Letters, Jan. 31

Promise to consult abandoned Regarding the Jan. 24 article “Supreme Court hammers another nail into wheat board’s coffin,” I think for the most part farmers will acknowledge the court’s decision, not to hear the appeal case, and continue on with their normal, everyday lives and challenges. But every once in a while they will be

U.K. farm minister calls on European authorities to speed up approval of GM crops

Owen Paterson says genetic modification isn’t a “frightening, new, spooky 
technology” and brings many benefits, including reduced pesticide and fuel use

Reuters / Britain’s farming and environment minister, Owen Paterson is calling for an acceleration in the European Union’s approval process for genetically modified crops, which he said offered benefits including less pesticide use. “I think we need to work with like-minded partners to move the (GM) legislation along at a European level because it is


Brazil GMO planting to increase by 14 per cent

Reuters / Brazil will increase the amount of land planted with genetically modified soy, corn and cotton by 14 per cent this season from a year ago as it shoulders a growing share of the world’s agricultural output, local analytics firm Celeres said Dec. 17. That is more than the 12.3 per cent expansion in



Organic farmers reject call to self-insure against GM contamination

Organic growers and food safety advocates are condemning an advisory report to the Agriculture Department claiming its recommendations would be costly for farmers who want to protect their conventional crops from being contaminated by genetically modified varieties. The USDA is studying how biotech agriculture could best “coexist” with organic and conventional farming, but critics slammed

Popular herbicide may be linked to increased pathogen virulence, says Huber

Emeritus professor from Purdue University and former U.S. army bioweapons expert points to 
growing evidence of potential harm from genetic engineering and herbicide “abuse”

Don Huber may not be a big fan of organic agriculture, but he’s become a hero among organic farmers with his contention that glyphosate is less benign than its promoters crack it up to be. Huber an emeritus professor of Plant Pathology from Purdue University, isn’t backing down, even though some dismiss him as a


Seed companies near deal on off-patent GMO technology

What happens when patents for genetically modified seeds expire? Monsanto has made billions off Roundup Ready soybeans, corn, canola, and other crops since launching a glyphosate-tolerant soybean in 1996. But the upcoming expiration of its patent for the herbicide-resistant trait in 2014 raises an array of concerns, including who bears the costs and responsibilities of

Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant soybeans approved

Monsanto Company’s dicamba-tolerant soybean product has received full food, feed and environmental release approval from Health Canada (HC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The approval brings Monsanto Canada one step closer to introducing dicamba tolerance stacked with Monsanto’s existing Genuity(R) Roundup Ready 2 Yield(R) trait technology in soybeans. Plans are to commercially brand


France says no need to revisit Monsanto maize approval

Astudy last month pointing to health risks from a type of genetically modified maize and a related pesticide did not provide grounds for questioning previous safety approvals, the French government said Oct. 22. The study by researchers at the University of Caen said rats fed on Monsanto’s NK603 GM maize (corn) or exposed to the

Genetically engineered cow makes anti-allergy milk

Genetically engineered cow makes anti-allergy milk london / reuters / Researchers in New Zealand have genetically engineered a cow to produce milk with very little of an allergy-causing protein. The technique, called RNA interference, reduces activity of certain genes without eliminating them completely. With mothers breastfeeding less, cows’ milk is an increasing source of protein