Actualité
04.01.2007
Tanzania to establish biotech centre
THE Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) will establish an agricultural biotechnology centre aimed at modernising agriculture within and outside Tanzania. The Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology, Ms Gaudentia Kabaka, told the 'Daily News on Saturday' in Dar es Salaam that the move would enable Tanzanian farmers to get better seeds that will result in better yield and increased income. Ms Kabaka said the move would also put SUA on the world map in agricultural research activities as it would be assigned to compliment and consolidate the just approved third component in Africa to be established in Cape Town, South Africa after those in Italy and New Delhi.
04.01.2007
Organic Valley calls on USDA to clarify position on cloning
In response to the F.D.A's tentative approval of food from cloned animals, George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, the nation's oldest and largest organic farmers cooperative, called on the USDA to clarify its position on the use of cloned animals. Siemon assumed that cloning would be prohibited in the national organic standard as it falls within the ban on GMOs, excluded methods and prohibited technologies. Explained Siemon, "Organic farmers work in harmony with nature, not to change it. Consumers can be assured that Organic Valley and its meat brand, Organic Prairie, will never allow the use of cloned animals on our farms and in our products."
04.01.2007
The DNA so dangerous it does not exist
Could there be forbidden sequences in the genome - ones so harmful that they are not compatible with life? One group of researchers thinks so. Unlike most genome sequencing projects which set out to search for genes that are conserved within and between species, their goal is to identify "primes": DNA sequences and chains of amino acids so dangerous to life that they do not exist.
04.01.2007
New soybean pulls nitrogen from soil, not air
Growers may soon have the option of planting a non-transgenically modified soybean variety that improves recovery of nitrogen from land-applied animal waste. That's thanks to a newly released soybean germplasm that removes large amounts of nitrogen applied to soil. If developed into a new cultivar, it could become an ideal candidate for animal producers managing waste generated by their operations.
03.01.2007
India's cotton output seen at record 25 mln bales
Compiled from USDA, ISAAA and media (2006-07 cotton production) dataIndia's cotton output is likely to notch a record 25 million bales in the crop year to September 2007, with growing use of genetically modified cotton, industry officials said on Thursday. Last season, the output was 24.4 million bales, which was also a record crop. Industry officials said though the area under cotton cultivation was virtually the same in the last two years at 8.9 million hectares, farmers were able to reap bumper harvests with the use of the new variety of cotton. Out of 8.9 million hectares, about 30 percent of the area was under bacillus thuringiensis or Bt Cotton, they said.
03.01.2007
F.D.A. says food from cloned animals is safe
After years of delay, the Food and Drug Administration tentatively concluded yesterday that milk and meat from some cloned farm animals are safe to eat. That finding could make the United States the first country to allow products from cloned livestock to be sold in grocery stores. Even if the agency’s assessment is formally approved next year, consumers will not see many steaks or pork chops from cloned animals because the technology is still too expensive to be used widely.
- The New York Times, USA (29.12.2006): F.D.A. says food from cloned animals is safe
- Los Angeles Times, USA (28.12.2006): FDA set to OK food from cloned animals
- Brownfield, USA (02.01.2007): FDA decision on animal clones took years
- The Times, UK (29.12.2006): Cloned milk and meat expected to go on sale in months after winning US approval
03.01.2007
Stringent laws suggested for transgenic seeds in India
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture has criticised the provision in The Seeds Bill, 2004, that provides for ``provisional registration/clearance for two years'' for transgenic (genetically modified seeds) irrespective of such a clearance under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. The Government proposes to allow provisional registration merely on the basis of the information furnished by the seed company. In its 22nd report, the panel has rejected the idea saying this would bring untested seeds and genetically engineered food crops into the market through ``the backdoor.'' Also, since the transgenic seeds cannot be released for commercial cultivation without the approval of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, provisional registration/clearance should not be allowed. ``This proviso to Clause (15) 1 in the Seeds Act should be deleted,'' the committee headed by Ram Gopal Yadav has said.
- The Hindu, India (31.12.2006): Stringent laws suggested for transgenic seeds
- The Indian Express, India (08.12.2006): Ahead of 2004 bill, farmers turn up heat over seed rights
- The Financial Express, India (04.12.2006): Make changes in Seed Bill, urge farmers
- The Hindu, India (30.11.2006): Bill should not compromise farmers interest: Committee
- The Financial Express, India (29.11.2006): Panel backs farmers’ seed rights
03.01.2007
Giant ragweed added to glyphosate resistant list
Giant ragweed soon could cast a giant shadow on the world's most popular herbicide. Researchers at Ohio State and Purdue universities have confirmed glyphosate-resistant giant ragweed populations in Indiana and Ohio. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in herbicides such as Roundup and Touchdown, which are used for burndown weed control in no-till cropping systems and postemergence in Roundup Ready soybeans and corn. The weed species is the seventh in the United States to show resistance to glyphosate.
03.01.2007
Hazy future for genetic drugs, tests
There may be no better example of the promise and pitfalls of so-called personalized medicine -- tailoring treatments to individual genetic traits -- than the test Genomic Health developed for breast-cancer patients like Katherine Young. [...] Despite widespread hopes that mapping the human genome this decade would usher in a flood of drugs for genetically similar patients, few such products have hit the market, largely because of fears that insurers won't cover their cost.
