Beleid en debat

Current U.S. seed laws and policy have veered far from President George Washington’s vision of seeds and farming for this country. Seed and plant patent and intellectual property (IP) schemes not only ensure that a farmer is “obliged to buy his Seeds,” but also cause hardship through loss of autonomy, harassment, and litigation for farmers throughout the U.S. and across the globe. In the last few decades, the U.S. has led a radical shift toward commercialization, consolidation, and control of seed ownership. Three agrichemical firms—Monsanto, DuPont, and Syngenta—now control 53 percent of the global commercial seed market. The top ten seed firms, with a majority stake owned by U.S. corporations, account for 73 percent. This shift has fundamentally changed farming in the U.S. Instead of continuing the historical tradition of farmers having full access to seeds that they have cultivated over centuries, agrichemical corporations now own the sine qua non of farming—indeed, the irreplaceable element of all food—seeds. This report recounts the history of seed and plant breeding and intellectual property policies in the U.S. and outlines how the current intellectual property regime has resulted in seed industry consolidation, rising seed prices, loss of germplasm diversity, and the strangling of scientific inquiry. It then documents lawsuits and threats of lawsuits by the largest agrichemical companies in the world against U.S. farmers for alleged infringement of seed patents. Finally, the report provides policy options that can help protect farmers and food resources as well as generate seed innovation and research through fair access to seeds and other resources.

In the oceans, ubiquitous microscopic phototrophs (phytoplankton) account for approximately half the production of organic matter on Earth. Analyses of satellite-derived phytoplankton concentration (available since 1979) have suggested decadal-scale fluctuations linked to climate forcing, but the length of this record is insufficient to resolve longer-term trends. Here we combine available ocean transparency measurements and in situ chlorophyll observations to estimate the time dependence of phytoplankton biomass at local, regional and global scales since 1899. We observe declines in eight out of ten ocean regions, and estimate a global rate of decline of approximately 1% of the global median per year. Our analyses further reveal interannual to decadal phytoplankton fluctuations superimposed on long-term trends. These fluctuations are strongly correlated with basin-scale climate indices, whereas long-term declining trends are related to increasing sea surface temperatures. We conclude that global phytoplankton concentration has declined over the past century; this decline will need to be considered in future studies of marine ecosystems, geochemical cycling, ocean circulation and fisheries.

The European Butterfly Indicator for grassland species is based on 3,000 transects in national butterfly monitoring schemes in fifteen countries all over Europe. The indicator shows that since 1990, butterfly populations have declined by almost 70%, indicating a dramatic loss of grassland biodiversity. Of the seventeen species in the indicator, ten have declined in Europe and two have remained stable. For five species the trend is uncertain. The main driver behind the decline of grassland butterflies is the change in rural land use: agricultural intensification where the land is relatively flat and easy to cultivate, abandonment in mountains and wet areas, mainly in Eastern and Southern Europe. The implementation of the Natura 2000 areas will be most beneficial in the intensified parts of Europe, especially Northwest Europe, whereas the support of High Nature Value farmland is vital to stop abandonment, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe.

Kamerlid Esther Ouwehand zal gedupeerden van mestvergisters en lelieakkers in Drenthe donderdag een hart onder de riem steken. In Drenthe worden steeds meer lelies geteeld. Bij deze teelt worden veel giftige bestrijdingsmiddelen en grondontsmettingsmiddelen gebruikt. Mensen die het gif op de planten spuiten, moeten beschermende kleding dragen om hun gezondheid niet in gevaar te brengen. Omwonenden van de akkers leven echter permanent in de gifdampen. Op aandringen van de Partij voor de Dieren voert de Gezondheidsraad momenteel een onderzoek uit naar de effecten daarvan op de gezondheid van de omwonenden. Esther Ouwehand: “De negatieve gevolgen van het landbouwbeleid worden in Drenthe pijnlijk duidelijk. Mensen wonen in de stank van mestvergisters en in de gifdampen van de lelievelden. De gevolgen hiervan voor hun gezondheid en welbevinden lijken er voor lokale overheden niet of nauwelijks toe te doen. Deze mensen zijn de dupe van het CDA-landbouwbeleid van de afgelopen jaren. Het is hoog tijd dat Nederland afscheid neemt van de intensieve landbouw met al zijn schadelijke effecten om mens, dier en milieu. Volksgezondheid en het milieu verdienen bescherming boven de economische belangen van agrariërs.”

