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Mothers for Natural LawInternational News on Genetic Engineering in AgricultureBiweekly News 99/01/01Thanks to Cliff Kinzel and Richard Wolfson for these items. 8. EU: Italian government against "life patenting directive" Articles have been aggressively shortened. ------------------ Italian Government Joins Dutch Challenge Against "Life Patenting Directive" 14 December 1998, Rome/Luxembourg/Brussels Forwarded by: genetics The government of Italy has started proceedings to join The Netherlands in their fight before the European Court of Justice against the highly controversial EU "Life Patents Directive". This move by the government in Rome means significant political support for the Dutch initiative which challenges the validity of the directive 98/44/EEC on the grounds of legal basis, subsidiarity, human/basic rights and conflict with international treaties. Even though in legal terms the Directive remains valid until a ruling of the ECJ, which might take as long as two years, Member States will now be inclined to wait as long as possible with the implementation of the Directive. Until that time the patenting practice in Europe does not change, and patents on plants for example will remain impossible. The larger aim of the directive has always been to move the EU into a position within the WTO to oppose the right of countries to choose whether they want to patent plants and animals or not. This right is granted under the current global patent regimes (TRIPs) within the WTO, which is up for a review next year. Most countries of the planet have opted not to grant patents, including the largest democracy in the world, India. "The political importance of the Dutch/Italian challenge lies in that the EU now will not present a united front (with the USA) against the South, which increases the chances for these countries to defend their rights," says Thomas Schweiger from the European Campaign [against] Biotechnology Patents. Member organisations of this network of NGOs have lobbied hard and successful for the governments in The Netherlands and Italy to take legal action. "But ultimately", says Schweiger, "we want the Directive to be annulled by the ECJ." ------------------ Copyright 1998 Guardian Newspapers Limited The Guardian (London) December 19, 1998 Brussels to debate ban on mutated food crops Martin Walker in Brussels A NEW trade war with the US may be triggered next week when Europe's environment ministers debate the possibility of a Europe-wide ban on the sale of foods, crops and seeds containing genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. The discussions, prompted by a request from the European Commission, follow a joint statement issued this week by the commission and parliament which declared that, in the wake of the BSE crisis, the restoration of consumer trust in foods was now a top priority... ------------------ Copyright 1998 Wellington Newspapers Limited The Dominion (Wellington) December 18, 1998 Ministers want gene foods labelled By Sarah Crichton IN AN upset that goes against the official position of the New Zealand and Australian Governments, health ministers meeting in Canberra yesterday voted to require labelling of "substantially equivalent" genetically modified food. Ministers from New Zealand and Australia moved earlier this year to make compulsory the labelling of food containing genetically modified ingredients that do not imitate natural foods. Yesterday they had to decide whether to proceed with labelling for foods containing genetically modified material, which have conventionally produced food counterparts. The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Council decision means labelling will be required for foods from plants that look and taste the same as their conventional counterparts - such as soya beans, corn and cotton oil - but have been altered to enable herbicide tolerance or higher vitamin content... ... the council resolved that a product must be labelled if a manufacturer knows it contains genetically modified material. If the manufacturer is uncertain, a product must carry a label indicating it "may" contain such material. -- NZPA Supplied by New Zealand Press Association ------------------ Field Trials of GE Crops to Stop in Andhra Pradesh Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 From: "PROF. NANJUNDA SWAMY" <swamy.krrs@aworld.net> Dear friends, "Cremation Monsanto", the campaign launched by the KRRS in Karnataka (India) against Monsanto's field trials on BT cotton is spreading all over the country as many other farmers organisations are taking up the struggle. Following the first action in Karnataka, where a Bt cotton field was reduced to ashes, cremations have gone on also in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Activists of Rytu Sangham (AP Farmers Association) also stormed Monsanto's office in that state's capital, Hyderabad, on Wednesday the 1st of December. As a result of all these actions and the rising concern among farmers about genetically modified crops, the Andhra Pradesh state government has asked the Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) pvt Ltd to stop all its field trials being conducted in seven districts of the state. Farmers and scientists from Andhra Pradesh have convened a meeting in Anantapur on 13th December to intensify the movement. ------------------ Copyright 1998 Newspaper Publishing PLC The Independent (London) December 13, 1998, Sunday Revealed: risks of genetic food BY MARIE WOOLF, Political Correspondent A KEY government report on the effects of growing genetically modified crops has been suppressed because of its controversial warning of serious environmental risks. It says there are serious dangers to Britain's hedgerows, birds, and indigenous plants from growing GM crops on a commercial scale. The report, commissioned by ministers to assess the potential effects of cultivating GM food in Britain, concludes that there are insufficient safeguards to stop the creation of hybrid multi-resistant plants. It lists a series of "gaps" in the UK's regulatory framework, leaving Britain's wildlife at serious risk of damage from genetically modified plants and other intensive farming methods. The