GENET-news

08.09.2008

Accept GM, urges senior African Union official

Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, the AU’s commissioner for rural economy and agriculture, told delegates at the African Green Revolution Conference in Oslo, Norway, yesterday (28 August) that there is a need to convince leaders on the continent about the benefits of the controversial technology. ”GM is extremely important. Unfortunately there is little appreciation of what it is and how it can improve food production. There is a need for advocacy,” she said. Her words came after Kofi Annan, the former UN general secretary who chairs the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), chose not to mention GM technology in his opening speech to the conference.

08.09.2008

Q&A: African agriculture with Florence Wambugu

Wambugu was recognised for her work introducing tissue culture bananas in Kenya. Tissue culture exploits the regenerative properties of shoot tips, allowing up to 2,000 plantlets to be produced from a single shoot in six months. In addition to improving plant characteristics, the techniques also prevent the transmission of fungi, bacteria and pests from parent to child plants. The project, which started ten years ago, has improved crop yields and lifted Kenyan farmers out of poverty.

08.09.2008

’Tread carefully on GMOs’ Kenyan Lands Minister warns

Tread carefully on the introduction of Genetically Modified Organism in the country. This is the advice by Lands minister James Orengo gave to his counterpart in the Ministry of agriculture William Ruto. Orengo says the government should not haste the introduction of GMOs into the country before their effects on health and environments authenticated. The minister’s sentiments come in the wake of a spirited effort by Minister William Ruto agitating for the adoption Frankenfoods.

05.09.2008

Deformed GE calves don’t enhance New Zealand’s image

A huge press statement by AgResearch today in which it tries to justify its application to genetically engineer a wide range of animals, plus human and monkey cells, inadvertently shows sad downsides to GE research such as deformed foetuses and calves. ”In its statement today, the Crown research institute makes some outrageous claims as ’facts’ in the 35 questions it asks and answers for itself headed ’Fact or Fiction’,” Greens Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says. ”For example it admits a less than 9 percent live birth rate, aborted deformed foetuses, deformed calves, gangrenous udders and ’animals suffering from respiratory conditions’, but denies there are animal welfare concerns.

05.09.2008

EU MEPs call for ban on animal cloning for food

The European Parliament called for a ban in the EU on the cloning of animals for food supply. MEPs also urged an embargo on imports of cloned animals, their offspring and products derived from these sources. In a resolution adopted by 622 MEPs in favour, 32 against and 25 abstentions, the House calls on the Commission ”to submit proposals prohibiting for food supply purposes.

05.09.2008

U.S. food companies pledge not to use clones

Twenty food companies have told a consumer group that they won’t use milk or meat from cloned livestock. The companies, including Smithfield Foods Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc., were responding to a survey conducted by the Center for Food Safety, a consumer group that opposes animal cloning. Polls have shown most consumers are uncomfortable with the idea of eating products from cloned livestock, whether for health, ethical or environmental reasons. At the same time, products from the offspring of cloned animals are trickling into the food supply.

05.09.2008

Clones’ offspring may be in U.S. food supply: FDA

Food and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may have entered the U.S. food supply, the U.S. government said on Tuesday, but it would be impossible to know because there is no difference between cloned and conventional products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in January meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine and goats and their offspring were as safe as products from traditional animals. Before then, farmers and ranchers had followed a voluntary moratorium on the sale of clones and their offspring.

05.09.2008

EU states should be able to stop GMO crops nationally says German Agriculture Minister

Germany wants European Union member states to have the power to block genetically-modified crops in their countries, Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer said on Wednesday. Currently the EU Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, takes the decision whether genetically modified organisms (GMO) are safe and has controversially approved several GMO crops for commercial farming. [...] ’I believe that the EU member states should be able to decide themselves whether they actually want cultivation in their areas,’ Seehofer said.

05.09.2008

EU and China approve new GE soybeans for food and feed

The European Union will next week approve imports of genetically modified (GM) soybeans made by Bayer CropScience, hoping to ease a shortage of animal feed, officials said on Wednesday. The rubber-stamp approval, permitted under EU law when ministers from the bloc’s 27 countries fail to agree after a certain time, will be valid for a standard 10 years and be granted by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, on September 8, they said. Bayer’s soybean, developed to resist glufosinate herbicides, is known by its codename A2704-12 and will be imported into EU markets either as whole soybeans, oil or meal, and then be processed by European companies for use in food and animal feed.

