GMO salmon firm AquaBounty has recorded a 26% drop in revenue and a second quarter net loss of $6.5 million, as compared to a $5.5 million loss in the second quarter of 2022. The firm is still looking to improve revenue by expanding its non-GMO salmon output in Canada. Fish Farmer

 

 

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador recently announced that he will sign an agreement with his country’s tortilla makers that ensures they only use non-GMO white corn while also setting new 50% tariffs on white corn imports. Lopez Obrador said that tariffs on white corn imports from countries that don’t have trade deals with Mexico will promote more domestic purchases. The tariffs won’t apply to the US or Canada. Mexico, the birthplace of modern corn, produces most of the white corn used to make the country’s staple tortillas but imports large quantities of yellow corn, which is mostly GMO, for livestock feed. Most of the yellow corn comes from the US, which represents a $5 billion market for the US. The Organic & Non-GMO Report

 

 

On 26 July 2023 EFSA published the conclusions on its peer review of glyphosate in the EFSA Journal. In connection with the publication, EFSA announced that in order to ensure it was complying with rules on data protection and confidentiality, it still had to carry out the relevant checks. As a result, all background documents relating to the risk assessment and peer review will only be published later – at some point "between the end of August and the middle of October 2023". This delay is convenient for the pesticide industry because concerned NGOs and scientists will only have access to the full background documents as late as the middle of October. Yet the Commission is planning to ask EU Member States to vote on the glyphosate renewal at the 11-12 October SCoPAFF (Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed) meeting – before the full information is in the public domain. Now Pesticide Action Network Europe has written an open letter to SCoPAFF objecting to this undemocratic and untransparent move and other aspects of the EU assessment procedure, which appear to aim at getting glyphosate fast-tracked to renewed approval. GMWatch comment on letter by Pesticide Action Network Europe

 

 

The most notable human rights group after Amnesty is now campaigning against glyphosate renewal in the EU on human rights grounds. Human Rights Watch tweeted: "The license for glyphosate use in the European Union expires at the end of 2023 — but its use has already been banned or restricted in over 30 countries. The EU should ban the use of this pesticide in line with commitments to the human right to health." Human Rights Watch on Twitter @hrw

 

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