Eco Hvar

A learning curve

Objavljeno u Vaša pisma

A post on the Eco Hvar Facebook page led to an unexpected response. Eco Hvar learned a lot!

Novi list- 2013, 2017! Novi list- 2013, 2017!

On April 25th 2017, I came across an article on a Croatian news website, Novi list, stating that the European Commission was about to issue a directive proposing drastic seed control measures, which would mean that only standardized 'approved' seeds could be sown, not only for commercial agriculture, but even in private gardens. Shocked, I posted the link on the Eco Hvar Facebook page.

The post evoked some interesting reactions.

One comment declared that it was 'fake news', and that such 'semi-information, which is very dangerous and tendentious, is being spread around Croatia by extreme right-wing circles who opposed Croatia's entry into the EU.'

As it turned out, the news was not fake, but old. It did actually happen. I hadn't noticed that the article was published in May 2013. The EC did indeed present the seed control proposal at that time. It was withdrawn in 2015. You can read the EC proposal here, and a description of the proposal in English here. An account of organised opposition to the proposal is accessible here.

The news was old, but still served a purpose, as the issue lies at the heart of the differences between so-called conventional agriculture (using chemical pesticides and fertilizers) and organic practices.

WHAT I LEARNED

1. Legislation for the control of seeds is proposed for a variety of different reasons. Some, such as protection of indigenous flora and fauna, are worthwhile, others, especially protecting the commercial interests of the big agrochemical companies, are not.

2  Seed control is an issue which is being debated worldwide. For instance, it is a major cause for concern among environmentalists in the United States, New Zealand, Romania, India and Brazil. It is an issue also strongly linked to the development of GMO crops for which related seeds have been patented. Food production is a major economic activity, which is controlled by relatively few (huge) international companies.

3. Denmark has shown that EU seed protection laws can be interpreted by member nations to the satisfaction of environmental groups: 'Denmark has just become the European Union role model for biodiversity friendly seed marketing laws, putting pressure on every other country in the EU currently embracing the push to corporatize our seed heritage to follow suit.'  (Seed Freedom, March 2017)

4. This particular EC proposal did not progress, although it took two years for it to be abandoned. The subject may come up again. Seed control means control of the food supply. The major agrochemical companies would be likely to support any initiative to extend that control at national government level, if they felt it would increase their influence.

5. Environmentalists have to be on permanent guard against any proposed legislation which threatens the free practice of organic agriculture. The individual's right to choose organic plant and crop cultivation, and the consumer's right to buy organic products must never be undermined.

© Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon) 2017

 

 

 

 

Više u ovoj kategoriji: « Dragonflies, info request Mosquitoes and more »
na vrh članka
Nalazite se ovdje: Home vaša pisma A learning curve

Eco Environment News feeds

  • UK ‘built for climate that no longer exists’ and needs urgent changes to survive global heating, report warns

    Landmark report calls for widespread air conditioning and says UK temperatures forecast to exceed 40C by 2050

    British homes will need air conditioning to survive predicted levels of global heating, the government’s climate advisers have warned in a report, as measures such as drawing curtains, opening windows and growing trees for shade are not likely to be enough.

    Air conditioning should be installed in all care homes and hospitals within the next 10 years, and in all schools within 25 years, according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which published a major report on adapting to the impacts of global heating on Wednesday.

    Continue reading...

  • The English community that brought its river back from the brink: ‘If we can get it right here, we can do it everywhere’

    For 150 years, the Mease had been altered by human hands, which destroyed habitats. But in 2013, a restoration project began – and now its wetlands are abuzz with wildlife

    ‘A noisy river is a healthy river,” says Ruth Needham of the Trent Rivers Trust (TRT). The Mease in the Midlands must be in fine fettle, then, as it gurgles merrily along. Sunlight glints off riffles in the water and shoals of fry dart past. Needham whips out her phone to video the tiny fish: “My colleagues will be jumping for joy to see them!”

    Needham has good reason to be buoyant. Last month, the Mease won the UK River prize 2026 – which was established by the River Restoration Centre in 2014 to acknowledge innovative projects –in recognition of the trust’s 13-year restoration campaign. “The prize has been a massive boost,” says Needham. “If we can get the Mease into better condition, we can improve other rivers, too.”

    ‘We wanted to get people to work together’ … Ruth Needham of the Trent Rivers Trust

    Continue reading...

  • Blinded and broken, Sunny the owl becomes another casualty of Russia’s war

    Ukrainians lament appalling toll of fighting on their country’s bird population

    Russia sent kamikaze drones to attack the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in February. They hit buildings and killed several people. One unreported victim of the bombardment was a male long-eared owl, blinded in one eye and found with a badly broken wing. A passerby scooped up the stunned bird, put him in a box and took him to the city of Dnipro.

