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2007-08-23 |

Indian Ministries join hands to fight out genetic contamination

In view of the recent controversy over genetic contamination, owing to field trials and commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops in the country, the science and technology ministry has offered to resolve the issue. It would work with the agriculture ministry in formulating standards for genetic contamination of various crops.

2007-08-23 |

Field trials permitted for Bt eggplants in India

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has permitted large-scale field trials of genetically modified (GM) food crops in the country but with certain restrictions. The varieties have been developed by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and Mahyco. The field trials of several varieties of Bt brinjal — the first food crop in the country — will be carried out in research farms at specified locations and not in the private fields.

2007-08-22 |

Update on GMO discussion in Latin America

[CIP has replaced its press release "Transgenic potato resists potato tuber moth attack" from July 12 reporting on the development of sterile GE potatoes] Recent internal communications from the International Potato Center (CIP), related to an educational workshop offered to Peruvian journalists on the state of potato biotechnology, have led to some confusing reports in the international press about CIP’s development of a transgenic potato variety. CIP does have a transgenic potato, but this is not a new development. The potato was produced prior to 2002, as part of a research project designed to develop scientific capacity to work with these new biotechnologies. This transgenic potato is not being grown in the field in Peru or anywhere else in the world.

2007-08-22 |

Mitsui to buy 25% of Brazil's Multigrain to secure GE-free soybeans

Mitsui & Co., Japan’s second-biggest trading company, will buy a 25 percent stake in Multigrain AG, a Sao Paulo-based grain handler, to secure increased supplies of soybeans from Brazil. [...] The purchase would help the company expand access to non- genetically modified soybeans, which Japanese consumers prefer. The U.S., which supplies about 75 percent of Japan’s soybean imports, has almost doubled the percentage of genetically modified beans it produces to 91 percent as of this year, from 54 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

2007-08-22 |

Brazil first public sector GE crop is a herbicide tolerant soybean

The Brazilian Enterprise of Agropecuary Research (Embrapa) said Tuesday that it had developed Brazil’s first genetically modified soybean for commercial purposes with the world’s largest chemical company BASF. The transgenic soybean contains a gene of the plant Thale Cress, scientifically known as Arabidopsis thaliana, a member of the watercress and mustard family that is commonly grown in the lab. The gene provides the soybean with resistance to imidazolinone herbicide.

2007-08-22 |

Trans-Tasman rift emerges over GE corn

A split has emerged between New Zealand and Australia over the approval of a type of genetically-engineered (GE) corn. The New Zealand Food Safety Minister has overridden the joint food authority’s approval of the corn for human consumption. New Zealand has deferred the approval of Monsanto’s high lysine genetically-engineered corn under its Food Safety guidelines.

2007-08-22 |

New Zealand‘s politicians pass GE buck on to communities

Northland mayors will grapple with the thorny issue of genetic engineering next week following news that communities will be liable for clean-up costs if GE crops contaminate the environment. Former Environment Minister David Benson-Pope said in a letter to the Whangarei District Council last month that persons affected by GE ’pollution’, not the ’polluter?, will pay for damages if genetically engineered crops contaminate natural crops or the environment. Far North Mayor Yvonne Sharp says news that landowners and local authorities will be liable for costs is a concern.

2007-08-22 |

Greenpeace Canada calls for mandatory labelling of genetically-modified food

Greenpeace has released a report warning of the dangers of genetically-engineered food and calling on the provincial government to introduce mandatory labelling laws. The jury is still out on how bad genetically-engineered crops like corn, soy and canola are for human and environmental health, said Greenpeace agriculture campaigners at a press conference today. ”We don’t how toxic it is, but we believe that the precautionary approach should hold,” said Josh Brandon.

2007-08-21 |

Update on GMO-free activities in the USA

The Kroger Co. announced today it will complete the transition of milk it processes and sells in its stores to a certified rBST-free supply by February 2008. The Company said its decision was based on customer feedback in the markets it serves. Earlier this year, Kroger transitioned the milk it sells in the western half of the U.S. to a certified rBST-free supply. This move includes milk it processes and sells in its City Market, Dillons, Fry’s, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s divisions and Kroger stores in Louisiana and Texas.

2007-08-21 |

U.S. industry tries to purge rice strains

Aug. 18, 2006, is a day that many in the U. S. rice industry would like to forget. One year ago today, the U. S. Department of Agriculture announced that traces of an unapproved, genetically engineered rice had been discovered in U. S. long-grain rice supplies. ”I wish that day would never have happened,” said Keith Glover, president and chief executive officer of Producers Rice Mill Inc. in Stuttgart. ”It really created a lot of hardship for a lot of people: farmers, mills, exporters, seed dealers... everybody in the industry was impacted.”

