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Zambia's test lab nears completion
In Zambia 85 percent of the labor force works in agriculture, but this is no breadbasket, nor remotely idyllic. In Zambia, the odds of living past 40 are low. Twenty percent of children are underweight, 32 percent of adults are illiterate, and 42 percent have no access to safe drinking water. The nation's gross domestic product hovers around $3 per day; about $1 per day of that is personal income. Against this backdrop, a $450,000 laboratory for detecting Genefied Modified Mechanisms (GMOs) in Zambia is near completion at the Seed Control and Certification Institute (SCCI) in Lusaka. More†
Posted: Saturday, July 4, 2009 2:44 pm |
Guard attacked, hurt in field trial attack
A new attack on field trials in Germany has included an attack on the guard assigned to protect them. The masked attackers climbed a fence surrounding the trials of GM potatoes, wheat and barley, and began spraying them with an unknown liquid. When the guard attempted to apprehend the sole female member of the group of five attackers, she bit his hand, and the other four joined in beating him on the head and face. More†
Posted: Friday, July 3, 2009 4:13 pm |
NZ uproar over banishing GM trees
Organic advocates in New Zealand are reacting with shock and horror at the prospect of GM trees. Not that the trees will overshadow their cabbage-patches, but that the trees will be sent out of the country and grown in the US. You'd think they'd welcome this banishment, but they don't. You figure it out. More†
Posted: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 3:38 pm |
Europeans celebrate, desecrate
On the peaceful bank of the Oderbruch, Germans celebrate the ban on GM crops, and the destruction of a field trial in the vicinity that saw 52 arrested. Not far away, in Düllstadt, activists destroy the last remaining field trial of GM maize in Bavaria. A bit further south, in Switzerland, activists hurl a "lethal cocktail" into a field trial of GM wheat, while another Swiss field trial is enclosed by a double fence, patrolled by a guard and a dog. This all happened in the last few days. Europe isn't looking civilized. More†
Posted: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 3:38 pm |
Vocal plant growth promoter
Research conducted by Britain's Royal Horticultural Society has demonstrated the efficacy of the human voice as a plant growth promoter. After exposing ten tomato plants to recorded playbacks of the voices of various people for a month, it was determined that female voices were the most effective in stimulating growth. The voice of Sarah Darwin, the great-great grand-daughter of Charles Darwin, was found to be the most stimulating of all. However, experts are unsure whether her choice of text played a role. She read a passage from her great-great grandfather's book, On the Origin of Species. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:06 pm |
Wales eyes prohibitive regulations
Farmers, landowners and the public are being asked for their views on plans to tighten the rules on the planting of genetically modified crops in Wales. Elin Jones, rural affairs minister, told the BBC that "it is not legally possible to declare Wales GM-free", but that the proposed measures would be more restrictive than those proposed in England and Northern Ireland. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:06 pm |
Gloomy report for British organic
A report commissioned by the Soil Association has led Peter Melchett, its policy director, to conclude: "If we want to continue eating huge quantities of cheap chicken, pork and dairy products and other mass produced foodstuffs, organic faming cannot deliver." According to the report, a major shift towards oganic farming in the UK would see food supplies plummet, and a vast increase in farm laborers performing the back-breaking tasks which modern agriculture had made unnecessary. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:06 pm |
More incentive for US wheat growers
Wheat growers in the US are experiencing ever-increasing incentives to switch to maize production. The availability of new maize varieties, especially those with biotech traits, are making maize profitable in areas formerly only hospitable to wheat production. With GM drought-tolerant maize set to increase maize yields by as much as 50 percent in in Kansas, it may be hard for US farmers to justify growing wheat anywhere. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:06 pm |
Mexico lifts outdated GM regulation
Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishery and Food (SAGARPA) has officially revoked regulations which imposed phytosanitary requirements on imports and shipments of GM seed and on the establishment of field trials of GM plants. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:06 pm |
US court dumps on alfalfa
A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has once again judged against GM alfalfa, leaving in place an injunction preventing Monsanto from selling GM alfalfa seed. Nothing is new. The court still thinks a farm field should, under the law, be treated the same as an environment in the wilderness. It still ignores the fact that the US has over 300 varieties of alfalfa seed on the market, which could, to coin a phrase, "pollute", or "contaminate" each other. Which, in the eyes of the court, means "contaminating the environment". Since nothing is new here, GMObelus is merely pointing to its first article on this courtroom folderol. More†
Posted: Saturday, June 27, 2009 5:35 pm |
Futuristic floral artists
Are they 'open source' advocates, biopirates, or artists? "If more and more of the flowers we buy at florist are cloned and if food is less and less spottable as genetically manipulated, we are facing times when the intervention with the dna of different living organisms will be considered as pop culture", say the folks at Neural, about the Common Flowers project. Claiming to be artists, Shiho Fukuhara and Georg Tremmel of Common Flowers use tissue culture to bring cut flowers "back to life again, planting them into the environment, and then making them a Common." We're talking about the GM 'Moondust' blue carnation. More†
