Planet Diversity World Congress on the Future of Food and Agriculture

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01.01.1970

Chipotle Starts Labeling GMO Ingredients

Many consumers think of Chipotle Mexican Grill as a healthy place to eat -- or at least a healthy alternative to other fast-food chains. The brand often promotes its commitment to naturally raised meats and local produce in a bid to distance itself from places like Taco Bell and McDonald's.
But it turns out that even at Chipotle, you can't escape genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which were developed in the '90s to increase farmers' productivity but have been dogged by criticism from some health advocates and environmentalists. The chain recently became the first fast-food chain to label the ingredients it uses that contain GMOs.

01.01.1970

European Patent Office granted Monsanto ?patent on severed broccoli?

Today the European Patent Office in Munich granted a patent on conventional breeding. Seminis, a company owned by Monsanto, received the patent (EP 1597965) on broccoli derived from conventional breeding. The plants, which are supposed to make harvesting easier, are derived from conventional cross-breeding and selection. The patent covers the plants, the seeds and the ?severed broccoli head?. It additionally covers a ?plurality of broccoli plants .. . grown in a field of broccoli.? The European Parliament as well as the German Parliament have both been highly critical of such patents.

01.01.1970

EFSA resistance to two-year cancer study on GM feed

Members of EFSA?s Scientific Committee are resisting the long-term carcinogenicity study on rodents fed genetically-modified feed planned by the European Commission. EFSA is expected to be asked to provide support for a protocol on this study and its advice would help shape the planned research project by DG Research and Innovation. But according to the EFSA note of a meeting of the Scientific Committee, experts ?raised some concern about the usefulness of such a trial with whole foods/feeds without having a clear objective for such a trial?.

01.01.1970

Bayer CropScience announces US facility for glufosinate herbicide which will be banned in the EU

In keeping with its global commitment to sustainable agriculture, Bayer CropScience announced today its intention to pursue plans to construct a world-scale glufosinate-ammonium herbicide production plant in the United States near Mobile, Alabama. The new facility will contribute significantly to the company?s target of more than doubling global production capacity for this important active ingredient. The start-up of the new plant is anticipated for the fourth quarter of 2015, in time for the 2016 growing season.

01.01.1970

Ukraine to grow test trials of GM feed crops

Ukraine?s Ministry of Agrarian Policy is to start a pilot project producing forage crops using genetic engineering, according to Mykola Prysyazhnyuk, Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food, at a press briefing during the opening of seed plant in Poltava Oblast. However, in the near future Ukraine will only grow and use GMO feed in test mode in order to first evaluate the impact it could have on the environment and livestock.

01.01.1970

Irish GM potato study to begin second phase in Carlow

Teagasc hopes to begin planting out more than 5,000 potato plants in the next two weeks, in the second phase of its study into the environmental impact of blight-resistant genetically modified potatoes. [...] Some 5,274 plants will be planted across two acres. One-third are GM plants, one-third are non-GM and the final third are the organic Sarpo Mira variety. Sarpo Mira is known for its blight resistance, although the eating and processing quality of the plant are not as good as some commercial varieties.

01.01.1970

Anti-GM potato trial in Belgium restarts while public debate intensifies

Today the trial against 11 activists who targeted a GM potatofield 2 years ago has seen a restart, following the heavy default sentence that was given on 12 February. The 11 activists were convicted to time in jail, for being part of a criminal gang (some with and some without probation), without any of their witnesses having been heard. Their participation to the non-violent action and debate on 29 May 2011 was thereby criminalised. This conviction poses a dangerous precedent for all forms of civil society action.

01.01.1970

Oxitec?s (UK) GM sterilization on the horizon for fruit fly fight

Pioneered in the 1950s, the sterile insect technique (SIT) has allowed farmers worldwide to reduce populations of pests that prey on their crops and livestock by releasing infertile males into the mix. [...] To address some of the pitfalls of using traditional SIT, U.K. company Oxitec is using germline transgenic technology, in search of a more efficient and cost-effective process. Oxitec scientist Neil Morrison says his company?s products could help the industry overcome two common SIT problems ? difficulties in guaranteeing male-only insects and competitive impacts from irradiation.