2007-08-21 |

Monsanto finally appeals RR alfalfa seed sales ban

Monsanto has appealed a Northern California U.S. District Court’s ruling banning the sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa. The appeal was filed Monday seeking to ”correct the legal standards” applied as the basis for the injunction, resulting in unnecessary restrictions on growers, seed dealers, Forage Genetics Inc. (FGI), and Monsanto while the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is completed.

2007-08-21 |

What exactly did Kofi Annan say in Nairobi?

Since Kofi Annan’s Press conference in Nairobi over two weeks ago, the GM (genetically modified) food debate has arisen once again. As Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Mr Annan’s statements reverberated around the globe through media reports suggesting that AGRA would not incorporate GM into their strategy for boosting agricultural productivity in Africa. A couple of days after the Press conference, the US Committee on Foreign Affairs on Africa and Global Health in Washington even prodded its invited experts on Mr Annan’s comments.

2007-08-21 |

Update on GMO approvals in the EU

The U.S. biotechnology industry is awaiting this fall's deadline for Europe to speed up its approval of new biotech food and crops -- a process Washington has long complained is woefully slow -- in the hope of increased access to a major market. After a World Trade Organization ruling last year found "undue delays" in Europe's approval of biotech products, the EC has until November 21 to bring its system up to speed.

2007-08-21 |

Update on GMO discussion in the EU

National movements campaigning against genetic engineering are helping to democratise the EU. That was the result of a recently completed Austrian Science Fund FWF project led by an independent researcher. According to the study’s results, the almost simultaneous mobilisation of national populations reinforces public protest at a European level. The project therefore provides an optimistic outlook for the growing influence of the general population on EU decision-making processes.

2007-08-20 |

Farmers declare Vancover Island (Canada) GMO free zone

At the general meeting of Farmers Institutes from across Vancouver Island in Cobble Hill, August 14th 2007 farmers bravely declared Vancouver Island (plus Powell River) a genetically modified free zone.

2007-08-20 |

Update on GMOs in Finland

The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) said on Tuesday that wants voluntary labelling of food products to indicate any phases of the production chain in which genetically modified products have been used. The MTK has been pushed to make a statement on the use of GM animal feed ever since food producers LSO Foods and Lounais-farmi said earlier in the summer that they would start to import GM soybeans for use in pig feed.

2007-08-20 |

Update on GMOs in Brazil

Monsanto Company today welcomed the news that the Brazilian National Biosafety Technical Committee (CTNBio) approved the company’s MON 810 insect protection event, known in the United States as YieldGard® Corn Borer, for future commercial use in corn in Brazil. The regulatory process in Brazil is a multi-step process, and while other steps are still required, the Committee’s decision brings the technology closer to reality for Brazilian farmers.

2007-08-20 |

Update on GMOs in Africa

The South African GMO Authority, the Executive Council (EC), established under the GMO Act has refused the first ever application for experimentation of GM bulbs and flowers outside a laboratory facility. According to the applicant, Afriflowers, a plant breeder, the Executive Council was not satisfied that adequate safety information had been furnished to justify the approval. If granted, Afriflowers would have been permitted to grow for the first year, approximately 10 000 genetically modified bulbs and flowers involving hybrid lines, Ornithogalum dubium x thyrosoides, genetically engineered to resist the Ornithogalum mosaic virus.

2007-08-20 |

Update on GMOs in Thailand

An activist network against genetically-modified (GM) agriculture yesterday threatened legal action against the government if it approves open-field trials of GM crops, as proposed by the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry. Witoon Lienchamroon, director of Biothai, a non-governmental organisation advocating farmer rights protection, yesterday called on the government to put in place measures to prevent the spread of GM-contaminated crops before allowing field trials.

2007-08-20 |

Law required for BT cotton production in Pakistan

Pakistani scientists at the National Institute of Bio-Tech Engineering have developed and tested a few BT cotton varieties, but are waiting for a proper legislation by the government before these varieties could be introduced on a large scale. The government has failed to introduce a bio-safety law, seed act and intellectual property rights of seed breeders required to introduce BT cotton in the country.

2007-08-01 |

Adaptation to the environment has a stronger effect on the genome than anticipated

Faster growth, darker leaves, a different way of branching - wild varieties of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana are often substantially different from the laboratory strain of this small mustard plant, a favorite of many plant biologists. Which detailed differences distinguish the genomes of strains from the polar circle or the subtropics, from America, Africa or Asia has been investigated for the first time by research teams from Tübingen, Germany, and California led by Detlef Weigel from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology. The results were surprising: The extent of the genetic differences far exceeds the expectations for such a streamlined genome, as the scientists write in this week’s edition of Science magazine.

2007-08-01 |

GE cats - Are they existing?

