Archive for May, 2007

Uganda: Save the Mother!

By Esther Nakkazi
East African (Nairobi)Via Agbios
May 30, 2007
ELIZABETH NAKKU WAS pregnant when one day, as she was walking to market in Kireka, a suburb of Kampala, she collapsed.
Good Samaritans took her to a local clinic, but the nurses there declined to handle the patient and, instead referred her to Mulago Hospital.
Nakku, 28, had had [...]

EU Experts To Debate Three GMO Maize Applications

Reuters News Service Via AgBios
May 30, 2007
BRUSSELS - EU biotech experts will discuss three applications next week to approve new genetically modified (GMO) plants but are unlikely to break the bloc’s longstanding deadlock on GMO foods, officials said on Wednesday.
The applications, two of which are for modified maize hybrids, do not relate to cultivation [...]

Vital Lessons to Learn from Mexico and Brazil on Biotechnology

Two major developments in the field of agricultural biotechnology took place this month. The Brazilian government announced the approval of genetically modified corn seed “LibertyLink,” developed by Germany-based Bayer, for commercial cultivation.
Mexico’s National Confederation of Corn Growers (CNPAMM) announced that it would start growing corn genetically modified to resist stem borer from a U.S.-based seed [...]

Bayer wins Brazil GM corn approval

By Marina Ramalho
SciDev.Net
23 May 2007
[RIO DE JANEIRO] The Brazilian technical commission on biosecurity approved the genetically modified corn seed ‘LibertyLink’ last week (16 May), but environmental activists are accusing the commission of ignoring public safety concerns.
LibertyLink corn is produced by German company Bayer CropScience and is tolerant to glufosinate ammonium pesticide, used to kill harmful [...]

Bt Cotton in Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh, India: The farmers’ story

By C Kameswara Rao
Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education
May 24, 2007
We met about 20 Bt cotton growing farmers from different villages such as Kadipikonda (Hanumakonda Mandal), Kapulakanaparthi (Sangyem Mandal), Dharmaram (Beejakonda Mandal), Uggonipalli and Ustarapalli (both in Atmakur Mandal), and Yellampalli (Chityala Mandal) in the Warangal District. Three or four farmers we met [...]

Bt cotton in Warangal district, Andra Pradesh, India: The perception of the establishment

By C Kameswara Rao
Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education
At Hyderabad, we visited the Andhra Pradesh State Seed Certification Agency. We met with Scientific Officers of the Warangal Research Station of the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University of AP., the Officers at the District Office of the Government Department of Agriculture, Warangal and the dealers [...]

Bt cotton in Warangal District, Andhira Pradesh, India: The NGO charge sheet

By C Kameswara Rao
Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education
May 24, 2007
Lately, the Warangal District, in the semi-arid Telengana region of the State of Andhra Pradesh (AP), India, has become the epicenter of everything going bad in the cultivation of Bt cotton. Reports of phenomenal failure of Bt cotton, farmer distress, death of sheep, death [...]

GM and Non-GM Crops Can Co-exist

Science and Development Network (SciDev.net), a website that highlights science and technology issues from developing countries, has published a very informative article about coexistence of genetically modified (GM) crops with their conventional varieties.
The article entitled, “A healthy mix: strategies for GM and non-GM crop coexistence,” is a must-read, especially for critics of modern plant [...]

Unlocking the ‘green revelation’

By Tiisetso Motsoeneng
Business Iafrica.com
May 15, 2007
The world’s agricultural sector is poised to enter a new growth phase, with genetically modified organisms, global warming and demand for energy being major trends pushing agriculture into a new growth territory, said Ernst Janovsky, head of agriculture at banking group FNB at the 41st Annual Nampo Harvest Week.
“Although we [...]

GM food debate needs to be realistic

By Shane Morris
Irish Medical News
As someone who organised the first public debate on GM food in Ireland over 10 years ago I am the first to welcome debate. However, public debate should be founded in realism not rhetoric otherwise the GM food debate will end up like the MMR vaccination debacle.
During the past decade [...]