The new GMOs, masquerading under the acronyms NBT(New Breeding Techniques) and GE(Gene Editing), are the new beachhead for imposing industrial farming models based on the systematic use of poisonous pesticides and other agrotoxics. Monsanto’s new GE corn, MON 87429, offers the 9 proof. And civil society is opposing its permit application, with the petition initiated by Pesticides Action Network (PAN).
Monsanto – Bayer, the new GE corn.
Monsanto – Bayer’s new GE corn exceeds all expectations of the planet’s poisoners. In fact, the new seed is designed to resist the application of not one but five broad-spectrum herbicides:
– dicamba. Its exposure causes leukemia and other forms of cancer,
– glufosinate-ammonium (glufosinate ammonium, GLA). Neurotoxic. It can cause autism spectrum disorders in children of women exposed to it during pregnancy (1,2),
– quizalofop-P-ethyl (quizalofop-p-ethyl). Genotoxic, cytotoxic (i.e., toxic to cells), hepatotoxic, and toxic to metabolism (3,4,5),
-2,4-D. Key ingredient inAgent Orange, used by the U.S. in Vietnam as a weapon of mass destruction between 1962 and 1971. Neurotoxic, carcinogenic and endocrine disruptor, causes reproductive and developmental damage (6,7). The oxidative stress caused by it induces suspicions of genotoxicity, (8)
– glyphosate. The best-selling agrotoxin, licensed in the EU on the back of scientific fraud that has gone unpunished to this day.
Added to the already known dangers is the risk that dicamba, 2,4-D and glyphosate are capable of inducing antibiotic resistance in humans and animals. (9) In addition to that, which has already been concluded for glyphosate and has not yet been investigated as it should be, of the damage caused by these agrotoxics to the gut microbiome.
MON 87429, the authorization procedure
MON 87429, the corn seed designed by Monsanto-Bayer to resist the 5 super-poison, is now awaiting approval by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Which, under Donald Trump’s administration, has already approved tens of thousands of Franken-seeds. With such rapidity, just under 4,000 permits per month, as to dispel any doubt about the total absence of hazard analysis for human and animal health, the environment and biodiversity.
The connivance between politics, administration and agrotoxin industries received a recent censure from the judiciary, among others, just last month. When the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco) ruled that it was unlawful for the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to renew the authorization of dicamba. After determining that its officials failed in their duties by deliberately failing to consider the disasters–of which they had exact knowledge–caused by the killer herbicide on off-target plant species.
Monsanto’s petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), seeking approval of the new GMO in question, was filed on 6/27/19. With a file updated on 10.12.19 that consists of 323 pages( APHIS-2020-0021file). And a public consultation is now underway, due to expire on 7.7.20.
MON 87429, civil society opposition.
PANNA(Pesticides Action Network North America) has activated a citizens’ initiative and petition, in synergy with the National Family Farm Coal ition (a member of the international coalition
La Via Campesina
) and Friends of the Earth. To express civil society’s strident opposition to USDA’s green light to MON 87429. (10)
The text of the petition-which GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade) and Égalité support, with a plea to their readers and supporters that they would like to join by following the link http://www.panna.org/take-action/usda-reject-monsantos-petition-approve-ge-5-herbicide-seed -follows:
‘I strongly oppose Monsanto Company’s application for approval of corn tolerant to dicamba, glufosinate-ammonium, quizalofop, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and glyphosate.
The implications of this corn (…) on agroecosystems will only be negative and may indeed be dramatic. Applications of new mixtures [of herbicides, ed.] could undermine plant health, including food crops and plant pest health, threatening human and environmental health and accelerating pest resistance.
If this GE corn is deregulated, farmers will be able to sow it ‘defensively,’ to prevent drift-effect damage [of the agrotoxics in question, ed,] even when they do not intend to use one or more of these chemicals. A farmer who adds a small grain or alfalfa to a rotation may find that they inadvertently reactivate chemical residues in the soil when phosphate fertilizer is added before planting. And farmers who intend to use cover crops as part of a soil regeneration program may find that herbicide residues from persistent uses may inhibit germination of such cover crops.
