GENET-news

 Below you find the postings of the last seven days.

 

2012-05-09 | permalink

MP shows support for UK GM wheat trials

The MP for Hitchin and Harpenden has shown his support for the genetically modified wheat trails that are currently taking place at Rothamsted Research. The controversial experiment, which is taking place in Harpenden, has received mixed reactions from people across the UK. Peter Lilley said: “I strongly support the invaluable work being carried out at the Rothamsted Research Institute on developing GM crops and their very responsible approach to eliminate any risk of premature release of plants they are developing – risks which are in any case much exaggerated.

2012-05-09 | permalink

Public research, private gain: Corporate influence over U.S. university agricultural research

The report, Public Research, Private Gain: Corporate Influence Over University Agricultural Research, provides a history of the land-grant university system including how, as public funding has stalled in recent decades, these universities have turned to agribusiness to fill the void, compromising the public mission of the institutions. “Private-sector funding not only corrupts the public research mission of land-grant universities, but also distorts the science that is supposed to help farmers improve their practices and livelihoods,” said Hauter. “Industry-funded academic research routinely produces favorable results for industry sponsors. And since policymakers and regulators frequently cite these university studies to back up their decision-making, industry-funded academic research increasingly influences the rules that govern their business operations.”

2012-05-09 | permalink

Azerbaijan strongly against import of GM food products

Azerbaijan strongly opposes the import of genetically modified food products, the country’s Minister of Agriculture Ismet Abbasov told reporters on Saturday. “Neither the Ministry of Agriculture nor other relevant departments would permit the import of such products,” said the minister. According to Abbasov, Azerbaijan’s farm products are environmentally friendly due to the limited use of fertilizers, and there is no need for importing foreign GM food products.

2012-05-09 | permalink

How your college is selling out to big agribiotech companies

Last week, the University of Illinois’ College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in Champaign-Urbana made a momentous announcement: it has accepted a $250,000 grant from genetically modified seed/agrichemical giant Monsanto to create an endowed chair for the “Agricultural Communications Program” it runs with the College of Communications. [...] A cynic might translate that statement this way: In order to maintain our highly profitable and hotly contested business model, we’ll need a new generation of PR professionals to construct and disseminate our marketing message. [...] Back in 2002, Monsanto donated $200,000 to ACES for the Monsanto Multi-Media Executive Studio, to be “used by faculty and staff of the college for presentations and seminars and for conferences involving companies and organizations with ties to the college and its mission.”

2012-05-09 | permalink

Indian Bt cotton thrives at cost of child labour

The problems and issues related to Bt cotton production in India have been well-documented. But, what is less known is the relationship between Bt cotton seed farming and child labour. A study ‘Dirty Cotton’ by a team of researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru University and research agency Global March has established this link. [...] The report mentions that in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, the worst states in the cultivation season of 2009-10, around 3,81,500 children below the age of 18 years were found engaged as labourers in cotton seed farms. The authors found that profits earned from turning cotton into the final product is 850 per cent. The share of child labour in this is merely 0.8 per cent.

2012-05-09 | permalink

EFSA chair resigns over conflict of interest with position in food industry organisation

The European Food Safety Authority has demanded that Diána Bánáti resign as chairwoman of its management board because she is rejoining the board of the International Life Sciences Institute Europe, a research and advocacy organisation for food science. She is to become the executive and scientific director at ILSI. Bánáti was the centre of controversy in 2010 when it was revealed that while chairing the EFSA board she also held an undeclared position on the board of ILSI. José Bové, a French Green MEP, demanded her resignation from EFSA, saying that her ILSI position was in conflict with EFSA’s role approving foods in the EU, including genetically modified organisms.

2012-05-09 | permalink

Gulf Cooperation Council Subcommittee discussed GM food issues

The GCC Subcommittee for organic, functional and genetically modified foods held its fifth meeting in Abu Dhabi for two days in the presence of HE Dr. Mariam Harib Al Yousuf, Chairperson of the Committee and Executive Director of Policy and Regulation Sector at Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority [...] “This was with a view to preempt all health risks that they may cause. The meeting also reviewed the latest global developments in this field in order to take preventive and science-based steps while preparing standards, specifications and legislations. All these, put together, will provide for the citizens and residents of the GCC the highest standards of protection against health hazards,” she explained.

