Noticias
01.01.1970
A new silver bullet: GE clover might reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 15 years
Research has been unveiled that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farms while boosting production at the same time. AgResearch says it is trying to make one of sheep and cattle’s favourite foods, white clover, environmentally safer. [...] AgResearch says however that it will take at least another 15 years to commercially release the new clover.
- Radio New Zealand, New Zealand (16.06.2010): Clover research could reduce farm gas emissions
- 3News, New Zealand (15.06.2010): GM breakthrough could have huge climate benefits
- The New Zealand Herald, New Zealand (15.06.2010): Clover may reduce methane emissions - scientists
- TV NZ, New Zealand (16.06.2010): AgResearch to go offshore for GE clover
- Voxy, New Zealand (15.06.2010): Norman: GE clover doesn’t have four leaves
- Voxy, New Zealand (16.06.2010): GE plants and animals do not belong in clean green 100% pure NZ
- AgResearch, New Zealand (15.06.2010): World-first science GE discovery that could lead to more productive farms, and reduced greenhouse gases
01.01.1970
Indian States reject call of Bt cotton seed firms to end price control
Governments of cotton growing states have spiked proposals by companies to increase prices for genetically modified (Bt) cotton seeds. Makers of Bt seed have asked for a rise in the price they could charge for a 40-seed packet of the BG1 variety to Rs 850 (from Rs 650 now) and for the BG2 variety to Rs 1,050 (up from Rs 750), as input and labour costs had gone up by 35 per cent. All the governments in question — Andhra, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab — have declined to do.
01.01.1970
Indian GE crop lobby group appoints former USDA and Syngenta manager as Executive Director
The Association of Biotech Led Enterprises – Special Interest Group on Agriculture Biotechnology announces the appointment of Dr. Shanthu Shantharam as its Executive Director. [...] Earlier he was a Branch Chief of the Biotechnology Regulatory Affairs at [USDA-APHIS ...] and also with Syngenta [...] as a head of Stakeholder Relations and Technology Communications, and then as a Global Head for Regulatory compliance.
01.01.1970
Indian ministries agree to create new GMO regulator
The ministries of environment and science seem to have resolved their differences over who will govern the entry of genetically modified (GM) crops in India. The controversial genetic engineering approval committee, or GEAC, which currently gives the nod for the commercial release of GM crops, is likely to be integrated with a biotechnology regulator proposed by the science ministry, two ministry officials said on condition of anonymity.
01.01.1970
Organic cotton farming more profitable: Report
Organically grown cotton is more profitable for farmers than Bt cotton, a new Greenpeace report said on Tuesday. [...] ”Our study illustrates how farmers growing GE cotton face high debts and high costs of cultivation, becoming more vulnerable to financial collapses,” Greenpeace International scientist and study author Reyes Tirado said.
01.01.1970
New Zealand’s Greens complain about delay in GE plant investigation
The Government is being accused of ”deliberate foot-dragging” for taking more than six months to investigate two genetically engineered (GE) plants found growing near Christchurch. Green groups say millions of dollars of exports and New Zealand’s prized ”100% Pure” could be threatened after any major GE breaches if it takes the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry-Biosecurity New Zealand six months to scrutinise just two weeds.
01.01.1970
Ten years Human Genome Project - goal to discover genetic roots of diseases remains elusive
For biologists, the genome has yielded one insightful surprise after another. But the primary goal of the $3 billion Human Genome Project — to ferret out the genetic roots of common diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s and then generate treatments — remains largely elusive. [...] the variants turned out to have no value in forecasting disease among 19,000 women who had been followed for 12 years. The old-fashioned method of taking a family history was a better guide, Dr. Paynter reported this February in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
01.01.1970
Making Kenyan maize safe from deadly aflatoxins with non-GE biocontrol technology
Scientists offer a natural, safe, and cost-effective solution to prevent future contamination of maize by the killer aflatoxin to secure the food and income of millions of small-scale farmers in Kenya and the rest of Africa. [...] In Nigeria, IITA has obtained provisional registration of the technology under the name Alfasafe™, a mixture of four atoxigenic strains of Nigerian origin. In 2009, maize farmers in Nigeria were able to reduce aflatoxin contamination by 80% by broadcasting 10 kg/ha Aflasafe™ 2-3 weeks before maize flowering.
01.01.1970
Late blight resistant non-GE potato improves Andean smallholders’ production.
