October headlines

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Firm claims weed-control benefits of GM sugar beet

October 10
Irish Times

Irish crop trials on genetically modified sugar beet have shown that pesticide usage could be reduced by 40 per cent on the GM variety because of its weed-control benefits, according to the biotechnology company, Monsanto.

The field trials were carried out by the US company whose trials were disrupted by anti-GM protesters last year.

Dr Patrick O'Reilly, Monsanto's general manager in the Republic, said the trials showed excellent weed control and significant yield increases. The sugar beet root weights increased by 20 per cent compared with the standard beet growing program, he added.

Dr O'Reilly said this was the fourth year in succession that the trials had shown such good results. "The results confirm that this new technology will be of significant benefit to growers in Ireland."

Last year, six out of seven environmentalists who admitted damaging a test plot near Arthurstown, Co Wexford, were convicted but the Probation Act was applied - the seventh was bound to the peace.

Dr O'Reilly said all of the trials performed this year were successfully completed and "those people who had destroyed valid and important research trials in previous years were not allowed to dictate the agenda".

He said it was now up to the beet growers to encourage the Department of Agriculture and Irish Sugar Plc to start testing these varieties. Dr O'Reilly added that the varieties were in "recommended list trials" in Britain and other countries for some years.

Syngenta to face protest over GM technology

October 10
Reuters

London - Syngenta, the world's biggest crop protection firm, faces a stand-off on Wednesday with campaigners who accuse it of using genetically-modified technology that threatens the livelihood of Third World farmers.

Members of ActionAid, a group that campaigns against world poverty, said they would protest outside a central London hotel as shareholders of Novartis AG and Astrazeneca Plc gather to approve the planned merger of the two firms' agribusinesses.

Pending final U.S. regulatory approval, Syngenta will be the biggest provider of crop protection products such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, and the number three in commercial seeds for a range of crops, vegetables and flowers.

ActionAid charges that Novartis and Astrazeneca have broken commitments not to develop so-called ``Terminator Technology'' -- which produces plants that make sterile seeds. The technology has been criticized by a number of groups for its potential impact on poor farmers in developing countries.

ActionAid also said Syngenta had taken out 11 new patents on GM crop technologies which require special chemicals to switch on and off essential traits such as disease resistance, fertility, flowering, sprouting and ageing -- methods dubbed as ``Traitor Technology''.

It said this technology may threaten farmers' rights to save seed for sowing in subsequent years.

``Traitor and Terminator threaten to make poor farmers in the South dependent on seed and chemicals from this giant multinational,'' ActionAid campaigner Alex Wijeratna said in a statement.

``Syngenta should pledge not to develop technology which threatens the rights and livelihoods of millions of farmers in developing countries,'' he said.

The company defended itself, saying in a statement to be released to shareholders at Wednesday's meeting that ActionAid was misinterpreting how it applied its technology.

It said its goal was to find ways to meet global demands for food while land available for agriculture became increasingly scarce.

Both parent companies were committed to not introducing any technology in developing countries where seed germination was prevented, it said.

Syngenta said genetically-modified seeds accounted for just two percent of its proforma sales in 1999.

``Syngenta believes that the responsible research and development of new crop technologies, and their application through sustainable agriculture and integrated crop management practices, will ultimately be of immense benefit to agriculture in the Third World,'' it said.

Unauthorized GM seed found in crop trial

October 10
Ananova

A seed company could face prosecution after unauthorized genetically modified seed was found in crop trials.

An investigation was launched after seed company Aventis told the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions that two small GM sugar beet trial sites had been found to contain a tiny amount of a second and unauthorized seed.

The two trial sites found to contain the 0.5% of the unauthorized GM beet seed were at Shelford, Cambs, and Abingdon, Oxon, which were among 10 experimental sites planted in England this spring.

But there was no threat to human health or the environment, said the Advisory Committee on Releases in the Environment, to which the matter had been referred to by the DETR.

An investigation was being carried out by the statutory inspection and enforcement team at the Central Science Laboratory, said the DETR.

The CSL, which had been asked to report to ministers, was expected to make a preliminary report this week. If necessary it would continue to investigate and consider further action "including the possibility of prosecution," said the DETR.

Aventis informed the Government after discovering a "background level" of a second unauthorized herbicide tolerant GM beet seed as part of routine destruction of the crops. The trials had now finished and the sites had been cleared of all GM plant material, said the DETR.

The GM beet was planted under consent for small scale research and development. Under the consent, there could be no cross pollination because it was not allowed to flower, and no material could enter the food or feed chain.

The sites would be monitored intensively for the next two years, said the DETR.

Shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo said: "Once again we have fresh evidence that the crop trials program is not being properly controlled. .. We have called for GM policy to be science based and now expect a full explanation of the facts."

