November 1, 2017

Accepting the Scientific Consensus: GMOs in the EU

The ECJ ruled that Italy had been wrong to ban the cultivation of an EU-approved genetically modified maize. This was a big victory for the plaintiff, an Italian farmer who was denied the right to grow the MON 810 maize.
November 1, 2017

Health by Stealth: Mandatory Food Reformulation

Food and soft drinks manufacturers are continually reformulating their products and bringing new products to market in response to consumer demand. In recent years, there has been growing interest in mandatory reformulation to reduce the salt, sugar and/or fat content of food.
March 1, 2017

Cheap as Chips: is a Healthy Diet Affordable?

It is widely believed that healthy eating is relatively expensive whereas ‘junk food’ is relatively cheap. This has led to an assumption that poor diets and obesity are directly caused by economic deprivation.
January 1, 2017

Obesity and the Public Purse

This is the first study to estimate the annual savings that overweight and obese people bring UK taxpayers by dying prematurely (in 2016 prices). Ignoring these savings leads to substantial overestimation of the true burden of elevated body mass index (BMI) to the taxpayer.
October 1, 2016

Innovation in Food Labelling

According the European Commission, a Geographical Indication (GI) is “a distinctive sign used to identify a product as originating in the territory of a particular country, region or locality where its quality, reputation or other characteristic is linked to its geographical origin.” Under the system of GIs, the European Union has protected over 3,300 food and wine names with, as of 2010, an estimated value of €54.3 billion.
October 26, 2015

EU Member States’ Bans on GM Crops Defy Reason

On Sunday, the New York Times ran a powerful op-ed (“With GMO policies, Europe turns against science,” Sunday 25 Oct 2015) questioning the stance many EU countries have taken on the cultivation of genetically modified crops.
November 1, 2013

Liberal Voices. A Response to the EC Public Consultation on the 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy Policies

The EU has a clear framework to steer its energy and climate policies up to 2020.The 2030 framework should build on the experience and lessons from the current framework.