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2009-07-29 |

Definitive global rejection of genetically engineered wheat

In light of our existing experience with genetic engineering, and recognizing the global consumer rejection of genetically engineered wheat, we restate our definitive opposition to GE wheat and our commitment to stopping the commercialization of GE traits in our wheat crops. We are committed to working with farmers, civil society groups and Indigenous peoples across the globe as we travel the road towards global food sovereignty.

2009-07-29 |

Australian Minister for Agriculture backs GE wheat

FEDERAL minister for agriculture Tony Burke gave proponents of GM technology a strong leg-up with a ringing endorsement of genetically modified crops at his address yesterday at the Australian Grains Industry Conference. There was also an assurance to the pro-GM lobby in South Australia, the grain-producing state with the strongest State Government opposition to GM and where a moratorium against GM production is still in place, that he had made his views known to the SA government.

2009-07-29 |

Monsanto invests in U.S. wheat - GE wheat said not to be the first goal

U.S. seed and ag chem firm Monsanto will take its first steps into wheat breeding by buying Montana wheat germplasm company WestBred for US$45 million. But the St. Louis-based buyer, clearly mindful of the furore over the plans for genetically-modified wheat that it scrapped in 2004, stresses that its immediate goals don’t involve applying its Roundup Ready herbicide-tolerant trait or other genetic modifications to wheat seed. Through this deal, the company said in a release Tuesday, ”researchers will be able to apply Monsanto’s expertise in conventional and marker-assisted breeding tools to develop better-yielding varieties for U.S. farmers using WestBred’s germplasm as a foundation. ”These seeds will serve as the foundation for the development of new biotechnology traits, which will initially focus on drought tolerance, nitrogen use and higher yield.”

2009-07-29 |

Europe’s food agency accused of junk science

An opinion by Europe’s food agency advocating the safety of the only genetically modified (GM) crop grown in Europe is fundamentally flawed, according to a Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Europe report. The report will form the basis of a submission to a public consultation on Monsanto’s MON810 maize that ends on 15 August. The green groups call on the European Commission and EU countries to reject the authorisation of this crop.

2009-07-28 |

Dependence on Bt cotton is now total in Vidarbha (India)

When it was introduced in 2002, the genetically modified Bt cotton seed was greeted with distrust by farmers which was anyway then out of reach for Vidarbha’s poor dryland cultivator because of its prohibitive cost of over Rs 1000 per bag of 450 grams. Today, almost every cotton grower in the 32 lakh-hectare cotton belt of Vidarbha and Marathwada has shifted to Bt seed. Maharashtra actually gave approval for commercial trials of Bt seeds in 2005. That year, less Bt seeds were sown in less than 4 lakh hectares. But the area under genetically modified seed multiplied magically in the last three years and farm sources say now the dependence on it is total.

2009-07-28 |

Seed of the crisis

The US and India are back at it again. This time around, it is not the spectre of a looming famine in Bihar that is expected to kill thousands through starvation but global hunger and malnutrition, for which India and USA will collaborate to provide leadership in agriculture to raise crop yields. Never mind that India has record buffer stocks of food grains right now and still more people sleep hungry in India than ever before and that India ranks 66th on the Global Hunger Index for 88 countries. Never mind that intensive agriculture models led to more farmers killing themselves than the projected numbers of starvation before the Green Revolution was ushered in or that Punjab for example, the seat of the Green Revolution in India, is reeling under a severe environmental health crisis quite closely connected to agricultural technologies deployed in the name of increasing yields.

2009-07-28 |

’GM food can cause the biggest health crisis’

For a country that doesn’t take much interest in scientists, Gilles-Eric Seralini is probably as well known as a scientist can get in India. Seralini is professor of molecular biology at the University of Caen in France, and he hit the headlines here early in 2009 when his analysis of the research data on the country’s first transgenic vegetable, the Bt brinjal, was presented to the Supreme Court of India. That’s when all hell broke loose. The French scientist’s findings were stark: he said the tests conducted by Mahyco, the company producing the Bt brinjal, were simply not valid.