Posted: Saturday, June 27, 2009 4:21 pm |
GMO art
There are some who consider Eduardo Kac's GM rabbit, which glows green under ultraviolet light, to be a work of art. But that's not the only glowing GMO art out there. There are at least two other projects which use glowing GM organisms -- microbes, actually -- as a medium of artistic expression. More†
Posted: Friday, June 26, 2009 2:41 pm |
Monsanto develops soy product for Brazil
Consistently, Monsanto has focused on developing products addressing the needs of farmers in North America, albeit products which later prove to be useful for famers elsewhere around the world. Monsanto has departed from this pattern with the development of insect-resistant soy -- something needed by farmers in Brazil. After that, it's back to business as usual, which is getting import permissions from Brazil's international trade partners. This is, truly, a notable event in the internationalization of agricultural science. More†
Posted: Friday, June 26, 2009 2:41 pm |
Novel with a novel GMO
A newly-released novel combines the approaches of Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, and Jeffrey Smith. How did Smith join such august company? Well, it's fiction, for one thing. But there are other familiar elements: a giant multinational corporation engaged in the development and sales of GM seeds and complementary chemicals. There's pollen-mediated outcrossing, and a 'Doomsday Vault' of non-GM seeds buried in an ice-bound island far north of the Arctic Circle. And ancient manuscripts with clever riddles. And bombs and guns, and black helicopters. Ladies and gentlemen, the novel is The Doomsday Key, by James Rollins.
More†
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 10:40 pm |
GM crops - the next generation
In the field of crops modified for improved nutrition, there's a lot more going on than Golden Rice. So much, in fact, that describing the current state of the art fills 328 pages, in a new book published by the Crop Science Society of America. Titled Modification of Seed Composition to Promote Health and Nutrition, it addresses a wide array of seed modification topics ranging from oils to proteins to allergens. More†
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:24 pm |
German biotech succumbs in activist onslaught
The forces of ignorance continue to prevail in Germany, and to broaden their swath of destruction. Today, in what was once the cradle of modern science and philosophy, not a single farmer grows a modern biotech crop. No longer able to target farms, the activists have focused their barbaric attentions on research crops -- with six experiments destroyed so far this season, and much of the season remaining. More†
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:04 pm |
Serbia bans GM crops
The National Parliament of the Republic of Serbia has adopted a new law which completely prohibits growing GM crops, or anything made with them. This also means, for instance, that Serbia will not be importing any soybean meal made from GM soybeans, nor feeding it to cattle. But there seems to be a twist.
More†
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:04 pm |
New version of Arabidopsis sequence
Arabidopsis thaliana is a favorite experimental plant with researchers in over 120 countries around the world. The genes, proteins, and other traits of this fast-growing, tiny mustard plant reside in a vast database dubbed the Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) -- and a new version of the genome sequence of this plant has again been released. More†
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:04 pm |
'Terminator' corn wins organic prize
All Things Organic has just announced the winners of its 2009 New Product Competition, and one of the winners is "SK Food International's Crimson Red Corn (Best Overall Organic Ingredient)-A hybrid corn with a gene that prevents GMO contamination, used as an ingredient in snack foods, tortillas, and flour." SK Food spokesman Aaron Skyberg says "The gametophyte gene within the corn does not allow other types, or species, of corn to pollinate it." This is clearly a Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURT). More†
Andrew Apel - Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:04 pm |
EU's NGOs declare they are lobbyists
It's official: Europe's government-paid NGOs are lobbyists. In a new report, an "Alliance" of various groups complains that most of those who lobby European governments have failed to voluntarily register themselves as lobbyists -- supposedly showing that "the voluntary approach is failing to secure adequate coverage." It's not a total failure, though. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (FOE), both of which squander public funds, have registered themselves as political lobby organizations. As a result, they are now subject to a formal process for handling complaints that they have breached their promise to provide information that is "unbiased, complete, up-to-date and not misleading". Lodging a complaint is easy, and that's not just because you can do it online. More†
Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 2:57 pm |
European lobby group invades Indian field trial
Representatives of the European lobby group Greenpeace have invaded a field trial in India. Sponsored by the European Union, and funded by the government of the Netherlands, the activists struck a government-approved 1,440 sqm field trial of rice in Chinnakanjarla village of Medak district. No injuries were reported, nor any complaints lodged regarding India's territorial sovereignty. More†
Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 2:57 pm |
