18/August/21

 

A coalition of US-based NGOs has published an article in Nature Biotechnology putting forward a six-point framework for the "responsible governance" of gene editing in agriculture. The article, couched as an "invitation" from the NGOs for a wide range of stakeholders to engage in developing regulations for gene editing, contains elements that we at GMWatch support and welcome. But it gets some fundamentals badly wrong, resulting in an article that could mislead regulators and the public about what responsible governance of gene editing would look like – and about the standards that the global NGO community wants to see upheld. GMWatch

 

 

The USDA has opened up a second public comment period to seek input for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) they plan to prepare on whether or not to approve the GE American chestnut. These GM trees are designed to spread and contaminate the wild. There's no way of calling them back. Tell USDA NO! NOW — September 7 deadline! A sample comment is provided for your reference. You can comment from any country. Campaign to Stop GE Trees

 

 

A former US government scientist testifying in the fourth Roundup cancer trial to be held in the United States has told a California jury that multiple research studies conducted over many years show an “almost certain” connection between Monsanto glyphosate-based herbicides and cancer. Christopher Portier is testifying as expert witness on behalf of plaintiff Donnetta Stephens in her lawsuit against Monsanto. US Right to Know

 

 

Four prominent US virologists who published a widely cited commentary strongly rebutting the theory that SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, might have been engineered in a lab privately acknowledged that they could not “rule out the possibility” of a lab leak, according to emails obtained by US Right to Know. US Right to Know