In This
Issue:
CSIRO: 75% REDUCTION IN PESTICIDES FROM GM COTTON
Three
years of field trials of genetically modified (GM) cotton in Australia,
particularly Bollgard II, has shown that pesticide use can be reduced
by as much as 75 percent compared to conventional cotton. This
was revealed by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization (CSIRO).
Bollgard
II is commercially available for planting in Australia this year.
Greg Constable, CSIRO Plant Industry cotton breeder, says that
the introduction in 1996 of the GM cotton, Ingard, resulted in
pesticide reduction by about 50 percent compared to conventional
cotton. Australian farmers will now experience further reduction
in pesticide use by using Bollgard II.
The
Office of the Gene Technology Regulator approved the general release
of Bollgard II last year and in 2003-2004 it will comprise about
15% of the total cotton crop. By 2004-2005, Bollgard II could be
80% of the cotton crop and Ingard, the original GM cotton, will
not be grown at all after the 2003/04 season to minimize the risk
of insects developing resistance to Bt.
Bollgard
II varieties were developed by CSIRO Plant Industry, using genes
under license from Monsanto, and will be sold by Cotton Seed Distributors.
More
of CSIRO at http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=Prbollgard
LABELING A PROBLEM
IN CHINA
The
lack of a cost-effective method for detecting genetically modified
(GM) products with sufficient sensitivity, coupled with business
concerns that labeling will result in a loss in competitiveness,
have resulted in the noncompliance of labeling rules in China.
Hebeng
Jia reports in Nature Biotechnology (Vol. 21, No. 8, August 2003)
that rules requiring crop and food products to label GM products
are far from being fully implemented more than a year after deadlines
were imposed.
China
does not currently define a threshold to label GM products. Under
two rules passed in 2001 by China’s Ministry of Agriculture,
all products made from GM organisms listed in an official registry
of GM products and all food containing transgenic material should
have been labeled no later than March 2002.
Jia
quotes Dou Ming, president of Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants,
as saying that the rule was created too soon before the technology
was available to implement it. He notes that lack of adequate detection
technologies is a reason for noncompliance.
Wang
Weirong, a scientist at Fudan Xinyang Biotech in Shanghai says,
however, that most GM-related products in China are currently made
from imported material. Regulation is thus likely to form trade
barriers to foreign competition but “when China’s own
biotechnologies become mature, the labeling rule might be loosened.”
Visit
Nature Biotechnology at http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology.
EUROPABIO PUBLISHES
DOCUMENTS ON SAFETY ASSESSMENT
EuropaBio,
the European Association for Bioindustries, has made available
on its website, industry guidance documents designed for industry,
international organizations and other groups involved in the safety
assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops. These documents
to be added to and updated over time, provides a common industry
approach to meeting the health, environmental, food and feed safety
standards for GM crops, complementing safety guidelines of other
organizations like the World Health Organization, and Food and
Agriculture Organization.
"We
wanted to create a harmonized industry approach to meeting the
technical requirements of EU authorities who are responsible for
approving GM crop products. We believe a common industry
approach will help ensure a high standard of safety and consistency
in meeting requirements in the EU," says Dr. Hilde Willekens,
Chair of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), which brings together
scientific and regulatory experts from the major plant biotechnology
companies operating in Europe. TAG is a specialist
advisory group to the Plant Biotechnology Unit of EuropaBio.
Copies
can be downloaded from the EuropaBio web site at http://www.europabio.org.
A EuropaBio press release on this initiative is available at http://www.europabio.org/pages/
eu_workgroups_detail.asp?wo_id=14
AFRICAN LEADERS
PROPOSE BIOTECH ADVISORY PANEL
Aiming
to address the difficult political decisions that continuously
accompany genetically modified (GM) crops, African leaders are
now considering a proposal to set up a continent-wide advisory
panel on biotechnology. The panel, which would develop an African
strategy on biotechnology and biosafety, is being proposed by the
secretariat of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD).
The
panel will be tasked with facilitating trade in GM products between
African countries thru uniform biosafety regulations. According
to John Mugabe, science and technology advisor to NEPAD and one
of the architects of the proposed panel, Africa has often been
a victim of the fight between Europe and the United States over
GM crops. He adds that is it important that African leaders should
be able to make up their minds on what is best for their continent.
Lastly,
Mugabe adds that the proposed panel will be composed of a small
inter-disciplinary team of scientists, civil society representatives,
industrial managers, and senior policy makers.
Read
the full story at http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction
=readNews&itemid=926&language=1.
IRISH CONSUMERS OKS GM CROPS
The
result of the BBC Newsline survey in Northern Ireland states that
majority of the consumers would rather prefer genetically modified
(GM) crops to the use of chemical sprays in conventional food production.
Based
on the poll results, almost half of the respondents said that they
would prefer genetically modified blight resistant potatoes (47%)
over conventional crops which rely on frequent spraying with fungicides
(53%).
The
common perception was that the public would generally be hostile
to GM crops, as most of the European countries are. However, this
survey shows that public perceptions may not at all be as they
have been previously assumed.
The
news release is available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3093837.stm.
UK PUBLIC’S
ATTITUDES TO A GM NATION
George
Gaskell and colleagues at the Methodology Institute at the London
School of Economics in London, United Kingdom, recently concluded
a research entitled “Ambivalent GM Nation? Public Attitudes
to Biotechnology in the United Kingdom, 1991-2002.”
In the
report, Gaskell and his colleagues looked into two representations
of biotechnology in the public sphere: in media coverage and in
public perceptions.
Results
of the study showed that, “overall, the press coverage of
biotechnology tends to be positive and over the last 25 years the
volume has increased more than one hundred fold. As the volume
of coverage increased so has there been a decline in the favorability
of the average article on biotechnology.”
