GMOs

New York "is one step closer to becoming the first state to have genetically modified, non-sterile insects released" for an open-air trial against the crop-damaging diamondback month, says news site EcoWatch. The public comment period has closed on USDA's environmental assessment, which says the proposed field trial is unlikely to cause adverse effects on plants, soil, water and people.

The new trade deal announced last week between China and the U.S. is expected to remove a major barrier to the sale of GMO seeds, reports Reuters. As part of the deal, China has agreed to review eight GM crops from the U.S., ending a years-long delay in the approval process by America's top export market for agricultural products.

U.S. officials repeatedly have prodded China for a faster and more open system for deciding whether to approve the import of new genetically engineered strains of crop. A U.S. business group says China is headed in the opposite direction by taking longer to approve a smaller number of GMO varieties — only one in 2016, reports Reuters.

A study in the journal PLOS ONE found that six members of a 20-member panel studying genetically engineered crops had one or more financial conflicts of interest, none of which were disclosed in the panel's report.

In Oregon, the self-proclaimed grass-seed capital of the world, a strain of genetically modified grass, developed by Scotts Miracle-Gro, has jumped the Snake River from test beds in Idaho and poses a risk to the $1-billion-a-year grass-seed industry, says the Portland Oregonian. Some growers and dealers "fear it's only a matter of time before the altered seed reaches the Willamette Valley, the heart of Oregon's grass business," a potential catastrophe.

With the rise in imports of GMO crops and foods, Japan is considering an expansion of mandatory labeling, which now applies to 33 food items, sources in the Consumer Affairs Agency told the Kyodo news agency. The food industry and consumer groups "are expected to engage in a tug of war over where to draw the line," said the news agency.

At an annual bi-national meeting, senior U.S. trade officials pushed their counterparts from China for "a predictable, transparent and scientific" system for deciding whether to approve the import of genetically engineered crops. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that despite U.S. disappointment that more progress was not made at the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade discussions, the United States expects a Chinese agency to approve eight biotech strains at a meeting in December.

In a victory for Monsanto, Syngenta and other seed companies farming in Hawaii, a federal appeals court ruled that counties can’t regulate pesticide use or GMO crops, says Civil Beat. “The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded Friday that Hawaii state pesticide law is comprehensive, and that the Legislature intended it to be 'uniform and exclusive of additional, local rules.'”

In the 20 years since GMO crops were approved for cultivation, U.S. farmers have embraced them almost to exclusion of other seeds while Europe has steadily refused to let them into its fields. The New York Times says its "extensive examination" of U.S. and European farming found that genetic engineering "has not accelerated increases in crop yields or led to an overall reduction in the use of chemical pesticides."

Seed company Syngenta wants the U.S. appeals court in Denver to intervene in a class-action lawsuit, prompted by China's rejection of cargoes that included a GMO variety not approved for import.

Japan bought 2.13 million bushels of U.S. Western White wheat on Thursday, ending a one-month interruption in purchases caused by the discovery of 22 stalks of unapproved GMO wheat in a fallow field in Washington State. U.S. Wheat Associates said trade disruptions related to the rogue wheat were minimal "because every stakeholder approached it in a reasonable way."

French President Francois Hollande said the U.S.-EU free-trade agreement under discussion for three years cannot be finalized before President Obama leaves office in January, said BBC News. Hollande was the latest in a series of European officials to question if negotiations can be completed; France's trade minister said he would propose suspension of negotiations at an EU meeting next month.

The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) says a new "non-browning" strain of Fuji apple poses no "risk to human health or the environment," AgriPulse reports. It will be the third in Okanagan Specialty Fruits' "Arctic Apple" line to gain USDA approval. The first two were Granny Smith and Golden Delicious varieties.

In a decision that removed a roadblock to adoption of a new genetically engineered soybean variety, the European Commission approved import of the Monsanto soybean that is resistant to two types of weedkillers, said Reuters. The soybean went on sale in the United States and Canada this year surrounded by questions about whether there was a market for it.