19/November/20

 

The concern that greeted the news that Peter Daszak, the President of EcoHealth Alliance, had been put in charge of the Lancet Commission’s investigation into the origins of the current pandemic, including whether the virus might have leaked from a lab, has been amplified by the content of emails obtained by US Right to Know. The newly released emails reveal that it was Daszak himself who drafted a letter from 27 health scientists, which was published in The Lancet, strongly condemning “conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin”. This letter played a key role in setting the tone for the hostile coverage of any suggestions the pandemic might have originated in a lab, such as the Wuhan Institute of Virology, despite suggestive circumstantial evidence appearing to point in that direction. GMWatch comment on article from US Right to Know

 

 

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a new plan to eliminate regulation of certain toxins produced in food crops by means of genetic engineering. Right now, the EPA regulates what it calls plant-incorporated protectant (PIPs), which are plants engineered with pesticides in them. But now it’s planning to create a huge loophole that would use genetic engineering to ADD TOXINS to food crops with no approval needed if what they’re adding is a toxin that is naturally found in a wild relative of the plant. Take action – tell the EPA to stop the deregulation of toxins in genetically engineered plants! Center for Food Safety via GMWatch

 

 

Switzerland's moratorium on the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture should be extended until the end of 2025. The Federal Council has decided to amend the law on genetic engineering in this direction. Neither farmers nor consumers have shown any interest in lifting the moratorium, says the Federal Council. GMWatch

 

 

There is no global shortage of food, there is a glut, even under any plausible future population scenario, writes Dr Jonathan Latham in an article about his new peer-reviewed paper, "The Myth of a Food Crisis". The fake crisis is generated via reliance on a food system model called GAPS (Global Agriculture Perspectives System), led by researchers at the FAO in Rome. GAPS is based on many assumptions, but the new paper identifies four key ones that are highly problematic. GMWatch