Dr Caius Rommens developed GMO potatoes for the Idaho-based agbiotech company Simplot. The chief genetic modification he introduced was to silence the potatoes’ melanin (PPO) gene.

This gene, when operative, causes potatoes to discolour when bruised. The GMO potatoes do not discolour when bruised. They have therefore been marketed as bruise-resistant and are being sold without GMO labels in the US and Canada under innocuous-sounding names like Innate, Hibernate, and White Russet.

After finding that “most GMO varieties were stunted, chlorotic, mutated, or sterile, and many of them died quickly, like prematurely-born babies”, Dr Rommens renounced his genetic engineering career and wrote a book about his experiences, Pandora’s Potatoes: The Worst GMOs. [Full article]

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop drying agent used to kill weeds. Glyphosate was discovered by Monsanto chemist John E. Franz in 1970. By 1974, Monsanto had introduced it into the market under the trade name Roundup.

Since Roundup became available, there have been a series of controversies. There are numerous studies suggesting that the amount of glyphosate detected in people’s bodies has gone up exponentially. It has been found in human blood, urine, body tissue, and almost everywhere else in the body. [Full article]

U.S. District Judge William Shubb sided with the St. Louis-based chemical giant in its First Amendment lawsuit, ruling that warning labels, which would have been required as of July, could confuse and mislead customers. [Full article]