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The Assembly’s Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection passed a bill Tuesday that would require mandatory labeling of food made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

The bill, A.617, passed through the committee with nine affirmative votes.

Monsanto Co. is facing another lawsuit alleging that exposure to glyphosate, the primary ingredient in the company’s flagship product Roundup, causes cancer.

Christine and Kenneth Sheppard, the former owners of Dragon’s Lair Kona Coffee Farm in Honaunau, Hawaii, have accused the multinational agribusiness of falsely masking the carcinogenic risks of glyphosate and is responsible for causing the woman’s cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

The civil suit, Sheppard et al v. Monsanto Company, was filed Feb. 2 in U.S. District Court in Honolulu by the Miller Firm of Orange, Virgina and Honolulu attorney Brian K. Mackintosh on behalf of the husband-and-wife duo.

The plaintiffs seek unspecified monetary damages, including compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees and court costs.

According to the complaint, Christine Sheppard had used Roundup on her commercial coffee farm in Hawaii in or around 1995 and continued to use the herbicide until 2004. She said she was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 and, as a result, was forced to sell her farm and move to California to undergo treatment.

The former Monsanto boss said the company used to fake scientific data" submitted to government regulatory agencies to get commercial approvals for its products in India.

The debate on genetically modified (GM) brinjal variety continues to generate heat. Former managing director of Monsanto India, Tiruvadi Jagadisan, is the latest to join the critics of Bt brinjal, perhaps the first industry insider to do so.

Jagadisan, who worked with Monsanto for nearly two decades, including eight years as the managing director of India operations, spoke against the new variety during the public consultation held in Bangalore on Saturday.

On Monday, he elaborated by saying the company “used to fake scientific data” submitted to government regulatory agencies to get commercial approvals for its products in India.

GMOs are being authorised in the EU without the support of Member States, according to MEPs.

They said last week that the European Commission should not authorise the glyphosate-tolerant GM soybeans in food and feed.

The MEPs note that glyphosate, a herbicide, is classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The three genetically modified soybeans to be authorized by the European Commission for use in food and feed are FG72, MON 87708 x MON 89788 and MON 87705 x MON 89788.

MEPs approved three separate objections, included one tabled by Irish MEP Lynn Boylan.

Late last year, MEPs also opposed two maize GMOs which the Commission adopted for food or feed uses.

Facing the continued delay in the adoption of a GMO regulation in New Caledonia, STOP OGM Pacifique prepared an open letter that will be send to the local institutions.

We here call for support from organizations worldwide (NGO, association, collectives, etc.) to sign the letter to raise awarness among our elected representatives.

http://www.stopogmpacifique.org/lettre-ouverte/

http://www.mesopinions.com/petition/nature-environment/gmo-labeling/18007

Please share! For a GMO free Pacific !

Regards.

STOP OGM Pacifique

Washington State University researchers (link is external) have concluded that feeding a growing global population with sustainability goals in mind is possible. Their review of hundreds of published studies provides evidence that organic farming can produce sufficient yields, be profitable for farmers, protect and improve the environment, and be safer for farm workers.

The review study, “Organic Agriculture in the 21st Century,” was authored by John Reganold, WSU regents professor of soil science and agroecology and doctoral candidate Jonathan Wachter. It is the first such study to analyze 40 years of science comparing organic and conventional agriculture across the four goals of sustainability identified by the National Academy of Sciences: productivity, economics, environment, and community well being.

Nearly 75 Percent of All Glyphosate Sprayed on Crops Came in the Last 10 Years; Surging Use in both U.S. and Globally Raises New Concerns for Health and the Environment

WASHINGTON – Monsanto’s signature herbicide glyphosate, first marketed as “Roundup,” is now the most widely and heavily applied weed-killer in the history of chemical agriculture in both the U.S. and globally, according to a landmark report published today.

The paper, published Feb. 2, 2016 in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Sciences Europe, reports that to date 18.9 billion pounds (8.6 billion kilograms) of glyphosate have been used globally. Glyphosate use has risen almost 15-fold since so-called “Roundup Ready” genetically engineered crops were introduced in 1996.

In 2014, enough glyphosate was sprayed to leave more than three-quarters of a pound of the active ingredient on every harvested acre of cropland in the U.S., and remarkably, almost a half pound per acre on all cropland worldwide (0.53 kilogram/hectare).

The paper by Charles Benbrook, Ph.D., titled “Trends in glyphosate herbicide use in the United States and Globally,” is available free online at Environmental Sciences Europe.

“The dramatic and rapid growth in overall use of glyphosate will likely contribute to a host of adverse environmental and public health consequences,” Dr. Benbrook wrote.

PLENARY SESSION Press release - Consumers / Public health − 03-02-2016 - 13:17

The EU Commission should not authorize the use of glyphosate-tolerant GM soybeans in food and feed, said Parliament on Wednesday. MEPs note that glyphosate, a herbicide, is classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and that GMOs are being authorized in the EU without the support of member states.

The three genetically modified soybeans to be authorized by the European Commission for use in food and feed are FG72, MON 87708 x MON 89788 and MON 87705 x MON 89788. MEPs approved three separate objections, all tabled by MEPs Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, BE), Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, FI), Guillaume Balas (S&D, FR), Lynn Boylan (GUE/NGL, IE) and Eleonora Evi (EFDD, IT).

Concerns over glyphosate

Burkina Faso calls time on Monsanto's GM cotton, demands $280m damages

After a run of low quality GM cotton crops with unusually short fibres, Burkina Faso has ended its love affair with Monsanto's Bt cotton, writes Claire Robinson. In a further blow to the company, growers are demanding $280 million compensation for their losses.

In a move that could help decide the future of GM crops in Africa, Burkina Faso has abandoned GM Bt cotton.

The country has begun a complete phase-out of the crop, citing the inferior lint quality of GM cultivars.

This story of a major GMO failure is documented in a new briefing in the journal African Affairs, which is published by Oxford University Press.

Consumers Union of Japan, the No! GMO Campaign and Food Safety Citizen’s Watch will hold an event in the Japanese Parliament to present the results so far of our petition campaign to collect signatures for better labelling of genetically modified food. The event will be an opportunity to discuss GM food in light of the new realities presented by the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) that may soon be signed by 12 countries, including Japan. The TPP agreement also deals with cross-border trade barriers, and could mean that other countries or corporations may challenge Japan’s food labelling laws.