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2007-04-02 |

MEPs put the breaks on organic-food law

The Parliament has held back its opinion on a new EU regulation on organic production and labelling rules, aimed at buying more time to negotiate on legislative powers and restrict the GMO content of organic products. [...] In addition, the MEPs backed an amendment (324 votes to 282, with 50 abstentions) seeking to reduce the threshold of accidental contamination from 0.9% to 0.1% in the case of organic products.

2007-03-30 |

Genetically engineered crops need more oversight in the USA

Genetically engineered crops are back in the headlines, for all the wrong reasons:
- Twice in the past six months, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that rice planted in the United States (and then exported to our trading partners) contained small amounts of an unapproved genetically engineered rice variety.
- Last month, two federal judges admonished the USDA for not adequately evaluating the potential impacts of genetically engineered alfalfa and creeping bentgrass.

2007-03-30 |

Codex labelling committee to discuss GM, organics

The agenda for the 35th meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling includes items on two of the most emotive issues for consumers and industry - genetically modified foods and organic foods. [...] In particular, delegates at next month"s meeting will discuss a draft amendment to the General Standards for Labelling of Prepackaged Foods with respect to definitions for foods obtained through genetic modification or genetic engineering. This draft is presently at step seven.

2007-03-30 |

GE corn helps U.S: farmers to grow corn after corn

he current high demand and market value of corn makes continuous corn attractive to producers, but it will also attract more rootworm pressure than usual, a South Dakota State University specialist warned. SDSU Extension Entomologist Mike Catangui said in fields seeded to continuous corn, rootworms have a continuous food supply, resulting in the buildup of rootworm infestations of cornfields over several years.

2007-03-30 |

The latest frontier for biotechs: Industry

Biotechnology was first applied in medicine, then farming. Today, dozens of lifesaving drugs are on the market, while many crops are genetically engineered to withstand weed killers. [...] After decades of unfulfilled promise and billions in government corn subsidies, energy companies may finally be able to produce ethanol easily and inexpensively thanks to breakthroughs in biotechnology.
Most of the five billion gallons of ethanol produced annually in the United States is still made by fermenting corn, but the crop is expensive, and its use in biofuels cuts into the nation"s food supply.

2007-03-30 |

NCGA advises growers new biotech trait lacks Japanese approval

The 2007 corn planting season is under way, and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) advises growers Syngenta’s Agrisure™ Rootworm trait (MIR 604) has not received full approval in Japan. NCGA’s biotechnology policy only supports events that have received full regulatory approval in the United States and Japan.
”We have requested Syngenta not release hybrids containing this trait this planting season,” said NCGA President Ken McCauley. ”Growers planting the Agrisure™ Rootworm trait should be aware that if Japanese regulatory approvals are not granted by harvest, there will be serious restrictions on the marketability of the grain.”

2007-03-30 |

South Korean government orders labelling of all GMO products from late June

The South Korean government said Wednesday that all products with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) must be clearly labelled as such under a plan to enhance consumer rights. The plan, which goes into effect on June 29, is an expansion of current identification requirements designed to protect the environment and consumer health. Under the current rules, it is only mandatory to identify genetically modified beans, bean sprouts, corn and potatoes.

2007-03-29 |

’1727 villages in Orissa (India) declared GM free

Seven hundred newly elected representatives of Panchayats in Orissa and the Governing Body members of Orissa Nari Samaj - a confederation of 53 block-level tribal women"s organizations - resolved to protect nature, promote biodiversity, and also took an oath NOT to cultivate Genetically Modified (GM) crops. The elected representatives declared 1,727 villages falling under 130 Panchayats in 12 districts as GM Free villages. These villages are in the districts of Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Nawarangpur, Kalahandi, Bargarh, Bolangir, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj in Orissa.

2007-03-29 |

Mexico search for GMO rice in US imports still on

Mexico will not let its guard down in the search for unauthorized genetically modified material in rice imports from the United States, a top government biosecurity official said on Tuesday. Marco Antonio Meraz, who heads Mexico"s biosecurity commission, said all shipments of US rice were required to show certification they contained no genetically modified material.

2007-03-29 |

Facing the threat of GE rice

With an eye to the future of rice farming in Thailand, a local grassroots organisation is bringing together youth in a north-eastern rice-growing province in a celebration of the diverse varieties of this staple grown in the traditional way.
The event in Kalasin, from Mar. 28 to Apr. 4, aims to ”expose the young to the local rice-growing culture,” says Janphen Ruyan, programme manager of the Foundation of Reclaiming Rural Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Action. ”Rice is our life; it is not something we just consume.”

2007-03-29 |

Philippine Agriculture Secretary announces withdrawal of MON863 approval

In a chance meeting last Friday, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap told this writer that he has ordered BPI to withdraw its approval for MON 863. ”There are other, less controversial seeds in the market,” he added.
Yap has never given this corner reason to doubt his word—and his decision on MON 863 will probably be welcomed by Greenpeace and others.

