GM Regulation

Hawaii's Big Island Leads the Way in Banning GMOs
Big Island ban GMO testing and cultivation while other counties step up their campaigns to regulate GM testing and farming, but agritech giants are already gearing up for a fight
Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji 10th February 2014

Keep toxic GM maize out of South Africa!
Support Africa Centre for Biodiversity in keeping corporations and their chemicals out of South Africa's food supply.
ISIS 29th July 2013

Nina Fedoroff Misfires at EPA's Modest Proposal
US Academy scientists’ public attack on EPA proposal on regulation of GMOs misdirected, misleading, and irrelevant; deregulation is likely to destroy the export market for US crops altogether
Prof. Joe Cummins 31st August 2011

USDA/APHIS Creeping towards Regulatory Shutdown
Genetically modified bluegrass deregulation marks the beginning of the end of a toothless regulatory regime for GMOs
Prof. Joe Cummins 30th August 2011

Scientist Resigns - ‘GM Dialogue’ Naked PR for Industry
UK regulator Food Standards Agency must be held to account for ignoring incontrovertible evidence of harm and persisting in promoting GM food to the nation at taxpayers’ expense
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 1st June 2010

Advisory Committee Ignores Warning of GM Hazards
Prof. Joe Cummins rebuts decision on allowing the release GM potatoes
Prof. Joe Cummins 2nd June 2008

USDA Proposes Further De-regulation of GMOs
The proposed changes make the regulatory regime even more permissive. Prof. Joe Cummins and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
Prof. Joe Cummins and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 8th September 2007

Protecting independent science against advocacy science
Letter to Prof Harry Kuiper (European Food Safety Authority) and Mary Fitzgerald (EC Ethics review team) from Dr. Mae-Wan Ho on behalf of the Institute of Science in Society, and Independent Science Panel
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 6th June 2007

Approval of GM Crops Illegal, US Federal Courts Rule
The courts said it three times so it must be true
Prof. Joe Cummins and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 1st March 2007

GM Rice Contamination How Regulators Tried to Sidestep the Law
BSE, drug trials and GM food, who are the regulators protecting?
Prof. Peter Saunders 24th October 2006

European Food Safety Authority Criticised for GMO Bias
European Commission Introduces Wide-ranging Changes in Approval Process - A window of opportunity for a comprehensive GM ban
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 27th April 2006

ISP Reply to Canadian Food Inspection Agency
On 27 November 2005, Dr. Mae-Wan Ho wrote to a number of national and international agencies on behalf of the Independent Science Panel [1] regarding the powerful immune response in test animals fed genetically modified (GM) peas
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 4th January 2006

Canada Denies Visa for Africa's Chief Biosafety and Biodiversity Negotiator
Interference with international negotiations has plumbed new depths
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 20th May 2005

ISP Bid to Stop US "Rubber-Stamping" Transgene Contamination
ISP submitted strong objections to US's proposed change in policy that would allow companies to contaminate the food supply with unauthorized test crops
Mae-Wan Ho, Sam Burcher and Rhea Gala 27th January 2005

GM Cotton: Corruption, Hype, Half-truths and Lies
Monsanto has just been fined $1.5m by the US Department of Justice for a bribe of $50 000 paid to a senior Indonesian environmental official in an unsuccessful bid to bypass the requirement for the environmental impact statement for its Bt cotton crop
Rhea Gala 21st January 2005

Questions over Schmeiser's Ruling
Percy Schmeiser's battle with the GM giant Monsanto came to an end with the recent Supreme Court ruling, but what does it really mean?
Lim Li Ching 19th July 2004

Keeping Europe GM-Free
Efforts to ensure Europe remains GM-free have been stepped up. Lim Li Ching reports on the European Social Forum
Lim Li Ching 5th December 2003

Unstable Transgenic Lines Illegal
Further evidence that most if not all commercially approved transgenic lines are genetically unstable and non-uniform has come to light. The transgenic lines fail to satisfy the current EU Directive requirements for proof of genetic stability and uniformity, and are hence illegal
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 3rd December 2003

Regulatory Sham on Bt-Crops
Prof. Joe Cummins exposes the regulatory sham involved in GM crops containing a range of biopesticides
Prof. Joe Cummins 1st December 2003

Transgenic Lines Proven Unstable
The insert in every commercially approved GM line has undergone rearrangement. The cauliflower mosaic virus promoter plays a major role. This should be the final nail in the coffin for GM crops, says Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, who has, for years, challenged scientific committees advising governments over this very issue
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 23rd October 2003

Independent Science Panel rejects Conclusions of GM Science Review
The UK Government's GM Science Review issued its First Report in July 2003 amid accusations of pro-GM bias. One member of the Panel resigned weeks earlier, and another complained that a senior scientist attempted to undermine his research funding and career.
Lim Li Ching 20th October 2003

ISIS' Final Reply to ACRE: Let the People Decide
The evidence is laid bare, let the people judge for themselves
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Joe Cummins 23rd September 2003

