GMWatch News Review archive

GM crops drive monarch butterfly decline

A new census found this winter's population of North American monarch butterflies in Mexico was at the lowest level ever measured. Insect ecologist Orley Taylor places the blame squarely onto Roundup Ready GM crops: "What we're seeing here in the United States is a very precipitous decline of monarchs that's coincident with the adoption of Roundup-ready corn and soybeans." The reason is that Roundup herbicide has eliminated milkweed, the plant that monarch larvae feed on, from corn and soy fields. Read more

A scientific study confirms the findings...PDF

UK supermarkets drop non-GM animal feed

UK supermarkets M&S, Sainsbury’s, Co-Op, and Tesco will no longer require that the farm animals in their supply chains are fed a non-GM diet. In their statements Tesco and the Co-Op misled customers by claiming that the GM feed is not detectable in products like eggs, milk or chicken. This is not true. Studies have found that GM DNA in animal feed can be taken up by animals' organs and can be detected in the milk and meat that people eat.

M&S, Co-Op, and Tesco are also misleading their customers by claiming that non-GM feed isn't available. In Brazil alone, there is enough non-GM soy to supply Europe's animal feed needs.

The quantity of non-GM feed imported into Europe is going up year on year as supermarkets in France and Germany avoid GM feed because their customers don’t want it. The British public also don't want it. A survey found that 70% of consumers don’t trust supermarkets on GM and an FSA survey found 67% of consumers wanted products labelled if they come from animals fed on GM feed.

Waitrose is the only UK supermarket to maintain its non-GM animal feed policy, showing that it can be done. Read more

It's vital that the supermarkets get clear feedback on their change of policy. TAKE ACTION – write to the supermarkets.

Write to your MP.

Plenty of non-GM soy available for China - but not for the UK

The UK retailers' decision to drop their non-GM animal feed policies looks highly suspect in light of a report from Glauber Silveira, the president of Aprosoja, the Brazilian soy producers association. Silveira was reporting on his and Brazilian Senator Blairo Maggi's recent visit to China to discuss China's soy import needs.

Silveira said the Chinese government expressed a preference for non-GM soy, "even if they have to pay more". Silveira and his co-delegates indicated that in the short-term, 10 million tonnes of non-GM soy could be made available from Brazil. Silveira confirmed that future supplies of non-GM soy are not a problem: "After all, we producers will plant what consumers demand."

Silveira's report raises questions about why UK retailers have not bothered to secure their non-GM soy supplies from Brazil in the same way that China is doing. It also raises questions about possible monopoly control of the UK animal feed market by GM interests. Read more

The human cost of GM soy

A harrowing video report from Aljazeera makes clear that the GM soy that UK supermarkets have allowed into their supply chain comes at the cost of massive human suffering.

Also check out these videos about how GM soy production has caused not just serious health problems but major environmental devastation.

Nearly 1.5 million objections to GM salmon filed with FDA

Nearly 1.5 million people have raised vehement objections, based on science, policy and law, to a proposal before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve GM salmon, the first ever GM animal intended for human consumption. The comment period ends Friday 26 April at midnight. The close of the comment period comes as documents disclosed through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request raise serious questions about the adequacy of the FDA’s review of the AquAdvantage salmon application. Among other things, while the FDA has refused to look at the environmental impacts of these GM fish beyond the Canadian and Panamanian facilities proposed in the application, it appears that US Fish and Wildlife Service has already received requests to import AquAdvantage Salmon eggs into the US for commercial production. Read more

TAKE ACTION (international) - Say NO to GM salmon: Read more

Indian government betrays the nation on Earth Day

The Indian Government has been condemned for sneaking into Parliament the controversial Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) bill, despite strong opposition from parliamentarians, scientists, civil society groups and other analysts. The bill, dubbed the “wrong bill by the wrong people for wrong reasons”, was introduced on 22 April, Earth Day. The bill would create a single-window clearing house for GMOs that ignores vital issues of biosafety and human and animal health. It violates India's constitution by overriding the authority of state governments on agriculture and attempts to circumvent the right to information and transparency laws. Read more

TAKE ACTION (international) - Stop the BRAI bill: Read more

"Raised without GMO" label comes to UK

The successful German government-backed "Ohne GenTechnik" (raised without genetic engineering) certification is now available for British producers and retailers who want to show consumers that their products come from animals fed a GM-free diet. Read more

Problems in salmon fed GM Bt maize

A feeding trial in salmon with Monsanto's GM Bt maize MON810 reveals less efficient feed utilisation, higher intestinal weight, and localised immune response in the intestine in the GM-fed fish. At least the first finding should be of interest to the fish farming industry, as it will affect the industry's profitability. Read more

Glyphosate may contribute to modern diseases - new paper

According to a new peer-reviewed review of the scientific literature, glyphosate-based herbicides may be contributing to the modern diseases that have reached epidemic proportions in recent decades. These diseases include inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, cancer, infertility, and birth defects. Read more

Lobbywatch: Science Media Centre exposed for censorship

A group of scientists is questioning the impartiality of the Science Media Centre of New Zealand on GM after the SMC was found to be selectively using scientific opinion. This practice violates the SMC's own terms of reference, which require it to be "bias-free".

In response to the publication of a peer-reviewed paper by Jack Heinemann, Sarah Agapito-Tenfen, and Judy Carman on regulators' mishandling of the risk assessment of new kinds of GM crops and products, the SMC published harsh criticisms of the paper by two Australian scientists.

The SMC did not reveal that one of the scientists, Peter Langridge, had a conflict of interest with DuPont, which develops crop plants that were the subject of the peer-reviewed study by Heinemann and colleagues. The other scientist, David Tribe, has a long history of writing blogs and running a pro-GM industry campaign.

The SMC also refused to publish letters from scientists who supported the study. Read more

Risks of dsRNA-type GMOs

Jack Heinemann and co-authors explain the risks of new-type dsRNA (double-stranded RNA) GMOs in an article for lay people. Read more

Troubled times at CSIRO

Disgruntled scientists claim the independence and therefore credibility of Australia's peak scientific body CSIRO is threatened by government and industry interference. They say CSIRO has largely jettisoned pure science and has become "a research arm of industry" and government. They also say is a toxic workplace where bullying is rife and outrageous behaviour by some managers has been ignored. Read more

Hunger games - new report

The UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) is using the aid budget to tighten the corporate stranglehold over the global food system. This report reveals how DFID has been using hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money with the express purpose of extending the power of agribusiness over the production of food, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. While this will increase the profits of corporate giants such as Monsanto, Unilever and Syngenta, it threatens to disempower small farmers and rural communities and condemn them to long-term poverty. Read more

Dietitican flags up Monsanto conflicts of interest in panel members - then SHE's made to leave

A dietitian working on a panel charged with setting policy on GM foods for the influential Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says she was removed for pointing out that two of its members had ties to Monsanto. Read more