2009-07-28 |

Indian Government announces GE vegetables within three years

The government’s parliamentary reply that three genetically modified varieties of vegetables—tomato, brinjal and cauliflower—will be in commercial production in three years clarifies a situation made murky by constant activism. This should be taken as proof that the government is serious about bringing about a second Green Revolution in a fast stagnating agriculture sector. India has been very slow to adopt GM technologies and has thus missed the opportunity to exploit the many advantages that come with GM farming. GM crops, at a minimum, offer the unambiguous benefits of higher yields and greater resistance to pests, both of which could give a big boost to the average farmer.

2009-07-28 |

GM mosquito trials raise concern in India

Experiments with genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes planned in India by a British company in a move to find a way to control dengue fever have taken sections of the scientific community by surprise. ”I am trying to get full details about what is going on,” V.M. Katoch, secretary in the Department of Health Research and chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said. [...] ”Two years ago Oxitec came to us for testing its technology but we said no,” said P. Jambulingam, director of VCRC. ”We also made it clear to them that India did not encourage this method for mosquito control. I do not know how the company managed to get permission from RCGM.” A.P.Dash, then director of the ICMR’s National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), says he rejected Oxitec’s proposal when RCGM sought his comments.

2009-07-28 |

Bt cotton cultivation to officially start in 2010 in Pakistan

The cultivation of Bt cotton would start officially from next year, which would revolutionise agriculture and the textile sector in Pakistan, said Mohammad Farooq Saeed Khan, Federal Minister for Textile Industry. [...] ”We are looking at the whole textile chain right from raw cotton to export of value-added garments,” he said, [...] This decision would not only increase cotton production but would also play an instrumental role in getting rid of rural poverty, he added.

2009-07-27 |

Polish ban on GM food production ’illegal’, says European Court of Justice

Poland has violated its obligation towards the EU in connection with GMO, the European Tribunal of Justice has declared in Luxembourg. Poland, which fighting to become a GMO free-zone had been in dispute with the European Commission over GMOs for years and finally passed a law banning GMO seeds on April 27, 2006. The regulation prohibited GMO seeds trade, made it impossible to register GMO crop which in consequence blocked GMO cultivation, TVN24 reports.

2009-07-27 |

UK to spend £100m on supporting GM crops for world’s poor

Britain is planning to quietly spend up to £100m on support for genetically modified crops for the world’s poor despite not having allowed any of the controversial foods to be grown commercially at home. [...] In addition, support for an international network of GM crop research stations, in collaboration with GM companies, will be doubled. A further tranche of UK aid will go to a research initiative backed by the GM crop firm Syngenta, which is developing a strain of rice modified to increase vitamin A.

2009-07-27 |

Spanish GE crop researcher confident that EU will accept GE crops

Dr. Paul Christou of the University of Lleida in Spain said he has been part of a team that works to introduce genes into corn, causing the plant to produce higher levels of multiple nutrients. [...] Christou said the European Union has decided to ban fungicides on wheat in five years. ”I suspect that in several years, there won’t be many wheat farmers in Europe,” he said. A genetically engineered corn has the potential to produce a substance that could be used to prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus, Christou said. But he said resistance against transgenic crops has prevented it from being studied fully.

2009-07-27 |

Stalled UK GE potato trials restarted

Genetically-modified crops are being grown in Britain for the first time in a year after controversial trials of the plants were ”secretly” restarted. Cultivation of a field of potatoes designed to be resistant to pests were abandoned over a year ago when environmental protesters ripped up the crop But, without alerting the public as is usual when such trials begin, the project has been restarted, prompting environmental groups to warn that local farms and nearby residents could be put at risk.

