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2007-04-09 |

U.S. grain industry urges Syngenta to reconsider plan to commercialize biotech corn seed not approved in export markets

The nation’s two leading trade associations representing the grain, feed and grain processing industries today (April 4) joined in urging Syngenta Seeds Inc. to reconsider and reverse its plan to commercialize its Agrisure RW™ biotechnology-enhanced corn seed for planting this year because it has not obtained regulatory approval for food and feed use in Japan and other U.S. export markets.
The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) said that what they termed Syngenta’s ”ill-conceived” plan risks endangering U.S. corn and corn product exports.

2007-04-09 |

In unusual move, biotech giant Monsanto asks for more government regulation

It’s just not a level playing field anymore says St. Louis based biotech conglomerate Monsanto. Through deceptive practices and misleading advertising dairies and milk processors are convincing the American public that there’s something wrong with rBST produced milk and they shouldn’t be drinking it. Dairy after dairy is slapping ”rBST-free” and ”no artificial growth hormones” on their milk--and it’s working! The public is asking for rBST-free milk--an ”artificial demand” says Monsanto, no pun intended--and milk processors are starting to penalize dairies still using rBST. [...] But it’s no fair, says Monsanto in letters to the FDA and FTC asking the agencies to regulate their competitors.

2007-04-09 |

West Africa to boost food crops with biotechnology

The 15 members of the Economic Community of West African States have agreed to use biotechnology to increase food production in the region. Ministers of agriculture, environment, science and technology met to discuss the issues surrounding biotechnology in agriculture at a meeting held last week (28–30 March) in Accra, Ghana. They adopted a regional action plan for biotechnology development for 2006–2010, which stresses the use of public-private partnerships to increase investment in biotechnology, and the need to put safety measures in place at national and regional levels.

2007-04-06 |

Lithuania does not approve GE rape seed trials

The Lithuanian ministry of the decided on Tuesday that it will not issue the permit to cultivate genetically modified summer rape for test purposes. The decision comes amid a visit by European Union Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Marianna Fischer Boel, who prompted Lithuanians not to fear genetically modified foodstuffs. Last October, German company BASF Plant Science GmbH applied for a permit to grow genetically modified summer rape on the test fields of the Agriculture Institute in the district of Klaipeda for test purposes. Their application has been denied by the Lithuanian ministry of agriculture.

2007-04-06 |

Californian (USA) panel approves GE rice trial

In a compromise on an issue that has riled the nation’s rice farmers, a state panel on Wednesday authorized an outdoor test planting of biotech rice but restricted it to a site hundreds of miles from the nearest commercial fields. An undisclosed biotechnology firm had asked the board for permission to plant its genetically modified rice in Fresno County, but the board ordered that the rice be planted only in Imperial County, and required that the crop be harvested with a dedicated set of farm equipment, among other restrictions. The case was the first test of a state moratorium on biotech rice called for last month by the 40-member California Rice Commission board, which represents both rice processors and roughly 2,500 rice farming businesses.

2007-04-06 |

Monsanto bullish on sales of GM seeds

Monsanto plans to reassess the long-term targets for global penetration of genetically-modified seeds amid surging demand from farmers for its most sophisticated products. The rise in demand for US corn for use as food and fuel has forced farmers to plant in more hostile terrain and encouraged a drive for higher yields to take advantage of record crop prices. Hugh Grant, Monsanto’s chairman and chief executive, said the US group would evaluate how the current US harvest proceeds, but said the demand for seeds improving the yields of corn, soybeans and other crops was already ahead of its existing targets.

2007-04-06 |

Bt maize crops delivering health, wealth and environmental benefits in Europe

Although EU plantings of GM insect resistant (Bt) maize were only 65,000 ha in 2006 (in 7 countries), the crops have been delivering income gains to the farmers planting the crops, health benefits for the human and livestock consumers from improved grain quality and environmental gains associated with lower insecticide use, according to a study released today. ”Farmers, consumers and the environment all gain from adoption of this technology. It is therefore somewhat ironic, that by largely ignoring its application in the EU, we are denying ourselves these benefits” said Graham Brookes, director of PG Economics, and author of the study.

2007-04-06 |

Monsanto"s transgenic soya comes to Chile

Monstanto, one of the world’s leading transgenic seed producers, announced plans to cultivate Chile’s first genetically modified (GM) soya bean at the Expoagro 2007 show in Argentina last week. The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the Chilean farming industry represents another step backwards from President Michelle Bachelet’s 2005 election campaign pledge ”to not open the country to commercial transgenic crops.” [...] Despite Bachelet’s election pledge, there is no law to explicitly prohibit the growing of GM crops in Chile and the country refrained from signing the international Protocol of Biosecurity which monitors biosafety issues regarding GM organisms. According to internal rules of Chile’s Department of Agriculture and Livestock Services (SAG), transgenic crops cannot be grown for human consumption. Scientific and experimental research, however, is permitted and many businesses within Chile develop GM seeds for export.