Roundup: what's next? (updated)
First, Monsanto shed its pharmaceutical and chemical businesses -- which became known as Pharmacia and Solutia, respectively. Then it sold its Posilac dairy product business to Eli Lilly. Now, is it looking to sell its Roundup herbicide business? No, but what's next? Plenty. (partial rewrite)
More†
Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 2:57 pm |
Ukraine to sprout GMO labs
This does not mean that the Ukraine wants to harness science for the benefit of agriculture. Quite the opposite, in fact. By 2010, the country could establish as many as 25 GMO testing labs for the "comprehensive and timely control of food." This is said to be at the request of the food industry. Activists are not complaining. More†
Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 2:57 pm |
Rewarding failure
Despite the dismal performance of the "organic" sector of US agriculture, efforts to make it look healthy and productive continue. A new report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) casts light on this problem. The report, titled "Emerging Issues in the US Organic Industry", chronicles the perennial failure of what is obviously an unsustainable set of food production practices. The US Congress is considering financial incentives to increase this kind of farming. More†
Posted: Monday, June 22, 2009 11:47 am - 1 opinion posted |
Monsanto vs. DuPont vs. Monsanto
The lawsuit involves a set of claims and controversies that would trigger a bout of siallorhea in any anti-GMO activist. The 'giant corporation' element is obvious. But there's also patents, the control of the seed market, and an alleged failure of biotechnology to deliver benefits to farmers. In this battle of the Titans, the activists--their perennial arch-enemies--are mute. No wonder. For the Titans, this is dangerous business, and their opponents need only gloat. More†
Posted: Friday, June 19, 2009 3:15 pm |
This is not a joke
In the European Union, what do you call a food ingredient that's been harvested from a GMO developed and patented by a giant multinational corporation with historic ties to the chemical industry, denounced by activists, and submitted for approval in 2006? Approved, and no label required. This is not a joke.
More†
Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:49 pm |
EFSA's conflict of interest
Dr. Joachim Schiemann has been forced out
of his position on the GMO Panel of the European Food Safety Authority
(EFSA),
amid allegations of a "conflict of interest". He's been a long-standing
target of European Greens and their activist cohorts, due to his broad
engagement with those involved in researching and regulating GM crops.
The last straw: his appointment as head of the Institute for
Biosafety of Genetically Modified Plants at the Julius Kühn Institute
in Quedlinburg -- where activists recently destroyed 270 GM apple
trees, and with them, a decade of research. The EFSA obviously has a
conflict of interest--seeking scientific credibility, while
rejecting scientific expertise to appease the unappeasable
opponents of biotech. More†
Posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 4:06 pm |
Czech scientists demand rational regulation
The Czech Republic became a Member State of the European Union in 2004,
and as a consequence, must "harmonize" its laws and policies with those
of the EU. That means, of course, crushing agricultural biotechnology
out of existence and hounding researchers mercilessly. A new
publication by the Biology
Center of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic proves that
Czech scientists aren't feeling very harmonious with the neo-Medieval
regime. More†
Posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 1:36 pm |
Phytozome.net expanded
An enhanced version of Phytozome.net, a web portal for comparative
plant genomics geared to advance biofuel, food, feed, and fiber
research, has been released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Joint Genome Institute (JGI). The 4.0 release of Phytozome now spans
fourteen plant genomes, including eight that have been sequenced at the
DOE JGI. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:39 pm |
Potato safety rediscovered
Once again, European officials have discovered that BASF's Amflora
potato is safe. The rediscovery was made by the European Food Safety
Authority (EFSA), a scientific body typically ignored by European
politicians and regulators. "Today's assessment gives the entire EU
Commission the final scientific clarity to approve Amflora", said
Stefan Marcinowski, executive board member in charge of BASF
Plant Science. Dr. Marcinowski has been working for BASF since 1979 and
has impeccable scientific credentials, but accusing the EC of
having "scientific clarity" suggests he doesn't get out of the lab very
often. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm |
Marker gene safety rediscovered
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), a scientific body typically
ignored by European politicians and regulators, has discovered, once
again, that marker genes are safe. Meanwhile, the safety of marker
genes has long been common knowledge in the US. We'd all be better off
if these scientists worked on inventing things, instead of wasting
their efforts on the European Commission. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm |
Cooperation on GM wheat
For many years, the international wheat market has been dominated by
three major competitors; the United States, Canada and Australia. The High
Plains Journal says a
recent announcement by the major wheat organizations of all three
countries, though, has put those rivalries on a backburner, if only for
a moment. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm |
When activists attack...
...and you're a security guard hired to defend a government field trial
in Germany, it seems the best advice is to act like French police.
