May 2019
Earlier this year, a story appeared in Le Monde newspaper entitled "GMO poisons? The real end of the Séralini affair". Le Monde implied that a newly published study, pithily named 'GMO90+', disproved Séralini's controversial experimental results, and showed that the alarm generated by media reports on Séralini's work was fake news.
Somewhat different crops for Africa
May 2019
The WEMA project to provide 'Water Efficient Maize for Africa' is a public-private partnership co-ordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, and involving among others, agribusiness multinational Bayer-Monsanto, and national research systems in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and most recently Ethiopia. It is largely funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffet Foundations, and USAID. (African Centre for Biodiversity)
The US government / Gates Foundation project to provide 'Water Efficient Maize for Africa' (WEMA) is hitting some rocks.
The WEMA project to provide 'Water Efficient Maize for Africa' is a public-private partnership co-ordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, and involving among others, agribusiness multinational Bayer-Monsanto, and national research systems in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and most recently Ethiopia. It is largely funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffet Foundations, and USAID. (African Centre for Biodiversity)
The US government / Gates Foundation project to provide 'Water Efficient Maize for Africa' (WEMA) is hitting some rocks.
Bullet-proof bees
May 2019
People need bees to produce over 80% of their food. Bees need flowers to produce 100% of their food. The people, the bees and the flowering plants all have to be in the right place at the right time, or none will survive.
Paradoxically, modern man seems to have gone out of his way to make life impossible for the insects he depends on.
People need bees to produce over 80% of their food. Bees need flowers to produce 100% of their food. The people, the bees and the flowering plants all have to be in the right place at the right time, or none will survive.
Paradoxically, modern man seems to have gone out of his way to make life impossible for the insects he depends on.
Roundup on trial
May 2019
Monsanto has spent four decades manipulating the science, the regulators, the media, and patent law in pursuit of profit from its blockbuster glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup [1]. When the Roundup-causes-cancer scare reared up, Monsanto seemed confident it could manipulate that too. Bayer, a company well used to handling litigation over harmful products [3], also seemed confident it could ride out the storm, and proceeded with its acquisition of Monsanto despite the impending law suits.
It's interesting to see what's been unfolding in the American courts, where two glyphosate-based cancer cases have so far been judged (although the appeals will no doubt stretch out for some time to come).
Monsanto has spent four decades manipulating the science, the regulators, the media, and patent law in pursuit of profit from its blockbuster glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup [1]. When the Roundup-causes-cancer scare reared up, Monsanto seemed confident it could manipulate that too. Bayer, a company well used to handling litigation over harmful products [3], also seemed confident it could ride out the storm, and proceeded with its acquisition of Monsanto despite the impending law suits.
It's interesting to see what's been unfolding in the American courts, where two glyphosate-based cancer cases have so far been judged (although the appeals will no doubt stretch out for some time to come).
Herbicides, GM crops and autism
May 2019
Indications of links between the world's most used, GM-friendly herbicide, glyphosate, and premature death from cancer and Parkinson's disease raise concerns about what we may be inflicting on ourselves in the longer term [1,2].
Do glyphosate-based-herbicides only make their toxic presence felt as we approach old age? What are the chances they cause us damage in the womb and in infancy too?
Many pesticides, including glyphosate, are known to have neurotoxic effects, and increasingly scientific evidence is implicating ambient pesticides as a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder.
Indications of links between the world's most used, GM-friendly herbicide, glyphosate, and premature death from cancer and Parkinson's disease raise concerns about what we may be inflicting on ourselves in the longer term [1,2].
Do glyphosate-based-herbicides only make their toxic presence felt as we approach old age? What are the chances they cause us damage in the womb and in infancy too?
Many pesticides, including glyphosate, are known to have neurotoxic effects, and increasingly scientific evidence is implicating ambient pesticides as a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder.
Glyphosate and parkinsons disease again
May 2019
In 2012, a rat feeding study on the toxic effects of Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant GM maize sprayed with the herbicide was published [1]. During the experiment, an excess of tumours was observed in treated animals. This unwelcome suggestion of a link to cancer caused panic in the biotech lobby and sparked a controversy which just keeps on simmering [2].
In 2012, a rat feeding study on the toxic effects of Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant GM maize sprayed with the herbicide was published [1]. During the experiment, an excess of tumours was observed in treated animals. This unwelcome suggestion of a link to cancer caused panic in the biotech lobby and sparked a controversy which just keeps on simmering [2].
The CRISPR wrecking ball revealed
April 2019
US government information on genome
(gene) editing describes it as a "group of technologies used by
scientists to change an organism's DNA".
The most popular member of this group
is 'Cas9', an enzyme which cuts DNA and can be designed to home in on
a precise location in the genome [1,2]. Recently, a variant of this
enzyme, 'Cas12a', has been developed: this seems to cut in a way that
causes less disturbance at the cut ends of the DNA.
With regard to gene-edited crops, a
team of Chinese scientists took a belated, close look at all
the DNA changes arising in a novel rice model and what part of
the technology caused them.
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