May headlines and summaries

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Falklands to become the first all-organic exporter

May 30
The Independent (UK)

THE FALKLAND Islands is close to becoming the first food exporter able to guarantee that all its agricultural products are farmed using sustainable organic methods, it was claimed yesterday. 

The remote location of British Dependent Territory in the South Atlantic and its cool maritime climate make it unnecessary for farmers to use pesticides. 

Sheep and cattle range free throughout the year, and the animals' diet consists of natural pasture, or improved pasture which is sustained by clovers. It is these unadulterated grasslands that provide the meat with its distinctive flavor. 

Bob Reid, director of agriculture in the Falklands, said: "The islands now have a virtual ban on  importing new stock and this has helped to protect the country from severe animal diseases." 

Certified organic meat products will be exported by the end of the year, following completion of the islands' European Union- approved abattoir. 

The purity of the lamb, pork and beef is ensured because farmers do not use antibiotics as feed additives, or hormone implants as growth promoters. Neither do they use pesticides or genetically modified grazing plants.

Falklands produce will be on display at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh from 22 to 25 June, together with background material on other aspects of the islands' agricultural industry. 

Mr Reid said: "We are in an advanced stage of development in areas including organic fertilizer  and export and research into cashmere and goose meat production." 

The stand will also give an insight into life on the Falklands. Sukey Cameron, the islands' representative to the UK, said: "Visitors will, I hope, be pleasantly surprised at the beauty of the islands and gain an understanding of how a modern society is adapting to the challenges of the 21st century."

Minnesota field tests of genetically modified poplar trees cause sparks

May 30
Minneapolis Star Tribune

First there was the biotech tomato -- followed by corn, soybeans and a long list of other crops that were souped up with new genes to build in protection from pests.

Now come the trees.

Minnesota is one of about a dozen states where forestry researchers have federal approval for field tests of genetically modified (GM) trees. One field trial is underway in Koochiching County, and another is scheduled to begin this week in Ottertail County.

Both experiments involve poplar trees, a major resource of Minnesota's papermaking and wood products industries. About 60 percent of the 3.7 million cords of wood cut in the state each year are poplar, also known as aspen. In addition to building in protection from pests such as beetles and competing weeds, some GM trees also are being given traits to make them easier to process.

Unlike the biotech corn and soybeans that have become common in Midwestern farm fields, GM trees aren't yet grown commercially.

Still, they have set off a debate that raises many of the same issues as the controversial crops. Even while cuttings for one of the field trials were en route to Minnesota last week, officials from the state departments of agriculture and natural resources wrangled over environmental and regulatory concerns. After commissioners of the two departments met for an hour to discuss the issues Friday, the Agriculture Department granted approval for the project.

The turmoil in Minnesota echoes worldwide debate over GM trees. Since 1988, more than 100 field trials of 24 species have been conducted, but the research didn't really take off until the last half of the 1990s, according to a recent study by the London-based World Wildlife Fund for Nature.

In a nutshell, opponents argue that too little is known about the interplay between GM trees and the environment. While the traits spliced into the trees are widely used in corn and soybeans, introducing them in trees calls for extra caution, said David Andow, a professor of insect ecology at the University of Minnesota.

One major concern is that trees could pass their new genetic traits to wild relatives, setting off a cascade of change in forest ecosystems. GM trees are "not as different from wild trees as corn is from weeds," Andow said. They shed more pollen than corn does, so chances are greater that they would breed with wild trees.

Another worry is unintended harm to insects that live in forests along with the pests the trees are genetically programmed to thwart. Yet another question is what would happen if the targeted pests developed resistance to the toxins in the GM trees.

Proponents assert that the trees could benefit the environment by cutting the need for pesticides that some forest products companies use to control insects. Applications of chemicals often "kill all of the insects, including the natural predators of the pests you are trying to control," said Richard Meilan, a molecular biologist from Oregon State University who is a lead researcher on the Minnesota trial to begin this week.

With GM trees, by contrast, targeted insects must eat some part of the tree in order to get the toxin. And in any case, the toxin isn't active in animals, birds or even all insects, Meilan said.

