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Mothers for Natural LawInternational News on Genetic Engineering in AgricultureBiweekly News 00/06/04
Articles have been aggressively shortened. ------------------ ENLIGHTENMENT NEWS FLASH #50
New Web Site Promotes Organic Food Production Maharishi Organic Agriculture Ltd. is a new venture dedicated to promoting farming that produces healthy fruit and vegetables of the highest quality. The first crops will be planted beginning in July 2000. Maharishi Organic Agriculture will provide fresh fruit and vegetables that are grown in developing countries on virgin soils. The products will be shipped to markets in more developed countries via airfreight. The two goals of the project are:
Lands have been acquired and are in preparation for general and customized production of the full range of organic tropical fruits. The land will also be used to grow vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Organic certification is already in place for crops grown in Brazil and Mozambique. For more news, visit www.MaharishiOrganicAgriculture.com. ------------------ Copyright 2000 Xinhua News Agency Xinhua General News Service May 26, 2000, Friday Int'l Meeting on Biodiversity Concludes in Nairobi The Fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity concluded here on Friday after adopting decisions that will guide international action on biological diversity over the next two years. A highlight of the two-week conference was the signing of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety by 64 governments plus the European Community to regulate trans-border movement of genetically modified products. ------------------ Seeds of Resistance: Grassroots Activism vs. Biotech Agriculture Julie Light Special to Corporate Watch May 25, 2000 San Ramon, CA - ... Local Communities Go On Record Against GE Crops In communities from Berkeley, Petaluma and Sebastopol, California to five townships in Pennsylvania to the City of Boston, Massachusetts coalitions of parents, farmers and environmentalists have gotten local legislators to pass an array of anti-biotech resolutions. Some, like the one passed unanimously by Boston City Council in March, urge the federal government to require labeling of genetically engineered foods. Others, like Sebastopol's, support federal legislation calling a moratorium on genetically modified organisms unless they are proven safe. The resolutions are non-binding, but they are meant to educate the public and send a strong message to the biotech corporations and the federal government. Community activists have been convening town meetings and participating in the local political process, often helping to draft the measures. Activists say they are reclaiming the political process. "What we've been trying to accomplish in different parts of the country is local democracy," explains Dave Henson Director of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Sonoma County, California. "We can't do this at the national level because corporations control the political process," adds Henson who has been involved in various local initiatives as well as national strategizing. [On May 18, the Austin City Council adopted a very strongly worded resolution calling for a moratorium on GMO foods and supporting federal legislation mandating labeling. - editor] ------------------ Thousands march in anti-GM food protest in Genoa GENOA, Italy, May 25 (Reuters) - Italy saw its biggest protest yet against genetically modified foods as thousands marched to the site of a biotechnology conference in the northern city of Genoa on Thursday. Marchers, estimated by police at around 4,000, included supporters of environmentalist pressure groups and political parties, farmers, leftists and representatives of local councils that have banned GM foods. "The message of this march to life sciences companies that develop GM technology is: Don't patent life," Fiorello Cortiana, a member of the Greens and vice-president of the Senate's agricultural committee, told Reuters . "We should be properly informed about GM technology so that we can make our own choices about what we eat." Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ France Says Advanta Must Compensate for GM Rapeseed PARIS, May 29 (Reuters) - French Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany said on Monday seed company Advanta should compensate farmers for selling them rapeseed containing traces of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). The French government last Thursday ordered the destruction of 600 hectares planted with the Canadian seed in France after checks showed the batch contained genetically modified seeds and at least one strain of herbicide-resistant rapeseed. "We have to apply the polluter-pays principle," Glavany told RTL radio. The French government would ask Advanta to "provide advances and finance as much as possible," he said. "We will ask the company to assume its responsibilities and of course the state will also play a role in compensation if it's necessary," he added. "We don't want this decision (to destroy the crops) to harm farmers' interests." Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ UK's Advanta to Compensate Farmers for GM Seed LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - Advanta Seeds UK said on Friday that it will compensate British farmers who accidentally sowed genetically modified (GM) rapeseed. Advanta, part of a 50-50 venture between Anglo-Swedish group AstraZeneca Plc and Dutch cooperative Cosun, also sold GM affected seed imported from Canada to farmers in France, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg. In a statement, Advanta said that it proposed a "fair and equitable compensation package" to farmers who have grown crops from affected seeds. Advisory panels would fix the amount of compensation in the next few weeks, it added. