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2007-02-19 |

Americans enjoy GM food, why can’t Kuwaitis?, asks US official; USDA director co

”Americans are consuming GM foods which constitute a major part of their daily staple and are enjoying it and I see no reason why Kuwaitis should not be able to eat and enjoy them too,” says a visiting official of the US Department of Agriculture. Food derived from genetically modified (GM) plants is as safe as those produced from conventional sources, according to the Abu Dhabi-based Regional Director of the Agricultural Trade Office of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), David J. Williams Tuesday during a round table discussion with the press at the US Embassy in Bayan.

2007-02-19 |

Bt cotton has failed in Vidarbha: study

A new study on the introduction of Bt cotton in Vidarbha reveals that it has failed in the region. Suman Sahai, Director of Gene Campaign, told journalists on Wednesday that despite specific knowledge that Bt cotton would not work in rainfed areas, the government had introduced it in Vidarbha. The result was that in an area with a history of indebtedness, the high input costs of Bt cotton had increased indebtedness. The study had shown that 70 per cent of small farmers had already lost their landholdings as collateral for loans that they could never repay.

2007-02-19 |

Secret Monsanto GM potato study suppressed for 8 years

A secret feeding study of Monsanto GM potatoes, conducted in 1998 by the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and suppressed for 8 years, showed that the potatoes did considerable damage to the organs of the rats in the study (1) (2). In comparison the rats in the ”control groups” which were fed on normal potatoes or on a non-potato diet were healthier, and had much less organ and tissue damage. This research, fully supported by Monsanto through the provision of the GM potatoes, was conducted at approximately the same time as Arpad Pusztai’s research in the Rowett Institute.

2007-02-16 |

Philippine Cardinal Rosales joins calls vs GMO rice

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has added his voice to the growing criticism of the government for allowing the sale of a genetically engineered US rice product in major supermarkets. In a letter dated February 9 that was released Wednesday, Rosales asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to recall from the market Uncle Sam Texas Long Grain Rice, which is being distributed by Purefeeds Inc. ”We believe that we should strongly oppose any experiment or attempt to use genetically engineered food that is not safe or good to the environment,” Rosales said.

2007-02-16 |

Agriculture Ministry is anesthezied – GE maize is threatening Romania

Today, 10 Greenpeace volunteers from Romania, Austria, Hungary and Poland have demonstrated in the yard of Ministy of Agriculture to show Minister Motreanu that Romania doesn’t need Monsanto’s GE maize MON810. Two banners with the „Save our maize from genetic pollution” and ”Domnule Motreanu - Slavati porumbul de contaminarea genetica” texts were showed by the volunteers in front of Minister’s balcony. The activists from Austria, Hungary, and Poland, countries where the GE maize MON810 maize has already been banned together with the ones from Romania have offered ten bags fully loaded with a local maize variety that is very efficient against the cornborer. The Minister’s representatives have also received an open letter from Greenpeace demanding to ban this maize also in Romania to protect environment, human health and to eliminate the risk of contamination with GE maize.

2007-02-16 |

MINFAL seeks approval for bio-tech cotton in Pakistan

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) has intensified its efforts to get approval for two varieties of the locally developed bio-tech (Bt) cotton from the Ministry of Environment as the country is expected to officially introduce Bt crops in the country this year, a senior government official told Daily Times. Independent agricultural experts, however, said that the concerned government authorities were proceeding slowly in introducing the new technology in farming as the regional countries including China and India were going well ahead of Pakistan.

2007-02-16 |

U.S. Congress proposes generic biotech drugs

U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced bills that would clear the way for generic competition in biotech drugs — a health care shift that would save Missouri employers and patients $1.5 billion over 10 years, said one study. In Illinois, that savings would be nearly $3 billion over 10 years, according to the report set for release today by Express Scripts Inc., a Maryland Heights-based pharmacy-benefits manager. The national benefit over 10 years would be $71 billion. ”The dollars to be saved are really big — and probably even bigger than what we’ve put into this study,” which used conservative assumptions, said Steve Miller, Express Scripts’ chief medical officer.

2007-02-16 |

U.S. House panel approves ban on genetic tests for jobs, insurance

A House committee approved legislation to prevent discrimination by employers and insurers against people on the basis of genetic information. ”There is a clear need for us to pass a law to protect genetic information from discriminatory uses,” Representative George Miller, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said before today"s unanimous voice vote by the panel.

2007-02-16 |

Is growing Bt. cotton in India merely a fad?

or all the hype over the rapid adoption of Bt cottonseed in Warangal, a key cotton growing district of Andhra Pradesh known for suicides by farmers, a new study by a scholar of Washington University has found that the acceptability was nothing more than a fad. In his study published in the February issue of Current Anthropology, Glenn Davis Stone explores how the arrival of genetically modified crops has affected farmers in developing countries, taking Warangal, as an example.

