FDA must look again at risk of GE salmon, judge rules
FDA’s analysis, contained in an environmental assessment prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), “essentially stopped without assessing the possibility of harm to the natural salmon species in the unlikely event of [GE] salmon establishing themselves in the wild,” U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said in a ruling issued Thursday.
Written By:
Steve Davies / Agri-Pulse Communications | 4:37 pm, Nov. 5, 2020 ×
The Food and Drug Administration must evaluate the risks posed if genetically engineered salmon escape into the wild, a federal judge said in a case involving FDA’s 2015 approval of AquaBounty’s plans to create and farm GE Atlantic salmon. (AquaBounty photo)
For Immediate Release, February 25, 2021
Contact:
George Kimbrell, Center for Food Safety, (571) 527-8618, gkimbrell@centerforfoodsafety.org
Eastern Monarch Butterfly Population Falls Again
Endangered Species Act Protection Urgent for Iconic Pollinator
WASHINGTON The yearly count of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico, released today, continues to show a dramatic decline in this imperiled species. Today’s count of 2.10 hectares (5.2 acres) of occupied winter habitat is down 26% from last year’s count. The minimum population threshold needed to be out of the danger zone of extinction is six hectares.
Overall eastern monarchs have declined by more than 80% over the past two decades.
“Monarchs are the face of the wildlife extinction crisis where even once common species could now disappear. They need us because if we don’t act now to save them, monarch migrations will collapse and that would be morally unforgivable,” said Tierra Curry
Photo credit: Joe Raedle, Getty Images staff Hours after his inauguration, President Biden issued an executive order to review 48 actions by the Trump-era Environmental Protection Agency, including several controversial decisions on agricultural chemicals. Environmental and food safety groups saw the action as a welcome sign that the Biden EPA will begin to temper what they see as the agency’s industry-friendly stance and prioritize the environment, public health, and science. Most notably, the review list included the pesticide chlorpyrifos, whose 2017 ban was reversed by the Trump administration; a rule that weakened pesticide application safety standards; and another rule narrowing which scientific studies could be used in pesticide evaluations.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Public-interest groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the agency s re-approval of products containing dicamba, a herbicide controversial for its tendency to drift into neighboring fields and damage farmers crops and homeowners gardens. Last fall, the EPA green lighted dicamba use for five years, the third time the agency registered dicamba products. .
A strong argument in favor of growers in or out of court whatever the crop protection product.
It s no surprise the dicamba issue continues to find court time. The legal journey of the herbicide is far from over.
In October, the EPA approved registrations again for approved dicamba products growers have used to apply in-season and over-the-top of tolerant soybean and cotton crops.
Last summer, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9
th Circuit vacated the 2018 labels for three dicamba products. EPA said the new labels adequately address that legal panel s concerns for ending the 2018 labels. The EPA s new labels for dicamba usage are good through 2025.