2007-04-06 |

HSP (Croatian Party of Rights) against importing GMO products

At a press conference today, HSP requested the withdrawal of the Cabinet’s proposed law, which would allow the import of genetically modified seeds and food for animals. The law, as it was said, was supposed to be voted in an urgent session, and was make according to the recommendations of the European Commission. HSP thinks that the import of such food would be very harmful for Croatia.

2007-04-05 |

Palmer amaranth resistance threat to cotton industry

Glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth could be the biggest pest in cotton since the boll weevil and has the potential to damage the cotton industry, says a University of Tennessee Extension weed specialist. At a Syngenta-sponsored Webinar Friday, Larry Steckel, University of Tennessee Extension weed specialist, responded to a question from the Mid-South Farmer regarding how big of a problem weed resistance could be in the South, by saying, ”Boll weevil ran cotton of the South and resistant Palmer pigweed can have that potential.”

2007-04-05 |

More trouble for Monsanto after Indonesian bribery case

On March 6, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleging that in 2002 Charles M. Martin, then Monsanto Co."s ”Government Affairs Director for Asia, authorized and directed an Indonesian consulting firm to pay a bribe totaling $50,000 to a senior Indonesian Ministry of Environment official.” The payment, the filing said, ”was made to influence the Senior Environment Official to repeal language in a decree that was unfavorable to Monsanto"s business in Indonesia.”

2007-04-05 |

People ’empowerment’ through biotechnology pushed in the Philippines

Various stakeholders in the agriculture sector from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao on Monday held the first Biotechnology Information Organization Network (BIONet) National Congress in Bahay Kalinaw at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City to support the resounding call for poverty eradication through the responsible use of biotechnology in the Philippines.

2007-04-05 |

Biotechnology - an important tool in feeding growing populations

The Deputy Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, Abraham Dwuma Odoom has said biotechnology is an important tool in the fight to feed growing populations. New biotechnology techniques has the potential to deliver improved food quality and the environment also stood to benefit through agronomically enhanced crops. [...] Commenting on some of the advantages of biotechnology Dwumo Odoom said the enhanced food and feed quality would be linked to diseases prevention, and would result in the reduced use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers and drugs, leading to more sustainable agricultural practices and poverty alleviation. Advances in biotechnology would also result in major health care benefits, allowing for the production of cheaper, safer drugs in large quantities.

2007-04-05 |

The Peoples’ Saarc called for GE crop ban in South Asia

Peoples’ Saarc suggested right to food and other basic needs like health and education. It called for a visa-free South Asia to ensure free movement of the people, creation of a peaceful demilitarized region free from conflict and the need for removing discriminations based on gender, caste, religion, language and ethnic considerations. It called for a ban on genetically modified crops to save the region from genetic contamination and conservation and preservation of the Himalayan ecology.

2007-04-04 |

Cultivating a debate on GM crops in Poland

Independent farmers and agricultural firms are opposing a curb on genetically modified crops. A new bill restricting the application of bio-technology to increase crop output and resilience was approved by the Sejm in February and is now awaiting finalization. The bill comes in the wake of an EU court’s decision that a Polish ban on genetically modified (GM) crops, introduced in the summer of 2006, cannot override EU laws permitting the cultivation and trade of GM crops.

2007-04-04 |

Japanese anti-hay fever rice treated as a drug

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry has decided to develop a genetically modified rice aimed at alleviating symptoms of hay fever as a drug because the health ministry has determined that the rice falls into the category of a medical product. The ministry had initially aimed to put the rice on the market as a food product, but had to abandon the development of the rice as a food due to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry’s decision. As it takes longer for medical products to be officially authorized, the plan to put the rice on the market will be greatly delayed.

2007-04-04 |

South Korea reportedly agrees to nix testing U.S. genetically modified crops

South Korea has reportedly exempted U.S. foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from safety tests in the Korea-U.S free trade agreement struck on April 2, a move that Korean environmentalists criticised as the government ”selling off” the health of the nation. Seoul reportedly made the decision to exempt U.S. GMOs from safety tests in order to draw concessions from Washington on opening its textile market to Korean imports, sources said. The exemption of U.S. GMOs from safety testing was called contradictory in light of recent efforts by the Korean Government to place more strict regulation on such products.

2007-04-04 |

ECOWAS Ministers agree on biotechnology plan for region

Ministers from the Economic Community of West African States have agreed to use biotechnology to increase food production in their region. The agreement was reached at the third ECOWAS ministerial meeting on biotechnology and bio-safety, held in Accra, Ghana.

2007-04-04 |

Government of Andhra Pradesh (India) calls for Bt cotton ban

The government of Andhra Pradesh has called for a ban on Bt cotton seeds after the death of cattle grazing on leftover Bt cotton fields. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committed has said the problem requires scientific investigation. It has sent a fact-finding team to the affected areas.

