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2007-03-26 |

Monsanto asks court to allow sale of GMO alfalfa

Monsanto Co. has asked a San Francisco federal court to allow it to continue selling its genetically modified Roundup Ready Alfalfa while the USDA conducts a court-ordered environmental impact study. Monsanto, its seed distributors and growers stand to lose up to $250 million if the alfalfa, which was designed to survive the company’s Roundup herbicide, is taken off the market for the two years it takes to complete the study, the company said in court papers filed late Friday. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer halted the sale of the modified alfalfa at the request of farmers, environmentalists and consumer advocates who say that it could harm the U.S. economy and the environment.

2007-03-23 |

Genetically modified fluorescent fish illegally smuggled into Germany

German authorities are concerned that genetically modified fluorescent fish are being smuggled into the country. Even though the fish are legal in the US, dealers here face fines of €50,000 or five years in jail. There has been widespread concern in Europe about genetically modified organisms, with protesters warning of the dangers of ”Frankenstein foods.” Now glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein fish have been smuggled into Germany -- and the authorities are concerned about the illegal trade.

2007-03-23 |

France adopts disputed EU laws on GMO crop growing

France said on Tuesday it had brought its national legislation into line with European Union laws on growing genetically modified (GMO) crops, hoping to end a legal battle with Europe’s top court. The French farm ministry said in a statement it was publishing in the official journal the two main decrees converting into French law the European directive on GMO commercial and experimental crops. The directive, agreed by EU governments in 2001, regulates how GMO crops may be grown and approved across the bloc.

2007-03-23 |

Romania’s GMO dilemma: who to side with - corporations or the EU?

The Environment Ministry in Bucharest is due to push for public debate two new initiatives on genetically modified food - one for the introduction of GM soy testing and one for tests of GM plum trees. The Ministry recently authorized tests on GM corn. The moves come as agricultural experts are pushing hard to make Romanian citizens understand that GM crops are not harmful. But environmental militants are redirecting the debate towards studies they say may help stop the expansion of non-conventional crops, while modified corn is the only GM plant allowed in the EU agriculture.

2007-03-23 |

The Bulgarian GMO law remains restrictive

”There is no necessity of amendments in GMO Law at this point”. This was the conclusion reached on an informal meeting by representatives of the Parliamentarian Environmental Committee, the Minister of environment and his political cabinet. The Bulgarian law is not in conflict with the European legislation, it is even more restrictive. Only if the European Commission comes up with a explicit position about policy change we will consider this issue. Until now the regulations did not cause serious contradictions with the practice, said George Bozhinov, Chair of the standing committee on environment.

2007-03-23 |

Brazil delays vote on gene-altered crop amid protest

Brazil postponed a vote on whether to approve Bayer AG’s gene-modified corn seeds after Greenpeace International protesters stormed the meeting. Members of the environmental group entered the closed-door session held by the government’s biotechnology council and demanded to participate in the talks, said Gabriele Vuolo, coordinator of Greenpeace’s campaign against gene-altered seeds. ”We believe these sessions must be open to the public because they will have an impact on people’s lives,” Vuolo said in a phone interview from Brasilia. ”The transgenic corn will end up on the plates of Brazilians.”

2007-03-23 |

FDA ’cherry picked’ evidence to push cloned-animal foods

A watchdog group is challenging the US government’s stance on food from cloned animals, accusing regulators of downplaying evidence of health risks in order to serve industry interests. A report released yesterday by the Center for Food Safety, a research and advocacy organization that supports a federal ban on cloning livestock, says the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has selectively applied the research tying cloning to genetic abnormalities.

2007-03-22 |

Push for non-GM soybeans in China

Grow local. That’s the message from groups trying to convince the government China’s natural soybeans are better than genetically modified (GM) imports. Facing the soaring imports of GM soybeans, Lu Weifeng, head of the agricultural reclamation bureau of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, urged the government to encourage greater production of the domestic variety.

