| EU Committee adopts highly critical report on new GMOs The NAT Commission for Natural Resources in the Committee of the Regions — an advisory body representing the interests of regional and local authorities in the EU — today adopted a highly critical draft report on new GMOs/NGTs. The rapporteur in charge, Erik Konczer, has made a little video talking about it. He says, "New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) are GMO with almost no regulation. And there are no data on the impact of NGTs on biodiversity, health, or environment. What's at stake? Your choice. Your freedom of choice if you are a consumer, a farmer or a territory. We need traceability. Therefore, we need labelling from farm to fork. And therefore we need to get the right for regions and countries to say, 'I don't want NGTs in my territory'... We need time to regulate. The future of our agriculture is at stake." You can download the draft report here and there's more information from the NAT Commission here. GMWatch on Twitter/X @GMWatch South Africa: Game-changer for regulation of genome editing and new tech The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) welcomes the final decision taken by the South African Minister of Agriculture Ms Thoko Didiza, to uphold the October 2021 decision of the Executive Council (EC) that the risk assessment framework existing for GMOs will also apply to new breeding techniques (NBTs). These NBTs make up a host of new genetic engineering technologies. In a double blow, the Minister’s decision rejects the challenge by a powerful consortium of agricultural industry actors, under the aegis of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (AGBIZ), which comprises the South African National Seed Organisation (SANSOR) and CropLife, against the decision of the EC in terms of section 19 of the GMO Act, in November 2021. It further also rejects the findings of an Appeal Board, whose membership is secret – constituted by the Minister in terms of the GMO Act – which found in favour of the flimsy and tenuous arguments of the industry. [GMW: This is particularly significant because South Africa has long been the industry beachhead for pushing GMOs onto the rest of Africa.] ACB via GMWatch Japan: CRISPR tomatoes now on the shelves The first CRISPR tomatoes are now on the shelves in Japan, reports Testbiotech. The "GABA tomato" was developed with new genetic engineering techniques (NGTs). This is shown by photo just recently taken in a supermarket in the Tokyo region. According to the information on the packages, the tomatoes will lower blood pressure, relieve mental stress and improve sleep quality. Experts are doubting that the consumption of the fruits goes along with such effects. At the same time, according to the Japanese functional food register, the consumption of the tomatoes is not recommended for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and small children. Tomatoes like this could soon be available in supermarkets in Europe as well, without detailed risk assessment and labelling. Testbiotech via GMWatch Hungarian ag minister: GMO contaminated Ukrainian seed seized Officials of Hungary's National Food Chain Safety Office (Nebih) seized nearly 40 tonnes of GMO-contaminated maize seed originating from Ukraine in January, the minster of agriculture said. Istvan Nagy said on Facebook that the government would continue to protect Hungary's food security and the interests of Hungarian farmers. The goal remains to ensure that Hungarians only receive excellent quality and safe food, he said. As a result, Nebih will perform regular checks. The Budapest Times French insurance companies slam EU re-authorisation of glyphosate as repeat of asbestos scandal In the light of the re-authorisation of glyphosate in the EU, the leaders of forty French mutual insurance companies have spoken out in Le Monde about the danger of repeating with pesticides the same costly mistakes that were made with asbestos. The insurers say something the asbestos and pesticide tragedies have in common is the lack of transparency from manufacturers who know that their products kill. They cite Monsanto blocking publication of a research report showing the genotoxicity of glyphosate-based herbicides. They write, "How can we explain that toxic pesticides are still used when occupational diseases (prostate and blood cancers, Parkinson's disease) linked to pesticides are recognised and compensated by Social Security? This lack of consistency in public health was also the case with asbestos." Le Monde via GMWatch on Twitter/X @GMWatch Negligence by experts in the early response to COVID-19 - Journal of Medical Ethics blog A blog post by Hideki Kakeya of the University of Tsukuba on the BMJ's Journal of Medical Ethics site condemns virologists who have been heavily funded for the purpose of pandemic prediction and preparedness, like the USAID-funded PREDICT project, yet did not immediately share their knowledge that SARS-CoV-2 had a great risk of pandemic with its anomalous adaptation to human infections, possibly acquired through serial passage in the laboratory. The author says, "They are accountable for their cover-up... (V)irology research... should be carried out by a new generation of open-minded researchers. The virologists who have conspired to cover-up critical information must be removed from the academic community." The author also discusses the public denial of the lab leak origin theory by virologists who privately stated that a lab leak origin was plausible or even likely. BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics COVID-19: The dumbest Snopes "fact-check" of all time? At least five Snopes “fact-checkers”, including the founder of “the definitive fact-checking” site, pushed disinformation that the COVID-19 pandemic could not have possibly originated from a lab. Astonishingly, even though all the false “fact-checks” are still up on Snopes without correction, one Snopes “fact-checker”, David Emery, tried to claim in a thread with comedian Adam Carolla that “Snopes didn’t say the lab leak theory couldn’t be true.” The Orf Report 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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