GM food fear to pass, Monsanto Argentina contends

October 9
Reuters

ZARATE, Argentina - The fear of genetically modified (GM) food is just a phase that will pass when more scientific evidence is made available, the head of agribusiness giant Monsanto's Argentine wing contends.

Monsanto Argentina President Carlos Popik told Reuters in an interview that he supports labeling GM foods as a way to pacify those who worry about the consequences such products may have on health and the environment.

"I think people have a right to know what they're consuming. I believe that the lion's share of their fears will subside once that kind of information is made available," Popik said after the opening of a new Monsanto plant in Argentina on Thursday.

Monsanto, an agricultural unit of Pharmacia Corp. , plans an initial public offering (IPO) of stock on the New York Stock Exchange during the week of Oct 16.

The company produces herbicides such as Roundup, seeds and  related genetic trait products to help farmers grow crops with higher yields while controlling weeds, insects and diseases.

Extremely heavy security at the inauguration of Monsanto's new $137 million herbicide plant in Zarate, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Buenos Aires, guarded against what Popik described as the "terror" campaigns by those who oppose GM foods.

Organizations like Greenpeace have led a swell of public sentiment, especially in Europe, against what they derisively describe as "Frankenstein foods" on the grounds that not enough is known about gene-altered crops to deem them safe.

Protesters have vandalized and burned biotech laboratories at U.S. Italy and ambushed a U.S. cargo ship in Wales carrying GM soybeans.

Says public opinion turning back in favor

Popik said that growing opposition to GM products had resulted in lower than expected growth for Monsanto over the last three or four years but he believed the trend was slowly changing as more scientific studies were made public.

"This isn't the end of the story," Popik said. "Of the news coming from Europe now...the positive is beginning to outweigh the negative for the first time in three or four years. I think growth will return to what was previously planned."

Argentina is the world's second-largest producer of GM crops but concern has grown about their viability as its No.1 trading partner Brazil has lately stiffened its ban on GM crops and their import.

Popik said that Monsanto Argentina's production levels remained near those expected three years ago in soybean seeds - which constitute about 90 percent of the crop - and cotton, but had lagged in certain types of corn seeds.

After cutting the ribbon on the Zarate plant, Argentina's Agriculture Secretary Antonio Berhongaray proclaimed that "biotechnology is here to stay" and criticized the "economic interests campaigning for its destruction."

Monsanto has set a price range for its IPO of between $21 and $24 a share. Pharmacia will hold 220 million of the 255 million shares that Monsanto will have outstanding when the IPO is completed.

GM 'mashed potato' revealed

October 9
BBC

Two genes encoding enzymes capable of converting the starch stored in potatoes into fructose have been added to the plant. When the potato is heated and mashed, fructose is released, turning the humble spud into a miniature chemical factory.

The researchers believe the GM potato could revolutionize the food industry, enabling fructose to be produced more cheaply.

A variety of products, including some sweeteners, diabetic foods and soft drinks, contain fructose.

But the researchers warn that anti-GM feeling in Europe may delay future applications of the technology.

Food products

Current methods for producing the huge quantities of fructose syrup needed each year rely on large-scale industrial processes using starch from maize.

The starch is converted into fructose in a chemical plant using bacterial enzymes that can function at high temperatures.

The enzyme alpha amylase catalyses the breakdown of starch into glucose. Glucose is then changed to fructose by a second enzyme, glucose isomerase.

The French team, based at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, fused the genes encoding the two bacterial enzymes then inserted them into the potato.

When the GM potato is heated for 45 minutes at 65 °C (149 F), the added enzymes are activated, converting starch to fructose.

American interest

The GM potato produces about 19 times more fructose than an unmodified one, under the right conditions.

"This will completely change the potato-processing industries," Dr Rajbir Sangwan told BBC News Online.

"Using starch from potatoes is very cheap and it's very cost-effective. You just heat and mash the potato and you get the final product."

But he warned that the backlash against GM foods could delay progress towards commercialization in Europe.

But he believes: "The US will jump on the technology."

The GM potato research is published in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering

Biotech company concedes 'immorality' of patent plan

October 9
AAP (Australia)

An Australian biotechnology company has been forced to concede that its bid to patent the insertion of human DNA into a pig cell was "contrary to morality".

However, Melbourne-based Stem Cell Sciences denied that it was trying to create a human-animal hybrid, or chimera, as charged by the environment group Greenpeace.

Stem Cell Sciences CEO Peter Mountford said the company had no intention of pursuing research into human reproductive cloning but had failed to rule this out in its patent application.

Greenpeace dubbed the company's experiments "Frankenstein science" after revealing details of an application to the Berlin-based European Patent Office which described a technique of transferring human cell nuclei into a pig egg cell, or ooycte, and allowing it to grow into a 32-cell embryo.

