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Is Tyson the Red Queen of GMO myth-making? Big Bang About Chilling-Out? ASTROPHYSICIST TYSON WAXES POETIC ABOUT GMOS Devon G. Peña | Seattle, WA | August 1, 2014 In an interview posted on YouTube on July 24 , astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the charming and brilliant host of the popular TV documentary series, Cosmos , defended the  use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for food crops. Tyson emphasized that opponents needed to “chill out” and characterized opponents as unwitting victims or manipulative purveyors of the “fear factor”. Responding to a question from a French journalist, the usually humorous interlocutor seemed somewhat stumped at first and then responded by rifting away with an explanation of how humans have been genetically modifying plants for more than ten thousand years; ever since people first domesticated wild plants and animals in the invention of agriculture. Fair enough. Are conventional (Mendellian) breeding techniques and the beautifully varied an...

Mexican judge bans planting of GMO soy CROP SEEN AS THREAT TO HONEY BEE COLONIES Devon G. Peña | Seattle, WA | July 24, 2014 According to reports appearing in the Mexican print media, a federal district court judge in Yucatán yesterday overturned a permit issued to Monsanto , the U.S.-based multinational corporation that is a leading purveyor of genetically modified crops (GMOs). The permit, which had been issued by the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock , Rural Development , Fisheries and Food on June 6, 2012, allowed the commercial planting of GM soy bean in Yucatán . The ruling was based on consideration of scientific evidence demonstrating (to the judge’s satisfaction) that GMO soy crop plantings threaten Mexican honey production in the states of Campeche , Quintana Roo, and Yucatán. An op-ed piece appearing in yesterday’s La Jornada (July 23), applauded the decision with insightful commentary suggesting that the federal agencies involved in this dispute are guilt...

Criticisms by scientists, civil society, and indigenous farmers dismissed NO REPLY TO FAO AND CBD INQUIRIES Devon G. Peña |   Las Colonias de San Pablo, CO | July 6, 2014 While Mexico is a party to the international treaty known as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and a signatory to the Cartegena Protocol (which is fully enforceable), the federal government is so far ignoring both court rulings against Monsanto and other corporations and the advice of its own and other scientific committees actively advising the international bodies concerned with enforcing the CBD’s biosafety regulations.  The reinstalled PRI presidency occupied by  Enrique Peña Nieto is unsurprisingly acting the usual arrogant way and ignoring science and the rule of law. This past week, we received correspondence from scientist-advocates attending CDB-SBSTTA 18 in Montreal, Canada reporting these concerns. Article 25 of the CBD “establishes an open-ended intergovernmental sc...