DOWNLOADS
These documents relate to GM-free Ireland consultations with the Dept. of Agriculture on the co-existence of GM with conventional & organic crops, and to seed contamination thresholds, and local GM-free zones. All download with Netscape; IE users contact us if you experience problems.
1.
EC Recommendation 2003/556/EC on guidelines for the development of national strategies and best practices to ensure the coexistence of genetically modified crops with conventional and organic farming (2003/556/EC). 23 July 2003.
2.
Scenarios for co-existence of genetically modified, conventional and organic crops
in European agriculture.
European Commission Joint Research Centre, May 2002.
3.
Why we need a GM Contamination and Liability Bill Now.
Friends of the Earth briefing, January 2004 (1MB PDF file).
4.
Draft Genetically Modified Organisms (Contamination and Liability) Bill (UK).
A Bill to set controls on the release of genetically modified organisms to prevent them from contaminating other crops and areas of countryside, to set a liability regime for harm caused by the planting of GM crops and for connected purposes. Drafted by Friends of the Earth and Five Year Freeze. Explanatory notes.
5.
GM Free Island Policy briefing
Irish Cattle & Sheep Farmers Association policy document, June 2004.
6.
GM Contamination: How to prevent GM contamination of the food chain and countryside.
Friends of the Earth briefing, March 2004.
7.
Concepts for Coexistence
Final report commissioned by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health and Women. By Werner Müller, ECO-RISK Office of Technological Risk Research, Vienna, 17 September 2003 (55 pages: 1.3MB PDF file).
8.
GM Crops? Coexistence and Liability
A report by the UK Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission (ACBC).
Published by the UK Department of Trade and Industry in November 2003. Hard copy can be ordered from + 44 207 215 6508. (160 pages, 2.1MB PDF file).
9.
Eating Genetically Modified Food is Gambling With Your Health.
Article by Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception: Exposing Corporate and Government Lies about the Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods (Green Books, UK, May 2004. Available online at www.seedsofdeception.com.
10.
Genetically Modified Foods are Inherently Unsafe.
Information flyer by Jeffrey M. Smith.
11.
The Case for a GM-free Sustainable World
A complete dossier of evidence on the known problems and hazards of
GM crops as well as on the manifold benefits of sustainable agriculture. Published by the Independent Science Panel on GM (consisting of dozens
of prominent scientists from seven countries, spanning the disciplines of
agroecology, agronomy, biomathematics, botany, chemical medicine,
ecology, histopathology, microbial ecology, molecular genetics,
nutritional biochemistry, physiology, toxicology and virology), and the Third World Network. 15 June 2003. (136 pages, 408kb PDF file).
12.
How to become a GMO-free region.
Thematic dossier no. 6 published by the Assembly of European Regions, Summer 2004. Also available online at www.are-regions-europe.org/Dossier_2004/GB-dossier-OGM-06-04.pdf.
13.
14.
GMO-Free Europe
A Guide to Campaigning for GMO-free zones in Europe. Published by Friends of the Earth, Summer 2004 (66 pages, 804kb PDF file).
15.
16.
Letter from Dr. Brian Johnson, Head of Biotechnology Advisory Unit, ó on behalf of the British statutory conservation agencies ó to the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, re. proposed legislation on adventitious GM seeds in non-GM varieties, dated 19 July 2004.
17.
Leaked Communication from David Byrne to the Commission. Presumably September 2004
18.
Article re. German law on biotech food labeling. Dow Jones Newswire, 18/7/2004.
19.
Safety Testing and Regulation of Genetically Engineered Foods (Press release, 23/11/2004). This press release announces the publication of a peer-reviewed scientific paper (in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews, volume 21) which debunks the myth that genetically modified (GM) crops are thoroughly tested, regulated and proven safe. Authors Dr. David Schubert (cell biologist and medical researcher at California's Salk Institute) and William Freese (research analyst with Friends of the Earth U.S.) base their meticulously documented, 25-page paper on nearly 100 sources, including little-known U.S. regulatory documents and unpublished studies by biotech companies. This paper reveals fundamental flaws in how biotech companies test and the U.S. government regulates GM crops. The paper thus raises serious questions about whether GM foods, which have been on the market since 1994, are in fact safe, as claimed by the biotech industry and U.S. regulators. The full paper is published in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews, volume 21, available from Intercept Limited, P.O. box 716, Andover, Hants SP10 1YG, UK; tel +44 (0) 1264 334748, fax + 44 (0) 1264 334058; e-mail: intercept@andover.co.uk; web: www.intercept.co.uk/gb/index.html.
20.
GE Food: Feeding the Hungry or Corporate Profits? by Fr. Sean McDonagh, SCC.
21.
No Market for GM-labelled Food in Europe. In January 2005, Greenpeace published this detailed report showing that the EU market for GM labelled food products is virtually closed. Europe's top 30 retailers and top 30 food & drink producers have policies and non-GM commitments which reveal a massive international food industry rejection of GM ingredients. This cuts across the industry from food and drink manufacturers to retailers, and includes everything from snacks and ready meals to pet food and beer. The combined total food and drink sales of the 49 companies with a stated non-GM policy in their main market or throughout the EU (27 retailers and 22 food and drink producers) amounts to § 646 billion, more than 60% of the total § 1,069 billion European food and drink sales. Irish food companies doing business internationally need to implement a non-GM policy without delay. Download report (2MB PDF file).
22.
Transcript of Irish Parliamentary Debate on GMOs, 15 June 2005. This is the full transcript of the parliamentary debate when the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Local Government gave unanimous cross-party support for the sovereign right of member states to ban specific GM products when there are questions over their safety, urged Roche to support the existing bans, and discussed the wider issue of GM animal feed and crops in Ireland. Many Senators and TDs supported the call for Ireland to remain GMO-free. Witnesses at the debate included the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Department of Agriculture & Food, the Department of Health & Children, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Friends of the Earth, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association, and the GM-free Ireland Network.
