GMO

The Chinese biotech company BGI plans to sell pigs that are genetically modified to grow to about 33 pounds as pets, reports the Los Angeles Times. "The pint-size porkers were created through a process known as gene editing" that prevents cells from receiving a signal to grow.

Corn is the staple crop of Mexico, consumed at the rate of nearly a pound per day per person, mostly as tortillas. So a court decision in August that repealed a ban on GMO corn resounded among activists and chefs, says Vice.

The Hawaii state Department of Agriculture plans to expand statewide a voluntary program in which major agricultural companies such as Dow, Pioneer, Sygenta and BASF report the types and amounts of restricted-use pesticides that they use each month on Kauai, says Honolulu Civil Beat. Under the "Good Neighbor Program," the companies put a 100-foot buffer zone around pesticide applications and, if requested, notify neighbors before spraying. State agriculture director Scott Enright "said he expects the program to be implemented statewide by the end of the year."

A proposal to give EU nations the power to restrict or ban GMO food and feeds that are approved by the EU overall has been opposed by the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, said World-Grain. "EU members are concerned that the proposal might prove unworkable and lead to reintroduction of border controls between pro and anti-GMO countries," the article states.

Chairman Pat Roberts says the Senate Agriculture Committee "will prove to the American people their food is safe" before it considers legislation to over-ride state GMO food-labeling laws, said the Topeka (Kan) Capital-Journal. A committee hearing on agricultural biotechnology is scheduled for Oct 21.

Lawyers for the Grocery Manufacturers Association will make a last-ditch attempt on Thursday to prevent Vermont's first-in-the-name GMO food labeling law from taking effect. says Food Navigator. A federal district judge refused to issue an injunction so GMA will present arguments to the U.S. appeals court in New York City.

"It's inevitable that glyphosate is all wound up in GMOs," writes Tamar Haspel in the Washington Post. Many of the strains of GMO crops on the market were designed to tolerate the herbicide, so the crops survive when the chemical is sprayed in fields to kill weeds.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is likely to set a date for a biotechnology hearing later this week, says a spokeswoman. It would be the first sign in months of movement in the chamber on legislation to pre-empt state laws on GMO food labeling and to keep labeling voluntary on the federal level.

With committee action possible later this month, activists are amping up their efforts to sway Senate votes on GMO food labeling, says Carey Gillam of Reuters.

British researchers have genetically engineered a chicken that is less susceptible to bird flu than other chickens and that does not infect its flockmates. "But these promising chickens ... won't likely gate-crash their way into poultry production any time soon," says Reuters.

Both Monsanto, the giant seed company, or Stonyfield Farm, the organic yogurt company, "have aggressively recruited academic researchers" to carry their banner in the tussle over labeling foods made with genetically modified organisms, says the New York Times.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, on a tour earlier this week of a research farm in Columbia, Missouri, criticized GMO opponents and said she wouldn’t tolerate bias against GMOs in federally funded ag research, according to the Missourian.

The USDA announced on Friday that it had approved a second genetically engineered (GE) potato variety developed by the J.R. Simplot Company, an important step in bringing the potato to market.

As sales of non-GMO foods zoom, competitors are watching, says the NPR blog The Salt. "The demand for these foods falls under what the industry calls the 'health halo,' the perception that a food is healthy," even if they might not be.

Biologist William Powell says the best way to revive the American chestnut tree, one of the most common trees in the country until a fungal blight effectively erased it from the landscape, could be genetic engineering.