Monsanto is to pull out of Europe.

Locanfetzava · 19-07-2013 05:10PM #1

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 · 19-07-2013 05:13PM

Some of their business practices are despicable in my opinion.

dodderangler · 19-07-2013 05:14PM

Thatdoesnt looksafe tome AHHHHHHH wrote: »

Were the fuk is Monsanto

Take it up to Monsanto langaroo

Ace Attorney · 19-07-2013 05:16PM

dodderangler wrote: »

Take it up to Monsanto langaroo

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

clairefontaine · 19-07-2013 05:18PM

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

ScumLord · 19-07-2013 05:20PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:21PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:25PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:26PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:27PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:28PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:30PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:31PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:32PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:33PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:36PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:42PM

19-07-2013 05:45PM

Will we still be able to buy Roundup?

Weevil · 19-07-2013 05:55PM

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 · 19-07-2013 05:58PM

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

Cody Pomeray · 19-07-2013 06:05PM

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 · 19-07-2013 06:08PM

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 · 19-07-2013 06:22PM

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 · 19-07-2013 06:31PM

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 · 19-07-2013 06:39PM

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 · 19-07-2013 07:13PM

ScumLord wrote: »

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

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

Cody Pomeray · 19-07-2013 07:16PM

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 · 19-07-2013 07:29PM

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

wendell borton · 19-07-2013 07:31PM

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 · 19-07-2013 07:36PM

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 · 19-07-2013 07:44PM

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.

Monsanto is to pull out of Europe.

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