Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) appear ready to propose removing regulation for some genetically modified organisms (GMOs). For many months, Health Canada has been developing new draft guidance on how regulators will assess the risks of GMOs (See details below). The proposals could be published any day now. Documents show that these proposals could exempt some genetically engineered foods and crop plants from regulation, particularly those products of certain genome editing or gene editing techniques. Health Canada is talking about allowing companies to make their own safety determinations for some of these GMOs.

Handover of signatures prior to Administrative Council meeting at the European Patent Office

22 March 2021 / On the day before the Administrative Council meeting at the European Patent Office (EPO), WeMove Europe, the Munich Environmental Institute and No Patents on Seeds! will be handing over 175.000 signatures against patents on the conventional breeding of plants and animals. As shown in a recent report, several legal loopholes still enable companies to evade prohibitions on patents covering conventional breeding, and allows them to claim plants, seeds and food derived thereof as their ‘invention’.

However, further patents on seeds can still be granted

19 March 2021 / The Technical Board of Appeal at the European Patent Office (EPO) has confirmed the revocation of a patent on melons held by Monsanto (EP1962578). In the patent, Monsanto claims melons with a natural resistance to plant viruses as an ‘invention’; the melons were derived from conventional breeding and not genetically engineered. The resistance was originally detected in Indian melons. This patent was granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2011, even though European patent law does not allow patents on plant varieties or conventional breeding processes.

What you need to do by 17 March

The following UK call to action has come in from a correspondent of ours, who has given us permission to publish it anonymously.

EU Parliament has again voted against further market approvals of genetically engineered plants

11 March 2021 / The EU Parliament has again voted with a huge majority against further market approvals for genetically engineered plants. Substantial gaps in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) risk assessment were identified. In earlier votes, EU member states also voted overwhelmingly against market approvals. Consequently, there is growing pressure on the EU Commission for much closer scrutiny of EFSA findings and applications for market approval.

The applications were for the import of Monsanto/Bayer cotton (for food and feed) and for Syngenta (ChemChina) maize. Maize MZIR098 is resistant to the herbicide, glufosinate, and produces two synthetic insecticides (Bt -toxins). Cotton GHB614 × T304-40 × GHB119 is made resistant to glufosinate and glyphosate and also produces two insecticides.

Canada is changing its risk assessment policy for genetically modified plants and food products sold at home and overseas. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that contain foreign DNA will still be subject to government regulatory oversight. However, a new category of GMOs — gene-edited organisms that do not contain foreign DNA — will be exempt from safety assessments by Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). To date, these are mostly crops like corn that have been modified to enhance a specific, naturally occurring characteristic, such as high corn starch content.

Gene-editing techniques are also common in medicine, including in vaccines like the AstraZeneca COVID-19 inoculation.

Planning documents for the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit shed new light on the agenda behind the controversial food summit that hundreds of farmers’ and human rights groups are boycotting. The groups say agribusiness interests and elite foundations are dominating the process to push through an agenda that would enable the exploitation of global food systems, and especially Africa.

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A section titled “the promise of digital and biotechnologies and the transformation of food systems,” discusses “the significant potential for capturing large economic, social and environmental payoffs from the use of biotechnology products … In West Africa, for instance, farmers can benefit significantly from the adoption of Bt cotton.”

The paper does not reference the failed Bt cotton experiment in Burkina Faso, the first country in Africa to adopt a large-scale genetically engineered crop for small farmers. Monsanto’s Bt cotton resisted insects and provided good yields, but could not deliver the same high quality as the native variety, and the country abandoned the GM crop.

In the winter of 1996, Monsanto and a few other companies first began to sell genetically engineered seeds to commercial growers, and also mounted a massive public relations effort to convince people of their supposed benefits.

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Twenty-five years later, genetically engineered crop varieties are grown on roughly 190 million hectares worldwide – a relatively constant figure since the early to mid-2010s – and the profile of what is being grown and where does not differ very much from the late 1990s. Half the global GMO acreage is in soybeans, with soybeans, corn, cotton and canola representing 99 percent of all genetically engineered crops. Forty percent of all GMO acreage is in the US and 95 percent of the acreage is in just seven countries. Eighty-five percent of GMO crops are engineered to withstand high doses of chemical weed-killers – most often Monsanto/Bayer’s “Roundup” family of herbicides – and more than 40 percent produce a bacterial pesticide aimed to attack various “pest” species, but with long-documented harms for a host of beneficial insects. (The total exceeds 100 percent due to varieties that contain multiple, or “stacked,” engineered traits.)

By relinquishing the state's reserve powers to say 'no' to a GM crop on marketing grounds, minister delivers control to central government

In Australia the New South Wales (NSW) state agriculture minister Adam Marshall claims he will lift the moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops in July.

There has been a slew of bogus headlines about the move, with claims that it will deliver "multi-billion-dollar" rewards to the agriculture industry.

However, as Bob Phelps, executive director of GeneEthics, pointed out in a press release, there is no GMO ban in NSW. Roundup Ready GM cotton has been grown there since 2000 and Roundup Ready GM canola since 2010.

Representatives say regulators need to ensure there is no contamination from windblown seeds and pollen from genetically modified produce

Organic farming representatives say a decision by the New South Wales government to lift a ban on genetically modified crops will hurt its thriving industry.

NSW agriculture minister Adam Marshall announced Tuesday the state’s 18-year moratorium on GM crops would be lifted on 1 July.

The state’s farming lobby group, NSW Farmers, said it welcomed the move because the technology could be used to improve drought and frost tolerance, but cautioned that organic growers would need to be protected.

The NSW announcement means Tasmania will be the only state with a moratorium on growing GM crops.