The Precautionary Principle is Science-based
The precautionary principle is based on good science. Prof. Peter Saunders and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho look at a few of the many examples where scientific evidence has made a compelling case for the application of the precautionary principle
Prof. Peter Saunders and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 4th April 2003

Chronicle of An Ecological Disaster Foretold
The GM oil seed rape varieties in UK's farm scale evaluations are terminator crops with in-built sterility to protect patented crop genes. Terminator crops like these had been vigorously rejected by farmers all over the world as it goes against their right to save and replant seeds. These crops are now being considered for commercial release in Europe.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Joe Cummins 20th February 2003

ISIS' Reply to ACRE's Response on Chardon LL (Revised & Updated)
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho address some specific points in the document under three headings, horizontal gene transfer, the hazards of CaMV 35S promoter and transgenic instability.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 14th February 2003

Science Advisors Abusing Science
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho shows how the government's science advisors are abusing science in their recent report that dismisses all scientific evidence of GM hazards
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 15th January 2003

Science Advisors Abusing Public Trust
Scientific Committees advising the UK government are playing fast and loose with scientific evidence, abusing public trust, and in blatant violation of both good science and the precautionary principle
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 14th January 2003

Europe to remain GM-free
GM crops will be kept out of Europe, despite new legislation designed to free up approvals
ISIS 25th October 2002

Patents on life patently undermine food security
Thousands gathered in London to demand trade justice for the developing world in a mass lobby of Parliament. They want trade rules that work for all, not just a few
Lim Li Ching 15th July 2002

Comprehensive Evidence Against GM
ISIS Reply to WHO Questionnaire on Food Biotechnology
ISIS 3rd July 2002

Science War Intensifies
The embattled British government-sponsored Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs) are due to end in 2003. For Britain as for the rest of Europe, the decisive moment has come for GM crops: to commercialise, or to ban. The scientific establishment, the Government and Monsanto join forces in attacking independent scientists and stifling debate.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 20th June 2002

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho Replies to Aventis in Chardon LL Public Hearing
Aventis applied to place herbicide-tolerant transgenic maize Chardon LL on UK National Seed List in 2000. This provoked such widespread objection that a public hearing was held later that year. But the hearing was adjourned when it transpired that Chardon LL did not pass the requisite test for distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS).
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 14th June 2002

Submission to the Trade and Industry Committee on the current and future prospects for the UK biotechnology industry, including genomics and related aspects of the pharmaceutical industry
To the Members of the Committee, we submit the following comments, using some of the points outlined in your press release, on the current and future prospects for the UK biotechnology industry:
Nick Papadimitriou 2nd June 2002

GM & Bio-weapons in the post-Genomics Era
The possibilities for more lethal bio-weapons have increased in the post-genomics era. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho calls on scientists to take responsibility for the biosafety of their own research at the biosafety conference in The Hague (April 22-26, 2002)
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 30th April 2002

Royal Society Still Ignoring Scientific Evidence
A critique of the new Royal Society Report, Genetically Modified Plants for Food Use and Human Health - An Update
Dr. Sean Lawler 11th March 2002

Letter To The Scottish Parliament Petitions Committee
I am writing to support the Munlochy Vigil petition, to call for an immediate end to GM OSR trials in Scotland and for a full Parliamentary debate, with a free vote on the issue of GM crops in Scotland.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 4th March 2002

US Proposals to BWC Rebuffed
US proposals to BWC were rebuffed by nongovernment organisations for undermining the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol, weakening national biosafety laws and leaving loophole for ‘nonlethal’ bioweapons. Dr. MaeWan Ho reports on her recent visit to BWC Conference in Geneva.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 3rd December 2001

GM & Bio-weapons Control Must Go Together
The basic tools and materials for making bioweapons are the same as those used in ‘legitimate’ GM applications. There is little or no effective defence against bioweapons, and GM may be worse.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 29th November 2001

Biodefence in Tatters
In a dramatic, sweeping statement [1], President George W. Bush is calling for procedures to address compliance in the Biological Weapons Convention, the very issue the Bush administration had refused to discuss last July.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 9th November 2001

MRC Acknowledges GM Food Risks
The UK Medical Research Council has established an Expert Group to consider the risks of GM foods and the feasibility of human studies to assess the risks. Their Report, published in June this year, goes beyond what many other groups have done in acknowledging that GM foods do pose special risks.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Angela Ryan & Prof. Peter Saunders 10th December 2000

The Principle of Substantial equivalence is Unscientific and Arbitary
Substantial equivalence embodies the concept that if a new food or food component is found to be substantially equivalent to an existing food or food component, it can be treated in the same manner with respect to safety
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and R Steinbrecher

Continuing Blair Whitewash over Farmscale Field Trials 8/1/01
The new Agricultural and Environment Biotechnology Commission has no intention of questioning the field trials or addressing any awkward questions over safety.
Angela Ryan