07/September/20

 

A group of non-governmental organisations, non-GMO food associations and a food retailer have announced that the first-ever public detection method for a gene-edited crop has been successfully developed and published. The gene-edited crop in question is a herbicide-tolerant rapeseed produced by US company Cibus (SU canola). The new research refutes claims by the biotech industry and some regulators that new genetically modified (GM) crops engineered with gene editing are indistinguishable from similar, non-GM crops and therefore cannot be regulated. GMWatch

 

 

The new test that can tell whether a crop has been gene-edited (see above) has been called a “game changer” for New Zealand’s high-value export market. “The method announced today provides a basis for developing detection methods for all gene-edited crops,” said Stephanie Howard of the Sustainability Council, who co-authored the research. ”Successful development of the test is a commercial game changer, as well as a technological breakthrough. Farmers and food companies will now need to make commercial decisions on the assumption that gene edited crops will be detected and visible to consumers.” Stuff

 

 

The West African nation of Burkina Faso's 2008 adoption of GM Bt cotton for smallholder farmers was hailed as an example of how this technology could alleviate poverty and food insecurity by protecting crops from pests and increasing yields. But this much celebrated success story came to an abrupt halt in 2016, when the Burkina Faso government and cotton companies abandoned GM cotton due to problems with the lint quality. Despite the crop's failure, GM cotton in Burkina Faso continued to be presented as a success story. A peer-reviewed paper by Prof Jessie Luna and Prof Brian Dowd-Uribe describes how the story was constructed: via studies with serious methodological issues in a context of conflicts of interest with the GMO developer Monsanto. GMWatch

 

 

A farmer in Bangladesh shares the truth behind GM Bt brinjal (eggplant). The GM plants he cultivated produced all male flowers, so no fruits resulted. The leaves were eaten away by pests and the farmer had to spend money on fertilizers and pesticides. He's giving up on Bt brinjal and going back to growing local varieties. UBINIG

 

 

The Scottish government's firm stance against GMOs in food production could soon become a new post-Brexit battleground between Holyrood and Westminster. The Scottish Farmer; comment by GMWatch