In This Issue:
ISAAA Puts
Up Knowledge Center On Crop Biotech
The
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA) announces the establishment of the Global Knowledge Center
on Crop Biotechnology. Based at the ISAAA Southeast Asia headquarters
in Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines, the Knowledge Center envisions
itself as a virtual science-based information network responding
dynamically to the needs of developing countries on crop biotechnology
and related issues.
Specifically,
it will help national programs facilitate the development of a
policy environment conducive to the application of biotechnologies;
and promote public understanding of scientific advances in crop
biotechnology. To achieve these, the center shall serve as a hub
promoting a dynamic exchange of science-based information among
national policy makers, regulatory staff, scientists and other
strategic sectors.
Dr.
Clive James, ISAAA's Chair, says "The Knowledge Center was
born out of an urgent need for developing countries to have current
authoritative information for sound decision-making. This will
be realized through a network where consistent and focused sharing
and distribution of information will be pursued." The Knowledge
Center in collaboration with CAB International, United Kingdom
will put up an internet website called Crop Biotech Net and a bi-weekly
Crop Biotech Brief. CABI publishes AgBiotechNet,
a major resource covering agricultural biotechnology.
The
Knowledge Center will encourage expert networking and do continuous
scanning of the agribiotechnology environment. Other multi-media
approaches will be developed for various audiences interested in
crop biotechnology.
Asian Team
Shows Effective Pest Resistance in Elite Bt Rice
A transgenic
elite rice line and its derived hybrid, both of which produce the
potent insecticidal protein from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis
(Bt), have been developed through a collaborative effort between
Philippine and Chinese researchers. They inserted a gene into two
strains of high yielding rice in China, causing the plant to produce
a protein harmful to stem-boring insects.
As reported
in Nature Biotechnology, Dr. Swapan K. Datta, a plant breeder at
the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, and
colleagues conducted field evaluations in both natural and repeated
heavy manual infestation. Results showed that the new commercial
hybrid was resistant to two destructive insect pests, the yellow
stem borer and leaffolder. In addition, rice yields were 28.9%
higher than the non-Bt plants.
The
high-yield hybrid rice currently being planted throughout Asia
is susceptible to insect pests, particularly stem borers, and is
resistant to chemical spray insecticides. Datta claims that the
new rice breed provides a good resource for the management of rice
pests in China and tropical countries. They recommend the Bt technology
for use across rice-growing countries in Asia where insects are
a major problem.
The
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein is already widely used in genetically
engineered crops in the United States such as corn, cotton and
potato.
Contact: Dr.
Swapan K. Datta, IRRI, Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry
Division PO Box 9331099, Manila, Philippines
Nigerian Agriculture
Minister Supports Biotechnology
Hassan
Adamu, Agriculture Minister of Nigeria, in a statement to Africa
Online, says that É"without the help of agricultural biotechnology,
many will not live." This he said in reaction to groups who
were discouraging the use of agricultural biotechnology in Africa.
His views were reported in the Lagos- based publication This Day.
Adamu
mentioned that agricultural biotechnology can enhance conditions
that favor farming such as herbicide tolerance or insect or disease
resistance in plants. Conditions in Africa require unique solutions
that agricultural biotechnology can provide. He noted that Africa,
more than any other group, is in the best position to know its
conditions and possible threats to agriculture.
Florence
Wambugu, one of Africa's best-known plant geneticists, collaborates
this when she said "In Africa, GM food could almost literally
weed out poverty." Millions of Africans - many of them children
-are suffering from malnutrition and hunger.
Africa
will move with caution, adds Adamu, but at the same time it is
aware that agricultural biotechnology has been deemed safe and
nutritious by a host of nationally and internationally respected
organisations such as the US National Research Council, Nuffield
Council on Bioethics, World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development, the American Medical Association and the American
Dietetic Association.
Adamu
expressed the view that Africa should be left to determine its
future and how best to use agricultural biotechnology to feed its
millions.
US Health
Panel Stresses Benefits of GM Food
"It
would be tragic if fear and superstition were allowed to
impede the development of this incredibly valuable technology."
Doctors
and scientists affiliated with the American Council on Science
and Health (ACSH) assert that modern biotechnology, as applied
to a variety of crops and foods, presents no inherent risks to
consumers or the environment. They claim that these methods will
provide many benefits to consumers, farmers, and food processors.
In the
second edition of the publication, Biotechnology and Food, ACSH
discusses and reviews the basics of modern biotechnology. The author
of the report, plant molecular biologist Alan McHughen of the University
of Saskatchewan argues that modern biotechnology provides elegant
simplifications of the traditional types of genetic changes that
we humans have been introducing into our foods for many generations.
"The
main difference," says Ruth Kava, ACSH director of nutrition, "is
that the modern processes are much more specific. Instead of transferring
hundreds or even thousands of genes with traditional breeding,
modern methods allow biologists to move only the gene or genes
that are known to have the desired effects."
In the
report, McHughen addresses some of the public's concerns about
modern biotechnology, and shows that they are largely unwarranted.
For example, he notes that fears that such foods are unregulated
are baseless.
In the
USA, any new food, produced by traditional or new methods, must
be rigorously scrutinized before it can be marketed to consumers.
It must be shown, for example, whether the nutrient content or
that of naturally occurring toxic substances is changed. He says
it is important to note that bioengineered crops have been part
of the North American food supply since 1996, and no adverse effects
have been noted in humans, wildlife, or the environment.
Dr.
Elizabeth Whelan, ACSH president, notes that "Government regulation,
consumer acceptance, and private-sector investment are all important
factors in the future status of foods produced by modern biotechnology." She
added, "It would be tragic if fear and superstition were allowed
to impede the development of this incredibly valuable technology." A
copy of "Biotechnology and Food." |
