12/July/21

 

Experiments in soil microcosms have found that the application of three widely used herbicides – glyphosate, glufosinate, and dicamba – that are used on GM herbicide-tolerant crops increased the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in soil microbiomes without clear changes in the abundance, diversity and composition of bacterial communities. Glyphosate had relatively the largest effect compared to other two herbicides. Third World Network via GMWatch

 

 

Eliminating plastic pollution, reducing pesticide use by two-thirds, halving the rate of invasive species introduction and eliminating $500bn (£360bn) of harmful environmental government subsidies a year are among the targets in a new draft of a Paris-style UN agreement on biodiversity loss. The goals set out by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)to help halt and reverse the ecological destruction of Earth by the end of the decade also include protecting at least 30% of the world’s oceans and land and providing a third of climate crisis mitigation through nature by 2030. The Guardian

 

 

There's disagreement at the top of Mexico's agriculture ministry over the scope of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's push to prohibit GM corn. If liberally interpreted and successfully implemented, the new rules could ban imports of GMO corn by 2024, ending a dependence that last year stood at some 16 million tonnes of imported yellow corn, almost all of it from American farmers and used to feed Mexico's massive livestock sector. But agriculture minister Victor Villalobos believes animal feed will not ultimately be covered by the ban. Reuters