Planet Diversity World Congress on the Future of Food and Agriculture

Actualité

01.03.2010

Monsanto fights its ?bad boy? public image

Monsanto has an image problem, Chief Executive Hugh Grant says. ?We?re not who people say we are,? Grant said. ?There are a lot of misperceptions, many based on fear of the unknown, about us.? The company?s image is improving as it promotes its efforts to feed the world, provide more healthful grains and use the Earth?s resources more responsibly, Grant said.

26.02.2010

?Lame? GE mosquitoes to stop dengue

Lead researcher Luke Alphey, of the University of Oxford and his own spin-out company Oxitech Ltd, said the approach was highly targeted. ?The technology is completely species-specific, as the released males will mate only with females of the same species. ?Another attractive feature of this method is that it?s egalitarian - all people in the treated areas are equally protected, regardless of their wealth, power or education.?

26.02.2010

Scientists - again - praise GE mint as last hope for U.S. growers

Rob Croteau, a Washington State University biologist, said that?s the only way mint growers can compete with producers in China and India, where labor and land costs are a pittance compared to costs in the U.S. With funding from mint grower associations, Croteau has used genetic modification to develop what he calls a ?super mint? plant that yields twice as much oil as current commercial varieties. Croteau believes breeders easily could stack another gene onto the mix to boost yields another 25 percent.

26.02.2010

Monsanto?s new generation GE corn and soy seeds may miss 2010 forecast

Monsanto Co., the world?s largest seed company, said new genetically modified corn and soybeans it is counting on to drive earnings this decade may be planted on fewer U.S. acres in 2010 than previously forecast. Monsanto shares fell the most since October. Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans may fall 20 percent short of the bottom of the company?s forecast of 8 million to 10 million planted acres, Chief Financial Officer Carl Casale said today.

26.02.2010

Strangely like fiction: Elanco-sponsored authors admit falsely claiming rbGH safety endorsement

After acquiring rbGH from Monsanto, Elanco (part of Eli Lilly) has stepped up efforts to convince milk processors and the wider food industry that milk from rbGH-injected cows is safe. [...] According to a rebuttal circulated by a number of consumer advocacy organisations, however, the paper misrepresents the position of various medical bodies.

26.02.2010

GE pork one step closer to Canadian dinner table

Genetically engineered pigs are one step closer to becoming meat on Canadian kitchen tables with the federal government poised to declare that they do not harm the environment. Canwest News Service has learned Environment Canada has determined that Yorkshire pigs developed at the University of Guelph are not toxic to the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The official declaration will be made on Saturday.

26.02.2010

New Zealand scientists plan human genes for cows and goats

A proposal to put human genes into goats, sheep and cows to try to get the animals to make human proteins in their milk will be in the public spotlight next week. Submitters will have Monday and Tuesday to tell the Environmental Risk Management Authority what they think of plans by AgResearch to breed and keep genetically modified animals at its Ruakura research facility, near Hamilton.

25.02.2010

Celebrating indigenous culture, Zapotec autonomy and uncontaminated corn

The 4th annual Zapotec Feria of the Cornfield [...] was attended by representatives of UNOSJO´s 24 affiliated communities, participants from all over Mexico, along with a large international presence of activists from Uruguay to Wales, Turkey to the United States, as well as a 15-strong delegation of German Organic farmers. This year?s theme was focused on the dangers of contamination from Genetically Modified Corn, with a showcase of indigenous corn based culture and food sovereignty.

25.02.2010

China may take three years to allow sales of gene-modified corn

China, the world?s biggest grain producer, may take at least three years before gene-modified corn can be grown commercially, according to a state scientist who participated in the research.The country has a registration requirement before granting the commercial use of a seed variety, even after the product is deemed safe, Huang Dafang, director of Biotechnology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told reporters in Beijing today.

25.02.2010

Legal struggle in India for transperancy of GMO approval procedures

When Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests, announced his decision not to go ahead with the commercialisation of GM (genetically modified) brinjal, the concerned sections of civil society felt a huge sense of relief. This limited success of civil society would not have been possible but for the sustained efforts of two petitioners and their counsel to seek the Supreme Court?s intervention at every stage in order to make the government accountable.

