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Mothers for Natural LawInternational News on Genetic Engineering in AgricultureBiweekly News 98/08/16Thanks to Cliff Kinzel and Richard Wolfson for these items.
Some of the articles have been shortened. ------------------- From: MASIPAG <masipag@mozcom.com> MASIPAG PRESS RELEASE 7,000 FARMERS DENOUNCE WTO-TRIPS Los Baños, 5 August 1998--Last 17 July, over 7,000 people--from peasants to priests, rural women to students activists--marched, chanted and assembled in the center of Kabankalan City, in Negros Occidental, to denounce the intellectual property rights treaty of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This was the first time in Philippine history that such a massive outpouring of people mobilized in the streets to express opposition to the patenting of life forms. In bold red letters one placard read: "Ang mga dumuluong nga nagsabwag sang kalautan, dapat pamatukan kag palayason" carried by a young, angry protester. That is Ilonggo for "those foreigners who perpetuate destruction should be opposed, condemned and thrown out of the country." His message was directed simultaneously to the WTO, to transnational corporations pushing genetic engineering, and to the perpetrators of biopiracy: three of the most highly-criticized subjects at the mobilization. ------------------- Date: 12 Aug 1998 15:14:20 -0500 From: "Clare Watson" <clarewatson@tinet.ie>
PRESS RELEASE Weds. 12th August 1998 Research Highlights Risk of using Viral Promoter Genes in New Foods Fragments of artificial genes inserted into foods were detected in the brain cells of baby mice in research conducted Dr. Walter Doefler of the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne.(1) Conventional wisdom had previously assumed that genetic material was destroyed in the process of digestion. The research emerged on the UTV World in Action programme last Monday. "This has huge implications for the use of genetically engineered foods" said Quentin Gargan of Genetic Concern. "Industry would have us believe that genetic engineering is a simple technology in which a single naturally occurring gene is taken from one plant and inserted into another, but nothing could be further from the truth". We may have a gene which gives us blue eyes, and this gene exists in every cell in our body - part of this gene is a promoter region which ensures that it is only switched on in cells in our eyes - otherwise, every part of our body would be blue from our hair to our toenails. When genes are inserted into a plant, they are accompanied by a promoter region from a virus. This promoter ensures that the gene is switched on at all times and in all parts of the plant. Viruses such as the cauliflower mosaic virus and a figwort virus have promoter regions which are highly active, and these are included in genes which were inserted into the sugar beet currently being tested in field trials by Monsanto around the country. "The idea that fragments of DNA from viral promoters could find their way into cells of new born babies is a frightening prospect", said Mr Gargan "yet Monsanto admitted in the World in Action programme that they do not conduct long term testing of these genetically engineered foods". (1) Journal of molecular genetics and genetics Vol 242: 495-504, 1994 ------------------- Press release from: "NLP Wessex" <nlpwessex@bigfoot.com> 3 August 1998 Dorset Farmers advised to avoid Genetically Modified Oilseed Rape GM Oilseed rape results reveal poor performance The Natural Law Party is advising farmers in Dorset that they should avoid growing genetically modified oilseed rape next year, in the event that government consent for the crop is granted. The Natural Law Party has discovered results of trials in Canada showing genetically modified (GM) varieties are being out-performed by conventional non-modified varieties, despite being approved for official seed registration lists. Information obtained by the Natural Law Party confirms that GM oilseed rape has not been scoring high enough points in standard performance tests to get onto officially approved seed lists in Canada. In order to overcome this problem the approval committee concerned has had to change the scoring system, and has only succeeded in getting approval for GM rape varieties by awarding special bonus points which do not relate to crop output. Testing system doctored to suit GM crops In order to be included in approved seed lists in Canada oilseed rape varieties are evaluated on the basis of their agronomic value. Merit scores are awarded for yield, disease resistance, earliness etc. To be accepted varieties have to score more than 108 points. In this case GM oilseed rape varieties were found by the approval committee to be "not agronomically as good as the check cultivars" and failed to score the necessary points. However, the committee (which includes representatives from plant breeders and seed growers) decided to change the scoring system to accommodate the GM varieties and awarded them additional bonus points. This extra score allowed a number of Liberty Link cultivars (bred by AgrEvo) and one Round Up Ready cultivar (bred by Monsanto) to be registered in 1995. The official reason given for changing the system was "the demand and desirability of the herbicide tolerant trait" for which the varieties had been genetically engineered. However, herbicide