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Thread: European Court of Justice banned Honey containing pollen from GMOs

  1. #11
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Drone Ranger View Post
    3 cheers for sarpo mira I say otherwise I have to buy spuds at the supermarket
    I put in a couple of rows of Sarpo Mira every year but what we really want is something like a Kerr's Pink with the blight resistance of the Sarpo. C'mon Gavin, get that spud on its way to us.

    I THOUGHT that GM crops could not reproduce ...
    You are thinking of that terminator gene, another product Monsanto got its greasy paws on.
    Last edited by Jon; 17-09-2011 at 10:34 AM.

  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    I put in a couple of rows of sarpo Mira every year but what we rteally want is something like a Kerr's Pink with the blight resistance of the Sarpo. C'mon Gavin, get that spud on its way to us.
    Pinko mira ?? fantastic idea I'll be first in the queue

  3. #13
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    C'mon Gavin, get that spud on its way to us.
    I can confirm that the crosses have been made. However if you'd like a Kerr's Pink with Sarpo Mira's resistance the best way would be via GM. Maybe not though, who'd want to produce all those safety dossiers, trial results, risk assessments, approvals at so many levels, hostile public meetings and ... beekeepers!

  4. #14

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    I'll test them even with a few jellyfish genes in them after all I'm 85% banana anyway

  5. #15
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Time to add to this thread again I think. Yesterday at the SBA Council meeting we heard a report on where beekeeping now stands after the momentous ECJ decision that pollen is now an 'ingredient' rather than a constituent (no matter what commonsense says) and that one pollen grain of a GM type which is not approved for food use in the EU means that the jar of honey cannot be sold.

    This leaves every beekeeper and everyone involved in the honey trade concerned that even infinitessimally low levels of contamination will prevent sale. Testing honey for every possible GM event that is not approved for food use in the EU is a very expensive process, and from my own professional work I know that pollen can travel thousands of km in quantity in the right weather conditions.

    Klauss, in the post starting this thread, *celebrated* the decision as some sort of victory. That seems bizarre to me - how can a decision that causes such difficulty to beekeeping and honey marketing be regarded as a victory?

    I made a comment at the SBA Council that aroused anger and challenge. It was that the beekeeper at the centre of this had deliberately placed hives close to the trial site in order to bring about this action. The challenger didn't seem to believe me. You can read about it yourself at the website of Deutsche Welle, a highly respectable news organisation, where the report is very clear that this is exactly what happened:

    http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14843153,00.html

    We were also told that a member of the SBA Executive is going to Germany to talk to beekeeper groups there and that there will be a report published (SB, perhaps the website too) on his return explaining what was happening there. I'll look forward to him covering this aspect of the affair too in his report.

    Beekeeping, as I've said before, is being used by people with their own agendas. In this case, campaigning beekeepers have brought about a judicial decision that ends up with honey exporters outside Europe facing ruin, big extra costs for honey packers in the UK, and the possibility that even small-scale beekeepers such as SBA members may need to have their honey tested before they can sell it. Like the sorcerer's apprentice, you need to be careful what you wish for.

  6. #16
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    The jokes about the EU and straight cucumbers are now getting ridiculous. The EU have banned conventional bettery cages for hens but are letting European produces off the hook after the UK farmers had completed their investment in expensive new equipment. Now, it seems, we are powerless to restrict the importation of illegal EU eggs. It's time we just started ignoring EU nonsense and got back to some common sense.

    Rosie

  7. #17
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    It's been a little while since I read the details, but it seemed pretty clear at the time that the guy in question was playing "silly buggers" and, I thought, had his plan backfire on him so I'm scratching my head somewhat that anyone could see it as a "victory".

    As for the eggs, don't buy them. We may be powerless to stop them being imported, but they're only being imported because people buy them, buy local and there's no demand to import eggs from wherever they come from. I don't think I've ever seen an imported egg round here. Danish, full of water and suffering, bacon yes, but not imported eggs.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    I made a comment at the SBA Council that aroused anger and challenge. It was that the beekeeper at the centre of this had deliberately placed hives close to the trial site in order to bring about this action. The challenger didn't seem to believe me. You can read about it yourself at the website of Deutsche Welle, a highly respectable news organisation, where the report is very clear that this is exactly what happened:
    As far as I could see, the only anger exhibited at what was a very enjoyable and good-natured Council came from the person who had his motion voted out, having had his chance to speak for a full five minutes (mostly about the suicides of Indian cotton farmers and a general rant about GM).

    As for small-scale beekeepers having to test for GM pollen, I suspect there will in the end be a common-sense approach similar to that which allows hobby beekeepers to sell their honey without having to invest in special stainless-steel surfaced extraction rooms and the like.

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