2007-02-15 |

Federal Court finds USDA erred in approving genetically engineered alfalfa without full environmental review

In what will likely be a precedent-setting ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Northern District of California decided in favor of farmers, consumers, and environmentalists who filed a suit calling the USDA’s approval of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa a threat to farmers’ livelihoods and a risk to the environment. Judge Breyer ordered that a full Environmental Impact Statement must be carried out on ”Roundup Ready” alfalfa, the GE variety developed by Monsanto and Forage Genetics. The decision may prevent this season’s sales and planting of Monsanto’s GE alfalfa and future submissions of other GE crops for commercial deregulation.

2007-02-15 |

GM yeast variety has no effect on wine quality, reveal new trials

A new genetically modified yeast variety designed for use in wine production has been found to behave similarly to the parent commercial yeast strains during fermentation, according to its manufacturer First Venture Technologies. [...] First Venture Technologies’ propriety yeast claims to be able to reduce levels of the carcinogen ethyl carbamate, a compound that can naturally occur in fermented foods and beverages, such as wine, beer and bread. The firm says its yeast can reduce levels of the substance in red wine by up to 89 percent, and in bread by up to 54 percent.

2007-02-15 |

U.S. ethanol demand threatens food prices

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, this year the country is going to use 18 to 20 percent of its total corn crop for the production of ethanol, and by next year that will jump to 25 percent. And that increase, says Marshall Martin, an agriculture economist at Purdue University, ”is the main driver behind the price increase for corn.” The jump in corn prices is already affecting the cost of food. The most notable example: in Mexico, which gets much of its corn from the United States, the price of corn tortillas has doubled in the past year, according to press reports, setting off large protest marches in Mexico City.

2007-02-15 |

GM yeast variety has no effect on wine quality, reveal new trials

A new genetically modified yeast variety designed for use in wine production has been found to behave similarly to the parent commercial yeast strains during fermentation, according to its manufacturer First Venture Technologies. [...] First Venture Technologies’ propriety yeast claims to be able to reduce levels of the carcinogen ethyl carbamate, a compound that can naturally occur in fermented foods and beverages, such as wine, beer and bread. The firm says its yeast can reduce levels of the substance in red wine by up to 89 percent, and in bread by up to 54 percent.

2007-02-15 |

EFSA pushes EU-wide GM risk approach

EFSA has met with the four member states currently involved in GM environmental risk assessments in order to discuss the development of an EU-wide approach. Experts from France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands met with environmental expert members of the GMO Environmental Risk Assessment Working Group of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)’s GM panel to share their experiences on the environmental risk assessments of specific GM applications for cultivation.

2007-02-15 |

Environmental liability – Make GMOs a special case

Genetically Modified Organisms should be made a special case when new rules on liability for environmental damage are put in place in the UK say a group of environmental organisations. The UK is due to implement the European Environmental Liability Directive in the UK this year and public consultations are currently underway. The group are calling upon UK politicians to support their proposals to strengthen the UK’s environmental liability laws for GMOs to go well beyond the baseline laid down in the Directive. If the Government’s current proposals are implemented, biotech companies are unlikely to be held responsible for any damage to wildlife caused by their GM crops.

2007-02-15 |

Hawai’i House bill aims to ban taro testing for 5 years

A bill that would ban the testing and growing of genetically modified taro in Hawai’i for five years advanced out of the House Agriculture Committee yesterday. A similar measure calling for a 10-year moratorium is moving through the Senate. Supporters of a moratorium consist primarily of Native Hawaiian taro farmers who say the development of genetically modified taro, or kalo in Hawaiian, is unnecessary and an affront to Hawaiian culture and tradition.

2007-02-14 |

USDA violated law when deregulating GE alfalfa, judge rules

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Agriculture Department violated the law by failing to adequately assess possible environmental impacts before approving Monsanto’s genetically engineered alfalfa. Judge Charles R. Breyer of Federal District Court in San Francisco said the agency had been ”cavalier” in deciding that a full environmental impact statement was not needed because the potential environmental and economic effects of the crop were not significant.

2007-02-14 |

Whole Foods (USA) won’t sell meat from clones

Austin-based Whole Foods Market Inc. says it will not allow any meat or milk from cloned animals or their offspring to be sold in its stores. ”We require producers who sell to us to use only natural breeding or artificial insemination as acceptable breeding practices,” said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president for communications and quality standards for the natural and organic grocer.

2007-02-14 |

Producers Rice Mill (USA) target of biotech rice lawsuit

A federal lawsuit by a British company is seeking damages from Stuttgart-based Producers Rice Mill over traces of unapproved genetically engineered rice that were found in the food supply. Tilda Ltd. of Essex filed the suit in federal court in Little Rock on Jan. 23.

