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2009-09-16 |

Agent Green marks Romanian GMO free restaurants to protect consumers

Starting today Agent Green marks the Romanian GMO free restaurants to stop the invasion of these organisms on the market by showing consumers where they can eat without exposing themselves to health risks posed by GMOs. A GMO free restaurant is one that guarantees either by laboratory analysis or on self responsibility that is not using any GMO labeled product in their food. The eurobarometers and the latest national poll in Romania shows that the vast majority of the consumers rejects categorically GMOs from their plates

2009-09-16 |

Dabur India gets green recognition in Greenpeace ’Safe Food Guide’

Dabur India Ltd has been ranked in the ’Green List’ of companies and its food products have been listed as ’Safe to use’ by Greenpeace India. [...] ”Dabur’s range of food products retains its original nutritional value because of the superior quality of raw material sourcing, processing and the stringent safety measures the company follows. All our products go through stringent quality checks to ensure that our consumers always get best-in-class products,” said a Dabur India Ltd spokesperson.

2009-09-16 |

Negros Occidental (Philippines) environmentalists on hunger strike

Members of environmental group Green Alert Negros on Tuesday started a hunger strike to convince the provincial government of Negros Occidental to keep the ban on products with genetically-modified organisms in the province. Racquel de los Santos of the Green Alert Negros said six of their members went on hunger strike, which, she said, will end only after the provincial government has decided not to lift the ban. De los Santos said they will be camping in front of the provincial capitol.

2009-09-16 |

AgroKorn (Denmark) announces non-GE soy feed AlphaSoy PIG 530

AlphaSoy® is the name of Agro Korns newest soy concept. [...] For the time being AlphaSoy® PIG 530 is the most important variant in the AlphaSoy® series. [...] AlphaSoy® PIG 530 is produced from not genetically modified soy beans.

2009-09-15 |

EU farm chief wants proposal to end zero tolererance by end-2009

Europe’s farm chief urged the 27-member bloc on Monday to draw up rules by end-2009 to allow resumption of vital soybean imports from the United States -- held up for months because of food safety fears. While the EU has approved a string of genetically-modified -organisms (GMOs) -- mainly maize varieties -- by default rubberstamps since 2004, it does not permit other GMOs, even in minute amounts, until EU approval for those products is given. Soybeans, and to a lesser extent maize, are an important ingredient in animal feed.

2009-09-15 |

European Commission President Barroso backs national GM bans

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has declared himself open to the possibility of member states ruling on their own GMO cultivation policy, adding momentum to the campaign to wrestle authority away from Brussels on the matter. Despite concerns over the common market should member states institute different rules on GMO cultivation, Barroso outlined his openness to subsidiarity on the issue.

2009-09-15 |

German researchers satisfy latex desire with GM dandelions

German boffins have worked out a much improved method of making latex using the sticky white fluid which comes out of dandelion stems. The new breakthough could mean more comfortable body-cavity searches, an end to itchy condoms, and might free humanity from the threat posed by a global rubber fungus epidemic.

2009-09-15 |

Monsanto India applies for permission to export Bt cotton seeds to Pakistan

Monsanto, a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural seeds, clarified that, it has applied for permission to the Government of India to export Bt cotton seeds to Pakistan and that the matter was under consideration. The Pakistan Press had recently quoted a senior official as saying that India had banned the export of Bt cotton seeds to India. To get an understanding on the situation, Fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to Mr Jagresh Rana, Director, Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB).

2009-09-15 |

Bayer CropScience India announces development of Bt rice and monsoon-resistant GE crops

Bayer CropScience Ltd has taken up a Rs 43-crore capital expenditure plan this year and plans to launch 2-3 new products including BT rice, a top company official said. [...] The company will continue to concentrate on development of stress resistant products like monsoon resistent, insect resistant, etc., to reduce dependence of the company’s products range to unforeseen factors.

2009-09-15 |

Bill Gates Foundation and Unive13 mill USD on Biotech Centre

The Government has challenged the College of Agricultural and Consumer Sciences of the University of Ghana to explore the potential of genetically modified crops to help raise the level of food crop production in the country. [...] Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. C.N.B. Tagoe pledged the University’s support to the College. He disclosed that the Bill Gates Foundation supported the Biotech Centre with 7 million dollars while the University also spent about 6 million dollars on the College.