Moths are vanishing from our skies at night, declining in southern Britain by 40% over 40 years, a major new report published on Friday reveals. Three species have become extinct this century already, following the permanent loss of 62 species in the twentieth century. The calamitous and largely hidden effect of human activities on these crucial insect populations has been exposed by light traps set in more than 525 sites across the country, which captured nine million moths between 1968 and 2007. Two-thirds of common and widespread larger moths have declined over this 40-year period, with the Orange Upperwing, Bordered Gothic and Brighton Wainscot all becoming extinct in the last 10 years. Moths are key indicator species for assessing the health of the environment. These findings point strongly to a wider insect biodiversity crisis and mirror declines of butterflies and bees and carabid beetles. The declines could have a knock-on effect for plant pollination and animals reliant on moths for food, such as garden and woodland birds, bats and small mammals. Butterfly Conservation Surveys Manager and lead author of the new report, Richard Fox said: "This report paints a bleak picture about Britain's biodiversity. Much has been made of the decline of butterflies and honeybees but moths represent the massive, but largely un-noticed diversity of insects that form the vast majority of animal life in Britain.

Syngenta today requested that the European Commission retract its proposal to restrict the use of neonicotinoid technology after revealing that the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) report on the risks to bees from their use was fundamentally flawed. Syngenta submitted a response to the EFSA report in January. This showed that EFSA failed to consider key information proving the safety of thiamethoxam seed treatment for use on crops such as oilseed rape and sunflower. Further review has now shown that EFSA based its assessment on unrealistic and excessive seed planting rates between two and four times higher than would be used under modern agricultural practice. Had EFSA used normal sowing rates they would have concluded that the risk to bees is extremely low and that in reality neonicotinoid technology does not damage their health. Syngenta's Chief Operating Officer, John Atkin , said: "The European Commission has been using this flawed EFSA report to justify proposed restrictions on this technology. These latest findings undermine the basis for such action, which would bring considerable economic harm to growers and absolutely no benefit to bees. The European Commission must halt the current process and undertake a comprehensive review to identify the true risks to bee health." Syngenta has written to all EU Member States and the European Commission to inform them of these findings.

Syngenta heeft de Europese Commissie vandaag (15-02-2013) verzocht haar voorstel, om het gebruik van de neonicotinoïden-technologie te beperken, terug te trekken. De Europese Commissie baseert haar voorstel op het rapport van de European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) over de effecten van zaadbehandeling met neonicotinoïden op bijen. Dat rapport vertoont volgens Syngenta gebreken. Nadere bestudering zou hebben aangetoond dat EFSA haar beoordeling baseert op niet-realistische en buitenproportionele hoeveelheden zaad. Die zouden per zaaiing twee tot vier keer hoger zijn dan gebruikelijk in de landbouw. Had EFSA de juiste zaaizaadhoeveelheden gebruikt, dan zou de conclusie zijn geweest dat het risico voor bijen extreem laag is. In een reactie schrijft de toxicoloog Henk Tennekes dat zijn Spaanse collega Francisco Sánchez-Bayo met de gegevens van een recente studie van Oliviera berekend heeft dat de giftigheid van thiamethoxam voor honingbijen beschreven wordt door de Druckrey-Küpfmüller vergelijking ctn = constant, waarbij c = blootstelingsconcentratie, t = tijd tot letaal effect, and n= tijdversterker exponent, die altijd groter is dan 1. De waarde van n is bij thiamethoxam = 2,21 (r2=0.9, p<0.001) en bij imidacloprid = 4,5. Een uiterst geringe hoeveelheid van slechts 0,1 ppb (0,1 microgram per kilogram) thiamethoxam in stuifmeel is dan binnen één week dodelijk voor honingbijen.