Nachrichten
31.10.2008
Castlegar city (British Colombia, Canada) urged to go GE Free
The Genetically Engineered Free Kootenays Society proposed to Castlegar city council to pass a resolution to make Castlegar a genetically engineered-food free zone. The presenters, Kim Charlesworth and Jon Steinman, explained to council a vast majority of genetically engineered (G.E) crops currently commercialized are designed to be resistant to an herbicide which is also developed by the same company who developed the seed.
31.10.2008
Zambia does not change position on GMO ban
Govt Zambia’s position on Genetically Modified Products has not changed. Lusaka Province Minister, Lameck Mangani, says government will not allow Genetically Modified (GMO) products into the country. Mr. Mangani says there is need to continue protecting the country from the danger posed by GMO products.
31.10.2008
Zimbabwe to screen seed imports on GMOs
The Ministry of Agriculture will inspect seed and fertilizers coming into the country to detect genetically-modified organisms, a Cabinet minister said yesterday. The ministry recently announced that it would start issuing out temporal licences to individuals willing to import agricultural inputs such as maize seed and fertilizers. Agriculture Minister Mr Rugare Gumbo said there was a high possibility of modified seed coming into the country.
31.10.2008
Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency raids stores for unapproved GE food stuff
[Food and Drug Monitoring Agency] raided several imported-food stores in Jakarta, some of which had more than half their inventory seized and destroyed. [...] ”There are certain things acceptable in other countries that are not acceptable to us,” she went on. ”Genetically modified food, for instance, may be acceptable to the U.S. public but not to the Indonesian public. And we can only find out about that from the production flows.”
31.10.2008
Maize contaminated with transgenics in Chile
The Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA) at the University of Chile has detected genetically modified organisms in four samples of conventional maize grown near fields where transgenic maize seeds are being produced for export. ”These results are extremely serious. The question is, who will take responsibility? Who will pay for this contamination?” María Isabel Manzur of the non-governmental Sustainable Societies Foundation (FSS), which along with the Sustainable Chile Programme contracted INTA to analyse 30 maize samples, told IPS.
31.10.2008
Monsanto battles biopiracy claims over Indian Bt-gene
India is asking the local arm of multinational Monsanto Co. to pay a royalty for genetic information that forms the basis of a genetically modified seed sold by the firm here because it believes this information is that of a bacteria found in Andhra Pradesh. The Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board, a statutory body set up by the Union government under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, is seeking royalty payments from Monsanto India Ltd for genetic information it alleges was ”stolen” from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria found in the soils of Mahanandi village in Kurnool district.
29.10.2008
Arcadia Biosciences receives USD 15 mill to complete launch of GE safflower oil
Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., an agricultural biotechnology company focused on developing technologies and products that benefit the environment and human health, said today that it has raised $15 million in financing from its current investors. The transaction was led by Exeter Life Sciences, with full participation of other key shareholders including CMEA Ventures, BASF Venture Capital America Inc., and Saints Capital. The company will use proceeds from the financing to fund and complete the launch of Arcadia’s GLA Safflower Oil – the company’s first commercial product – and to accelerate development of new technologies with enhanced agricultural traits.
- Arcadia Biosciences, USA (28.10.2008): Arcadia Biosciences announces $15 million funding to support commercial product development and expansion of agricultural biotechnology offerings
- BASF, Germany (17.10.2008): BASF Plant Science and University of Manitoba announce licensing agreement on promising plant biotechnology discovery
29.10.2008
Broader financial turmoil threatens biotech’s innovation and cash
So many biotechnology companies talk about ”extending the runway” these days, you might think they had entered the airline business. But for them, runway refers to the time before a company runs out of money. And with financial markets in turmoil, the runways are looking dangerously short for many small biotechnology companies. A biotech crash, if it comes, could threaten an industry that plays a vital role in turning scientific advances into usable medicines. [...] SemBioSys, which hopes to use genetically engineered safflowers as a low-cost way to produce insulin and other drugs, said last week it would cut about 30 workers, or more than 40 percent of its work force. Even so, the company’s cash might last only until the middle of next year, Mr. Baum said.
29.10.2008
European Nordic Council urges governments to allow GMO-free zones
Setting up GMO-free zones in the Nordic countries could give the region a competitive advantage by producing organic GMO-free products. Moreover it will give the Nordic consumers the opportunity to make conscious consumer choices, as long as the products they buy are properly labelled. Therefore, the Nordic Council at its Session in Helsinki on Wednesday 29 October agreed that the Nordic governments should report on the opportunities for tightening current norms and regulations for the labelling of GMO products.