2009-09-14 |

DNA evidence can be fabricated, scientists show

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases. The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

2009-09-14 |

Indonesian Chamber of Commerce challenges the Halal Certification Bill

Indonesia Chamber of Commerce threatened to file a judicial review over the drafted regulation of halal certification as the regulation was deemed of posing negative impact on business. [...] The bill requires halal certification for food, drinks, medicines, cosmetics, and genetically modified crops.

2009-09-14 |

Crossbreeding GM crops may increase fitness of wild relatives

A new study has investigated the effects of interbreeding a genetically modified squash crop with its wild relative. The findings demonstrate that it could cause wild or weedy relatives to become more resistant to disease. [...] The researchers compared the resistance of wild squash and plants that were a hybrid of the cultivated and wild squash varieties to viruses. One half of the hybrids were GM, containing a gene that rendered the plant resistant to zucchini yellow mosaic virus, and the other half were conventional non-GM plants, which had not been specifically bred for virus resistance.

2009-09-14 |

The South African Wine Industry’s research policy concerning GMOs

As a world player the South African wine industry promotes innovative research and dynamic science in a responsible, intelligent and perceptive manner to the benefit of all interested parties. [...] As far as the South African wine industry is concerned, research on and the use of GMOs have to comply with the requirements of all interested parties. Assurance is given that this will also be the case in future.

2009-09-14 |

Biotech companies must ”take responsibility for their children”, Organic Trade Association Canada

”It’s time for biotech companies to be good parents and take responsibility for their children. The owners of GE crops need to assume the liability for loss of market access due to their technologies appearing in countries or products in which they are not wanted. As GE products are not permitted under organic standards, the organic sector in Canada is extremely concerned by the prospect of losing access to its essential markets in Europe, Asia and around the world,” said Matthew Holmes, managing director of OTA in Canada.

2009-09-14 |

European feed makers release first environment report on industrial compound feed

”The challenge as highlighted by FAO is to manage as well as possible the agricultural resources to ensure food security and be able to supply twice as much animal products as today within the next 40 years at global level, while minimizing impacts on the environment per unit of animal product,” the Fefac president said. “I do believe that this may only be achieved through ecologically intensive livestock production systems based on efficient compound feed supply.”

2009-09-11 |

South African researcher discover new mosquito species

A new species of mosquito has been discovered by South African researchers, adding to the pantheon of some 140 species of Anopheles mosquitoes in Africa, of which seven are known to be malaria vectors. [...] ”The results have implications for malaria-vector control, particularly any attempt to use genetically modified mosquitoes. They also demonstrate how little we know about the malaria mosquito vectors in Africa despite over 100 years of research into this important disease.”

2009-09-11 |

Back to basics in HIV research

Recent years have not been kind to HIV/AIDS research, with numerous failed vaccine and microbicide trials. Now researchers say a vaccine within the next 10–15 years is unlikely. [...] The HIV research community is somewhat insular, some researchers feel, and scientists from other disciplines — along with HIV researchers in developing countries — need to be engaged.

2009-09-11 |

Why did Monsanto’s latest GE foods get a free pass into Canada?

After almost 15 years of approving the varieties of GE soy, canola and corn that we now eat, Health Canada has stopped bothering with the formalities. This complete lack of safety evaluation is not an oversight or loophole in the regulation of GE crops and foods however. Rather, it is the deliberate extension of a regulatory system that relies on corporate data and was designed to support the industry.

2009-09-11 |

Illegal GM flax contaminates Canadian exports

The European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed has confirmed the contamination of Canadian flax exports with a genetically modified (GM) flax, devastating Canadian flax sales to Europe. The GM flax has been illegal to grow in Canada since 2001 when flax growers forced the government to take the product off the market. A German company confirmed the GM contamination in its cereals and bakery products.

2009-09-11 |

Seed company Monsanto plans deeper staff cuts

Monsanto Co., the world’s biggest seed maker, said Thursday it plans to make deeper work force cuts than previously announced, saying it will reduce its staff by about 8 percent to cut costs. The St. Louis-based company also said its 2009 earnings would come in at the low end of its previous forecast due in part to weaker than expected results from Roundup and other herbicides. Its shares tumbled $4.18, or 5 percent, to close at $79.30 Thursday.

