27/April/21

 

Glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup activate mechanisms involved in cancer development, including DNA damage – and these effects occur at doses assumed by regulators to have no adverse effects, a new study shows. The DNA damage was caused by oxidative stress, a destructive imbalance in the body that can cause a long list of diseases. The study also found that the isolated active ingredient of Roundup – glyphosate alone – damaged DNA. This finding, according to the EU’s pesticide law, should result in a ban on glyphosate and all its formulations. In addition, the results obtained in the study could strengthen the legal cases of the cancer sufferers in the US who are suing Bayer/Monsanto because they believe that exposure to Roundup caused their disease. GMWatch

 

 

The European Commission is likely to publish a study on gene editing this Thursday that is widely expected to argue for deregulating gene editing and other new GM techniques. If it does, it will almost certainly be underpinned by claims made in reports by the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), both of which call on the EU Commission to end the regulation of gene-edited organisms and also older-style transgenic GMOs. EASAC's report explicitly endorsed the Leopoldina statement. But a damning critique of both statements has just been published by the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER) and Critical Scientists Switzerland (CSS). GMWatch

 

 

Exposure to Roundup and glyphosate significantly increases seizure-like behaviour in roundworms (C. elegans), a study shows. Exposure to Roundup doubled the duration of convulsions. The concentration of Roundup in the study was 1,000x lower than that approved by the EPA for humans. A human anti-epileptic drug ameliorated the effects of the Roundup in the worms, suggesting same mechanism is involved in humans. According to the lead author, these findings of severe neurological impact from exposure to minute amounts of Roundup could also have "enormous" ecological implications. He said they raise "serious concern over the ecological impact that trace concentrations of glyphosate pose to invertebrate organisms in the soil." Phys.org

 

 

Environmentalists and Florida residents voiced concern and outrage Monday as state government officials and the biotechnology giant Oxitec announced plans to move ahead this week with a pilot project that involves releasing up to a billion genetically engineered mosquitoes in Monroe County over a two-year period. Presented by local authorities as an effort to control the population of Aedes aegypti — a mosquito species that can carry both the dengue and yellow fever virus—critics warn that the effort's supposed benefits and its potential negative consequences have not been sufficiently studied. Common Dreams