Biodiversity

"The White House on Thursday directed the three U.S. agencies that oversee biotech crop products to improve and modernize their regulatory "framework" to boost public confidence in a system that critics call a failure."

"A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Maui County ban on the cultivation of genetically engineered crops is pre-empted by federal and state law and invalid."

"A major field trial of GM wheat that is designed to repel aphids has found the crop is no better protected against the pests than conventional wheat."

"While the debate over whether to label foods containing GMO ingredients plays out across the country, another engineered food has long been waiting to hit grocery stores: genetically modified salmon."

"The world’s most endangered porpoise is disappearing much faster than previously believed, according to a new report from the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita."

"Eastern cougars that once roamed North America from Canada to South Carolina are extinct and no longer warrant federal Endangered Species Act protections, US wildlife managers have said."

"Conservationists decried a proposal on Monday by U.S. wildlife and marine animal managers to tweak rules tied to the federal Endangered Species Act, saying the plans would place "crippling" impediments to citizens petitioning to save imperiled creatures."

"Biologists looking at 40 years of fisheries data from Puget Sound have documented a dramatic shift in marine species. Key fish in the food chain, like herring and smelt, have declined, while the number of jellyfish has increased exponentially, to the detriment of the marine ecosystem."