news comes as the Health and Safety Executive, responsible for monitoring GM crop trials, has revealed that in the six months between April and October this year more than one in 10 of the 49 sites inspected during that period had been breaking the regulations governing trials. This week it is expected to prosecute Monsanto for such breaches - the first ever criminal case of its kind... [Editor's Note: In the U.S., the Dec. 22/98 National Post points out that Roundup Ready crops put the monarch butterfly at risk. Monarch caterpillars live on milkweed, which is killed by Roundup.] ------------------ http://www.fwi.co.uk/live/agworld.html Friday, 18 December, 1998 Monsanto faces criminal proceedings in UK By Johann Tasker BIOTECH giant Monsanto faces criminal proceedings in the UK after failing to control a trial of genetically modified (GM) oilseed rape. A routine inspection by Government safety officials earlier this summer revealed that the company was breaching safety measures required to grow the crop. Monsanto has indicated that it will not contest claims that it failed to restrict the transfer of pollen from a crop of genetically modified oilseed rape. ------------------ Copyright 1998 Newspaper Publishing PLC The Independent (London) December 13, 1998, Sunday Quoted from "It's hard to swallow", by Charles Arthur Earlier this summer the biotechnology giant Monsanto ran an advertising campaign to persuade Britons that its plans for introducing genetically - modified (GM) crops would benefit us all. Before the campaign started, 44 per cent opposed the idea of food with genetically-modified ingredients. After it, and with pounds 1m spent, 51 per cent opposed the idea. ------------------ British Conservative party calls for delay in GM crops Fri, 1 Jan 1999 15:05:55 -0000 "NLP Wessex" According to the London Times (Ist January 1998) the British Conservative Party has called for a delay of at least three years on the commercial growing of genetically modified crops in the UK to allow for more research into their safety. ------------------ Copyright 1998 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd. The Toronto Star Genes, greens, screen cuisine - Marion Kane's year in review December 30, 1998, Wednesday, Edition 1 This month, a terrific group of chefs in the U.S. called Chefs Collaborative 2000 petitioned the U.S. Federal Drug Administration to fight both biotechnology in food and BST. Working with Greenpeace, the group supports ''environmental sustainability'' and vows to ''convince Americans that there is an intimate connection between what we eat and how we choose to grow the food we eat.'' ------------------ Copyright 1998 Southam Inc. The Ottawa Citizen December 16, 1998, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION Biodiversity 'crackpot' wins Pearson medal: Activist wages war against 'life patents' BYLINE: ANDREW DUFFY; THE OTTAWA CITIZEN The Pearson Peace Medal was awarded yesterday to Pat Roy Mooney, an expert on plant genetics who has led an international campaign against patents on living organisms. Mr. Mooney, 51, a legally blind high school dropout, used to be called a crackpot as he battled large seed companies determined to promote the use of their genetically altered plant varieties around the world. But yesterday, Gov. Gen. Romeo LeBlanc lauded him as a visionary who recognized the dangers of agricultural technology long before most of the world. "He raised the alarm and he created a higher public consciousness of the threats to biodiversity," Mr. LeBlanc said. "His achievements show us the impact that one person can have when he cares deeply about an issue: He has raised the chances of the world having a secure supply of food and he has raised the chance for peace." It's estimated that 75 per cent of genetic diversity in the world's 20 key food crops have been lost. Most of that diversity -- important to ensuring that crops survive in changing conditions -- has been lost in the past 50 years as genetically altered, high-yield crops have been introduced around the world... Mr. Mooney is now executive director of the Rural Advancement Foundation International, which has offices in Ottawa and Winnipeg...Mooney's Rural Advancement Foundation has successfully fought against three patents taken out on human cell lines - copies of human cells reproduced in a lab - by the U.S. government. The patents allowed the U.S. Department of Commerce to charge a $136 fee to anyone wanting to use the cells in an experiment. The cells came from the human tissue of indigenous people in Guaymi, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Mooney's group has taken patent fights to the United Nations and to international courts. It's his proudest achievement, he said, that the campaign has gone mainstream. "There are hundreds of groups out there doing this work now. And I can see a point down the road where we're going to turn this stuff around: I think the momentum is building up so that the patenting of life will become a very hot topic around the world and we're going to find companies back pedalling." ------------------ Kimeragen and AgriBioTech Announce Collaboration to Improve Turfgrass and Forage Seed December 31, 1998 HENDERSON, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge Corporation -- ...Kimeragen's enabling technology platform, chimeraplasty, allows specific repair or replacement of small segments of genes. Chimeraplasty is applicable to plants, animals, bacteria and human cells. When used in clinical applications, this molecule is packaged with a delivery system and then is administered into the subject and ultimately the chimeraplast binds selectively to the portion of the target gene to be modified. Once bound, chimeraplasty activates the recipient's own gene-correcting mechanism, which mediates the gene change. For plants, the chimeraplast enters a plant cell, makes the desired genetic change, and the modified cell is then grown into a full plant that contains the new trait, which is passed to the next generation through the seed... [Copyright 1998, Business Wire] ------------------ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is compiled for educational use only. |
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