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GM Watch Daily Digest 12 December 2024

Thursday, 12 December 2024 — GM Watch

GM salmon company AquaBounty shuts down operations

The troubled biotechnology company AquaBounty has announced it will stop production of all genetically modified salmon and is closing its last working facility, at Bay Fortune in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, reports Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN). AquaBounty released the world’s first GM food animal – a GM salmon – onto the market in 2017 but is now culling the last of its fish. Yesterday, the company announced that it does not have sufficient liquidity to maintain its “only remaining operating farm” at Bay Fortune and its chief executive officer, David Melbourne, has resigned. “This struggling company has survived largely due to investor hype along with decades of government funding and the support of the federal policy to deny consumers mandatory labelling of GM food. The company couldn’t make producing GM salmon viable even with all the government subsidies and supportive policies,” said Lucy Sharratt, coordinator of CBAN. AquaBounty’s announcement comes just weeks after the Canadian federal and PEI governments announced $231,095 in funding for the company. GMWatch

Glyphosate approval challenged in European Court of Justice

On 11 December, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe and its member organisations challenged the European Union’s approval of glyphosate before the European Court of Justice. The organisations presented a scientific and legal analysis to the European Court of Justice, highlighting serious shortcomings in the assessment of glyphosate in Europe, which they say was biased to suit industry interests. PAN Europe said, “The Commission and EU’s scientific agencies either systematically excluded critical scientific studies reporting adverse effects caused by glyphosate, using scientifically unsound arguments, or downplayed these effects… In doing so, they violated their own guidelines and international protocols. Their conclusion that glyphosate is safe is scientifically unfounded and results from a risk assessment that does not comply with key legal requirements. Therefore, the NGOs are requesting the Court’s intervention.” The groups say peer-reviewed evidence has been dismissed in favour of industry-funded studies downplaying evidence on genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and environmental impacts. GMWatch

Job opportunity

ARCHE NOAH is looking for a policy officer in Brussels from March 2025 working on EU seed law reform and patents on seeds. See details in German and English. ARCHE NOAH
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