On Friday 20 Jan, the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) president Siddika Mithani resigned. This is significant because the NFU (National Farmers Union) Canada had sent a joint letter with environmental and other farmer groups calling for her to be replaced, following media revelations that the GMO seeds and pesticide industry lobby group CropLife Canada seemingly authored a CFIA file summarising the regulatory proposals for gene-edited crops. Realagriculture

 

 

US farm and trade officials have raised "grave concerns" over Mexico's agricultural biotechnology policies in meetings with their Mexican counterparts. Washington's concerns centre on the Mexican president's push to ban GM corn from entering Mexico if it is destined for human consumption. The US accounts for most of Mexican corn imports. "We made it clear today that if this issue is not resolved, we will consider all options, including taking formal steps to enforce our rights under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)," the office of US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said. Reuters

 

 

A bee-harming pesticide has been given emergency authorisation for a certain use in the UK, against the advice of an independent panel of experts and just days after such special permissions were ruled illegal in the EU by the European Court of Justice. Permission was given to use a neonicotinoid seed treatment, thiamethoxam, on sugarbeet seeds. BBC News

 

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!