2007-03-29 |

Fourteen new GMO-free localities in Romania

Ecologists’ second strike secured a victory for the future of Romania’s agriculture: 14 villages in the Cluj county (the Huedin region) followed the example of their Bihor county neighbors and declared this region as free from any genetically modified organisms. The localities include the small town of Huedin and 13 villages, while the Bihor GMO-free zone includes two towns and 24 villages.

2007-03-29 |

Ghana hosts ECOWAS biotech meeting

A West Africa Ministerial meeting on biotechnology takes place in Accra, Ghana from March 27 – 30, 2007. The ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are expected to discuss and adopt the sub-region’s action plan on biotechnology developed by the ECOWAS Commission two years ago in Bamako, Mali. [...] The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting it. The Journalists Association of West Africa (RECOAB) and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) are among groups organising the meeting.

2007-03-28 |

EU authorises GMO rapeseed by legal rubberstamp

The European Union authorised German drugs and chemicals group Bayer on Monday to market various genetically modified (GMO) rapeseed types across the bloc for the next 10 years, the EU executive said. Bayer"s application relates to industrial processing, which includes use in animal feed, for rapeseed types Ms8, Rf3 and hybrids of these two -- all engineered to resist the glufosinate-ammonium herbicide. It does not involve cultivation. The EU decision is a rubberstamp procedure applied by the European Commission -- the EU"s executive arm. It is permitted under a legal default process that kicks in when ministers are unable to agree among themselves after a period of three months.

2007-03-28 |

Brazil shuts down Cargill grain port on Amazon River, demands environmental assessment

Federal police and environmental agents on Saturday shut down a port that U.S. grain giant Cargill Inc. had opened on the Amazon River, saying the company had failed to provide an environmental impact statement required by law. Authorities closed Cargill"s grain terminal in Santarem, a sleepy city of 250,000 residents 1,550 miles (2,500 kilometers) northwest of Rio de Janeiro, following late Friday"s ruling by Judge Souza Prudente, according to police and the Agencia Estado news service.

2007-03-28 |

EFSAs GM maize assessment to take several weeks

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is consulting with EU member states to ascertain whether further data are available to help it with its renewed assessment of Monsanto"s GM maize MON 863; its evaluation, based on this input and the work of its GMO panel, is expected to take several weeks.
The European Commission asked EFSA two weeks ago to examine the recently published CRIIGEN study on genetically modified maize MON 863, and see whether it has any consequences for the authority"s existing opinion on the safety of Monsanto"s transgenic maize.

2007-03-28 |

Hands off our genes, say Pacific Islanders

Pacific Islanders are demanding the power to restrict patenting of their human, plant and animal genes, even if they run foul of international patent laws. A new book documents 16 "acrimonious" encounters between scientific researchers and indigenous communities and calls for Pacific states to take a united approach to gaining control over such patents in the region.

2007-03-28 |

South African government rejects ’unsafe’ modified maize

The government has rejected a seed company"s application to grow genetically modified (GM) maize in South Africa for the biofuel industry. The GM maize, called ”maize event 3 272”, is the first GM industrial crop in the world for which approval has been sought for cultivation. The government turned down the application from seed company Syngenta because it said it had not convincingly shown that the maize was safe for food or animal feed.

2007-03-28 |

Global appeal against patents on seeds and farm animals

A new international coalition of farmers" unions, development- and environmental NGOs today is calling for a global prohibition of patents on seeds and farm animals. Farmers increasingly become dependent on multinational corporations, which own patents on seeds and animals. The European Patent Office (EPO) has already granted hundreds of patents on genetically modified and as well as conventional, normal plants. Now the EPO is preparing a general approval of patents on conventional breeding methods and normal plants and animals.

2007-03-27 |

African examples - Prof Norah Khadzini Olembo

Despite having spent most of the night marking university examination papers, Prof Norah Khadzini Olembo was vivacious and jovial as she ushered us into her lavishly furnished house in Lavington. [...] Besides teaching, Olembo is the executive director of the African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF), a non-governmental organisation that provides a platform for sharing, debating and understanding issues pertaining to biotechnology agriculture, health, industry and environment. [...] ”In Kenya we have been at the forefront lobbying for a biotechnology policy and we expect it to form part of the debate when Parliament resumes,” she says.

2007-03-27 |

Scientist cites ethical imperative for modified crops

”The public will always believe a simple lie rather than a complex truth.” Dr. Gary Bannon ’76 says that paraphrase of French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville’s aphorism sums up public fears concerning Monsanto Corporation’s genetically modified (GM) crops. ”Of course, I’m from Monsanto.” The company’s lead researcher in global regulatory science smiled as he welcomed the audience on hand to hear him deliver this year’s Haines Biochemistry Lecture. ”But my aim here is to offer you a scientific view.” That science-based approach is often lost in the debate over GM crops.

