Archive for July, 2006

Panel meets to discuss biotech for African development

Ochieng’ Ogodo
July 28 2006
Source: SciDev.Net

[NAIROBI] Researchers and policymakers met in Kenya this week to discuss ways that biotechnology could contribute to the continent’s development.

The meeting held on 25-28 July was the 4th gathering of the High-Level Panel on Biotechnology, set up by the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development to provide policy [...]

South Africa Should License Research Lab on Genetically Modified Sorghum

Prof. Florence Wambugu, a renowned agricultural biotechnologist and the founder of Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International, is currently entangled in a row with the South African government over her plan to set up a multimillion dollar research laboratory and greenhouses to develop genetically modified sorghum.
Prof. Wambugu has received a huge grant - US$415 million - [...]

Biotech White Corn Increases South Africans’ Food Security

By Dennis Avery,

In one relatively dry year, the South African farmers averaged 63 kg of corn per kg of their own saved corn seeds. They harvested 187 kg from each kg they planted of conventional improved corn seed, and a whopping 246 kg from each kg of biotech seed. The Bt corn actually raises yields [...]

Kenya Must Expedite Enacting a Law on Genetically Modified Organisms

I have always argued that the debate about modern agricultural biotechnology, and specifically genetically modified food must be anchored on scientifically verifiable facts.
The tendency by special interest groups opposed to genetically modified food to distort the science behind genetic engineering is reprehensible and serves no public good. This is more so in developing countries, especially [...]

Genetically Modified Food Can’t Just Be Wished Away

Writing in the Washington Post last week, Jeremy Rifkin, the president of Foundation on Economic Trends, a nongovernmental organization sworn to the destruction of modern agricultural biotechnology, argued that genetic engineering, especially in relation to agriculture, is fast losing its agricultural relevance.
And he asked multinational biotech companies to cease touting genetically modified food as “the [...]

Members root for research on genetic foods

Kenya’s parliament has rejected a motion to ban genetically modified products. In a unanimous vote, legislators vowed to consider another motion to introduce genetically modified crops into the country. Read on the story in Kenya’s Daily Nation.

Daily Nation
Owino Opondo
June 13, 2006
Members rooted for scientific research by shooting down a motion seeking to ban all genetically [...]

The Catholic Church Must Continue to Provide Clear Guidelines on GMOs

As the debate about genetically modified (GM) foods rages, the role of the church in this issue is coming under close scrutiny and attack. This is due to the realization that religious groups are seen as major influence peddlers.
Scientists, policy-makers, farmers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders in the GMOs debate, have sought to court [...]

South Africa: How the West’s Health Fads Kill the Poor

In this article, Mark Weston writes about how activists use scare-mongering tactics to incite populations in developing countries to shun genetically modified foods.
By Mark Weston
Business Day (Johannesburg)
OPINION
Posted to the web July 3, 2006
MEASLES has killed one child in Britain this year and infected 450, making headlines. In poor countries, it kills more than 1000 [...]