| | 22/May/25
| India: Government illegally evicted environmental campaigner Aruna Rodrigues, court says GMWatch has received the good news that the environmental campaigner Aruna Rodrigues, who was forcibly evicted from her home by weapons-touting Indian army personnel just before Christmas in 2022, has won her case against the Indian government in court. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Indore ruled that the government's actions in evicting Aruna and taking possession of her house were illegal. In the strongly worded ruling, the judge said: "The manner in which the defendants [the government] have taken possession of the disputed property is wholly illegal and defies all canons of law." The court ordered the government to return to Aruna the keys to her home by 31 June.
Many will know Aruna as the initiator of the court case that stayed the rollout of GM mustard in India. Her supporters said that as the lead petitioner in the Indian Supreme Court case against GMOs, Aruna had been a target of attack by the State for some time and they suspected this was a crude attempt to disempower her by the Indian government. More information here. Personal communication; no link in header Is the "Monsanto effect" now looming in animal breeding? The animal breeding company Genus has received permission to market pigs developed with new genetic engineering techniques (NGTs) to make them resistant to viruses. The CRISPR-edited pigs are said to be resistant to an RNA virus, i.e. PRRSV, which causes the ‘reproductive and respiratory syndrome’ and is a particular problem for large piglet fattening farms. Genus and its cooperation partners have applied for several patents claiming the pigs, one of which was granted in Europe last year. PPRS virus causes considerable problems in the pig fattening industry. Specifically, the virus enters and infects cells of the pigs via the CD163 receptor on immune cells. The newly developed CRISPR pigs are genetically engineered in such a way that the immune cells no longer produce the necessary proteins. Genus is already considered one of the largest companies in the animal breeding sector. With the new patented, virus-resistant pigs, it could considerably expand its dominance, thus possibly creating a situation similar to that in the transgenic plant market, which was for a long time dominated by the US company, Monsanto. Testbiotech Pesticide makers continue quest for immunity from lawsuits by sick farmers Ray Bickel spent over a decade driving a truck through giant corn and soybean fields in Iowa, applying pesticides. In 2017 he had a heart attack. The doctors ran tests to find out what caused it and found something else. “He was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which is blood and bone marrow cancer. And he was diagnosed with stage three rectal cancer,” his wife said. Doctors suggested it could be because of his years working with Roundup herbicide. Now he is one of many farmers suing the maker, Monsanto, which is owned by Bayer. In recent years, Bayer has faced approximately 181,000 lawsuits claiming that glyphosate herbicide causes cancer. To combat the onslaught of litigation, Bayer has been pushing legislation in nine states, including Iowa and Missouri, that would shield the company from liability. The New Lede Scientists propose novel way of treating mosquitoes for malaria Mosquitoes should be given malaria drugs to clear their infection so they can no longer spread the disease, say US researchers. Malaria parasites, which kill nearly 600,000 people a year, mostly children, are spread by female mosquitoes when they drink blood. Current efforts aim to kill mosquitoes with insecticide rather than curing them of malaria. But a team at Harvard University has found a pair of drugs which can successfully rid the insects of malaria when absorbed through their legs. Coating bed nets in the drug cocktail is the long-term aim. [GMW: This approach seems to be an alternative to GM gene drives and GM mosquitoes, though the drugs in question would need to be risk assessed for this use.] BBC News We hope you’ve found this newsletter interesting. It was made possible by GMWatch supporters. To become one, please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org
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