In
This Issue:
GERMAN SENATE
COMMISSION APPROVES TRANSGENIC CROPS
Germany's Senate Commission on Genetic Research has stated that
using genetically modified (GM) plants and microorganisms in
food production helps to ensure
food security for the world population and to protect sustainable agriculture.
The central public funding organization for academic research
in Germany, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), issued
the statement on genetic engineering and
food. It is now being disseminated to political and scientific communities.
Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, DFG president, said that the report comes at a time
when the genetically engineered production of animal and plant based food is
a controversial matter of public debate.
The report comments on conceivable risks resulting from
the cultivation and consumption of genetically modified
plants or food and refers to safety precautions
to protect the consumer. It recommends sticking to the "tried and tested regulations" on
tests mandated by the law on genetic engineering and food. The commission is
urging a uniform implementation of national and European guidelines supplemented
by provisions covering GM seed for animal feed and food.
The complete text is available at http://www.dfg.de/aktuell/publikationen.html
CANADA ADVISORY GROUP PROPOSES
MORE GM RESEARCH
Canada should streamline how it handles agricultural biotechnology
by appointing a "chief safety officer" of genetically modified
(GM) food. The Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee
gave this recommendation in a report on how the federal
government can better manage the GM issue.
The report recommended the Canadian government to establish an inter-departmental
committee of senior bureaucrats to oversee regulation of GM food; conduct more
research on its long-term effects on health and the environment; provide more
complete and unbiased information to consumers about GM food and its regulation;
and do a better job of showing the public that GM food regulators are not promoting
the products or the technology.
A final report will be presented early next year after the Committee receives
public reaction to the initial proposals.
US TO CONTINUE
PLANTING GM COTTON
The Associated Press reports that the US government has
decided against requiring farmers to cut back on planting
GM cotton. The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) says there is no evidence that resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis is
developing, and that requiring farmers to reduce their use of the crop "would
result in unacceptable economic losses" and lead to more use of chemical insecticides.
EPA approved the planting of the biotech crop for another five years.
EPA was also cited as saying that the use of Bt cotton
reduced by two-thirds the use of insecticides that are
most toxic to birds and fish, and a one-third
cut in the use of chemicals most dangerous to people.
INDONESIAN MINISTER
OF AGRICULTURE WINS COURT CASE
The State Administration Court rejected the NGO Coalition's
litigation against the Minister of Agriculture. The panel
of judges stated that the Minister did
not violate the Environment Impact Analysis (Amdal) for the project. The existing
decree is already in accordance with the required procedure.
Bungaran Saragih, the Minister of Agriculture, while happy with the decision,
stated that he is still open to comments from critics. If GM cotton proves
to have a negative impact, he will be ready to withdraw the decree. Similarly,
48 farmers from the seven regencies in South Sulawesi, which cultivate GM cotton,
also welcomed the decision.
FOOD STANDARDS
AGENCY DOES NOT SUPPORT LABELING GM DERIVATIVES
The UK Food Standards Agency recently discussed the new
European Union proposals on GM (genetically modified) food
traceability and labeling. It decided not
to support the labeling of GM food derivatives such as oils, a key part of
the new proposals.
The proposals in question are to extend labeling to all foods produced from
GMs irrespectively of whether there is DNA or protein of GM origin in the final
product and also to extend the strict labeling applied to food, to animal feed.
For foods this means that highly refined soya or corn oil, currently exempt,
will have to be labeled. For feed, this means labeling of, for example, GM-soya
meal and any compound feed that includes it in its composition. It will also
mean labeling of corn gluten feed from GM corn. GM organisms present accidentally
in food and feed are exempt from labeling requirements up to a level of 1%.
UK REPORTS GMO
INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT
Inspection of release sites of genetically modified organisms in England and
Wales show that all complied with the terms of agreement. Due care was undertaken
not to import or market non-GM seeds that had an adventitious GM presence.
Seeds sold to farmers were neither recalled or stopped from being grown this
year.
This was a finding reported by the GM Inspectorate, United
Kingdom's government unit responsible for enforcing regulations
and the release and marketing of
genetically (GM) organisms. The said unit based at the Central Science Laboratory
carried out 79 inspections of field releases of GM crops including sites in
government farm scale evaluations of GM crops.
GM POTATOES:
POTENTIAL FOR HEPATITIS PROTECTION?
Transgenic potatoes expressing a hepatitis B surface antigen
successfully protected mice against the disease in a trial
reported in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, USA.
The findings of Yasmin Thanavala and colleagues at Roswell
Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, and collaborators
Hugh Mason at Boyce Thompson Institute
for Plant Research and Charles Arntzen at Arizona State University, support
the idea of providing "edible vaccines" for global immunization against hepatitis
B.
Thanavala and co-workers point out that there is a very
effective hepatitis B vaccine on the market already, but
cost prevents it from being widely applied
in the developing world. They argue that the technology development cost for
creating the transgenic vaccine plant can be paid off in the developed world,
allowing the vaccine to be produced cheaply in plants in developing countries.
ENGLISH VERSION
OF INTERNUTRITION FINDINGS NOW AVAILABLE
InterNutrition, the Swiss Association for Research and
Nutrition, has released the English translation of a study
based on published scientific papers concerning
the biological, conventional and genetic engineering methods used in agriculture
and nutrition.
Some of their findings are:
* Organic foods are neither healthier nor safer than conventional or GM products.
Some studies show that organic foods may contain more fungal toxins than foods
produced by conventional methods.
* In terms of nutritional composition and the effects on
animal feeding, there no significant differences between
conventional and GM feeds. Meat, milk and
eggs from animals given GM feeds are just as harmless for human consumption
as if they had come from animals fed on conventional feeds.
* Field studies carried out with transgenic, pest-resistant crops do not confirm
the environmental risks predicted by critics.
* The savings achieved in pesticide use and the improvements in ground flora
and fauna by using transgenic plants can be ranked alongside the efforts of
integrated production and organic farming on behalf of a more sustainable agriculture.
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