That's right. Two guards hired by Ladenburg-Neubotzheim to "guard" a
field trial of GM maize on government property have been found guilty
of unlawful restraint, property damage, and assault, and given hefty
fines. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm |
It's official: people have a right to technology.
At least in the Philippines, and if it's agricultural biotechnology,
according to Dr. Saturnina Halos, chairperson of the Biotech Advisory
Team of the Philippine Department of Agriculture. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm |
Glofish on the loose in Ireland
St. Patrick banished snakes from Ireland, and now, the Irish
Environmental Protection Agency must do the same for GM fish that supposedly glow
in the dark. Four of the fish were apprehended in a garden pond, and
if the agency prosecutes, a fine of up to €3,000 and/or 12
months
imprisonment could be imposed in the district court. If the case is
heard
in the Circuit Court, a fine of up to €15,000 is applicable and/or 10
years in prison. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm |
Organic farming hurts Zimbabwe
But how can that be? Food retailers in the US and Europe, and their
friends, assure everyone that organic farming produces just as much
food as doing it the modern way, and sells for more money, too! The
picture is different in Zimbabwe. When you're really, really poor,
organic farming is the only method within your means. When a
neighboring country starts using modern techniques, and you can't,
you're worse than poor. More†
Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm |
Parade of the unscrupulous?
(UPDATE 12) Opponents of engineered crops will say or do anything to get their points across. Many of them feign philanthropy, and glorify dishonesty -- and for them, the simple lure of profit operates in the stead of a functioning conscience. Even so, there are others who seem stranded in a nightmare realm, where fact and fantasy play equal roles. But which are which? All we know for sure is that none of them are embarrassed, and all of them want our attention... More†
Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 3:06 pm |
Getting plants to clone themselves
Left
to their own devices, plants reproduce sexually -- by combining genetic
information from male pollen and female egg cells. What if it were
possible to get plants to clone themselves, instead? This would allow a
superior crop plant to be replicated, in quantity. A team of
researchers in France and Austria is closing in on how to reproduce a
plant that produces
perfect potatoes, maize or rice, without the lottery of reassortment
that each meiotic division and ensuing fertilization introduces. More†
Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 3:06 pm |
Drought tolerance on the way
Drought tolerant maize has long been on the horizon for researchers
around the world. Funds for public research are tight, and the costs of
regulatory compliance are astronomical. The result: Monsanto and BASF
have discovered a naturally-occurring gene that can help
maize plants combat drought
conditions and confer yield stability during periods of inadequate
water supplies. And the farmers who need this technology most -- mainly
in drought-stricken regions of Africa -- won't get to use it. More†
Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 3:06 pm |
No price too high for a GM-free Europe
Maize growers in Italy, France, Germany
and Austria lose an average ten percent of their harvests each year,
just because governments won't approve any seed production technique
that's more recent than the Bronze Age. As a result, their harvests
contain higher levels of cancer-causing mycotoxins, and their fields
require more pesticide applications. I bet you thought Europeans wanted
to reduce reliance on imports, didn't like agricultural chemicals, and
considered consumer health a top priority. If you did, you're wrong. More†
Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 3:06 pm |
Comments reopen on a burning issue
The US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) is seeking additional public
comment on a burning issue: whether it should deregulate
maize genetically engineered to produce a microbial
enzyme that facilitates ethanol production. Why is this a burning
issue? Simple. Global warmers lured us into turning food into fuel we
can burn in cars. Protesters wailed that the process was too
inefficient. GM maize makes the process more efficient. Everyone gets
happy, right? Okay, maybe it's not simple, after all. More†
Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 3:06 pm |
Trees attacked, research destroyed
With the exception of a few aberrant, probably psychopathic, idiots,
anyone raised and educated in the Western tradition mourns, to some
degree, the loss of the Library of Alexandria. Which was destroyed by
vicious, largely illiterate, idiots. The contents of the
Library are lost forever, but we still have aberrant, vicious,
probably psychopathic, largely illiterate, idiots. Such as those who
destroyed two
hundred and seventy experimental apple trees in Germany, and with them,
a decade's worth of research. More†
Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 3:06 pm |
'Riot' Tourism on the Rise
At vagabondish.com, Jesse Cooper reveals the exhilartion a traveler can
experience by taking part in a riot, and recommends "2009's Best
International Hotbeds of Anarchy & Dissent". More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
Rogue's gallery opposes Golden Rice
It
appears that Golden Rice will be released to farmers in the Philippines
by 2012. Already, deaths worldwide from Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) are
near 15.9 million. By 2012, the number of deaths will be millions
greater. Opponents of Golden Rice, like those who oppose GM crops
generally, have complained for at least a decade about the ethics of
feeding GM foods to humans without human testing. Now, they're
complaining about the ethics of feeding GM foods to humans with human
testing. Who are these people, who are willing to sacrifice human lives
for the sake of elusive, contradictory principles? More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
India to wait 8 years for GM rice
In India, field trials of GM drought-tolerant rice are under way, and
Dr,
Charudatta Digambarrao Mayee, chairman, Agricultural Scientists
Recruitment Board (ASRB). More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
Proposal to tighten Welsh GM regs
After farmer Johathon Harrington planted GM fodder maize on
his small farm in the Black Mountains of "GM-Free" Wales,
howls of protest arose, calling his act "ill-informed", "illegal" and
"irresponsible", and claims that Wales had become "infected" with GMOs.
