On Wednesday 7 February MEPs will vote in the Strasbourg plenary on a proposal that would scrap any safety checks for GMOs (NGTs), as well as labelling and traceability requirements. Many of these MEPs, writes Nina Holland of Corporate Europe Observatory, will scratch their heads about the implications of this deregulation proposal. But a few things stand out. The European Parliament rapporteur Jessica Polfjärd's (of the centre-right European People's Party) report has no scientific basis but nevertheless makes the deregulated group of NGTs ("Category 1") cover nearly all NGTs. Consumers' rights and the rights of the non-GM sector will deteriorate. The parliament text says it will ban NGTs from being patented — however, this regulation can legally not achieve that. But finally, decision-makers across the EU institutions are finally waking up to the fact that the deregulation of NGT crops and wild plants will make the EU fully in non-compliance with the UN Biosafety Protocol that is part of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. EU Observer

 

 

On 26 January 2024, a food sovereignty alliance from Latin America, Africa, and Asia approached seven UN Special Rapporteurs for their urgent intervention to block cultivation and trade of GM wheat HB4. This follows the approval in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay of the commercial production of this GM wheat variety and in South Africa, Colombia, Nigeria, New Zealand, and Indonesia, since 2020, of the importation of GM wheat, suggesting a widespread failure in biosafety governance across the globe. The groups are urging the governments of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay to suspend or revoke all authorisations for the commercial growing of GM HB4 wheat. They recommend that the government of Paraguay revokes Resolution No. 556/2023 – through which transgenic HB4 wheat was approved – and reforms the GMO regulatory framework, by way of an open, transparent participatory process, with emphasis on the need to protect the rights of indigenous people and peasant communities. They also recommend that the government of Argentina bans the cultivation of GM wheat in the country. African Centre for Biodiversity

 

 

The view of biology (and especially genetics) often presented to the public is oversimplified and out of date and scientists must set the record straight, argues a new book by science writer Philip Ball titled How Life Works. In a review of the book, Denis Noble, emeritus professor of physiology and biology at the University of Oxford, writes, "Genetics alone cannot help us to understand and treat many of the diseases that cause the biggest health-care burdens, such as schizophrenia, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. These conditions are physiological at their core, the author points out — despite having genetic components, they are nonetheless caused by cellular processes going awry. Those holistic processes are what we must understand, if we are to find cures... Scientists must take care not to substitute an old set of dogmas with a new one. It’s time to stop pretending that, give or take a few bits and pieces, we know how life works." Nature

 

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