15/December/20

 

GMO and pesticide promoter Kevin Folta has boasted, “I have the ultimate kick-ass garden”. But evidence supplied by his ex-wife suggests otherwise. GMWatch

 

 

The US Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that protection for Monarch butterflies under the Endangered Species Act is warranted but precluded. This puts the imperilled butterfly on a waiting list for listing but confers no protection in the meantime. The decision was issued in response to a 2014 petition from the Center for Food Safety, Center for Biological Diversity, and allies seeking a threatened listing for the iconic pollinators due to drastic population declines and ongoing threats. Today's finding means the butterfly's status will be reviewed annually until the Service issues either a listing proposal or denial. Center for Food Safety

 

 

A small but powerful minority of seed and agriculture industry lobby groups continue to push for the deregulation of old and new GMOs (New Breeding Techniques or NBTs), both at European level and in the Member States, notably Italy and France. Francesco Sottile, agronomist, professor at the University of Palermo, and member of the Executive Committee of Slow Food Italy, commented on the developments in Italy: "If the Government wants to introduce the possibility of making use of NBT techniques [New Breeding Techniques, more correctly called New GM techniques], they should say so openly, take all the necessary steps and involve, at appropriate times, all the actors: from political forces from the Regions, to farmers, civil society and citizens." GMWatch