EU approves Monsanto, Bayer genetically modified soybeans

[uawchild]

Source: Reuters

The European Commission on Friday approved imports of Monsanto's Roundup Ready 2 Xtend genetically modified soybean variety, after months of delays that had derailed the U.S. seed giant's product launch this spring.

The decision now clears the way for widespread planting next season and removes a hurdle for North American farmers and grain traders, who have to keep close track of unapproved biotech traits that can disrupt trade. Top importer China approved the soybeans earlier this year.

U.S. grain trader and processor Archer Daniels Midland Co told Reuters on Friday its elevators and processing plants will now accept the Xtend soybean variety. Rivals Cargill Inc [CARG.UL], Bunge Ltd and CHS Inc, which had also refused to accept the variety without EU import approval, could not be immediately reached for comment.

The EU is the second largest importer of soybeans and its approval is not expected to have a major impact on merger talks by German suitor Bayer AG, whose sweetened $64-billion buyout offer of Monsanto was rejected last week, as it had been widely anticipated, analysts said on Friday.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-grains-gmos-idUSKCN10212M

[forest444]

1. Somewhere in Switzerland,

someone's bank account just got a lot bigger.

[cstanleytech]

9. Possible but more likely its probably a ruling based on science which doesnt care about

peoples personal opinions.

[PatSeg]

14. "Follow the money"?

[forest444]

17. Sure - if someone could only hack into these offshore accounts in tax havens.

Especially Paul Singer's NML in the Cayman Islands. It would no doubt expose tons of corruption (the Romneys were his clients, and there are many other politicians rumored to have accounts there as well) and would greatly embarrass the GOP besides since Singer's a major GOP superpac contributor.

It'll never happen though. That's just the world we live in.

[PatSeg]

18. Its kind of depressing

How much money do these people need and how far will they go to keep it? I will never understand. One lifetime is so short, why would anyone spend it being so destructive?

Maybe anonymous?

[Sand Rat Expat]

21. To a certain kind of person, enough is never enough.

Watching the zeroes on the left side of the decimal point increase is worth more to them than anything else, including the welfare of the planet and their fellow human beings. And yet, when they die, they won't take a cent of it with them. Sad, really, that some are so wrapped up in money as a measure of one's worth.

My parents always taught me that having the high score is nice and all, but it's more important to enjoy the game and play it properly.

[PatSeg]

22. It is really hard to wrap your mind around

I can understand wanting more money so you can have a nicer house or take a vacation or buy a new car, but for the super wealthy it seems to be a game, like a real life game of Monopoly. Winning is everything and there is never enough. It is like an addiction.

In a sense, they really never are "rich" because they always want more.

[jtuck004]

2. Sure glad these folks are on our side. They are everywhere in our food supply,

and if not in your meal today, this insures a global encirclement that says one day soon it will be.

They are on our side, yes? The side of good and all that.

[avaistheone1]

3. Foreign governments making rules for us!

I don't feel good about that at all. I don't like GMOs either.

The TPP will ensure more foreign interference over U.S. matters. So the TPP can go to hell too.

[Rex]

4. Sweet so if I am hungry and have a headache I can take 2 300mg strength Bayer soy burgers!

[proverbialwisdom]

5. "Top importer China approved the soybeans earlier this year." Hey there, not so fast.

http://gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/16945-china-hasn-t-approved-import-of-monsanto-rr2-xtend-soybeans-say-activists
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4bb17e9d0102witi.html

Related: http://agroinfo.com/en/news/2015-china-can-take-second-place-world-turnover-organic-agricultural-products/

[PatSeg]

8. That's interesting

Thanks for the links.

[proverbialwisdom]

6. Related.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gmo-crops-idUSKCN0XX2AV

Technology | Fri May 6, 2016 5:23pm EDT

U.S. traders reject GMO crops that lack global approval
BY TOM POLANSEK AND KARL PLUME

Across the U.S. Farm Belt, top grain handlers have banned genetically modified crops that are not approved in all major overseas markets, shaking up a decades-old system that used the world's biggest exporting country as a launchpad for new seeds from companies like Monsanto Co.

Bold yellow signs from global trader Bunge Ltd are posted at U.S. grain elevators barring 19 varieties of GMO corn and soybeans that lack approval in important markets.

CHS Inc, the country's largest farm cooperative, wants companies to keep seeds with new biotech traits off the market until they have full approval from major foreign buyers, Gary Anderson, a senior vice president for CHS, told Reuters.

"I think that would be the safest thing for the supply chain," he said. CHS implemented a policy last year under which it will not sell seeds or buy grain that contains traits lacking approvals needed for export.

The U.S. farm sector is trying to avoid a repeat of the turmoil that occurred in 2013 and 2014, when China turned away boatloads of U.S. corn containing a Syngenta AG trait called Viptera that it had not approved. Viptera corn was engineered to control insects.

Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] and Archer Daniels Midland Co each said the rejections cost them millions of dollars, and both companies have sued Syngenta for damages. ADM is refusing GMO crops that lack global approval. Cargill did not respond to requests for comment.

The United States is the biggest producer of GMO crops and has long been at the forefront of technology aiming to protect crops against insects or allow them to resist herbicides.

That innovation is now seen as a risk to trade because it is hard to segregate crops containing unapproved traits from the billions of identical-looking bushels exported every year.

<>

The latest crop being banned is Monsanto's Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybean, whose seeds are genetically engineered to resist the herbicides glyphosate and dicamba. It is being sold for the first time in the United States and Canada this year despite lacking clearance from the European Union, an important export market for North American soybeans.

Monsanto said it expects EU approval soon. It initially projected farmers would plant the seed on 3 million acres in the United States, roughly 4 percent of overall plantings, and 420,000 acres in Canada.

<>

ADM, Bunge and CHS have said they will not accept Xtend soybeans until the trait is fully approved by major markets. Bunge also declined to accept Viptera corn before China cleared it in December 2014.

<>

[NNadir]

7. Good. It's nice to see this anti-GMO nonsense being swept aside. I didn't think the Europeans...

...had it in them, but good for them.

[PasadenaTrudy]

10. +1 n/t

[alain2112]

11. A great deal of disinformation out there

As you are aware, some GMO varieties have been blocked as part of the never ending tussle that is international trade. Where life gets ugly is at the nexus of ignorance and malice that tries to pass off this banality as "The Europeans Know They're Deadly!"

And, as surely as the night follows the day, every time I draw attention to this obvious fact a pack of yap dogs will bound up to gnaw my ankles. I stand on my confidence that the Truth will win out in the End.

[PatSeg]

13. Oh I am quite sure

the truth will win out in the end. May the right side prevail.

[cstanleytech]

15. Actually I am hoping for science to prevail but ignorance and fear sadly win

a large share of the battles vs science.

[PatSeg]

16. I am hoping for independent science

minus corporate influence and money to prevail.

Also I would like to see the end of the revolving door between corporations and the government agencies that are supposed to oversee them.

[Nihil]

19. Interesting phrasing there ...

> And, as surely as the night follows the day, every time I draw attention to this obvious fact
> a pack of yap dogs will bound up to gnaw my ankles.

Considering that I've just scanned over half of your posts in your ~1 month tenure here
(thanks DU google search) and not found any reference to GMOs, I can only conclude that
you are a repeat troll who has been previously banned.

Was the "pack of yap dogs" called MIRT by any chance?

[MohRokTah]

12. FINALLY, science triumphs over ignorance. eom

[ZombieHorde]

20. Nice to read some good news. :) nt