"Soybeans have replaced traditional crops … leading to food insecurity. The expansion of the agrarian frontier into the northern Chaco has prompted rapid and wide-scale deforestation that has devastated ecosystems and threatened livelihoods."—Amalia Leguizamón #seedsofpower#gmo
"Violence against peasant & indigenous communities is escalating. The health hazards of agrochemical exposure are also on the rise. Across rural towns, Argentine doctors have documented increasing occurrences of leukemia, cancer, miscarriages and malformations in newborns." #gmo
.@dr_leguizamon also shows how #GMO soy operates as a tool of power to obtain consent, to legitimate injustice & quell potential dissent. Agribusiness, the state & their media/scientist allies deploy narratives of redistribution, expertise & national identity to elicit compliance
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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.
In chilling terms, the letter—seen by POLITICO— presented Wiener, who was leading parliamentary negotiations on a landmark law aimed at weaning farmers off toxic pesticides, with 3 options: resign and return to Austria; be committed to a mental institution; or face being murdered
Cherry-picking data from industry-funded studies, the lobbying blitzkrieg claimed pesticide cuts would undermine food production & put wine & fruit growers out of business. Similar PR tactics were used to weaken other new EU rules aimed at restoring degraded natural habitats etc.
“It’s fucking frustrating,” said one EU official involved in drafting several Green Deal files. The pressure to kill the legislation didn't just come from lobbyists, the official said, explaining that anti-Green Deal advocates found a sympathetic ear within the Commission.
They don't just own the #seeds & the chemicals but also the folk who should be keeping us safe! Our latest Lobbywatch Review contains striking examples of the corporate capture of lawmakers, regulators, scientific bodies & science reporting—from 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇪🇺🇬🇧🇮🇳 gmwatch.org/en/main-menu/n…
🇺🇸Federal legislators aim to gut state and local health protections, block lawsuits against #glyphosate and other #pesticides. Lobbying disclosure records show @Bayer, which has spent big on campaign donations to members of Congress, has made passage of the legislation a priority
@Bayer 🌎A spate of recent articles about a Harvard professor declaring organic food benefits a “total con” fail to say he's a former advisor to #Monsanto, has been making similar attacks on #organic for years, and has been accused of “reckless misinformation” in his promotion of #GMOs!
Bayer accused of greenwashing over 'regenerative agriculture'. Long-standing pioneers of regenerative ag in Europe—Spain's Asociación de Agricultura Regenerativa—initiate grassroots defence of regenerative ag. Say it shouldn't include #GMOs or #glyphosate! drive.google.com/file/d/1Vc_6jD…
"Regen Ag in Spain is not needing to be led by the agro-industry.. Regen Ag works in favour of the life & health of all beings, starting with those in the soil, and thus does not include the use of toxic inputs & bio-cides, such as #glyphosate, which is also damaging to humans."
Spain's Regenerative Agriculture Association says it is "extremely alarmed" by claims by @Bayer such as, "Bayer highlights the role of #glyphosate in regenerative agriculture". They say authentic regenerative agriculture does not use such biocides or chemical fertilizers or #GMOs