Mr Mountford said the patent was aimed at furthering research into therapeutic cloning by creating a source of stem cells which could be grown into cells necessary for treatment of diseases including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes and even repair of severed spinal cords.

"The pig ooycte is a brief window of exposure to reprogram a human cell back to a state which is capable of growing in culture and producing many different cell types," he told AAP.

"We are not making pig-human chimeras and we are not proposing to use this material to generate a human - what Greenpeace is suggesting is just outrageous."

Mr Mountford conceded that it was the second time that Greenpeace had exposed one of their patent applications as leaving the door open to human reproductive cloning.

Ethicists in Europe expressed concern that the application by Stem Cell SCiences and the US-based BioTransplant Inc had a good chance of being granted, exploiting a loophole in European law because the embryo created was not technically human.

However, Reuters reported that the European Patent Office had expressed an opinion that certain claims in the application were "contrary to morality".

"If they said `contrary to morality', that's true," Mr Mountford told AAP. "But it was never intentional.

"A broad interpretation of the claims as they are written could include human reproductive cloning, but we're totally opposed to it."

Mr Mountford said the wording would be changed if the application was to be pursued, but the company had decided to let it expire.

Stem Cell Sciences announced in August that it had demonstrated "proof of principle" in mice that using a patient's own DNA to create a new cell for transplant would overcome the problem of rejection by the body's immune system.

Activists move to 'label' GMO foods themselves

October 8
Cropchoice News

For GMO labeling activists in the US, the strategy of the moment is "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again." While the battles over labeling foods containing biotech crop ingredients continue, some resourceful activists have thumbed their nose at Uncle Sam and taken labels into their own hands.

At the end of last week Greenpeace released a "True Food Shopping List", an extensive inventory listing the biotech status of hundreds of supermarket foods sold across the country. The idea, according to the environmental nonprofit, is to arm nervous consumers with information that lets them avoid biotech foods.

The entire list is up on the internet for anyone to browse, and includes an interesting set of quotes from letters Greenpeace researchers were sent by food companies. The company responses vary from a defiant Kellogg's (victim of an activist anti-GMO campaign) to smaller companies that loudly proclaim non-GMO status.

One is Clif Bar, maker of popular "high energy" snack bars, who says "Clif Bar products were reformulated this spring to eliminate any corn and canola oil. Clif Bar's director of R&D looks at the source of every ingredient to assure that no genetically modified organisms are used in any Clif Bar product." Or organic producer Cascadian Farms, which flatly declares "Genetically modified organisms are not compatible with the principles of organic agriculture and food production."

The True Food Shopping List divides foods into three groups, red, yellow, and green. The colors have a pretty straightforward meaning. Red for foods that are likely to contain GMOs, yellow for foods from companies that are in the process of phasing GMOs out, and green for foods from companies. You can visit the list online by clicking here. Greenpeace representatives contacted said that the list was being welcomed by consumers; but that it was too early to put numbers on the number of users.

Non-GMO feed taking off in Europe?

A blow to biotech across the Atlantic

October 8
Cropchoice News

In a move that could impact markets for American grain, the pacesetting British supermarket chain Iceland has announced that it will ban GMOs from feed used to raise its own-brand meat products. The BBC reports that the other major British supermarket chains - Sainsbury, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer's and Asda - will follow suit and ban biotech feed too.

The new policies could have implications for American producers - reducing feed grade biotech exports and adding to demand for non-GMO corn and soybeans.

The UK supermarkets are the first block of big European food retailers to ban biotech feed. But in other parts of the continent, companies are under similar pressure. McDonald's restaurants in Germany, for example, have recently come under fire from activists who want the burger maker to take GMOs out of poultry and cattle feed.

If European demand for American feed grade corn and soy drops off as a result, it may change some US producer's bottom line. Almost all food grade exports to Europe are already non-GMO; but countries like the UK have continued to buy some biotech grain from American producers for use in animal feeds. British beef cattle are 30-50% corn-fed, much of which is imported (along with soybeans and meal).

The changes may present an opportunity for non-GMO exporters in the US who, so far, have mainly served food grade markets. Non-GMO grain handlers in the US and Canada contacted by Cropchoice have indicated this is precisely the kind of market signal they have been looking for.

Iceland's feed announcement comes close behind an show-stopper earlier this year when the grocery chain, whose motto is "food you can trust", said it would sell a broad range of organic products without the typical price markup.

India: Government to set up National Seeds Board to check misuse of GM seeds

October 8
Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay)

New Delhi - The Central Government has decided to set up the National Seeds Board (NSB) with a view to restrict the misuse of those genetically- modified (GM) seeds which are considered to be hazardous to human health and ecologically harmful.