2007-03-22 |

”Monsanto working on drought-tolerant GM cotton”

World’s leading seed-player ’Monsanto’ has been developing a drought resistant genetically modified cotton variety, which could possibly be released by 2015 for commercial cultivation. ”We hope to release a drought tolerant cotton seed by the middle of next decade,” Monsanto Executive vice-president, Jerry Steiner, told reporters here on Friday. ”However, after five years we would be able to say for sure, when the variety is to be released,” he added.

2007-03-22 |

DuPont to develop non-GE hybrids of five crops

The science-based products and services company DuPont on Wednesday said it plans to set up a plant biotech research centre in Hyderabad. First such centre outside the US would help scientists develop hybrids of rice, pearl millet, maize, mustard and sunflower for cultivation in India. At present biotech tools would be deployed to develop non-transgenic hybrids.

2007-03-22 |

Big Deal - GMOs unfit for consumption

The work of press agents consists of not just getting the media to carry news favorable to their clients, but also to suppress information inimical to their business. Jargon in the traditional newsroom has an aptly descriptive phrase for it: ”Kill story!” One story that has suffered down play—as of this writing—comes from a scientific study, which found that genetically modified (GM) corn approved by Philippine authorities shows signs of toxicity to mammals. The giant agribusiness multinational Monsanto markets the GM corn in several countries, including ours, for animal feeds, food processing and human consumption.

2007-03-22 |

Biofuels launch biotech’s ’third wave’ to help meet increasing demand for energy

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. Now, a 2-year-old push to develop alternative fuels is driving biotechnology’s growth into the industrial sector. Thousands of corporate executives and scientists gather this weekend in Orlando, Fla. for an industry trade show specifically aimed at touting biotechnology’s so-called third wave, industrial applications. The word on everyone’s lips: ethanol.

2007-03-22 |

Monsanto and BASF: Feeding world is aim of new duo

Monsanto Co. and BASF AG, a German competitor, on Wednesday promised to work together to deliver higher-yielding crops to meet increasing global demand. The companies announced a $1.5 billion research and development collaboration that, over a decade or more, could deliver hundreds of varieties of genetically modified corn, soybeans, cotton and canola. The seeds would allow farmers to boost yields on limited cropland to meet the world’s requirements for food, animal feed, fiber and renewable fuels.

2007-03-21 |

Victorian Farmers Federation (Australia) grains chief to push for GM crops

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) says the state’s grain growers are suffering in international markets because they cannot grow genetically modified (GM) crops. New VFF grains president Geoff Nalder says he will be campaigning this year for the State Government to lift the moratorium on GM crops.

2007-03-21 |

Commercial Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia) axes GE crop critical expert

One of Australia’s top organic farming experts, Dr Maarten Stapper, has been dumped by the CSIRO, amid allegations he was bullied by executive management for criticising genetically modified crops.
The chief of CSIRO’s Plant Industry division, Dr Jeremy Burdon, confirmed Dr Stapper had recently filed complaints alleging instances of bullying and harassment but these had been ” appropriately dealt with and dismissed”. Dr Stapper is researching carbon loss in soils, restoring soil fertility by improving soil microbiology and use of biological farming methods to improve wheat yields in south-western NSW. He has been retrenched from CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra and will leave at the end of the month.

2007-03-21 |

EU may miss ”invisible revolution” because of biotech policy

The European Union operates an effective ban on new gene-engineered seeds and risks missing out on the „invisible revolution” that’s developing crops for cleaner fuels or washing detergents, the industry says. Innovation by companies such as BASF AG and Bayer CropScience AG in developing nutritional changes to corn, plants for use in biofuels as well as food and feed crops that resist drought or disease is changing the market for genetically modified technologies. The EU has yet to approve new seeds for cultivation since lifting a five-year-old embargo in 2004. „The moratorium is still in place because no approvals for cultivation have been given” by European governments, said Hans Kast, CEO of BASF Plant Science.

