Archive for April, 2007

Africa should embrace the beckoning Green Revolution

By Josephat Juma
African Agriculture
The Bill and Gates Foundation has joined forces with the Rockefeller Foundation to launch a new “Green Revolution” in Africa. The $US 150 million initiative intends to spur agricultural productivity in Africa by bringing more chemical fertilizers, pesticides and improved seeds to farmers.
Studies by Hans Gregersen (University of Minnesota) and Bob [...]

Genetically modified crops rooted in funding

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Honolulu Advertiser  
The University of Hawai’i is conducting genetically modified crop research on bananas, tomatoes, petunias and lettuce in an effort to develop hardier, disease-resistant plants.
Researchers at UH’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources also are trying to develop sugar cane that’s genetically modified to produce a vaccine to [...]

Weed-friendly GM crops can help the environment

 NewScientist.com
THE trouble with spraying fields of crops genetically modified to resist herbicides is that all the weeds die. Bad for the environment - if good for the farmer. Now there is a sweet solution.
John Pidgeon of the Broom’s Barn Research Station, Bury St Edmunds, UK, and colleagues analysed the results of British farm-scale evaluation trials [...]

Africa: More Awareness on GMOs Needed

Last week, news media reported that Sudan had rejected a consignment of sorghum from the World Food Program (WFP) because it was genetically modified. The BBC.com website ran a story headlined, “Row as Sudan blocks ‘GM’ food aid,” which was later amplified by thousands of blogs.
As expected, non-governmental organizations opposed to genetically modified organisms [...]

A sweet smell - Israeli scientists enhance food with the scent of flowers

ISRAELI21C
April 22, 2007
By Nicky Blackburn

Prof. Alexander Vainstein is proud of his greenhouses. Located at the Hebrew University’s Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture in Rehovot, these greenhouses offer visitors both a delight to the senses, and a trip to a futuristic world where flowers emerge in different colors, with [...]

The truth about GM crops

Dawn Sci-Tech World
April 21, 2007
GM crops are environment-friendly and help the farmers manage their cotton crops in a very effective way because there is an in-built pest and weed control mechanism, explains Ijaz Ahmad Rao.
Biotechnology has received far greater acceptance in the discipline of medicine, energy and industrial sector as compared to the field [...]

The Angel Is in the Details

Twenty years ago, then-FDA Commissioner Frank Young and I began a Wall Street Journal op-ed thus: “Defining the terms ‘biotechnology’ and ‘genetic engineering’ isn’t an easy task, since the terms don’t represent natural groupings of processes or products. They connote something different to individual commentators, journalists, organizations, congressional staffers and members of the public. The [...]

Guest Biotech Blogs

Welcome to GMO Africa. This section will contain posts by guest bloggers on the subject of biotechnology.

Blogger Highlight:A Regurgitated Wave of Anti-GE Activism in India

In response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on the release of genetically modified organisms/seeds, the Supreme Court of India (SCI) directed the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), not to give approvals to genetically modified products until further orders (Indo Asian News Service, The Times of India, The Hindu, Financial Express). [...]

Biotechnology integral part of EU economy, finds report

CORDIS NEWS
April 24, 2007
Biotechnology is already making a significant contribution to the European economy and the achievement of key EU policies, a new report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre shows.
Biotechnology is considered to be a key technology in supporting the EU’s strategies on competitiveness and growth, job creation and sustainable development. However, [...]