04.09.2008

Lack of GM response in New Zealand surprises

Government science institutes are leading the GM charge. [...] Whether a market will be found for whatever vegetables are developed is a moot point. It’s instructive to note that around 98 per cent of all GM crops grown around the world (in acreage terms) comprise just corn, soy, canola and cotton, much of it for animal feed. GM potatoes developed for human consumption failed in the commercial world, killed off when they were eschewed by the fast food industry. The commercial reality is that food markets have not been as GM friendly as the scientists were hoping six years ago.

04.09.2008

Syngenta Canada launches non-GE aphid-resistant soybean variety

Syngenta Seeds Canada plans to have North America’s first aphid-resistant soybean variety available for sale to growers in November, the company said Tuesday. RAG1 soybean seeds offer ”season-long protection” from soybean aphids, the company said. The variety has a rare genetic trait that’s ”native only to soybean,” was developed in RAG1 using traditional plant breeding and therefore is not considered a genetically modified organism (GMO), Syngenta added. The variety offers ”selective resistance” to aphids, leaving beneficial insects unharmed, the company said.

04.09.2008

Greenpeace launches ’GMO-free rice restaurants campaign’ in the Philippines

The ’GMO-free rice restaurants’ campaign, launched today at Fish and Co. restaurant in Ortigas Center, aims to gather the commitment of restaurants around the country to serve only GMO-free rice. The project is part of Greenpeace’s ’I love my rice GMO-free’ campaign, a public movement to keep the country’s rice supply free from genetic contamination. Fish and Co. is part of the Bistro Group of Companies, among the first to sign on its popular restaurant outlets, including Italianni’s, TGI Friday’s and Flapjacks, to the environmental campaign.

04.09.2008

GM foods: the wrong debate

Ministers’ calls for debate over whether GM foods will help feed the world are a red herring disguising a crisis at the heart of British science. The UK’s research institutions and regulators are not set up to respond to public debate about what people need or want, and are hidebound by who holds the purse strings. This clashes with a growing global consensus on how innovation for better food and farming should work. In a direct challenge to ministers, the Food Ethics Council urges the government to have a genuinely open debate about the future of food and farming.

04.09.2008

Consultation period on New Zealand’s GE law revision ends

Genetically modified food landing on New Zealand dinner plates is looking less likely with public consultation on tough new laws ending today. Critics say the laws will ”stop good science in its tracks” but supporters argue it is essential to protect the integrity of conventional and organic crops. If passed, the laws will impose strict new rules including increased public disclosure of the planting locations, new regulations to ensure GM crops are kept separate and are able to be traced and mandatory labelling of GM crops.

04.09.2008

A controversial plan field-testing GM onions and leeks has been debated in New Zealand

A controversial plan to grow genetically modified onions and leeks on fields near Christchurch has been debated at a hearing on Tuesday. Crop and Food has been growing genetically modified (GM) onions in glasshouses and now they are applying to grow onions, leeks and garlic on two hectares at Lincoln in Canterbury. The scientists say it is a chance to assess the impact the crops will have on the environment.

03.09.2008

GM crops will address world food crisis says Australian Agriculture Minister

Australia should accept that genetically modified (GM) crops will be crucial in addressing the world food crisis, federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke says. State governments have imposed bans on most food crops, with the exception of canola in NSW and Victoria. Scientists and environmentalists are concerned GM crops are difficult to contain and long-term health effects are unknown. Mr Burke, addressing an agriculture science conference in Canberra, said GM food crops would be necessary to address global food shortages.

03.09.2008

Western Australian Premier promises support for a GE-free State

West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter has used the issue of genetically modified crops to highlight what he calls the ”risk” factor posed by a Liberal government. After targeting the Liberals’ support of uranium mining throughout his four-week election campaign, Mr Carpenter promised $5 million in funding to help promote WA as a GM-free state. Mr Carpenter said the Liberals wanted to allow broadscale GM farming, a claim later denied by Opposition Leader Colin Barnett.