2012-05-09 | permalink

Monsanto Company launches new non-GE downy mildew resistant cucumber hybrids

This spring, cucumber farmers in the U.S. and Canada will have new hybrid options that help protect against damaging Downy Mildew disease. Monsanto’s Seminis brand will offer growers two slicer cucumber hybrids that increase harvestable yield potential and enable a reduction in both the number and cost associated with the fungicidal sprays currently used to control the disease. Thanks to the effective disease resistance developed through conventional breeding and a new donor, Seminis Downy Mildew resistant cucumber hybrids have the potential for a more flexible spray schedule.

2012-05-09 | permalink

Ministry of Environment Science and Technology of Ghana satisfied about Biosafety Act

The Ministry of Environment Science and Technology has expressed satisfaction about the passage of the Biosafety Bill into law, which received Presidential assent on December 31, 2011. The Biosafety ACT, 2011 (ACT 831) seeks to establish a legal framework to provide the machinery for regulating biotechnology and Biosafety in Ghana. In a statement to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday, MEST explained that the Biosafety Act is the first attempt to have a clear-cut policy on regulation of biotechnology.

2012-05-09 | permalink

GE mosquito release in Florida (USA) on indefinite hold

Mosquito Control’s plan to release genetically altered mosquitoes in Key West as a way to reduce the chances of a dengue-fever recurrence remain on indefinite hold. “At this point, I expect it will be a long time before anything happens,” Doyle said. “Nothing has changed.” The controversial program “will only take place once all necessary regulatory and ethical approvals have been obtained, from regulatory agencies at both federal and state level, based on the results of independent, rigorous, scientific review,” the district says in a statement. So far, no government agency has agreed to oversee the approval process. “There has been absolute silence from Washington, D.C.,” Doyle said. “If anybody up there is looking at it, I don’t know about it.”

2012-05-09 | permalink

Destroyed New Zealand GE pines trial to be re-planted

Forest research institute Scion has confirmed it will continue its genetically engineered tree trial and will replace hundreds of genetically modified pines destroyed last month, while police continue to investigate the attack. [...] Scion chief executive Dr Warren Parker says the research is important to the forest industry and the institute has decided the field trial should continue, but under even tighter security. Dr Parker says the cost of replacing the destroyed trees, extra security and lost time, will add up to about $1 million.

2012-05-09 | permalink

Connecticut’s GE foods Bill eviscerated by lawyers

Rep. Richard Roy of Milford, co-chair of the Environment Committee and the original sponsor of the bill, when reached for comment this morning said “I feel very strongly that someone or some state has to challenge the use of the Bill of Rights, designed to protect we individuals, from using it to thwart the sharing of information and the subjugation of a whole industry. [...] “The labeling provision was eliminated from the bill due to fears that it opened the state up to a lawsuit. The attorneys for the leadership and Governor’s office felt that the Constitutional Rights of Monsanto gave them the power to successfully sue the state. Their main duty was to protect the welfare of the state” said Roy.

2012-05-08 | permalink

Dansih researchers test GM and non-GM soya in pig diets

Researchers in Denmark are preparing to carry out comparative feed studies to investigate the real world impact of GM soya in a batch of production pigs. The two 100-strong groups will have a diet of barley and wheat, with GM soya for the control group and non-GM for the test group. The test period is fairly short, since the pigs will be aged about six months at slaughter, when they will weigh around 110kg. A longer study involving breeding animals is not envisaged until the current project has been evaluated, lead researcher Niels Kjeldsen told ARC.

2012-05-08 | permalink

Request for an urgent EFSA reappraisal of all GM soy consents

We are now writing to draw your attention, once again, to the accumulating evidence that GM soy and Roundup / herbicide residues together cause serious health problems in the animals that come into contact with them. [...] It is clear to many scientists that even when used as “intended” they are NOT safe, even in very small quantities, and it is the Commission’s responsibility to consider both the direct and indirect effects of using this lethal combination in the livestock industry of Europe. The evidence for this damage is more than anecdotal; it is to be found in a string of peer-reviewed scientific publications, which we and others have repeatedly brought to your attention.

2012-05-08 | permalink

98 reasons not to use glyphosate on seed fields becausye of poor germination

In recent years, however, our seed lab has seen an increase in samples with poor germination that has been attributed to the use of glyphosate as a harvest aid. We have seen numerous examples in many crops including wheat, durum, flax, lentils and field peas. For several years, the department has been educating seed growers that glyphosate should not be used on seed crops. Manufacturers warn against its use on seed crops and that information is published in the NDSU Weed Control Guide every year. We are unsure whether there is a lack of awareness of the problem or if people are simply willing to take the risk.

