22/April/21

 

The first application for approval of CRISPR/Cas plants is now in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) register. Maize DP915635 is tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate and produces an insecticidal toxin found in specific ferns growing on trees. DowDupont is marketing its genetically engineered plants under the company name Corteva, and also has filed several patent applications for the plants, some of which have already been granted in Europe. There are logical reasons why this GM plant is likely to be riddled with unintended mutations. GMWatch

 

 

Chinese consumers are willing to pay more for the enhanced mandatory labelling of GM soybean oil, according to new data funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Food Navigator Asia

 

 

Many studies already found that glyphosate herbicide harmed bees, but new research indicates its much-maligned active ingredient — glyphosate — isn't to blame. Instead, the culprit appears to be inert ingredients added to the herbicide, such as wetting agents called surfactants, according to researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London. Groups critical of pesticides, such as the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety, urged EPA to put new controls on the use of the ingredients, which often aren't disclosed on labels. The researchers published their findings earlier this month in the Journal of Applied Ecology. E&E news

 

 

Just as the world is getting its act together on climate change, an ominous sun-dimming cloud has appeared on the horizon, threatening to derail these nascent efforts. That cloud comes in the form of technologies whose proponents call “solar geoengineering”. In his own recent book, Bill Gates insists that renewable energy is inadequate to decarbonize our economy. Peer-reviewed research suggests he’s wrong about that. But in being so dour about renewables he ends up advocating for the far riskier strategy of geoengineering. This strategy that will shift needed resources away from safe clean-energy solutions, write two eminent professors. The Guardian