"In the medical research community, it is not disputed that gene-editing techniques are GM techniques that give rise to GMOs and that these procedures and their products carry risks that require strict regulation. Only in the field of agbiotech is de-regulation demanded." #NewGMO
Studies showing risks from #GMO foods and associated #pesticides are attacked by lobbyists & their allies in the scientific community. But much of that community is now dependent on industry funding and/or influenced by personal financial interests in agricultural biotechnology.
This situation has led the environmental anthropologist @glenndavisstone to lament that the scientific community has largely lost the “honest brokers” who should inform public policy about the risks of gene-editing technologies onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…#NewGMO
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Trees and plants suffering widespread damage from weedkillers—studies show. Scientists finding trees, flowers, other plants afflicted by herbicide drift everywhere they look, including nature preserves, state parks, orchards, school yards and town squares. chicagotribune.com/2024/08/04/her…
Complaints about herbicide drift skyrocketed after 2,4-D and #dicamba were approved for use on #GMO crops by @EPA. The weedkillers often cause harm to plants and trees miles away from their application sites. They have also been detected in human urine, raising health concerns.
@EPA In March, researchers reported they found traces of 2,4-D, one of the ingredients in compounds used to defoliate forests during the Vietnam War, in the urine of every one of the 150 pregnant women studied in Indiana. Seven out of 10 showed signs of #dicamba exposure. #GMO
#Glyphosate detected in human sperm: First report and positive correlation with oxidative stress in an infertile French population. Glyphosate found in nearly 60% of infertile male patients studied and at concentration four times higher than in blood. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Glyphosate has already been detected in humans in urine, serum, maternal milk, the umbilical cord, hair, and duodenal fluid but never before in human sperm. Toxic effects of #glyphosate on the reproductive system have been demonstrated in vivo and in vitro animal studies.
The researchers conclude "it's a matter of concern for the future generations to have detected such elevated proportion of GLY* associated with OS [oxidative stress] in sperm in our infertile population." They also say the precautionary principle should apply to *glyphosate use.
In an unprecedented action, Latin American organizations denounced @Bayer to the OECD, which lays down guidelines for multinationals, for #glyphosate-related damages. One of the accusations is the contamination of Indigenous individuals in Brazil. brasildefato.com.br/2024/04/29/in-…
They aim to raise awareness of Bayer's responsibility for the negative impacts on the environment of the use of #GMO seeds and #glyphosate. According to the organizations, these impacts have violated human rights in the countries of the Southern Cone region for the past 30 years.
“Intensive use of pesticides [mainly on #GMO soya and maize plantations] contaminates rivers, food, animals and Indigenous peoples. Pesticides are used as a chemical weapon to confine Indigenous peoples to a strip of land that is getting smaller every day.”
Risks of new #GMOs: French food safety agency @Anses_fr recommends case-by-case assessment. Warns of dangers of unexpected toxins and allergens, nutritional problems. gmwatch.org/en/106-news/la…
Expert opinion on the risks of #NewGMO plants from the French food safety agency (ANSES) has finally been published after delays led to repeated accusations of censorship. Its devastating findings threaten to derail the attempts to weaken the regulations around new #GMO plants.
ANSES’ expert opinion, dated January but only just made public, argues that every #NewGMO crop should be assessed for health and environmental risks to account for “all the potential toxicological, nutritional, agronomic and environmental consequences of the new characteristics.”
How a common — and contentious — pesticide is impacting Canada’s forests. The ecological and health impacts of #glyphosate on woodlands and people who hunt and harvest wild foods are little understood and are overlooked by federal regulators. nationalobserver.com/2024/03/01/new…
Canada's regulatory regime does not account for the potential chronic impact of low-level #glyphosate exposure and does not examine forests. But researchers have found low-level exposure can impact the health of animals’ gut microbiomes, potentially causing health issues.
Ecojustice is currently suing the govt to force it to assess how #glyphosate impacts forest ecosystems. Beyond potentially causing ecological harm, the govt's regulatory failings also threaten to expose people who rely on forests for food & medicine to unknown levels of pesticide
‼️Next generation AI bots are engaging in genetic engineering. Just as you can now type text into an AI to autogenerate pics or essays, tech firms like Gingko Bioworks are working on "text-to-organism" generation of proteins & lifeforms through generative AI & synthetic biology‼️
For instance, NVIDIA (leading producer of AI chips) "took all the DNA data" available (biopiracy or what?)—both DNA & RNA, for virus & bacteria—"about a hundred and ten million such genomes. We learnt a language model over that and then we can now ask it to generate new genomes."
NVIDIA emphasizes that their underlying genomic large language model (GenSLM) could now be fine-tuned to create de-novo genomes of other viruses or bacteria, enabling new synthetic biology microbes to be automatically generated much as ChatGPT generates texts.