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2009-06-15 |

Experts agree Turkey needs a bio-security law, but clash over content

The Turkish government’s effort to adopt a bio-security law, setting rules and regulations for genetically modified organisms (GMOs), has sparked discussions among civil society organizations, consumer advocacy groups, scientists and farmers. Though these groups differ on their viewpoints about the wording of such a law, all agree that Turkey strongly needs a bio-security law. According to some, GMOs are science’s answer to the threat of global hunger, but for others, they pose a great threat to public health and the ecosystem.

2009-06-15 |

All but two EFSA experts: transgenic potato is safe

The European’s Union food safety agency said Thursday it was not changing its opinion that a variety of genetically altered potato did not pose a threat to people or the environment. BASF AG, the German company that created the ”Amflora” potato as a source of higher-quality starch for paper, said the decision paved the way for EU approval. Two scientists on the European Food Safety Authority panel dissented from its decision, however, saying that harmful impacts could not be assessed and gene transfers between plants and bacteria may be possible.

2009-06-15 |

GE apple trees destroyed in Germany

Two hundred and seventy apple trees on a trial site owned by the Institute for Breeding Research on Horticultural and Fruit Crops of the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) in Dresden-Pillnitz were destroyed by unknown intruders. Most of the trees were genetically modified plants being grown in tubs in a special safety tent under field-like conditions. It is the first time that protesters have destroyed plants that were not being grown in the field.

2009-06-15 |

EU losing out on contributions to sustainable farming from biotech traits

New study shows GM insect resistant (GM IR) maize[2] has delivered important economic and environmental benefits but only a small part of the potential benefit is currently being realised. “GM insect resistant maize adoption by EU farmers has contributed to reducing insecticide spraying, improved the quality of maize and significantly boosted farmers’ incomes,” said Graham Brookes, director of PG Economics, and author of the report.

2009-06-15 |

Monsanto and BASF scientists disclose discovery of gene conferring drought tolerance in corn plants

Monsanto Company and BASF scientists unveiled the discovery that a naturally-occurring gene can help corn plants combat drought conditions and confer yield stability during periods of inadequate water supplies. The companies stated that they will use the gene in their first-generation drought-tolerant corn product which is designed to provide yield stability to their farmer customers. This product will be the first biotechnology-derived drought-tolerant crop in the world.

2009-06-11 |

Biotechnology: Africa must take decisive action

H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace is the AU Commissioner for Department of Agriculture
The regional approach to biotechnology and biosafety policy in Africa is fragmented. The pressure is still on for or against gene technology for food security and agriculture. Our people are not to blame; it is the policy makers and the scientists at large who have to take the blame for the inconclusive debates on this subject. Considering the emerging development in modern biotechnology and the rapid rate at which GMOs are diffusing in Africa, harmonization of biotechnology and biosafety policies is critical to mitigate potential impacts on food security in Africa.

2009-06-11 |

Kenya told to learn from India about GM cotton

Kenya is set to join several countries like India, South Africa, Burkina Faso and China in growing and commercialising genetically modified cotton following the recent enactment of biosafety legislation. Contained field trials of the Bt cotton have been going on under the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) since 2004 and are now nearing completion.

2009-06-11 |

’Screening a must to check GM food entry’ into India

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the nodal agency on genetically modified (GM) food, has in its last monthly meeting had given a ”no objection certificate” to Doritos corn chips, a processed food product that had, not so long ago, been proven to contain GM corn. The recent approval came after the GEAC had a hearing on the product following its detainment by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) at Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai on the grounds of suspicion of it containing GM food.

2009-06-11 |

Bt brinjal approval can wait, says Indian Minister for Environment

"There is no great urgency for Bt brinjal to be launched. For Bt cotton, we should have a statutory comprehensive assessment to recollect our experience with it. Its success and its impacts need to be studied," [Indian forests and environment minister] said.

2009-06-11 |

Indian Bt cotton set to blossom in farms in 2009

Seven years after the commercial launch of Monsanto’s Bt cotton, Indian farmers are about to plant the first publicly bred genetically modified (GM) seeds of the crop. The current kharif season will see around 10,000 acres being sown under Bikaneri Nerma-Bt, an in-bred variety, and 2,000 acres under a hybrid, NHH 44-Bt – both developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR).

2009-06-11 |

Kerala (India) plans 100 village councils to promote GE-free farming

A hundred village councils (Naattukkoottam) will be formed this year to raise awareness on proper farming methods and the threats posed by genetically modified (GM) crops, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran said on Friday. This is part of an action plan of the State Government against GM crops, the Minister said. He was delivering an Environment Day message at the district-level distribution of soil health cards organised here by the Agriculture and Soil Survey Departments.