03.09.2008

University of Paris-South (France) makes a commitment to support GE critic Christian Vélot

On July 9, 2008, the biologist and whistle blower Christian Vélot met the Presidency of the University Paris-South (Orsay). [...] The results are a willingness to listen and certain commitments. [...] The affair has involved two years of administrative hardship and stormy relations with the University hierarchy, 50,000 signatures of support, the support of several hundred people at the Orsay University itself and at the Ministry of Education and Research, and finally, a victory.

03.09.2008

The newest generation of GE drugs: Who can afford them?

Costs of expensive biotech ”specialty” drugs may overwhelm an increasing number of patients and employers, and raise questions about the meaning of ”insurance.” Sally Garcia, a 53-year-old lawyer disabled by multiple sclerosis, was torn. A new-generation medication, Copaxone, was really working for her. After two decades of being in and out of hospitals, Garcia was taking steps to work again. Her wallet, though, was in severe distress. Under her Medicare prescription plan, Garcia’s share of the expensive drug was $330 per month. All together, medications were taking a third of her disability payments - her only income - and she couldn’t swing it.

03.09.2008

Monsanto’s RR alfalfa ban upheld by U.S. federal appeals court

Federal regulators erred by approving Monsanto’s alfalfa seed without a thorough environmental review, Schroeder wrote. She was joined by Central District Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank, sitting by designation. ”This is a landmark decision,” said George Kimbrell of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety, which argued for the plaintiffs. ”It’s an appellate decision that, for the first time, holds that biological contamination from genetically engineered crops to conventional and organic crops is irreparable harm.”

02.09.2008

Golf Cooperation Council nations ’will control entry of GM foods’

The UAE and other GCC member countries will control the entry of genetically modified foods into their markets, top officials said on Tuesday. ”The GCC countries will develop regulations through independent statutory bodies with the power to ban releases of genetically modified foods until agreed standards have been met,” said Dr Mariam Harib Sultan Al Yousuf, executive director of policy and regulation at the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority. Dr Mariam stressed that control of gene technology should not be left to scientists and commercial organisations.

02.09.2008

Non-GE breeding successes: Striga-resistant sorghum and fungi-resistant peas

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) says researchers have at last managed to confer resistance to striga to a sorghum variety. The weed decimates sorghum, millet, maize and rice. Over 300 million people in the region derive their regular meals from these four cereals. [...] The method will see segments of the sorghum seed that are resistant to Striga transferred through conventional breeding methods to varieties marketed to farmers.

02.09.2008

Poland’s Environment Ministry prepares bill on GMOs

Poland’s Ministry for the Environment has prepared a draft bill on GMOs, allowing the creation of GMO-free zones in this country and introducing close monitoring of genetically-modified plantations. Environment minister Maciej Nowicki has said that the draft is an attempt to reconcile liberal EU legislation with Polish scepticism towards GMOs. He also said there was no proof that GMOs were safe but that Poland couldn’t legally ban them. He called the regulations temporary since a discussion whether to tighten the legislation was underway in Brussels.

02.09.2008

U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks to segregate GE animals

The U.S. Agriculture Department wants to keep genetically modified animals from mixing with traditional livestock, saying the potential risks are unclear. The USDA said it is considering the need to regulate the movement -- including the importation, containment and field release -- of genetically engineered animals to ensure that the genetically engineered traits don’t present a health risk to traditional cattle, pigs and other livestock.

02.09.2008

U.S. judge partially excludes Monsanto from sugar beet case

A federal judge has partially barred the Monsanto Co. from participating in a lawsuit over glyphosate-resistant ”Roundup Ready” sugar beet seeds. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled Aug. 15 that Monsanto, several sugar beet companies and other interested parties could not intervene in the initial ”merits” phase of the lawsuit, which will examine whether the USDA breached federal law by deregulating Monsanto’s Roundup Ready sugar beets.