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ London Times, 29 May 2000 Firms Move to Avoid Risk of Contamination By Nick Nuttall, Environment Correspondent SOME of the world's biggest seed companies are moving their operations to countries free of genetically modified production to reduce the risk of contamination, it emerged yesterday. Advanta, the company at the centre of the storm over GM impurities in the British oilseed rape crop said that it had abandoned producing seed in western Canada because the risk of cross pollination from GM crops and other was now too high. David Buckridge, the European business director, said the company had moved some of its production to New Zealand, where no GM production takes place, and the rest to New Brunswick in eastern Canada and Montana in the United States. Pioneer Hi-Bred, which supplies 12 per cent of the British maize crop, has enforced a similar strategy after worries that GM impurities in supposedly non-GM seeds were soaring. Most of its European maize seed production has moved to Romania, Hungary and Austria. ...Simon Preece, spokesman for the Pioneer's British operations, said that too many GM crops were being grown in parts of North America. This led to a rising risk of cross pollination from GM to non GM seed production and the mixing of seeds at packing centres. "With some 40 million acres of GM under cultivation worldwide, we were presented with significant challenges. We decided in 1999 to re-site the majority of the maize production in Eastern Europe where there is significantly less GM," he said. ------------------ Brazil Denies New York Times Article on Transgenics SAO PAULO, May 18 (Reuters) - Brazilian agriculture officials denied on Thursday the New York Times newspaper's statement that 30 percent of Brazil's entire billion-dollar soybean crop could already be genetically modified. The president of the Brazilian Association of Soybean Producers (Abrasoja) Jose de Barros Franca Neto said the paper or its source was not accurate about their assessment of the amount of genetically modified (GM) soybeans in Brazil. "Last year Abrasem (the Brazilian Seed Producers Association) estimated, before the crop was completely planted, that up to 30 percent of Rio Grande so Sul state could contain these illegal seeds, not the national crop," Franca Neto said. But Franca Neto said he knew of no Brazil-wide estimates about transgenic contamination of soy crops and added that last year's estimates on Rio Grande do Sul were unofficial... ...Brazil's southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, which will account for less than 16 percent of the nations total crop, has been the recent battle ground over the use of the so called super seeds. "The GM material were smuggled into the state from Argentina, right across the boarder. Farmers were interested in the seeds because they are well suited for the state's climate, which is similar to Argentina's" Franca Neto said. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ Research Shows Roundup Ready Soybeans Yield Less CLAY CENTER -- Soybean plants genetically modified to resist a popular non-selective herbicide yield less than conventional soybeans, University of Nebraska research shows. Two years of NU Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources research showed Roundup Ready soybeans yield 6 percent less than their closest relatives and 11 percent less than high-yielding conventional soybeans. This averages to three fewer bushel per acre, or 480 fewer bushels on a 160-acre field. NU Agronomist Roger Elmore, who headed this study, said the research was initiated after producers began asking yield-related questions about Roundup Ready soybeans in 1997, about the same time early test results from Nebraska and other state universities were released. The questions and early results hinted Roundup Ready soybeans yielded less than conventional beans. "Preliminary studies indicated something was going on," Elmore said... Going into the research, NU scientists knew one of two things was responsible for the Roundup Ready yield penalty: either spraying with Roundup or the gene insertion process. Their studies showed spraying had no effect. Researchers sprayed 13 Roundup Ready cultivars with three substances: Roundup, ammonium sulfate that enhances herbicide activity and weed control, and water. Roundup Ready yields were consistently 55 bushels per acre, which indicated Roundup didn't affect soybean growth, development or yields. From that, the scientists deduced the gene insertion process was responsible. This research was conducted by IANR's Agricultural Research Division. Press release, IANR News and Publications, Communications and Information Technology NU Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lincoln, NE Close ------------------ Farming News, "Behind the headlines...", 25 May 2000 To Grow Or Not To Grow "An example of this [unintended and poorly understood consequence of altering the nutritional content of food using genetic modification] is Monsanto's introduction of genes into oilseed rape to increase carotenoid levels. The introduction resulted in an unintended and unexplained reduction in tocopherol (including Vitamin E) and a change to the fatty acid composition of the plant. ------------------ The Observer Sunday May 28, 2000 GM Genes 'Jump Species Barrier' Antony Barnett, public affairs editor A leading zoologist has found evidence that genes used to modify crops can jump the species barrier and cause bacteria to mutate, prompting fears that GM technology could pose serious health risks. A four-year study by Professor Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a respected German zoologist, found that the alien gene used to modify oilseed rape had transferred to bacteria living inside the guts of honey bees. The research - which has yet to be published and has not been reviewed by fellow scientists - is highly significant because it suggests that all types of bacteria could become contaminated by genes used in genetically modified technology, including those that live inside the human digestive system. If this happened, it could have an impact on the bacteria's vital role in helping the human body fight disease, aid digestion and facilitate blood clotting. ------------------ May 23, 2000, 1:25am Swiss Novartis Unveils New Gene Marker BASEL, Switzerland, May 23 (Reuters) - Novartis Seeds AG said on Tuesday it had reached a key stage of development in a new process which could eliminate part of the controversy over use of genetically-modified (GM) food crops. Novartis Seeds, a unit of Novartis AG, said the technology involves a new type of "genetic marker," and called it a breakthrough with implications for product and licensing revenues, as well as for the debate over GM products. The trademark technology, called Positech, is being tested on maize, wheat, barley, sugar beet and vegetables. A marker generally is used to identify cells which are successfully modified during the procedure to create a GM product. The markers allow the handful of cells which get modified to be picked out from what could be millions of other cells which were not successfully changed. The new marker gives plant cells the ability to grow using mannose, a type of sugar. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is compiled for educational use only. |
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