Monsanto is to pull out of Europe.

Locanfetzava

This can only be good news.

How long will it be before the rest of them pull out?

This country could be a gold mine if it got its act together with Organic crops

Monsanto, one of the world's biggest and best known genetically modified crops companies, is effectively pulling out of Europe.....

Monsanto, whose name is synonymous with GM crops, confirmed that it is withdrawing all of its EU applications for approval for new crops.

The decision is understood to affect as many as 10 applications for approval for new GM crops. It is understood that Monsanto is pulling all of its applications for crops in frustration at delays over clearing existing crops at EU level.

It does not affect clearance for an existing crop grown from GM seeds in Portugal and Spain.

Monsanto currently sells only one biotech seed product in Europe — a biotech corn which is modified to be resistant to a destructive pest called the European corn borer. It accounts for less than one per cent of the corn grown in the EU.

A company source pointed to the fact that the EU has not approved a new GM crop for cultivation since 1998, adding that it "currently has suspended the progression of cultivation files towards decisions for political reasons"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/10186932/Major-GM-food-company-Monsanto-pulls-out-of-Europe.html

Amirani

Some of their business practices are despicable in my opinion.

dodderangler

Thatdoesnt looksafe tome AHHHHHHH wrote: »

Were the fuk is Monsanto

Take it up to Monsanto langaroo

Ace Attorney

dodderangler wrote: »

Take it up to Monsanto langaroo

On me phone, realized its a company now :-o

clairefontaine

Lucky Europe. Wish they'd pull out of the US too.

ScumLord

Locanfetzava wrote: »

This country could be a gold mine if it got its act together with Organic crops

I firmly believe that too, I think we should push for organic in a big way and try and become known for it internationally.

everdead.ie

That's great they are ruthless in business they sue people who have had the seed blown onto their land from neighbouring farms for royalties.

kunst nugget

Are they really anymore despicable than any of the other corporations out there or is it just a case that more people know about them because of the online petitions going around? I mean if we scratch beneath the surface of any of the other big corporations don't they all stink - Apple, Shell, Nestle etc…

Winty

The number of people on the planet will only go up, so sorry to say we need company's like this to keep up on food production research

We need food ...

Winty

ScumLord wrote: »

I firmly believe that too, I think we should push for organic in a big way and try and become known for it internationally.

Organic will not feed us all... Not enough land available

kunst nugget

Winty wrote: »

The number of people on the planet will only go up, so sorry to say we need company's like this to keep up on food production research

We need food ...

This is the paradox.

Winty

kunst nugget wrote: »

This is the paradox.

The point does not change.. We all cannot live on a farm and eat Rosie apples . The people of the world need mass produced food to survive

ScumLord

Winty wrote: »

Organic will not feed us all... Not enough land available

We currently organically produce enough meat and dairy to feed half of Europe. There are new ways of growing organically that increase productivity and negate the need for fertilizers. We can also start making vertical farms that would be a contained biosphere.

We can't really compete with the UK and mainland Europe on grains but we can identify crops that would work for us and give us good return.

kunst nugget

Winty wrote: »

The point does not change.. We all cannot live on a farm and eat Rosie apples . The people of the world need mass produced food to survive

I'm not disagreeing with you. The paradox for me is that people scream blue murder about the way they act but they rely on cheap mass produced food that these companies help to produce.

Jester252

I'm not against GM food giving that already most of our food has already been modified but these guys don't seem to have any corporate responsibility. Not to sure if this is a good or bad thing for the EU

Winty

ScumLord wrote: »

We currently organically produce enough meat and dairy to feed half of Europe. There are new ways of growing organically that increase productivity and negate the need for fertilizers. We can also start making vertical farms that would be a contained biosphere.

We can't really compete with the UK and mainland Europe on grains but we can identify crops that would work for us and give us good return.

I would love that to be possible but the poor of India and south east Asia need cheep food and lots of it so I don't think we can feed the world without people like "man satan"

Reindeer

Will we still be able to buy Roundup?

Weevil

Winty wrote: »

Organic will not feed us all... Not enough land available

India, with a population of almost 1 billion, is largely self sufficient food-wise. It's land area is similar in size to Kazakhstan, which supports a population of 17 million.

