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Mothers for Natural LawInternational News on Genetic Engineering in AgricultureBiweekly News 00/01/31
Articles have been aggressively shortened. ------------------ Copyright 2000 Telegraph Group Limited THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON) January 25, 2000, Tuesday GM Risks - the Truth is Far More Shocking By MATT RIDLEY THERE is a frightening form of genetic modification being developed. It is so scary that the dangers posed by "ordinary" GM pale by comparison. Yet it is not even being discussed at the Montreal Biosafety Protocol meeting in Montreal this week to hammer out a deal on trade in GM crops. A conspiracy of silence surrounds it. The ordinary, or "precise-GM", procedure works by inserting single genes into plant cells, usually by coating tiny gold particles with copies of the gene and firing them into the cells. The cells are then grown into plants. The frightening form of genetic modification works like this. Seeds are taken to a nuclear facility and subjected to heavy doses of gamma rays from nuclear fuel. This results in severe, widespread and random damage to the genes of the seed. Most of the seed is thus rendered useless, but occasionally the sledgehammer disruption by radiation alters a seed in such a way as to make it more productive. Unlike precise-GM crops, there is no way of knowing which of these Frankenstein mutant genes have been altered and how. Yet the crop goes straight into the field with no safety testing... BY NOW you may have smelt a rat. You may be beginning to suspect that there is something wrong with what I have been saying for the past few paragraphs. There is, but it is only this. I have implied that atomic-GM crops are new, but they are not. They have been around since the 1950s; they are usually called "conventional" crops. They are the mainstay of all farmers, including organic ones, who rely on the high yields of atomic-GM plants to make money. They are universally used throughout the world. They were the cause of the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, which managed to banish hunger from most of the world despite rising populations and did so by selling high-yielding, atomically mutated, non-reusable seed to Indian peasants. All I have done is to tell the truth about how such conventional varieties of crops were and are produced. In 1957, a sample of a barley variety called Maythorpe was irradiated at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell. From the resulting mutant strains, one called Golden Promise became the staple malting barley variety of the next 25 years. Beer and whisky made from it was drunk all over the world. Since then, 1,700 varieties of 158 species of crop have been developed by atomic irradiation: genetically modified organisms in all but name. ------------------ Sunday January 30, 2000 America Backs Down on GM Foods by Ed Vulliamy, John Madeley and Anthony Browne The beleaguered industry in genetically modified foods suffered its most serious setback yesterday when 130 countries signed a treaty giving them rights, for the first time, to restrict imports of GM crops without breaking international trade rules. The breakthrough came after the United States unexpectedly climbed down at the end of heated all-night negotiations at a United Nations summit in Montreal... The US and half a dozen other GM-exporting countries had steadfastly blocked a consensus pact to regulate the trade in genetically modified food. The deadline for a deal passed on Friday night but the talks continued and, close to dawn yesterday, the US delegation agreed to a Biosafety Protocol... The European Union and many developing nations had argued that countries should be allowed to refuse imports of any genetically modified product. But the US had objected that restricting GM foods would be in violation of World Trade Organisation treaties and that free trade should take precedence. The pact will allow countries to apply a 'precautionary principle' and reject imports of GM foodstuffs if they think there is a safety risk. It will oblige all shipments and trading in genetically modified foods to bear labels stating that the products 'may contain' GM organisms. British Environment Minister Michael Meacher said for the first time countries will have the right to decide whether they want to import GM products or not when there is less than full scientific evidence. It is official that the environment rules aren't subordinate to the trade rules. It's been one hell of a battle.' ------------------ BBC online: Sci/Tech Saturday, 29 January, 2000, 11:31 GMT Controls Agreed on GM Imports What the [Biosafety Protocol] deal means: #Covers food, seeds, animal feeds and medicine
...One sticking point had been US opposition to the European Union's proposals that all GM foods are labelled to alert consumers. The two sides agreed that shipments of GM commodities should bear labels saying they "may contain" genetically-modified organisms and are not intended for intentional introduction into the environment... ------------------ Copyright 2000 Agence France Presse Agence France Presse January 29, 2000, Saturday 6:48 AM, Eastern Time Broad Accord Required Haggling, Documentation The sweeping new [Biosafety Protocol] accord on genetically altered crops covers a wide array of foods, animal feed and raw materials. "We have all had to give something in order to get this protocol," said Juan Mayr Maldonado, Colombia's environment minister, in heralding the deal. The treaty requires an explicit prior agreement between exporters and importers before trading in living organisms whose genes have been modified by scientists, including seeds, animals and even microbes, officials said. The deal requires at least some documentation, and sets obligations under the pact similar to those found in the World Trade Organization. ------------------ U.S. to Meet EU Label Rules on GMOs THE HAGUE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - U.S. exporters are ready to meet the European Union's new one percent threshold on labelling food containing genetically modified organisms, although the system may actually heighten consumer fears, a top U.S. trade official said on Friday. EU rules forcing food producers to label their products as containing GMOs if they cannot guarantee each of the ingredients contains less than one percent of GM material came into force earlier this month. They do not provide for a "GM-free" label as separate rules are still being drafted on how to define GM-free. