Actualité
11.01.2008
Suicide seeds? Biotechnology meets the developmental state
Globally, the battle over biotechnology is largely a contest of metropolitan middle classes engaged in proxy wars on the terrain of relatively poor farmers. Ironically, opposition to biotechnology in India has been largely an urban phenomenon, a creature of media and various websites. Opponents are backed by international NGOs and aid projects brokered through claims of indigenous authenticity. Reciprocally, middle-class proponents occupied positions within the state and formal-sector firms and organizations. Farmers were largely absent, though everyone speaks in their name.
11.01.2008
Pakistani Government to introduce BT cottonseed in 2009
A genetically modified cottonseed, with inbuilt resistance against pests that is significantly expected to increase production of the crop will be introduced next year, a top official said here on Tuesday. Deputy Director of National Biosafety Centre (NBC), Afzaal Ahmed, told Daily Times that Bt cottonseed would be available in the market from 2009, which would tremendously increase per acre production of the cotton, accounting 10 percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 55 percent to the foreign exchange earnings of the country.
11.01.2008
Argentine Agricultural Federation is ?enemy of ?soyification??
Dairy farmers in Argentina have led the latest in a long series of protests by agricultural associations, despite the record high prices for farm products. [...] ?A 200 hectare dairy farm employs five families year-round, while 200 hectares of soybeans employ one person for 10 days a year,? Ulises Forte, vice president of the Argentine Agricultural Federation (FAA), which groups some 60,000 small rural producers, told IPS. This is because of the mechanisation that has accompanied large-scale agriculture and the concentration of land necessary for the direct sowing methods used for genetically modified soybeans, the main type grown in Argentina. ?We are enemies of ?soyification?: the seeding pools (consolidated land for planting soybeans, some of which is rented from adjacent small producers) have displaced dairy farmers and other producers,? Forte said.
10.01.2008
Arcadia (USA) plans to fund Chinese GM rice crops with carbon credits
Money paid by green consumers to offset their flights and by companies that go carbon-neutral will be used to fund the planting of genetically modified (GM) crops under plans drawn up by a US biotechnology company. Arcadia Biosciences is working with the Chinese government to reward farmers in China that grow the firm?s genetically modified (GM) rice, with carbon credits that they can sell for cash.
10.01.2008
Is growing GE pharma lettuce a ?no-brainer? for U.S. farmers?
The summit?s keynote speaker described a genetically modified lettuce that could produce insulin, the hormone used to treat diabetes. Farmers could sell insulin-producing lettuce for higher prices than regular lettuce and help bring down health-care costs at the same time, said Henry Daniell, Pegasus Professor and Trustee Chair at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. [...] Daniell said it wouldn?t be very difficult for a farmer to switch from growing regular lettuce to insulin-producing lettuce. It only requires using new seeds, he said. ?For a farmer, it?s a no-brainer,? Daniell said.
10.01.2008
U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks public comment on GE alfalfa
The U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is seeking public comment to shape the scope of an environmental impact statement (EIS). The EIS is prepared to assist in the determination of the status of genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready (RR) alfalfa under APHIS biotechnology regulations.
10.01.2008
Bt could stand for ?big trouble? when farmers do not care about refuges
Bt could stand for ?big trouble? in the years ahead if farmers aren?t careful in their use of biotech corn, said a Purdue University entomologist. Corn varieties containing Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, genes to control corn rootworms and corn borers, and genetically modified to withstand Roundup herbicide, could become more susceptible to rootworms unless growers keep soybean fields free of volunteer corn and continue planting refuge acres, said Christian Krupke.
10.01.2008
EU may face trade sanctions over WTO biotech case
Europe may soon face more transatlantic ire over its policy on genetically modified (GMO) foods as a deadline to comply with an international trade ruling slips past with little evidence that GMO imports are increasing. The European Union has until Friday to comply with a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling in a case that pitted it against Argentina, Canada and the United States -- the world?s top three growers of GMO crops.
10.01.2008
French experts say doubts remain on GMO maize risks
French experts said on Wednesday serious doubts remained over whether the only genetically modified (GMO) crop grown in France was safe, a move likely to prompt the extension of a current ban on GMOs. A government-appointed committee of scientists, farmers, politicians and non-governmental organisations had examined MON 810, a maize developed by US biotech giant Monsanto. ?The committee cannot say anything but that there are serious doubts on the use of MON 810,? the head of the committee, senator Jean-Francois Legrand, told a joint news conference with French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo.
- Reuters (10.01.2008): French experts say doubts remain on GMO maize risks
- Food Navigator, France (09.01.2008): France one step closer to extending GM ban
- Agence France Press, France (09.01.2008): Sarkozy ready to consider ban on GM crops in France
- Reuters (09.01.2008): French farm union says government playing GMO games
08.01.2008
Monsanto reaps huge rewards from its blossoming seed business
Genetic engineering was once an immensely controversial concept. A U.S. firm, Calgene Inc., created line of genetically engineered tomatoes and became the first genetic-engineering biotech firm to go public. But it found a lot of resistance, particularly in overseas markets, and Calgene ended up selling out - to Monsanto - in 1997. Once viewed as controversial, genetically engineered crops are now viewed as essential, if not crucial. And Monsanto is benefiting from the huge surge in demand that has resulted. The company has established firm footholds in markets around the globe. Farmers in China and India planted more than 17 million acres of biotech crops last year, according to BusinessWeek. Approximately 7% of the world?s farmland acreage is planted with genetically modified crops. If Monsanto?s profit is any indication, those numbers are likely to increase.