Duggy747

Now begins the backslapping on Facebook that all those online petitions "worked" and that they beat "the man"

Cody Pomeray

For Jesus sake. I don't personally 'like' Monsanto as a brand, but we have to start embracing biotechnology as a valid means to ending global hunger and malnutrition. Some of the criticism of Monsanto revolves around wishy washy notions of organic fare and scrumptious local beetroots.

Andy-Pandy

Monsanto are not interested in feeding people, they are interested in monopoly and profit before anything else. They are a scourge on the third world nations and have taken away any chance they had to be self sufficient in their own food production. Delighted to see Europe standing up to them, I just wish the states was willing to do the same.

wendell borton

Lots of food so much infact we in the west have production qoutas, can "food dump" on third countries making their agri industry unsustainable.

Karl Stein

Winty wrote: »

We need food ...

Are you saying there's not enough food to go around?

Edit: Actually, 'we need food' is nonsense.

We already grow enough food to feed 10 Billion people.

ScumLord

Winty wrote: »

I would love that to be possible but the poor of India and south east Asia need cheep food and lots of it so I don't think we can feed the world without people like "man satan"

I'm not saying we need to feed the world, what I'm saying is we can feed Ireland and have more than enough food left over to feed a population 10 times our size. That's all profit overseas, especially if it's the more expensive organic food.

Nodin

ScumLord wrote: »

I'm not saying we need to feed the world, ..........

...at least let them know it's Christmas time.

Cody Pomeray

Cathal Cloch wrote: »

Are you saying there's not enough food to go around?

Edit: Actually, 'we need food' is nonsense.

We already grow enough food to feed 10 Billion people.

We do produce enough food resources, but as the article says, human beings are not the only consumers of food. We use it to fuel out ferrets, cattle and our machinery as well.

It's not that there is overall scarcity, it's that there is a level of scarcity for human consumption which makes access to quality food impossible or expensive. Biotechnology appears to answer that problem, and if it can be done in a way that does not do disproportionate harm to the environment, then we should embrace it.

biko

Once people learn to digest old plastic bags everything will be ok.
Sure the sea life is already trying to learn.

wendell borton

Better education and family planning free from religious interference is the only answer to the problem of increasing population numbers. Producing more food just feeds into a vicious circle.

shruikan2553

ah right, this is one of the times where we all hate on GM food when we dont actually have a clue what we're talking about?

Andy-Pandy

shruikan2553 wrote: »

ah right, this is one of the times where we all hate on GM food when we dont actually have a clue what we're talking about?

I think it's more of group hate on Monsanto than GM. I've gotten the impression that most posters know what they are talking about.

hmmm

So Ireland and Europe will go on feeding ourselves our "natural food" covered in pesticides, and the rest of the world can go on starving. Meanwhile the anti-scientific hippy crowd dance around celebrating.

Cody Pomeray

wendell borton wrote: »

Better education and family planning free from religious interference is the only answer to the problem of increasing population numbers. Producing more food just feeds into a vicious circle.

Nobody doubts that.

But the poor are here. Even if they are the Earth's unwanted guests, which is the naked reality, now that they have come we have to feed them.

I'm sure you're not exactly suggesting we have people die off for the greater good of human kind, but the argument you're making does tend to sail perilously close to that.

Weevil

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

Nobody doubts that.

But the poor are here. Even if they are the Earth's unwanted guests, which is the naked reality, now that they have come we have to feed them.

I'm sure you're not exactly suggesting we have people die off for the greater good of human kind, but the argument you're making does tend to sail perilously close to that.

It's not a question of how to feed the poor; it's a question of what the poor are eating. If you want to find a nutrition-based crisis, look no further than obesity and the related health problems. They promise to be a massive burden on health-care budgets down the line. Of course, for a company like Monsanto a doughy, immobile couch potato on state welfare is the perfect cash-cow.

WoollyRedHat

ScumLord wrote: »

I firmly believe that too, I think we should push for organic in a big way and try and become known for it internationally.

When I was in London a few years back we went to this place on Kensington St, or thereabouts that was.all organic and it was truly splendid.

ThreeBlindMice

Andy-Pandy wrote: »

Monsanto are not interested in feeding people, they are interested in monopoly and profit before anything else. They are a scourge on the third world nations and have taken away any chance they had to be self sufficient in their own food production. Delighted to see Europe standing up to them, I just wish the states was willing to do the same.

True they are a Devil company.

The Common Gematria values of "MONSANTO" = 666.

