21/March/21

 

New research from Chinese scientists shows that CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing causes massive damage to the genome, much of which would have been missed by the analytical tools used so far. The researchers describe a new computer program, which enabled them to analyse data to greater depth than previous programs had allowed. They found what they call "tremendous deleterious DSB [double-strand break] repair byproducts of CRISPR/Cas9 editing". GMWatch

 

 

Biden's election has boosted hopes that scientific integrity will be restored in the federal government. To make good on that promise, the administration will need to take action to safeguard against the risks of an entirely new type of pesticide, one developed by genetic engineers rather than chemists. These pesticides will broadcast "gene silencing" agents across our farm fields — resulting in an open-air genetic engineering experiment. Among the concerns that scientists have raised are threats to bees and other beneficial insects essential to food production. Others have called out potential impacts on human health, including for farmworkers and rural communities. EcoWatch

 

 

Neither genetically modified (GM) crops nor powerful neonicotinoid insecticides have a place in any National Wildlife Refuge, according to a letter from 19 conservation organizations to the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS). The coalition seeks to reinstitute a FWS ban on these farming practices that the Trump administration rescinded in 2018. GMWatch

 

 

In Ireland, Fianna Fáil Senator Eugene Murphy has urged gardeners, farmers and groundskeepers to consider the environment and whether the use of pesticides is necessary. There were 81 pesticide exceedances in public drinking water supplies in Ireland in 2020, an increase of five from 2019. As a representative for the Roscommon-Galway constituency, senator Murphy has shown concern in particular for the “nine exceedances [of] pesticides MCPA, glyphosate and 2,4-D detected in the public drinking water supplies in Ballinasloe and Tully-Tullycross in 2019 and 2020”. AgriLand