03.01.2007
No good reason exists for rush to cloned food
[...] But even if such food is formally declared safe, consumers won't see cloned meat in the grocery store any time soon because the technology is still too expensive to be used widely, The New York Times reported. Which begs the question: Is there any demand for cloned spare ribs? If cloning isn't somehow more efficient or cost-effective than breeding, what could possibly be the reason to approve cloned food for consumption? Critics say the FDA is looking out for a handful of cloning companies, which are still trying to build a business. Some farmers and breeders who already have cloned animals also have interest in the approval. Other than that, no one is clamoring for it. There is no shortage of cows or pigs.
03.01.2007
Sri Lanka restricts GM foods
All imported food items that contain genetically modified (GM) substances need to be labeled starting in 2007 in accordance with the Food (Control of Import, Labeling and Sale of Genetically Modified Foods) Regulations 2006, which were enacted on January 1. Importation, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of any kind of food that contains a genetically modified substance without the approval of the Chief Food Authority is illegal under the new regulations.
03.01.2007
Gene-engineered cattle resist mad cow disease: study
U.S. and Japanese scientists reported on Sunday that they had used genetic engineering to produce cattle that resist mad cow disease. They hope the cattle can be the source of herds that can provide dairy products, gelatin and other products free of the brain-destroying disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE. Writing in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the researchers said their cattle were healthy at the age of 20 months, and sperm from the males made normal embryos that were used to impregnate cows, although it is not certain yet that they could breed normally.
03.01.2007
Summit participants express varying views on GMOs
Participants at a food summit have expressed varying views on the introduction of Genetically Modified Food (GMO) technology on the continent. Wilson Selenge, a parliamentarian from Malawi, told Newsmen at the just-ended Food Security Summit in Abuja, that his country rejected GMO technology because it transferred foreign genes into local crops. «When you produce maize or any other crop through GMOs you are applying a foreign gene, and that foreign element can be harmful to the body system”, he said. According to him, if you therefore eat such food you will be damaging your body system, which can even lead to death. Dr. Olaseinde Afrigbede, national coordinator, United and Medium Scale Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (USMESFAM), said that farmers in the country were against the used of GMO technology in food production.
28.12.2006
Tanzanian Government introduces policy on GMOs
THE government has devised a new policy to control the importation of GMOs technology in order to curb its environmental and socio-economic effects. The policy, know as National Biosafety Framework (NBF), which has been prepared in accordance with the Cartagena Protocol, of which Tanzania has ratified, is also expected to introduce the legal, technical and administrative mechanisms to deal with the
technology.
28.12.2006
China breeds 55 profitable new GM cotton varieties
Chinese scientists have developed 55 new genetically modified (GM) cotton strains, bringing economic returns of 16.8 billion yuan (2.1 billion U.S. dollars), said Vice Minister of Science and Technology Liu Yanhua. "The cultivation of new strains, covering an area of more than 100 million mu (12.5 million ha.), has already been put into commercial production," said Liu. The new varieties boast traits such as worm, herbicide and disease resistance, and high yields, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).
28.12.2006
DBT contemplates changes to GM crop field trial regulations
Faced with the problem of maintaining the country’s image as an exporter of GM-free rice, the department of biotechnology (DBT) is now contemplating changes in its guidelines for regulation of field trials for genetically modified (GM) crops. DBT secretary, MK Bhan , DBT advisor KK Tripathi and advisor in the science and technology ministry, SR Rao have suggested that no field trials of GM rice should be allowed in Basmati rice producing states—Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
28.12.2006
Ottawa rejects concerns over fertility panel
Health Minister Tony Clement tried to reflect a cross-section of Canadian views when he appointed a national board to set the standards for assisted human reproduction, his spokesman said yesterday. That 10-member board, which was announced late last week to oversee Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, has been criticized as being long on socially conservative values but short on fertility experts and stem-cell researchers.
27.12.2006
Victoria (Australia) seeks permission to grow trial crops of GM drought-tolerant wheat
THE first genetically modified wheat crop in Victoria's history could be growing within six months. The Victorian Government has applied to a Federal Government regulator for permission to grow trial crops of drought-tolerant GM wheat. If the application is approved, as critics expect, by the Gene Technology Regulator within the Federal Government's Department of Health and Ageing, two crops of the GM wheat would be grown in Horsham and Mildura.
27.12.2006
Why the omega-3 piggy should not go to market
The paper in your April issue by Lai et al. entitled "Generation of cloned transgenic pigs rich in omega-3 fatty acids" (Nat. Biotechnol. 24, 435–436, 2006) perfectly captures the fundamental problem with American biotech research. That problem is that scientists pursue their research agenda to further scientific knowledge—all well and good—but when the project succeeds they invent problems for which their research results can be marketed as a solution. This unreflective move from 'pure science' to commercialization may end up as biotech's undoing.
27.12.2006
GM in India: the battle over Bt cotton
The chequered history of Bt cotton in India — marked by pest resistance and farmers' suicides — has polarised opinions over the technology, reports TV Padma. 'Bt and the beast' is how cotton scientist Keshav Raj Kranthi refers to the controversial genetically modified cotton so widely planted in India. The 'beast' is the American bollworm — a moth larva that devours cotton bolls — while Bt is its nemesis, a protein crystal from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.
