Opinion: A broken system

Supply chain fragility reveals overall economic fragility of globalization

One of the most beautiful – and inexplicable – aspects of economics is how its practitioners never seem to be wrong. Indeed, almost every school of economic thought, from John Maynard Keynes’ demand-driven economics on the left to Arthur Laffer’s supply-side economics on the right, is crowded with disciples defending their leader’s theories and just

A sample of the proposed labels to show country of origin for food sold in Australia. 
The label has a bar chart to indicate the percentage of each country.

Australia to adopt mandatory COOL

Country has designed its own country-of-origin labels for consumers

The Australian government has announced that it intends to introduce mandatory country-of-origin labelling for food. This is an excerpt from a press release announcing the program. Public concern over country-of-origin labelling has resulted in numerous inquiries, reports and proposals on the matter over many decades without any real change or improvement. For many years consumers


Most EU States Back Trace GM In Food Imports

Amajority of European Union countries want to allow tiny traces of genetically modified (GM) material in food imports for human consumption, according to an internal EU briefing paper seen by Reuters Jan. 21. In October, the European Commission proposed new rules that would allow up to 0.1 per cent of unapproved GM material in imports

China Proposes GMO Legislation

China’s National People’s Congress, or parliament, is proposing legislation on the management of genetically modified (GMO) food, the official Xinhua news agency said in a report seen Dec. 27. The legislation will cover the import and export of GMO food and production, development and research of GMO grains. China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection is preparing


U.S. Farmers Urge Sanctions Against EU’s GM Crop Ban – for Aug. 12, 2010

The largest U.S. farm group has urged the Obama administration to begin steps towards imposing sanctions on the European Union in a long-running dispute over the EU’s treatment of genetically modified crops. The American Farm Bureau Federation, in comments given to the administration July 26, complained the EU still has not complied with a 2006

U.S. Farmers Urge Sanctions Against EU’s GM Crop Ban – for Aug. 12, 2010

The largest U.S. farm group has urged the Obama administration to begin steps towards imposing sanctions on the European Union in a long-running dispute over the EU’s treatment of genetically modified crops. The American Farm Bureau Federation, in comments given to the administration July 26, complained the EU still has not complied with a 2006


EU Approves Six GM Maize Varieties – for Aug. 5, 2010

The European Commiss ion approved six genetically modified (GM) maize varieties for import to the bloc July 28 in a sign of its desire to speed up European Union decisions on the cont roversial technology. The EU’s executive granted the approvals unilaterally after EU farm ministers failed to reach a decision on the applications in

EU To Overhaul GM Crop System

BRUSSELS/REUTERS The European Union is to radically overhaul its approval system for genetically modified (GM) crops from next month, opening the way to large-scale GM cultivation in Europe, draft proposals showed. With most Europeans showing no appetite for GM produce in food, EU politicians have approved just two varieties for growing in 12 years, compared


Gmo Approval May Not Help U. S. Soy Shipments To EU

U. S. shipments of soybeans and soymeal to the European Union are unlikely to return to normal anytime soon, despite the EU expanding which varieties of biotech grain may enter the bloc, industry experts said Nov. 2. This summer, over 200,000 tonnes of soybean and soymeal were refused entry to EU ports, largely in Spain,

EU Rejects More U. S. Soy With GM Corn Traces

Spanish authorities detected traces of unauthorized forms of genetically modified (GM) corn in U. S. soy shipments on August 25 and blocked the imports, a European Commission spokeswoman said on Sept. 19. Traces of corn variety MON88017, which is yet to be approved in the EU, was found in different shiploads of soy from the