22/July/22

 

The supply of non-GMO soy from the Ukraine to Western Europe is "sufficient" in spite of the war, according to the Kyiv branch of the Donau Soja organisation. Donau Soja supports the production of European-grown sustainable non-GMO soy. The organisation's announcement contradicts claims earlier this year by two German associations that the supply of EU GMO-free raw materials was being impeded by the war. GMWatch

 

 

The iconic and much beloved orange and black monarch butterfly was added to the “red list” or classified as endangered on Thursday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Scientists say its population has declined by as much as 84% from 1996 and 2021. Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new endangered listing, called the news devastating. Lincoln Brower, an entomologist at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, wrote that “the migration is definitely proving to be an endangered biological phenomenon". Brower wrote, “The main culprit is now GMO herbicide-resistant corn and soybean crops and herbicides in the USA,” which “leads to the wholesale killing of the monarch’s principal food plant, common milkweed.” Deseret News

 

 

The last two growing seasons in Texas’ High Plains saw historically wretched weather that cut wine grape production by two-thirds. Now, legal claims that dicamba herbicide drift from GMO dicamba-tolerant cotton fields has damaged thousands of vines may ultimately leave the local wine industry in no place at all. The lawsuit, filed against Bayer-Monsanto and BASF, makers of the dicamba herbicide and the GMO crops it's sprayed on, shows the growers and producers are scared. Damaged vines would be bad enough, but there is also a fear that consumers will assume that herbicide drift has hurt wine quality. WineEnthusiast

 

 

A peer-reviewed article published in 2019 discusses a previously unrecognised avenue for bioterrorism and biocrime. The article suggests that new gene editing technologies may have the potential to create plants that are genetically modified in harmful ways, either in terms of their effect on the plant itself or in terms of harming those who would consume foods produced from the plant. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

 

 

Testbiotech is demanding that applications of New GE (new genomic techniques, NGTs) in agriculture should undergo a comprehensive prospective technology assessment. The demand is being made against the backdrop of a public consultation organised by the EU Commission on the future regulation of genetically engineered plants. Testbiotech is warning that the Commission is aiming to lower standards in the approval processes to an extent which is equivalent to deregulation. In addition, it is planning targeted measures to promote the introduction of New GE in agricultural plant breeding. In starting this new initiative, the Commission is mostly ignoring the potentially negative impacts. Testbiotech

 

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