This was even though the seeds he planted are maize varieties
on
the EU's "common list" of approved crops. Wales has responded with a
proposal to tighten its GM regs to the point where cultivation of GM
croups woud, in practice, be prohibited. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
Bt maize doesn't hurt nontarget arthropods
A team of scientists studying the the
potential effects of cultivating transgenic maize hybrids containing a
Cry1F insect-resistant protein on nontarget arthropod abundance over
the course of four years has concluded the insecticidal protein is too
well-targeted to harm other organisms. Analyses of
the individual taxa showed no significant differences in
abundance between Bt and
non-Bt fields. Results of these studies confirm earlier laboratory
testing and support the hypothesis that Cry1F maize does not produce
adverse effects on nontarget arthropods occurring in maize fields.
More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
Still searching for Bt resistance - in vain
Cry1Ac-expressing cotton has proven its effectiveness against this
insect since its introduction in North America in 1996. However, the
constant exposure of tobacco budworm to this protein toxin may result
in the development of resistance to it. To estimate the frequency of
alleles that confer resistance to a 1.0 ?g of Bacillus
thuringiensis
Cry1Ac diagnostic concentration in field-collected insects, the second
generation (F2) of 1,001 single-pair families from seven geographical
regions representing 2,202 alleles from natural populations was
screened in 2006 and 2007. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
Ukraine enacts state registration of GMOs, related products
The Ukraine
has enacted state registration of GMOs and products thereof for use in
food, medical and cosmetic purposes. That's the claim of the Black Sea
Biotechnology Association (BSBA), which says the procedures will come
into force on June 1, 2009. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
EU Ministers approve national bans on GM crops
In a bid for national sovereignty, which strikes a severe blow
against the notion of pan-European sovereignty, environment ministers
from all 27
EU member states have rejected an attempt by the EU Commission
to
force these two countries to lift their bans on Monsanto's Mon810 - the
only GM maize currently approved for cultivation in the EU. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
Gene-doubled maize performs
University
of Illinois plant geneticist Stephen Moose has developed a
maize plant
with enormous potential for biomass, literally. It yields
maize that
would make good silage, Moose said, due to a greater number of leaves
and larger stalk, which could also make it a good energy crop. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
76% of US wheat growers support biotech
More than three-quarters of wheat growers
responding to a recent National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG)
survey approved a petition supporting the commercialization of
biotechnology in wheat. The survey was commissioned by NAWG as
a project of the NAWG Foundation to measure and document the level of
support of biotech trait commercialization among wheat growers. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
Europeans oppose GM cassava for Africa
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria
(ERA/FoEN) and over 30 other activist groups are condemning approval of
field-tests of a GM cassava christened "Super
Cassava" in
Nigeria. The project seeks to fortify a single 500
gram adult portion of cassava
with essential nutrients, including vitamins A and E, iron and zinc.
Why would European governments oppose such a project? More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am - 1 opinion posted |
Bizkit the Sleep Walking GMO
This video purports to show an ear of GM maize engaged in "sleep
walking", or somnambulism. Looks more like a greenpeacer, dressed as
Frankencorn, having a nightmare in which he struggles with his
conscience. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
EU clears obsolete Canadian GM rapeseed?
