You Don't Matter to Congress. But Monsanto Does.

275 members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 1599, the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act. By voting for the DARK Act, these politicians voted against truth and transparency, against science, against the more than century-old right of states to legislate on matters relating to food safety and labeling.

They voted against the 90-percent of Americans who are in favor of mandatory labeling of GMOs. They voted against the producers of non-GMO foods.

They voted against you.

Stop the toxic soybeans! Support our call!

Testbiotech, 23 July 2015

Testbiotech is warning that EU market authorisation might be given to a new genetically engineered soybean produced by Monsanto. Soybean MON 87708 × MON 89788 was made resistant to two pesticides, glyphosate and dicamba. Spraying soybean crops with these herbicides leaves residues in the plants which might be carcinogenic. Glyphosate was recently classified as “probably carcinogenic” by an international expert group. Dicamba degrades to compounds such as formaldehyde, which has already been classified as carcinogenic for several years. It follows that the harvested soybeans will regularly contain a combination of residues from these herbicides. If they are imported, the food and feed chain could be permanently exposed to this specific mixture.

This is the first time that this combination of herbicides will be used to spray soybeans.

New plant breeding techniques, such as those involving site-directed or sequence-specific modifications to the genomes of crop species, have emerged as a group that is different from conventional breeding and standard genetic modification. Current international biosafety regulations for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) may not be applicable to all novel products arising from these new techniques, giving rise to the concern on how to assess, monitor and regulate them properly.

A report by GenØk–Centre for Biosafety, Norway, reviews the potential applications and knowledge gaps related to two new plant breeding techniques, site directed nucleases (SDN) and oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis (ODM). The aim is to both create a historical record of the emergence of these technologies and to serve as a case study in how ‘early warnings’ may be incorporated into risk assessments of new technologies.

Genetic engineering of soy disrupts the plant's natural ability to control stress, and invalidates the FDA's current regulatory framework of "substantial equivalence."

A new study published today in the peer-reviewed journal Agricultural Sciences reveals genetic engineering of soy disrupts the plant's natural ability to control stress, and invalidates the FDA's current regulatory framework of "substantial equivalence" used for approval of genetically engineered food (GMOs).

When Congress votes this week on legislation to block GMO labeling, far more will be hanging in the balance than the simple question of whether consumers will be allowed to know whether their food was produced with a novel – and still largely unproven – technology.

Much broader principles are at stake.

One is whether consumers have the right to use their food dollars in ways that reflect their values.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Rocker Neil Young is lending his support to the state’s efforts to label foods containing genetically modified ingredients.

Young, who performed in concert Sunday at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, appeared earlier with Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin and donated $100,000 to a fund devoted to defending Vermont’s genetically modified organism, or GMO, labeling law from legal challenges.

The Soil Association is calling for a UK ban on the use of Glyphosate sprayed on UK wheat as a pre-harvest weedkiller and its use to kill the crop to ripen it faster. New figures analysed by the Soil Association from government data were released at a scientific briefing in London on July 15 2015. This revealed Glyphosate use in UK farming has increased by 400 per cent in the last 20 years and it’s one of the three pesticides regularly found in routine testing of British bread - appearing in up to 30 per cent of samples tested by the Defra committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF).

The Government is being accused of "legislation by stealth" following the release of a policy that would see teeth knocked out of local protection against genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Northland councils are engaged in a court battle to shield their districts from the risks of GMOs.

But the proposed National Environment Standard on Plantation Forestry (NES-PF) would loosen restrictions on genetically modified pine trees and force councils to remove wording around GMO trees from their policies and plan changes.

Whangarei District Council, Far North District Council and Northland Regional Council are among those that have moved to use the Resource Management Act to put restrictions on the release of GMOs, further to those provided under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act.

The NES-PF would see councils lose the right to use their Resource Management Act powers to restrict the planting of GE trees.

BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotech 2015

BIO is the world's largest biotechnology industry lobby group. In June 2015, BIO changed its name from the Biotechnology Industry Association to the Biotechnology Innovation Association. In 2012, BIO spent $65 million dollars on its activities. BIO members include three of the six largest biotech, seed and pesticide companies in the world: Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences, BASF.

The BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology is in Montreal July 19-22 and is a platform for the development and promotion of biofuels and biomass including the use of synthetic biology.

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Companies have big plans for our future – but are corporate solutions real solutions? Genetic engineering including new technologies like synthetic biology threaten to commodify every living organism, replace livelihoods and put our environment at risk.

A draft EU law that would enable any member state to restrict or prohibit the use of EU-approved GMO food or feed on its territory was strongly opposed by MEPs from all political groups in a debate on Wednesday. Members were concerned that the draft did not include an impact assessment, that member state measures might not be compatible with single market or WTO rules and that the proposal might prove unworkable.

“There is a clear majority in the European Parliament against this proposal” said Environment Committee chair Giovanni La Via (EPP, IT), whose draft report recommends rejecting the draft legislation. “There is no impact assessment around this draft, and we believe that this was not the best proposal possible” he said.

“This proposal is in conflict with the principles of “better regulation” and transparency which the new European Commission has taken on (…) After so many years we have spent on getting rid of internal barriers, this proposal could fragment the internal market and lead to border inspections, and we all worked to get rid of those, back in the day”

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Next steps

The Environment Committee will vote on the proposal on 12-13 October. The file will then be put to a vote by Parliament as a whole at the 26-29 October plenary session in Strasbourg.