| | 11/January/23
| | Company genetically engineers fruit flies to be "biofactories" for fake meat production The biotech company Future Fields has notified the Canadian authorities of its intention to commercialise EntoEngine, a genetically modified fly. The flies are engineered to produce foreign proteins – in this case, growth factors, which are cell signalling molecules that play important roles in cell proliferation and development, for use in what Future Fields calls "cellular agriculture" – what we call lab-grown or fake meat. The public can comment on the application until 28 January 2023 and we encourage them to do so. In our view, EntoEngine flies poses serious environmental risks in the likely event that they will escape contained conditions. GMWatch Possible absence of traceability obligation for new GMOs gives patents unlimited power The possible absence of a traceability obligation for "new GMOs" by the European Commission would give patents an unjustified and deleterious power over farmers and small seed companies, but also over biodiversity and food. The European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) published in November 2022 a report denouncing the causal link between GMO regulation and patent rights. It stresses that "the disappearance of the traceability requirement [for new GMOs] would lead to an abusive extension of the scope of patents, to the detriment of the guaranteed GMO-free agricultural sector and the rights of farmers and breeders with regard to seeds". Inf'OGM For EFSA, risk analysis of GMOs must become the exception At the end of October 2022, European experts from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published an opinion on the criteria to be followed to assess the risks associated with "plants produced by targeted mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intragenesis". While they confirm the absence of a history of safe use of these GMOs, they nevertheless recommend that risk assessment be reduced to a minimum. This opinion, which curiously never uses the term GMO, looks like a political order from the European Commission, which will propose, in 2023, a deregulation of these GMOs. Inf'OGM Objection to GM wheat trial in the UK In a detailed submission, twenty-five organisations, including GMWatch, have asked UK farm and environment ministry Defra to refuse permission for Wild Bioscience Ltd to plant genetically modified wheat in new open field trials on Rothamsted Research’s farm. GM Freeze We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible by readers’ donations. Please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org
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