People will be shocked to learn that genetically modified mosquitoes can easily be released into the environment without proper supervision. They are not asked. The people in Africa are experiencing this.

Genetically modified (GM) “male-sterile” mosquitoes are tested here, financed by the European Commission.

The main sponsor is the Gates Foundation. Although the people of Florida have been protesting the genetically modified insects for years, the release of 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes has been approved.
The aim is to reduce the number of mosquitoes that transmit diseases such as dengue fever and the Zika virus. Particularly explosive is the fact that a study shows that the same GM mosquitoes have already been released in Brazil and that this did not affect the spread of dengue fever at all.
After the genetically modified mosquitoes come to the genetically modified cabbage moth.

 

Marathon, FL—The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) yesterday approved the first-ever U.S. release of genetically engineered mosquitoes. Despite public outcry and the scientific dispute over the human health and environment risks posed by this field trial, the approval permits the release of 750 million GE mosquitoes over a two-year period in Monroe County, Florida, which may begin in 2021.

The Florida Keys Mosquito Control Board members have received more than 2,000 comments from Florida residents opposing the release of GE mosquitoes.

Despite encouragement from the public, the Board members also rejected the proposal for a referendum on November’s ballot, which would have asked Monroe County residents to vote on whether to accept or reject the GE mosquito trial. In 2016, voters in the proposed release site in Key Haven, Florida, voted to reject the GE mosquito trial.

Neither the FKMCD nor Oxitec* has publicly announced where or when the releases will occur. Documents submitted by Oxitec did not include details about an environmental impact statement (EIS).

“With all the urgent crises facing our nation and the State of Florida — the Covid-19 pandemic, racial injustice, climate change — the administration has used tax dollars and government resources for a Jurassic Park experiment. Now the Monroe County Mosquito Control District has given the final permission needed. What could possibly go wrong? We don’t know, because EPA unlawfully refused to seriously analyze environmental risks, now without further review of the risks, the experiment can proceed,” said Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director for the International Center for Technology Assessment and Center for Food Safety.

“The Mosquito Control Board has an obligation to our community, not a vendor that’s products are risky and untrustworthy. FKMCD wants to proceed with an experiment that may be damaging to public and environmental health and our local economy,” said Barry Wray, Executive Director of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition. “We need true solutions to benefit our community and ecosystems.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, community members and national organizations critiqued Oxitec’s application for failing to address important environmental risks and potential negative health impacts. Community members asked the FKMCD to reject the field trial application, pointing out the lack of data demonstrating that Oxitec’s mosquitoes will be safe and effective, the likelihood that biting females will be released, thus putting humans and animals at risk, and the lack of free and prior informed consent of people living in the area.

“The release of genetically engineered mosquitoes will needlessly put Floridians, the environment, and endangered species at risk in the midst of a pandemic,” said Dana Perls, food and technology Program Manager at Friends of the Earth.

“This approval is about maximizing Oxitec’s profits, not about the pressing need to address mosquito-borne diseases.”

Continue reading “Florida: 750 million genetically modified insects are to be released. Humans as guinea pigs!” →

Large UK businesses to be ‘banned from using products grown on deforested land’

The government’s legislation would be introduced to protect rainforests by cleaning up the country’s supply chains.

https://news.sky.com/story/large-uk-businesses-to-be-banned-from-using-products-grown-on-deforested-land-12055746

Large UK businesses could be banned from using products grown on land that was deforested illegally under a new law being proposed by the government.

The legislation would be introduced to clamp down on illegal deforestation and to protect rainforests by cleaning up the UK’s supply chains.

This would mean publishing information to show where key commodities – including rubber, soil and palm oil – came from and that they were produced in line with local laws protecting forests.

Firms would face fines if they fail to comply.

The government said the size of the fine will be set at a later date.

The proposed legislation makes it clear that illegally produced commodities “have no place in the UK market”.

A survey conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) recently found that 67% of respondents believe the government should be doing more to tackle the issue in the Amazon rainforest.

A consultation will run for six weeks and seek views from UK and international stakeholders, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

The department also said the consultation will consider potential impacts on businesses and other interests.

The announcement follows the establishment of the Global Resource Initiative, the government’s independent taskforce, which was formed in 2019 to consider how the UK could “green” international supply chains.

The UN’s COP26 Climate Change Conference is being held in Glasgow next year.

International Environment Minister Lord Goldsmith said: “The UK has a duty to lead the way in combating the biodiversity and nature crisis.”

Lord Goldsmith added: “We have all seen the devastating pictures of the world’s most precious forests being cleared, often illegally, and we can’t afford not to act as a country.

“There is a hugely important connection between the products we buy and their wider environmental footprint, which is why the government is consulting today on new measures that would make it illegal for businesses in the UK to use commodities that are not grown in accordance with local laws.

“Ahead of hosting the UN Climate Change Conference next year, the UK has a duty to lead the way in combating the biodiversity and nature crisis now upon us.”

Sir Ian Cheshire, the chair of the independent taskforce, said: “I’m delighted to see the government respond to one of the key recommendations of the Global Resource Initiative.

