recent unsubstantiated “objections” against GMOs?
For many years leading European food retailers have been following a strict non-GMO policy. Retailers are the parties most concerned when it comes to GMO regulation. For them, the proper implementation of the ECJ ruling is crucial, writes Heike Moldenhauer.
As Europe celebrates World Food Safety Day for the first time, Bernhard Url welcomes the fact that every year, on June 7, the world’s attention will be drawn to the crucial role that food safety plays in our daily lives and to its importance in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
It has been over 12,000 years since the Neolithic Revolution, when our nomadic ancestors began planting roots, quite literally -- trading in their hunter-gatherer lifestyles to cultivate crops. Today we’re facing another revolution in agriculture – one we must tackle together, writes Neal Gutterson.
On 25 October 2018, the European Parliament adopted a new legislative framework for veterinary medicinal products and medicated feed, which are a step forward in preventing the rise in antibiotic resistance.
We live in fascinating times where technology is evolving at an ever-increasing pace, spurring major shifts in many industries. This is also the case for the fertilizer sector, writes Jacob Hansen, director general of Fertilizers Europe.
Reading the opinion of Greens / EFA members of the European Parliament on plant breeding, one can’t help but be amazed by their obsession with GMOs, writes Garlich von Essen.
The trade agreement currently being negotiated by the EU and Morcosur will increase poverty and accelerate the demise of European farmers by subjecting them to unfair competition, argue Perrine Fournier and Yannick Jadot.
Over the past fifty years, the EU has done a stellar job in moving from a very fragmented national approach to animal disease control to a progressively more harmonised system of animal health measures, disease surveillance, diagnosis and control, writes Roxane Feller.
What is in the food that we buy? It’s a question whose answer is less certain than it should be. Shockingly, many food manufacturers find it acceptable to sell their food with standard packaging throughout the EU, but with very different content, and often lower quality, in different countries, writes Lilyana Pavlova.
You are what you eat, the saying goes, but what about what we drink? Dietary regulations across Europe need to be stricter if digestive disease rates are to fall, writes Thierry Ponchon.
Chemicals, even naturally occurring ones, often sound scary, and they certainly can be hazardous. But most, when appropriately managed, deliver significant benefits, writes Rick Phillips.
Recently, headlines in Germany and Austria might have made you shiver with fear: “The. EU. Wants. To. Ban. Crispy. Chips”. No less! The same EU which dictates the shape of our bananas and cucumbers is now meddling with our chips. Or is it, asks Monique Goyens.
The withdrawal of millions of eggs from the market produced in the Netherlands and Belgium should motivate the EU to shift towards a different model of agriculture, argues Martin Dermine.
Salmonella, one of Europe’s most prevalent food-borne diseases, has been on the retreat the past decade, but EU experts have so far failed to protect a two-year deadlock that could see one of the most important tools in the fight against salmonella banned, writes Randall Ennis.
As safety watchdogs battle over just how toxic and dangerous Monsanto’s controversial weed-killer glyphosate actually is, the even more toxic half-brother from Bayer, glufosinate, is making a timely return, warns Mute Schimpf.
Landowners need crop protection products to feed our growing population. By removing crop protection products from the market, the EU is endangering its own food security, writes Robert de Graeff.
As the world focuses elsewhere, two untested varieties of genetically modified maize are slowly manoeuvring their way through the legislative hoops of the European institutions towards Europe’s fields, writes Mute Schimpf.
European Commission draft rules to identify and ultimately ban endocrine disrupters are illegal because they clash with existing pesticide and biocide regulations, Alice Bernard writes. The environmental lawyer warned that EU judges could throw out the changes to the long-awaited scientific criteria for the chemicals.
The debate over glyphosate has not been a scientific discussion but an activists’ war against ‘Big Agri’. Glyphosate is scientifically proven to be safe and should be re-authorised, writes André Heitz.
Disease outbreaks such as Ebola and avian influenza serve as a stark reminder that human and animal health will always be inter-connected, writes Roxane Feller.