The European Union has opened its borders to GM rapeseed,
clearing the way for a
resumption of oilseed trading with Canada. The
rapeseed -- known as T45 -- is destined for use in food
and animal feed, not for growing in European fields. The EU
authorisation will be valid the next 10 years. However, T45 was
discontinued
from commercial planting after the 2005 season. Only a small stock
remains, in Canada. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
Tune into DNA-Radio
After
creating pictures from the human DNA code and getting an incredible
amount of positive response, the step to convert the data to audio came
into mind at DNA Rainbow quite fast. After some thinking and
lots of tests, they are converting the whole human genome to
audio and streaming them now to
the Internet, 24/7. The idea is quite simple, every base is read and
broadcasted instead converting it to a color. With DNA-Radio
they don't
visualize the chromosome, they sonify it and have now
completed a full
audio-visual DNA representation of human chromosomes. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
US whisky maker turn to GM maize
One of the largest American-owned
companies in the wine and spirits business says that a
shortage
non-GM maize in the marketplace will force it to use
GM maize for some of its whiskey distilling. More†
Posted: Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:45 am |
France defends GM ban
According to French officials, GM maize is safe to eat -- but that's
beside the point. According to Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo,
the real point is whether its cultivation could create
wider environmental problems, notably contaminating other crops. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
Australia: no problems with GM feed
According to a report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and
Resource Economics (ABARE), Australian production of GM canola has had
almost no impact on the market. "The increasing adoption of GM crops
has led to a greater presence in stockfeed mixes both here and
overseas," said Phillip Glyde, Executive Director, ABARE. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
Korean processors block GM maize
Maize processors in South Korea will not import genetically
modified maize for
food use this year after grain prices fell and as consumers shun
gene-modified foods, according to reports. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
New method to detect GMOs
The most common method of GMO detection is based upon the amplification
of GMO-specific DNA amplicons using the polymerase chain reaction
(PCR). Scientists have successfully applied the loop-mediated
isothermal amplification
(LAMP) method to amplify GMO-related DNA sequences, 'internal'
commonly-used motifs for controlling transgene expression and
event-specific (plant-transgene) junctions. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
India's new platform for transgenic crops
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of
India, have together launched the project for establishing a Platform
for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC). More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
USFDA clears animal-produced drug
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the
first medicine made from genetically engineered animals. The drug is
called ATryn and belongs to a Massachusetts biotechnology
company, GTC Biotherapeutics. It was obtained by altering the genes of
goats so they would produce milk rich in antithrombin, a protein that
in humans acts as a natural blood thinner. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
Genes to improve wheat frost tolerance
With funding from USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and
Extension Service (CSREES), scientists in California have identified
the genes in wheat that are responsible for the plant's tolerance to
freezing temperatures. This discovery may lead to improved
crop
production. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
Syngenta to collaborate with China's Anhui Academy
Syngenta has announced an eight-year research
collaboration with Anhui Rice Research Institute (ARRI) of Anhui
Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China. The collaboration program is
centered around conducting laboratory and field tests of novel gene
functions and will focus on drought tolerance and nitrogen utilization
optimization in key crops such as maize and soybean. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
Brit supermarkts 'too hasty' in rejecting GM
Speaking in a panel debate after delivering the City Food Lecture in
London, Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has admitted UK
supermarkets may have made the decision to reject GM products too
hastily and signalled Tesco is willing to re-open the debate. "It may
have been a failure of us all to stand by the science", he said. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
Kenya signs biosafety law
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has signed into law the biosafety
Bill which has been pending since last December when Parliament passed
it after years of discussions. The presidential action now allows
regulatory authorities to draw up
regulations that would be used to facilitate implementation of the
Biosafety Act. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
German beekeeper loses complaint against GM field trials
In Kitzingen, Germany, a beekeeper has lost his complaint against the
cultivation of GM maize in the area near his operations. He wanted
government agencies to move the field trials 800 meters away from his
bees. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
Swiss go-ahead on field trials
Switzerland's Federal Environment Office says that tests of GM maize,
currently underway in Zurich, may continued, with the office satisfied
that the tests are being conducted safely. However, a number of changes
must be introduced and researchers have
been instructed to lay a protection net over test fields, to stop birds
feeding on seeds and subsequent crops. They've also been told to use
weedkiller extensively, to remove traces of last year's GMOs. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
European Court says: no secret field locations
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that European Union
governments have no right to restrict public information
about the location of field trials of genetically modified crops. The
ruling follows
a campaign waged against his local authorities for nearly five years by
Pierre Azelvandre, who lives in the Alsace commune of Sausheim in
eastern France. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
Dow AgroSciences up for sale?
