In the wake of the COVID crisis, it seems many have a sense that things are getting back to some kind of pre-COVID-normal. Far from it. As our minds are being fed hypnotic news, ads and disasters, the sharp claws of a growing totalitarian monster are grasping our freedoms, one by one. Our freedom to speak freely, move freely, and choose freely. Freedoms that are prerequisites of individual – and national – sovereignty, concepts that we’re being urged by our global masters to disregard. Read more.
Get Informed on Issues Related to International Legislation
Why Genetically Engineered Soil Microbes are Concerning
A new report from Friends of the Earth explores the potential implications of this novel use of genetic engineering, something that is fundamentally different from the genetically engineered (GE) crops that have been the center of debate for decades. Microbes can share genetic material with each other far more readily than crops and can travel great distances on the wind. The genetic modifications released inside GE microbes could move across species and geographic boundaries with unforeseen and potentially irreparable consequences. Read more.
Breaking Pharma-to-Doctor Kickbacks: India Shows the Way
Over the last decade, there has been an ever-increasing trend of doctors, in private hospitals, to put patients through a long list of unnecessary lab tests and the prescription of costly drugs. This nexus between doctors, pharma companies and chemists (pharmacists) has been growing out of proportion. As a result, the patients remain at the receiving end – the paying end – increasing the expenditure on healthcare by the general public exponentially. Read more.
European Commission Proposal on New GMOs Favours Biopiracy Over Rights of Farmers and Citizens
On July 5, the European Commission presented its proposal to create a new regulatory framework for certain GMOs . This proposal gives centre stage to biopiracy and the privatization of all seeds by patent-holding companies, to the detriment of farmers’ rights to seed. European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), which represents peasant farmers across Europe, calls on the European Parliament and European Council to reject this unacceptable proposal. Below is ECVC’s initial analysis of the proposal. Read more.
Allowing Genetically Engineered Crops in the Deathblow to Sustainable Agriculture
“Any authorisation of GM food should always be accompanied by risk assessments and a comprehensive evaluation of traceability and labelling options. The plans presented by Timmermans this week blatantly contradict this. The bill is not only a deathblow to sustainable agriculture but also an affront to democracy.” – Anja Hazekamp MEP Read more.
New Genetic Engineering – small cause, big effect
Here’s an excellent article about the European Commission’s GMO deregulation proposal, by the journalist, former MEP, and expert on GMOs Benedikt Haerlin. He has been around long enough to have witnessed the failed promises of the first generation of GM crops in the 1990s and early 2000s. Read more.
“Toxicology is not a Political Science,” Ex-FDA official weighs in on WHO aspartame news
Industry experts and trade groups are decrying the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer’s pending addition of aspartame to a list of possible carcinogens for humans as unscientific and politically motivated. Read more.
The Future of Plant Breeding is Under Threat in Europe
This report provides an overview of granted patents and patent applications with claims covering conventional plant breeding in Europe. The past decade has seen a growing number of patent applications filed for conventionally-bred plants used in food production. Read more.
Worlds Collide on Science of Public Health
I had just returned from an exhilarating, intellectually stimulating week in Mexico City when the news broke that the United States government had escalated its challenge to Mexico’s restrictions on genetically modified (GM) corn to the level of a formal dispute under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA). Read more.
Free Speech’s Grim Future
How government agencies and academic elites are planning to halt the spread of “misinformation.” Action Alert! Last week, the 2023 Nobel Prize Summit was hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Titled “Truth, Trust, and Hope,” the summit’s main goal was to figure out how to deal with the scourge of scientific “misinformation” relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and elections. Read more.