02.09.2008

California (USA) legislature passes bill protecting farmers against Monsanto lawsuits

A landmark piece of legislation protecting California’s farmers from crippling lawsuits was passed through both legislative houses this week in an end-of-session flurry. The Senate voted 23 - 14 to support it, and the Assembly was unanimous in their support. The bill, AB 541 (Huffman, D-Marin/Sonoma), is now headed to the Governor’s desk for his signature. Sponsored by diverse organizations, some of whom are traditionally opposed on farm issues, AB 541 is the first bill passed by the California legislature that brings much-needed regulation to genetically engineered (GE) crops.

01.09.2008

Both sides are probably wrong on GE crops and food

Back in 1994, the industry was promising crops that resist cold weather, drought, pests and disease, as well as plants that reduced the need for fertilisers. The world is still waiting. Last month, Hugh Grant said he now expected drought-resistant crops to be ready in the US ”within six years”; it seems the science is more complicated than was thought. That hasn’t stopped the industry enjoying an expansionist phase as agribusiness takes advantage of the food crisis, but anyone trying to assess the success or failure of GM can find themselves in a snake pit of claim and counterclaim.

01.09.2008

’Genetically modified food answer to food crisis’ says US Special Advisor on Science and Technology

Genetically modified crops can help solve international food crisis faced by many countries including Pakistan, said US Special Advisor on Science and Technology Dr Nina V Fedoroff on Thursday. Talking to reporters at a local hotel, Fedoroff said the international community had ignored important issues like energy and food in the past and was now paying for that negligence. She said the world should try to find both short and long-term solutions to end food problems.

01.09.2008

McGill prof urges biotech patent reform in Canada

McGill law Professor Richard Gold called for less aggressive patenting and a more collaborative effort in the biotechnology and health care industries in a conference held last week in London, England. Gold and his research group warned that a patenting surfeit, during early stages of research, would suppress innovation and limit biotechnology’s potential to address the world’s hunger problems.

01.09.2008

The ”dot-corn” bubble may be about to burst

The ”dot-corn” bubble may be about to burst as farmland prices spike and agriculture stocks rise even faster than Internet shares did in the late 1990s, Citigroup chief equity strategist Tobias Levkovich said yesterday. ”Excess excitement in the farming sector seems reminiscent of days past,” Mr. Levkovich wrote in a note to clients. ”The refrain of ’everyone has to eat,’ while catchy, can also lead to sentiment-based investing and not more rational fact-driven constructs.” Investors are obsessed with the idea of three billion new consumers in emerging markets such as India and China filling their bellies with protein as their incomes rise to new highs, he said.

01.09.2008

Interview with Hugh Grant, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Monsanto Company

There’s two broad areas. One is just improving breeding. So we’ve literally built the street maps. So if you arrive in a new town and you’re looking for the best hamburger or the best French restaurant, then you use one of these Map Quests or street maps - we’ve built a street map for corn breeders so they can literally work out what makes the strongest stems, what yields the best corn. So giving them a street map helps. So that’s one side of the house.
And the other side is our biotechnology. As you look to the next - by 2012 our goal is to have launched our first family of corn that can grow with less water. In America today agriculture drinks about 70 percent of the water. If you go to Africa, it’s 95 percent. So when you think about the next 15 or 20 years, the only way you can really double yields is be more effective on how we use water. I think the food squeeze that we’re seeing today will be dwarfed by the squeeze on water. So for us it’s about improving water utilization and then longer term improving fertilizer use.

01.09.2008

News on breeding drought-resistant crops

The purpose of this controlled field trial is to conduct proof-of-concept research to assess the performance of genetically modified (GM) wheat lines that express one of fifteen different candidate genes for drought tolerance derived from the plants thale cress and maize, a moss and yeast. [...] In this field trial 24 lines of GM wheat were tested and, of these, seven were identified as providing higher yields under drought stress. Two GM wheat lines exceeded the yield of the control experimental variety by 20 per cent under drought stress, with no apparent yield penalty under irrigated conditions.

