Actualité
25.02.2007
GM sugar beet could bring end to weed beet misery
Fears that growing genetically modified herbicide tolerant (GMHT) oilseed rape and sugar beet will create uncontrollable super-weeds are unfounded, recent research suggests. Indeed, herbicide-tolerant beet could offer a fresh start in the weed beet battle. However, some management practices would need to change, the study by Rothamsted Research and ADAS concludes.
- Farmers Weekly, UK (16.02.2007): GM sugar beet could bring end to weed beet misery
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK (08.02.2007): Research on the implications of managing GM crop herbicide-tolerant weeds
- South East Farm Press, USA (07.02.2007): Herbicide resistance ominous threat to cotton
25.02.2007
Russia approves 2 GM corn varieties
Russia recently approved two biotech corn varieties for use in animal feed. "The approvals are part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ascension agreement between Russia and the United States," commented Alexander Kholopov, USGC [U.S. Grains Council] director in Russia.
25.02.2007
Keep Basmati rice areas free from GM crop trials: Indian commerce ministry
The Union commerce ministry has decided to intervene and ask the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) not to approve field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops in Basmati rice growing states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh. The consensus emerged at a recent meeting of stakeholders convened by the commerce ministry. The meeting among others were attended by the chairman of Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (Apeda), Sashi Sareen of Export Inspection Council of India, advisor to the department of biotechnology, KK Tripathi and representatives of the All India Rice Exporters Association (Airea).
25.02.2007
China shelves commercial production of GM rice again
A Chinese national committee for safety of genetically modified (GM) food has shelved the commercial production of GM rice in Nov. 2006, at least the fourth time since 2004, the Beijing Times reported Saturday.
”The application was rejected because some safety-related data were missing,” said Lu Baorong, member of the State Committee for the Safety of Agricultural Transgenic living Things. He, however, revealed that a pest-resistant GM rice has been given the go-ahead to be put into experimental production, the last step before a security pass could be granted. The debate on the pros and cons of GM food has been waging on for years in China, as it is the case worldwide.
23.02.2007
The beef with cloned meat
The waiter places a perfectly grilled, prime-grade beefsteak before you and then reveals that it came from a cloned steer. Do you eat it? For most Americans, the answer is no. A survey conducted by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that the thought of dining on meat from animals copied via manual transfer of cell nuclei just does not sit well with six in 10 of us. Blame ethical or religious concerns or mistrust of the meat industry, but the idea of cloned meat elicits distaste even in many confirmed carnivores.
23.02.2007
Dolly’s legacy
Ten years on, mammalian cloning is moving forward with central societal issues remaining unresolved. Yet human reproductive cloning seems inevitable. [...] The world was simply not prepared for the debate. The cloning a year previously of sheep from embryonic cells had led Davor Solter, in an accompanying News & Views article in Nature, to warn that ”it might be a good idea to start thinking about how we might use” the ability to clone from adult cells. But others were dismissive of the prospect, or predicted it to be many years away.
23.02.2007
Pharming 2006 net loss widens on partnership reserve
Pharming Group NV, a biotechnology company that uses milk from genetically modified rabbits to make its most-advanced experimental drug, said its full-year loss widened on money put aside for future payments to a partner.
23.02.2007
Cabinet of Pakistan okays draft bill for (GM) plant variety protection
The federal cabinet has approved in principle the draft bill of Plant Breeders Rights to meet the WTO obligation and protect genetically modified crops (GM crops). The draft bill is an obligation for Pakistan being member of World Trade Organisation (WTO) under article 27.3b of the WTO TRIPs Agreement, says a copy of the draft bill available with The News.
23.02.2007
Planned Monsanto-D&PL merger angers black farmers in hte U.S.
Black farmers in Mississippi and around the country are bracing for a major seed company merger they say threatens to create a monopoly that will price them out of the farming business. St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. is forging ahead with a plan to purchase Mississippi’s Scott-based cottonseed company Delta and Pine Land, and a national black farmers group says its opposition to the deal has gotten lost in the mix. ”If this merger goes through, it’s going to have a drastic effect on black farmers and small farmers around the country,” said John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association.
23.02.2007
Patent held by Genentech is revoked by U.S. government
The Patent and Trademark Office has decided to revoke a fundamental patent held by Genentech, the biotechnology company, that was at the center of a recent Supreme Court decision. The patent office’s decision could cost Genentech hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties over the next decade but would save a like amount for rivals that are paying the royalties, including MedImmune, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson and ImClone Systems.
22.02.2007
SEARICE (Philippines) opposes GM rice by German company
The Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE), a non-government organization, has urged the Bureau of Plant and Industry to turn down the application of a German company for its genetically modified rice varieties to be used for feed, food, and processing. The LLRice 62 (LL stands for Liberty Link) is a genetically modified rice variety developed by Bayer Crop Science, a German company based in the United States.