Another argument is that the fast-growing farmed trees could help save natural stands of trees while also enabling companies to meet the seemingly insatiable demand for paper. Predictions that computers would lead to a paperless society haven't come true. Instead, "everybody's got a dedicated printer and uses it," Meilan said.

The field trials that Meilan and his colleagues are conducting in Minnesota and other states this summer are intended to help answer the environmental questions, he said, as well as to show whether the GM trees can thrive in Upper Midwestern soil and climate conditions.

"This trial is supposed to help decide what the benefits and risks are so that we can convey that to the public," he said. "People want to know."

Andow agreed that field trials can be warranted even while doubts persist about commercial use of the trees: "In order to address some of the issues, it is important to test the trees in the field."

As controversy over GM trees has mounted worldwide, so has fear of publicity on the part of the companies and scientists who study the trees. Last year, protesters hacked down a stand of genetically engineered poplars in the United Kingdom. Last Christmas Eve, Boise Cascade Corp.'s office in Monmouth, Ore., was burned to the ground, and the Earth Liberation Front took responsibility for the $1 million fire. In April, buildings and vehicles on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus were vandalized in protest over GM trees.

Vincent Chiang, a scientist connected with the planting of the experimental stand of GM trees in Koochiching County, declined to discuss it this week, citing "anti-GMO activists." He did say, however, that the trial started in 1998. Chiang is with the Institute of Wood Research at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. Government records show that Boise Cascade also is involved in the research.

Meilan from Oregon State has been willing to discuss the planting scheduled for this week in Ottertail County. He is an associate director of the Tree Genetic Engineering Research Cooperative in Corvallis, which is underwritten by more than a dozen forest-products companies, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

The trial involves poplar hybrids that have been given genes to thwart cottonwood leaf beetles that strip away leaves and stunt a tree's growth; the trees also withstand a type of weed killer. The poplar cuttings will be planted on just under one acre of land being provided by Connecticut-based Champion International Corp., which produces paper for magazines and catalogs at a plant in Sartell, Minn.

Mike Sullivan, a spokesman for Champion, said the trees will be destroyed and removed from the test plot before they're able to pollinate and breed with wild trees. (Poplars start pollinating after they're about 4 years old.) The site will be monitored for unexpected shoots for a year after the trees are removed.

What Meilan wouldn't reveal is the identity of the genes inserted in the poplars to create insect resistance. A company that provides the genetic material required him to sign an agreement keeping that information confidential, he said.

The potential for an insect-resistant hybrid poplar is "incredible," said Bill Berguson, program director of the Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth.

The price of poplar has jumped from $5 per dry ton five years ago to $25 to $30 today, he said, presenting a powerful economic incentive for paper and wood-products firms to supplement normal supplies with fast-growing hybrids from "plantations."

The upside of poplar hybrids is that the trees grow five to 10 times faster than normal poplar or as much as 8 to 10 feet per year. The downside is that the hybrid is susceptible to the cottonwood leaf beetle, which requires chemical spraying to control.

Only a few thousand acres in Minnesota are planted with fast-growing poplar hybrids, Berguson said, but companies are gearing up to plant tens of thousands of acres in the next few years. If firms can genetically engineer a hybrid that does not need chemical sprays, it would be extremely valuable.

A key to making the GM trees acceptable is to make them sterile, experts say, so there's no chance they'll shed pollen that could interact with other trees. Scientists have isolated genes that control flowering and pollination in trees, and they are in the process of using them to develop sterile poplars.

That research is critical. Regardless of advances in isolating and inserting insect-killing genes, if the efforts on tree sterility don't succeed, Berguson said, "then the chances are next to zero of seeing genetically modified trees in this state."

Interview - India examining GM crop options, trials

May 26
Reuters

New Delhi -- India is conducting initial trials on genetically modified (GM) crops and is examining the possibility of introducing them, the federal Agriculture Minister said on Friday.

Sundar Lal Patwa told Reuters in an interview that India was not opposed to introducing GM crops but would look at the success of them in other countries before beginning cultivation in India.

