11/April/22

 

GMOs claimed to contain no foreign DNA may have been exempted from GMO regulatory processes under false pretences, according to a correspondence article by South Korean scientists published in Nature Biotechnology. While the article was published back in 2016, it has urgent relevance for today, as some governments are moving to deregulate certain classes of gene-edited GMOs based on the hypothetical – and, it now appears, mostly false – assumption that they do not contain any foreign DNA. In the article, the authors cite the case of the gene-edited non-browning mushroom. Earlier in the same year, the USDA exempted the mushroom from regulatory oversight on the basis of claims by the developer that it was "transgene-free" and had "no foreign DNA" integrated into its genome. But the authors point out that the approved mushroom "may still contain tiny fragments of foreign DNA in its genome". GMWatch

 

 

Already grappling with pink bollworm infestation losses, GM Bt cotton growers in Punjab, India have been dealt another blow by a hike in the price of Bt cotton seed. Infestations and constant rises in input costs could discourage farmers from continuing with the crop, said a farmers' leader. The Tribune (India)

 

 

Researchers have found a reliable way to get soybean plants to produce bigger soybeans—and it doesn’t involve a lab. According to a recent study done at North Carolina State University, bees will give soybeans a boost if the crops are planted near the pollinator’s habitat. [GMW: A beekeeper commented on Twitter: "Another reason to eliminate Dicamba use during the growing season." Dicamba is a toxic herbicide sprayed on GM dicamba-tolerant soy and cotton.] Modern Farmer

 

 

Former Monsanto chairman and CEO Hugh Grant is appealing a judge’s order that would allow lawyers for a cancer patient to question him on the stand in a trial scheduled to start next month in Kansas City. Lawyers for the former Monsanto executive filed a flurry of documents with the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District on Friday seeking to quash a subpoena compelling Grant to testify in person in the case of Allan Shelton v Monsanto. The trial of the civil suit is set to begin May 2 in Kansas City, Missouri. Shelton suffers from non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and is one of more than 100,000 people around the US who have alleged in lawsuits that exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller and other glyphosate-based herbicides caused them to develop NHL. UnSpun

 

 

The Sainsbury Laboratory has applied for permission to plant experimental GM potatoes in open fields near Norwich and Cambridge. If you don’t want that to happen, take action now! The GMO developers behind the latest trial plans have been growing experimental GM potatoes in open fields since 2016. This new application claims to be building on the results of previous trials but no such results have been published or subjected to peer review. They are asking us to take their word for it that the project is making progress and not raising any concerns. GM Freeze