In a bid to counter the UK’s current trajectory, Secretary General of European Non-GMO Industry Association (ENGA) Heike Moldenhauer proffers the case to maintain the status quo for strict regulation of new GMOs. She writes, "New genetic engineering techniques allow genomes to be modified to a previously impossible extent and at a previously impossible speed. These techniques – and only these techniques – render the whole genome accessible to changes; whereas in breeding, some regions of the genome are protected against mutations... The potential impacts of these alterations in terms of unintended consequences are not yet known, making regulation and risk assessment even more important." New Food Magazine

 

 

A group of Canadian organisations is urging the federal government to support Mexico in its efforts to phase out GMO corn and the pesticide glyphosate ahead of the North American Leaders’ Summit this month. In a letter to the prime minister, the minister of international trade, the minister of agriculture and the minister of foreign affairs, 28 signatories, including the National Farmers Union, the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network and the Council of Canadians, called for action. It asked that Ottawa back Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, noting anticipated opposition to Mexico’s efforts after the Biden administration recently threatened legal action over concerns about economic impacts the policy could have on the US as a trading partner. iPolitics

 

 

The Coalition for a GM-Free India has released a report showcasing 15 instances of serious regulatory lapses in the appraisal and approval of Delhi University’s GM herbicide-tolerant (HT) mustard. The report was released ahead of a crucial hearing by the Supreme Court on the approval of GM HT mustard. The report states, among other issues, that no health expert participated in either of the two regulatory processes that appraised the safety of GM mustard. Nevertheless, the subcommittee set up by the GMO regulator GEAC went ahead and approved the mustard, including the health safety aspects. Also, GM mustard was not tested as a herbicide-tolerant crop, by conducting investigations into the impacts of the sprayed herbicide. GMWatch

 

 

As noted in our recent Review, Aruna Rodrigues, who many will know as the initiator of the court case that stayed the rollout of GM mustard in India, has unexpectedly been forcibly evicted from her ancestral home by the Indian army just before Christmas. Her supporters say that as the lead petitioner in the Indian Supreme Court case against GMOs, Aruna has been a target of attack by the state for quite a while now and they suspect this is a crude attempt to disempower her by the Indian government. Please sign the petition in support of Aruna! GMWatch

 

 

Writer and researcher Colin Todhunter explains the background to the Indian state's move against Aruna Rodrigues. He writes that Aruna, as lead petitioner of the public interest litigation (PIL) before the Supreme Court to prevent cultivation of GM crops, "has exposed in her various submissions to court that claims about yield increases through GM mustard to be completely baseless. She indicates how data has been rigged and manipulated and protocols have been severely compromised, and that the government and its regulators are parroting the false claims of the crop developers." GMWatch

 

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