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Sep 13, 2022 5 tweets 3 min read Read on X
This article really shows the shallowness of @BillGates thinking. He actually calls #GMO crops "magic seeds" and compares alternatives to "singing kumbaya". It's laughable but this is a good article that quotes some incisive criticisms of Gates' approach apnews.com/article/russia…
@BillGates Some researchers question Gates' fundamental premise, increasing ag production through #GMO seeds + fertilizers & #pesticides. They point to the environmental footprint of industrial ag, including fossil fuel-based fertilizers, soil degradation and the diminishing of biodiversity
@BillGates Critics in Ghana ask what would happen if instead of funding #GMO crops, so far to little effect after nearly a decade, those resources went to the national research centers in Ghana, to building roads, to building storage, to building silos or helping to build markets?
@BillGates Rachel Bezner Kerr, a prof of global dev at Cornell & lead author of the food chapter of the latest report from the #IPCC, said, “overall, the kind of focus on a few techs & reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs isn’t in line with ecosystem-based adaptation” or a biodiverse future
@BillGates Alternatives could include agroecological interventions, like developing locally managed seed banks, composting systems to promote soil health, and pest interventions that don’t rely on chemicals, experts said. Over time, those approaches can build more resilient farming systems.

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More from @GMWatch

Aug 7
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. Image
@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 Image
Read 7 tweets
May 3
#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…
Image
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.
Read 4 tweets
Apr 29
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.”
Read 7 tweets
Mar 7
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.”
Read 6 tweets
Mar 1
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
Read 4 tweets
Jan 13
‼️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.
Read 5 tweets

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