2009-07-27 |

European regulators disagree on Monsanto GE corn approval

European Union countries failed to authorize the sale of Monsanto Co.’s genetically modified corn on Wednesday. The European Commission said an expert panel did not reach an agreement to approve the corn and now the debate will head to a higher level with ambassadors and ministers, Reuters reported. ”This is one step in the process, and it’s unfortunate that this panel could not come to a decision on these products,” Monsanto spokeswoman Danielle Stuart said in response to an inquiry from the Business Journal.

2009-07-27 |

Monsanto and Dow Chemical win approval for GE stacked corn ”SmartStax”

Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed producer, and partner Dow Chemical Co. won U.S. and Canadian approvals to sell genetically modified SmartStax corn seed that allows farmers to plant less land with conventional corn. Their shares rose in late trading. The approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency permits most farmers in the two countries to reduce their so-called refuge of conventional corn to 5 percent of biotech acres, from 20 percent, St. Louis-based Monsanto and Midland, Michigan-based Monsanto said today in a statement.

2009-07-09 |

Landliebe profiting - German consumers reward ”GM-free” production

By introducing GM-free fresh milk last fall, Campina created a furor. Competitors and retailers viewed the kick-off critically. Retailer reactions varied, confirms Feller, but were mostly positive. [...] Consumers reward the commitment. [...] Landliebe milk sales increased during the first four months of 2009 amidst a generally receding market - around 10 percent for UHT milk and 3.9 percent for fresh milk.

2009-07-09 |

AgResearch (New Zealand) appeals High Court decision on transgenic animal applications

AgResearch will appeal the High Court decision that said AgResearch’s applications to conduct transgenic animal research were too general. The High Court decision said the lack of specifics in AgResearch’s four applications was the reason the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) should not have received the applications to carry out genetic modification of a range of species in containment facilities in New Zealand.

2009-07-09 |

Zambia’s GMO detecting lab near completion

The $450,000 laboratory for detecting Genefied Modified Mechanisms (GMOs) in Zambia is near completion at the Seed Control and Certification Institute (SCCI) in Lusaka. SCCI Deputy Director Fransico Miti says the laboratory situated in Chilanga area is expected to start operating early next month (August). Mr. Miti told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that the multi-dollar equipment for the laboratory is already in the country.

2009-07-09 |

U.S. GE pigs to aid Chinese research into xenotransplantation

FOUR genetically engineered pigs from Harvard University in the United States are to be sent to a Chinese hospital in the southwestern Sichuan Province for use in pig-to-monkey organ transplant experiments, a doctor said yesterday. The Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital and Harvard University signed an agreement on Wednesday and the four pigs should arrive in China within three to six months, Yang Hongji, director of the hospital’s Clinical Organ Transplantation Center, said.

2009-07-09 |

Japanese researcher develop GM rice against Cedar pollen allergy

Rice that could protect people against allergies such as hay fever has moved a stage closer to clinical trials, following a successful safety assessment in monkeys. [...] The rice is designed to block symptoms of runny noses and sneezing in people allergic to Japanese cedar pollen, who account for 20 per cent of the Japanese population. It is genetically modified to contain the seven proteins within cedar pollen that provoke the most serious allergic reactions in people.

2009-07-09 |

Maui County Council (Hawai’i, USA) reviews GE taro moratorium bill

In Hawai’i, the State Legislature attempted to pass the ”Taro Security Bill,” which faltered in the state House of Representatives this year. However, in November 2008, the Hawai’i County Council passed a measure banning genetically modified (GM) taro on the Big Island, and is now encouraging Maui County to follow its lead. The bill introduced by Councilmember Bill Medeiros would prohibit ”genetically engineered and recombinant DNA taro” and make it unlawful for ”any person to test, propagate, cultivate, raise, plant, grow, introduce, or release genetically engineered or recombinant DNA kalo” in Maui County.

