“We are tired of hearing you and seeing your face on TV.” That is what the hooded attackers said to Paul François while they held a knife to his throat. But the French farmer, who for a decade and a half successfully battled Monsanto in the courts, is far from alone in facing retaliation for publicly challenging the pesticide industry over the harms caused by their products. Take, for instance, Benoît Biteau, an organic farmer and Member of the European Parliament who actively promotes an agricultural model that doesn’t depend on synthetic pesticides. He says the violent attack on Paul François reminds him of attacks on his own farm. One of those attackers, “who’d fired twice at me, told me he was tired of seeing my face in the media". Other attacks have taken place in countries across the world. GMWatch

 

 

The CRISPR/Cas gene editing technique is not a panacea to make plants stronger. On the contrary, it will do great damage, warn Volkert Engelsman, entrepreneur and founder of organic and fair trade produce supplier Eosta, and Michel Haring, professor of plant physiology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), in an excellent article in the mainstream Dutch newspaper Trouw. Engelsman and Haring describe the technique as "biotech neocolonialism" and point out that it won't fulfil the promises made for it, which require systemic solutions. GMWatch has published an English-language version of Engelsman and Haring's article. GMWatch

 

 

Growing evidence suggests the liver is a major target of glyphosate. A new 30-day study in mice reveals the systematic mechanism underlying liver toxicity: Glyphosate-based herbicide disrupts energy metabolism and activates an inflammatory response through oxidative stress. [GMW: This is yet another study linking the main mechanism of toxicity of glyphosate (oxidative stress) to a hallmark of cancer (inflammation).] Chemosphere

 

 

According to the USDA and US EPA’s own estimates, at least 64,000 and perhaps well over 200,000 distinct dicamba drift damage episodes occur each year. But despite such clear evidence of continuing harm, the EPA is proposing more of the same: Slightly earlier "cutoff dates" after which dicamba cannot be sprayed, and even this only applies to four of the 34 states for which it is registered (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and South Dakota). Dicamba is sprayed over-the-top of genetically engineered crops. Center for Food Safety

 

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