2012-05-08 | permalink

GM cotton and food is penetrating Vietnamese market without oversight

Vietnamese state management agencies have admitted that genetically modified products have been present in Vietnam for a long time. [...] Professor Nguyen Lan Hung said at a recent conference that 3/4 of GMO cotton varieties have appeared in Vietnam. [...] The Testing and Standard Center No. 3, which tested 323 samples of soybean, tomato, potato, maize and rice taken accidentally from 17 markets and supermarkets in HCM City, found out that 1/3 of them are GMO products. [...] The worrying problem is that foreign companies give varieties to farmers directly and they promise to take responsibility for the outlet of the products.

2012-05-08 | permalink

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spends USD 3Mill to speed up GE crop and food approval in Kenya

KENYA is set to benefit from a US $ 3 million grant seeking to enhance knowledge sharing and awareness on biotechnology. The donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa will provide an enabling environment in Africa for decision making on genetically modified crops which will see farmers benefit. Although the biosafety act is now in place, GMO opponents in Kenya still believe the country is not capable of protecting indigenous crops from the gene contamination

2012-05-08 | permalink

State of Yucatan (Mexico) works on a GM-free decree

Yesterday the state beekeepers met with state officials to express their disagreements concerning the use of transgenic seeds in the field of Yucatan. They are seeking a way to stop the use of this gene that affects livestock and thus the entire food chain, as they claim. Dr. Eduardo Batllori Sampedro, Secretary of Urban Development and Environment [...] said that the state is taking action on this matter; it is working in a decree where the government will declare Yucatan as GM-free state.

2012-05-07 | permalink

Patent on animal breeding revoked - EPO revokes patent on sperm cells

Today, the European Patent Office in Munich revoked a patent on animal breeding (EP 1257168) for US company Inguran and its affiliate XY LLC. The patent covered a process in animal breeding, which enables the selection of the sex of offspring, as well as sperm cells. The patent had been opposed by Greenpeace and the Green Party in European Parliament and was only revoked for technical reasons. Yet, the opposing parties are convinced that this patent should have never been granted from the outset as European patent legislation does not allow patents to be granted on plant or animal breeding. Representing a broad range of civil society organisations, Christoph Then, one of the speakers for the international coalition “No Patents on Seeds” states “this decision is a great success, however it does not rule out further patents for breeding plants or animals being granted in future.”

2012-05-07 | permalink

Suzano unit gets Brazil approval to trial GM eucalyptus for biomass

FuturaGene Ltd. U.K., held by Suzano Papel e Celulose SA, said it won approval from Brazil for the world’s most advanced trial of a genetically modified forest as it seeks to boost yields of trees used in biomass power plants. The company will plant modified eucalyptus trees in coming weeks in a fourth trial to test the safety and effectiveness of the technology, Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hirsch said in an interview. Inserting genes into trees allows increased yields for electricity generation or manufacturing of pulp and paper.

2012-05-07 | permalink

Israeli researchers are sowing GE seeds of revolution to fight world food shortage

A small startup on a moshav has come up with a way to immunize plants to make them genetically resistant to disease. The U.S. government has found the technology so promising that it’s helping to fund pre-field trial tests. A homegrown Israeli idea for conquering the world food shortage. It took a full hour and a half for Morflora’s Dotan Peleg and Miri Lapidot, who were giving lengthy explanations about genetic sequences, proteins and chromosomes, to manage to convey just why they believe their company is on course to change the face of global agriculture - and earn untold profits.

2012-05-07 | permalink

Canadian GE safflower-based drug developer SymBioSys closes business

A Calgary biotech firm that used genetically-modified safflowers as factories to develop a possible cardiovascular drug and a plant-based insulin has braced itself for the end of the road. SemBioSys Genetics on Monday said a strategic partnership deal signed in October with Chinese pharmaceutical firm Tasly has sputtered as the companies “have been unable to agree on certain fundamental issues including initial budgets.” [...] Thus, SemBioSys said Monday, it’s now likely that SemBioSys “will not continue to operate as a going concern” and it “has begun activities to orderly wind down the company’s business in the most effective manner possible.”

