###BASE_URL###

GENET-news

To stay informed you can subscribe to the GENET-news list.

 

2007-07-31 |

Precautionary principle left out by Codex

Codex has agreed to exclude the controversial precautionary principle in its risk analysis standards, marking the end of a long battle between the EU and trade groups. The final decision was made at the Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting in Rome this month when the ’Working Principles for Risk Analysis for Food Safety for Application by Governments’ was finally adopted, excluding the precautionary principle. [...] The International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA) and the US Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN USA) both feared the precautionary principle would create unfair trading opportunities around the globe if it was adopted.

2007-07-31 |

Watch the Monster tomato Tour in Bulgaria

This summer Friends of the Earth is sending its Monster Tomato on tour around Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania to raise awareness of GMOs (genetically modified organisms). While 70 per cent of Europeans are firmly against GMOs in their food, fields and countries, few Bulgarians know about the problems that GMOs can cause. Having said that, Bulgaria already has five GMO-free municipalities. The tour will pass through regions that are interested in initiating GMO-free zones.

2007-07-30 |

Without U.S. rules, biotech food lacks investors

The three pigs, all now living in experimental farmyards, are among the genetically engineered animals whose meat might one day turn up on American dinner plates. Bioengineers have also developed salmon that grow to market weight in about half the typical time, disease-resistant cows and catfish needing fewer antibiotics, and goats whose milk might help ward off infections in children who drink it. Only now, though, do federal officials seem to be getting serious about drafting rules that would determine whether and how such meat, milk and filets can safely enter the nation’s food supply.

2007-07-30 |

Maine last U.S. state to allow Bt corn

Maine is joining the rest of the country in allowing farmers to grow a type of genetically altered corn. The Board of Pesticides Control voted to let farmers grow the crop that’s resistant to insects. It’ll be used only for animal feed as it is in other states, and the seed companies will have to provide sales data to the state. Organic growers have been concerned that their crops will be contaminated by cross-pollination with the genetically modified corn.

2007-07-30 |

Laws in place in January but no GM food in the market in Sri Lanka

Genetically Modified (GM) food is not currently available in the local market even though current laws allow it to be sold on the condition that it receives prior approval and the product has labelling informing the public that it contains GM food. The government through a gazette notification announced in January that GM food cannot be brought into the country without obtaining prior approval and if any GM food is to be released to the market, it has to contain a label claiming that they have GM components in it. The penalty for non-compliance would be a Rs 10,000 fine, six month imprisonment, or both.

2007-07-30 |

Plan to bring genetically modified food under law in Qatar

QATAR is planning to promulgate a law on food products with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in order to make the public aware of their existence. As a first step, the country has joined the Biosafety Protocol of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The next phase will be the setting up of a committee with representatives from various ministries and establishments, Ghanem Abdulla Mohamed, director of Wildlife Conservation at the Supreme Council for Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR), told Gulf Times.

2007-07-30 |

Delta & Pine and Turk Deltapine agree to pay a $300,000 penalty to settle FCPA charges

On July 25 and 26, 2007, the Commission filed two settled enforcement proceedings charging Delta & Pine Land Company, a Scott, Mississippi-based company engaged in the production and marketing of cottonseed, and its subsidiary, Turk Deltapine, Inc., with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. [...] In the administrative proceeding, the Commission ordered the respondents to cease and desist from such violations, and required Delta & Pine to retain an independent consultant to review and make recommendations concerning the company's FCPA compliance policies and procedures. In the federal lawsuit, Delta & Pine and Turk Deltapine agreed to the entry of a final judgment requiring them to pay jointly and severally a $300,000 penalty. Delta & Pine was acquired on June 1, 2007 by Monsanto Company; the conduct charged by the Commission occurred prior to the acquisition.

