New report demands moratorium on gene drives
GMWATCH, September 21, 2021

Agriculture and bioweapons are focus of gene drive research

Enabled by new genetic engineering techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9, so-called gene drives have been developed in recent years that enable humans to spread new genes throughout the genomes of wild animal populations. Gene drives force the inheritance of newly introduced genes to be inherited by all offspring. In the most extreme cases, gene drive technology could drive an entire species to extinction – for example, grey squirrels are a target in the UK – or replace wild populations with genetically modified organisms.

To help the public understand what's at stake, the Germany-based NGO Save Our Seeds (SOS) has published a report, "Gene Drives: The New Dimension of Genetic Engineering", which can be downloaded as a pdf document.

[T]he report ... notes that gene drives could be employed as bioweapons – for example, to eradicate beneficial insects in a region. The report points out, "The US military‘s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is one of the largest funders of gene drive research and is financially involved in almost every gene drive research project."

The report's authors recommend a global moratorium on the release of gene drive organisms.

Read the full story  GMWATCH

Danone Continues to Dump Horizon Farmers
by Cornucopia, September 9, 2021

The news that Danone is terminating 89 milk contracts with its Horizon brand farmers in the Northeast underscores a food system that prioritizes efficiency over resilience.

Danone claims that this move will help the company meet its goal of becoming carbon positive by 2025. This is a farce. Danone sources milk from industrialized operations that produce high concentrations of manure and are likely reliant on feed shipped across the globe. This move will also conveniently cut costs for the French yogurt seller, known as Dannon in the US.

The mass termination of contracts in the Northeast will profoundly impact the regional economy. Farmers are a fulcrum of these communities, helping sustain local veterinarians, feed suppliers, and shops.

The farms themselves, often operated by multiple generations of families, are irreplaceable.

Read the full story  Cornucopia Institute

University Study Validates "importance of revamping the U.S. food system towards a focus on organic practices"
by BN Frank, September 2, 2021

Concerns about pesticides aren’t going away and rightfully so. Earlier this year, the Beyond Pesticides organization updated their research database and also introduced their new Pesticide Topic Submission Portal. More recently, the organi- zation published highlights of a study that substantiates the economic, environmental, and health benefits of transitioning away from "chemical-intensive" farming.

From Beyond Pesticides:

Read the full story  Activist Post

The Sugar and Cancer Connection: Why Sugar Is Called "The White Death"
by Ty Bollinger, August 31, 2021

Truth be told, regular consumption of sugary foods is one of the worst things that you can do for your health. Modern scientific research has shown us, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that sugar in your food (in all its myriad forms) is taking a devastating toll on your health. We’ll explore cancer and sugar further down, but let’s first take a look at the sugar consumption trends over the past 300 years:

• In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 2012, more than 50% of all Americans consumed 1/2 pound of sugar per day – translating to a whopping 180 pounds of sugar per year!

In 1890, only 3 people out of 100,000 had diabetes. In 2012, almost 8,000 out of every 100,000 people was diagnosed with diabetes (and this number is rising all the time)!

Read the full story  Wake Up World