Category: Environment

Scientific study drawing attention to the risks of GM mosquitoes comes under attack

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14 October 2019 — GMWatch

biting mosquito

Why is an Oxitec-linked author leading an attack on her own paper? Report by Claire Robinson and Jonathan Matthews

A recent journal article about GM mosquitoes has caused quite a stir. It showed that some of the male mosquitoes that Oxitec Ltd released experimentally in Brazil had successfully interbred with the local mosquito population, and that their hybrid offspring were now spreading and propagating beyond the release area. This despite Oxitec claiming its mosquitoes had a lethal gene that made them “self-limiting“.

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Brexit: Boris Johnson moves to scrap environment safeguards to get deal with Trump

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7 October 2019 — GMWatch

Take Back Control Trump and pocket Boris

British negotiators keen to jettison EU restrictions on GMO foods – a key demand of US trade negotiators

When Boris Johnson used his first three speeches as UK Prime Minister to flag up his desire to “liberate” GMOs as part of Brexit, we warned that this meant his priority was doing a trade deal with Donald Trump at any cost. Johnson, we said, was “simply dancing, puppet-like, to Trump’s tune”.

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Resounding “No” to Monsanto’s “Bogus” GM Drought-tolerant Maize

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4 October 2019 — GMWatch

South Africa minister, appeal board, and biosafety authority reject Monsanto’s GM seeds

After more than 10 years of battling Monsanto’s “bogus” drought tolerant maize project, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has welcomed the decision by the Minister of Agriculture, Ms Thoko Didiza, upholding the decision by the Executive Council: GMO Act and the appeal board to reject Monsanto’s application for the commercial cultivation of its triple-stacked “drought-tolerant” GM maize seed.

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The Bee: “The Most Important Living Being on the Planet”

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1 October 2019 — Physics and Astronomy Zone

Its sting hurts a lot, but if they were to disappear, it would hurt much more.

The Earthwatch Institute concluded in the last debate of the Royal Geographical Society of London, that bees are the most important living being on the planet, however, scientists have also made an announcement: Bees have already entered into extinction risk.

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Pesticides in the Dock: Ecological Apocalypse but Business as Usual by Colin Todhunter

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24 September 2019 — Counter Currents

Much of the following article is based on a new 20-page report by environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason. Readers are urged to access the full report containing all relevant citations: Download.   

In a new paper published in King’s Law Journal –  ‘The Chemical Anthropocene: Glyphosate as a Case Study of Pesticide Exposures’ – the authors Alessandra Arcuri and Yogi Hale Hendlin state:

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Because ‘A World Without Insects Is Not Worth Living In,’ Germany Announces Plan to Ban Glyphosate

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4 September 2019 — Common Dreams

“What we need is more humming and buzzing.”

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Protesters hold balloons on January 20, 2018 in Berlin during a demonstration under the slogan "We are fed up" against agricultural politics and the use of glyphosate, dumping exports and for sustainable agriculture.

Protesters hold balloons on January 20, 2018 in Berlin during a demonstration under the slogan “We are fed up” against agricultural politics and the use of glyphosate, dumping exports and for sustainable agriculture. (Photo: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)

The German government announced Wednesday it had agreed on a plan to phase out the use of glyphosate—the key chemical in the weedkiller Roundup—with a total ban set to begin by the end of 2023.

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Boris Johnson, GMOs and Glyphosate by Colin Todhunter

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24 August 2019 — Colin Todhunter

Irresponsible, Negligent and Criminal?

In his first speech to parliament as British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said:

Let’s start now to liberate the UK’s extraordinary bioscience sector from anti-genetic modification rules and let’s develop the blight-resistant crops that will feed the world.

Johnson reads from a well-rehearsed script. The ‘GM will feed the world mantra’ is pure industry spin. There is already enough food being produced to feed the global population yet around 830 million are classed as hungry. Feeding the world effectively, sustainably and equitably involves addressing the in-built injustices of the global food system.

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Marx’s notebooks and the origins of Marxist ecology

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18 August 2019 — Climate & Capitalism

Finally published in full, Marx’s notebooks from the 1860s provide important insights into his views on ecology and capital’s destruction of nature.

Teinosuke Otani, Kohei Saito, Timm Graßmann (eds)
MARX-ENGELS-GESAMTAUSGABE, IV, 18
Exzerpte und Notizen. Februar 1864 bis August 1868 (de Gruyter, 2019)

[Marx-Engels Complete Works, Part IV, Volume 18
Excerpts and Notes, February 1864 to August 1868]

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Offering Choice but Delivering Tyranny: The Corporate Capture of Agriculture by Colin Todhunter

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19 August 2019 — Counter Currents

Many lobbyists talk a lot about critics of genetic engineering technology denying choice to farmers. They say that farmers should have access to a range of tools and technologies to maximise choice and options. At the same time, somewhat ironically, they decry organic agriculture and proven agroecological approaches, presumably because these practices have no need for the proprietary inputs of the global agrochemical/agritech corporations they are in bed with. And presumably because agroecology represents liberation from the tyranny of these profiteering, environment-damaging global conglomerates.

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The Fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup

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13 August 2019 — Climate & Capitalism

BOOK REVIEW

Activists make the case that this widely  used pesticide is wreaking havoc on the earth, killing not just weeds but multiple species, including our own

Mitchel Cohen, editor
THE FIGHT AGAINST MONSANTO’S ROUNDUP
The Politics of Pesticides
Skyhorse Publishing, 2019

Reviewed by Chris Kinder

Better Living Through Chemistry? Think Again!

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Clean energy dream fuels a dirty mineral rush

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8 August 2019 — RT

Clean energy dream fuels a dirty mineral rush

Open-pit copper and cobalt mine at Tenke Fungurume in Congo’s copper-producing south, January 29, 2013 ©  Reuters / Jonny Hogg

A future of environment-friendly energy, where dirty engines and power plants rust in history’s scrapyard, is an idyllic vision. In the cynical real world, the rush for green batteries is fueling a harmful mining boom.

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