###BASE_URL###
2006-11-22 | permalink
While GMO critics have warned about GMO rice trials by Monsanto's Mahyco company in India, now rice farmers, who fear about their exports, have burned down such field trials in Haryana, India. And Robert Zeigler, director-general of the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute, says: “There is neither environmental assessment, nor human food safety assessment available for Bt rice. Proper precautions must be taken.”
2006-11-22 | permalink
U.S. officials are hopeful that the Codex ad hoc Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology will approve a revised proposal for new work on low-level (adventitious) presence of unapproved transgenic material in food, when the task force meets next week in Chiba, Japan.
2006-11-22 | permalink
U.S. officials are hopeful that the Codex ad hoc Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology will approve a revised proposal for new work on low-level (adventitious) presence of unapproved transgenic material in food, when the task force meets next week in Chiba, Japan.
2006-11-22 | permalink
Better known for dark chocolate and fine cheeses, the Swiss are now aiming to become a force in one of the new world's most common commodities: corn. Syngenta AG, a Swiss company listed in Zurich with American depositary shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange, bets that if it builds the right genetically modified seeds, profits will come -- and some investors like its chances.
2006-11-22 | permalink
A High Court judge has given Friends of the Earth permission to take its legal challenge against the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to a full hearing in the High Court. The environmental campaign group says that the FSA failed to take appropriate action to prevent unauthorised GM rice entering the UK food chain. The FSA had claimed that Friends of the Earth's challenge should not be allowed to proceed to a hearing because its case was `unarguable'.
2006-11-22 | permalink
The draft may come before the end of the year, and is expected to conclude that food from cloned animals is safe for consumption. An FDA risk assessment draft on the subject of safety of food from cloned animals is expected as soon as December. "We understand that the conclusion will be that foods from livestock clones and their offspring are as safe as foods from animals raised conventionally," says Dr. Barb Glenn, Managing Director of Animal Biotechnology, Food & Agriculture Section, BIO.
2006-11-22 | permalink
The company that created the experimental variety of genetically engineered rice found this summer to have contaminated the U.S. rice supply contends that rice farmers and an "act of God" are to blame for the inadvertent release of the unapproved crop. Those are among the assertions by Bayer CropScience of Research Triangle Park, N.C., in response to a class-action lawsuit filed by hundreds of farmers in Arkansas and Missouri.
2006-11-21 | permalink
The Executive is repeatedly delaying a crucial consultation on the threat of GM crops and has now announced that it will not take place until summer 2007, after the next election. Ministers were due to issue proposals on the "co-existence" of GM crops in summer 2005, and Greens argue that the latest delay indicates Labour and LibDems' fear of drawing attention to their support for GM crops. (1) Mark Ruskell MSP, Green speaker on environment, has proposed a bill at Holyrood to make GM companies strictly liable for any economic damage as a result of contamination caused by GM crop trials and commercialisation.
2006-11-21 | permalink
Slovenian Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Janez Podobnik pledged Slovenia's support to Bulgaria in securing EU environment funds, as he met his Bulgarian host and counterpart Djevdet Chakurov in Sofia on Friday, 17 November. [...] The pair also concluded that both countries are among more conservative regarding genetically modified organisms, Podobnik said.
2006-11-21 | permalink
NEW DELHI, NOV 20: India has called upon other biodiversity-rich countries to work out a model for cooperation and make common efforts for conservation of biological diversity, ensuring biosafety and development. Inaugurating an international conference on the implications of the Cartagena Protocol on biosafety in Capital on Monday, the environment and forests minister A Raja said,"As responsible members of the international community that harbours the major part of the world's biodiversity, I would appeal to make our common biosafety concerns and our common desire for development of a model for cooperation."
2006-11-21 | permalink
Europe's food safety authority has issued draft guidance for the renewal of authorisations of existing genetically modified products lawfully placed on the market. The guidance, from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), aims to assist applicants in the preparation and presentation of applications for renewal of authorisation of existing products according to articles 11 and 23 of regulation (EC) 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and feed.
