Archive for June, 2007

Control of Bt Cotton Seed Price by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, India

By Dr. C Kameswara Rao
FBAE Biotech Blog
June 30, 2007
The Government of the State of Andhra Pradesh (AP) is issuing an Ordinance restricting the maximum sale price of 400 g of Bt cotton seed required for an acre to Rs. 750. The package also includes 50 g of non-Bt cotton seed to plant [...]

Africa Not Being Forced to Accept GM crops

David Fig, who identifies himself as a trustee of BioWatch, and environmental policy analyst, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, has penned an article on the Science and Development Network (SciDev.net) website haranguing multinational biotech companies and some nongovernmental organizations for trying to goad African governments to adopt genetically modified (GM) crops.
Mr. Fig writes that [...]

Food Conscious: The Shopper’s GMO Guide

By Carol Ness
The San Francisco Chronicle via Agbios
Thursday, June 28, 2007
I could hear my mother’s voice in my head as I leafed through Andrew Kimbrell’s new quick-guide to genetically engineered foods.
“Oh, the government says they’re OK. And if they were such a big problem, we’d all be falling down dead by now. They’re no [...]

Iowa State University Seed Science Center scientists facilitate agreements between the 14 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to improve seed policies and regulations and to reduce seed trade barriers in the region

June 27, 2007
By Sabrina Shields-Cook
Iowa State University Seed Science Center via SeedQuest
Joe Cortes and Adelaida Harries, scientists at the Iowa State University Seed Science Center, recently facilitated technical agreements between the 14 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to improve seed policies and regulations and to reduce seed trade barriers in [...]

GM crops: ‘Point of no return in ten years’

By Sybille de la Hamaide
The Scotsman via AgBios
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
EUROPE will increase its genetically modified (GMO) crop area by 50,000-100,000 hectares a year over the next decade, US biotech giant Monsanto has said.
“It will be slow but within ten years GMOs will have reached the point of no return,” said Jean-Michel Duhamel, Monsanto’s [...]

KENYA: NBC approves field trails on genetically engineered cotton variety

BharatTextile.com via Agbios
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
NAIROBI — The field trials on a new genetically engineered cotton variety meant to be pest-resistant and higher yielding than traditional types has been approved by the National Biosafety Committee (NBC).
The National Biosafety Committee (NBC) in conjunction with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) have recommended the introduction of Bollgard [...]

Syngenta strikes research deal with China on GMO crops

Associated Press Via Biotechnology News and Links
June 27, 2007
The Swiss agrochemicals group, Syngenta, on Monday announced a joint research agreement with a leading Chinese research institute to develop genetically-modified, drought tolerant crops for use on global markets. More…

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Genetically modified mushrooms may yield human drugs

Foodconsumer.org
June 23, 2007
Mushrooms, the smallest rooms in the world, have already proved to be healthy foods. Scientists have now genetically modified mushrooms such that they might serve as bio-factories for the production of various beneficial human drugs, according to new research released Friday June 22, 2007. More….

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Europe Must Listen to Mandelson on GM Food

The European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, last week, and for the umpteenth time, appealed to European countries to adopt an open approach to agricultural biotechnology and genetically modified (GM) food.
In a speech during the European Biotechnology Open Day in Brussels, Belgium, Mr. Mandelson counseled Europe to embrace biotechnology that “… prioritizes strict science-based [...]

Public Support For Biotech on the Rise

By Srinivas Rao
BioSpectrum
This year’s annual BIO International Convention, held during May 6-9, 2007, surpassed all the records. The BIO International Convention, produced by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), drew a record 22,366 attendees. With representatives from 48 states and 64 countries, the number of attendees saw almost a 15 percent increase compared to that [...]