News
2023-05-25 | permalink
CRISPR mustard greens for the US
Pairwise to sell mustard greens as salad leaves
The biotech company, Pairwise, has announced that it will soon bring mustard greens produced using new genetic engineering (New GE) techniques to the US market. The plants are genetically engineered with the aim of making the leaves less pungent, and the company has also applied for a patent (WO2021030738). According to a 2022 publication, New GE was used to alter 17 genes in the plant genome in parallel.
testbiotech: CRISPR mustard greens for the US2023-05-25 | permalink
USA: What's up with fake meat?
Meat Substitutes and Health
"Plant-based meat alternatives are not created equal," agrees Mark Hyman, MD, founder of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Functional Medicine. A whole-food organic mushroom or lentil burger is good for you, he notes, but "a highly processed GMO soy burger with 110 times the glyphosate needed to harm your microbiome? Maybe not."
Not only does the glyphosate used on GMO soy appear to harm the gut microbiome, it's been deemed a likely carcinogen by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. Research also suggests that glyphosate can trouble our endocrine systems.
Newer meat substitutes contain other dicey ingredients. "[A popular fake burger] contains pea-protein isolate, which is a processed pea protein, so it is stripped of many nutrients," says functional-medicine practitioner Liz Lipski, PhD, CNS, LDN. "The canola oil doesn't state that it's organic, which means it is GMO."
2023-05-25 | permalink
Kenya: Blow to Government as Court Stops Importation of GMO Food, Crops
Justices Mohammed Warsame, Ali Abida Aroni and John Mativo said the application by the government lacked merit
The state had suffered a similar fate at the High Court before seeking redress at the Court of Appeal
Litigants opposed to the government bid include lawyer Paul Mwangi, Kenya Peasants League, and Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya
2023-05-22 | permalink
Unmasking new GMOs: protecting the right to transparency
As the European Commission gets ready to unveil its new proposal to widely deregulate the new generation of genetically modified organisms (new GMOs) or so-called New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), the debate is heating up.
So far discussions mainly focus on how risky or safe new GMOs are, or could be. However, the question that is at least as important for farmers, food processors, food retail and consumers, is that of how new GMOs must be labelled.
Friends of the Earth Europe: Unmasking new GMOs: protecting the right to transparency2023-02-16 | permalink
CEPA (Bill S-5): Enviro Committee reverses Senate decisions on genetic pollution
Unceded Algonquin Territory – Ottawa, ON – February 16, 2023
Today Liberal and Conservative members of the House of Commons Environment Committee voted to remove Senate amendments requiring meaningful public participation in assessments of genetically engineered (GE) animals and an evaluation of whether there is a ‘demonstrable need’ for such an organism.
“We are dismayed that the government and official opposition have blocked strong, clear guidelines for meaningful public participation, which is a foundational part of any review and approval process in a democracy,” says Mark Butler, Senior Advisor with Nature Canada. “We are concerned at the overly pro-industry stance being taken by government MPs, which is not coherent with strong government commitments to protect Nature and the public interest.”