2007-07-30 |

African biotech organizations welcome AGRA clarification on biotech research

AFRICAN scientists and agricultural organizations yesterday welcomed the clarification by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) that the organization ”supports the use of science and technology” – including genetic modification (GM) technology – ”to aid Africa’s smallholder farmers in their urgent efforts to end widespread poverty and hunger”.

2007-07-27 |

Corn-genome sequencing may lead to increased global production

Corn production, as well as the crop’s resistance to disease, pests and drought, may increase within three years because researchers in Mexico have sequenced the grain’s genome. Scientists at the National Genomics for Biodiversity Laboratory, in Mexico City, made a rough blueprint of the genome of a Mexican variety of corn, the country’s Agriculture Ministry said this week.

2007-07-27 |

Viragen (UK) gambles on stock split to win more financing

Viragen, the troubled cancer-therapy researcher whose dire financial straits were revealed in The Herald last month, is gambling that a reverse stock spilt can buy it time to secure new sources of financing. The Edinburgh-based company, which admitted losing $26.7m (£13.35m) in the nine months to June, leaving it with a working capital deficit of $1.1m, yesterday announced that it plans a 40-for-one reverse stock spilt, which would raise its share price from three cents to $1.20 at current market prices. Viragen was delisted from the American Stock Exchange earlier this month for failing to meet capital adequacy rules and now trades on the over the counter (OTC) market in the US.

2007-07-27 |

Plum-pox-resistant GE plum trees move forward in the U.S.

Plum trees with resistance to plum pox (PPV), a virus that can devastate stone fruit, have moved a step closer to reality, according to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), which is leading the project. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which has regulatory authority over genetically engineered organisms, recently ”deregulated” HoneySweet, as the PPV-resistant plum tree is named. This means APHIS had determined that the tree is not a plant pest and that it will have no significant impact on other plants.

2007-07-27 |

Nerve gas antidote made by GE goats

Scientists have genetically modified goats to make a drug in their milk that protects against deadly nerve agents such as sarin and VX. These poisons are known collectively as organophosphates - a group of chemicals that also includes some pesticides used in farming. So far, the GM goats have made almost 15kg of a drug which binds to and neutralises organophosphate molecules.

2007-07-27 |

Pig to human transplantation getting closer

Experiments using pigs genetically engineered for compatibility with the human immune system have raised hopes that cross-species transplantation could soon become an option for patients with diabetes and other currently incurable diseases. However, many scientific hurdles remain before the ultimate goal of inducing long-term tolerance of animal tissues and organs in human recipients, according to a special paper in the July 15 issue of the journal Transplantation, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

2007-07-27 |

Rootworms survive Bt corn in Illinois (USA)

The stacked corn traits farmers pay big bucks for aren’t keeping rootworms from munching on their favorite food. [... University of Illinois entomologist] Gray said they’ve discovered some surprising differences in their 25-acre test plots near South Race Street. He said project overseer Ron Estes called their attention to the surprising difference in height between one transgenic variety that contains proteins engineered to kill both corn borers and rootworms, and its close relative without the traits. The second surprise is that rootworms did significant early damage to transgenic varieties.

2007-07-26 |

Canadian GM rules block new non-GM barley

The commercialization of a new Canadian barley, bred by traditional means to reduce the phosphorus in livestock manure and save hog farmers money on nutritional supplements, has hit a regulatory roadblock set up mainly for genetically modified (GM) crops. [...] According to Rossnagel, Canada’s regulatory system is flawed because it tries to protect the GM plant breeding industry at the expense of those who use traditional plant breeding techniques.

2007-07-26 |

Beijing planning to make food makers, sellers accountable for safety

Beijing lawmakers are considering a new law that would force food makers and sellers to be responsible for recalling their unsafe products, say sources at the 37th session of the Standing Committee of the 12th Municipal People’s Congress. [...] The draft regulations listed 65 food categories commonly used in daily life, such as rice, flour, edible oils, and genetically modified foodstuffs for strict monitoring, said Ji Wei, section chief of food quality control of the industry and commerce department. The draft regulations devoted 18 articles to penalties in case of violations, with the highest fine fixed at 500,000 yuan, said Ji.

