K J Garnett ‘There was an old woman who swallowed a fly … I don’t know why she swallowed a fly. Perhaps she’ll die?’ English nursery rhyme. Origin unknown. Frederick the Great of Prussia treated coffee and coffee drinkers with the same suspicion that Baron Bomburst (of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame) treated children in …
Is the innovation principle compatible with a European Green Deal?
K J Garnett On the day before Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s new team was voted in by the European Parliament, an independent, Brussels-based, think-thank CEPS published their third report on the Innovation Principle : ‘Study supporting the interim evaluation of the innovation principle’. With von der Leyen promising to tackle climate change and …
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Plants
Kathleen Garnett On 25th of July the Grand Chamber of Judges at the European Court of Justice will deliver their judgement on the Conféderation Paysanne & Others case. Many refer to this case as the “New Plant Breeding Technique” (NPBT) case. In reality the case is about a very specific form of plant breeding called …
Food for a Brave New World
Kathleen Garnett Over the past year we have seen Chem China merging with Syngenta from Switzerland. We see the two American giants, Dow Chemical and Du Pont looking to tie the knot once regulatory approval for their marriage of convenience has been agreed and we see Bayer aggressively wooing Monsanto. What were six will soon …
Modern cases of food adulteration in Europe: Industry driven. State sanctioned.
The man who robs a fellow subject of a few shillings on the highway is sentenced to death but he who distributes a slow poison to the whole community escapes unpunished, Frederick Accum, 1820. Kathleen Garnett The very earliest laws designed to curtail the adulteration of food typically (though not exclusively) focused on just a handful of …
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Food in Europe – a new general principle on food safety?
K J Garnett "…. one of the key challenges as a legislator is to know how to make laws and regulate in the face of emerging technologies in situations where science appears to be questioned by either deeply-rooted conservative groups, societal opposition or for any other reason." Arūnas Vinčiūnas, Head of Cabinet to Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis …
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Expert scientific advice – a growing chasm between European voters and the decision-makers?
In the same week that Dr Ann Glover, former Chief Scientific Adviser to Barosso, made a splash in the media by spilling the beans on her time working in Brussels the European Ombudsman released a report calling for a root and branch reform of the EU’s approach to expert scientific committees, which calls for greater …
TTIP, Regulatory Convergence and Food: Relying on gut instinct to protect our guts
"…treatment with trisodium phosphate, acidified sodium chlorite, chlorine dioxide, or peroxyacid solutions . . . should be of no safety concern." Expert scientific opinion, European Food and Safety Agency. The EFSA may or may not be right to propose that chlorinated chickens are safe to consume but in this piece it is argued that home sapiens are, …
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The EU v Palo Alto: An EU perspective on privacy
One year on from the Snowden revelations and the global privacy debate is by no means settled. FB announced it will be exercising its rights to sell users’ data to third party advertisers, Russia signed an act banning the export of all its personal data abroad and Google is portraying the ECJ ruling on the …
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Sharing is Caring v A private life
“…the fastest way to share little moments with our friends – to let them know where we are or how we feel right now.” Snapchat The irony may be lost on many but it is nevertheless quite staggering to think that the girlfriend of the man who became a fugitive from US justice for revealing …