Today more than ever, farmers need a variety of tools [agroecological, ed.] To safeguard biodiversity. And build the resilient-andclimate-resilient agricultural and food systems we so urgently need. Instead, this new GE seed would reduce agroecosystem management options for farmers.
I urge you to reject Monsanto Company’s application for approval of corn tolerant to dicamba, glufosinate-ammonium, quizalophop, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and glyphosate.’ (10)
MON 87429 and we
Why bother with a permit dossier submitted in the U.S.? For the simple reason that, following the expected green light from USDA, Monsanto-Bayer will also propose similar petition in the European Union. And the puts of these toxic crops will become part of our food chain, thanks in part to CETA and TTIP.
It goes without saying that the deregulation of new GMOs to which the pesticide and seed monopolists (
Big 4
) yearn for, even in Europe, will have catastrophic effects on the very biodiversity and environment to which the Von der Leyen Commission has also dedicated a Strategy 2030. In words, at least. (11)
POP, Profit Over People, Now Enough!
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) US EPA(Environment Protection Agency), Office of Prevention. Pesticides and Toxic Substances, Reregistration Eligibility Decisions (REDs). Interim REDS (iREDs) and RED Factsheets.. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm
(2) Anthony Laugeray et al. (2014). Pre- and Postnatal Exposure to Low Dose Glufosinate Ammonium Induces Autism-Like Phenotypes in Mice. Front Behav Neurosci. 2014; 8: 390. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00390
(3) Catalin Aurelian Rosculete et al (2018). Determination of the Environmental Pollution Potential of Some Herbicides by the Assessment of Cytotoxic and Genotoxic Effects on Allium cepa. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Jan; 16(1): 75. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16010075
(4) Robin Mesnage, Martina Biserni, Michael N. Antoniou et al. (2018). Comparison of transcriptome responses to glyphosate, isoxaflutole, quizalofop-p-ethyl and mesotrione in the HepaRG cell line. Toxicol Rep. 2018; 5: 819-826. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2018.08.005
(5) Ioannis S. Elefsiniotis, George D. Liatsos, Dimitris Stamelakis, and Antonios Moulakakis. (2007). Case Report: Mixed Cholestatic/Hepatocellular Liver Injury Induced by the Herbicide Quizalofop-p-ethyl. Environmental Health Perspective; Vol. 115, No. 10. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.9968
(6) Gina Solomon. Agent Orange in Your Backyard: The Harmful Pesticide 2,4-D. The Atlantic. 2/24/12, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/agent-orange-in-your-backyard-the-harmful-pesticide-2-4-d/253506/
(7) Mary Sue Marty, Barbara H. Neal, Larry Hammond et al. (2013). An F1-Extended One-Generation Reproductive Toxicity Study in Crl:CD(SD) Rats With 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid.
Toxicol Sci. 2013 Dec; 136(2): 527-547. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kft213
(8) Catherine C. Lerro et al. (2017). A longitudinal study of atrazine and 2,4-D exposure and oxidative stress markers among iowa corn farmers. Environ Mol Mutagen. 2017 Jan; 58(1): 30-38.
https://doi.org/10.1002/em.22069
(9) Kurenbach B, Marjoshi D, Amábile-Cuevas CF, Ferguson GC, Godsoe W, Gibson P, Heinemann JA. (2015). Sublethal exposure to commercial formulations of the herbicides dicamba, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, and glyphosate cause changes in antibiotic susceptibility in Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. mBio 6(2):e00009-15. doi:10.1128/mBio.00009-15.
(10) PAN(Pesticides Action Network) North America. USDA: Reject Monsanto’s petition to approve this GE five-herbicide seed.
(11) Gesine Schütte, Michael Eckerstorfer, Martha Mertens et al. (2017). Herbicide resistance and biodiversity: agronomic and environmental aspects of genetically modified herbicide-resistant plants. Environ Sci Eur. 2017; 29(1): 5. doi: 10.1186/s12302-016-0100-y
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
