Consumer advocates charge the move "runs counter to sound science and market demand."

The Trump administration has lifted a ban on importing genetically engineered or GE salmon, which critics have long called "Frankenfish," in a move that consumer advocates charge "runs counter to sound science and market demand."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the decision on Friday, more than three years after approving GE salmon as the first biotech animal authorized for commercial sale and consumption in the United States.

"With this move, FDA has put American consumers at serious risk by putting unlabeled, unnatural fish on the market."

—Friends of the Earth

A new study has found that exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs), including Roundup, caused reproductive and developmental effects in both male and female rats, at a dose level currently considered safe in the U.S. (1.75 mg/kg bw/day).

Exposure to GBHs was associated with androgen-like effects, including a statistically significant increase of anogenital distance (AGD) in males and females, delay of first estrous and increased testosterone in females.

Monsanto claims that the genetically modified cotton seeds they sell are superior. So why are so many people trying to switch?

Monsanto is losing millions of dollars now that farmers in India are switching to indigenous cotton seeds rather than Bt cotton.

The agrochemical company is known for pushing a form of Bt cotton in India for the last decade. They have been accused of manipulating laws in order to enter the Indian market.

Monsanto’s manipulation and greed in India has caused hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers to commit suicide. Between the years of 1995 and 2013, more than 300,000 farmer suicides occurred, many of which were linked to Monsanto. Farmers are forced to pay for Monsanto’s costly seeds, which then force them to pay for the expensive pesticides to effectively grow them, as Bt cotton’s pest resistant quality fades over time.

The ACB shares with you a blog written by ACB’s Sabrina Masinjila and KBIOC’s Anne Maina

A recent United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report confirms what independent biosafety scientists, and African civil society, have been stating all along: Monsanto’s drought tolerant (DT) maize (MON87460) does not work!

The USDA report reveals that performance of corn (maize) varieties transformed with the genetically engineered (GE) trait claimed to be DT is poor in terms of both yields and adoption rates, as compared with non-GE (conventionally bred) DT corn.

Findings of the USDA report

Non-GE DT corn was introduced in the US in 2011 and GE DT corn in 2013. By 2016, at least 80% of US DT corn acres were planted with conventionally-bred varieties and only 3% with GE DT seed. The report states that the diffusion of GE DT corn has lagged behind the diffusion of the non-GE DT hybrids, confirming non-performance of the GE drought trait.

The ability to successfully alter organisms at the genetic level has excited scientists and the general public alike. Gene-editing techniques are advancing rapidly, bringing the promise of many biological and ecological benefits, from eradicating human diseases to preventing species extinction. CRISPR-Cas9 is the latest, quickest tool in the genetic editing tool box, allowing extraordinary precision in the manipulation of genomes.

However, this ability to create synthetic life and alter existing DNA carries with it the risk of cross contamination and unintended consequences. Hacking the code of life has such major implications that there is an urgent need for governing bodies to collaborate and cooperate in ensuring safe research and development in this field. The rise of the DIY biohacker and the risk of the accidental release of genetically modified organisms into the environment is a cause for regulatory concern. Many of the benefits and challenges of synthetic biology are explored in this fascinating chapter.

Bayer is now facing lawsuits from around 11,200 plaintiffs over the health implications of Roundup and Ranger Pro, its glyphosate-based weedkillers.

The German life science giant revealed the figure Wednesday as it announced its results for fiscal 2018. Full-year sales were up 13% and EBITDA before special items up 2.8%, but full-year net earnings were down more than three-quarters due to a $3.8 billion impairment charge and a $2.3 billion charge in connection with Bayer’s acquisition of Roundup maker Monsanto.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

The first FAO report on the State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture was released during the seventeenth session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The report explains the role of biodiversity and ecological processes for food production, assess its status and threats and drivers causing this biodiversity to decline, and outlines needs and measures to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity for food and agriculture.

It's overall finding is that biodiversity for food and agriculture is in dangerous decline and that research, enabling frameworks and actions are needed stop and reverse the decline.

To: Minister Bridget McKenzie

We are Consumers Union of Japan, founded in 1969, as a member-based consumer organization. One of our main concerns is the many problems with genetically modified organisms (GMO) and GM food. Consumers in Japan are strongly opposed to GM technology and do not want to eat such products.

In light of this, we are alarmed to hear that Australia is considering to deregulate new GM technologies, including CRISPR, in animals, plants and microbes. Japanese consumers would not at all be willing to eat such products, either. We do not believe the claims that these new technologies are “precise” or “predictable” but regard them with the same mistrust as older GM technologies, that can harm biological diversity, as well as pose unknown risks to human health.

Please regulate new GM technologies as strictly if not even stricter than older GM technologies, or you risk harming Australia’s image as a food producer here in Japan, and we will boycott all such products.

February 21, 2019, San Francisco, California – – The trial of Edwin Hardeman v. Monsanto Company (now Bayer) will begin with opening arguments on Monday, February 25, 2019 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco before Judge Vince Chhabria. Jury selection occurred on February 20, 2019 and a panel of seven women and two men were chosen. The trial is expected to last a month.

Mr. Hardeman’s case is the lead case of the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Monsanto and the first of the group to proceed to trial. More than 1,600 cases in the MDL are pending before Judge Chhabria, all filed by plaintiffs who allege exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

Case. No. 4:16-cv-00525-DMR / MDL Case No. 3:16-md-02741-VC,Hardeman vs. Monsanto Company et al.

Our readers write to us almost every day to ask why they saw canola in a Non-GMO Project Verified product. There’s a fairly pervasive misconception that all canola is genetically modified, but this is not true! Non-GMO canola does exist; when you see canola in a product bearing the Butterfly, you can rest assured that it’s non-GMO canola because we test (major) high-risk crops that go into your food.