A=6 B=12 C=18 D=24 E=30 F=36 .....ETC

hedgehog2

ScumLord wrote: »

I firmly believe that too, I think we should push for organic in a big way and try and become known for it internationally.

Cuba are streets ahead of any nation when it comes to organic crops,we should be sending our delegations there instead of jetting to the states as per.
Their healthcare and education system could offer us a few pointers while we are there.

ThreeBlindMice

The only problem I could see is that much of the damage could already be done, Horse bolted out the gate etc.

Once farmers have been growing this contaminated stuff it is bound to start generating inbreeding strains and poisoning other crops yields etc.

Bill Gates didn't built his seed vault for no reason.

Zombienosh

I recently saw a documentary about African farmers, Their land was ruined from using these new seeds from Monsanto, It produces great crops first time around but after each harvest the growth gets worse and worse, they were struggling to survive and wish they could go back before Monsanto but whatever chemicals were used made it so they could only get a good harvest if they continued to use Monsanto products.

So in summary all the people saying we need this awesome company and their GMO's to help the starving nations doesn't wash.

ThreeBlindMice

Zombienosh wrote: »

I recently saw a documentary about African farmers, Their land was ruined from using these new seeds from Monsanto, It produces great crops first time around but after each harvest the growth gets worse and worse, they were struggling to survive and wish they could go back before Monsanto but whatever chemicals were used made it so they could only get a good harvest if they continued to use Monsanto products.

So in summary all the people saying we need this awesome company and their GMO's to help the starving nations doesn't wash.

Its the same as all these cannabis seeds that are sold in head shops, you pay up to €7 each for them but they are only good for one crop. Even if you tried letting a plant go to seed the end product seeds are totally useless.

Stinicker

More than half the food produced is wasted with cosmetic foods branding and dumping perfectly good food into bins because it is past some poxy sell-by date. What is happening with food in the west is an absolute disgrace and the food industry badly needs to be regulated or nationalized completely by respective governments.

The big multiples forcing down the prices paid to farmers to increase greedy profits, selling unethical foods laden with chemicals and enough fat and sugar to feed a small army. These sort of foods are why people are suffering from a whole host of illnesses and cancers unheard of a generation ago. You are what you eat and it certainly isn't healthy. The amounts of antibiotics and drugs pumped into animals is an absolute disgrace and these are then coming into the human food chain as a result of this.

woodoo

I hope the door doesn't hit them on the way out.

Weevil

woodoo wrote: »

I hope the door doesn't hit them on the way out.

At this very moment, one of our esteemed Public Representatives will be busy with an oil can at a side door.

zenno

Well that's great news indeed, good riddance to them, and i hope they don't come back. Organic is more expensive, but i am willing to pay for it.

Great News.

MOC88

Winty wrote: »

The number of people on the planet will only go up, so sorry to say we need company's like this to keep up on food production research

We need food ...

To increase the production wouldn't work in the long run if population kept going up - what is needed is a better approach to the whole situation ie. trying to balance life deaths in a country ie. hit people with tax hikes after the third child etc. offer free contraceptives - this is especially true of the developing world. Most of the developed world is fine and is keeping a roughly stable population.

However, it might buy more time to sort out these problems and tackle the issue at its root.

kunst nugget

kunst nugget wrote: »

Are they really anymore despicable than any of the other corporations out there or is it just a case that more people know about them because of the online petitions going around? I mean if we scratch beneath the surface of any of the other big corporations don't they all stink - Apple, Shell, Nestle etc…

Nestle are despicable. They're on my boycotted list.

Amirani

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Nestle are despicable. They're on my boycotted list.

Trinity Students Union still refuses to stock their products on campus.

Dr Turk Turkelton

So where do we stand in regards to eating a Tesco horse burger?
Also would kill for a Kinder suprise egg now.Am i evil?

Amirani

Cuchulainn1. wrote: »

So where do we stand in regards to eating a Tesco horse burger?
Also would kill for a Kinder suprise egg now.Am i evil?

Worse than evil.

Weevil

Cuchulainn1. wrote: »

So where do we stand in regards to eating a Tesco horse burger?
Also would kill for a Kinder suprise egg now.Am i evil?

Anyone who would kill for a Kinder surprise egg requires hospitalisation. However, the bed they need is probably occupied by the idiot who thought they could kill for an extra quarter- pounder.

WilyCoyote

A friend of mine once courted a genetically modified girl from Sri Lanka. Things took a turn for the worse after he dropped his hand