Agribusiness
Danish Ministry of Agriculture

Results from Danish Roundup trials of genetically modified corn from Monsanto kept secret – expert criticizes

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The Danish Ombudsman supports Monsantos wish for hiding failed cultivation test with Roundup on genetically modified corn. This decision is criticized by Oluf Jørgensen, Danish expert in Freedom of Information. The former minister of agriculture Eva Kjer Hansen (V) together with Gerhard Deneken, leader of the state trial farm in Tystofte showing the test fields for GMO corn in 2009. Foto: Danish Ministry of Agriculture. The Danish Ombudsman, Jørgen Steen Sørensen, declares his support for the confidentiality of test results for experimental cultivation of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn.

Agribusiness

Danish pigs spread hospital bacteria

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Nine out of ten pigs in Danish slaughterhouses are infected with bacteria that cannot be knocked down with penicillin. Erik Larsen fights the bacteria by changing boots, washing his hands and using high-pressure flushing. DYREHAVEGÅRD, Overby: In each of Erik Larsen’s five pig stables, overalls hang in a certain colour – one for each stable. They are boil washed in the stable. They must not be mixed.

Agribusiness

Possible punishment for revealing the names of pig farms

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Two Danish journalists wrote about abscesses in children – accused of having named 12 infected farms.

Children with abscesses at the size of tennis balls in a Kindergarden in Løgstør, Denmark. Flickr. On 21 October 2010, journalists Nils Mulvad and Kjeld Hansen published an article on the website Aabenhedstinget.dk, a forum for debate on public law and journalism. They wrote of a silenced case about the difficulties in treating abscesses and ulcers in two children in the city of Løgstør in Jutland. The children were carrying resistant bacteria (MRSA).

Agribusiness

Furs for billions with a deathly price tag

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When nouveau riche millionaires in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing shop for fashionable fur, there is a hidden item on the bill for the beautiful Danish mink coats. Cold winters make mink fur more popular in China, Russia and South Korea. See photos of fasion and mink by Danish Fur. It is the price of the serious health threat that the majority of the 1,600 Danish mink factories have become. The bill is paid neither by the Chinese nor by the mink industry itself.

Agribusiness

MRSA out of control: Hazardous multidrug-resistant bacteria jumps from mink to humans

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In 2009 the first human case of MRSA-infection by mink was registered in Denmark. Since 2011, twenty-four more cases have been identified, creating fears that the drug-resistant bacteria, normally transferred through pigs, are now also easily transferred from mink to people. Humans infected with MRSA, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, can cause serious outbreaks on the skin, respiratory tract and the urinary tract. Infections with the bacteria, resistant to antibiotics and therefore very difficult to fight, can last for years. The symptoms of infection depend on the part of the body infected.

Agribusiness

Naturstyrelsen tvang forskere til at slette kobber-konklusioner

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Naturstyrelsen tvang forskere til at slette tre afgørende afsnit i et notat om kobberforgiftning. Vildtforvaltningsrådet besluttede herefter, at der ikke var behov for flere undersøgelser af kobber i vildt – direkte i modstrid med forskernes oprindelige konklusioner. Smågrise får store mængder kobbersulfat i foder for at øge tilvækst og begrænse diarré. Kobber er også tilsat i sliksten, som den øverst i billedet. Kobberet kommer via gylle på markerne og kan optages af vildtet.

Agribusiness

Coverage of stop of GMO corn in Europe

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Investigative Reporting Denmark on the 29th of May 2013 published the story on Monsanto halting production of genetically modified corn in all of Europe, except Spain, Portugal and Czech Republic. Since then there has been a lot of coverage of this round the World. Two days after Investigative Reporting Denmark broke the story, the German daily “Taz” did a story with a German angle, quoting a Monsanto-spokesman from Germany on the same message. That story was quoted by Reuters the same day and the story then went round the World. Here are some examples with links to the coverage:

Agribusiness

GMO lose Europe – victory for environmental organisations

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Monsanto will halt production of genetically modified corn in all of Europe, except Spain, Portugal and Czech republic. The agribusiness multinational states not to spend any more money on trials, development, marketing, court cases or anything else to get GM corn accepted in Europe. Quiet decision last year
”In Europe Monsanto only sells GM corn in three countries. GM corn represents less than 1% of the EU’s corn cultivation by land area. Field trials are only in progress in three countries.