Archive for January, 2007

Petition In Support of Indian Farmers’ Right to Grow Biotech Crops and Scientific Field Testing

AgBioWorld
January, 30, 2007
As scientists who are familiar with plant biotechnology and the positive impacts biotech crops have delivered over the past decade, we are disappointed and concerned to read about the recent interim moratorium on field testing of biotech crops in India . We are equally concerned about the recent actions by activist groups who [...]

Enhanced, drought-tolerant maize will give African farmers options, even with global warming

SeedQuest
January 29, 2007
Nairobi, Kenya
A vital research program that has already had significant impact on the lives of African farmers will accelerate its work for their benefit, thanks to new funding from one of the world’s most important philanthropic organizations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The research also marks the forging of a strong, new partnership [...]

Africans urged to embrace biotechnology

Ghana News Website
Jan. 25, 2007
Professor Walter Sandow Alhassan, Coordinator of the West and Central Africa Programme for Bio-safety Systems (PBS), on Thursday urged African leaders to support the development of modern biotechnology including Genetically Modified (GM) Crops.This, he said, should attract investment from Africa and should not rely solely on donor assistance.
Prof Alhassan made [...]

Science-Based Debate About GMOs is What the World Needs

Two biotech-related articles caught my eye this week. The first one is about a forthcoming documentary, “The Future of Food”, by Deborah Koons Garcia. The documentary highlights the impact of agri-biotech corporations on agriculture. In a review appearing in TransWorldNews, it’s claimed that “genetically modified (GM) foods have infiltrated our crops and may turn the [...]

Biotech crops to help reduce poverty, says expert

Daily Times
January 25, 2007

ISLAMABAD: The sowing of biotech crops will formally be launched in March-April this year in the country, and this will help the government not only ensure food security, but to reduce poverty as well, said Dr Kauser A Malik, Secretary of the National Commission on Biotechnology and member of the Agriculture [...]

GM Foods

Bss & Brn in Al Ain

Greenpeace, the environmental group, has shown up in the Gulf and convinced the Gulf News to run an editorial disguised as an article.
In the article, the following phrases are used as statements of fact, not opinion:The UAE lacks “proper labelling [sic] laws”. Sorry, but it is not that easy. By [...]

Why Organic Farming is Not Sustainable and GMOs Rock Agricultural Socks.

Comrade Tortoise
January 24, 2007
I read a recent article in the State Press (my school newspaper at ASU) regarding the use of organically grown fibers in the fashion industry and how the increase in their use is due to environmental concerns among consumers and within the industry itself. The article also cites that 7 of [...]

Global biotech crop cultivation continues to grow - Why is Europe so far behind?

EuropaBio
Brussels, Belgium
January 23, 2007
Prof. Dr. Marc Van Montagu, Chairman, International Plant Biotechnology Organisation (IPBO) Gent University and president of the European Federation of Biotechnology, told journalists in Brussels today that European farmers are lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of access to agricultural biotechnology.
Marc Van Montagu, one of the best known plant [...]

GM Crops the `Dawn of a New Era’ in Farming

This letter was sent to Border Watch, an Australian newspaper, by one of its readers who complained that the publication was partisan on the issue of genetically modified foods. The letter is hereby published in full.
Sir,
The puritanical tone of the articles and editorials on GM crops in your paper recently deserves some balance and [...]

‘GM Foods Not a Threat’

By Tiisetso Motsoeneng
iafrica.com
Tue, 23 Jan 2007
Biotech crop cultivation is now in its 11th year — and eighth in South Africa — despite having being attacked for posing health and environmental threat by anti-genetically modified crops groups.
“Not a shred of medical or scientific evidence has been produced anywhere in the world to support these claims. To [...]