| | 04/October/22
| | Gene-edited crops pioneer Calyxt crashes, giving the lie to deregulation claims As governments around the world are lobbied by industry with claims gene editing can deliver rapid solutions to our food and farming problems but just need deregulation, Calyxt, the company that pioneered gene-edited crops in the lax regulatory environment of the US, is considering selling its assets amid plummeting revenues and share prices. Calyxt was the first to market gene-edited soybeans in 2019. The beans are genetically engineered to produce high oleic oil. According to an investment magazine, “the company disappointed investors with delayed product launches and slow growth”, contradicting its business model that claims “a speedy development cycle using novel gene-editing technologies”. Adoption by farmers of the gene-edited soybeans has been slow, being “hindered by lower crop yields, an issue seen in other genetically engineered soybean seeds,” according to the investment report. This failure – along with other examples – fatally undermines the GMO lobby’s claims that gene editing can rapidly bring desirable new crops to market. GMWatch European Commission’s biased road to deregulation of new GMOs Forty organisations, including GMWatch, have sent a letter to EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides to express serious concerns over the way in which the Directorate-General for Health (DG SANTE) is organising the impact assessment on new GMOs – new genomic techniques (NGTs) – and in particular, the consultations that will feed into the assessment. The outcome of this assessment could have far-reaching impacts on consumer choice, food safety, organic and conventional farming, and the environment. The letter especially highlights the fatal errors in the targeted survey on NGTs, in which most of the signatories have been invited to participate, and that made it impossible for many NGOs to answer. GMWatch Three northern Ontario First Nations take legal action against province over glyphosate spraying of forest, other abuses A group of First Nations in northern Ontario are taking the provincial government to court over the degradation of the boreal forest in their traditional territories. The Chapleau Cree First Nation, Missanabie Cree First Nation, and Brunswick House First Nation launched legal action in court to stop the provincial government spraying the forest with glyphosate herbicide, alongside other abuses. CTV News Northern Ontario Why is the US government giving more money to Peter Daszak? A familiar COVID-19-related name is back in the news. The NGO run by Peter Daszak has been granted another $600,000 by Anthony Fauci’s agency, NIAID. This, to say the least, has raised eyebrows. It’s hard to overstate the role Daszak has played in pandemic-related issues. His EcoHealth Alliance is the organisation responsible for funnelling hundreds of thousands of dollars, sourced from US government grants, to the now infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology, considered by many to be the likely source of the pandemic. Unherd/The Post We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible by readers’ donations. Please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org
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