On Thursday morning, workers from a British company placed basketball-size cardboard boxes into six yards in the Florida Keys.

Then they added water.

In a week or so, 12,000 male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes will – one by one – begin buzzing out of each box, the first genetically modified mosquitoes to be released in the United States.

SEATTLE—Tomorrow, on Wednesday, April 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear arguments in Center for Food Safety's (CFS) ongoing lawsuit challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of soy leghemoglobin (a.k.a. "heme"), the novel genetically engineered (GE) color additive that makes Impossible Foods' eponymous plant-based burger, the Impossible Burger, appear to "bleed" like real meat. CFS originally filed the lawsuit in March 2020, challenging FDA's safety review of the genetically engineered color additive.

AquaBounty says its first bioengineered salmon will be harvested in March, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to buy.

For decades, Americans have been teased with the impending arrival of genetically engineered salmon. If a boycott campaign continues apace, they may have to wait even longer.

Earlier this month, a coalition of environmentalists and grassroots organizers announced they had successfully pressured Aramark, one of the country’s largest foodservice companies, into agreeing not to sell the salmon, should it become available in the United States.

Insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, collectively known as pesticides, are chemicals that are used in agricultural pest control. Learn about their impacts on the environment and public health.

Our industrial agricultural system relies heavily on pesticides, which control weeds, kill insects and stave off fungi. More than 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides are applied annually to crops in the US, mostly in combination with seeds that are genetically engineered to withstand them. The escalating use of pesticides in recent decades has become a public health hazard, an environmental disaster and has even caused the evolution of “superweeds,” which require increasingly toxic pesticide formulas to kill. Consumers can help reduce the demand for products grown with pesticides by purchasing organic or low-spray produce and by joining organizations fighting against the powerful multi-billion-dollar pesticide industry.

A federal judge in San Francisco ordered the FDA on Thursday to take a new and stronger look at the potential consequences on native salmon if AquaBounty’s fast-growing GMO salmon escaped from fish farms and established itself in the wild. District Judge Vince Chhabria left in place the FDA’s 2015 approval of the salmon, the first genetically modified animal approved for human consumption, while the new research is conducted.

New database launched

The US nonprofit GMO/Toxin Free USA has launched GMOResearch.org, the first-of-its-kind searchable science database of studies and reports on the safety and effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and associated agrochemicals.

GMO Research is the world’s most comprehensive science database on the topic, with over 2,000 studies and journal publications documenting risks and potential and actual harmful effects of GMOs (also known as genetically engineered or bioengineered organisms) and the related pesticides and agrochemicals. The database contains references culled from around the world documenting health effects, environmental impacts, impacts on non-target organisms, resistance of target organisms, pesticide drift damage, genetic contamination, horizontal gene transfer and other unintended effects, as well as references related to crop yields, social impact, ethics and economics.

UNIONVILLE, Conn., October 21, 2020 /CSRwire/ — GMO Free USA dba Toxin Free USA, a national 501(c)(3), has launched GMOResearch.org, the first-of-its-kind searchable science database of studies and reports on the safety and effects of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and associated agrichemicals.

GMO Research is the world’s most comprehensive science database, containing over 2,000 studies and journal publications documenting risks and potential and actual harmful effects of GMOs (also known as genetically engineered or bioengineered organisms) and the related pesticides and agrichemicals. The database contains references culled from around the world documenting health effects, environmental impacts, impacts on non-target organisms, resistance of target organisms, pesticide drift damage, genetic contamination, horizontal gene transfer and other unintended effects, as well as references related to crop yields, social impact, ethics and economics.

New report documents science on novel RNAi pesticides as an “open-air genetic experiment”


WASHINGTON — “Gene-silencing pesticides” now under development pose unique risks to surrounding ecosystems and beneficial insects, including bees, according to a new report, released today by Friends of the Earth and Dr. Eva Sirinathsinghji. The report summarizes the gaps in research on experimental gene-silencing pesticides and the risks they pose to human health, the environment, and farmers.

EPA proposes phasing out dozens of Bt corn and cotton products

There is now just ONE Bt trait left on the market without documented insect resistance.

Even the claim that Bt seeds reduced insecticide use pre-resistance was questionable, as Bt seeds are mostly treated with neonicotinoid insecticides – neonic seed treatments rose in parallel with Bt crops.

Salon spoke with experts who discussed the ecological consequences of the federal court's decision

A Washington federal court last week dismissed a lawsuit against the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service after a pair of nonprofit groups sued the agency for reversing previous bans on specific insecticides and genetically modified organisms (GMO) in national wildlife refuges.

"It's incredibly disappointing, but this case was intended to look at this issue at a national level, and what the court said is you need to go and look at it at a case specific level," Hannah Connor, Senior Attorney at the Environmental Health Program, told Salon. "So as it's done individually, and that means that there's going to be a limited review of the actual impacts of this decision across the refuge system, which will only detriment wildlife and the habitat that they crave to be able to survive."