2007-07-26 |

Cyprus Greens angry at GMO law shelved

Environmental campaigners in Cyprus accused the government of yielding to American influence on Wednesday by refusing to endorse ground-breaking legislation forcing retailers to segregate GMO food. President Tassos Papadopoulos has referred the law, passed by parliament on June 14, to the Supreme Court, effectively freezing its application until the court convenes to assess its legality. That is not expected to occur before the autumn.

2007-07-26 |

News Zealand‘s local government and local landowners have to bear GE contamination costs

Central Government has recently confirmed that responsibility and costs fall onto local government and local land owners if genetically engineered crops contaminate natural crops or the environment and have to be cleaned up. A letter from the Minister for the Environment indicates that when or if contamination occurs it will be the person affected by the ”pollution” not the ”polluter” who will pay. These concerns have been raised by a group of councils worried about their vulnerability on behalf of ratepayers generally, as a result of the way Hazardous Substances and New Oganisms (HSNO) Act has been written.

2007-07-26 |

American Herbal Products Association supports GMO-free products

AHPA encourages companies that grow, process, manufacture, market or sell herbal products to refrain from using herbal raw agricultural products that are cultivated with GMO technologies, or extracts and natural flavors thereof, at least until such time as the above identified concerns have been suitably addressed

2007-07-26 |

U.S. BIO launches Excellence Through StewardshipSM Program

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today launched a new program, Excellence Through Stewardship: Advancing Best Practices in Agricultural Biotechnology, the first industry-coordinated effort to address product stewardship and quality management. Excellence Through Stewardship continues BIO’s commitment to enhancing regulatory compliance, and product quality for consumers. The program provides a strong quality management system for the full life cycle of biotech plants into the future. It is intended to promote the responsible management of agricultural biotechnology, the continued adoption of plant biotechnology globally, and the enhanced value of biotech-derived plant products in the marketplace.

2007-07-25 |

More reactions on Koffi Annan and media critique on Kenya's biosafety bill

”I’ve been saddened. I’ve gotten frustrated at the levels of hunger, levels of food insecurity on this continent, food crises one after another,” says The Honorable Ruth Oniang’o — a member of the Parliament of Kenya and Professor of Food Science and Nutrition at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology — in an exclusive video interview and podcast discussing the need for food biotechnology in Africa.

2007-07-25 |

Monsanto, BASF collaboration looks good

Monsanto Co. and BASF AG, authors of agricultural biotechnology, are peering for the first time into one another’s crop genetics library — and finding only a few volumes in common. That discovery is crucial to the success of the companies’ $1.5 billion research and development collaboration, which began in March. Together, Creve Coeur-based Monsanto and German chemical giant BASF hope to develop corn, soybean, cotton and canola plants with top yields, even under drought or other environmental stress. ”We’re really pleased with the start of the collaboration,” said Steve Padgette, Monsanto’s vice president of biotechnology. ”It’s really important for our customers in the future (and) it’s a real competitive advantage for the team.”

2007-07-25 |

Northern Territory (Australia) likely to veto any GM cotton plans

The Northern Territory Government is likely to thwart any recommendation that a special task force makes to grow genetically modified (GM) cotton in the Territory. The North Australia Land and Water Task Force met in Darwin to discuss expanding agriculture in Australia’s rain-rich north. One of the things it considered was genetically modified crops. The Territory Government banned cotton crops in 2002 and Chief Minister Clare Martin is making it clear genetically modified cotton will not be accepted now. ”We’re very clear, and the Territory community is very clear, we do not support genetically modified cotton,” she said. The task force is is due to present its final report in 2009.