    The owl – nicknamed Sunny – is now recovering in a cosy room belonging to Veronica Konkova. No longer able to fly or hunt, Sunny instead hops around.

    Continue reading...

  • Rachel Reeves to protect ‘critical’ clean energy projects from legal challenges

    Chancellor’s planning shake-up would ‘reduce exposure from judicial review on all but human rights grounds’

    Rachel Reeves is ​preparing to announce a planning shake-up ‌that would fast-track clean energy ​and infrastructure projects by curbing judicial reviews, the ​Treasury has said.

    The chancellor will propose that parliament should be able to designate and approve the most important clean energy projects as of “critical national importance”, as part of a wider package seeking to soften the economic blow from the Iran crisis.

    Continue reading...

  • Eva v Goliath: the 20-year-old climate activist taking on Trump and the fossil fuel industry

    Young Americans are suing the president for violating rights with executive orders that fuel the climate crisis

    Eva Lighthiser was at a dorm party on her Colorado college campus last month when she had to call it an early night.

    “I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to go to bed, I’m flying out to Portland tomorrow,’ and then of course follow-up questions get raised,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Well, it’s a lot to explain.’”

    Continue reading...

  • Collecting pollen can be as exhausting for bees as flight take-off, study shows

    ‘Floral buzzing’, the vibrations bees use to shake pollen loose from flowers, takes more energy than previously thought

    Bees use as much energy collecting pollen through “floral buzzing” as they do taking off in flight, a study shows.

    Scientists have found the vibrations bumblebees use to shake pollen loose from flowers are among the most exhausting behaviours they perform, forcing bees to “carefully choose” which flowers are worth visiting.

    Continue reading...

  • Spending watchdog warns £38bn cost of Sizewell C nuclear plant is ‘risky’

    National Audit Office says potential benefits are ‘considerable but uncertain’ while risks are ‘immediate and substantial’

    The cost of the government’s £38bn nuclear plant in Suffolk is subject to “significant uncertainty” and may outweigh the benefits for UK households until at least 2064, according to the government’s spending watchdog.

    The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that although the potential benefits of the Sizewell C nuclear plant are considerable, they remain uncertain. The risks, however, are “immediate, substantial and borne by the public”.

    Continue reading...

  • Plantwatch: how goat’s rue inspired super drug for everything from diabetes to obesity

    Galegine compound in plant formed blueprint for metformin drug, but without the toxic side-effects

    Goat’s rue or French lilac, Galega officinalis, is a wild plant and often grown in gardens for its clusters of attractive lilac or white flowers. For a long time the plant was also used to treat diabetes. Its key ingredient was later identified as galegine, which lowers blood glucose levels but has toxic side-effects.

    Eventually galegine led to the development of the synthetic drug metformin, now the classic treatment for treating diabetes by controlling blood sugar. Metformin has none of the toxic side effects of galegine and is now one of the most prescribed drugs in the world. But for many years metformin was vilified and banned in many countries because of its association with galegine.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Should we leave them to die?’ The battle over how to save orangutans from the curse of palm oil

    As new settlers clear their forest habitat, the apes are coming into conflict with humans. But simply moving them to another part of the forest may not be the answer

    The banana skins were an ominous sign. As was the branch that had been broken off to get to the fruit. Had Edi Ramliwalked into the forest, he might have seen scattered balls of bark that had been ripped off trees, chewed like gum, then spat out. It takes a powerful jaw to do that. Closer to Edi’s home, there was an intricate construction of bent and broken branches high in a tree. The nest.

    It was October, the fruiting season. The pile of half-eaten bananas was less than a minute’s walk from where Edi and his family slept. He felt nervous. He got on with his day. He picked sweetcorn and sold it at the market. He bought a carton of chocolate milk and biscuits for his grandson. He and his wife, Siti Munawaroh, ran the farm with their three adult children. They prepped the land, sowed seeds, tended crops. Survival depended on what they could grow.

    Continue reading...

  • High risk yet home to thousands: the makeshift towns at the mercy of landslides and floods in Peru

    Like many informal settlements, communities that have sprung up on the edges of Ayacucho in the Andes are on the frontline of extreme weather events

    In December 2009, a late‑afternoon storm unleashed torrential rain over Ayacucho, in Peru, hitting poor hillside neighbourhoods hard. The deluge overwhelmed drainage systems, turning streams into lethal flows of mud, stones and debris that flooded houses and streets and trapped drivers at a busy junction.

    Ten people died, 18 were injured, and 530 houses were destroyed or damaged, according to a government inquest. “It was a disaster,” recalls Edgar Castro, a leader in Ayacucho’s largest informal neighbourhood, Mollepata.

    Continue reading...

Novosti: Cybermed.hr

Novosti: Biologija.com

Izvor nije pronađen
Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. Sva prava zadržana. Developed by Orion Informatika.