Board Report 2011/12 Annual General Meeting Angelika Hilbeck Chairperson Madrid, 19 May 2012
1)Planning Meetings 10 May 2011: Meeting in Berlin for planning the ENSSER work 2011/12 25 Aug 2011: Meeting with ENSSER (board) members in Tromsø to start preparations for the 2012 Hyderabad biosafety conference 13 Sep 2011: Meeting with FPH in Paris to discuss next project cycle
31 Mar 2011, Brussels, EFSA: Consultative Workshop on Draft Guidance on Selection of Comparators for the Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Plants key note lecture by Hartmut Meyer, participation of Angelika Hilbeck 06 Jul 2011, Salem (DE), GE-Free Region Bodensee: Charity workshop for ENSSER, lecture by Angelika Hilbeck 24 Aug 2011, Budapest, Government of Hungary: 23rd Meeting of the GMO Round Table Biosafety issues related to GM seed contamination in Hungary in 2011: Science-based recommendations from ENSSER 26 Sep 2011, Berlin, Green Faction of German Parliament: GMO expert round table (with Prof. Carrasco) participation of Hartmut Meyer 2)Events at which (board) members have represented or promoted ENSSER
18 Oct 2011, Brussels, European Commission: Socio-economic dimensions of GMO cultivation participation of Brian Wynne 20 Oct 2011, Brussels, European Economic and Social Committee: Agricultural biotechnology: genetically modified food and feed in the EU lecture by Angelika Hilbeck Nov 2011, Madrid, Amigos de la Tierra, CECU, COAG, Ecologistas en Acción, Greenpeace y Plataforma Rural: GMOs in the scientific, agricultural, environmental and health lectures by Christian Vélot, Rosa Binimelis, Michael Antoniou, Gilles- Eric Séralini, Angelika Hilbeck 2)Events at which (board) members have represented or promoted ENSSER
26 – 29 Mar 2012, London, Planet under Pressure: Organising Session ”Governance of Emerging Technologies” lead: ETC Group, plus CESAGEN, ENSSER, FSC, STEPS, SPEAKS, lecture of Hartmut Meyer 29 Mar 2012, Brussels, European Commission: Public Hearing on Environmental Monitoring of GM Crops lecture of Broder Breckling 2)Events at which (board) members have represented or promoted ENSSER
Institutional Funding Sep 2011: ENSSER could secure funding for 2012/13 at FPH, FPH agreed to increase support from 20,000 to 25,000 EUR per annum Intellectual Property Rights and Research Restriction Nov 2011: Prof. Dolder finalises legal opinion on IPR and possible restrictions of risk research, funded by GEKKO Foundation Congress on Risks for Public Health & the Environment May 2012: funded by HDO, EEA, ENSSER and GEKKO Foundation 3)Projects brought forward
International Biosafety Conference Sep 2012: cooperation between ENSSER, TWN and Aruna Rodrigues/TARA Foundation -enough funds could have been mobilised to finance the conference and side-events at MOP-6 in Hyderabad -synergy created with Aruna Rodrigues‘ high-level workshops in New Delhi and food security conference in Hyderabad 3)Projects brought forward
Environmental Risk Assessment of SmartStax Maize Jul 2011:Project with Swiss BAFU Jul 2011:Access to FF RA documents at EFSA Aug 2011:Analysis of EFSA documents Sep 2011:Spanish translation of ENSSER statutes Sep 2011:Application at Spanish Ministry for Environment on access to Technical Dossier of Monsanto’s field trials in Spain Feb 2012:Technical Dossier received Apr 2012:Analysis of Technical Dossier 3)Projects brought forward
Jun 2011: EU ERA project proposal EnSyGMO rejected, ENSSER was project partner Aug 2011: Submission of publication ”Framework for a European Network for a systematic environmental impact assessment of genetically modified organisms” Oct 2011: Uncovering EuropaBio’s ”Pro GM Ambassador” campaign Oct 201: Submission of comments on ”EFSA draft guidance on food and feed from GM animals and GM animal health and welfare” Nov 2011: Submission of letter to DG SANCO on deficits in ERA and SEC 4)Other activities
Feb 2012: Application for EU-project ”ARENASYNBIO” (Mobilisation and Mutual Learning Action Plan) - project lead is with Karita Research in Sweden - ENSSER is lead partner for one work package Feb 2012: Press release in 4 language announcing Angelika’s publication and opinion piece on attacks on her Bt maize risk research of 2009 Mar 2012: Reply of Angelika and Hartmut on pro-GE opinion in major German magazine 4)Other activities
5)Support to Members and Initiatives Hartmut was supporting several members in writing publications, specifically those who needed to reply on criticism or concerted attacks by promotors of minimal regulation and risk assessment. Hartmut was working with several members in preparing confernces, working documents, policy documents or outreach to the public.
Event at UC Berkeley ”40 Years Genetic Engineering – So What?” postponed to early )Pending issues & projects
57 individual members 2 institutional member (CRIIGEN, FSC) 9 applications for individual membership proposed membership of or cooperation with other institutions: - Federation of German Scientists (VDW), DE - ClientEarth, BE - Scientists for Global Responsibility (SRG), UK - Genewatch UK - International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES), DE 7)ENSSER Members