01.01.1970

Oxitec report 96% suppression of the dengue mosquito in Brazilian GE mosquito trials

Scientists from Oxitec together with Moscamed and the University of Sao Paulo, Oxitec?s partners in Brazil, are collaborating to carry out field demonstrations of Oxitec?s technology against the dengue mosquito, Aedes aegypti. In Mandacaru, a village near the city of Juazeiro, releases of the genetically engineered ?sterile? OX513A mosquitoes resulted in a 96% reduction of the wild mosquito population in the target area after only 6 months. This level of suppression was maintained for a further 7 months using continued releases, at reduced rates, to avoid re-infestation. Almost 3,000 people were protected from the dengue mosquito during this period. These results follow a previous trial which demonstrated an 80% reduction of a mosquito population in Itaberaba, part of the city of Juazeiro, Brazil. Similar results were also achieved in the Cayman Islands in 2011.

01.01.1970

GM mosquitoes lose lust for human scent

Mosquitoes that are genetically modified to lack some of their sense of smell cannot tell humans from other animals and no longer avoid approaching people who are slathered in bug spray. These findings, published online today in Nature1, could help scientists to design insect repellents to combat malaria, dengue and agricultural pests. Some mosquito species will feed on most animals that they encounter. Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries dengue and yellow fever, and Anopheles gambiae, which hosts the malaria parasites, are choosier: they prefer humans. ?They love everything about us,? says Leslie Vosshall, a neurobiologist at The Rockefeller University in New York, who led the latest study.

01.01.1970

WTO policy on GMO food fuels GM crop debate in Russia

Protests against genetically modified food grow in Russia after WTO ascension. Yet some scientists insist there are no large health risks. [...] Valery Glazko, who is in charge of Centre for Nanobiotechnology at the Russian State Agrarian University, says that thanks to GMO technology, we will finally be able to feed the world and a new generation of more intelligent people will appear. ?If a pregnant woman is not getting enough food, then her haemoglobin levels will drop. Her baby will be born and have every chance of living a full life, but he or she will not be able to make decisions. The baby will adapt, but its brain will not develop in the correct manner,? he says. ?GMO is our saviour.? [...] ?Hunger is the flip side of terrorism. We are faced with a choice: cannibalism or GMO.?

01.01.1970

Survey results: What UK farmers really think about GM

The survey, conducted in association with Barclays Bank, gathered opinions from more than 600 farmers across the UK. The results have revealed that GM technology remains a polarising issue for the farming industry. While 61% said that given the opportunity they would grow a GM crop, 39% said they would not. Some 47% believed that GM technology was a good innovation - needed for UK agriculture to maximise output and profitability - while 26% would under no circumstances grow GM crops.

01.01.1970

Nature Biotechnology analysis lashes French politicians for feeding anti-biotech fever

Nicolas Sarkozy?s agriculture minister admitted at the time that there was no hard evidence that maize posed any harm, but pushed for the ban regardless, characterizing it as a ?precautionary measure.? Fifteen months later, no evidence has been presented to justify the ban. And in a searing study in the June issue of Nature Biotechnology, released this week, crop biotechnology experts from three major French public research institutions lambasted their former government, and those of six other European governments for grossly falsifying scientific data to ?justify? what they believe was a politically-motivated ban on genetically engineered crops and foods.

01.01.1970

Don?t allow GE crops and food to be taken off the EU-US negotiating table

genetically modified crops are a fundamental issue for American farmers. This is a fight worth having. Here in the United States, our science-based regulations approve biotechnology as a safe tool of sustainable agriculture. The technology allows us to grow more crops on less land, helping us feed the world and conserve resources at the same time. [...] In Europe, however, everything is political, including the regulatory process that controls what products farmers can use. Many scientific groups in Europe, such as Britain?s Royal Society, have endorsed GM crops. So have sensible environmentalists such as Mark Lynas. Yet European governments ignore these recommendations, preferring to let anti-biotech activists drive consumer ignorance and dictate policies.