01.09.2008

New DuPont laser technology speeds development of higher yielding corn and soybeans

DuPont today unveiled an advanced technology that will transform seed research and considerably speed up the development of higher yielding corn and soybean varieties. DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred introduced Laser-Assisted Seed Selection to farmers attending the Farm Progress Show here as the newest tool in its Accelerated Yield Technology (AYT) toolbox. [...] ”Laser-Assisted Seed Selection transforms our research program because it intensifies the impact of other AYT technologies such as molecular breeding by enabling the rapid selection of the best genetics for advancement before they ever leave the lab,” said William S. Niebur, vice president – DuPont Crop Genetics Research and Development.

29.08.2008

German beekeepers move bees to Munich to avoid GE contamination of honey

On Jul. 15, six German apiarists moved their 30,000 bees into Munich city, some 500 km south of Berlin. They were trying to save their bees from genetically modified maize crops near their village Kaisheim, some 80 km from Munich. ”If our bees were to come in touch with the genetically modified maize, and the honey was contaminated with it, we would not be allowed to sell it,” Karl Heinz Bablock, one of the six apiarists who resettled their beehives, told IPS. In Germany, genetically modified crops are legal, but their harvests are forbidden for human consumption.

29.08.2008

New trial series with Bt maize: Comparing different varieties in Germany

From 2008 to 2011 several research projects will once again be investigating the environmental impacts of genetically modified Bt maize. A new trial field was prepared for this purpose at the start of the 2008 growing season. This series of research projects is being funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of its biological safety research programme. The genetically modified Bt maize being tested in this trial series contains several introduced genes, called ’stacked genes’.

29.08.2008

Forum in Bendigo (Victoria, Australia) tackles GM farm threats

BLINDING self-interest is the only motivation behind the Victorian Government’s insistence on pushing genetically modified farming on to central Victoria, Bendigo Mayor David Jones said yesterday. ”The people who think the science is in on genetic engineering are the very same people who think the science is not in on climate change,” Cr Jones said. ”We need to send a strong message to all sides of politics.” Cr Jones said the City of Greater Bendigo Council will sponsor a forum on Friday, bringing together farmers, scientists and anti-GM activists to highlight the impact of introducing genetically modified canola crops to central Victoria since a government moratorium was lifted six months ago.

29.08.2008

More than 105,896 citizens request a GMO free Catalonia (Spain)

The people of Catalonia do not approve genetically modified organisms (GMOs). On 20th August, more than 105,896 signatures against GMOs were delivered to the catalan Parliament. The signatures have to be validated by the Catalan Statistics Institute (IDESCAT) and afterwards, by the end of October, the proposed law will enter the parliamentary procedure, with the presentation of motions and the debate of the law.

29.08.2008

Brazilian non-GM grain producers launch industry organization

Today it has been officially launched and founded, the Brazilian Association for the Producers of Non-GM Grains (ABRANGE), congregating grains and seeds producers, cooperatives, crushing industries, transport and warehousing companies, certification companies as well as research laboratories and others. ”The entity is launched aiming to encourage the planting, production, development and processing of non-GM grains in Brazil”, says the newly elected President César Borges de Sousa of Caramuru Alimentos.

29.08.2008

Tasmanian (Australia) committee report recommends continuation of the GE crop moratorium

The Gene Ethics network is claiming a win for the anti-genetically modified crop movement, applauding a Tasmanian Government all-party committee report which recommends that prohibition on the release of GM food crops be extended for another five years. If adopted, the moratorium on GM crops in that state would not be reviewed until the end of the five year period. Gene Ethics director Bob Phelps says a GM ban in Tasmania would isolate the ”rogue states” of Victoria and NSW, which have allowed commercial GM canola crops to be grown this year.

28.08.2008

Agriculture Minister of Kerala (India) opposes new Indian GMO Bill

Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran has expressed grave concern over the proposed National Biotechnology Regulatory Bill. The Minister said the Bill contained dangerous provisions that would prevent democratic control over genetic experiments and harm the farmers and consumers. Though agriculture was a State subject, the Centre had not asked the views of the State on the proposed legislation. This was highly objectionable. The Bill had provisions to take away the powers of the State government and local self- governments regarding testing and production of genetically modified crops and impose Central decisions on the States.

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