2009-07-08 |

On GE mosquitoes

A new strategy involves a subtle reconfiguring of the bug’s DNA. Scientists working in labs near Oxford have devised a genetic modification that sterilizes the male Aedes, transforming the critter into his own worst enemy. He can still mate—but he can’t breed. Any offspring dies before becoming fully developed. The idea is to release a huge, all-conquering swarm of the doctored insects into the wild, let them find partners among the native females and wait for the mosquito population to decline. Preliminary trials, looking at both safety and effectiveness, have already taken place in Malaysia. Within a few years, the Franken-insects could be airborne.

2009-07-08 |

Indian Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology develops GM fish

Even as the controversy rages over the transgenic Bt brinjal which awaits approval to start commercial production, Indian scientists have developed a genetically modified (GM) fish, which could be the first genetically engineered animal to get into the human food chain. [...] While a regulatory mechanism exists for overseeing the research and safety trials of GM plants before their formal approval for commercialization, no such arrangement exists for GM animals and other organisms.

2009-07-08 |

Australian scientist claim to have created GM cereal crops to grow in salty water

Scientists have found a way of genetically modifying cereal crops to grow in salty water in a move that could help alleviate hunger in some of the world’s poorest nations. [...] Professor Mark Tester, from the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide, said preliminary tests on rice plants were ”very promising”. [...] ”The research has been undertaken in a model plant and it is important to show that this also works in crops,” [Dr Giles Oldroyd, of the John Innes Centre] said.

2009-07-08 |

GM crops are the highway to genetic holocaust

India is home to a vast reservoir of biological—hence genetic wealth. This is the foundation of the country’s food and nutritional security. Preserving the wild relatives of crop plants in the vicinity is the surest means of infusion of healthier germplasms—and hence of crop improvement and abundance. Selection by farmers and cross-breeding, if necessary, is a superior alternative to any kind of genetic engineering, which invariably reduces diversity. As for transgenic engineering, it should never, never be allowed.

2009-07-08 |

Whole Foods Market (USA) private labels to near Non-GMO seal

Whole Foods Market is undergoing a process to verify that its private labels are worthy of a new, non-genetically modified organism seal. The first of its kind compliance seal will be issued by the Non-GMO Project under its Product Verification Program. The seal makes its debut later this year. Whole Foods is a member of the Non-GMO Project, a non-profit collaboration of retailers, manufacturers, farmers and others interested in defining a standard way of verifying that a product is free of GMOs.

2009-07-08 |

Pope Benedict XVI on intellectual property rights and biotechnology

we need to affirm today that the social question has become a radically anthropological question, in the sense that it concerns not just how life is conceived but also how it is manipulated, as bio-technology places it increasingly under man’s control. In vitro fertilization, embryo research, the possibility of manufacturing clones and human hybrids: all this is now emerging and being promoted in today’s highly disillusioned culture, which believes it has mastered every mystery, because the origin of life is now within our grasp.

2009-07-07 |

Sri Lanka favours GM food: agriculture minister

Sri Lanka is not opposed to genetically modified (GM) food and is likely to allow their use with certain restrictions, [Hemakumara Nanayakkara, the non-Cabinet minister of agricultural development] said [...] ”GM food is being consumed by everyone although officially it is not allowed in Sri Lanka,” Nanayakkara said. There were imports of GM food although they were not labelled as such, he said. [...] Nanayakkara said the government was still studying the issue and ministry officials had recently held talks with an American GM specialist.

2009-07-07 |

U.S. Department of Agriculture OK sought for GE eucalyptus field trials

The quarter million eucalyptus trees that ArborGen wants to flower are a ”variety,” genetically engineered duplicates of a single Brazilian tree. The Summerville-based forest research lab has asked the U.S. Agriculture Department to permit the flowering of trees planted at 28 sites in seven states including South Carolina, [...] The five South Carolina sites comprise a total of 7.7 acres. The field tests here so far have failed, said Les Pearson, ArborGen regulatory affairs director. The trees die back during the winter and probably won’t live long enough to flower.

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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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