2011-08-20 | permalink

New patent granted to Bayer on convential plant breeding breaks the law

The European Patent Office in Munich has recently granted a patent for the German company Bayer for breeding plants with a higher stress tolerance (EP1616013). The comprehensive patent will give Bayer monopoly control over important food crops including both genetic engineering in plants and the process for conventional breeding and plants derived thereof. [...] “This new patent for Bayer breaks the law. It conflicts in particular with the prohibition of patents on essentially biological’ processes for breeding.”

2011-08-19 | permalink

Public pressure halts GE pharma crop trials in Spain

Friends of the Earth Spain celebrates the suspension of GM trials with human genes after mass mobilisations by the general public. Valencia’s local government has revoked the permit of an Italian pharmaceutical company to experiment with GM rice combined with human genes in Vinaros, Castellon. [...] The aim of the GM trial was to obtain enzymes to treat Gaucher’s disease. However, there are several treatments for this disease that are obtained through genetic engineering in confined environments.

2011-08-18 | permalink

Heat on Monsanto over brinjal piracy

American seed giant Monsanto and its Indian collaborator, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company are to be prosecuted for allegedly ‘stealing’ indigenous plant material for developing genetically modified brinjal variety known as Bt brinjal. The National Biodiversity Authority, a statutory body set up under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, has decided to initiate legal proceedings against the two companies and their collaborators for using indigenous brinjal germplasm without necessary permission.

2011-08-15 | permalink

Testbiotech and GeneWatch UK submit request to re-examine EU authorisation for Monsanto’s Genuity VT Triple PRO Corn

The non-profit organisations Testbiotech and GeneWatch UK have submitted a formal request to the European Commission re-examine market authorisation of a genetically engineered maize produced by Monsanto sold under brand Genuity VT Triple PRO Corn (event MON89034 x MON 88017) [...] It produces a combination of three different insecticidal toxins, one of which is synthesised artificially. Further, the plants are made tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate (known as Roundup). [...] The plants were not tested for health effects in feeding studies. Only a short term trial for its nutritional quality was performed in poultry. The residues from spraying with glyphosate formulations were also not considered by the European Food Safety Authority EFSA.

2011-08-12 | permalink

Western Australian farmer sues neighbour over GE canola contamination

[Steve Marsh, from Kojonup in WA’s Great Southern region] is suing a neighbour for negligence after genetically modified canola seed blew onto his land, causing the loss of his organic crop certification. [...] Scott Kinnear of The Safe Food Foundation said protocols for growing GM crops needed strengthening and there was a good argument for canola to be banned as a GM crop in Australia. “Canola is probably the most difficult grain to deal with from a contamination point of view,” he said.

2011-08-11 | permalink

First field-evolved Bt resistance of western corn rootworm discovered

To date, the widespread planting of Bt crops has resulted in pest resistance for only a small subset of all pest populations managed by this technology. However, these recent cases suggest a need to develop more integrated management solutions for pests targeted by Bt crops. A common pattern observed among problem fields in this study was the consecutive planting of the same type of Bt maize over several seasons. Even with resistance management plans in place, sole reliance on Bt crops for management of agriculture pests will likely hasten the evolution of resistance in some cases, thereby diminishing the benefits that these crops provide.

2011-08-10 | permalink

Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and other organisations ask Monsanto to quit India

The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and several NGOs took out a protest on Tuesday against US genetically-modified seed producer Monsanto. They took out their protest on the lines of the ‘Quit India Movement’ launched by Mahatma Gandhi against the British on August 9, 1942, and asked Monsanto to stop its activities in the country and quit India. NGO representatives told mediapersons at Gujarat Vidyapeeth that if Monsanto gets total control over the country’s agriculture, it will begin interfering in the political affairs and virtually become another ‘East India Company’.

2011-08-10 | permalink

GM crops still wait for harvest in China

Genetically modified food in China is unlikely to be commercially available for large-scale planting for at least three to five years, said a top agriculture expert. “Given the constraints on natural resources in China, particularly land and water, the government will definitely need transgenic technology to raise food production in the long term” Huang Jikun, director of the Center for Chinese Agriculture Policy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Daily in an exclusive interview. [...] Still, some experts take a more guarded view of GM crops.
Jing Fei, a seed expert at Bohai University in Northeast China’s Liaoning province, said there was no need for the country to approve the commercialization of GM food over the next few years.

2011-08-08 | permalink

GM Soy Study Confirms More Poison and Resistance

According to the results of a case study on Brazil, the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology confirmed that the need for plant protection and the number of resistant weeds has grown since the introduction of GM soy. There is also fear that some farmers are using outdated herbicides that are banned in Europe. The development of genetically engineered plants with multiple resistance offers no solution. The predominant use of GM soy in the main producing countries USA, Argentina and Brazil is characterized by its unilateral weed management and a lack of tillage. Both practices favor the formation of resistant weeds. From 2007 to 2009 the import from Europe to Brazil of highly toxic herbicide Paraquat has increased from 0 to 66 million kg. This indicates an increased use of the herbicide, which was banned in Europe since 2007. The Round Up Ready Plus Program by Monsanto shows that the manufacturers themselves are taking the resistance problem in weeds seriously. The company will pay for an additional herbicide application at planting of glyphosate-resistant GM soya. Even with multiple resistant GM soybeans, resistance problems will continue. This study recommends that the use of herbicides with different mechanisms of action should not be developed, as they are merely due to the monopoly position of GM soybean. Above all. alternative farming methods should be used.

2011-08-08 | permalink

Monsanto appeals against destruction of corn in Hungary

The Hungarian unit of US seed giant Monsanto has appealed to Budapest Municipal Court to suspend a resolution by the Agriculture Office ordering the destruction of corn thought to be genetically modified, Monsanto Hungaria technical director Mihály Czepó told state news agency MTI on Monday. [...] Monsanto tested the seeds they sold to Hungary in their own laboratories and found no GMO, Czepó said. An independent laboratory in France also tested the seeds, getting the same results, which they sent to Hungarian authorities as well, he said.

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