Canada: Federal government allows GMO companies free rein in the food system On May 3, 2023 the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food approved changes to Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulatory guidance that, along with similar changes permitted by the Minister of Health in May of 2022, allow product developers to assess the safety of their own genetically modified seeds and foods without government oversight. “This is a shocking abdication of responsibility by our regulators. The government has fully turned GM food safety over to companies using confidential, privately-owned science,” said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN). “Canadians should be aware that the government will no longer be assessing the safety of many new genetically modified foods and seeds. This decision asks Canadian farmers and consumers to trust unseen corporate science. We need independent science, not corporate self-regulation.” GMWatch Canadian govt, Research Council join agrochemical industry lobby in controversial GMO regulation reform The National Research Council of Canada (NRC), a Crown corporation, has teamed up with the agrochemical industry lobby to inform the public about genetically modified seeds as the federal government prepared to announce a controversial seed reform on Wednesday. The choice of speakers has been criticised as almost all of them have an interest in the industry. The coordinator of Vigilance OGM, Thibault Rehn, was startled to discover the names of the speakers at the free public webinars organised by the NRC “in collaboration with CropLife Canada”, the lobby group for makers and distributers of agrochemicals:
* a representative of Bayer, the world leader in GMOs and pesticides
* two executives from CropLife, of which Bayer is a member
* a professor whose research is funded by Bayer and CropLife;
* a professor who wants to commercialise GM alfalfa in Canada;
* a professor who works in the field of genetic engineering. GMWatch Gene-edited teff deregulated in US: Five reasons to worry Last month, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) concluded that a gene-edited variety of teff would not be subject to its biotechnology regulation, writes Million Belay. Scientists behind the new semi-dwarf version of the grain celebrated the decision. They say their gene-edited teff is shorter than traditional varieties and will reduce “lodging” (falling over), cutting yield losses by up to 25%. According to the plan, researchers from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and regulators from Ethiopia’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will travel to the US, where the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre (DDPSC) is conducting tests. They will examine the performance of the crop and discuss the transfer of the technology. Once in Ethiopia, it is unclear if the gene-edited teff would be subject to the Ethiopian Biosafety Proclamation or if it would avoid biosafety regulation, as it has in the US. Million Belay lists five reasons to be concerned about the gene-edited teff, including safety, ownership, and climate implications. African Arguments US: Lawsuit launched over federal failure to protect manatees The Center for Biological Diversity and others have sent a notice of intent to sue the US Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect the West Indian manatee under the Endangered Species Act. The legal notice follows conservationists’ petition urging the Service to reclassify the species from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Service was required by law to determine within 90 days whether the petition presents information indicating that uplisting the manatee may be warranted. It has now been more than 150 days with no finding. Since the Service prematurely reduced protections in 2017, the species has declined dramatically. Pollution-fuelled algae blooms sparked an ongoing mortality event that killed nearly 2,000 manatees in the past two years. This represents more than 20% of all manatees in Florida. A recent study also found more than half of sampled Florida manatees are chronically exposed to glyphosate, a herbicide applied to sugarcane and aquatic weeds. Center for Biological Diversity COVID: US intelligence agencies have not ruled out a lab manipulated virus A handful of scientists and pundits have created an online racket, alleging that US intelligence agencies unanimously agree that if the pandemic started from a lab leak, it was nonetheless a virus found in nature that researchers did not genetically manipulate. But these claims are false—semantic sorcery deployed to distract over the origins of the pandemic, and build off claims by Anthony Fauci who attempted to redefine a lab accident as a “natural occurrence”, writes David Robertson. “All of the intelligence groups agree that this was not an engineered virus,” Anthony Fauci told journalist David Wallace-Wells, in an interview with the Fauci-friendly New York Times. “If it wasn’t an engineered virus,” Fauci continued, “somebody went out into the field, got infected, came back to the lab and then spread it out to other people. That ain’t a lab leak, strictly speaking. That’s a natural occurrence.” To his credit, Wallace-Wells pushed back, pointing out that it is not true that all agencies have dismissed the possibility that scientists engineered the virus. While agencies have ruled out the likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 being a bioweapon, the reporter noted, they have not “ruled out other forms of engineering—direct genetic interventions or serial passage of viruses". The Disinformation Chronicle We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible by readers’ donations. Please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org
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