10/May/21

 

Conventional breeding has produced tomatoes resistant to a virus that is affecting tomato crops around the world, according to the developer, Syngenta Vegetable Seeds. Syngenta is better known to GMWatch readers as an agrochemicals and GMO giant. But the company clearly recognises the truth of what GMWatch and our scientific advisors have always said – conventional breeding far outstrips GM when it comes to producing desirable genetically complex traits, and it always will. GMWatch

 

 

A Mexican court has reversed a temporary reprieve German firm Bayer received in its legal challenge to a government plan to prohibit glyphosate, Mexico’s environment ministry said on Friday. Mexico's plan to phase out weedkiller glyphosate amid concerns the pesticide causes cancer has seen it clash with Bayer and the US government, which is opposing the ban. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issued a decree late last year that seeks to ban the herbicide completely by 2024, joining several other governments that have sought to restrict its use. He has described the chemical as toxic. GMWatch

 

 

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that the European Commission was right to ban the use of three bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides – imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. The court rejected Bayer’s final attempt to overturn the ban and undermine the EU’s precautionary principle for the protection of the environment and human health, said Greenpeace. GMWatch

 

 

Kenya has taken the top spot in “enabling the business of agriculture”, opening its doors to patent-protected GM crops that could lead to the loss of food sovereignty. Just four corporations dominate the global seeds and genetic traits markets, as they roll out patent-protected GMOs to both large and smallholder farmers worldwide. This is seen as a critical step in shaping food ecosystems in Kenya and elsewhere in the world. The Elephant

 

 

China and the United States have found common cause in exerting influence at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Global food production could be permanently changed – to favour GMOs and pesticides, writes former FAO expert Allan Hruska. To understand how these two dominant forces in agriculture worldwide are interacting in a swiftly changing landscape and how their relationship may influence future global food production, it’s worth examining in detail the way FAO has dealt with the challenge of the fall armyworm, an invasive pest that can reduce yields of crops such as corn, rice, and sorghum. [GMW: This is such an important article that we've gained permission to reprint the first section on GMWatch. The full article is available on Issues.com and we highly recommend that our subscribers find the time to read it.] GMWatch