23/October/23

 

 

IFOAM Organics Europe (IFOAM) is demanding that the European Parliament maintain its ban on all new genomic techniques (NGTs, new GMOs) in organic farming. Concerns have arisen after the responsible rapporteur in the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) proposed to remove the ban on Category 1 NGTs. The European organic food and farming association is also worried that seed labelling provisions have been deleted in the draft report. Seed labelling provisions would have been a starting point for transparency at the breeding level, the association said. “NGTs will have a far-reaching impact on European agriculture and food — a thorough discussion is needed. Changing the regulation on the use of genetic engineering in food is not a decision that should be rushed or taken lightly,” Silvia Schmidt, policy manager at IFOAM, said. Food Ingredients First

 

 

Bayer AG must pay $1.25 million to a man who sued the company alleging he developed cancer from exposure to its Roundup weedkiller, a jury in St Louis, Missouri found Friday. W. Wylie Blair, a lawyer for plaintiff John Durnell, said the verdict broke a winning streak for the company, which had prevailed in the previous nine trials over Roundup. Blair said the trial was the first in which jurors heard evidence that other chemicals in Roundup besides its main ingredient, glyphosate, could cause cancer. Reuters

 

 

Previous microlevel studies across developing countries show gains from Bt cotton in the initial years of its adoption. Yet, recent studies from India using aggregate data show only modest benefits over extended periods. New farm-level panel data from the Indian district of Ballari in Karnataka show that Bt cotton yields have stagnated and become more sensitive to pest pressure in the second decade of adoption, resulting in losses in some years. More specifically, despite claims that Bt technology protects cotton crops from pink bollworms, farmers suffered massive yield losses from the pest. This represents a significant threat to the livelihoods and lives of millions of subsistence Indian cotton farmers. The study’s findings show that initial economic benefits can diminish in the long run and they raise an important question on the sustainability of Bt cotton. TWN

 

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