2009-06-08 |

New Zealand High Court stops applications for GE animals

A High Court decision to block applications to import and develop genetically engineered material has been hailed as a landmark by GE-Free New Zealand. The High Court at Wellington ruled that the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) should not have accepted applications for determination under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996. It ruled that it should stop hearing and assessing any further applications.

2009-06-08 |

”The Failure of Science”: New paper makes a damning case against genetically modified food crops

Public debate about the safety of growing and eating genetically modified organisms remains stalled at where climate change was circa 1993, back when Al Gore published ”Earth in the Balance” to a deafening silence. Americans tend to dismiss serious discussions about the risks of GMOs with a ”doom and gloomers” shrug. [...] This is a mistake. It’s one that Europeans, the Japanese, and plenty of other industrialized and developing nations have avoided. As with climate change, the longer American citizens refuse to learn about this issue, the hotter the water we frogs are sitting in gets.

2009-06-08 |

Research in green genetic engineering is indispensable

Science and business in Germany demand more reliable legal and political frameworks and a more open social climate in order to be able to better exploit the opportunities offered by green genetic engineering. With this objective, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft (German Agricultural Society, DLG) released a joint memorandum on 13 May in Berlin, which brings the position of research into green genetic engineering in Germany back to centre stage.

2009-06-08 |

Yield of dreams - Modified foods are a rational alternative to mass starvation

Come with me into the strange world of genetic modification, where food doesn’t behave as you might expect. Roll up, roll up. Here is the golden rice with the nutritional benefits of carrots. Over there, the purple cancer-preventing tomato. Coming soon, once field trials in Nigeria are complete, the super cassava, an entire meal in a single root vegetable. In a decade or so we can all enjoy protein-rich cotton seeds, from the same plant that provides the fibres for your clothes.

2009-06-08 |

GMO wheat acceptance hinges on public benefit

Winning over wary consumers in Europe and elsewhere to genetically modified wheat hinges on scientists finding a direct benefit to the public, not just to farmers or seed companies, experts in wheat breeding and genetics said. Europeans, considered among the staunchest opponents of food created with genetically modified organisms (GMO), are at least a decade from accepting biotech food, said Meinolf Lindhauer from Germany’s Max Rubner federal research institute of nutrition and food.

2009-06-08 |

Biotech can win over consumers

The future of genetically modified produce seems to be stunted by living under the long shadow of environmental interest groups’ other agendas. The promise of plentiful and reliable food sources for the Third World and safe, inexpensive food for the rest of us seems undeniably attractive, but a motivated minority has been slowing progress for years. [...] Will it take another possibly preventable famine or the cost of food skyrocketing for the produce buying public to take a chance on the promise of bioscience?

2009-06-05 |

In Ohio (USA), hormone-free milk labeling fight continues

Two months after a federal court in Ohio has ruled that dairies cannot legally label their milk ”hormone free,” ”rBST-free” or otherwise clearly tell consumers that they aren’t pumping up their cows with synthetic hormones, the Organic Trade Association has filed an appeal. [...] Ohio was one of at least five states -- Pennsylvania, Missouri, Indiana and Kansas were others -- where Monsanto launched quiet attacks on milk labeling through state agricultural departments.

2009-06-05 |

DuPont and BASF sue each other over herbicide patents

Chemicals makers DuPont Co and BASF sued each other on Monday charging patent infringement over technology used in herbicides. BASF’s suit, filed in United States District Court for the District of Delaware, seeks an injunction and damages against DuPont and its subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International for unlawful use of BASF’s patented technology. BASF’s Plant Science unit also seeks to declare invalid and unenforceable DuPont patents for technology relating to herbicide tolerance.

2009-06-05 |

Chinese scientists make breakthrough in creating pig stem cells

Chinese scientists announced Wednesday they have succeeded in changing cells from pigs into embryonic-like stem cells, capable of developing into any type of cell in the body. The Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (SIBCB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences claimed a global breakthrough in forming pluripotent stem cells using somatic cells (cells that are not sperm or egg cells) from any animal with hooves (ungulates). Dr. Xiao Lei, heads of the SIBCB stem cell lab, said, ”This is the first report in the world of the creation of domesticated ungulate pluripotent stem cells.”

2009-06-05 |

Glowing monkeys

Last month in Japan, a very special marmoset monkey was born--one who inherited from his parents not only their marmoset DNA, but also a jellyfish gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP) that makes both the animal and his parents glow green under fluorescent light. The monkey parents aren’t the first primates to fluoresce, but they are the first to pass a genetically engineered trait to their offspring. Scientists hope to use the approach to create animal models of neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s, which cannot be adequately reproduced in rodents--the typical subjects of genetic engineering.

