genetic engineering

The developer of biotech corn and soybean varieties that tolerate 2,4-D and glyphosate pesticides said it is putting restriction on sales of the seeds to prevent the crops from moving into the marketing channel, said Reuters.

ADM, the world's largest corn processor, sued Syngenta in state court in Louisiana over cargoes of corn rejected by China because they contained an unapproved Syngenta variety, said Bloomberg.

Members of the European parliament approved a plan that would allow members of the European Union to ban genetically engineered crops within their borders even if the EU approves them, "raising the chance their use will remain limited on the continent," said Reuters.

Researchers confirmed that fall armyworms in North Carolina are resistant to a variety of corn genetically engineered to produce a protein toxic to the insects. It is the first documented occurrence of insect resistance to so-called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn in 18 years of use, said Entomology Today.

Fast-food giant McDonald's says "it doesn't plan to buy...the Innate potato," genetically engineered by JR Simplot to produce smaller amounts of acrylamide, a suspected carcinogen, when fried, says the Idaho Statesman.

Seed company Syngenta faces lawsuits by at least 130 farmers in 13 states over its MIR 162 strain of genetically engineered corn, says DTN. A judicial panel in Charleston, SC, is to decide on Dec 4 if the cases should be transferred to a single federal court...

The Agriculture Department approved cultivation of the Innate potato developed by JR Simplot Co. and genetically engineered to produce smaller amounts of acrylamides when it is fried.

Seed companies Monsanto and Dow filed suit in U.S. District Court in Honolulu to overturn a voter-approved moratorium on genetically engineered crops in Maui County, Hawaii, said the Maui Times.

Agribusiness giants Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences are looking at legal options in the wake of passage of a moratorium on genetically engineered crops by voters in Maui County, Hawaii, says DTN.

Seed and chemical company Monsanto announced an agreement with soft white wheat growers to settle three class-action lawsuits that arose from the discovery that some of its experimental genetically engineered wheat was growing wild in eastern Oregon.

Seed company Syngenta says it acted responsibly in selling two strains of genetically engineered corn that are approved for cultivation in the United States although not allowed for import by China, says DTN.

Genetically engineered crops get undue credit for reducing soil losses on cropland, says the Environmental Working Group. In a three-page analysis, EWG says the credit really should go to so-called conservation compliance and the Conservation...

The vast majority of U.S. corn and soybeans are genetically engineered varieties - 93 percent of corn and 94 percent of soybeans this year, according to a USDA report - and Consumer Reports magazine says its tests show they are abundantly present in many processed foods.

The Chinese government has launched a campaign on TV, newspapers and the Internet to build public support for genetically engineered crops, says Reuters.

Agribusiness behemoth Cargill sued Syngenta, the seed and chemical company in state court in Louisiana, blaming it for sales lost to China, said the St Paul Pioneer Press. Cargill says U.S. corn exports to China were effectively halted because Syngenta sold seed for a genetically engineered corn variety, known as MIR162 and Viptera, that is not approved for sale in China. In a statement, Cargill said Syngenta Seeds "put the ability of U.S. agriculture to serve global markets at risk, costing both Cargill and the entire U.S. agricultural industry significant damages."

Monsanto agreed to settle lawsuits filed by growers of soft white wheat over the May 29, 2013, discovery of unapproved biotech wheat in an Oregon field, says broadcaster KCRU. The wheat was a strain genetically engineered by Monsanto to tolerate the weedkiller glyphosate but abandoned after field trials years ago. The growers say they lost money because Japan and South Korea temporarily curtailed purchases of U.S.-grown soft white wheat. Terms of the settlement, reached last week, were not disclosed.

Plant breeder Frank Kutka is working on corn varieties that organic farmers can plant without fear of cross-pollination from GMO corn in neighboring fields, writes Ken Roseboro at Civil Eats. It is a multimillion-dollar challenge because organic crops cannot include genetically modified organisms. Corn is the most widely grown U.S. crop. Farmers can take precautions such as planting their fields earlier or later than their neighbors so the fields mature at different times but that is an imperfect tactic.

The Food and Drug Administration, the lead U.S. regulator of genetically engineered animals, issued two documents to clarify its risk-based oversight of the creatures and their developers. The agency exercises varying levels of scrutiny, ranging from full-scale review of an animal and its risk profile to instances in which developers can take an animal directly to market without consulting the FDA.