2007-03-27 |

Privatizing our ’genetic commons’

Can humans be patented? Well, apparently, their cell lines can. At least that’s what one U.S agency thought. On March 14, 1995, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) obtained a patent on the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid, the basic constituent of the gene) of an indigenous man from the Hagahai, a people who live in a remote region of Papua New Guinea. The NIH patent established claim on a cell line in the Hagahai male which is linked to adult leukemia. The DNA, it is presumed, will assist scientists in understanding the enhancement or suppression of an immune response to a leukemia-associated virus.

2007-03-27 |

”We have 60 years’ experience of propagating wheat seed.”

Several genetically modified wheat lines are currently being tested in a field trial on the site of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben. The IPK also has one of the world’s largest gene banks. Well over a hundred thousand plant specimens, including wheat, have been stored there for years. Every summer, a proportion is planted in the field and propagated. Does the GM wheat trial represent a threat to the gene bank’s work? – GMO Safety spoke to the head of the gene bank, Prof. Andreas Graner.

2007-03-27 |

Anti-hay fever GMO rice may win over Japanese doubts

Something as simple as eating a bowl of rice could bring relief to millions of Japanese hay fever sufferers each year -- if that rice is ever allowed to hit the market. The rice, now under development in Japan, is genetically modified, but GM technology is still viewed with deep suspicion by many consumers here, where no GMO crops are commercially grown despite increasing a growth in global acreage. Still, some industry officials say a biotech crop with health-enhancing characteristics may offer one of the best chances for acceptance of GMO crops in a country that boasts one of the world’s longest average life spans.

2007-03-27 |

Greenpeace India challenges Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation refusal to provide information

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and its Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM), the agency which permits field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops, will have to change its approach to making public the biosafety assessment process and results of field trials if the Central Information Commission accepts the argument of Greenpeace. A case of Greenpeace against the refusal of the Department of Biotechnology to provide data on biosafety tests of the GM rice and other crops is coming up before the Central Information Commission, the apex body for dealing with Right to Information cases, on April 5, 2007.

2007-03-26 |

Ventria’s plan for modified rice creates debate in Kansas (USA)

The small paddies of rice that are expected to sprout this year near Junction City hold much promise for Kansas. As the first crop of commercial rice in the state, the genetically altered grain and the arrival of the company that is growing it is seen as a boon to the local economy. The plant would be used to produce pharmaceuticals, not food. ”We all think this is huge for the city, the county as well as the state,” said Terry Heldstab, mayor of Junction City, a town of 20,000 with an economy that relies on agriculture and its proximity to Fort Riley. But not everyone is backing the rice crop. The issue has produced a worldwide debate with some farmers, scientists and environmental groups claiming the rice is a threat.

2007-03-26 |

Got rbST in your milk? Dairy co-op bows to pressure to stop use of hormone

Richard Cotta, CEO of California Dairies Inc., the nation’s second-largest dairy cooperative, is guided by a simple business philosophy: ”If you want milk with little blue dots, you’ll have it, as long as you are willing to pay for it.” So, when a string of major customers, including supermarket giant Safeway, came to his co-op saying they would no longer accept milk from cows treated with a genetically engineered growth hormone, the co-op bowed to the inevitable. In January, California Dairies’ board voted to ask its members not to inject synthetic bovine growth hormone into their cows. If they do, their milk will have to be segregated and they’ll pay a surcharge. ”Consumer demand is obvious,” Cotta said.

2007-03-26 |

Wildlife Habitat Council announces Monsanto Vice President as incoming Chairman of the Board

The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) announces Émer ÓBroin, Vice President Environmental Safety, Health and Human Rights, Monsanto Company, as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. She assumed the position on March 6, 2007, during the biannual Board meeting, which took place in Concord, California. She is the first woman to lead the organization in its 19 year history. ÓBroin has served on the WHC Board of Directors since 2003 and previously as Secretary-Treasurer.

2007-03-26 |

Secrecy, danger surround genetic engineering of grapes in the USA

As the coordinator for the organization Preserving the Integrity of Napa’s Agriculture, or PINA, I discovered that UC Davis and Cornell University have permits to field test up to five-and-a-half acres of experimental GE grapes anywhere in California. The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not require applications or environmental assessments for these permits, only notification by the institutions. Are these universities conducting field trials in Napa County? Are they taking steps to ensure that commercial and native grapes are not contaminated through cross-pollination, and that the environment and public health are protected? One cannot find out this information unless the researcher agrees to make contact with you and is willing to tell you. There is a veil of secrecy around these field tests which prevents growers from being able to take measures to protect their vineyards from genetic contamination that could result in a tarnished image and market loss from consumers who reject GE products.

2007-03-26 |

The fight to keep genetically engineered crops in their place

Like many organic farmers, one of Jeff Fiorovich’s biggest fears is that the apples, pumpkins and other crops he grows in Watsonville one day might be contaminated by genetically engineered varieties from a neighboring farm. [...] Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, has introduced a bill, AB 541, that would require farmers to notify local county agricultural commissioners within 30 days of planting or testing genetically altered crops. It also would declare gene-manipulated plant contaminations that cause more than $3,500 in losses to be a nuisance, making it easier for organic farmers and others to sue.

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