2009-06-05 |

Genes show limited value in predicting human diseases

The era of personal genomic medicine may have to wait. The genetic analysis of common disease is turning out to be a lot more complex than expected. Since the human genome was decoded in 2003, researchers have been developing a powerful method for comparing the genomes of patients and healthy people, with the hope of pinpointing the DNA changes responsible for common diseases. [...] it has been disappointing in that the kind of genetic variation it detects has turned out to explain surprisingly little of the genetic links to most diseases.

2009-06-05 |

Genetic ’magic bullet’ cures have proven a ’false dawn’

Prof Jones, a geneticist, said the belief that a few genes held the key to ridding the world of conditions such as cancer and diabetes had proved to be ”plain wrong”. In most cases, hundreds of genes are responsible, and often they have less effect than other factors such as diet, lifestyle and the environment. Writing in The Daily Telegraph today, the academic and author called for a complete overhaul of the ”scattergun” approach to genetic research, which is backed by millions of pounds in funding by governments and medical charities such as the Wellcome Trust.

2009-06-04 |

Uzbekistan to start developing genetically modified agricultural crops

New sorts of agricultural crops, using genetic engineering developments, will start to be cultivated in Uzbekistan. Genetic Center of the Institute of Genetics and Experimental Biology of Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan started its work in Karshi. New center will develop new high-yielding sorts of head, potato, and other cultures of crop raising with usage of genetic engineering.

2009-06-04 |

Seed exchange key to GE maize contamination in Mexico

The appearance of genetically modified proteins in maize seed stocks throughout Mexico paints a curious pattern that suggests why efforts to prevent the flow of transgenic plant material into that country could fail, reports a team of researchers in Mexico and at the University of California, Davis. The researchers hope that their findings, published May 29 online in the journal Public Library of Science, will help guide development of methods and public policies for regulating the movement of genetically modified plant material into local seed stocks in centers of crop origin and diversity.

2009-06-04 |

Uganda cautious over GM foods

Uganda appears to be reluctant to promote GM foods. So far there is only a policy on biotechnology, which is not strong enough for a fundamental change in GM foods. The global market share of organic food rose to $40 billion in 2007, up from $13 billion nine years earlier despite the growing competition from genetically modified (GM) foods. The increase in the demand for organic food presents anti-GM crusaders with ammunition to downplay the need to popularize GM food to tackle chronic food shortages.

2009-06-04 |

Negros Occidental (Philippines) ad hoc committee on GMO to submit recommendations

The ad hoc committee tasked to find a solution to the controversial banning of the entry of genetically-modified organisms in Negros Occidental, which is being questioned by poultry and hog raisers, is expected to submit its recommendations to Governor Isidro Zayco, its chairman, Board Member Adolfo Mangao said yesterday. Mangao said he will call for a final meeting with members of the ad hoc committee, and ask each of them to submit their final recommendations, which he will collate for immediate submission to Zayco.

2009-06-04 |

State of South Africa has to pay Biowatch costs after all

THE Constitutional Court yesterday ordered three government bodies responsible for monitoring the development of genetically modified organisms to pay the costs of nongovernmental organisation Biowatch in its 2005 high court application. The judgment deals with the proper approach that courts should adopt when making costs awards in constitutional litigation. It also set an important precedent for those promoting the public interest, allowing them to litigate to gain their rights without necessarily fearing the ”chilling effect” of costs orders against them, Biowatch director Rose Williams said.

2009-06-04 |

Segregation needed for GE crops in Europe: scientists

Genetically-engineered crops and conventional crops would have to be grown in segregated areas to meet environmental concerns about transgenic farming in Europe, agricultural scientists said on Tuesday. [...] Given that fields in Europe are relatively small, and winds can spread pollen from transgenic crops over large distances, co-existence of novel and traditional crops will only be possible if they are grown in ”dedicated zones,” it said.

2009-06-03 |

Argentina pressed to ban Monsanto’s glyphosate

Argentina’s government is coming under pressure to ban the chemical used in the world’s best-selling herbicide, which has helped turn the country into an important world food exporter in the past decade, after new research found that it might be harmful to human health. A group of environmental lawyers has petitioned the Supreme Court to impose a six-month ban on the sale and use of glyphosate, which is the basis for many herbicides, including the US agribusiness giant Monsanto’s Roundup product. A ban, if approved, would mean ”we couldn’t do agriculture in Argentina”, said Guillermo Cal, executive director of CASAFE, Argentina’s association of fertiliser companies.

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