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2007-04-26 |

Philippine government urged to ban entry of GE rice

An environmental group has urged the government to disapprove the pending application of Bayer Crop Science, a foreign biotech firm, for the importation and release in the local market of genetically engineered rice (GE rice). Sister Aida Velasquez, coordinator of the Lingkod Tao-Kalikasan (LTK), said that the government, in particular the Bureau of Plant and Industry under the Department of Agriculture (DA), should not allow the entry of the Bayer-developed genetically engineered LLRICE 62 because it may pose serious health and environmental risks to the country.

2007-04-26 |

Maine (USA) farmers clash over GE crop liability rules

Organic and conventional farmers find themselves on opposite sides of the fence as the Legislature considers a bill to make manufacturers of genetically modified seeds liable for damages if their products spread to other crops. Some supporters of the bill, sponsored by Rep. James Schatz, D-Blue Hill, said it would protect farmers’ ability to control what they grow, whether they use organic or conventional methods. Opponents said the bill could cause some manufacturers to remove their products from Maine, depriving conventional farmers of tools they use.

2007-04-26 |

Codex Alimentarius and the GM trade stalemate

International regulations on genetically modified foods and the trade barriers resulting from these will again be in the spot light next week, as the 35th meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Labeling kicks off in Ottawa, Canada. [...] Differences in international regulations of genetically modified (GM) foods have long been the cause of strong disagreements between the United States and the European Union. The US claims the EU’s more stringent labeling requirements violate free trade agreements, but EU member states maintain that informed consumer choice should constitute part of free trade.

2007-04-26 |

Genetically engineered pharmaceutical rice is not the solution to diarrhea

Genetically engineered, pharmaceutical rice is not a safe or cost-effective solution for infants suffering from diarrhea, concludes an exhaustive report released today by the Center for Food Safety, as the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) considers whether to allow planting of the rice in Kansas this spring. The report discusses potential adverse health impacts of the rice-grown drugs, which have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

2007-04-25 |

Argentine cow clones to produce insulin in milk

Argentine scientists said on Tuesday they had created four cloned and genetically modified calves capable of producing human insulin in their milk, a step they said could cut the cost of treating diabetes. The newborn Jersey heifers -- who the scientists have named Patagonia 1, 2, 3 and 4 -- will start producing the human hormone when they reach adulthood, said the biotechnology company behind the project, Bio Sidus.

2007-04-25 |

USAID West Africa Director sees nothing wrong with biotechnology

The West Africa Mission Director of USAID, Dr J. Cheema has said that biotechnology is one of the tools that can help African countries to achieve sustainable agricultural growth. According to Dr Cheema, African agriculture needs to grow faster not only to feed a growing African population, but also to raise incomes and boost trade if the continent is to improve its position in the world economy. ”However, it is not stand-alone solution and must be pursued in conjunction with other improvements in agricultural management such as seed delivery systems and appropriate regulations in order to encourage the private sector investment” she said.

2007-04-25 |

U.S. biotech-companies pressure Malaysia to drop GE food labeling clause

It is learnt that US bio-tech companies have pressured Malaysia to drop Section 61 of the Bill, on making labelling of GM products mandatory. Clause 61 is one of the 58 contentious points that have stalled the US-Malaysia FTA talks.

2007-04-25 |

Transgenic pact signed by Mexican growers and Monsanto

Concerned that Mexico has yet to join competing nations in the development of genetically altered food crops, the nation´s corn growers signed an agreement with agribusiness giant Monsanto Wednesday to buy and plant gene
tically altered seeds. [...] The National Confederation of Corn Producers (CNPAMM), which is affiliated with the umbrella agriculture association National Campesino Confederation (CNC) had been in negotiations with Monsanto for months to come up with a plan to convert some of the nation´s corn crops to "technically improved" seeds in order to resist plague and increase production.

2007-04-25 |

South African retailers enter battle for high ground in GM foods

South Africa’s three major food retailers are actively courting the organic produce market while, somewhat paradoxically, government agencies are hoping to have the first genetically modified (GM) crops on supermarket shelves soon. The scene has been set for a battle for the soul of consumers, as well as the farmers that supply their food. Last week Pick ’n Pay said it would not stock a government-backed GM potato, which the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) hopes to commercialise, until the council could provide conclusive scientific evidence on the biosafety of the product.

2007-04-25 |

Biowatch South Africa challenges order to pay Monsanto

THE awarding of a costs order against non-governmental org-anisation Biowatch could have a deterrent effect on future public interest litigation, argued counsel for Biowatch Richard Moultrie yesterday. Biowatch was appealing before a full bench of the Pretoria High Court yesterday against an earlier court order that it should pay genetically modified crops company Monsanto SA’s legal costs.