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ Greenpeace Wins First Round in EPA Lawsuit to Ban Bt Crops WASHINGTON, January 19, 2000 -- A top court has agreed to hold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accountable for its decision to legalize the planting of genetically modified crops. In the opening session of Tuesday's oral hearings against the EPA, Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer of the Federal District Court of Washington, D.C., stated he would "hold [EPA's] feet to the fire" and ordered the agency to respond to Greenpeace's charges within 60 days. Last February, Greenpeace and a coalition of over 70 plaintiffs, including the Center for Food Safety and the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements, sued the EPA, charging the agency with the wanton destruction of the world's most important biological pesticide -- Bt. This natural pesticide has been used sparingly by organic farmers for years but is now under threat from genetically engineered crops. Scientists warn that corn genetically engineered with the Bt pesticide in each of its cells could lead to insect resistance within 3 to 4 years, thereby wiping out the effectiveness of Bt for organic farmers. By aiding in this process, the EPA may force the use of more and newer pesticides in the near future... ------------------ Copyright 2000 Telegraph Group Limited THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON) January 19, 2000, Wednesday Politics: GM Crops Organic Farmers 'Must Accept Contamination' By Marie Woolf, Political Correspondent ORGANIC farmers will have to accept contamination of food they grow by genetically modified crops, the new agriculture minister responsible for GM food told MPs. Her remarks will infuriate organic farmers who have warned ministers that the unique status of their food will be compromised if contaminated by any GM crops. Baroness Hayman, minister of state at the Department of Agriculture, told MPs on the agriculture select committee that she felt that "the organic movement has to recognise and find a way of living with contamination from other crops". The Minister disclosed that her department was convening private meetings between organic farmers and SCIMAC, the industry body which is responsible for drawing up guidelines to grow GM food in Britain, in an attempt to reach a compromise. ------------------ Pioneer Hi-Bred Wins Right to Patent Seeds and Plants DES MOINES, Iowa Jan 20 (Reuters) - Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., the seed company owned by DuPont Co., said late Wednesday that it won a key decision on the patentability of seeds and plants from seeds. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a District Court in Iowa's ruling that seeds and plants from seeds can be patented. That ruling was part of a suit Pioneer had brought against an Iowa farm supply company for reselling Pioneer brand seeds. The court also ruled that plant breeders could use multiple forms of intellectual property protection -- both utility patents and protection through the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ Mexican Bean Biopiracy:
RAFI - Geno-Types - 17 January 2000 Summary: A US-based company, POD-NERS, L.L.C, is suing Mexican bean exporters, charging that the Mexican beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) they are selling in the US infringe POD-NERS' US patent on a yellow-colored bean variety. It's not surprising that the Mexican beans are strikingly similar to POD-NER's patented bean. That's because POD-NERS proprietary bean, "Enola" originates from the highly popular "Azufrado" or "Mayocoba" bean seeds the company's president purchased in Mexico in 1994. The Mexican yellow beans have been grown in Mexico for centuries, developed by generations of Mexican farmers and more recently by Mexican plant breeders. Last year RAFI released a report, Plant Breeders' Wrongs, which documents 147 suspected cases of institutional biopiracy. In RAFI's opinion, the Enola bean patent is a textbook case of biopiracy, and it confirms -- once again -- that the plant intellectual property system is predatory on the rights of indigenous peoples and farming communities. ------------------ Monsanto Sees GM Corn in China in 2001 SINGAPORE, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co hopes to launch genetically modified (GM) corn in China next year, which should help Beijing face international competition upon joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a Monsanto official said... China has emerged as a major exporter of corn, but it has to provide heavy subsidies to compete against the United States or South American rivals, such as Brazil and Argentina. It is expected to meet strong international pressure to scrap such subsidies and open up its huge farm markets for imports when it joins the free trade organisation, possibly later this year... "They have right now 137 labs in China on biotechnology with 2,000 scientists. They're increasing budgetary allocations to biotechnology. They are building a big biotech research centre at the Beijing University," Martin said... In the Chinese cotton market, Martin estimates GM species already account for some three percent of the total output. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ Copyright 2000 The Washington Post The Washington Post
Down on the High-Tech Pharm;
By Justin Gillis, Washington Post Staff Writer ...Some of the goats on the farm, run by a company called Genzyme Transgenics Corp., have human genes in them. Others have genes not found in nature, genes produced by human artifice. In their milk, the nanny goats produce drugs. Old MacDonald's farm it isn't: One goat is expected to make drug-laden milk worth as much as $30 million a year. Genzyme is competing with two companies, including the one that helped create Dolly the cloned sheep, to be first to bring to market a drug produced in "transgenic" animals. At all three companies, the logistics of producing drugs this way have largely been solved--their scientists have repeatedly shown it can be done. What remains is to commercialize the technology, known as "pharming," and in that goal Genzyme has a jump on its competitors: It is farther along than any other company in human testing of a transgenically produced drug. Last week the firm reported positive test results of the compound, a protein believed to aid in preventing blood clots during heart-bypass surgery. It was the second major study to suggest the drug works, and a final test is under way. If the results hold up, Genzyme could win approval from the Food and Drug Administration to sell the drug by sometime next year. ------------------ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is compiled for educational use only. |
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