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GM-free food production: a unique selling point for Ireland - the food island
Video of GM-free Ireland press conference on 17 November 2009. Includes presentations and discussions with Michael O'Callaghan (GM-free Ireland Network), Dr. John Fagan (Cert ID), Malcolm Thompson (Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers Association), Evan Doyle (the Taste Council, Organic Trust and Euro-Toques Ireland), Darina Allen (Slow Food Ireland, Good Food Ireland, Free Choice Consumer Group, Artisan Food Forum, and the Farmers Market movement), and Michelin star celebrity chef and TV host Richard Corrigan.
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Related press release: GM-free Irish label good for business:
Added value, increased market share, better branding and unique selling point: the most credible GM-free food brand in Europe.
GM-free Ireland Network press release, 17 November 2009.
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Related briefing: GM-free food production: a unique selling point for Ireland - the food island. 47-page briefing with GM-free market survey, 17 November 2009 (1.2MB pdf download).
The online videos listed below will open in a new browser window
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We cannot force-feed EU citizens with GM food:
Interview with Professor Patrick Wall,
Former Chair,
European Food Safety Authority
Directed by Michael O'Callaghan, 4 December 2008. Produced by Global Vision Consuling Ltd in association with JustMultimedia.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) stands accused of breaching EU law by recommending approval of GM crops, animal feed and food - based on risk assessments provided by the applicant companies. Michael O'Callaghan of GM-free Ireland interviewed the agency's former boss, who speaks frankly about how EFSA can be reformed, and the right of countries to ban GM crops if they want to.
Directed by Deborah Koons Garcia. 2004. Produced by Lily Films.
Available from
www.thefutureoffood.com/.
Lily Films, PO box 895, Mill Valley, CA 94942, USA, email info@lilyfilms.com.
This stylish documentary provides an in-depth look into the controversy over genetically modified foods. What will food look like for future generations? Will all plant species become private property? The Future of Food raises important questions about genetically modified food. It highlights the role of corporations and government in agriculture, and the role consumers have yet to play in determining what we will eat in the decades to come. Viewing this film, you'll never look at food the same way again! "The Future of Food could be the Fahrenheit 9/11 of the genetically engineered food battle" - Doug Mosel as quoted in Wired News Article. "If you eat food, you need to see The Future of Food..." - Newstarget.com. "This stylish film is not just for food faddists and nutritionists. It is a look at something we might not want to see: Monsanto, Roundup and Roundup-resistant seeds, collectively wreaking havoc on American farmers and our agricultural neighbors around the world. In the end, this documentary is a eloquent call to action." - The Telluride Daily Planet.
The World According to Monsanto, by Marie-Monique Robin
Present in forty-six countries, Monsanto has become the world leader in GM crops, as well as becoming one of the most controversial companies in industrial history. Since its foundation in 1901, the firm has faced trial after trial because of the toxicity of its products. Today it has reinvented itself as a "life sciences" company which has been converted to the virtues of sustainable development.
Using hitherto unpublished documents and the testimonies of victims, scientists and politicians, The World according to Monsanto pieces together the origins of an
industrial empire, built upon lies, collusion with the American government, pressure and attempted corruption, which has become the world's leading seed manufacturer, spreading GM crops worldwide - amid a lack of any proper controls with respect to their effects on nature and human health.
Interview on the making of the film "The World According to Monsanto"
Filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin on the troubling past of one of the world's biggest agricultural companies. Monsanto is a world leader in industrial agriculture, providing the seeds for 90 percent of the world's genetically modified crops. Once a chemical company based in the US, Monsanto has transformed into an international life sciences company, aiming to solve world hunger and protect the environment. Filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, however, exposes the company's troubling past, in her recent film, The World According to Monsanto. In an interview with The Real News Network, she discusses Monsanto's controversial practices from a producer of PCBs and Agent Orange to genetically modified seeds and related herbicides:
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74& jumival=1582&updaterx=2008-06-22+09%3A47%3A01
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Monsanto's Harvest of Fear
6 May 2008
Monsanto already dominates America's food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation's tactics – ruthless legal battles against small farmers – is its decades-long history of toxic contamination. Democracy Now interview with Vanity Fair contributing editor James Steele and co-author of the must-read article "Monsanto's Harvest of Fear", published in May 2008:
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2008/may/video/dnB20080506a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=19:15
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Genetic Foods / Monsanto Revealed
Produced by the German TV network, Deutsche Welle.
Gene Giants: Climate saviors or profiteers?
Biotech companies seek hundreds of patents for genetically modified "climate-ready" seeds
29 May 2008
A recent report by an agricultural advocacy group says that some of the world's largest biotechnology companies such as Monsanto, BASF, and Syngenta are seeking hundreds of patents on seeds designed to withstand the environmental stresses of global warming. While industry representatives say that traditional farming practices won't withstand the impact of sea level and drought, the report is wary of past failures of genetically engineered seeds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPdWLSHkLJc
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Making a killing from the food crisis
Devlin Kuyek: "Right now Cargill is making approximately $471 000 an hour in profits"
13 May 2008
While people around the world are suffering from hunger and protesting the rise in global food prices, major grain traders, such as Cargill, are reporting big profits. Making a Killing from Hunger, a report by international NGO, GRAIN, says that the global food crisis is more than a food shortage or a price blip, it's a structural meltdown, resulting from globalization and neoliberal policies.
:
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1495
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Planet Diversity video playlist
June 2008:
Includes excellent videos on all food and farming. Topics include Agrobiodiversity, Agrofuels, Consumers - Local Food, Farming, Food Industry, French videos, Gardeners, German and Dutch videos, GMO, Indigenous, Our World, Patents on Life, Portuguese videos, Seeds and Knowledges, Spanish videos, and Videos for children:
www.planet-diversity.org/storiesandvideos/video-playlist.html
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The Genetic Conspiracy - about Monsanto
How safe is the so-called "Green Genetic Engineering" really? Monsanto, the world's largest genetic engineering corporation, insists it is safe. Numerous studies claim genetically modified plants can cause allergies and cancers. However, commercial and political interests are determined to make genetic engineering the norm.
This is a lecture by Jeffrey Smith, in which he summarizes the contents of this book. It's not only informative, but amusing, because he casts a joke here and there.
Shot on location around the world, this documentary explores the problems of GM crops and livestock, DNA profiling and designer humans - through the eyes of farmers, scientists and activists including Vandana Shiva, Andrew Kimbrell, Rick Howard, Percy Schmeiser, Professor Torje Traavik, and Bill McKibben. Includes substantive bonus material on plants, animals and humans. The blurb says:
In the mid-eighties science, with the help of genetic engineering, finds the key to mastering the Earth and especially its creatures. Suddenly everthing seems possible! Twenty years later we embark on a global journey to explore the progressive and continual genetical manipulation of plants, animals and human beings. Due to a disastrous crop with genetically modified cotton, many Indian farmers face ruin, have to sell one of their kidneys, or resort to commiting suicide. In Canada, genetically modified canonal (oilseed rape) seeds blow onto the fields of neighbouring organic farms, thus making ecological farming impossible. The Icelandic parliament sells the entire pool of genes of its population to a private company that, in turn, intends to turn over the data at a profit to the pharmaceutical industry and insurance companies. A research project is designated as "vampire project" in which blood, hair and saliva samples are taken from 700 so-called ethnic groups on the verge of extinction on the pretext of preventive health. The gene samples wander into the laboratories of industry to provide the basis for valuable patents. Worldwide only a handful of idealistic scientists are defying industry, doing independent - without the financial support of industry - research on the effects of transgenic animals and plants on the environment and our health when we consume geneticallly modified food.