2012-05-07 | permalink

First drug from GE plant cell culture on the market

For the first time, the US Federal Drug Administration today has approved a drug produced in a genetically engineered plant cell. Among those cheering the news are scientists who have advocated ‘bio-pharming’. The drug, Elelyso (taliglucerase alfa), soothes the symptoms in most patients of the rare lysosomal storage disorder Gaucher disease, which causes problems ranging from bone infections to anaemia. Scientists at the Israeli biotechnology company Protalix Biotherapeutics developed a method to create the human enzyme that these patients lack in carrot cells, by inserting a gene that encodes the protein into the cells.

2012-05-07 | permalink

Prostate cancer vaccine uses DNA to fight disease

The first prostate cancer vaccine could be a step away after ministers gave their approval for a human trial of a new genetically modified therapy. The treatment, which uses viruses carrying human DNA to direct the body’s natural defences against cancer cells, is the first prostate cancer vaccine ever to reach late stage ”phase three” trials in Europe. No vaccines have yet been approved in Britain to treat any type of cancer, and scientists believe it could not only double the survival rate of prostate cancer sufferers but give way to a new range of similar treatments for other tumour types.

2012-05-04 | permalink

Philippine GE eggplant war: Petition against field trials ”is not in the national interest”

Top Filipino scientists have urged the Supreme Court to junk a petition filed by environmental groups against the field testing of genetically modified eggplant in the country. Emil Javier, president of the National Academy of Science and Technology and former president of the University of the Philippines, said “Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant is potentially the best environmentally friendly technology for eggplant production.” [...] He argued that the filing of the petition “is not in the national interest, and the academy, together with UP and the mainstream, reputable scientists from the local and global community strongly support agricultural biotechnology.”

2012-05-04 | permalink

The tide in Africa turns in favour of GE foods

Proponents of genetically modified crops argue that restrictions in Africa, ranging from outright bans to strict liability laws that deterred seed providers, deny other African countries the higher and more certain yields that the crops offer. Restrictions also make it difficult to export South African maize to nearby regions where it is sorely required. But in 2011 Egypt and Burkina Faso had commercial-scale genetically modified crops under cultivation (though only cotton and not food crops in Burkina Faso). Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe are in various stages of planting, field trials and research into a range of genetically modified crops, including maize, wheat and sorghum.

2012-05-04 | permalink

When a non-profit gets in bed with the enemy

According to Dena Hoff, a diversified family farmer in Glendive, Montana, and North American coordinator of La Via Campesina, “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust’s purchase of Monsanto shares indicates that the Gates Foundation’s interest in promoting the company’s seed is less about philanthropy than about profit-making. The Foundation is helping to open new markets for Monsanto, which is already the largest seed company in the world.” These aren’t sour grapes about one of the richest people on earth capitalizing on stock trading. Monsanto, who created the dioxin-leeching defoliant Agents Orange and Blue, is one of the main drivers of genetically modified foods.

2012-05-04 | permalink

Africa’s frankenfoods

In recent years, donors such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have invested millions of dollars into researching, developing and promoting GM technology, including drought-resistant maize, within the country — and have found a great deal of success in doing so through partnerships with local NGOs and government bodies. The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), a semi-autonomous government research institution, recently announced that after years of trials, genetically modified drought-resistant maize seeds will be available to Kenyan farmers within the next five years. Trial GM drought-resistant cotton crops are already growing in Kidoko, 240 miles southeast of Nairobi.

2012-05-04 | permalink

ActionAid Tanzania cautions country on GM crops

Tanzania has been advised against embracing genetically modified organism food products in the country. Speaking exclusively to East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam last week, Mr. Elias Mtinda, the Agriculture and Food Security Advisor of the ActionAid Tanzania, said there is a need for the government to make its own decision without being influenced by bigger companies on decisions regarding the approval of the use of GMO food products. Mtinda said conglomerate companies which are involved in producing GMO‘s seeds like the Monsanto’s and Bill Gates’s firms are aimed at sourcing market for their products even if such products may have adverse effects on human beings.

2012-05-04 | permalink

GE seeds not an answer to poor yields says Zimbabwe’s SeedCo

THE use of genetically modified seeds is not an answer to the problem of poor yields farmers are currently producing, Seed Co group chief executive, Mr Morgan Nzwere said yesterday. Addressing journalists in Harare, Mr Nzwere said although GMOs had advantages over
conventional seed, they were not the sole answer to low yields. “Agronomic practices are one of the most important factors to consider when we talk about yields and the performance of crop varieties. “Even the genetically modified seeds do not perform any better if they do not receive the proper agronomic requirements.

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