2006-11-21 | permalink
BRUSSELS, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The EU will not appeal against a World Trade Organisation ruling that it illegally blocked genetically modified (GMO) food imports, a case which pitted the bloc against the United States and other biotech crop producers. But the decision will not settle transatlantic differences over how the European Union currently allows GMO imports, which the majority of European consumers view with suspicion and some have dubbed "Frankenfoods".
2006-11-20 | permalink
The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced their joint $150 million Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa for the continent's 180 million impoverished farmers who - they claim - were bypassed by the Green Revolution. What? For 25 years, the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research - the entity that brings together the key Green Revolution institutions - invested 40 percent to 45 percent of its $350 million-a-year budget in Africa. If these public funds were not invested in a Green Revolution, then where were they spent? If they were spent on the Green Revolution, then why does Africa need another one? Either the Green Revolution's institutions don't work, or the Green Revolution itself doesn't work - or both. The Green Revolution did not "bypass" Africa. It failed.
2006-11-20 | permalink
ST. GALLEN, Switzerland - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that potential dangers from the rapidly growing biotechnology industry were increasing exponentially and urged creating global safeguards. Annan, speaking on Saturday in the Swiss university town, warned of "catastrophic" results if recent advances in biotechnology, including gene manipulation and work with viruses, fell into the wrong hands.
2006-11-20 | permalink
BUENOS AIRES, Nov 17 (Tierramérica) - Cultivation of genetically modified soybeans is expanding in Argentina, and with it, the use of herbicides. The "Paren de fumigar" (Stop the Fumigation) campaign warns against agro-chemical spraying in urban areas, as activists collect information about its impacts in order to denounce it. Behind the initiative are the Rural Reflection Group (GRR), the Nature Protection Centre and neighbourhood organisations. Jorge Rulli, with GRR, told Tierramérica that so far this year the campaign -- which began in January and covers all rural areas -- collected more than 60 complaints. He explained that "it is no accident" that most of them come from the provinces of Córdoba (central Argentina) and Santa Fe (central-east), which along with Buenos Aires province make up the country's epicentre of soybean cultivation -- and the associated use of the herbicide glyphosate.
2006-11-20 | permalink
CHENNAI: With farmers all over the State threatening a "war unto the finish" against genetically engineered crops, the State Government on Thursday said it had an "open mind" on the issue and would allow the crops only if they were proved to have no demonstrable side effects. "The company [Monsanto-Mahyco] approached us with a request to test the crops. The trial is only in the research phase now and the results will be sent to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and, later, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, to decide if the crops are harmful to farmers or not. We will go by whatever the committee decides. If the council gives a negative report, we will not allow cultivation in the State," Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugam told The Hindu .
2006-11-20 | permalink
Chennai, Nov 18: Seeking a ban on the field tests of genetically modified paddy varieties in the country, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa said researchers should focus on seed varieties which protect soil fertility and give more yield. Charging multi-national companies with "selling poisonous BT seeds banned in Japan and European countries", she said these seeds would affect the fertility of the soil. Paddy grown out of genetically modified seeds would harm human beings as well as animals and birds, she said.
2006-11-20 | permalink
SCIENTISTS have genetically modified the cotton plant’s naturally toxic seeds to turn them into a potential food source for millions of people.
Researchers have found a way of reducing gossypol, a powerful toxin in the seeds, to a negligible level that allows them to be consumed by humans. At present they are thrown away or fed to cows.
2006-11-20 | permalink
TURIN, Italy -- For Slow Food enthusiasts every two years, all roads lead to this Piedmont city. [...] "We learned Europe is 80 percent non-GMO, Poland entirely GMO-free," said Barb Kline, referring to "genetically modified organisms" -- plants or animals whose DNA has been altered by corporations to create desirable traits by adding the DNA of other plants or animals. "I would tell our customers to buy seeds only from a company like Harvest Moon with a safe-seed guarantee. We may as well give up on corn. I'm sorry, if you're buying corn, you are probably eating GMO.