2007-04-04 |

Native Hawaiians protest against the genetic manipulation of taro

Some native Hawaiians believe the taro plant is the greatest life force of all foods. That"s why about a hundred people protested at the state capitol this morning, against the genetic modification of taro. A senate bill, banning the genetic engineering of taro, could soon die in the 2007 legislative session.

2007-04-03 |

National public consultation on biosafety to begin shortly

A National Public Consultation on Biosafety is scheduled to commence shortly. The consultation will be hosted by the National Biosafety Committee, N-B-C. The committee, a multi-sectoral body, compiled and developed a National Biosafety Framework, N-B-F. The framework is a combination of policy, legal, administrative, and technical instruments that ensure an adequate level of protection in the use and handling of Genetically Modified Organisms, G-M-Os.

2007-04-03 |

The seed race

As a farmer of more than 500 acres, Ted Crosbie sees competition among agricultural biotechnology companies as good, because it increases his seed options and drives down prices. As vice president of global plant breeding for Monsanto Co., he is in the race with other biotech company executives to get more farmers to purchase his company’s products. [...] This investment, said Crosbie, who also is Iowa’s chief technology officer, will help stimulate economic development in the state for years to come.

2007-04-03 |

Transplanting organs from animals to humans: what are the barriers?

Given the huge shortage of donor organs, researchers have been trying to find ways to transplant animal organs across different species (known as ”xenotransplantation”), with the eventual aim of transplanting animal organs into humans. The major stumbling block, says Dr Muhammad Mohiuddin (US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) in a paper in PLoS Medicine, is that the immune system in the animal receiving the organ tends to reject the transplant.

2007-04-03 |

New GM food study reveals safety fears

Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance today said a recent French university study that had revealed the potential harm of GM food was further support for Western Australia’s moratorium on the commercial production of GM crops. Mr Chance pointed to an independent study conducted by French researchers and scientists from the universities of Caen and Rouen, which found that rats fed on Monsanto’s MON863 genetically modified corn had significant reductions in growth and adverse effects on liver and kidney function after 90 days of consumption.

2007-04-03 |

Greenpeace Philippines hits DA for flip-flop on GMO corn

The environment group Greenpeace today lambasted the Department of Agriculture for allegedly flip-flopping on an earlier order revoking the authorization for the use of a genetically modified corn called MON863, which the group has found to be toxic. Mindanao is the country’s largest corn producer where many of these GMOs have been cultivated.

2007-04-03 |

GMOs low priority for Kenyan consumers, says study

Kenyans are not highly sensitive to contents of foods they consume since their main area of focus is simply getting enough to eat. A new survey has found a number of Kenyans do not bother to confirm contents and safety of what they consume by reading food labels. It says as a result they are unlikely to be conscious of whether they are consuming Genetically Modified (GM) foods or not.

2007-04-02 |

Does opposition to GM crops hurt the poor?

People tend to have strong views on genetically modified crops. It"s usually a fairly wide divide between the ”GM can solve world hunger” camp and the line that ”GM could be dangerous and agricultural corporations like Monsanto are evil”. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, who used to oversee the U.N. Human Development Reports, is somewhere in the middle. She argues that GM technology so far hasn"t done much to help the poor, but it could. She says European campaigners against biotechnology are part of the problem.

2007-04-02 |

Three years later, no GE crops planted in Mendocino County (USA)

According to a report from biotechnology advocacy group, a record number of genetically modified organisms, or biotech crops, were planted last year. But, in Mendocino County, the numbers are virtually nonexistent, thanks to both a lack of interest and a 2004 county ordinance banning their use in unincorporated areas. According to the study, published by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, 10.3 million farmers in 22 countries planted 252 million acres of GMO crops in 2006, an increase of 13 percent from 2005. ”Here we have virtually no one growing GMO crops,” said Mendocino County Agriculture Commissioner Dave Bengston.

2007-04-02 |

Alarming increase in minor pests causes crop wilting in many parts of Andhra Pradesh (India)

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, [the Agriculture Commissioner Poonam Malakondaiah] said the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops, engineered for a specific trait, was also resulting in new pest problems. This called for a regular monitoring and surveillance system to know the status of pests, which was a pre-requisite for effective implementation of integrated pest management. [...] The department had also cautioned farmers against opting for Bt cotton crops in rain-fed areas.

2007-04-02 |

USA Rice Federation comments say ”No!” to Ventria’s Kansas rice venture

USA Rice Federation today filed comments with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection service (APHIS) asking ”in the strongest possible terms that the permit for Ventria [Bioscience]’s pharmaceutical rice be denied.” Ventria is seeking USDA approval for growing non-food rice bioengineered to contain the human proteins lysozyme, lactoferrin and recombinant human serum albumin.

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