2007-03-21 |

2006-2015 billed as ’biotech decade of Asia’ by ISAAA

Dr. James painted a rosy picture of biotechnology crop production the world over at a recent symposium billed ”Commercialization of Agro-biotechnology Products: Status, Opportunities, and Challenges” held at the Department of Agriculture in this capital city. The symposium was organized by the Indonesian Biotechnology Information Center, Indonesian Agricultural Biotechnology Program, Croplife Indonesia, and Indonesian Department of Agriculture.
It was supported by the Indonesian Biotechnology Consortium, Indonesian Biotechnology Student Forum, Indonesia-based Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Tropical Biology, and ISAAA.

2007-03-21 |

Blow for first trials of GM cassava

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) and GRAIN, congratulate the South African GMO regulatory authority, the Executive Council, for refusing to allow the experimentation of open field trials of GM cassava. The Executive Council, comprising of ten officials from diverse government departments, denied an application brought by the Agriculture Research Council (ARC), to release GM cassava into the South Africa environment. ARC’s interest in the GM Cassava is to genetically improve its starch content to be used as feedstock for a burgeoning biofuels market. According to the EC, it found that ARC provided inadequate information regarding the stability of the traits involved as well as the potential for gene flow and thus could not conduct a proper assessment of the risks posed by the GM cassava to the environment.

2007-03-21 |

Biotech industry withdraws GM foods in the EU

The European Union is today discussing the official withdrawal by the biotech industry of five genetically modified (GM) foods and crops, including the first GM crop that was ever grown in Europe. Friends of the Earth Europe has highlighted this as further proof that GM crops are failing. Helen Holder, GMO campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said: ”There is no market for GM food and crops, and companies are even withdrawing them from the market. European citizens want GM-free food and EU leaders need to take the necessary steps to make this happen.”

2007-03-20 |

Does Africa need a genetically modified solution to diarrhea?

The introduction of genetically modified rice into Africa is being justified by presenting it as a solution to diarrhoea, responsible for 2,000,000 deaths per year (mainly children) in the global South. However there are other very simple means of reducing cases of diarrhoea such as improved sanitation and cleaner, free water supplies. [...] Friends of the Earth Africa believes that our continent does not need genetically modified solutions to diarrhea and condemns the use of African children as a tool to promote the new GM rice produced by Ventria Bioscience. Diarrhea is an illness that has well-known causes, and proven, inexpensive solutions. Ventria’s GM rice is unproven, unnecessary, and a distraction from ongoing programmes to save children suffering from diarrhea on our continent.

2007-03-20 |

Rise and shine: the GM wake-up call

Food authorities should also demand more complete data from biotech companies before approving any crop. It’s all a question of transparency. In the past I have taken a ”let’s wait and see” approach to GMOs, refusing to pitch my tent in either camp until I had seen more science, but this latest study has raised some serious doubts. Not about GMOs in general, but about GMOs engineered to contain these Bt-toxins. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has revealed that it will review the new data at the end of this week, and also revealed that this was not the first time that such concerns have been raised about this variety of corn.

2007-03-20 |

Why do cattle die eating Bt cotton plants only in the Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh in India?

For a month now, reports of dead cattle have occupied the centre stage in the Warangal, Khammam and Adilabad Districts of the Telengana area of Andhra Pradesh in India (Deccan Herald, February 7, 2007, The Hindu, March 2, 2007, GM Watch, March 4, 2007). None of the reports showed that Bt protein in the Bt cotton plants was the real culprit, but the purveyors of these reports would like the world to believe that there is something wrong with Bt cotton plants that cause these alleged animal deaths and so Bt transgenics should be banned.

2007-03-20 |

Indian Government extends suspension of rule on GM soyoil imports

The government has suspended until the end of December a rule that required imports of genetically modified soyoil to be cleared by an official panel, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. The moratorium was originally imposed in May and was due to end this month. Trade critics said last year that getting the panel’s approval would delay shipments and push up prices.

2007-03-20 |

Malaria-resistant mosquitoes outbreed others-study

Mosquitoes genetically engineered to resist infection with a malaria parasite outbreed their normal cousins and might be used to help control malaria, U.S. researchers said on Monday. They said their study suggests that releasing such genetically altered insects could help battle malaria, which kills up to 3 million people a year around the globe, most of them small children.

