Three key scientific studies that would reveal possible risks to human and environmental health from the use of the herbicide chemical glyphosate have been held back in the name of ‘trade secret protection.”
Some think that with minimal market saturation, GM wheat could become a strong seller in the US, just like genetically modified corn, soy, canola oil, cottonseed, and other GM crops. Monsanto ditched the efforts to develop this particular crop 10 years ago, but has relatively recently begun working to create a new strain of the crop. Why the sudden interest again in GM wheat? [1]
Senator Pat Roberts is taking over where other legislators have left off. He’s been busy trying to push the DARK ACT, a piece of legislation that would halt states from implementing mandatory GMO labeling, on the people with brute force.
After refusing a $47 billion-dollar takeover bid from Monsanto – one of its biggest pesticide production competitors – the Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta AG has agreed to a $43 billion cash buyout by government-owned China National Chemical Corp. Syngenta had rejected an earlier bid of $42 billion.
First the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) deemed glyphosate, the main component in herbicides such as Round Up, a ‘probable carcinogen.’ Then, California’s EPA announced that glyphosate-products would adopt a cancer label. Now, France’s Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) suggests that glyphosate is likely a category 2 carcinogen, meaning it is cancerous to human beings.
The world is in a state of panic over the Zika virus, an infection spreading like wildfire and is believed to cause microcephaly in babies. But Latin American doctors believe something else is causing microcephaly in Brazil: Pyriproxyfen, a pesticide used in that country since 2014 to halt the development of mosquito larvae in drinking water tanks.
John Purcell, Hawaii Business and Technology Lead for Monsanto, the largest genetically engineered seed-producing company in the country, explains in a video why he chose to work for Monsanto.
When speaking of why he went to work for Monsanto, Purcell also said:
“This is a company that has a vision for change in what agriculture is about…this is really something that matters.”
Monsanto just keeps being forced to pay the piper. The mega-corp has lied to consumers about the safety of GM seed and their best-selling herbicide, and now it is being held accountable for stealing from and cheating its investors.
The company will pay an $80 million settlement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a penalty for lying about earnings for glyphosate-riddled herbicide, Round Up. The SEC charges that Monsanto violated accounting rules and misstated company earnings as it pertained to its flagship product.
VICE’s entire third season of its HBO show is now available online for free! The May 2015 episode focuses entirely on genetically modified crops.
In the video, host Isobel Yeung traces GM ‘super-crops’ from the headquarters of American agribusiness titan Monsanto to the soy fields of Paraguay. She also visits the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is financed by Bill Gates and the biotech industry. Seeds are stored there in case of widespread crop disasters.
A controversial fertility treatment requiring 3 genetic parents was recently approved by an elite panel of U.S. scientists and ethicists.
The 12-member panel, assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, released a 164-page report outlining how scientists could ethically carry out such genetic engineering for the purpose of eliminating rare mitochondrial diseases – a process that would exclude girls.