But until scientists are sure that Brodie’s latest assertions are true, few are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Scientists say they need to know more before they would recommend that anyone buy these cats. He looks like a regular cat, white, furry, playful at times, and disinterested at others. But Judy Smith swears that her cat, Kiki, is different, and it is not just because she spent about $7,000 to buy him. Kiki, she says, is hypoallergenic, a cat that does not cause her to sniffle and sneeze and, for that, he is well worth the price tag. [...] ”Why am I going to believe it until I see the data, the raw data?” said Dr. Andrew Saxon, an allergist and professor of medicine at UCLA. ”People claim all sorts of things -- the moon is made of green cheese. This is just a business claim. A real company would show the data.”

2007-08-01 |

A South Carolina biotech firm re-engineers trees

unfamiliar climates and be processed more easily into wood or paper once they are cut down.
Super trees are the business of ArborGen, a South Carolina company that says improving the genetic makeup of purpose-grown trees - that is, trees grown for paper, wood or biofuels - will help conserve ”native forests in all their diversity and complexity for future generations.” Yes, ArborGen, like so many companies today, is painting itself green - although it has run into a buzzsaw of criticism from the likes of the Sierra Club.

2007-08-01 |

Monsanto to release new GMO soybeans

Monsanto Co. is set to release its first new strain of genetically engineered soybeans in more than a decade. The world’s largest biotech seed producer won regulatory approval for its new strain of Roundup Ready beans in the United States and Canada, the company announced Tuesday. The new beans - which have the brand name Roundup RReady2Yield - are slated to go on sale in limited U.S. markets in 2009 and begin nationwide distribution in 2010, said Monsanto spokeswoman Sara Duncan.

2007-08-01 |

Public interest drives debate on modified crops in South Africa

SA had to adopt a ”cautious” approach to the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to protect the public interest, Parliament’s environmental and tourism committee chairman Langa Zita stressed yesterday. Zita opened the committee’s public hearings on the safety of GMOs and the lack of mandatory labelling of GMO foods. The hearing provided a public platform for a renewed outbreak of the raging debate between proponents and opponents of the use of GMO products.

2007-08-01 |

Making gasoline from GE bacteria

The biofuel of the future could well be gasoline. That’s the hope of one biotech startup that on Monday described for the first time how it is coaxing bacteria into producing hydrocarbons that could be processed into fuels like those made from petroleum. LS9, a company based in San Carlos, CA, and founded by geneticist George Church, of Harvard Medical School, and plant biologist Chris Somerville, of Stanford University, had previously said that it was working on what it calls ”renewable petroleum.” But at a Society for Industrial Microbiology conference on Monday, the company began speaking more openly about what it has accomplished: it has genetically engineered various bacteria, including E. coli, to custom-produce hydrocarbon chains.

2007-07-31 |

United Nations sponsored Bio-safety workshop concludes in Nevis

A two-day United Nations sponsored workshop on bio safety concluded at the Multi Purpose Centre in Charlestown on Wednesday July 25, 2007. The workshop which was held for a number of agencies in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), preceded a law to be passed in St. Kitts and Nevis. It will set out guidelines for the importation and exportation of living genetically modified organisms into the Federation.

2007-07-31 |

India’s regulation co-controlled by industry

On August 1, Aruna Rodrigues and her co-petitioners' Public Interest Litigation could once again be back before India's Supreme Court with the Government of India, on bahalf of the GM regulators - the GEAC - arguing for a dilution of the restrictions that the Court has already placed on GM crop trials. In the press release below, the petitioners draw attention to the open alliance between the GEAC and industry-backed GM lobbyists. In particular, they call for the sacking of the GEAC's co-chairman.

2007-07-31 |

ASSOCHAM report on Bt cotton in India incredulous

AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity (APCDD), representing civil society groups against genetically modified crops, has challenged the recent Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)’s survey report on Bt cotton farming and termed it ”incredulous.” At a press conference here on Monday, P.V. Satheesh, convenor of the APCDD, said the survey was part of a huge campaign launched by the genetic engineering industry to bamboozle public opinion. The seed major, Monsanto has produced 29 short films to counter the APCDD’s film, ”A disaster in search of success: Bt cotton in global south”, he added.

2007-07-31 |

Insulin grown in GE pharma tobacco relieves diabetes in mice

Capsules of insulin produced in genetically modified lettuce could hold the key to restoring the body’s ability to produce insulin and help millions of Americans who suffer from insulin-dependent diabetes, according to University of Central Florida biomedical researchers.
Professor Henry Daniell’s research team genetically engineered tobacco plants with the insulin gene and then administered freeze-dried plant cells to five-week-old diabetic mice as a powder for eight weeks. By the end of the study, the diabetic mice had normal blood and urine sugar levels, and their cells were producing normal levels of insulin.

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