22.02.2007
EU allows Hungary to uphold ban on GMO corn
”This is not just an environmental issue, as Hungary’s export markets favour non-GMO products,” Environment Minister Miklós Persányi said. ”In addition, the elm bark beetle, against which the GMO plant is protected, is a rarity in Hungary, therefore other methods are preferable,” he explained.
- Caboodle, Hungary (21.02.2007): EU allows Hungary to uphold ban on GMO corn
- EUobserver, Belgium (21.02.2007): EU states deal blow to Brussels by backing GMO ban
- Food Navigator, France (21.02.2007): EU Council backs Hungarian GM ban
- Jurnalul National, Romania (21.02.2007): Sulfina Barbu embarrasses us again
22.02.2007
Leading advocates against GM rBGH milk file citizen’s petition with U.S. FDA
Tuesday morning February 20, three major advocacy organizations representing consumers, family farmers, and cancer prevention advocates filed a citizen’s petition to the FDA, seeking the Withdrawal of Approval for Posilac - Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH).
- Cancer Prevention Coalition, Organic Consumer Association, Family Farm Defenders, USA (21.02.2007): Leading advocates against genetically modified rBGH milk file citizen’s petition with FDA
- The Monterey Herald, USA (20.02.2007): Officials aim to halt hormone thefts sweeping dairy industry
- Monsanto, USA (25.01.2007): New data show milk marketing claims are misleading
22.02.2007
Group wants to halt herbicide-resistant alfalfa seed in the U.S.
A coalition of farmers, environmentalists and food safety organizations plans to ask a federal judge in California to halt the sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa seed, the group’s lawyer said Tuesday. The request follows a decision released two weeks ago in which U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to follow environmental law before approving the genetically modified forage.
22.02.2007
Indian report on patent law reform withdrawn after plagiarism row
Stung by charges of plagiarism, the R A Mashelkar committee, which had recommended drastic widening of the scope of patentability in India, has taken the unusual step of withdrawing its controversial report. In a letter dated February 19, Mashelkar, former head of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, requested the commerce ministry to allow the committee to ”withdraw the report, re-examine it and resubmit a report, which meets with the requirements of the highest standards.” This followed an article in TOI on February 12 exposing the fact that key excerpts of the Mashelkar committee report submitted in December were reproduced almost verbatim (although without acknowledgement) from a paper published by UK-based, industry-friendly think tank.
22.02.2007
‘Too stringent biosafety norms harmful’
FOUNDER-CHAIRMAN of the International Society for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), Dr Clive James,says the time has come for governments to state decisively whether to say yes to key food crops linked to alleviation of hunger such as GM rice.
21.02.2007
EU vote reinforces resistance to GMOs
Resistance to genetically modified crops in Europe was underlined yesterday when EU governments rejected an attempt to force Hungary to lift a ban on them. Only the UK, Netherlands, Finland and Sweden among the 27 members voted that Budapest should allow in bio-engineered maize, although it has been approved as safe by food safety authorities. Last year ministers permitted Austria to maintain a ban on the same product, MON810, which contains a toxin to kill pests and was created by Monsanto, the US group.
- Friends of the Earth Europe, Belgium (20.02.2007): EU Environment Ministers twice resist GMOs
- EuropaBio, Belgium (20.02.2007): EU Environment Ministers deny farmers in Hungary the right to choose
- Greenpeace European Unit, Belgium (20.02.2007): Three times a loser - GMO vote: EU Commission defeated for the third time on GMOs
- Reuters (20.02.2007): EU upholds Hungary"s sovereign right to ban GMOs
- Financial Times, UK (21.02.2007): EU vote reinforces resistance to GMOs
21.02.2007
Food Standards Agency (UK) challenged in court over GM contamination
A pressure group plans to legally challenge the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) over its alleged failure to act over imports of illegal GM rice. The Judicial Review, called for by Friends of the Earth (FoE), is due to be heard in court today. The case centres on the contamination of long grain rice with an experimental and GM strain grown in the US. On 18 August last year, the US Department of Agriculture announced that an illegal GM rice strain, unapproved for human consumption, had been found in long grain rice supplies destined for export.
21.02.2007
Columban calls for Catholic stand on GM food in Australia
The use of new genetic engineering technologies in the production of food crops poses unknown health risks, Columban Fr Charles Rue says, in a call for an informed Catholic voice on genetically modified foods in the lead up to the NSW election. In a statement issued this week, the Columban Missionary Society says it is concerned that a future NSW Government will lift its moratorium on the commercial growing of genetically modified food crops in the state.
21.02.2007
EU Ministers fail to agree on GMO carnation imports
European Union environment ministers failed to agree on Tuesday to authorise imports of carnations whose colour has been genetically modified, again revealing the bloc’s deep divisions over biotech policy. There was no qualified majority of member states -- the amount needed under the EU’s complex weighted voting system -- for or against the proposal, a European Commission spokeswoman said. The application for EU approval was filed by Florigene, one of Australia’s first biotechnology companies and part of the privately owned Suntory group. Florigene wanted its flowers to be imported into EU markets for general distribution and sale.
