As we have covered extensively here on Hygeia, the introduction of dicamba-tolerant soybeans in 2016 also triggered an unprecendented spike in herbicide-drift damage reports and associated litigation. Millions of acres were damaged in 2016 and 2017 by drifting dicamba. Both the EPA and affected states established stricter rules in an effort to prevent further impacts. We […]
Read More, References, Comment »
USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) recently updated the data product Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S., and the new data provides important insights on the prevalence of so-called “stacked” varieties. A “stacked” variety of GMO corn or cotton is engineered to express two or more distinct traits — typically herbicide tolerance (e.g., Roundup Ready) and Bt transgenic (i.e., […]
Read More, References, Comment »
Few people engaged today in the important debates over regulation of agricultural biotechnology know or remember much about the critical debates that unfolded when the gen-one wave of ag biotechnologies first hit the beach. Today, as CRISPR-driven, largely untested technology rolls on shore, attention to lessons learned in the past (but thus far unheeded) might […]
Read More, References, Comment »
Genetically engineered (GE) corn and cotton expressing Bt toxins for insect control came on the market in 1996. The most contentious public policy and regulatory issue prior to approval was whether and how the biotech-seed companies should prevent the emergence and spread of insects newly resistant to Bt toxins. For more on the debate over […]
Read More, References, Comment »
In a paper sure to trigger a full-on immune response from Monsanto/Bayer and ag biotech proponents, rats fed a triple-stack GE corn for about 6 months had clear-cut damage to their stomach lining. The triple-stack corn fed to the rats expressed two Bt genes (MON 863 and MON 810), and the NK603 gene conferring resistance […]
Read More, References, Comment »
In an in-depth piece that ran in The Oregonian and online at Oregon Live, writer Julia Rosen with High Country News tells the sorry tale of how glyphosate resistant creeping bentgrass meant for high-dollar golf courses has become a thorn in the side of high-desert farmers and ranchers along the Oregon-Washington-Idaho border. Starting in the 1990s, two […]
Read More, References, Comment »
Reuters and CBC News report that Japan and South Korea have banned Canadian wheat and flour imports following the discovery in the summer of 2017 of a stand of GMO wheat on roadside in Alberta. The wheat, which was identified after it survived herbicide spraying, was a genetic match to a small trial crop of resistant […]
Read More, References, Comment »
On Thursday, June 7, 2018, Bayer’s $66 billion purchase of Monsanto will close, and the world’s most powerful pesticide, seed, and ag biotechnology company will be born. Within months, according to Bayer’s CEO, the Monsanto name will be dropped, and for good reasons. This is very big news in the world of big ag. News […]
Read More, References, Comment »
The myth of “substantial equivalence” between GMOs and non-GE crops (called “isolines”) takes yet another hard science hit. A team of researchers in Mexico City has published their meta-analysis of genetic data on rice, canola, maize, sunflower, and pumpkin. They looked at wild, GMO, and non-GMO cultivated varieties of these five crops, analyzing phenotypic change. […]
Read More, References, Comment »
The seductive, but corrosive impact of mythology will be a recurrent theme as historians explain the rise and fall of first-generation genetically engineered (GE) crop technology in the U.S. Here are just a few of the myths that arose along with the new crops: GE corn will affix its own nitrogen. Herbicide-tolerant crops will reduce […]
Read More, References, Comment »
