Planet Diversity World Congress on the Future of Food and Agriculture

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05.09.2008

Deformed GE calves don’t enhance New Zealand’s image

A huge press statement by AgResearch today in which it tries to justify its application to genetically engineer a wide range of animals, plus human and monkey cells, inadvertently shows sad downsides to GE research such as deformed foetuses and calves. ”In its statement today, the Crown research institute makes some outrageous claims as ’facts’ in the 35 questions it asks and answers for itself headed ’Fact or Fiction’,” Greens Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says. ”For example it admits a less than 9 percent live birth rate, aborted deformed foetuses, deformed calves, gangrenous udders and ’animals suffering from respiratory conditions’, but denies there are animal welfare concerns.

05.09.2008

EU MEPs call for ban on animal cloning for food

The European Parliament called for a ban in the EU on the cloning of animals for food supply. MEPs also urged an embargo on imports of cloned animals, their offspring and products derived from these sources. In a resolution adopted by 622 MEPs in favour, 32 against and 25 abstentions, the House calls on the Commission ”to submit proposals prohibiting for food supply purposes.

05.09.2008

U.S. food companies pledge not to use clones

Twenty food companies have told a consumer group that they won’t use milk or meat from cloned livestock. The companies, including Smithfield Foods Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc., were responding to a survey conducted by the Center for Food Safety, a consumer group that opposes animal cloning. Polls have shown most consumers are uncomfortable with the idea of eating products from cloned livestock, whether for health, ethical or environmental reasons. At the same time, products from the offspring of cloned animals are trickling into the food supply.

05.09.2008

Clones’ offspring may be in U.S. food supply: FDA

Food and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may have entered the U.S. food supply, the U.S. government said on Tuesday, but it would be impossible to know because there is no difference between cloned and conventional products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in January meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine and goats and their offspring were as safe as products from traditional animals. Before then, farmers and ranchers had followed a voluntary moratorium on the sale of clones and their offspring.

05.09.2008

EU states should be able to stop GMO crops nationally says German Agriculture Minister

Germany wants European Union member states to have the power to block genetically-modified crops in their countries, Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer said on Wednesday. Currently the EU Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, takes the decision whether genetically modified organisms (GMO) are safe and has controversially approved several GMO crops for commercial farming. [...] ’I believe that the EU member states should be able to decide themselves whether they actually want cultivation in their areas,’ Seehofer said.

05.09.2008

EU and China approve new GE soybeans for food and feed

The European Union will next week approve imports of genetically modified (GM) soybeans made by Bayer CropScience, hoping to ease a shortage of animal feed, officials said on Wednesday. The rubber-stamp approval, permitted under EU law when ministers from the bloc’s 27 countries fail to agree after a certain time, will be valid for a standard 10 years and be granted by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, on September 8, they said. Bayer’s soybean, developed to resist glufosinate herbicides, is known by its codename A2704-12 and will be imported into EU markets either as whole soybeans, oil or meal, and then be processed by European companies for use in food and animal feed.

04.09.2008

Lack of GM response in New Zealand surprises

Government science institutes are leading the GM charge. [...] Whether a market will be found for whatever vegetables are developed is a moot point. It’s instructive to note that around 98 per cent of all GM crops grown around the world (in acreage terms) comprise just corn, soy, canola and cotton, much of it for animal feed. GM potatoes developed for human consumption failed in the commercial world, killed off when they were eschewed by the fast food industry. The commercial reality is that food markets have not been as GM friendly as the scientists were hoping six years ago.

04.09.2008

Syngenta Canada launches non-GE aphid-resistant soybean variety

Syngenta Seeds Canada plans to have North America’s first aphid-resistant soybean variety available for sale to growers in November, the company said Tuesday. RAG1 soybean seeds offer ”season-long protection” from soybean aphids, the company said. The variety has a rare genetic trait that’s ”native only to soybean,” was developed in RAG1 using traditional plant breeding and therefore is not considered a genetically modified organism (GMO), Syngenta added. The variety offers ”selective resistance” to aphids, leaving beneficial insects unharmed, the company said.

04.09.2008

Greenpeace launches ’GMO-free rice restaurants campaign’ in the Philippines

The ’GMO-free rice restaurants’ campaign, launched today at Fish and Co. restaurant in Ortigas Center, aims to gather the commitment of restaurants around the country to serve only GMO-free rice. The project is part of Greenpeace’s ’I love my rice GMO-free’ campaign, a public movement to keep the country’s rice supply free from genetic contamination. Fish and Co. is part of the Bistro Group of Companies, among the first to sign on its popular restaurant outlets, including Italianni’s, TGI Friday’s and Flapjacks, to the environmental campaign.

04.09.2008

GM foods: the wrong debate

Ministers’ calls for debate over whether GM foods will help feed the world are a red herring disguising a crisis at the heart of British science. The UK’s research institutions and regulators are not set up to respond to public debate about what people need or want, and are hidebound by who holds the purse strings. This clashes with a growing global consensus on how innovation for better food and farming should work. In a direct challenge to ministers, the Food Ethics Council urges the government to have a genuinely open debate about the future of food and farming.