25.02.2010

?Biotech bill against Indian constitution?

The 2009 draft of the National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill, [...] has already drawn severe criticism for failing to be transparent in its dealings. On Tuesday noted biosafety expert Vandana Shiva lashed out against two specific clauses. ?The bill says not only can we not make choices about our food but we can?t even speak about safety. We can be jailed and fined. That does not happen in a democracy! ?Finding out that for expressing your right to safe food, you can be thrown into jail is the highest level of terrorism and we will not allow the state to become a terrorist,? Shiva told reporters.

25.02.2010

Indian Prime Minister supports Bt brinjal moratorium, but time frame needs to be set

Appealing to his warring colleagues to ?speak with one voice? on the issue of biotechnology in food security and genetically modified (GM) crops including Bt brinjal, Dr. Singh appeared to back the moratorium decision but emphasised that the process could not be open-ended, adding a time frame would have to be set. It was clarified that the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, would remain the body to address ?concerns for resolving all scientific issues relating to Bt brinjal including safety aspects.?

25.02.2010

Indian Prime Minister steps in after SOS from Agriculture Minister

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stepped in to make it clear that Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh will not have the last word on the introduction of Bt Brinjal or any GM (genetically modified) food.This comes after a strong note from Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to the Prime Minister last week suggesting that ad hoc decisions on GM foods — a clear reference to the moratorium on Bt Brinjal — would ?set the clock back?, demoralise Indian scientists and jeopardies R&D crucial to food security.

24.02.2010

Azerbaijani population eats genetically modified potatoes, tomatoes and rice

Most-required transgenic products in Azerbaijan are meat, sausages, ice creams, pasta, fruits and vegetables, and some sorts of infant foods
Azerbaijani expert Babek Tatliyev, who is researching this field for many years, told APA that rapid development of GM production started in 1992 and there are 15 companies in the word actively involved in production of these products. Tatliyev said there were no enough GMO researches.

24.02.2010

Saudi Arabia must use GE drought resistant crops to fight poverty

Many people do not believe that three million Saudis are below the poverty line and 91 percent Saudis earn less than SR6,000 a month, said Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed, chairman of Golden Gras Inc., a major agricultural company based in Riyadh. [...] ?We must use the highly genetically modified seeds. We must heavily depend on the new technologies of the most optimum water management,? he said.

24.02.2010

Victoria: it's the GM state says Monsanto Australia

VICTORIA saw a five-fold increase in the area sown to genetically modified canola last year and plantings are expected to accelerate. Monsanto Australia?s Peter O?Keeffe told the Rural Press Club of Victoria last week 62 growers planted 5000ha in the state in 2008, but this ballooned to 200 growers and 27,000ha last year. ?I am confident the trend will accelerate,? Mr O?Keeffe said.

24.02.2010

UK Environment Agency supports GE crops and nanotech to to fight climate pressures

Lord Smith, a former arts minister under Tony Blair and now chair of the Environment Agency, will say that both GM crops and new technologies to support ?precision farming? - including nanotechnology - could help tackle growing climate pressures such as water shortages. Addressing delegates at the National Farmers? Union?s (NFU) annual conference in Birmingham, Lord Smith will tell farmers that climate change ?will create new demands on land and environmental resources? and ?could provide opportunities for novel crops and systems?.

24.02.2010

GM crops failing to tackle climate change and food crisis

On the day of the release of annual industry-sponsored figures, a new report from Friends of the Earth International reveals that claims made by the biotech industry that genetically modified crops can combat climate change are both exaggerated and premature. The report, ?Who Benefits from GM Crops?, examines the evidence for these claims, and exposes that GM crops could actually increase carbon emissions while failing to feed the world.

24.02.2010

Predicted second wave of biotech growth and development begins, claims ISAAA

Last year, ISAAA predicted biotech crops were poised for a new wave of growth. Substantial gains have already been made in 2009 that are starting to bring that prediction to fruition. [...] One of the most significant advances in 2009 included a landmark November decision by China issuing biosafety certificates for biotech insect-resistant rice and phytase maize.

23.02.2010

Indian biotech bill foresees jail for GE protests without scientific evidence

?Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products specified in Part I or Part II or Part III of the Schedule I, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.?

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