News
2023-02-10 | permalink
Exclusive: U.S. demands Mexico explain science behind GMO corn ban
WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The new U.S. agriculture trade chief on Thursday told Reuters that he has given Mexico until Feb. 14 to respond to a U.S. request to explain the science behind Mexico's planned bans on genetically modified corn and glyphosate herbicide.
Doug McKalip, the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) new chief agricultural trade negotiator, said that Mexico's response will help the trade agency decide next steps in its quest to resolve a long running dispute over Mexico's biotechnology agricultural policies.
Reuters: Exclusive: U.S. demands Mexico explain science behind GMO corn ban2023-02-08 | permalink
Aquaculture company AquaBounty ditching genetically modified fish in favour of salmon eggs at P.E.I. facility
After just two harvests of genetically modified (GM) salmon from its facility in Prince Edward Island, U.S.-based company AquaBounty is changing up the business model for that location.
While it will continue to raise GM salmon at its Rollo Bay facility, it will focus on salmon broodstock and egg production, the company told SaltWire Network in an email.
2023-02-07 | permalink
AquaBounty to stop producing GM salmon in Canada, as world’s first GM food animal struggles to find a market
February 7, 2023, Charlottetown. In a major turn-around, the US company AquaBounty says it will stop producing its controversial genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) Atlantic salmon in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada.
“This is a huge victory for everyone in PEI and across Canada who protested against this dangerous technology,” said Sharon Labchuk of the coalition GMO Free PEI. “Genetically modified fish are unnecessary and risky.”
AquaBounty has decided it will no longer produce GM fish in Canada, after rasing just two “cohorts” of its GM salmon at their only Canadian production site, on land at Rollo Bay, PEI. This facility was the world’s first purpose-built GM fish factory. The decision was reported in the seafood industry media SeafoodSource, quoting the company’s CEO, Sylvia Wulf.
2023-02-01 | permalink
GMO-using fake meat company Impossible Foods' EU patent revoked
Company's US patents are now being challenged. Report: Claire Robinson
The European Patent Office (EPO) has revoked an EU patent held by Impossible Foods, maker of the Impossible Burger. In the US, Impossible's fake meat products are manufactured with GMO yeast-derived soy leghemoglobin, a controversial ingredient that makes the fake meat look as if it's bleeding, like undercooked real meat, and that we have argued may not be safe to eat.
Following the EPO's decision, another fake meat company, Motif FoodWorks, has filed a suite of new petitions with the US Patent and Trademark Office challenging US patents held by Impossible Foods over the use of heme proteins (such as that present in soy leghemoglobin) in meat alternatives, as it defends itself against Impossible's accusations of patent infringement, according to Food Navigator USA.
2023-01-19 | permalink
VLOG survey: Distinct majority opposes lowering of EU GMO standards
The EU Commission is planning to lower the standards for the approval and labelling of genetically modified plants and food. The German government should not support this, according to a distinct majority in a new VLOG survey.
58 percent of respondents in a representative Civey survey at the beginning of January 2023 opposed the German support for the EU Commission's plans to deregulate genetic engineering, only 25 percent were in favour, and just under 17 percent were undecided.
