In India, writes policy analyst Devinder Sharma, "Something is going wrong. At a time when India is committed to net-zero emissions by 2070, the policy response should focus on laying out a roadmap for chemical-free farming practices. But it is baffling to find senior officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare hobnobbing instead with industry echelons to see how to permit widespread application of the harmful herbicide, glyphosate, in cotton farming. It does not stop here. Reports say a dedicated committee is also examining the implications of approving the next generation of herbicide-tolerant genetically-modified cotton (HTBt). This comes at a time when the area under Bt cotton — the only approved genetically modified (GM) crop for commercial cultivation in India — has collapsed in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. With a decline of 46 per cent in cultivation, the cotton debacle in the northwest regions should have come as an eye-opener. On the contrary, it is bewildering to find that more of the same (in this case with an additional herbicide-tolerant gene) is being pushed as a possible solution." Deccan Herald

 

 

New plans for seed multiplication trials of gene-edited crops in England have been announced. Three experimental gene-edited crops – two varieties of wheat and one variety of barley – are due to be planted in open trials on commercial farms in England. This is a first in terms of trials of genetically modified crops and a serious escalation of the government’s plans to push genetically modified gene-edited (so called “precision-bred”) crops onto the marketplace. The project has reportedly received £2.2 million from Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, which is delivered by Innovate UK (a division of UK Research and Innovation, or UKRI) and is funded primarily through taxes. It will be ongoing from 2024 to 2026 with a goal of producing enough gene-edited seed to start commercial planting at the end of that period. Beyond GM

 

 

A Philadelphia jury has delivered a $78 million verdict against Monsanto, finding that the company’s weedkiller, Roundup, was a reason a man developed blood cancer. William Melissen, 51, used Roundup frequently for nearly three decades starting in 1992. He was diagnosed in 2020 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he argued in legal filings was the result of his exposure to chemicals in the product. He and his wife, Margaret, sued Monsanto and its German parent company Bayer in 2021 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The lawsuit is one of thousands of cases nationally, and dozens in Philadelphia, in which people who developed cancer accuse Monsanto of negligence and for failing to include adequate warnings about its weedkiller. Philadelphia juries have returned verdicts for and against Monsanto in previous trials. The Philadelphia Inquirer

 

 

British Columbia’s two leading political parties say they would reduce or phase out the use of the herbicide glyphosate in forestry if they win the upcoming election. Glyphosate is used in products such as Roundup. The BC NDP’s platform says the party would protect “communities and local watersheds by phasing out the use of the herbicide glyphosate” in BC forests. This followed the BC Conservatives’ promise last month to stop the aerial spraying of glyphosate in the forest industry. James Steidle, who is running for the BC Green Party in Prince George-Mackenzie, has been fighting the use of glyphosate for over a decade. In 2011, he started Stop the Spray BC, a group that raises awareness about glyphosate use. He said BC’s two main parties are “playing catch-up”. The Tyee

 

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