2009-09-11 |

Poll: Anti-GMO sentiment could affect German parliamentary votes

With the election for the German parliament looming on September 27, a recent poll suggests that political parties that don’t support agribiotech have a better chance of pulling in the votes. According to a fresh poll, about 65% of Germans are opposed to genetic engineering in food plants. [...] 41% of the 1003 surveyed poeple said that they would not vote for a political party that supports agri-biotechnology.

2009-09-10 |

Scientists make GE ”sugar bug” drug for bowel disease

A genetically modified bacterium that turns into a drug-delivery vehicle in the presence of a type of sugar may offer a new way to treat bowel disease, British scientists said on Friday. The new approach uses an engineered form of Bacteroides ovatus to deliver a human growth factor called KGF-2 directly to damaged cells in the gut -- but the process is only activated in the presence of xylan, a sugar that is rare in normal diet.

2009-09-10 |

Canadian researcher aims to create ’super’ tomatoes

Tomato products such as ketchup and sauce may soon be even healthier for you. A University of Guelph researcher is working to increase the amount of lycopene in new tomato varieties. Enhanced levels of this powerful antioxidant found in tomatoes will further elevate the health virtues of this nutritious food, said Steven Loewen, who is developing the new tomato plants at U of G’s Ridgetown Campus. His goal is to create the ultimate ”healthy” tomato for processing.

2009-09-10 |

EU Commission considers to give more freedom in banning GE crops

The European Commission is considering allowing member states to ban EU-approved GM crops. Commission President José Manuel Barroso wants to ”look at whether we can give the member states more freedom on this issue,” said EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel yesterday during the Agriculture Council in Brussels. She added that she would support these ideas, and also advocated speeding up market approval for new GM maize lines to lift trade barriers that have a emerged as a result of asynchronous approval of GMOs in the EU and in GMO export countries.

2009-09-10 |

Scientists unlock secrets of Irish potato famine genome

cientists have unlocked the genetic code of late blight -- the plant pathogen that sparked the Irish potato famine of the 1840s and 1850s -- and it is revealing clues about why it has been such a formidable foe. They said on Wednesday the Phytophthora infestans or late blight genome is nearly ”animal sized” and loaded with extra DNA that allows it to quickly adapt to overcome any defense the host plant might mount.

2009-09-10 |

Irish researcher suggests to develop GE seaweed

The Irish government-funded Marine Functional Foods Research Initiative (NutraMara project) kicked into life in March, 2008, and joins members of industry such as the Irish seaweed extract specialist, Marigot, which has supplied some of the calcium-based seaweed extracts used in the research, with researchers drawn from a wide range of institutions. [...] With some questioning the long-term sustainability of the Irish seaweed supply, [project scientific manager Dr Maria Hayes], suggested genetically modified seaweed production may be an area of research for the future.

2009-09-10 |

Support for GM ban slips in Wales (UK) but most shoppers stay confused

OPPOSITION to genetically modified food may be weakening, major research from Consumer Focus Wales suggests. Less than a quarter of people (24%) said they wanted GM food banned – down from 38% in 2003. But researchers for the consumer watchdog also found that confusion is high and Wales suffers from an ”information drought”. Nearly half of people questioned (48%) did not feel confident enough in their knowledge to give an opinion.

2009-09-09 |

South Korea seeks jail for disgraced cloning scientist

Prosecutors demanded a four-year prison term Monday for a South Korean scientist disgraced in a cloning scandal that shook the international scientific community and led to his trial on fraud and other charges. Hwang Woo-suk was fired from the prestigious Seoul National University after purported breakthroughs — including the claim of producing a human embryo through cloning and recovering stem cells from it — were deemed bogus in 2005, when a key paper was found to contain fake data.

2009-09-09 |

Genetically modified food sold unlabelled in Israel

Do you know what you’re eating? You may well not. Agricultural products that underwent genetic engineering are sold in Israel without any marking to inform consumers, according to Milouda Quality Control Laboratories, which was testing food products containing soybeans. [...] Milouda commented that its main function is to test foodstuffs slated for export to Europe.

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GENET-news is providing a daily news service on a range of topics regarding genetic engineering. We are screening the worldwide English news, press releases and other publications to provide you with a strategic selection of information. GENET-news enables you to stay informed about all aspects of the global controversy around GE technologies and GE organisms. You can subscribe by  email.

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