Big Ag Hits Back After EPA Says Top Herbicides Driving Vulnerable Species Toward Extinction
by Brett Wilkins, November 22, 2021
As Big Ag fumed over a U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA) deter- mination that herbicides including the endocrine-disrupting atrazine and carcin- ogenic glyphosate are likely to harm more than 1,600 protected plant and animal species, environmentalists pointed to the agency’s findings as proof of the need for stricter limits on the use of the dangerous poisons.
After decades of refusing to comply with its obligations under the Endangered Species Act, the EPA on Nov.12 released its final biological evaluations for atrazine, glyphosate and simazine in order to comply with a 2016 legal agreement with the advocacy groups Center for Biological Diversity and Pesticide Action Network.
The EPA evaluations concluded that the chemicals are likely to adversely affect 1,676 animals and plants on the federal threatened or endangered species lists.
CRISPR gene editing causes whole chromosome loss
by GMWatch, November 19, 2021
In another of a long line of studies showing unintended effects of gene editing, the CRISPR-Cas gene editing tool has been found to cause the loss of whole chromosomes and genomic instability in mouse embryos.
The finding is yet another nail in the coffin for human germline (heritable) gene editing with CRISPR, though there are plenty of people who persist in advocating it. The study comes hot on the heels of another, which found that editing human cells with CRISPR caused chromothripsis, an extremely damaging form of genomic rearrangement that results from the shattering of individual chromosomes and the subsequent rejoining of the pieces in a haphazard order.
The soya curse: Is Ukraine facing the same fate as the Amazon?
by Hans Wetzels, October 12 2021
"GM seeds must have been smuggled into the country, because it is not permitted to grow genetically modified soya in Ukraine." Volodymyr Onatskyi runs a small company selling manure and seeds to farmers in eastern Ukraine. He is increasingly worried about the pace with which big conglomerates are buying up fertile land in the country, depleting soils and polluting fresh water sources by their massive use of chemicals.
Villagers also believe the big farms are illegally planting genetically modified (GM) soya. "The big companies plant them anyway, and in the process contaminate the fields of conventional farmers. That’s what people around here suspect, at least. Because finding out what’s really going on is often very difficult in a country like Ukraine," Onatskyi said.
Monsanto Papers Expose Dangerous Impact Of Roundup & Four States Ban Fracking Near Delaware River
by The Ring of Fire, November 10, 2021
Via America’s Lawyer: Bayer pledges another $2 billion to settle future lawsuits over the cancer-causing weedkiller Roundup. This is in addition to the $10 billion already dedicated to settling existing lawsuits, which number over 100,000. Investigative journalist and author of "The Monsanto Papers" Carey Gillam joins Mike Papantonio to share her personal experience throughout the Bayer-Monsanto debacle, built upon a decades-long cover-up by researchers who downplayed the dangers of their hallmark product. Also, a four-state agency declares a ban on fracking along the Delaware River. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.
A poisoned arrow for Food and Climate Policy
ETC Group, November 2, 2021
Biden and UAE set ‘Net Zero trap’ at COP26 with ‘AIM for Climate’ launch
AIM for Climate (AIM4C) is a deliberate ploy to reframe industrial agriculture and big tech as climate change heroes rather than the climate change villains that they actually are.
Today’s launch of the new ‘AIM for Climate’ initiative by President Joe Biden and the United Arab Emirates, supported by the UK Government and others, at the World Leaders Summit innovation event, is deliberately intended to reframe agribusiness and tech corporations as part of the solution to climate change, thereby propping up industrial agriculture. It comes as Ag giants such as Bayer, John Deere and Cargill are reinventing themselves as ‘ag-tech’. Big data companies like Microsoft and Amazon’s AWS are also moving rapidly into the digital agriculture frame.
The ‘Net Zero’ trap, which is today challenged by over 700 civil society organisations in Glasgow and around the world, is the icing on the cake for a new pitch being made by Big Ag and Big Tech. By presenting AIM4C as a new and 'game-changing solution' to climate change and the future of food they aim to win carbon credits, even for what looks set to be an energy-hungry and seemingly farmer-free form of food production, enabling it to also continue using fossil fuels. The path laid out by AIM4C will distract and delay real climate action, pushing investment in entirely the wrong direction.
Scientists find yet more genetic errors from CRISPR gene editing
GMWatch, November 6, 2021
Large structural changes were detected at on-target and off-target sites of the genome; researchers call for better screening for unintended effects
Scientists at the University of Uppsala have found that CRISPR-Cas gene editing in zebrafish caused large structural changes at on-target and off-target sites (both at the intended edit site and elsewhere in the genome). Off-target sites can be very similar to the target site, which means that the "gene scissors" can also cut at these sites and cause specific unintended mutations. The publication, which is currently in pre-print format and has not yet been peer reviewed, shows that major unintended DNA changes are possible.
The latest study adds to a long list of studies showing unintended effects of gene editing, as collected by GMWatch. This list has been recently updated and will be further updated in the coming days.
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As Big Ag fumed over a U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA) deter- mination that herbicides including the endocrine-disrupting atrazine and carcin- ogenic glyphosate are likely to harm more than 1,600 protected plant and animal species, environmentalists pointed to the agency’s findings as proof of the need for stricter limits on the use of the dangerous poisons.
In another of a long line of studies showing unintended effects of gene editing, the CRISPR-Cas gene editing tool has been found to cause the loss of whole chromosomes and genomic instability in mouse embryos.
"GM seeds must have been smuggled into the country, because it is not permitted to grow genetically modified soya in Ukraine." Volodymyr Onatskyi runs a small company selling manure and seeds to farmers in eastern Ukraine. He is increasingly worried about the pace with which big conglomerates are buying up fertile land in the country, depleting soils and polluting fresh water sources by their massive use of chemicals.
AIM for Climate (AIM4C) is a deliberate ploy to reframe industrial agriculture and big tech as climate change heroes rather than the climate change villains that they actually are.
Scientists at the University of Uppsala have found that CRISPR-Cas gene editing in zebrafish caused large structural changes at on-target and off-target sites (both at the intended edit site and elsewhere in the genome). Off-target sites can be very similar to the target site, which means that the "gene scissors" can also cut at these sites and cause specific unintended mutations. The publication, which is currently in pre-print format and has not yet been peer reviewed, shows that major unintended DNA changes are possible.
