Welcome

The European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER) brings together independent scientific expertise to develop public-good knowledge for the critical assessment of existing and emerging technologies.

ENSSER is committed to:

  1. Transparent, high quality scientific information that focuses on the ecological, health, and socioeconomic aspects of technology use.
  2. The assessment of alternative options within technology policy, strengthening innovation and long term sustainability, meanwhile prioritising public and environmental safety.

The objective of ENSSER is the advancement of public-good science and research for the protection of the environment, biological diversity and human health against adverse impacts of new technologies and their products.

ENSSER advocates benign and peaceful use of scientific discoveries and technological developments, while expanding diverse approaches to assess their utility and safety in society.

ENSSER considers that critical, independent and transparent analyses of technology options can best promote sustainable and humane technology development that addresses both current and future social and environmental problems.

ENSSER promotes the critical European and international discourse on new technologies, their impacts and their regulation. As scientific and technological advances, are increasingly driven by private interest, health and environmental safety information needs often lag behind. As a result, the relationship between science, society and environment in science policy should be restructured to better protect the public interest.

ENSSER promotes critical thinking to help reshape current models towards more democratic and participatory agenda-setting processes. This requires creating spaces for scientific information independent from economic and political influence, and includes the identification, use, and quality assessment of scientific, lay, local, traditional and other knowledge sources.

click for detailsclick for details

ENSSER adheres to the standards of the "Initiative Transparent Civil Society" of Transparency International Germany.

News

04/05/13

Agroecology Conference

On a global scale, the ecological footprint of European agriculture is dis-proportionately high and increasing. Industrial agri-food systems are major contributors to environmental change. This conference will identify fields for urgent change in policies, research, and social processes required for the spread of agroecological models of production, towards a fundamental transformation of the agro-food system in Europe.

 

03/22/13

Publication on risks of new class of GM plants

“To our surprise, we found that there are no internationally agreed protocols or even guidelines for how to conduct a thorough and proper risk assessment on products with new dsRNA molecules in them” said Prof. Jack Heinemann of Canterbury University in New Zealand, member of ENSSER and the study’s lead author. To fill this gap, the authors have developed the first formal assessment procedure for dsRNA-based products.

03/21/13

Lawsuit filed against EU soy bean approval

ENSSER and others are challenging the EU approval of stacked soybean MON 87701 x MON 89788. The soybeans will be mostly sold and grown in Brazil under the brand name Intacta, the harvest will be imported to the EU for use in food and feed. The reason for the complaint is that EFSA has not carried out the risk assessments for the genetically engineered soybean as legally required.

02/21/13

Herbicide adjuvant more toxic than expected

A new study published in the high-ranked scientific journal "Toxicology" by Robin Mesnage, Benoît Bernay and Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini (University of Caen, France) proofs that the most toxic compound in nine glyphosate-containing herbicides is not glyphosate but a polyethoxylated tallowamine called POE-15.

11/28/12

GM maize in México

The potential impacts of commercial planting of GM maize in México threaten the right to maize as a vital food. Given the biological irreversibility at hand, we therefore strongly insist and urge the Mexican authorities to implement the activities specified below, in order to create necessary broader dialogue and a collective re-think of the wisdom of large-scale release of GM maize into the epicenter of maize agricultural biodiversity.