The Trump administration has reversed a ban on using neonicotinoid pesticides (linked to declining bee populations) and genetically modified crops in over 50 national wildlife refuges (out of 560 total). Limited farming activity is permitted in some of the wildlife refuges. Previously, a blanket ban had prohibited the use of neonicotinoids and genetically modified crops in the wildlife refuges, but now decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Conservationists from the Centre for Biological Diversity and the Centre for Food Safety have said they will sue the administration unless the new policy is reversed (read more here).
It has also been reported recently that the Trump administration is opposing the World Health Organisation’s guidelines on limiting antibiotic use in healthy farm animals (read more here).
Read the full story here. A copy of the memo announcing the change in policy can be viewed here (PDF link). See also the Foodsource resource How do food systems affect land-use and biodiversity?
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