Tag: GMO
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Boulder County Commissioners Delay Decision on GM Sugar Beets
The Boulder County Board of Commissioners has reportedly delayed a decision about whether genetically modified (GM) sugar beets can be grown on open-space land. At a August 25, 2009, public hearing, six farmers who in December requested permission to grow the beets on county land apparently asked the commissioners to delay the decision. “I don’t…
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Researchers Restore Corn’s Ability to Combat “Billion-dollar Bug”
Scientists have reportedly restored a genetic trait to North American corn that causes the roots to emit a chemical distress signal when under attack by western corn rootworm, a beetle species known as the “billion-dollar bug” for its widespread crop destruction. Jörg Degenhardt, et al., “Restoring a maize root signal that attracts insect-killing nematodes to…
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Whole Foods Joins Non-GMO Project Initiative to Certify Private Label Products
Whole Foods Market Inc. has reportedly announced a partnership with the Non-GMO Project to independently certify that its private label products do not contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. A non-profit collaboration of manufacturers, retailers, processors, distributors, and consumers, the Non-GMO Project maintains a product verification program (PVP) “to scientifically test whether a product has met…
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Ninth Circuit Denies Petition for Panel Rehearing in Roundup Ready® Alfalfa Litigation
In September 2008, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction imposed by a district court on the sale of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready® alfalfa until the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) completes an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act. Additional details about the court’s ruling appear in…
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Kansas Senate Will Not Override Veto of Milk Hormone Bill
The Kansas Senate will apparently not try to override former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius’s veto of a bill that would have required a disclaimer on dairy products made without artificial growth hormones. Sebelius, recently confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, vetoed the bill in late April 2009 reportedly because it would have…
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UCS Report Claims Promise of GE Higher Yields Proves Empty
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has produced a report concluding that despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetically engineered (GE) corn and soybean crops have not increased yields compared to other agriculture technologies. Released in March 2009, the report reviewed two dozen academic studies of corn and soybeans and found…
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Monsanto Sues German Government over GE Corn Ban
According to a news source, Monsanto has filed a lawsuit challenging the German government’s decision to prohibit farmers from planting the company’s genetically modified (GM) corn. Designed to produce a substance toxic to the corn borer pest, the GM seed has been permitted in Germany since 2005, and the corn has been used in Europe…
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USDA to Host Meeting on Proposed Rule Regarding GE Organisms
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Plant Health Inspection Service has announced a public meeting on April 29 and 30, 2009, in Riverdale, Maryland, to address a proposed rule involving the interstate movement and environmental release of certain genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The comment period on the proposed rule has been extended to June…