A scientific report on new GMOs by the French food safety agency ANSES is being withheld by the French government. Green groups are crying “scandal” and “democratic dysfunction”. A member of ANSES's board of directors said it is “abnormal that a report written with public money should be impounded, on a subject so important.” Green groups have written to the Ministry of Agriculture to officially request the release of the report. If they get nothing within a month they’ll contact the commission for access to administrative documents, before going to court. But when the report is released, will it have been doctored? – asks a radio programme by RadioFrance. In the title of the programme, RadioFrance likens the French government's stance to the Mafia concept of "omertà" – a policy of keeping silent about crimes. GMWatch on Twitter/X @GMWatch, giving brief English language summary of French language radio broadcast by RadioFrance

 

 

Bayer AG has asked the full 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider, for the second time, a three-judge panel's ruling that it must face a lawsuit by a Georgia doctor who says the company's Roundup weedkiller gave him cancer. The petition for the rehearing is the latest effort by the German conglomerate to shield itself from Roundup-related lawsuits by invoking the legal doctrine of preemption, in which federal law overrides, or preempts, state law. It argues that the US Environmental Protection Agency's approval of Roundup's label without a cancer warning blocks any claims that the company violated state law by failing to warn of cancer risk. Reuters

 

 

Cash-strapped Bayer may have to ask shareholders for fresh capital to shore up its finances even after the debt-laden firm slashed dividends by 95%. The company faces stifling debt and a deluge of problems, including costly glyphosate-cancer litigation. Kelo

 

 

Bugs including hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds play an important role in keeping Britain’s apples healthy, a new study has shown. Wildflower strips planted around apple orchards provide a habitat for predatory insects that prey on pests that deform and damage apples. Flower margins had been established next to five dessert apple orchards in the UK. A research team led by the University of Reading found that only 48% of trees had fruit damage compared to 80% in orchards without flowers. 8point9.com

 

 

On January 31, 2020, Science Magazine's Jon Cohen wrote for Science Magazine that “most researchers say” the virus could not have come from a lab. The very next day, researchers that Cohen quoted emailed concerns that the virus was actually engineered, writes Paul D. Thacker. Thacker says some critics took to calling Cohen "Crooked Cohen". The Disinformation Chronicle

 

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