08.01.2008
Taiwanese Government says no to food from cloned animals
An expected decision from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to declare cloned animals safe to eat will not affect Taiwan?s policy on food produced from such animals, a Department of Health (DOH) official said yesterday. ?We have taken a go-slow approach and it will be a long long time -- if ever -- before food from cloned animals is allowed on the shelves [here],? Bureau of Food Sanitation (BFS) Director Cheng Huei-wen said. ?The US decision will not sway our judgement,? Cheng said.
08.01.2008
Cloned livestock poised to receive U.S. FDA clearance
Get ready for a food fight over milk and meat from cloned animals and their offspring. After more than six years of wrestling with the question of whether meat and milk from them are safe to eat, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to declare as early as next week that they are. The FDA had asked producers of cloned livestock not to sell food products from such animals pending its ruling on their safety. It isn?t clear whether the FDA will lift this voluntary hold.
08.01.2008
UK govt scientist sees few benefits from biofuels
Rising production of biofuels has distorted government budgets, helped to drive up food prices and led to deforestation in south-east Asia, the chief scientist of Britain?s farm ministry said on Friday. ?The way we are currently producing biofuels is not the way to go,? former World Bank chief scientist Robert Watson said, citing the U.S. ethanol programme and German support for biodiesel as among the least cost effective. Watson told the Oxford Farming Conference that biofuels production from sugar cane in Brazil may be one of the only sustainable current methods.
08.01.2008
French government to debate GE crop policy
France?s environmental policy will be discussed in a hearing at the Senate tomorrow in the lead up to a vote on whether or not to extend the country?s temporary ban on genetically modified (GM) crops. Last October, President Sarkozy put into place a moriatum on the commercial cultivation of GM maize, meaning no new crops could be planted until the country?s biotech position is made clear. The ban is due to come to an end in February, by which time a decision is expected to be announced.
08.01.2008
Europe ?will be forced to re-think on GM crops?
High grain prices and new carbon-saving crop varieties will force Europe to rethink its opposition to genetically modified crops, the Oxford farming conference has been told. Neil Parish, Conservative MEP for the South West and chairman of the European Parliament?s agriculture committee, said that the likelihood of high grain prices for the foreseeable future would create a gap between domestic livestock and imports fed on cheaper GM grain. At the same time, the latest GM wheat and oil seed rape crops now predicted to hit the market within three years by Monsanto, the genetic engineering company, were capable of reducing the need for nitrogen fertiliser by 30 per cent.
07.01.2008
Update on GE pharma plants
SemBioSys Genetics Inc., a biotechnology company developing a portfolio of therapeutic proteins for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, today announced that it has signed an option agreement with The Instituto de Agrobiotecnologia Rosario S.A. (INDEAR) based in Rosario, Argentina. [...] Under the terms of the agreement, INDEAR will evaluate the utility of using plant-produced chymosin for the production of cheese in South America.
- SemBioSys, Canada (29.01.2008): SemBioSys signs option agreement for safflower-produced food ingredient
- Orlando Sentinal, USA (02.03.2008): UCF professor Henry Daniell works on diabetes cure
- Biolex Therapeutics, USA (07.02.2008): Biolex Therapeutics commences United States phase 2a trial of Locteron(R) in Hepatitis C
04.01.2008
Monsanto?s rich harvest
Forget the ?ag? label—its genetically altered seeds have helped quarterly earnings to nearly triple and share prices are tracking the rise of oil Monsanto?s profits are growing like kudzu. The St. Louis producer of genetically modified seeds has been a prime beneficiary of the growing demand for food and alternative fuel sources. Farmers around the world, but particularly in the U.S., Argentina, and Brazil, are planting more of Monsanto?s seeds, most of which are genetically engineered to resist herbicides and repel bugs.
- Business Week, USA (04.01.2008): Monsanto?s rich harvest
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA (04.01.2008): Monsanto soars on strong first-quarter earnings, product pipeline
- Bloomberg, USA (03.01.2008): Monsanto more than doubles profit, raises forecast
- Monsanto, USA (03.01.2008): Monsanto sees most robust R&D pipeline in company history
- Monsanto, USA (03.01.2008): Higher sales of Monsanto?s Roundup, seeds and traits businesses in Latin America drive first-quarter results
04.01.2008
Philippine Senator urges end of subsidies for hybrid rice and GE crops
Senator Loren Legarda on Wednesday urged the government to diversify its agricultural development program this year instead of limiting it to promoting hybrid rice and genetically modified crops. Legarda noted that while the hybrid rice subsidy program was supposed to have ended in 2007, the Department of Agriculture had sought for a three-year extension on the subsidy. [...] ?The contention basically is that increased hybrid rice adoption and production have not materialized,? she added.
04.01.2008
French anti-GM activist Jose Bove on hunger strike
French anti-globalisation activist Jose Bove has launched a hunger strike, saying on Thursday he would not eat until the government imposes a year-long ban on genetically-modified crops. The 54-year-old Bove launched his protest action with 15 supporters in a vacant building in Paris? financial district that was taken over last year by the homeless. ?I have stopped eating since last night,? Bove said.
04.01.2008
Vietnam creates first ever glittering GE sea horses
Under the blue light of a fluorescent lamp, 108 striped sea horses glitter like gold. These sea horses are worth their weight in gold ? literally: they are the first genetically engineered animals to be created in Vietnam. [...] These sea horses were born using the ?gene-shooting method? pioneered in this country by Phan Kim Ngoc and his colleagues at Viet Nam National University?s College of Science, in Ho Chi Minh City.
