Does “anti-GMO” = “anti-science”, or “pro-GMO” = “pro-science”? Jonathan Latham of the Bioscience Resource Project explains in a video interview with Bob Schooler: Latham Interview: Does “anti-GMO” = “anti-science?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFBsYTXPdbM

NOFA-NY will hold two gatherings, back-to-back, April 7, 2016. The first is from 3 pm to 6 pm. There will then be a light dinner. The second gathering is from 6:30 pm to 9 pm. The gatherings and dinner will be held in the Community Space, Green Star, Ithaca. Come for either session and get a bite to eat before or after, free of charge.

Please join NOFA-NY for this brainstorming session in Ithaca and help create NOFA’s New York Organic Action Plan. It is a chance to work together for the future we want.

National Policy Consultant Liana Hoodes and Board member and farmer Elizabeth Henderson will facilitate. Jonathan Latham of the Bioscience Resource Project has been asked to speak briefly.

More from NOFA-NY: Tell us what you think is working and what is not working for organic farming and food in NY. Share your thoughts on how NOFA-NY can play a stronger role in creating a food and farming system that is socially just, environmentally resilient, and economically vibrant. Help set NOFA-NY priorities for organic advocacy and policy. read more…

Why Chimpanzee-Testing in Medicine Had to End by John Pippin, MD was published on Monday, March 7th 2016 on Independent Science News.

Synopsis: The recent decision of the US National Institutes of Health to end chimpanzee testing and move US chimps to a sanctuary in Texas was based on good science, says John Pippin, MD and former animal researcher. The differences between chimpanzees and humans were too great for chimpanzee experiments to have much value. Consequently, medical funding was being wasted, treatments were not moving forward, and sometimes patients were dying.

To read the full article go to: http://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/why-chimpanzee-testing-in-medicine-had-to-end/

Further Reading on Animal Experiments: Bad Science and Bad Ethics

Akhtar, Aysha. “The flaws and human harms of animal experimentation.” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 24.04 (2015): 407-419.

Eisenman, Stephen F. “Criticizing animal experimentation, at my peril.” Altex 33.1 (2016): 3. “Initiatives leading to even modest reduction in animal use at major US universities are likely to continue to face strong opposition. At least, that’s the conclusion the author draws from his efforts at Northwestern University.

Evans, Erin M. “Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones? The Problems and Promises of Policy Reform for the Animal Advocacy Movement.” Sociological Perspectives (2015): 0731121415593276.

Couzin-Frankel, Jennifer. “When Mice Mislead.” Science 342.6161 (2013): 922-925. A revealing article about the state of mouse research — from tiny sample sizes to missing mice to unblinded and unrandomized studies to the “poor patients [who] are exposed to things they shouldn’t be” – it is clear that neither health nor scientific understanding is being well-served by the current situation.

Seok, Junhee, et al. “Genomic responses in mouse models poorly mimic human inflammatory diseases.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.9 (2013): 3507-3512.

Published on Wednesday 2nd March by Independent Science News: Many European Pesticide Approvals Are “unlawful” Says EU Ombudsman was written by Jonathan Latham, PhD.

Synopsis: Currently, 88 pesticides are approved in Europe having incomplete data sets on health and safety. Under a procedure called the Confirmatory Data Procedure (CDP) pesticides can legally be approved even where applications are incomplete. However, many of these ‘temporary’ registrations occurred over ten years ago and still have not been finalized. Therefore, according to a complaint brought by Pesticides Action Network of Europe the EU is using the much weaker CDP registration process as a loophole and not in the manner intended. This is leading to high risks to health and the environment. The complaint was upheld on this and other points by the EU Ombudsman who ruled that using the CDP as a default was illegal on narrow grounds but also because it appeared to violate the precautionary principle which is the legal standard in the EU.

Like the EU, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also been  approving pesticides under less stringent conditional registration standards and then failing to enforce full registration. US EPA has been heavily criticised for this, including in a 2013 NRDC report: Superficial Safeguards: Most Pesticides Are Approved by Flawed EPA Process.

To read the full article go to: http://www.independentsciencenews.org/news/many-european-pesticide-approvals-are-unlawful-says-eu-ombudsman/

The Centrality of Seed: Building Agricultural Resilience Through Plant Breeding by Salvatore Ceccarelli, PhD has just been published on Independent Science News.

Synopsis: Once the exclusive domain of farmers, plant breeding is now nearly always practiced without any meaningful farmer input. The downsides associated with this transition have hardly been explored. They include losses of genetic diversity, local adaptability, plant robustness, flavor, nutritional quality, and many other important crop traits. In particular, commercial seed breeding focuses on the specific needs of chemical agriculture. Commodity crops are thus bred for close spacing and short stature so farmers have to buy more seeds per acre and herbicides to suppress the weeds. GMOs (genetically modified organisms) have extended this trend and are even bred to sell specific herbicides. By abandoning seed saving and animal breeding, farmers have thus surrendered control over the long-term direction of agriculture. Its future is now almost exclusively in the hands of the chemical industry while breeding for organic agriculture is almost nonexistent.

But can breeding be returned to farmer control without sacrificing short-term benefits? Salvatore Ceccarelli is a leading international scientist and proponent of farmer-led participatory and evolutionary plant breeding methods based on solid scientific grounds. He works with diverse crops and here describes how even common commercial varieties can be used as the gene pools from which to successfully create evolutionary populations from which farmers can select high-quality locally-adapted varieties.

The complete article is available at: http://www.independentsciencenews.org/un-sustainable-farming/the-centrality-of-seed-building-agricultural-resilience-through-plant-breeding/

Salvatore Ceccarelli lives in Hyderabad (India) and cooperates in organizing participatory and evolutionary programs with different organizations, with various crops and in a number of countries. He is associated with the organization: Rete Semi Rurali, Via di Casignano, 25, Scandicci (FI) 50018, Italy (http://www.semirurali.net/). His website is: http://www.miscugli.it/ and it links to the full text of many useful scientific papers under the Publications tab. Many of Salvatore Ceccarelli’s papers can be accessed by joining: https://www.researchgate.net/. Some academic articles can be accessed if you create a free JSTOR account: http://support.jstor.org/independent-researcher/

Further Reading on Participatory and Evolutionary Plant Breeding

Döring, Thomas F., et al. “Evolutionary plant breeding in cereals—into a new era.” Sustainability 3.10 (2011): 1944-1971.

Free Participatory Plant Breeding Toolkit from the Organic Seed Alliance.

Participatory Plant breeding programs for broccoli and organic spelt, quinoa and buckwheat. Organic Farming Research Foundation.

Phillips, S. L., & Wolfe, M. S. (2005). Evolutionary plant breeding for low input systems. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 143(04), 245-254.

Produce Your Own Seeds: A biology handbook for farmers (worldwide ebook)
by Salvatore Ceccarelli.

WIRFP Participatory Plant Breeding: Concepts and Examples This Paper presents the results of a participatory maize breeding collaboration between Indian farmers and agricultural universities.

Plant Genetic Resources

Open Source Seed Initiative OSSI was created by a group of plant breeders, farmers, seed companies, and sustainability advocates who want seeds that are free of patents.

Seed Savers Exchange conserves and promotes America’s culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants.

USDA National Plant Germplasm System. The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is collaborative effort to safeguard the genetic diversity of agriculturally important plants.