12/October/20

 

New consumer research from Food Standards Scotland finds “Sale of chlorinated chicken and GM foods are of the greatest concern” to consumers post-Brexit. Only one in 10 would be likely to buy GMO foods even if they were cheaper – though that assumes they would still be labelled. GMWatch

 

 

A new survey on gene editing in food and farming showed a "fairly low level of detailed knowledge on the issue of genome editing" among members of an umbrella campaign group involved in these topics. No respondents mentioned specific scientific research. A Bigger Conversation; comment by GMWatch

 

 

Europe’s highest court has concluded that member states have the right to ban pesticides even if they are permitted at the EU level, provided they officially inform the European Commission. The ruling, issued on 8 October, was made after the French government made the decision to prohibit the use of certain neonicotinoid pesticides authorised by the EU executive. Neonicotinoids have come under fire in recent years for contributing to the decline of bees through disrupting their sense of orientation, memory and mode of reproduction. Euractiv.com

 

 

Europe’s farming and chemical lobbies attempted to weaken new EU targets to halve pesticide use by 2030, according to documents obtained by Unearthed. At a meeting in March, the European Crop Protection Association – which represents some of the world’s biggest pesticide producers – suggested to European Commission (EC) officials the target was double what could be achieved in the next decade. UnEarthed

 

 

Bayer is pushing to keep the controversial weedkiller dicamba on the market after a federal court in June blocked its use in GM soybean and cotton fields in the US. The companies are seeking approvals from the Environmental Protection Agency that would allow farmers to continue spraying dicamba, which has been blamed for drifting off fields and damaging millions of acres of neighbouring crops. Bayer and BASF are proposing that farmers mix the weedkiller with new chemical agents that company officials said would help dicamba stay where it is sprayed. The Wall St Journal

 

 

The Ayurvedic medical establishment has staunchly resisted attempts to commercialise GM Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) in India – and that opposition hasn't gone away. A peer-reviewed paper by Chithprabha Kudlu and Glenn Davis Stone at Washington University examines the reasons why. They boil down to the incompatibility of the reductionist approach of genetic engineering and the GMO approvals process with Ayurveda's holistic emphasis on the whole plant and the mixture of compounds present in it. Food, Culture & Society