29.10.2008
Nebraska Univeristy (USA) may have role in convincing EU to embrace GE crops
Europeans may be on the verge of reassessing their long-held resistance to genetically modified crops, and Nebraska could play a role in that shift, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln plant geneticist said. Sally MacKenzie, who directs UNL’s Center for Plant Science Innovation, recently returned from trip to Brussels, Belgium, as part of a delegation led by Gov. Dave Heineman. The trip came at the invitation of Neil Parish, chairman of the European Union’s agriculture committee, who visited Nebraska last spring.
29.10.2008
EFSA overcharged and undervalued - Science Director resigned
Herman Koëter recently resigned as Science Director with the European Food Safety Authority passing fierce criticism on the organisation. According to Koëter EFSA is seriously overcharged, while political preferences of the European Commission more and more are reflected in research questions. Koëter says that the head of EFSA, Frenchwoman Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, is too much influenced by politicians and industry.
29.10.2008
Italian researchers breed non-GE high-anthocyanin tomato
Italian researches from School of advanced studies Sant’Anna, University of Pisa, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and University of Tuscia have launched a brand new tomato, being part of the ”Tom – Anto” research project. [...] This new tomato has been called ”Sun Black”. Its pulp is still of red color and it tastes just like a traditional tomato. Sun Black is not a GM product and it is very healthy, thanks to the anti-oxidant properties of anthocyanins.
28.10.2008
Australian Banana Growers Council oppose GE bananas
”We don’t believe the Australian consumer is ready to take onboard and buy and be satisfied with a GM-based banana,” [Tony Heidrich from the Australian Banana Growers Council] said. ”Until such time where we believe there is market acceptance out there, then we would not support its commercialisation.”
28.10.2008
Australian-first GM grass trial to start
Genetically modified pasture grass that is more nutritious and easier for stock to digest is set to be trialled in Victoria in an Australian first. Field trials of up to 500 lines of grasses will start in Hamilton, in western Victoria, following approval from the Federal Gene Technology Regulator. The trials will be undertaken by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and the grasses will not be commercially released.
28.10.2008
Kenyan Bt maize project to audit performance, set for regional trials
The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA), project that began in 1999 is to table their results on Bt maize experimental findings [...]. The meeting will then give the way forward particularly on expanding the experiment to other countries. The crucial issue for discussion would be how to avoid repeating the same procedures should the Bt maize tried in Kenya be taken across the borders to other countries in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, COMESA.
28.10.2008
Drought resistance is the goal, but methods differ
Monsanto will not say exactly what genes it is using, or in which species they originated. But one approach involves transcription factors, which are like master regulators, able to turn on dozens of other genes to orchestrate a plant’s response to lack of water. But with so many downstream genes activated, there could be other effects on the plants besides less need for water. At a recent biotechnology conference, a university researcher showed a photograph of a cotton plant with an inserted gene for a transcription factor. The plant was missing most of its leaves. No single approach is likely to suffice for all types of dry conditions. ”Probably no one has found the magic gene yet,” said Jian-Kang Zhu, a professor of plant biology at the University of California, Riverside. ”Probably there is no magic gene.”
28.10.2008
Restrict Indian GM food import without examination
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to restrict the import of genetically-modified food stuffs containing living modified organisms without examining their contents. A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), a regulatory body under the ministry of environment and forests, would scientifically examine the genetically-modified food stuffs and crops before allowing their sale in the country.
28.10.2008
Protests sprout ahead of new field trials of India’s first GM foodcrop
A vegetable is at the centre of a row in Orissa as it is likely to become the first genetically-modified (GM) foodcrop to be permitted for commercial production in the country. While anti-GM activists in the state and elsewhere are furious at the insufficient data on the safety aspects of the crop, Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) brinjal seeds are likely to be sown in Orissa sometime next month as part of the countrywide field trials of Varanasi-based Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR).
27.10.2008
Australian company challenges universities using patented breast cancer gene for testing
The Federal Government says it’s extremely worried about the threat by a private company to restrict the use of a genetic test for breast cancer. The Melbourne-based company Genetic Technologies owns the patent to test for two breast cancer genes and it has told public hospitals that it will take legal action if they don’t stop conducting the test. But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating whether this contravenes the law.
27.10.2008
Food labelling review on its way in Australia
The Food Regulation Ministerial Council meeting in Adelaide today vowed to commission a sweeping review of food labelling after being urged by scientists to crack down on unlabelled genetically modified food. West Australian Minister for Agriculture Terry Redman said consumers should be able to make informed decisions when purchasing food ”with the ability to choose GM or non GM food based on clear and unambiguous labelling”. [...] Fifteen Australian and international scientists wrote an open letter to the ministers putting the case for further independent testing of GM food in Australia and an expansion of the labelling laws.