During a February 3 conference call with analysts, in which Dow
Chemical
CEO Andrew Liveris said the company is working with investment banks to
evaluate potential buyers for 12 major assets. At the same time, Dow
Chemical is facing a cash crunch, due in part to a downturn in the
worldwide economy. While accounting for less than 8% of parent Dow
Chemical's sales,
revenue for the AgroSciences unit in 2008 rose 20%, to $4.5 billion,
and operating profit was up 36%. This has led the agriculture industry
to speculate that a sale of DowAgro would be attractive. More†
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm |
USFDA approves GM animals
The US Food and Drug Administration has issued its final
regulations governing the approval of
genetically engineered animals. Genetically
engineered animals will require FDA approval before they can enter the
marketplace, but the rules do not require consumer labeling for foods
from these
animals. More†
Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:42 pm |
Monsanto partners with GrassRoots Biotechnology
Monsanto has announced the establishment of a three-year
collaboration with GrassRoots Biotechnology
Inc., based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, to source novel
genetic elements, including promoters and genes, which can enable crops
to express traits that enhance and protect yield. Monsanto will use the
promoters sourced from GrassRoots
in a broad range of crops, including corn, soy, cotton and canola, to
optimize an array of biotechnology traits. More†
Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:42 pm |
Sorghum genome sequenced, analyzed
Scientists at the US Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome
Institute (JGI) and several partner institutions have published the
sequence and analysis of the complete genome of sorghum, a major food
and fodder plant with high potential as a bioenergy crop. The genome
data will aid scientists in optimizing sorghum and other crops not only
for food and fodder use, but also for biofuels production. More†
Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:42 pm |
Brazil approves Herculex cultivation
The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture has authorized Dow AgroSciences
to sell five maize hybrids with Herculex I Insect
Protection
technology. The company also announced that it plans to be able to
offer the Brazilian market
its full range of maize hybrids with this technology in the
future. More†
Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:42 pm |
Cassava ready for field trials
Ugandan lab experiments for GM cassava have been completed and the
National Crops Resource Research
Institute (NCRRI) has sought permission from the National
biosafety committee to transfer the cassava from
the greenhouse to the field. Researchers have used the technology to
impart genes of resistance to
cassava mosaic, which is caused by a double stranded virus and cassava
brown stem that is caused by the single stranded virus. More†
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:52 pm |
US faces foreign GMOs
An internal audit released by the US Agriculture Department's Office of
Inspector
General says the USDA does not have an import control policy to
regulate imported GMO animals. Its policy for GMO crops, though
adequate now, could become outdated as
other nations boost production of their own GMO crops, the report added. More†
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:52 pm |
GM rice vs. bird flu
Hong Kong scientists claim to have created a genetically
modified rice that provides protection for chickens from the bird flu
virus. More†
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:52 pm |
Periwinkle yields novel compounds
By
manipulating the complex biosynthetic pathways of the periwinkle plant,
MIT chemists have genetically altered the plant to
produce entirely new compounds, some of which could be used as drugs
against cancer and other diseases. The researchers, led by Sarah
O'Connor of the Department of Chemistry, has studied periwinkle for
several years because it produces a variety
of alkaloid compounds of pharmacological interest, including
vinblastine, a drug commonly used to treat cancers such as Hodgkin's
lymphoma. More†
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:52 pm |
GM rice could boost yields
An
ambitious project to re-engineer photosynthesis in rice, led by the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), could result in plants
that can produce 50% more grain using less fertilizer and less water. More†
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:52 pm |
China strengthens patent novelty requirements
China has long merely required that an invention have
"relative novelty" to gain patent protection -- that is, that it be
novel in China. In a move intended to improve
innovation, China will require that a patent application meet an
"absolute standard for novelty"
-- by being totally new worldwide. More†
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:52 pm |
German court to examine Lisbon treaty
European Union leaders signed the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007, a document
intended to strengthen the roles of many EU institutions. Germany's
constitutional court is preparing for an
unusually long hearing on treaty, in a process that
may determine the fate of the document for all EU member
states. More†
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:52 pm |
Sugarcorn for ethanol
Sugarcorn is a hybrid, a cross between sugarcane and
maize. It doesn't flower to produce grain, it produces
sugar in its stalks, and can grow to be 15 feet high. During
the 2009 growing season, Targeted Growth Inc. will grow it in test
plots across the US, east to west from Indiana
to Nebraska, and spanning north to south from Minnesota to Florida.
Meanwhile, researchers are continuing to work on increasing sugar yield
in the
plant, increasing hardiness for growth in the Midwest, and modifying
the plant to prevent it from being pollinated by nearby stands of
traditional maize. More†
Posted: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 2:59 pm |
Cellular atlas of rice
Researchers at Yale University have published a cellular atlas of
genetic activity in rice,
documenting with unprecedented detail how and when genes are turned off
and on. The data, collected during a five-year
project,
chronicles the
molecular differences and similarities among 40 cell types essential to
the life cycle of one of the world's most important crops. More†
Posted: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 2:59 pm |
Belgium's Council of State unblocks field trials
The Council of State, Belgium's highest juridical court, has suspended
a decision by federal ministers to block field trials of poplars
engineered for the production of biofuels. This does not mean field
trials will immediately go ahead. In the opinion of Flanders Institute
for Biotechnology [Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, VIB], which
developed the poplars, the
ministers will be forced to come up with a new decision,
taking
into account the Council of State's verdicts. More†
Posted: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 2:59 pm |
Selectively organic
Organic growers threaten to renounce their organic status
whenever there's even the slightest whiff of pollen from GM
crops. What happens when it turns out that as many as thirty percent of
organic growers in California have been using
unapproved synthetic fertilizer for nearly a decade? Nothing.
