The three-member trade panel hearing the US complaint over Mexico’s restrictions on the use of GM corn in tortillas will no doubt need some scientific advice to evaluate the technical evidence presented by the Mexican government on the risks associated with GM corn and the accompanying herbicide residues. They got some on April 23 from a panel of experts assembled by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in the first of three webinars on the GM corn dispute. Their message could not have been clearer. The Mexican government is right to doubt US assurances that GM corn is safe to eat given the lax regulatory processes for GM crops in the US There is a mountain of evidence that both GM corn and its accompanying herbicides, including glyphosate, may cause serious health problems. And those risks are magnified for Mexicans, who eat more than ten times the corn we eat in the US and do so in minimally processed form, not processed foods. "Has the US government provided sufficient evidence to the Mexican government to assure the safety of GM corn, which is routinely sprayed with multiple herbicides known to be associated with reproductive problems, metabolic syndrome, and cancer?” asked pesticide expert Dr Charles Benbrook in his remarks during the webinar. “No, because the studies have never been done." Common Dreams

 

 

Germany's cabinet has approved restrictions on the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer's Roundup weedkiller, the agriculture ministry said, after the EU last year authorised its use for a further ten years. "The new regulation ensures existing restrictions are legally secure," said the ministry, adding glyphosate was generally prohibited in protected water areas, domestic gardens and allotments. It is also prohibited in some arable farming. Yahoo! Finance

 

 

In a blow to those who argue that bioreactor-produced GMO-derived and synbio "alternative proteins" must replace animal-derived foods in order to save the climate, a team of ecologists and nutritionists have found that grazing ruminant animals on land benefits the environment and improves carbon cycling, as Feed Navigator reports. The partners say their tie-up has discovered a deeper understanding of the grazing-cattle carbon cycle, one that is not solely focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the animal but also on natural GHG emissions from the land and the sequestration of carbon in the soil. Discussions around GHGs and global warming often centre around agriculture emissions, but it is important to think beyond emissions and look at the full cycle, they contend. Vaughn Holder, director of ruminant research at Alltech, said: “The most striking finding is the discovery that beef production can be carbon negative. Meaning that the land and cattle produce fewer net emissions than is being taken up by the land. Another striking finding is that in some cases, the methane production by the land goes up when cattle are not present. This shows us that we cannot simply focus on emissions. We need to understand the whole ecosystem.” GMWatch comment on article in Feed Navigator (register for free to read full article)

 

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