01.01.1970

Prof. Carman answers critics of her GE feeding study with pigs

Mark Lynas: The authors are GM activists/campaigners and their results shouldn?t be trusted. [...] Detailed Answer: Two authors are Associate Professors in Health and the Environment, School of the Environment, Flinders University in South Australia. Another is a Senior Lecturer at Adelaide University in South Australia. Two are veterinarians, one is a medical doctor, and two are farm experts. The authors have over 60 years of combined experience and expertise in medicine, animal husbandry, animal nutrition, animal health, veterinary science, biochemistry, toxicology, medical research, histology, risk assessment, epidemiology and statistics.

01.01.1970

Panama expects benefits from world?s first GM salmon

Panama?s researchers have played a key role in creating a rapidly growing salmon that may soon become the world?s first commercially sold genetically modified animal. [...] This would have trickle-down benefits for local firms and ensure further research into GM salmon and how best to grow it, according to Henry Clifford, vice-president of marketing and sales at AquaBounty Technologies, the US biotechnology company that developed the fish, dubbed AquAdvantage salmon, which grows twice as fast as wild salmon. The project is based in Panama because of the country?s long-standing policy support for aquaculture and GM organisms, says Clifford.

01.01.1970

GMO soybean found illegally growing In Northern Belize

GMO Awareness Month was conducted in response to a recent push by the newly-formed Belize Grain Growers Association to gain Government approval for the importation of GMO corn seed. This GMO v.s. NON-GMO conflict pits the Mennonite and other commercial grain farmers against the cultural natives, the Maya, who first brought corn to the world. Throughout the entire month of March, members of the social network Facebook group Belizeans Against GMOs (BAGMO), now numbering over 1,700, orchestrated a GMO educational campaign which included weekly full-page educational advertorials and letters-to-the-editor in the national Amandala newspaper.

01.01.1970

Monsanto eyes spring launch in South America for new patented GM soy seeds

Biotechnology company Monsanto Co. plans to debut its second-generation of genetically modified soybean seeds in its key South American market during the next growing season. [...] With the patents on its first-generation seeds set to expire next year, Monsanto is pinning its hopes on new seeds that combine glyphosate resistance with defenses against insects. Monsanto plans to sell just 200,000 bags of its new Roundup Ready 2 soybean seeds in the region for the upcoming 2012-13 season, but expects 60%-65% of South America?s soybean fields to be planted with the seeds within five years, Pablo Vaquero, vice president of Monsanto Argentina and director of corporate affairs for Southern Latin America, said in an interview Tuesday.

01.01.1970

Monsanto loses in Brazilian Supreme Court over illegally collected royalties for GM soy seeds

The Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) ruled on Thursday 16 May that Monsanto?s claim to extend the life of the patent on GM soybeans was illegal. In a unanimous ruling, the four judges of the Third Instance reaffirmed the initial decision of Judge Ricardo Cueva Villas Boas, who ruled that the 20-year patent, registered on August 31, 1990, had expired. The appeal brought by Monsanto against Judge Cueva?s decision had aimed to invalidate Brazilian legislation on patents. The president of Famato, Rui Prado, said the decision of the Supreme Court reinforces what the soy producers have been fighting for since last year - for the judicial system to recognize that the patent had expired.

01.01.1970

U.S. Supreme Court stops decade-old practise of patenting isolated genes

The U.S. Supreme Court restricted the ability of companies to patent human genetic sequences, issuing a mixed ruling in a case that raised questions about thousands of biotechnology, agricultural and drug patents. The justices unanimously ruled that parts of Myriad Genetics Inc.?s patents on genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer improperly covered natural phenomena. [...] The decision left both sides of the debate claiming victory. Patient advocates, who have accused Myriad of blocking clinical testing and research, said the ruling will lead to less-expensive options for women seeking to be tested for cancer risk. [...] Myriad said its tests for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes still are protected by 24 different patents.

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