04.09.2008

Consultation period on New Zealand’s GE law revision ends

Genetically modified food landing on New Zealand dinner plates is looking less likely with public consultation on tough new laws ending today. Critics say the laws will ”stop good science in its tracks” but supporters argue it is essential to protect the integrity of conventional and organic crops. If passed, the laws will impose strict new rules including increased public disclosure of the planting locations, new regulations to ensure GM crops are kept separate and are able to be traced and mandatory labelling of GM crops.

04.09.2008

A controversial plan field-testing GM onions and leeks has been debated in New Zealand

A controversial plan to grow genetically modified onions and leeks on fields near Christchurch has been debated at a hearing on Tuesday. Crop and Food has been growing genetically modified (GM) onions in glasshouses and now they are applying to grow onions, leeks and garlic on two hectares at Lincoln in Canterbury. The scientists say it is a chance to assess the impact the crops will have on the environment.

03.09.2008

GM crops will address world food crisis says Australian Agriculture Minister

Australia should accept that genetically modified (GM) crops will be crucial in addressing the world food crisis, federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke says. State governments have imposed bans on most food crops, with the exception of canola in NSW and Victoria. Scientists and environmentalists are concerned GM crops are difficult to contain and long-term health effects are unknown. Mr Burke, addressing an agriculture science conference in Canberra, said GM food crops would be necessary to address global food shortages.

03.09.2008

Western Australian Premier promises support for a GE-free State

West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter has used the issue of genetically modified crops to highlight what he calls the ”risk” factor posed by a Liberal government. After targeting the Liberals’ support of uranium mining throughout his four-week election campaign, Mr Carpenter promised $5 million in funding to help promote WA as a GM-free state. Mr Carpenter said the Liberals wanted to allow broadscale GM farming, a claim later denied by Opposition Leader Colin Barnett.

03.09.2008

University of Paris-South (France) makes a commitment to support GE critic Christian Vélot

On July 9, 2008, the biologist and whistle blower Christian Vélot met the Presidency of the University Paris-South (Orsay). [...] The results are a willingness to listen and certain commitments. [...] The affair has involved two years of administrative hardship and stormy relations with the University hierarchy, 50,000 signatures of support, the support of several hundred people at the Orsay University itself and at the Ministry of Education and Research, and finally, a victory.

03.09.2008

The newest generation of GE drugs: Who can afford them?

Costs of expensive biotech ”specialty” drugs may overwhelm an increasing number of patients and employers, and raise questions about the meaning of ”insurance.” Sally Garcia, a 53-year-old lawyer disabled by multiple sclerosis, was torn. A new-generation medication, Copaxone, was really working for her. After two decades of being in and out of hospitals, Garcia was taking steps to work again. Her wallet, though, was in severe distress. Under her Medicare prescription plan, Garcia’s share of the expensive drug was $330 per month. All together, medications were taking a third of her disability payments - her only income - and she couldn’t swing it.

03.09.2008

Monsanto’s RR alfalfa ban upheld by U.S. federal appeals court

Federal regulators erred by approving Monsanto’s alfalfa seed without a thorough environmental review, Schroeder wrote. She was joined by Central District Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank, sitting by designation. ”This is a landmark decision,” said George Kimbrell of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety, which argued for the plaintiffs. ”It’s an appellate decision that, for the first time, holds that biological contamination from genetically engineered crops to conventional and organic crops is irreparable harm.”

02.09.2008

Golf Cooperation Council nations ’will control entry of GM foods’

The UAE and other GCC member countries will control the entry of genetically modified foods into their markets, top officials said on Tuesday. ”The GCC countries will develop regulations through independent statutory bodies with the power to ban releases of genetically modified foods until agreed standards have been met,” said Dr Mariam Harib Sultan Al Yousuf, executive director of policy and regulation at the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority. Dr Mariam stressed that control of gene technology should not be left to scientists and commercial organisations.

02.09.2008

Non-GE breeding successes: Striga-resistant sorghum and fungi-resistant peas

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) says researchers have at last managed to confer resistance to striga to a sorghum variety. The weed decimates sorghum, millet, maize and rice. Over 300 million people in the region derive their regular meals from these four cereals. [...] The method will see segments of the sorghum seed that are resistant to Striga transferred through conventional breeding methods to varieties marketed to farmers.

02.09.2008

Poland’s Environment Ministry prepares bill on GMOs

Poland’s Ministry for the Environment has prepared a draft bill on GMOs, allowing the creation of GMO-free zones in this country and introducing close monitoring of genetically-modified plantations. Environment minister Maciej Nowicki has said that the draft is an attempt to reconcile liberal EU legislation with Polish scepticism towards GMOs. He also said there was no proof that GMOs were safe but that Poland couldn’t legally ban them. He called the regulations temporary since a discussion whether to tighten the legislation was underway in Brussels.

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