As health officials predicted, the Zika virus is beginning to spread across south Florida, and now a type of genetically modified (GM) mosquito designed to fight the virus has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). [1]
Soybean fields in parts of Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee are plagued by “superweeds” that have become resistant to glyphosate, the main ingredient in biotech company’s Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide. Farmers are now dousing the plants with illegal chemicals to try and kill the rogue weeds.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials said last week that an unapproved variety of wheat was found growing in a Washington state field, though there are no signs that it made its way into commercial grain shipments.
The Monsanto-produced wheat is a RoundUp-resistant variety that was never commercially released. USDA officials said it was discovered in a farmer’s planted field. Department officials are in the process of testing the farmer’s wheat harvest for the GMO variety, but so far none has been found.
The government isn’t particularly interested in making sure Americans know what they’re eating. It seems like knowing what is in the food should be a basic right, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, last week Congress passed a federal requirement for labeling products containing genetically modified ingredients that signifies a big win for food companies.
The same technological advances that brought us the Internet are about to change farming forever, though some say it’s a bittersweet way to make sure the world gets its organic produce on schedule.
The technologies used for the old-paradigm mono-crop are getting more high-tech than ever, but will this affect the slow-food movement, and the desire of consumers to access high quality, non-GM, organic food from their farmer down the lane?
An agricultural, biotech giant, Monsanto has become ‘more vulnerable than ever,’ largely due to having an unnaturally-intense poor public image. In recent times, the company has seen successive stock drops and weaker sales of its biotech-created corn and the best-selling herbicide, Roundup. The company had to report falling profits again and again, slashing jobs.
On Monday and Tuesday, 150 members of the European Parliament (MEP) donated urine samples to find out if they have glyphosate in their systems. The screening comes ahead of a symbolic vote in the European Union that is scheduled for Wednesday, April 12, on whether to re-license the RoundUp chemical for another 15 years. [1]
Researchers in China claim they have successfully added mutations to human embryos which make them HIV-proof.
Biotech giant Monsanto reported multiple profit-plummets in 2015 relating to sales for both its genetically modified crop creations and its best-selling herbicide, Roundup. Once again, Monsanto has reported declining profits for the fiscal second-quarter earnings – by 25%.
Bayer, notorious for harming pollinating insects with its neonicotinoid pesticides, is registering a new GM canola that will be tolerant to two health-destroying chemicals, glufosinate and glyphosate. The new GM canola strain was developed to be tolerant to a double-dose of herbicides that have been documented to cause birth defects, neuro-degeneration, cancer, endocrine disruption, and autism-like symptoms.
