1.Dutch city of Nijmegen GE-free
2.New South Wales extends GM crop moratorium until 2021
NOTE: Good news, not least (item 1) from probably the most staunchly pro-GM country (in terms of its political elite) in Europe.
COMMENT from Diederick Sprangers of the Genethics Foundation: Finally the GE-free regions' movement seems to be gaining momentum in the Netherlands: the city of Nijmegen was declared GE-free last night! I attach a news message I wrote about it for GMWatch and GENET. I should add that although I live in Nijmegen, I was not in the citizens' working group who started this... It was a true citizens' initiative, which I think adds to its relevance.
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1.Dutch city of Nijmegen GE-free
June 30 2011
In the Netherlands, the Community Council of Nijmegen last night declared the city GE-free. After Culemborgand the province of Friesland, this is only the third GE-free region in the country, whose national government considers itself neutral as to GE agriculture, but is seen as a staunch supporter of it by industry, other governments and civil society alike.
The city of Culemborg declared itself GE-free in 2004, but after that no Dutch region was added to the growing movement of GE-free regions in Europe for a long time. Last January, however, the province of Friesland followed, declaring that it would refuse both commercial GE crops and field trials until a debate between farmers, politicians and experts would allow the provincial administration to take a final position on the issue. Both in Culemborg and Friesland, the initiative came from the green party, GroenLinks. In Nijmegen, however, a group of citizens started in 2009 to inform themselves and hold debates with farmers, shop keepers and citizens. The group, calling itself "Citizens for GE-free food", wanted to raise awareness on GE in food and agriculture. Awareness was exactly what was missing among local politicians as well as citizens upon an earlier attempt in 2003 by Milieudefensie (the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth) to have Nijmegen declared GE-free.
The "Citizens for GE-free food" put a lot of work into it and came up with a Citizens' Initiative. In Nijmegen (a city of 164.000 inhabitants), this instrument requires 100 signatures to put an issue on the agenda of the Community Council. The group collected 4000 signatures and handed in their Initiative to the Community Council last April. The Initiative requested the Community Council to tackle the issue in four steps:
1 make a statement in the press declaring the city GE-free, referring to the citizens' objections listed in the initiative, and send this statement to the national government and the national parliament;
2 get legal advice on the options available to local authorities within the framework of the EU Directive 2001/18, to protect regular and organic agriculture from undesired GMO presence;
3 communicate the citizens' concerns on GMO safety to companies wishing to start field trials within the community;
4 draw up a formal Note on Sustainability setting out a community policy for this, based on more than just the national guidelines on sustainability and including the notion "GE-free".
After intensive lobbying by the group and two debates in the Council, last night a 23 to 16 majority of the Council voted in favour of accepting the Citizens' Initiative. The green party, the socialist party, the social democrats and the United Senior Party voted in favour; the liberals, the Christian democrats, the liberal democrats (D66) and two local parties voted against. The decision ignored an earlier advice by the city's administration (mayor and aldermen) to reject the Initiative; this negative advice is thought to have been prompted by the presence of D66 in the local governing coalition with the greens and the social democrats.
The "Citizens for GE-free food" will now continue and advise the Council on carrying out the four points of the Initiative.
Diederick Sprangers, Genethics Foundation
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2.CDP Supports GM Moratorium Extension Bill
Saturday, 18th June 2011
http://www.cdp.org.au/federal-media-release/862-cdp-supports-gm-moratorium-extension-bill.html
The Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, has supported the 'Gene Technology (GM Crop Moratorium) Amendment (Postponement of Expiry) Bill 2011' in the NSW Upper House
"On behalf of the Christian Democratic Party I support the Gene Technology (GM Crop Moratorium) Amendment (Postponement of Expiry) Bill 2011. I remember the heated debates in this House when the original bill was introduced in 2003. I agree that the Hon. Ian Macdonald deserves a pat on the back for pursuing this approach, in spite of a tremendous amount of criticism directed against the policy and against him personally. This amending bill will remove the expiry date of the Act of 1 July 2011 and extend it for a further 10 years, to 1 July 2021. As other members have said, GM crops need to be subject to careful regulation, which is enforced by the Commonwealth. Careful regulation is needed to ensure that buffer zones are maintained and non-GM crops on organic farms are protected. This regulation must be dealt with calmly and scientifically, with no fear campaigns. Hopefully the various trials that are underway will provide further evidence of where GM crops can be grown and
their benefit to the community. If the expiry date in this Act were not extended, GM food plants would be cultivated in New South Wales without requiring approval by the State Government. That would be the worst possible outcome. Extending the Act for 10 years imposes a blanket prohibition on the commercial cultivation of GM food plants in New South Wales", said Rev Fred Nile.
"The Minister for Primary Industries has the power to approve the commercial cultivation of specific GM food crops only if certain criteria are met by the applicant. For that reason we need careful regulation of GM crops. In March 2008 GM canola was approved for commercial cultivation in New South Wales. The moratorium on all other GM food plants remains in place. GM cotton is the only other GM crop grown in New South Wales but as it is not a food plant it is not subject to this legislation. As we always take note of the views of the NSW Farmers Association, I am pleased that it has confirmed its support for GM crops-although some members of The Nationals in this place have some reservations. The NSW Farmers Association has also confirmed its support to extend the Act for a further 10 years. Reducing the time frame to a period of less than 10 years poses an unnecessary administrative burden and offers less certainty for the industry and the community. We are pleased to support the bill", Rev Nile stated.