On Wednesday 7 February, the European Parliament adopted a draft regulation on plants obtained using new genomic techniques (NGTs), which exempts the majority of these GMOs from any risk assessment and has no provisions to limit contamination of other crops. Pollinis is calling on France to protect its agriculture and its citizens' right to choose GM-free food that respects farmers and living organisms, by rejecting the proposal in the Council of the European Union. Today GMWatch published further statements on the Parliament vote from Pollinis and other EU-based groups – they can be read at the link above. GMWatch

 

 

Here we go again... Whenever the world faces a food or environmental crisis, the use of genetic modification (GM) comes to the rescue. At least, this is what those who advocate the unrestricted use of these technologies in agriculture would have us believe, says Prof Michael Antoniou. In a response to the Nobel laureates' letter lobbying for the deregulation of new GMOs, Prof Antoniou writes: "First came 'transgenic' commodity GM foods and crops (mostly soybeans and maize), introduced in 1996 – which, however, failed to deliver on their promises... But... we’re told that the new generation of GM crops (and animals) produced using so called 'new genomic techniques' (NGTs) are different and will succeed where transgenics failed... At this point, those of us who have been involved in the public debate on GM foods since its early days in the mid-1990s will be having a déjà vu experience. The use of transgenic techniques in GM crop development was presented as being precise and as a natural extension of traditional breeding... Have things really changed with the arrival of NGTs? If we look closely and deeply into NGT methods, there is sound scientific reason to doubt the recent hype surrounding the claims of precision, safety, and cure-all powers for this development." EU Reporter

 

 

In what one plaintiff called "a sweeping victory for family farmers and dozens of endangered plants and animals", a federal court in Arizona on Tuesday rescinded the US Environmental Protection Agency's 2020 approval of the highly volatile herbicide dicamba for use on certain genetically engineered crops. In a 47-page ruling, US District Judge David C. Bury found that the EPA failed to comply with public notice and comment requirements under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), legislation passed in 1947 to protect agricultural workers, consumers, and the environment. "This is a vital victory for farmers and the environment," said George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety (CFS), a plaintiff in the case. "Time and time again, the evidence has shown that dicamba cannot be used without causing massive and unprecedented harm to farms as well as endangering plants and pollinators. The court today resoundingly reaffirmed what we have always maintained: The EPA's and Monsanto's claims of dicamba's safety were irresponsible and unlawful," Kimbrell added. Common Dreams

 

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