Posted December 7, 2018
The environmental health minister, who has responsibility for the Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU). has said the release of genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in West Bay did not work and has confirmed that when the Oxitec contract formally ends on 31 December, that will be “the last you hear about Oxitec being paid by government”. Read more.
Get Informed on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
The CRISPR Baby Scandal Gets Worse by the Day
Posted December 7, 2018
The alleged creation of the world’s first gene-edited infants was full of technical errors and ethical blunders. Here are the 15 most damning details. Read more.
GMO Potatoes Are Here — How to Avoid them
Posted November 19, 2018
The genetically modified Innate potato was approved by the USDA in 2014. The “Innate” potato is a group of potato varieties that have had the same genetic alterations applied using a new form of genetic engineering known as RNA interference (RNAi). Five different potato varieties have been transformed, including the Ranger Russet, Russet Burbank, and Atlantic potatoes. Simplot also has two proprietary varieties. Read more.
Bayer CEO: Roundup Weedkiller Cancer Victims Are ‘Nuisances’
Posted November 9, 2018
There are about 8,700 lawsuits pending against Monsanto, by people who allege that exposure to Roundup weedkiller is responsible for their cancer. Most of the people behind these lawsuits have stories not unlike the one told by Dewayne Johnson, during his landmark jury trial which resulted in a unanimous decision against Monsanto. Read more.
It’s Groundhog Day Again: Only GM Can Save Bananas!
Posted October 23, 2018
Even though there are over 1,000 banana varieties in the world, the most common commercialised banana is a variety called the Cavendish, which makes up 47% of all global production of the fruit. The Cavendish is genetically uniform and grows on trees that are short enough to be easy to spray with pesticides, making it ideal for chemically-based production. The problem is that the Cavendish is falling victim to a deadly fungal pathogen called Tropical Race 4 (TR4). TR4 is a strain of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum cubense that lives in the soil, is impervious to pesticides, and kills banana plants by choking them of water and nutrients. Read more.
Over 200 Global Food Movement Leaders and Organizations Reject “gene drives”
Posted October 23, 2018
Today, on World Food Day, global food movement leaders and organizations representing hundreds of millions of farmers and food workers set out their clear opposition to “gene drives” – a controversial new genetic forcing technology. Their call for a stop to this technology accompanies a new report, Forcing the Farm, that lifts the lid on how gene drives may harm food and farming systems. Read more.
Monsanto’s Roundup Found in 75% of Air and Rain Samples
Posted October 23, 2018
In recent years, Roundup was found to be even more toxic than it was when first approved for agricultural use, though that discovery has not led to any changes in regulation of the pesticide. Roundup, Monsanto’s flagship weed killer, was present in 75 percent of air and rainfall test samples, according to the study, which focused on Mississippi’s highly fertile Delta agricultural region. Read more.
Three Crises, One Solution: Change the Way We Produce Food
Posted October 12, 2018
World hunger is on the rise. Scientists just moved up the deadline for addressing the looming climate crisis. Small independent farms are failing at an alarming rate. According to three recent studies, one big change could go a long way toward addressing all three of these crises. By transitioning, on a global scale, to organic regenerative agriculture, we could feed more people, sequester more carbon and improve the economic prospects for farmers. Read more.
California Judge Mulls New Trial in $289M Roundup Award
Posted October 12, 2018
A San Francisco judge said Wednesday she is considering tossing out the lion’s share of the $289 million judgment against agribusiness giant Monsanto and ordering a new trial over whether the company’s weed-killer caused a groundskeeper’s cancer. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bolanos didn’t formally rule on any issues after a two-hour hearing to consider Monsanto’s demand to toss out the entire jury verdict in the first of thousands of similar cases across the country to go to trial. Read more.
How Most of Our Water Get Polluted
Posted October 12, 2018
In the U.S., agriculture poses the greatest threat to water quality and is single-handedly impairing drinking water supplies across the country. The key culprits are nitrogen, phosphates and other toxins that run off from industrial cropland (i.e., genetically engineered corn and soy) and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Read more.