CIP and its partners have been developing and promoting late blight resistant cultivars for over two decades. Recent advances, such as DNA fingerprinting of the pathogen and the genetic sequencing of the potato, have provided vital information for breeders, who use a complex process of recurrent selection to breed varieties with durable late blight resistance. Amarilis, a variety with high-level resistance, was bred by the Center and first released by Peru’s National Institute of Agricultural Research in 1993.
01.01.1970
Various approaches in quest to boost rice yields
Miura’s team used standard plant breeding to introduce the mutation to new varieties, and ended up with as much as 52 per cent more grains per plant. Jiao’s team put the mutant gene into new rice varieties using genetic engineering and, under field conditions – the acid test for any rice plant – rice yields increased by 10 per cent.
01.01.1970
Africa researcher start to develop non-GE striga resistant sorghum
In April, scientists in eastern and central Africa embarked on identifying sources of resistance to Striga, a parasitic weed. Supported by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (Asareca), the researchers from Sudan, Kenya, Eritrea and the International Crop Research Institute (ICRISAT) are using biotechnological tools in locating and identifying Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) that gives resistance to Striga.
01.01.1970
Low allergy non-GE peanut hopeful say U.S. scientists
US scientists hope to produce a peanut that significantly reduces the risk of allergic reaction: so far they have managed to breed a variety that lacks some of the compounds known to cause allergic reactions, and are planning further studies to produce a peanut that lacks more of, if not all of the major allergens, which can produce reactions ranging from rash to severe anaphylactic shock.
01.01.1970
On the GE crop controversy in Cuba
Transgenic corn is now being planted in Cuba, information that has created a groundswell of opposition. [...] Using the triumphalist formula of our press, they want to make us believe that transgenic produce is the solution to the country’s agricultural difficulties. A little dose of information, fragmented and manipulated, is all that’s provided to the Cuban public. Meanwhile, most of the debate occurs in online publications.
01.01.1970
Commercial GM wheat in Australia 10 years away
Australia needs to focus on wheat breeding technologies including genetically modified wheat, Peter Reading, managing director of Australia’s Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) said on Tuesday. But GM wheat was unlikely to be commercially available for another 10 years, he told the International Grains Council’s conference.
01.01.1970
Once again Brazil breaks the record on the use of pesticides
In 2008 we were the world leader on the use of these agrochemicals and in 2009 we outdid ourselves. Over one million tons were sold, which means an average of 49 pounds per hectare in the 2009/10 harvest, or 11 pounds per habitant! This data was collected by Sindag, the national union of the pesticides industry. The volume is 7,7% bigger that the one used in 2008/09.
01.01.1970
On the GE crop controversy in Ireland
The Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association has renewed calls to make Ireland a GM-free zone. [...] IOFGA says that that the co-existence of GM crops and conventional and organic crops is not possible and that the continued promotion of GM crops needs to be reversed.
01.01.1970
France and Spain wary of GM crop overhaul plans of the European Commission
The EU’s executive, the European Commission, argues that giving member states the option of banning GM cultivation will remove their current opposition to approving new varieties, and plans in July to table proposals seen by Reuters. [...] ”There is no way we would swap subsidiarity for the absolute need for a tightening of the assessment criteria,” [said France’s Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo] ”No new authorisations can be approved in the current circumstances,” he added.
01.01.1970
EFSA to hold technical meeting with Member States on GM plants risk assessment
Following public consultations on the draft Guidance document on the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of genetically modified (GM) plants and the draft Scientific Opinion on non-target organisms (NTO), EFSA is now organising a further technical meeting on these documents. [...] the meeting will bring together experts in the field of the environmental risk assessment of GM plants from both Member States competent authorities and EFSA’s Panel on Genetically modified organisms (GMO Panel) and its Working Groups.
01.01.1970
Bayer must pay Dow $5M in fees in corn patent loss
Bayer BioScience NV has been ordered to pay $4.9 million in attorneys’ fees to Dow AgroSciences LLC following a ruling that four Bayer patents for genetically modified corn were invalid because of inequitable conduct before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Judge James A. Beaty Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina issued the ruling Tuesday, another blow to Bayer, which was ordered by a federal court in Missouri to pay nearly $8.4 million in attorneys’ fees to Monsanto Co. in a similar dispute.
01.01.1970
Leading Norfolk (UK) scientists plea to use GE crops in Europe
A leading scientist at a world-renowned Norfolk food research centre has said that it’s time ‘to grow up’ over the possible beneficial impact of GM technology. The comments of Professor Jonathan Jones, group leader at the John Innes Centre’s Sainsbury laboratory, come at the start of a Norwich GM potato trial that looks to use the controversial technology to boost food worldwide production.
