22/November/19

 

Preliminary figures for “2019” Brazilian Amazon deforestation show a 29.5 percent increase over the previous year, with 9,762 square kilometers (3,769 square miles) cleared, more than double the rate when Brazil’s famous deforestation decline ended in 2012. Despite this deforestation surge, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro government claims the increase is not unusual and equivalent to high deforestation rates seen several times since 2012. However, critics point to the administration’s rhetoric and environmental deregulation as part of the “Bolsonaro Effect”, leading to rampant deforestation. Much of the land is being cleared for the expansion of GM soy cultivation. Mongabay

 

 

The Belgian biotechnology research institute VIB has long acted as a cheerleader for GM crops. But now, in a lobbying campaign to weaken EU regulations on genetically modified crops and foods produced by new gene-editing techniques, VIB is actively misleading the public and regulators and misrepresenting the institutions it claims to be speaking for. GMWatch

 

 

A new scientific review highlights an evidence gap on the potential health benefits of an organic diet over an equivalent non-organic diet. The review details evidence linking exposure to pesticides to an increased risk of developing various diseases. It also calls attention to evidence showing that switching to an organic diet reduces the pesticide burden in the urine. But what is lacking are controlled studies in which the consumption of an organic wholefood diet is seen to result in health benefits. The authors call for studies to be carried out that would establish whether or not such health benefits would show up. GMWatch

 

 

Bayer AG discussed plans to give the German drugs giant influence within a prestigious American not-for-profit dedicated to media freedoms that would protect and promote the company’s business interests in exchange for generous funding, records obtained by the Guardian show. The Guardian