2007-04-24 |

U.S. agrees to discussion with EU to normalize biotechnology trade

The United States Trade Representative has formally told the European Union that it is interested in continuing an effort aimed at ensuring a normalization of biotechnology trade in the wake of a ruling by the World Trade Organization that the EU’s approval process for genetically modified organisms has run afoul of the procedures that guide sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and that member state bans on products previously approved in the EU violate the WTO.

2007-04-24 |

47% of UK livestock farmers would grow GM forage crops

AROUND half of livestock farmers in this country would be prepared to grow genetically modified forage crops, according to a British Grassland Society survey. [...] Top of the benefits favoured was reduced disease, followed closely by pest resistance and better nutritive value for stock. The bottom two rated benefits were increased yields and the ability to spray weeds with less selective products.

2007-04-24 |

The melee over milk labels in the USA

At the supermarket you’ll find eggs from vegetarian-fed hens and apples grown without the use of pesticides. Or you can buy regular old eggs and apples. But you get the information you need to make your choice. If St. Louis-based agribusiness giant Monsanto has its way, though, you’ll have less information at the supermarket. You’ll be denied the option of choosing milk from cows that haven’t been given an artificially engineered growth hormone. [...] Monsanto has every right to protect its profits. But not at the expense of consumers’ right to know.

2007-04-24 |

Rice Commision: California seed tests free of GM traits

The California Rice Commission is reporting that a test of the rice seed for the state’s 2007 crop has found the seed free of genetically modified traits. Specifically, the commission noted that no evidence was found of traits associated with the LibertyLink gene, which appeared in trace amounts last August in commercially produced long grain rice grown in the South.

2007-04-24 |

Proposed laws ’to release untested GMOs’

The federal government will be able to release untested genetically modified organisms into the environment under proposed new emergency response laws, activists say. Greenpeace and Gene Ethics told a parliamentary inquiry in separate submissions they were concerned that the broad terms of proposed legislation could allow governments to release potentially dangerous biological agents for almost any reason. [...] A clause in the proposed amendment would allow the minister to speed up the release of a genetically modified organism (GMO) in response to an emergency.

2007-04-24 |

New law fuels farmers in fight against canola crops

Biodiesel from Washington-grown canola seed may be all the rage for people interested in a renewable, domestic form of energy. But a new law gives some farmers in one of the state’s oldest industries the power to keep canola away from their crops. ”All we wanted was a canola-free zone,” said Kirby Johnson, a Skagit Valley seed farmer. After a year of meeting with state bureaucrats and watching local and state leaders tout the benefits of fuel made from Washington-grown crops, seed farmers such as Kirby can now petition the Washington State Department of Agriculture to establish restrictive zones for canola production.

2007-04-23 |

European biotech sector in great shape after recovery period

The European biotech industry has managed to bounce back after a long-lasting period of restructuring that began in 2005 and there is now reason for optimism, according to new research.
After years of downturn and painful restructuring, the European biotech industry is firmly back on the right path and is sustaining its newfound progress and momentum, Ernst & Young said in a new report on the biotech industry released this week.

2007-04-23 |

EU experts fail to agree approval of GMO sugar beet

EU biotech experts failed on Thursday to agree on approving an application for genetically modified (GMO) sugar beet, again exposing the bloc’s deep-seated rift on biotech foods, the European Commission said on Thursday. The sugar beet, called H7-1, was developed jointly by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto and German plant breeding company KWS SAAT AG to resist glyphosate-containing herbicides.

2007-04-23 |

EU may take two years to develop biotech crop rules

Europe’s farmers will not see any more clarity on EU rules for separating traditional, organic and biotech crops until at least 2009 as experts sift through scientific data on specific plant varieties, officials say. The European Commission, the EU executive, issued guidelines in July 2003 on how farmers should separate the three types. The idea was for national governments to make their own laws to facilitate growing of genetically modified (GMO) crops if farmers wanted to do so. At the moment, maize is the only GMO crop that is grown on the territory of the EU-27.

2007-04-23 |

Minnesota (USA) stops sales of rootworm resistant GE corn

Minnesota has stopped the distribution and sale of a certain genetically modified variety of Syngenta seed corn because it doesn’t comply with state regulations. Farmers were told not to plant the rootworm resistant seed. Syngenta officials told the Minnesota Department of Agriculture on Friday that 7,480 units of ”Agrisure RW MIR 604” seed were distributed to 99 seed dealers in Minnesota.

