Los Angeles lawmakers reversed course late Monday on a proposed ban on the growth of genetically modified crops that had previously faced nearly zero resistance within City Hall.

Cows are best known as providers of meat and milk. At Fort Detrick, genetically engineered cows are the cutting edge of vaccine research.

Last Thursday, a town hall meeting at Harvey Government Center in Key West drew a large crowd that erupted in opposition to a proposal to release genetically modified mosquitoes this coming Spring. It’s a proposal from a seemingly strange choice – the United Kingdom.

New research from North Carolina State University and the University of Minnesota shows that the majority of consumers will accept the presence of nanotechnology or genetic modification (GM) technology in foods – but only if the technology enhances the nutrition or improves the safety of the food.

A strong interest by farmers in growing non-GMO soybeans next year may be leading to lower premiums offered by buyers of the product.

Wayne Hoener, vice president of sales for eMerge, a Des Moines-based seed company that sells non-GMO corn and soybean seed to farmers, says there has been strong interest from farmers for non-GMO seed for next spring.

There are several reasons for that interest, he says.

One is the declining commodity prices. A premium of $2 per bushel, for example, marks a higher percentage at $9 beans than at $13 beans.

The same is true of the corn premiums. The premium total may be slipping, but it still figures to a higher percentage of price than a year or two ago.

Another reason is weed pressure. There have long been concerns about the potential for weed resistance to glyphosate. Some farmers may be making the switch as one way of dealing with that weed pressure.

“You have people questioning the value of the Roundup gene,” says Iowa State University weed specialist Bob Hartzler. “How many are doing it (making the switch) because of that concern, I don’t know.”

Even without those concerns, interest in non-GMO crops has been increasing in recent years, Hoener says. One reason for that is companies producing non-GMO seed have done a better job of producing varieties that yield as well as the GMO varieties.

Backers of Oregon's measure to require labeling of genetically modified foods have lost a court fight they hoped would help them garner enough votes to pass the measure in an ongoing recount of ballots.

Yes on Measure 92 Files Emergency Lawsuit Today on Behalf of 4,600 Disenfranchised Voters Asking Court to Order Their Votes Are Counted in Current Statewide Recount

More than 4,600 registered Oregon voters who cast valid ballots on time are wrongly being disenfranchised by elections officials – more than enough votes to potentially change the outcome of the Measure 92 statewide recount

Portland – The Yes Measure 92 has filed a lawsuit today in Multnomah County Circuit Court on behalf of more than 4,600 Oregon voters whose valid ballots are not being counted by elections officials.

“We have said from the beginning of the recount that all valid votes should be counted, but unfortunately that is not happening currently,” said Paige Richardson, a spokesperson for the Yes on Measure 92 campaign. “That is why we are filing this emergency lawsuit today, asking for a temporary restraining order halting the certification of the Measure 92 mandatory statewide hand recount until the votes of thousands of Oregon voters currently being unlawfully disenfranchised by elections officials are counted.”

Keys residents sounded off against the proposed release of genetically modified mosquitoes Thursday at a town-hall meeting held by Oxitec and the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District at the Harvey Government Center in Key West.

Amid a recount of Oregon’s ballot initiative over labeling of genetically-modified foods, the pro-agribusiness contingent, known as the No on 92 Coalition, tried to illegally place out-of-state election observers in at least four counties, opponents say.

MINNESOTA SCHOOL DISTRICTS AIM TO REDUCE GMOs in SCHOOL FOOD

GMO Awareness Day will be paired with efforts to transition to non-GMO foods

November 3, 2014—(Minneapolis, MN) Five Minnesota school districts plan to raise awareness about genetically modified foods and take steps to reduce GMO content in school meals.

Schools in Hopkins, Minneapolis, Orono, Shakopee, and Westonka will celebrate GMO Awareness Day on November 5 by offering non-GMO menu options and communicating to students and families about GMOs.

Director-level staff at the five districts began meeting to discuss GMOs in April, 2014, and decided to hold a collective awareness-raising event to help engage their communities.

“We want to start conversations about the foods we serve and how our decision-making works,” says Laura Metzger, Director of Food and Nutrition Services at Westonka Public Schools.

“Our students will grow up to make their own decisions about the foods they eat, so this is an opportunity for education.”

GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals produced using a technology that merges DNA from different species to create new combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.

Now that most corn, soy, canola, cotton, and sugar beet crops grown in the United States are genetically modified, it is estimated that up to 80 percent of processed foods in U.S. supermarkets contain GMOs.