05/March/20

 

Pregnant mothers living in areas where carcinogenic pesticides have been used are at increased risk of their child developing acute leukemia, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. The findings are based on a review of pesticide use data in rural agricultural areas of California, where many minority, low-income and farmworker communities live. Glyphosate-based herbicides and and paraquat dichloride were both found to increase the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). GMWatch

 

 

One of the world’s most widely used glyphosate-based herbicides, Roundup, can trigger loss of biodiversity, making ecosystems more vulnerable to pollution and climate change, say researchers from McGill University. The researchers found that freshwater ecosystems that experience moderate contamination from the herbicide became more resistant when later exposed to a very high level of it – working as a form of “evolutionary vaccination". However, resistance to the herbicide came at a cost of plankton diversity. GMWatch

 

 

The latest annual count of western monarch butterfly numbers at their overwintering sites on California’s Pacific coast has revealed a second consecutive tally of less than the critical threshold of 30,000. The group behind the count says that figure may be the tipping point for the species, below which the population decline would accelerate into a downward spiral. [GMW: This article avoids mentioning the main cause of the catastrophe – the widespread planting of GM glyphosate-tolerant crops over the past two decades, and now the newer generation of GM crops tolerant to additional herbicides. The herbicide sprayed onto these GM crops wipes out milkweed, the monarch larvae's only food.] Mongabay; comment by GMWatch

 

 

Bayer’s takeover of Monsanto has been beset by problems, and now a decades-long dominance of the $4 billion US soybean seed market is under threat from rival Corteva. Bayer said it expects plantings of its GM Xtend dicamba-tolerant soybean seeds to flatline this year for the first time, after three years of strong growth since their launch with an accompanying weedkiller. The trend is driven by farmers wanting to avoid dicamba drift problems. Meanwhile Corteva expects its Enlist E3 seed to make up 20% of the US crop in 2020, the first year it has been widely available. Enlist tolerates glyphosate, glufosinate, and 2,4-D herbicides – in other words, dicamba is not involved. Reuters; comment by GMWatch