tolerant crops can lead to considerable rotation management problems, particularly in relation to the control of subsequent herbicide tolerant 'volunteers' and 'superweeds'. AgrEvo has already admitted this will lead to farmers becoming reliant on a wider range of their herbicides in the longer term. GM varieties lose farmers money Earlier this year a director of the Ontario Canola (Rape) Growers Association revealed that yields on his farm from Monsanto's Round Up Ready rape seed had fallen to 2.2t/ha compared with a 2.6 - 2.8/ha average for traditional varieties, with no savings in net costs. "The actual performance of these crops exposes the misleading and entirely subjective basis on which the seed approval system for GM rape has itself been modified. Farmers are being hit by this misinformation directly where it hurts most - in their pockets," adds Mr Griffiths. ENDS Notes for Editors: Details of rape approvals in Canada relate to the activities of the Western Canada Canola and Rapeseed Recommending Committee (WCC/RRC), reported at a workshop meeting of FACTT 11th December 1997. FACTT (Familiarisation and Acceptance of Crops incorporating Transgenic Technology) is a body funded by the European Commission and partner organisations in the agricultural sector. Plant Genetic Systems (Belgium), a subsidiary of European biotechnology and agro-chemical company AgrEvo, is the co-ordinator of FACTT. FACTT has a total budget of 3.6 ECU of which 1.6 million is provided by the Commission. FACTT can be contacted in the UK through Dr Paul Meakin, Home Grown Cereals Authority, 0171 263 3391. Ralph Baumlisberger, Director of the Ontario Canola Growers Association, reported reduced GM oilseed rape yields in the UK's "Farmers Weekly", 10 April 1998 (p.14). ------------------- Genetic crops can aid superweeds, claim scientists By Tim Radford, Science Editor Guardian (London)
Scientists last night confirmed the green campaigner's worst nightmare: genetically-engineered crops can lead to superweeds which shrug off weedkiller. In a bid to tackle the problem of dealing with weeds using weedkiller which can also destroy crops, genetic engineering has been used to develop crops which can withstand one specific herbicide. In theory, with one spraying, farmers should have weed-free harvests. But Dr Allison Snow of Ohio state university yesterday told the Ecological Society of America meeting in Baltimore that she and Danish scientists had discovered new evidence that the genes can also spread from crops to weeds - making them just as strong as their ordinary relatives. The scientists had crossed a herbicide-resistant oilseed rape with a wild relative in laboratory conditions. The theory was that although the resulting weed would inherit the artificial gene, the weed would also produce fewer flowers, or seeds as a result. But the only difference between the genetically-altered weed and ordinary weeds lay in the looks, and even that did not last. "By the third generation, the weeds that carried the gene for herbicide resistance looked exactly like normal weeds. The only way to tell them apart was to expose them to herbicide or test their DNA," she said. The report is a gift for campaigners who want to halt the spread of genetically-altered crops in Europe. A number of field trials in Britain have been disrupted. A genetically-engineered maize produced by Novartis - altered to provide its own pesticide - has been shown to kill "useful" insects as well as crop pests. The Ohio discovery is not the first to show that crop genes altered by humans can escape into the wild. Cultivated crop plants cannot compete with weeds: they need human help to eliminate the competition, or they perish. The thinking behind genetically-engineered resistance to one particular herbicide has been that the grower could eliminate all the weed competition in a field by spraying. The calculation was that any accidental hybrids would inherit the vulnerabilities of the crop parent along with the artificial benefit. It proved wrong. The outcome was the worst of all worlds. The laboratory hybrids had all the aggressiveness of the weed parents with weedkiller-resistance built in. Many crops - potatoes, for instance - do not have close relatives co-existing as weeds. Oilseed rape is a member of the brassica family, and wild weed brassicas often grow nearby, which would make it easy for genes to transfer with the pollen. Experiments last year showed that oilseed rape pollen can reach weeds more than a mile away. "If farmers spray their crops with the same herbicide every year, the only weeds to survive will be the ones with the transgenes - and then the transgenes will spread even faster," Dr Snow said. "That's why the area of crop transgenes is so controversial." Sue Mayer of Genewatch said: "We've been warning people about these risks and they have been ignored by the regulators. They have continued to license and encourage the development of these crops." Zeneca, which is pioneering genetically-engineered crops in Britain, said such discoveries were no reason to stop the research. "But we do believe it is imperative that farmers continue to have a wide variety of chemical and mechanical methods available to control weeds." ------------------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is compiled for educational use only. |
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