Genetically modified foods should be labeled so consumers can make informed choices, according to the EU-US Biotechnology Consultative Forum. The panel of representatives from the United States and the European Union, established by U.S. President Bill Clinton and European Commission President Romano Prodi, made 23 recommendations in a report issued December 18. The report called for "content-based mandatory labelling requirements for finished products containing novel genetic material." The panel also suggested that farmers in developing countries should be free to plant seeds they have saved from patented crops. The full report, in pdf format, is available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/us/biotech/ biotech.htm.

Published studies evaluating the environmental risks and benefits of transgenic crops are incomplete and more research needs to be done, according to an article in the journal Science (Wolfenbarger and Phifer, 2000). Dr. LaReesa Wolfenbarger and Dr. Paul Phifer examined 35 published studies and found them insufficient to demonstrate either risks or benefits. The New York Times story announcing publication of the article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/14/science/14BIOT.html

A lawsuit to require labeling of foods made from transgenic crops was dismissed by a U.S. federal judge on September 29. In dismissing the suit, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated that the Food and Drug Administration "lacks a basis upon which it can legally mandate labeling, regardless of consumer demand", unless FDA finds that transgenic foods differ significantly from conventional products.
Source: Los Angeles Times

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a report Sept. 20 stating that Bt insect-resistant corn and other crops cause "no unreasonable adverse effects" on non-target organisms, including Monarch butterflies. Attention had focused on the effects of Bt corn pollen on Monarch larvae following a Cornell University laboratory study published last year. Source: Washington Post

The report, entitled Biopesticides Registration Action Document: Bt Plant-Pesticides, is available at http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap/

Twenty-eight environmental activists, including the executive director of Greenpeace UK and 13 fellow members of Greenpeace, were acquitted of charges of trespass and criminal damage in a crown court trial in Norwich, UK. The protesters destroyed a field trial of transgenic maize on a private UK farm in July 1999, claiming that cross-pollination from the GM crop would contaminate other crops in the area and posed an environmental threat. More information can be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,371076,00.html.

Herbicide-tolerant crops might reduce supplies of weed seed to the point where seed-eating bird populations could be seriously affected, according to a simulation study by British researchers. The study was published in Science (Watkinson et al., 2000), along with a commentary by Firbank and Forcella, 2000.