2007-03-19 |

GMO soy maker likely to be Brazil’s new Ag Minister

The president of Brazil’s largest soybean seed company, Odilio Balbinotti, will likely become Brazil’s new Agriculture Minister, according to political leaders with close ties to Balbinotti in congress.
Balbinotti owns Sementes Adriana, the largest individual seed company in Brazil and a licensed maker of Monsanto Co.’s (MON) Roundup Ready soybeans, a transgenic soy seed. [...] Soy farming has made Balbinotti a millionaire. He owns one of the most modern private biotechnology labs in Latin America. He also owns about 25,000 hectares of farm land, well above what his counterparts in Parana own. Parana farmers tend to own under 400 hectares. But there is another side to the would-be minister that could take him out of the running. He is currently being investigated for falsifying documents and consumer fraud in Mato Grosso. He says the charges are unfounded. That has some people in the market saying he is off to a bad start.

2007-03-19 |

No timeframe yet for Bt cotton variety in Pakistan

Technical officials of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and its attached departments have failed to give a timeframe for making available Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) cotton variety for its plantation in the coming Kharif season. The stunning disclosure was made before the Standing Committee on Food, Agriculture and Livestock in a meeting with Makhdoom Ahmed Alam Anwar in the chair on Saturday. ”No variety of Bt cotton will be allowed to dodge the criterion laid down for regular release of Genetically Modified (GM) plant varieties,” said an official of Punjab Seed Council.

2007-03-19 |

Cost to label genetic food in Canada is overblown

Mandatory labelling of genetically modified foods would cost much less than the food industry has claimed, a new study commissioned by Quebec’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food reveals.
The as-yet-unpublished study, obtained by The Gazette, estimates the yearly cost of such a program at $28 million to Quebec’s food industry and $1.7 million to the provincial government. Previous studies commissioned by the food industry - and cited by the federal and Quebec governments as reason not to act on the issue - pegged the annual cost of implementing such a system at up to $950 million (both government and industry) for the whole country, and up to $200 million in Quebec alone.

2007-03-19 |

Grain Biotech Australia to shut down

The Perth biotechnology firm, Grain Biotech Australia, says the moratorium by the government on GM crops is largely to blame for its decision to shut down. GBA has been working to develop a genetically modified salt-tolerant variety of wheat, and received one-off funding of more than one and a half million dollars from the Grains Research and Development Corporation. But GBA business development manager, Alan Tough, says that hasn’t been enough and it now looks like their research will be in vain. Mr Tough says the benefits of the work they’ve already done would be to add $23 a tonne to WA grain prices. He says investors are reticent to inject more funds into the company while there is an uncertain future around GM crops.

2007-03-19 |

Genetic engineering ban bad for Hawai’i

The moratorium bills on genetically engineered taro and coffee undermine development of Hawai’i’s science and technology industries and put at risk their high-paying technical jobs. The bills are needless for a number of reasons. The University of Hawai’i agreed more than a year ago that genetic engineering research on Hawaiian taro would not proceed until discussions with the Hawaiian community are completed. UH has a similar agreement with the Kona coffee growers, in which field testing of genetic engineering research will not be conducted until discussions with them are completed. Therefore, it puzzles us why legislation is needed at all — unless it is an attempt to hijack legitimate cultural concerns and the concerns of some coffee growers in the service of a broader philosophic and anti-scientific agenda.

2007-03-19 |

Mexico halts US rice over GMO certification

Mexico, the largest buyer of US rice, has halted several shipments at the border pending certification that the grain is free of genetically modified material, a Mexican government official said Wednesday. Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures took a nose dive Wednesday, falling nearly the 50-cent trading limit on talk of the trade disruption, traders said. US export sales were already lagging about 20 percent from a year ago as business has been hurt since a biotech gene material LLRICE601 was found in the US rice supply last summer.

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