22/September/20

 

In a shock turnaround, the pioneer gene editing company Cibus is claiming that its flagship product, sulfonylurea herbicide-tolerant canola (SU Canola), isn’t gene-edited after all but is the result of an accident in a laboratory petri dish. What’s surprising about Cibus's claim is that the company has been saying for years that its herbicide-tolerant canola (oilseed rape) was made with “precision gene editing”. In fact, the gene editing technique that Cibus used, oligo-directed mutagenesis (ODM), constitutes the foundation of its business model. What caused Cibus’s U-turn? The answer may lie in the timing: the company only made a public statement about the claimed absence of gene editing immediately after the SU Canola became detectable. GMWatch

 

 

The Detox Project released the first ever data on the Glyphosate Residue Free certification market on Tuesday, after reviewing 2020 data provided by their exclusive data partners SPINS. SPINS, which is the leading provider of data and insights for the natural, organic and specialty products industry, revealed through their data that the Glyphosate Residue Free certification market has reached USD $204 million, an increase of 58.2% year on year. Glyphosate Residue Free certification is a relatively new seal, having been launched by The Detox Project in 2017. Since its introduction it has caught the attention of brands and consumers alike, with a concentration of interest in the US and more recently also internationally. Food Dive

 

 

The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown have revealed even more clearly how we are being reduced to objects to be controlled, with our bodies and minds as the new colonies to be invaded, writes Vandana Shiva. Empires create colonies, colonies enclose the commons of the indigenous living communities and turn them into sources of raw material to be extracted for profits. This linear, extractive logic is unable to see the intimate relations that sustain life in the natural world. It is blind to diversity, cycles of renewal, values of giving and sharing, and the power and potential of self-organising and mutuality. It is blind to the waste it creates and to the violence it unleashes. The extended coronavirus lockdown has been a lab experiment for a future without humanity. Independent Science News

 

 

A new set of genetic engineering techniques, collectively known as gene editing, are being touted as part of the solution to the climate crisis. Despite the hype, however, these techniques are not compatible with agro-ecological and organic agriculture, according to a communication paper from the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament. Furthermore, since gene-edited crops and animals are being patented, small farmers and breeders will not be able to save and exchange their seeds, ruling out the possibility of them developing locally adapted crops and breeds. Greens/EFA in the European Parliament