2007-04-23 |

Brazil delays vote on gene-altered corn seeds until next month

Brazil’s biotechnology council postponed its decision on Bayer AG’s gene-modified corn seeds until next month. The council finished voting on issues related to research during meetings yesterday and today, and delayed its vote on commercial seeds until May 16-17, spokeswoman Rachel Mortari said. The council had a backlog of issues to consider because last month’s meeting was canceled after Greenpeace International protesters stormed the closed-door session.

2007-04-17 |

Compulsory labelling on GM products soon in Malaysia

Malaysia is expected to have a legal framework on biosafety soon to ensure that only approved genetically modified (GM) products enter the market place. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid said Monday the Cabinet had decided that compulsory labelling of GM products would be enforced after the proposed Biosafety Bill, to be tabled at the current parliamentary session, was passed and gazetted by end of this year.

2007-04-17 |

New Zealand scientist says GE crops don’t live up to promise

Crop and Food Research is being accused of tunnel vision on genetic engineering (GE) by one of its former scientists. Biotechnologist Dr Elvira Dommisse, who worked on the early stages of Crop and Food’s GE onion experiments before the current field trials began, says GE crops have not lived up to their initial promise and the Crown research institute should invest more in conventional plant breeding.

2007-04-17 |

Indian campaign against Bt cotton is motivated, says research scientist

For the septuagenarian R. Krishnamurthy, an authority on cotton research in the country after six decades of dedication and innovation, the campaign against genetically engineered (Bt) cottonseeds is a motivated one. ”This campaign of toxicity in this cotton is triggered by some pesticide companies as their use in the cotton sector has slumped drastically, thanks to the Bt seeds. ”After all, it is cotton which consumes 50 per cent of the total pesticide used in the country,” contends the doyen of cotton breeding.

2007-04-17 |

Genetically modified crops represent a key solution to ending extreme poverty

”There"s now promise in the case of many of the biotechnologies in agriculture of fortifying nutrients in places where the people are facing massive nutrient deficiencies — of course, traits that protect against local pests and pathogens,” continues Sachs in an exclusive video interview and podcast available at the Conversations about Plant Biotechnology [...] ”Now there"s the possibility of drought-resistant varieties. … This would be a phenomenal breakthrough, especially for Africa, which is nearly a whole continent afflicted with the massive risk and reality of drought.”

2007-04-17 |

Molecular Plant Breeding CRC (Australia) discovered non-GE salt-tolerant wheat varieties

It may not be quite as salt-loving as a mangrove, but scientists have discovered that wheat has more in common with the coastal dweller than anyone realised. The Molecular Plant Breeding CRC’s Dr Yusuf Genc has found that different varieties of wheat have different ways of dealing with salinity. The research has implications for cereal breeders, who have long sought to breed varieties that are resistant to salinity.

2007-04-17 |

Canadian authority wants to regulate low-phytat barley with x-ray mutation

Unfortunately, to date we have been unable to register and release HB379 low phytate barley under the normal variety registration procedures for a feed barley variety in Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has, without any sound scientific rationale or consideration of relative risk, ruled that HB379 is a ”novel feed”. Despite more than eight months of repeated efforts on our part to provide the CFIA with sound scientific rationale as to the error of their decision to regulate HB379 in this way, we have been unsuccessful.

2007-04-16 |

U.S. Senator warns against bill for biotech drugs

Legislation allowing generic versions of medications made using biotechnology could result in dangerous treatments, a drugmaker and a senior U.S. senator said at a hearing yesterday. The proposed bill is flawed because it could permit companies to skip human trials before medications are approved, a representative of Johnson & Johnson, which makes biotech drugs, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said at a hearing of the Senate health committee.

2007-04-16 |

South Korean documents reveal trade-off on textiles and GM crops

The South Korean government pledged to ease quarantine rules on products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) under a free trade agreement with the United States struck on April 2, but while negotiations were underway on the deal, the government had denied it was discussing the topic. In particular, the Korean government denied it linked the issue of the U.S. opening its textile market and Korea accepting U.S. GMOs, something that government documents obtained by the Hankyoreh says was indeed tied together during the talks.

2007-04-16 |

Andalucía (Spain) sets the pace in biomedicine and stem cell research legislation

The regional government is in the process of introducing a package of measures in the field of biomedicine and stem cell research. This is pioneer legislation not just in Spain but also in Europe. Within a year Andalusians will be entitled to free treatment to detect and prevent possible genetically based illnesses. The Andalusian Parliament has already approved Spain’s first law to control biomedical research with stem cells for therapeutic ends. The Genetics Law, currently being processed, will allow genetic analysis for health care or biomedical research and controls the DNA bank system.

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