Or, perhaps, a cover-up. More†
Posted: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 2:59 pm |
Italy approves GM fruit, vegetable trials
After a hiatus of ten years, Italy has approved the resumption of
biotech field trials -- sort of. Protocols for nine crops were approved
but leave implementing
regulations up to the regions - many of which have declared themselves
to be GMO free. More†
Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:13 pm |
Brazil approves Dupont/Dow GM maize
Brazil's biosafety regulator CTNBio has approved commercial cultivation
of GM maize jointly developed by DuPont and Dow. It must still be
approved by Brazil's Agriculture Ministry before it can be planted. More†
Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:13 pm |
Low radiocarbon food
A company called Radiocarb Genetics is announcing success in its
program to develop foods with "significantly lower levels of harmful
radioactive carbon-14 than normally found in food." The supposed
benefit is that "Infants and children nourished with safer, low
radiocarbon
LifeBlocks(TM) foods will suffer tens of billions fewer genetic damage
events over their lifetime. More†
Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:13 pm |
GM maize field trials in Cuba
GM maize developed by Cuban scientists is currently in the farm trial
phase in five different provinces of that island nation. The Cuban
project emerged in 2000 with the goal of developing corn
resistant to the principal plague for this type of gramineae on the
island (moths) and a certain type of herbicide. A team from the plant
division at CIGB and specialists from the Liliana Dimitrova
Horticulture Research Institute have worked on the project since it
began. More†
Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:13 pm |
Tech for Kenya
A new project is underway to transfer technology to Kenya that might
not draw the wrath of Greenpeace. More†
Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:13 pm |
Nitrogen use efficient and salt-tolerant rice for Africa
Arcadia Biosciences and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation
have entered into an agreement to develop nitrogen use efficient and
salt-tolerant strains of African rice. The agreement builds on an
existing compensensation-free license. More†
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:51 pm |
Austria rebuffed again
The Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms Panel of the
European Food Safety Authority has released an opinion which concludes,
once again,
that Austria has presented no new scientific evidence that would
justify a ban on maize MON810 and T25. This includes
a rejection of the latest Zentek/Vienna mice study. More†
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:51 pm |
Soybean Genome Sequenced
The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) has
released a complete draft assembly of the soybean (Glycine max)
genetic code, making it widely available to the research community to
advance new breeding strategies for one of the world's most valuable
plant commodities. More†
Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 2:17 pm |
Progress in drought tolerance and yield
Evogene, Ltd. and Biogemma SAS
have announced results of
field trials for maize hybrids containing a number of genes
predicted by
Evogene to increase yield and drought tolerance. The field trials,
conducted in several sites in the US and in Israel,
demonstrate that hybrids containing certain of these genes
displayed "significant yield increases under both normal and drought
conditions", as compared to control maize hybrids under the
same conditions. More†
Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 2:17 pm |
India developing GM papaya
India's Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is
developing a GM papaya that would resist papaya ring spot virus (PRSV),
which is
responsible for destroying papaya cultivation in thousands of acres in
the country. Dr. C. Ramasamy, TNAU Vice Chancellor, said the department
of Biotechnology had allocated funds for the
project and it would take another three years for coming out with GM
papaya. More†
Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 2:17 pm |
Europe: moratorium for two more years
After a six-month consultation process, Environmental ministers of the
European Union have launched a plan aimed at overcoming the inability
of the Council of Ministers to take authorisation decisions on
new GM products for cultivation in the EU. The final step in the plan,
slated for June 2010, is a draft report by the European
Commission on the conclusions of
a Commission-member state reflection group on the
socio-economic
implications of GMOs. More†
Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 2:17 pm |
France fined for noncompliance
The European Court of Justice has fined France EUR10 million
(US$12.9 million) for failing to harmonize its laws on GM crops and
foods with those of the European Union. EU governments had a deadline
of October 2002 to revise transpose the EU's Deliberate Release
Directive into their national
legislation. More†
Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 2:17 pm |
US GAO recommends more biotech oversight
In a new report to Congress, the US Government Accountability
Office says that more oversight and coordination is needed
among federal agencies to prevent
unapproved releases of genetically modified crops into the environment
and food and feed supply. Crop developers are subject to periodic
inspections, but the GAO says
the Agriculture Department lacks the resources to inspect every site
and the EPA has not made inspections a priority. Most of the known
unauthorized releases were self-reported by the crop developers, the
report said. More†
Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 2:17 pm |
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