2006-11-17 | permalink
A "Rapid Trait Development System" (RTDS) has been presented by the US company Cibus as a smart and unregulated alternative to old fashioned "cut and paste" transfer of DNA between different organisms. The system induces gene alterations by bombarding a cell with a mixture of DNA and RNA, which triggers a site specific change of a known DNA sequence using the cells own gene repair mechanism, a process known as site-directed mutagenesis. Cibus expects to hit the herbicide-resistant seed market with oilseed rape next year and rice in 2008.
2006-11-17 | permalink
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States must pressure the European Union to stop dragging its feet on approving new imports of bioengineered food, senior U.S. lawmakers said in a letter released on Wednesday. "The EU has avoided for too long its WTO obligations ... The illegal discrimination against biotech products on nonscientific grounds must cease," a group of lawmakers said in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.
2006-11-17 | permalink
A San Diego company will on Thursday unveil a technology that can deliver the benefits of genetic modification without inserting foreign genes into a crop in move that could transform the multibillion dollar agricultural biotech market. Cibus, which has been funded quietly for several years by a group of biotechnology investors in the US, believes there is huge potential in its non-transgenic technology for introducing "traits" such as herbicide resistance into plants.
2006-11-17 | permalink
CHENNAI: Representatives of the Tamil Nadu Velan Kappu Kuzhu said on Wednesday they would not allow genetically engineered crops to be tested or cultivated anywhere in Tamil Nadu. "We are ready to face any consequence in our fight against these crops, which endanger food security and poison the environment. If need be, we will confiscate GE seeds from shops that sell them and destroy them," K. Chellamuthu, chairman, Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, told reporters.
2006-11-17 | permalink
A proposal to charge companies fees for assessments by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) would impose too heavy of a financial burden on companies, says an industry consultant. Consultant Christopher Whitehouse says the proposal, which was submitted for public consultation yesterday by the European Commission, would allow EFSA to charge companies "potentially very substantial amounts" for processing the dossiers which EU legislation requires food product manufacturers to submit for consideration.
2006-11-17 | permalink
Three organisations have independently conducted research and lodged formal objections to the Registrar of Genetic Resources opposing an application from Stellenbosch University’s Institute of Wine Biotechnology (IWBT) to conduct a field trial with genetically-modified (GM) grapevines in Stellenbosch.
2006-11-17 | permalink
THE three-day international conference on organic farming held at the L'Fisher Hotel in Bacolod concluded as a success Thursday with the signing of a Declaration on Organic Agriculture and Trade by representatives from pro-organic organizations. The declaration is aimed at seeking to build upon windows for organic trade with Europe and the world.
2006-11-17 | permalink
The South Australian government has extended a ban on genetically modified (GM) food crops until the end of April, 2008. The ban, first imposed in 2004, was due to have ended in 2007.
2006-11-16 | permalink
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- It looks like U.S. farmers will be able to meet expected increases in corn demand from the booming ethanol industry, while also keeping up with food and livestock feed requirements, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Tuesday.
2006-11-16 | permalink
‘Future of Rice’ highlights alternatives to genetic engineering in the lab and field
Chennai, India — New, environmentally sustainable and consumer-friendly technologies effectively render the imprecise Genetic Engineering (GE) technology both obsolete and unnecessary, according to a new report released today by Greenpeace.
2006-11-16 | permalink
WASHINGTON - November 15 - World Rainforest Movement and Global Justice Ecology Project have presented a demand to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Nairobi, Kenya to ban the use of genetically engineered trees under the Kyoto Protocol. GE trees have been proposed for use in plantations developed as climate sinks or for biofuels.
Go to: ← ... 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 ... →
GENET-news is providing a daily news service on a range of topics regarding genetic engineering. We are screening the worldwide English news, press releases and other publications to provide you with a strategic selection of information. GENET-news enables you to stay informed about all aspects of the global controversy around GE technologies and GE organisms. You can subscribe by email.
The GENET-forum list provides you with additional background information and more voluminous reports. It is only open for GENET members. Please contact the coordinator for membership and subscription.