"The trials of genetically modified crops are at a very initial stage," Patwa told Reuters.

"As of now, we are examining all possible options. We have not made up our mind whether to introduce it or not."

"I cannot give a timeframe when we can introduce them. I think we should not jump into GM crops just because developed countries are doing it," the minister said.

Patwa said India was developing hybrid seeds and would focus on organic farming before going into GM crops. The government has set up an expert committee to look into ways to boost organic farming.

"We are aware that we can raise the yields of many crops through organic farming," Patwa said. "That way, we can preserve the fertility of our cultivable lands, unlike chemical-aided farming."

He said there was a great unexploited trade potential for organic crops such as foodgrains, spices, fruits and vegetables.

High import duties to protect farmers

Patwa said the government was committed to protecting its farmers under the World Trade Organization regime through high import duties.

"We will certainly keep the import duties high. Farmers' interest is first for us," Patwa said.

Consumer and Public Distribution Ministry officials have said the government was actively considering trade demands to raise the import duty on refined edible oils from the current 27.5 percent to more than 50 percent.

The demands have come after the government recently slapped hefty duties on rice and corn-seed imports.

Patwa shrugged off criticism that huge grain stocks were lying idle in state-run warehouses and not finding buyers in the international market because of high domestic prices.

"I don't think it is such a big problem," Patwa said. "We are able to use the grain in the drought-hit provinces. If we have to sacrifice some gains for the sake of the country's food security, I don't think there is anything wrong in that."

India's grain stock is expected to reach 42 million tons by the end of June, a total far higher than that considered essential for food security.

Patwa said the government was confident it would be able to achieve its grains production target of 212 million tons for 2000/01 (July-June) compared with an output of 201.6 million in 1999/2000.

"A good monsoon should help us to achieve an agricultural growth of about four percent in the current year (2000/01, April-March)," he said.

The farm sector grew by 0.8 percent in 1999/2000.

The India Meteorological department on Thursday predicted normal rains during the June to September southwest monsoon season. The country gets 80 percent of rainfall during the season.

GM food tests inconsistent

May 24
Reuters

GENOA, Italy - Results of laboratory tests to detect the genetically modified (GM) content of foods are inconsistent and can mistakenly show GM ingredients, a senior European Commission researcher said on Wednesday. 

``The largest numbers of errors are those that are 'false positive,''' Guy Van den Eede of the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) told Reuters on the sidelines of a biotechnology conference in the north Italian city of Genoa. 

Van den Eede, sector head of the IHCP's GMO-Food and Environment division, based in Ispra, northern Italy, said that errors were not frequent and were usually caused by contamination in laboratory equipment. 

``The test is extremely sensitive,'' he said. ``You are talking of very low levels of GMOs. One can go up to (detect) 0.01 percent (GMO content).'' 

He added, ``I guess that it is in most cases contamination within the laboratory.'' 

Under EU rules, food must be labeled as having GM ingredients if it has at least one percent genetically modified content. 

Van den Eede's division provides technical assistance in the implementation of the EU regulations. 

Benefits of altering the genetic composition of crops include boosting yields and resistance to disease, but environmentalist and consumer groups in Europe have voiced serious concerns over possible environmental and health risks. 

Van den Eede said guidelines were being developed to help laboratories across the EU to test their own performance. 

He said it was possible to identify which specific ingredients in a food test were contaminated by genetically modified material. For example, scientists testing biscuits were familiar with the molecular structure of both maize and soybean ingredients. 

However, Van den Eede said it was much more difficult to differentiate between the GM content of approved and unapproved varieties. 

``If a variety has been approved somewhere else in the world, but not in Europe, we do not have access to all the molecular details,'' he said. 

Van den Eede said he was optimistic that GM food testing would become more accurate as laboratory equipment developed. 

``Some technical instruments are more readily available at lower cost today than before,'' he said. ``It's a matter of technical improvements.'' 

The Genoa biotech conference, which has drawn leading geneticists and life sciences companies, ends on Friday.