2007-02-14 |

GE pharma crops: An apple a day keeps the doctor away

Dr. Guy Cardineau says the fruits of two decades of isolating the antidotes to a host of diseases into plants could be on the threshold of widespread use, rendering squeamishness over needles obsolete. [...] “There’s a whole range of plants being used — rice, lettuce, casavas, spinach, tobacco, potatoes,” he said. [...] But another merit of vaccinated fruit is the cost — possibly pennies a capsule, said Cardineau.

2007-02-14 |

Patenting life

YOU, or someone you love, may die because of a gene patent that should never have been granted in the first place. Sound far-fetched? Unfortunately, it’s only too real. Gene patents are now used to halt research, prevent medical testing and keep vital information from you and your doctor. Gene patents slow the pace of medical advance on deadly diseases. And they raise costs exorbitantly: a test for breast cancer that could be done for $1,000 now costs $3,000.

2007-02-14 |

Pharm animals crank out drugs

With its tranquil ponds and rolling fields, the GTC Biotherapeutics farm in Charlton, Massachusetts, looks like a typical pastoral retreat. But its 1,400 goats don’t produce any butter or cheese. Instead, the animals are sophisticated drug incubators, with millions of dollars of potential profit accumulating in their udders each day.

2007-02-13 |

Attributes of best biofuel: Cost-efficient, eco-friendly

Disparate, powerful factions are unified that the world needs to find an alternative to fossil fuels. The World Economic Forum and President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address both sounded the alarm on America’s dependence on foreign sources of energy. Hopes are high for the United States to find ways to become less dependent on gasoline The tides have finally begun to shift, and the world is now embracing the challenge of reducing greenhouse gases. Companies that participate in the process intelligently can reap significant economic benefits.

2007-02-13 |

Brazil to invest 10 billion reais in biotechnology

Brazil plans to invest 10 billion reais ($4.77 billion) in biotechnology over the next decade to fuel growth in agriculture, pharmaceuticals and other industries. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree today creating the program to invest 1 billion reais annually for 10 years. Lula also called on companies to match the government"s investments.

2007-02-13 |

Cotton industry should invest in R&D in Zimbabwe

The cotton industry has been urged to invest in research and development of biotechnology to be the leader at the forefront in promoting biotechnology, Science and Technology Deputy Minister, Mr Patrick Zhuwawo said here on February 11.

2007-02-13 |

Greenpeace moves to block GMO rice approval in the Philippines

Greenpeace today moved to block Bayer"s application for the approval of the genetically-modified (GMO) rice LL62 for "direct use in food, feed, and processing" in the country at the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) in Malate. Questioning the expected approval of the GMO rice strain by the bureau’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel, the environmental group is set to submit a comprehensive dossier opposing GMOs, particularly the genetically-engineered (GE) Liberty Link (LL) rice, to oppose Bayer’s move to legalize LL62 for human consumption.

2007-02-13 |

Negros (Philippines) eyes total ban on GMOs

Negros officials and representatives from the private sector believe that in a few years, a shared goal of making the island the organic food bowl of Asia can be achieved.

2007-02-13 |

Dupont sees key GMO role in ethanol corn challenge

New strains of genetically modified corn will play a key role in meeting soaring demand as U.S thirst for ethanol fuel cuts into supplies, a top seed company scientist said on Friday. Dupont’s Bill Niebur, the firm’s vice president for genetics research and development, said demand for ethanol means the race is on to rapidly ramp up grain yields. ”We doubled average yields in North America in 41 years. We don’t have that much time to make the next step,” Niebur said at a gathering of grain exchanges, traders and consumers in Mexico. ”The challenge for our plant breeders is to move that curve significantly faster.”

2007-02-10 |

Plea to halt cultivation of Bt hybrids in India

The Deccan Development Society (DDS) has asked the Government to declare a moratorium on the cultivation of Bt hybrids until a comprehensive study is undertaken on the possible impact of Bt hybrids on environment, livestock and human health. In a statement, M. Abdul Qayuum and S. Kiran, DDS scientists, said the deleterious affects of Bt cotton on livestock have resurfaced in Warangal district. In Gammadavelli village, symptoms appeared more on the goats compared to sheep. Bloating of stomach, mucous flow from nostrils, reddish urination were some of the symptoms. Besides, some shepherds also had bloating of stomach and skin allergies in the neck region, the release said.

2007-02-09 |

Hungary confident on retaining GMO ban

The Hungarian government is confident it will be allowed to retain a ban on a genetically modified maize crop approved for feed use in the European Union, when the issue - which could have signifcant affects for the wider food industry - is debated later this month. Speaking at a news conference ahead of the talks, Hungary’s state secretary Kalman Kovacs announced that there was sufficient anti-GM feeling within the EU to ensure support for the country’s stand.

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