2007-07-25 |

U.S. food scientist develops non-GE process for allergen-free peanuts

An agricultural researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has developed a simple process to make allergen-free peanuts. The new process – believed to be a first for food science – could provide relief to millions of peanut allergy sufferers, and be an enormous boon to the entire peanut industry. Doug Speight of the N.C. A&T Office of Outreach and Technology Transfer said food companies are showing a strong interest in licensing the process, which does not degrade the taste or quality of treated peanuts, and might even render them easier to process for use as a food ingredient.

2007-07-25 |

Monsanto loses claims for Roundup Ready genes

For the second time in five months, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected patents key to Monsanto’s dominance in bioengineered seed, casting suspicion on its science and weakening the argument that helped the company prevail in dozens of lawsuits against farmers.

2007-07-25 |

DuPont shares plunge 6.3% as profit misses estimates

Shares of DuPont Co., the third- biggest U.S. chemical maker, plunged the most in two years after the company reported second-quarter earnings that missed analysts’ estimates amid slumping housing and auto markets. Net income dropped 0.3 percent to $972 million from $975 million a year earlier, Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont said today in a statement. Per-share profit was unchanged at $1.04, less than the $1.07 analysts expected. [...] DuPont, the world’s largest maker of corn seeds, lost sales to Monsanto Co. and said revenue from soybeans and cotton herbicides slipped.

2007-07-24 |

Non-GE approach to Striga-resistant cowpeas in Africa

Michael Timko, a U.Va. Professor of Biology, is working hard to solve ”the Striga problem,” as it’s called in west Africa. He and other scientists have sequenced the cowpea genome and are using this information to help develop Striga-resistant cowpea plants. ”It is now possible for us to identify all possible genes for Striga resistance in cowpeas, as well as resistance to other cowpea pathogens,” Timko said. [...] Because of various political, social and ethical issues associated with introducing genetically modified crops in Africa, the use of transgenics is not an option at the present time. Therefore, Timko’s approach is to improve the performance of plants by identifying genes that control key characteristics, and then use this knowledge in selective breeding programs that emphasize those traits using associated genetic markers.

2007-07-24 |

On Swedish GE tree research

In a secure, sterile greenhouse just south of the Arctic Circle trees are flowering in four weeks that would otherwise have taken 10 to 15 years to mature. The genetically modified seedlings are a huge step forward in the race to produce bigger, faster-growing trees. It’s a race which must be won to meet insatiable global demand for wood and forest byproducts without pushing commercial logging even deeper into the world’s dwindling native forests. ”The post-fossil fuel era will see human society turn back to its traditional dependency on wood,” says Professor Ove Nilsson, the scientific co-ordinator at the Umea Plant Science Centre in northern Sweden.

2007-07-24 |

Biotech-enhanced crops can co-exist in Maine (USA)

For the past 10 years, opponents of biotechnology-enhanced crops in Maine have claimed bragging rights over the fact that our state is the only one in the nation to have turned down applications for growing Bt corn -- corn modified to contain the natural pesticide bacillus thuriengensis. Though the close vote of the Board of Pesticides Control denying the applications in 1997 was officially because need for the corn had not been demonstrated, everyone close to the fray knew it was organized opposition, much of it from organic farmers, that shaped the outcome.

2007-07-24 |

Vaccines - A new health food

GETTING two for the price of one is always a good bargain. And according to a paper in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that is what Tomonori Nochi of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues have done. Using genetic engineering, they have overcome two of the limitations of vaccines. One is that they are heat-sensitive and thus have to be transported along a ”cold chain” of refrigerators to the clinics where they are used. The other is that, although they stimulate immune responses inside the body, they often fail to extend that protection to the outside, where it might prevent bacteria and viruses getting inside in the first place.

Go to: ← ... 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 ... →

Overview

News

Go to: ← ... 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 ... →

Go to: ← ... 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 ... →

Home: GENET

GENET-news & GENET-forum

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.

The GENET-forum list provides you with additional background information and more voluminous reports. It is only open for GENET members. Please contact the  coordinator for membership and subscription.