In this connection, suitable changes in the Seeds Act, 1966, has been proposed by the Union agriculture ministry and sent to the Cabinet for approval.

Seed policy reforms on the basis of the recommendations made by the Dr MV Rao Committee are also on the anvil and a perspective seed plan for the next 10 years is being drawn up.

National Seeds Board (NSB) will be endowed with more powers and will replace both the Central Seed Committee and Central Seed Certification Board.

Pending the proposal for setting up of an independent central seed testing laboratory, any existing seed laboratory in the country having the requisite facilities will be entrusted with the responsibility of testing seeds.

All seeds meant for commercial and agricultural use will have to be registered with the NSB. However, farmers will not be required to register their kind or variety which they save, use, exchange, share or sell.

Only registered varieties of seeds will be imported for sale. An unregistered variety may be allowed to be imported in limited quantity for research and trials on the basis of data from trials over one season in the country of origin. Registration of imported seeds varieties will be granted on basis of trials conducted for a minimum period of three seasons in India.

Any person intending to import seeds or planting materials will have to declare whether such materials are products of transgenic manipulation or involve genetic use restriction technology. For controlling exports and imports of seeds, suitable provisions are being made in harmony with the provisions of the existing Plant, Fruits and Seeds (Regulation of Import into India) Order, 1989.

The department of biotechnology has already issued guidelines for conducting field trials. It has also geared up to conduct tests of transgenic and genetically modified seeds and certify their use. 

Both the department of biotechnology and the Union health ministry has decided set up testing facilities in international airports and other points of entry to check the imports of those genetically engineered seeds and foods likely to have adverse effect on health and environment.

They have also asked the customs department to help in the process and make importers primarily responsible for the imported hazardous food products in lieu of the wholesalers or retailers. Imported items  should carry labels mentioning the contents of the products.

According to the proposed amendments to the Seeds Act, the registration will be granted for new varieties on the basis of multi-locational trials to determine value for cultivation and use (VCU)  over a minimum period of three seasons or as otherwise prescribed. NSB will accredit ICAR centers, state agriculture universities and private organizations to conduct VCU trials.

NSB or the state government may accredit individuals or organizations to carry out certification of seeds, including self-certification on fulfillment of criteria prescribed. NSB will specify minimum standards on germination, genetic and physical purity with respect to any seed of a registered kind or variety.

The mark or label on the seed consignment will indicate that such seeds conform to the minimum standards as specified.

A national register of varieties of registered seeds will be maintained by NSB. The registration will be granted for a fixed period. government will have the right to exclude any variety of seeds from registration in the interest of public health and environment. The NSB will have the power to cancel the registration granted earlier.

Nader joins call to action on genetically engineered foods

Farmers and consumers both lose, Nader says

October 6
Nader campaign press release

Long-time consumer advocate and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader today joined a long list of farmers, consumers, environmentalists, and scientists demanding a moratorium on the use of genetically engineered (GE) products in food.

“Genetic engineering of food has far outrun the science that must be its first governing discipline. Many unknowns attend the insertion of genes across species, from ecological risks to food allergies. These unknowns beg for investigation,” stated Nader in a recent letter to the Sierra Club.

The call to action, initiated by the Genetically Engineered Food Alert—a coalition of environmental and consumer groups—demands that genetically engineered food ingredients or crops should not be allowed on the market unless:

1)  Independent safety testing demonstrates they have no harmful effects on human health or the environment;

2)  They are labeled to ensure the consumer’s right-to-know; and

3)  The biotechnology corporations that manufacture them are held responsible for any harm.

Nader suggested that a fourth condition be added to the list, that genetically engineered food ingredients or crops should not be allowed on the market unless “there are significant benefits for human needs not available outside this technology.”

“Genetic engineering represents nothing less than a going-out-of-business sale on genetic diversity,” said Nader.

In addition to outcry from consumers, a growing number of farmers and farm organizations have been voicing opposition to GE foods. In November of last year, the National Family Farm Coalition issued a ‘Farmer’s Declaration on Genetic Engineering in Agriculture’ which calls for many of the same demands. “For too long farmers have had their management practices dictated by corporate agribusiness. Consolidation in agribusiness has led to fewer options for seed and inputs and fewer markets for farmers to sell to.” said Nader.

“The Clinton-Gore Administration has been extremely cozy with the GE industry and Bush promises only to be more so. Why is an inadequately tested technology—with so much potential for causing irreversible environmental harm—being imposed on an unwilling public and foisted upon a dis-empowered farming community? This is yet another example of corporate agribusiness interests pitting farmers against consumers,” added Nader.

Coalition members of the Genetically Engineered Food Alert include: the State Public Interest Research Groups, the National Environmental Trust, the Center for Food Safety, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Organic Consumers Association, Friends of the Earth, and the Pesticide Action Network of North America.