“Starting a discussion on how changes in UK law could help us all to reduce our global footprint. I would encourage as many people as possible to respond to this important consultation.”

Ruth Chambers, from the Greener UK coalition, added: “This consultation is a welcome first step in the fight to tackle the loss of our planet’s irreplaceable natural wonders such as the Amazon and in the pursuit of supply chains free from products that contribute to deforestation.

“The evidence linking deforestation with climate change, biodiversity loss and the spread of zoonotic diseases is compelling. A new law is an important part of the solution and is urgently needed.

“The proposal must now be tested thoroughly to ensure it will deliver the government’s domestic and international environmental leadership ambitions.”

Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF-UK, added: “It’s clear businesses and consumers don’t want imports that wreck the planet, drive deforestation in areas like the Amazon and lead to devastating fires.

“The government must now fast-track strong, effective laws, that clean up our supply chains and show the UK can take the lead in tackling the global nature and climate crisis.”

Think About It !

Regards Mark

From the ‘Daily Express’ – England 21/8/20.

BEAVERS WIN LEGAL ‘RIGHT TO REMAIN’ IN ENGLAND FOR FIRST TIME EVER

Posted by Katie Valentine | August 10, 2020

Beavers Win Legal ‘Right to Remain’ in England for First Time Ever

In a landmark judgment, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has decided to legally grant 15 Eurasian beaver families the permanent “right to remain” within their habitat on the River Otter in East Devon, England.

The “most groundbreaking government decision for England’s wildlife for a generation” comes following a five-year study by the Devon Wildlife Trust regarding beavers’ impact on the local environment and marks the first time in history the English government has supported the reintroduction of an extinct native species within the country. Beavers proved beneficial to the local ecology, the study showed, leading to increased fish biomass, improved water quality, and more food for other animals. Meanwhile, their dams serve as effective flood barriers, preventing nearby homes from being filled with water during storms.

Around 400 years ago, beavers in England went extinct after people hunted them for their meat, fur, and a bodily fluid called castoreum, which is used in perfume, medicine, and food, according to BBC. Since then, the first evidence of a wild breeding population in the country appeared in 2013, when video footage of a young beaver swimming along the River Otter surfaced.

At first, the government threatened to remove the beavers, as unsubstantiated rumours about activists illegally releasing them into the wild in an attempt to revive their numbers surfaced. The Devon Wildlife Trust and University of Exeter, however, won a hard-fought legal battle for the right to study the creatures, who are now legally protected regardless of whether they were deliberately or accidentally returned to their natural environment.

Citing the revival of England’s beaver population as a “public good,” Environment Minister Rebecca Pow mentioned that there will be ongoing attempts to conserve the species, including possibly compensating farmers and landowners in exchange for allowing the animals to live on their land.

There are around 50 beavers living along the River Otter today, all of whom are considered disease-free and non-threatening to the local communities and wildlife that they share their environment with.

The melting was revealed in satellite images. Pic: Maxar Technologies

Scientists have long been concerned about the future of Greenland

https://news.sky.com/story/greenlands-ice-has-melted-beyond-return-study-suggests-12049724

Greenland’s ice has melted beyond return, study suggests

It will now gain mass only once every 100 years, and if all the ice melts, it would push sea levels up by roughly six metres.

Greenland’s ice sheet may have melted beyond the point of return, with the ice likely to disappear no matter how quickly the world reduces climate-warming emissions, research suggests.

Ohio State University scientists studied 234 glaciers in the Arctic territory for 34 years until 2018.

They found that annual snowfall was no longer enough to replenish glaciers of the snow and ice being lost to summertime melting, which is already causing global seas to rise about a millimetre on average per year.

If Greenland’s ice goes, the water released would push sea levels up by an average of six metres – enough to swamp many coastal cities around the world.

Co-researcher and glaciologist Ian Howat said Greenland “is going to be the canary in the coal mine, and the canary is already pretty much dead at this point”.

Scientists have long worried about Greenland’s fate, given the amount of water locked into the ice.

The Arctic has been warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the world for 30 years, while the polar sea ice hit its lowest extent for July in 40 years.

Through studying satellite images, the new study found the territory’s ice sheet will now gain mass only once every 100 years.

Co-author and glaciologist Michalea King said the sobering findings should spur governments to prepare for sea-level rise, adding “things that happen in the polar regions don’t stay in the polar regions”.

But she said containing the global temperature rise can still slow the rate of ice loss.

Greenland is far from the only country rapidly losing its glaciers and moisture.

Canada’s last intact ice shelf broke apart into hulking iceberg islands in late July due to a hot summer and global warming, scientists recently revealed.

Satellite images showed that about 43% of the 4,000-year-old Milne Ice Shelf on the northwestern edge of Ellesmere Island had snapped off.

Meanwhile, scientists have warned that summer heatwaves and minimal rainfall have sucked eastern Germany’s lakelands dry, harming fish and plants.

Seddiner Lake, in the state of Brandenburg, south-west of Berlin, has sunk 60cm annually on average over the past few years, with local geographer Knut Kaiser calling it the “beginning of the end for the region’s lakes”.