Sign the petition urging the European Commission and EU national governments to take a strong stand against any attempts to exclude new GMOs from the existing EU GMO legislation and to uphold mandatory safety checks, transparency and labelling for all GMOs to guarantee the safety of our food, as well as to protect nature, the environment and our freedom of choice. You can sign whatever country you are based in. WeMove Europe

 

 

Listen to a great audio interview with professor and chair of Native American Studies at UC Davis Liza Grandia, author of the book, Kernels of Resistance: Maize, Food Sovereignty, and Collective Power. In the interview, Grandia talks about her new book and the revolts in Mexico and Guatemala against GMO corn. Grandia’s book was inspired by the largest uprising in Guatemala’s history, when 100,000 people put their lives on the line blocking the Pan-American Highway till their Congress repealed a law legalising GMO crops and criminalising traditional seed saving with prison sentences. Capradio (scroll down to find the interview)

 

 

A new report released today by Save Our Seeds highlights the increasing use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the development of GM plants, raising significant new concerns about their safety. These developments come at a time when the European Union (EU) is considering a far-reaching deregulation of GM plants engineered with gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas. Under draft EU rules, most gene-edited plants would bypass existing EU requirements for GMO risk assessments, traceability, and consumer labelling. The proposed rules assume that developers are making only small genetic modifications and that these changes could also be achieved through conventional breeding. These assumptions have long been disputed. With the rise of AI-driven genetic engineering, they have become even more questionable. AI technologies now enable developers to even create "new-to-nature" proteins and organisms, which could pose previously unknown risks. GMWatch

 

 

A new report from GeneWatch UK describes the use of genetic engineering (including genome editing) to create GM microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses and microscopic algae and fungi. Microorganisms live everywhere – for example, in the gut and skin microbiomes of humans, pets, livestock and wild animals; and in plant roots and soil. Contrary to established norms, the deliberate release of living GM microorganisms, which can survive and reproduce in the environment, has begun, driven by commercial interests and technological developments. Existing products are limited and do not appear to deliver on their claims, and future products are at an early stage of development. Nevertheless, large-scale releases of GM microorganisms into the environment could take place. Most examples discussed in the report involve living GMOs, which can reproduce and spread in the environment, surviving for multiple generations (perhaps indefinitely). In some cases, such as the idea of self-spreading vaccines, widespread dispersal is intentional. The report concludes that GM (including gene-edited) microorganisms should not be deliberately released into the environment, due to the inability to predict and/or manage future adverse effects on health and the environment. GeneWatch UK

 

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