02/October/20

 

In 2017 vast tracts of GM Bt cotton in Maharashtra in India fell victim to the very pests it was engineered to kill, leading to desperate farmers spraying toxic pesticides to try and save their crop. As a result, about 800 were poisoned and at least 20 died. Now some of the farmers and their families are suing the pesticide manufacturer Syngenta in Switzerland. GMWatch comment on article in Frontline

 

 

GeneWatch UK has submitted an objection to a petition to the USDA to deregulate GM American Chestnut trees, which are intended to be resistant to chestnut blight. Some main points from the objection are:
* The Petition is premature, due to lack of any long-term data and the many significant gaps in the data that is available.
* The GM American Chestnut trees can act as a reservoir for blight, posing a serious risk of infection to native and commercially planted trees, i.e. a plant pest risk.
* The applicants have not established whether the GM trees will show long-term blight tolerance or be able to survive and grow to canopy trees; however, poorly growing (or dying/dead) GM trees will still pose a plant pest risk and may remain part of ecosystems for centuries.
* Numerous long-term ecological risks have not been assessed.
* GM chestnuts will find their way into the food chain, but no food safety assessment has been made and the GM chestnuts will be unlabelled and untraceable. [GMW: TAKE ACTION – Submit your own comments to the USDA here.] GeneWatch UK

 

 

Shares in Bayer plunged 11% after it flagged that adjusted profit may slip next year and it may have to write down the value of agriculture assets by close to 10 billion euros ($11.7 billion). “Since Monsanto was acquired, Bayer has delivered its basket of bad news every year and it is clear now that the group will not deliver the revenue growth expected at the time of this acquisition,” said Jean-Jacques Le Fur, an analyst at brokerage Bryan Garnier. Reuters

 

 

The Agriculture Bill will be back in the House of Commons in October so take action NOW to protect food standards and ensure the Bill will help farmers to tackle the climate emergency. [GMW: Don’t forget to mention your concerns about GMOs – something that SUSTAIN doesn't mention but we know many people are worried about.] SUSTAIN