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Please object!

Cornell University has applied for a permit to execute the world’s first open-air trial of a genetically engineered diamondback moth (GDM). The purpose of this new GM insect is to reduce pest populations of diamondback moths through engineering a new female lethality trait (female larvae die, and males go on to reproduce until the population is destroyed) into male GDM.

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Take action!

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is holding a public consultation on the proposal to release the GM diamondback moths.

Please object to the proposal. You can use the bullet points given below (in “Points for your comments to the USDA/APHIS”).

Please submit your comments here BEFORE May 19, 2017:

https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=APHIS-2014-0056

by clicking on the box, “Comment Now!”

NEW DELHI: Joining hands with anti-GM groups from across the country, the senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Saturday wrote to environment minister Anil Madhav Dave, urging him to withhold his approval of genetically modified (GM) mustard's commercial cultivation.

Bhushan's letter comes two days after the central biotech regulator, Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), gave its green signal to the commercial release of GM mustard. The final decision is now on the environment minister's table who can either accept the regulator's recommendation or reject it. It is learnt that the ministry will go by the Supreme Court's ruling in a case challenging cultivation of GM mustard.

Workers at Laiwu Manhing Vegetables Fruits in China’s Shandong province prepare to pack and ship ginger last June. The crop, though grown organically, doesn't meet U.S. organic standards, because of pesticide residue left after washing. It’s not sold as organic in the United States or Europe, the company said. (Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post)

A shipment of 36 million pounds of soybeans sailed late last year from Ukraine to Turkey to California. Along the way, it underwent a remarkable transformation.

The cargo began as ordinary soybeans, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Like ordinary soybeans, they were fumigated with a pesticide. They were priced like ordinary soybeans, too.

But by the time the 600-foot cargo ship carrying them to Stockton, Calif., arrived in December, the soybeans had been labeled “organic,” according to receipts, invoices and other shipping records. That switch — the addition of the “USDA Organic” designation — boosted their value by approximately $4 million, creating a windfall for at least one company in the supply chain.

Rencontres Internationales des Résistances aux OGM

Lorient, Brittany, 30th April 2017

Following the international meetings of convergence of Resistance to GMOs in Ouagadougou, April 2016, [organised by the Collectif citoyen pour l’Agroécologie CCAE], following the Peoples Assembly & International Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague, October 2016, following the First Seed Olympiad, Paranesti, Greece, April 2017, we, of the Resistance in 28 countries in 5 continents, meeting in Lorient, Brittany, 28-30 April 2017, in order to build convergence, on the occasion of this the second International Convergence of the Resistance againt GMOs, do declare :

Our seed, our knowledge and our know-how are a proud cultural heritage, not merchandise, and we alone decide with whom they are to be shared. We refuse to see them stolen by industry for genetic manipulation and privatisation under patent property rights, proceeding thus to wipe out, in country after country, all the local plant varieties and local livestock breeds. Industrial interests, moreover, cannot fool all the people all the time when they try to pass off their latest (and dissimulated) innovations as traditional varieties.

One remaining place to join the project between July 17th and October 9th – deadline May 15th**

Fed up with the supermarket stranglehold on our food system? Are you active in the fight against the damaging system of corporate-controlled, pesticide-heavy, GM crops – and do you want to push for an alternative?

If you're between 18 and 30 and have a commitment to anti-GM activism and sustainable, local organic farming, Friends of the Earth Europe is offering the chance for you to support a local campaign alongside an experienced activist against GM crops in South Wales, and gain practical, hands-on, experience of working on an organic farm over a period of three months during the summer of 2017.

There’s little to celebrate for the GM crop industry in ISAAA’s latest figures, as China drops GM plantings by 24%

The GMO industry lobby group ISAAA’s latest report says that GM crop cultivation increased globally in 2016, by 3%, after a dip in 2015.

But Gene Ethics points out that two countries — Burkina Faso and Romania — gave up growing GM crops altogether in 2016.

Other countries have registered falls in GM crop production.

The University of Saskatchewan and one of its well-known professors are acting like "sock puppets" for agri-business giant Monsanto, says a U.S. researcher.

Gary Ruskin of U.S. Right to Know has obtained thousands of pages documenting North American university ties to corporations involved in genetic engineering.

Ruskin recently shared with CBC News nearly 700 pages of U of S emails and other material. Ruskin said the documents show Monsanto has recruited a team of top academics in a "Machiavellian" effort to sway public opinion.

Scientists from the University of California at San Diego and Sapphire Energy released results Thursday from the first open-pond trials of genetically engineered microalgae.

The study, along with research and development of genetically modified (GMO) algae for biofuels, is occurring ahead of adequate regulatory oversight, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's process to establish and update regulations for genetically engineered algae to protect human health and the environment.

"This study confirmed that genetically engineered microalgae grown in open ponds will escape and spread into the environment. Once this genie is out of the bottle, there is no way to put it back," said Dana Perls, senior campaigner with Friends of the Earth.

AMES, Iowa – Farmers faced with tight profit margins may consider cutting back on weed control efforts this growing season, but an Iowa State University agronomist said doing so may cost farmers money in the long term.

Robert Hartzler, a professor of agronomy and ISU Extension and Outreach weed expert, said low commodity prices in recent years may lead farmers to tolerate a low population of weeds that might not affect yields.

But doing so may allow enough weeds to go to seed in fields and give rise to the spread of herbicide resistant weeds in the future, a growing concern for corn and soybean producers across the state.

“Farmers might be tempted to do just enough to protect yields but still allow some weeds to survive,” Hartzler said. “They might be unwilling to spend the extra money to get to the next level of weed control, and, in the short term, you can rationalize that. But in the long term, that’s going to lead to further evolution of resistance.”

New Book Release

Bt Cotton in Burkina Faso

When Theory Does Not Match Reality

Juan López Villar

Publisher: TWN

Genetically modified (GM) crop have been touted as a solution to improve agricultural productivity and lift the lot of farmers in developing countries. However, the reality on the grounds is that the performance and impacts of GM crops have been extremely uneven.

This is starkly illustrated by the experience of Burkina Faso in planting Bt cotton, a variety genetically engineered to be resistant to insect pests. Bt cotton was introduced commercially in the West African country in 2008, only to be phased out just seven years later after showing a marked decline in fibre quality compared with conventional Burkinabé cotton.

Drawing upon research carried out in one of the largest cotton-growing areas in Burkina Faso, this paper documents the country's shortlived, less-than-successful experience with Bt cotton cultivation, and explores the possible reasons behind the debacle, including commercial interest in pushing the corporate-owned Bt technology. The paper also looks at similar problems faced by other countries growing Bt cotton, before concluding with a call to move away from promoting GM crops towards supporting indigenous varieties and agroecological practices.