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Jun 13 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
The UK Govt says that before moving to #GMO deregulation it consulted with the "independent experts" on its Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), whose view is that gene-edited organisms pose no greater risk than traditionally bred foods. But guess what👇
Meet Jim Dunwell, chair of the UK's "independent" #GMO advisory body ACRE. Jim used to work for the GM firm Zeneca. He gets a Syngenta pension. And he was a founding member of a GM industry-funded group that lobbies "to make the case for GM crops & foods." gmwatch.org/en/myth-makers… Image
If someone with a GM industry background & Syngenta pension who co-founded a pro-GMO lobby group doesn't sound like an "independent expert" on #GMOs, then you need to know he's far from alone, eg he's just 1 of 3 members of ACRE who all connect to Syngenta
Meet Alan Raybould—another member of ACRE, the UK govt's "independent" #GMO advisory body. Raybould is a veteran of GM giant Syngenta, where his speciality was getting its #GMOs approved & boosting their public "acceptance". He also gets a Syngenta pension gmwatch.org/en/106-news/la…
Meet Ben Raymond—another member of the UK govt's "independent" #GMO advisory body. He has funding from GMO giant Bayer Crop Science & a BBSRC industrial partnership award with Corteva Agriscience. Corteva dominates the #CRISPR gene editing patent landscape gmwatch.org/en/106-news/la…

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More from @GMWatch

GMWatch Profile picture
Jun 14
Leading molecular geneticist warns about the impact of #GMOs (including gene editing) and glyphosate gmwatch.org/en/106-news/la… His deep familiarity with gene editing makes him concerned about its deregulation. And his cutting-edge research makes him concerned about #glyphosate Image
Dr Michael Antoniou says deregulation "will make it almost a free-for-all", which he views with great concern because gene editing technologies are "nowhere near as precise" as claimed – "in fact, they are imprecise, and they carry major risks to both health and the environment."
Dr Antoniou contrasts the highly regulated, highly contained, carefully monitored & targeted use of gene editing in a clinical context, with agriculture where deregulated novel engineered organisms carrying unintentional genetic damage will be freely released into the environment
Read 11 tweets
GMWatch Profile picture
Jun 11
UK govt turns its back on science in #GMO free-for-all Bill gmwatch.org/en/106-news/la… GMWatch publishes its response to a Bill that's based on dishonesty and a determination to dismiss years of peer-reviewed findings on the real effects of gene editing. #GMOs
The UK govt's Bill is accompanied by an Impact Assessment. Both are deeply problematic, as they cast aside the interests of public health & the environment and raise animal welfare concerns—in the rush to smooth the path to market for new experimental #GMO crops & animals. #GMOs
Claire Robinson of GMWatch and the molecular geneticist Dr Michael Antoniou have laid out their concerns with the Bill and propose a series of Amendments. They spell all this out in easy-to-follow detail👉gmwatch.org/en/uncategoris… #GMOs
Read 5 tweets
GMWatch Profile picture
Jun 11
Scotland's Environment Minister signals no change to #GMO regime in Scotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 gov.scot/publications/g… In a letter to the UK Govt, the Minister says Scotland won't be deregulating and it opposes no labelling of #NewGMOs—"the public have a right to know what they are consuming."
"The Scottish Govt remains wholly opposed to the imposition of the Internal Market Act, and will not accept any constraint on the exercise of its devolved powers to set standards within devolved policy areas." Refers to unlabelled #GMOs from England being marketed in Scotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
"Your own consultation last year rejected the changes to the regulation of GM that you're now pursuing. Consumer information & choice is key. I'm therefore extremely concerned that the UK Govt’s preferred option, as set out in the Bill documentation, will not require labelling.."
Read 5 tweets
GMWatch Profile picture
Jun 1
BBC slammed for “lies” about gene-edited foods but it refuses to correct its misreporting gmwatch.org/en/106-news/la… In multiple stories the BBC has hidden the fact that the Govt is “deregulating all manner of genetic manipulations of crops”—Dr Michael Antoniou, Kings College London
The BBC & other UK media have repeated ad nauseam the govt's lie that gene editing only involves “snipping out a small piece of DNA” but anyone who reads the govt's bill will see it includes the insertion of foreign DNA as “part and parcel of the deregulation”—Dr Michael Antoniou
#GMO promoters claim foreign DNA can be removed from gene-edited plants like stitches from a wound. But it's not so clean a process: “The gene-editing tool DNA can fragment & bits can randomly insert in many locations around the DNA of the plant and that is not being checked for”
Read 5 tweets
GMWatch Profile picture
May 31
UK Gene-Editing Bill Raises Animal Welfare Concerns theepochtimes.com/uk-gene-editin… Experts warn that, contrary to the hype, the technology is imprecise and will open the door to the “wild west” of genetics. #GMOs
“It’s not precise, so the term ‘precision breeding’ is a complete misnomer. In addition to any intended genetic modification you invariably have large numbers of unintended alterations to the organism.” These could include the production of toxins and allergens in plants or crops
“It’s a ‘wild west’ of gene-editing of crops, plants and animals and even bacteria that are going to be released into the environment in an uncontrolled way,” says Dr Michael Antoniou, lead geneticist in gene expression and therapy at King’s College London. #GMOs
Read 5 tweets
GMWatch Profile picture
May 30
Health and environmental groups raise alarm as EU Chemicals Agency fails to classify glyphosate as a human carcinogen gmwatch.org/en/106-news/la… Some of the world’s leading independent scientists have made the link between #glyphosate and cancer but ECHA refuses to do so
“Unfortunately, it's not the 1st time ECHA has failed to transparently and clearly justify its dismissal of independent scientific evidence. That’s incredibly worrying given the EU’s commitment & duty to protect its citizens & the environment from the most hazardous substances.”
Unlike ECHA, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, the gold standard for cancer research, finds #glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. It has also been linked to adverse effects on human development, reproduction and hormonal systems.
Read 5 tweets

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