There have been 15 new articles posted in the GMO News Updates forum in the past week.
——————————————————————————–
New movie damns Monsanto’s deadly sins
A new movie has dealt yet another severe blow to the credibility of US based Monsanto, one of the biggest chemical companies in the world and the provider of the seed technology for 90 percent of the world’s genetically engineered (GE) crops.
The French documentary, called “The world according to Monsanto” and directed by independent filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, paints a grim picture of a company with a long track record of environmental crimes and health scandals.
——————————————————————————–
Mexico farmers quietly plant banned GM corn
In the dry state of Chihuahua, south of the Texas border, 68-year-old Amado Trevizo became an accidental outlaw last year when his son planted 10 sacks of seeds of GM corn, banned in Mexico.
Trevizo was left with the 10-hectare (25-acre) harvest when his son was killed in a car accident, making him the unwitting owner of a technically illegal crop.
——————————————————————————–
U.S. activist circles globe to fight biotech crops
Jeffrey Smith is a man on a mission.
Each day, ever day for the last 12 years, the 49-year-old Smith has made it his personal calling to travel the world preaching against genetically modified crops.
From Poland to Brazil and California to Vermont, Smith has crisscrossed more than two dozen countries to preach to physician groups, regulators, political leaders, and consumer groups that gene-altered corn, soybeans, canola and other crops, when included in human food, can cause a range of serious health problems.
——————————————————————————–
U.S. groups urge labels for modified foods
The European Commission’s move to label a genetically modified variety of rice has some stateside grassroots organizations clamoring for strong government regulation for food products that have had their DNA scientifically altered.
European Union food products containing Chinese rice will require certification they were tested for safety beginning April 15. Recent poisonings in Japan linked to Chinese-made dumplings containing the genetically modified rice prompted the commission to enact the law.
The Campaign, a U.S.-based political action group said genetically modified foods have not been adequately safety tested and companies producing them are held to no special standard by the Food and Drug Administration, said Executive Director Craig Winters.
——————————————————————————–
Brazil GMO cane research advances, waits for OK
Sugar cane genetically modified for greater ethanol and sugar production could be developed in three to five years but strict Brazil biotechnology regulation could keep it off the market for as much as seven years, companies said on Tuesday.
Scientists are field-testing GMO cane varieties with higher sucrose yields than conventional ones, said Brazilian leading biotech companies Alellyx Applied Genomics and Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC).
——————————————————————————–
Gene modified crop spurs investor revolt
A group of socially concerned US investors has launched a public campaign calling on food companies not to use a controversial new genetically engineered sugar beet crop that is to be planted for the first time this spring.
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is calling on consumers to write to 63 companies, including Heinz, Campbell’s Soup, General Mills and Kraft, asking them to say they will not use a new sugar beet strain developed by Monsanto.
——————————————————————————–
Technology Sows Seeds of Public Mistrust (South Africa)
JUDGING by the level of antagonism between the proponents of the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the anti-GMO activists, the struggle between these lobby groups is far from over.
It has certainly prompted a call from the South African Women’s Agricultural Union (SAWAU) for better communication about biotechnology.
——————————————————————————–
State ‘Can Bear Blame for Seed Row’ (South Africa)
THE government has been implicated in an international row over the export of seed maize to Kenya which has been contaminated with a genetically modified variety banned in every African country except SA.
The director of the African Centre for Biosafety, Mariam Mayet, blamed seed-bulking facilities for the “contamination”, but said the government should shoulder blame for the scandal .
——————————————————————————–
GMO taro bill moves forward (Hawaii)
Supporters of a Senate bill aimed to impose a 10-year moratorium on the developing, testing and raising of genetically modified taro are relieved, after waiting for more than a year, that the bill will be heard on March 19.
After Senate Bill 958 was first introduced in January 2007 it failed but was carried over to the 2008 legislative session.
——————————————————————————–
Should biotech piggy go to market?
Behind locked doors, past a shower, where humans are required to rinse, more than 25 pink pigs crowd into hay-covered pens at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. They look like regular Yorkshire pigs: Their eyes gleam like black marbles, they snort, and they scarf dinner from a trough. “These pigs behave like pigs; they do everything a pig would do,” says John Kelley of Mars Landing, a Canadian agricultural development program. Except for one thing.
These pigs have been modified to carry a gene from an innocuous strain of E. coli that has been spliced with a protein from a mouse. This doesn’t give the pigs a newfound affinity for cheese. Rather, the added gene enables the animals to produce the enzyme phytase in their saliva. This enzyme, say Guelph researchers, could solve one of the major environmental problems associated with industrial pig farms.
——————————————————————————–
States Move to Label Cloned Food
The debate over cloned food in the past year has been ferocious. As the Food & Drug Administration weighed whether to allow food from cloned animals into the country’s food supply, more than 30,000 public comments flooded in, with the overwhelming majority opposed to the move. Lea Askren, one consumer who wrote to the agency, called the practice “unethical, disturbing, and disgusting.” Yet on Jan. 15, the FDA sided with the scientists who have researched the issue, saying that meat and milk from cloned animals are “as safe to eat as food from conventionally bred animals.”
Now comes the real battle: Will consumers be able to tell which milk or meat on their supermarket shelves is from cloned animals or their offspring?
——————————————————————————–
Paradise is no name for a cow created inside Frankenstein’s lab (Wales)
WE CAN thank Mary Shelley for the popular image of the mad scientist in his secret laboratory tinkering with the nuts and bolts of existence.
So maybe we should blame her for our discomfort at the work of the gene scientists, creating clones of animals, or plant varieties with attributes otherwise confined to fish or fowl.
——————————————————————————–
France proposes tougher EU rules for modified crops
France on Monday proposed scrapping the EU’s present system for authorising genetically modified crops for tougher standards which take into account a wide range of environmental and safety factors.
A European Commission spokeswoman said that no member state spoke against the French proposals, while French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said about six of them spoke in favour, including Spain, Italy and Poland.
——————————————————————————–
Religious investors call for boycott of GM sugar
A coalition of ethical stock market investors have called on 63 US food, beverage and restaurant companies to stop using genetically modified (GM) sugar beet.
The coalition of nearly 300 faith-based investors with over $100bn in invested capital, which goes under the name of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), has launched a web-based campaign against the planting of GM sugar beets from the April 2008 planting season.
The campaign, at www.DontPlantGMOBeets.org, claims that allowing GM sugar into the US food chain would affect thousands of the most widely consumed products in the US.
——————————————————————————–
South Korea buys 697 TMT of biotech corn for food use
South Korea has recently purchased the country’s first shipment of biotech corn via optional origin for the use of food purposes. As of today the Korean Corn Processing Industry Association (KCPIA) has bought 697 thousand metric tons (27.4 million bushels) of genetically modified (GM) corn for April – August shipment at $318.23 – $337.33 per metric ton, cost and freight. Most of the corn will be shipped from the United States, according to the exporters and KCPIA officials.
——————————————————————————–