21/July/22

 

The European Commission is secretly considering the full deregulation of certain types of genetically modified (GM) crops – yet it has not admitted as much publicly. Under such policy scenarios, deregulation could mean scrapping safety checks, traceability, and labelling for GMOs that are claimed to be able to arise naturally – and removing GMO labelling for GM products declared “sustainable”. The Commission's detailed policy plans for 2030-35 are revealed for the first time in a targeted survey, which GMWatch has published in the public interest after it was only sent to certain stakeholders. GMWatch

 

 

As concerns grow about the health and environmental impacts of glyphosate and other herbicides and the massive scale on which they are being used, the hunt is on for safer and more environmentally friendly alternatives. One such alternative has been adopted by Harvard University Landscape Services. GMWatch

 

 

You know how the GMO industry and its supporters keep telling us we need to deregulate new GMOs in order to reduce pesticide use and make farming more sustainable? Well, what they tell investors is quite different. It's going to be an absolute gold rush for pesticide-promoting crops. Cibus is a leader in the development of new GMOs. It says, "Our goal is a whole new generation of herbicide traits across the major crop platforms" and "the approval of gene editing technologies will open up one of the biggest opportunities in agriculture" — new markets for these crops. A large body of evidence confirms that new GMOs will not reduce pesticide use and some will increase it. @GMWatch on Twitter

 

 

Scientists and researchers say that all the early sown GM Bt cotton in Punjab and Haryana has become susceptible to pink bollworm – even though the crop is designed to kill the pest. The outbreak of pink bollworm was first reported in 2013-14 in Gujarat, from where it quickly multiplied and spread to other parts of the country such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Farmers are trying to manage the pest by increasing pesticide spraying. Business Standard

 

 

ENGA, the European Non-GMO Industry Association, has written a simple guide to the terms used for new GMOs. [GMW: The only term missing is Precision Bred Organisms – the most Orwellian of all, which is favoured by the UK government and increasingly by pro-GMO lobbyists within the EU.] ENGA

 

 

The Gates-funded Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has long been criticised by civil society and farmers’ organisations in Africa. AGRA’s promotion of industrial agriculture has systematically undermined food sovereignty. By contrast, the US-style industrial agriculture model AGRA pushes in Africa enables large agribusiness corporations to gain a foothold in African agriculture — now seen by many investment firms as a new frontier for growth. AGRA has also come under fire for promoting GMOs, both overtly and more subtly as part of an increasing emphasis on “climate-smart agriculture.” Daniel Maingi, programs manager at Growth Partners Africa and Coordinator of the Kenya Food Rights Alliance, discusses the impact of the Gates Foundation and AGRA on African agriculture. Science for the People

 

 

UK Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith says Rishi Sunak — the frontrunner to be next Prime Minister — has agreed to make Mark Spencer the next DEFRA (environment and farm ministry) Secretary of State. Zac warns, "Mark was the biggest blocker of measures to protect nature, biodiversity, animal welfare. He will be our very own little Bolsonaro" – a reference to the President of Brazil, who is infamous for opening up the Amazon for more destruction and presiding over the approval of over a thousand new pesticides. Spencer, like Bolsonaro, is also a GMO booster. @GMWatch on Twitter

 

 

Some British farmers are calling for a ban on the UK production of toxic weedkiller Paraquat, saying studies suggest it could be a factor in the onset of Parkinson's Disease. It comes as hundreds of US farm workers pursue a legal case against its manufacturer, Syngenta, alleging it knew the risk and failed to warn them. Andy Pollard is a farmer who has Parkinson's and can no longer control his own movements. He spent decades spraying herbicides on his land and, unaware of any danger, didn't use protective equipment. "Paraquat was a really good thing to use – or so we thought," his wife Sue says. She had thought it was a coincidence that the only people she knew with Parkinson's were farm workers, then read about the potential connection with the chemical. [GMW: We published an article about this problem last year.] BBC News

 

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