With
regards to public perceptions, Gaskell states that “all in
all a mixed picture emerges on the impact of biotechnology in everyday
life. Awareness of different applications is relatively high, but
a clear majority don’t recall media coverage of the topic
or discussing it with other people.”
The
researchers conclude that “platforms of public debate between
autonomous and responsible citizens are to be applauded. If socially
sustainable technological innovation is a societal goal, appropriate
platforms for such debates will need to be established if we are
to avoid reliving the type of previous conflicts that raged over
biotechnology in the past.
For
more information, email g.gaskell@lse.ac.uk.
POLITICS OF BIOTECH
FOODS
“The
Politics of Biotech Foods” is an article by the American
Enterprise Institute which illustrates the significant increases
in agricultural productivity in the developing world as a result
of biotechnology. Different views in the political dynamics involved
in the acceptance of crop biotechnology were also cited.
Says
Andrew Natsios, Administrator, US Agency for International Development, "Fifty
percent (50%) of the increased productivity in the developing world
in agriculture is a result of improved seed technology. One of
the answers to the problem of (agricultural) productivity is clearly
seed technology, and biotech is a critical part of that."
Yet
the acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food remains to be
seen, and is still a highly controversial issue greeted largely
with skepticism by many Europeans. Robert Paarlberg of Wellesely
College explains that such an attitude can be attributed to the
fact that development assistance from Europe is now twice as large
as that from the United States.
Says
Paarlberg “this money has bought influence for Europe. European
development assistance missions are now busy, especially in Africa,
holding workshops, helping governments write regulations,…and
promoting a highly precautionary EU-style regulation towards genetically
modified crops."
This
attitude is also further advanced by Western European nongovernmental
organizations which also promotes such cautious views about GM
food. In addition to this, Europe is a “prized market” to
many developing countries. "The EU imports more food and agriculture
products from developing countries than the United States, Canada,
Japan, and Australia combined," concludes Paarlberg.
See
the full story at http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=9086.
MARKETS FOR GM
GRAIN REMAIN
"There is no strong evidence to suggest that genetically modified (GM) grains
generally are not finding ready markets throughout the world" concludes
an Australian government report. “Market Access Issues for GM Products:
Implications for Australia,” by Max Foster, Peter Berry and John Hogan
was conducted for the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics
(ABARE).
The
report notes that "A range of market access restrictions related
to GM products means that it is easier to trade non-GM grains in
the current market environment than it is to trade GM grains." These
include mandatory labeling regimes, identity preservation, and
in particular the European position on importing GM crops.
However,
the report points out that GM producing countries dominate the
grain trade. "There is limited evidence of willingness by
consumers to pay higher prices for products that are certified
not to contain GM materials. There is little evidence that GM producing
countries are experiencing difficulties in gaining market access
for their non-GM grains. Whether there is competitive advantage
for a country with the marketing of non-GM grains through not being
a GM producer is very difficult to prove or disprove."
For
additional information visit http://abareonlineshop.com/product.asp?prodid=12559
GM CORN PROJECTIONS
IN U.S.
What
are the likely economic impacts in the US of the commercial adoption
of corn rootworm resistant transgenic corn technology? Researchers
from the University of California, Pennsylvania State University,
North Carolina State University, and Texas A&M University say
that if it was adopted on all of the US acres treated for corn
rootworm production in 2000, the total benefits in that year alone
would have been $460 million. Of this, $171 M would have gone to
the technology developer and seed companies, $231 M to farmers
from yield grains, and $58 M to farmers as nonpecuniary benefits
associated with reduced use of insecticides. Since initial adoption
was about 30%, first year benefits amounted to $138 M.
The
researchers led by Julian Aston conducted an ex ante analysis of
the benefits from the adoption of corn rootworm resistant transgenic
corn technology in the US. Benefit estimates were done using an
average root-rating index. Acres with above average root damage
ratings would realize greater benefits from the technology.
Details
of the study are available online at http://www.agbioforum.org/v5n3/v5n3a01-alston.htm
GM COTTON TRIALS
IN WEST AFRICA
Reuters
reports that Burkina Faso is the first country in West Africa to
ever hold field trials on GM crops. At present, researchers are
conducting tests to assess the viability, yield and environmental
risks of Bollgard II, Monsanto’s second generation of insect-resistant
(Bt) cotton.
This
new variety is said to reduce the farmers’ use of pesticides
and the risk of contamination of the environment. At present, using
non-GM cotton seeds, farmers still do eight to ten pesticide sprayings
per season, but they still lose fifty percent (50%) of their crops.
A copy
of the press release is available at http://www.biotechknowledge.monsanto.com/biotech/
knowcenter.nsf/(TheAdvantage)/The%20Advantage?OpenDocument
ALL YEAR ROUND
TRANSGENIC ORCHIDS
Dendrobium
orchids may need not be seasonal – thanks to researchers
at Peking University who have developed a transformation method
that may control flowering time.
The
procedure for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of protocorm-like
bodies was developed by Yi Li and colleagues in the Peking-Yale
Joint Center for Plant Molecular Genetics and Agrobiotechnology.
Using a hygromycin resistance marker gene, they achieved an 18%
transformation efficiency.
Li said
that they are trying to clone genes that regulate flowering time.
He explained that most commercial species flower between March
and May when demand is low. Most people prefer to buy orchids from
December to February when they are not in season, and hence, are
expensive.
The
transgenic route has been used because "It is very difficult
to obtain a new commercial cultivar with the conventional breeding
methods because in most cases orchid production does not go through
seeds, but through vegetative tissues," says Li. "It
will take 3-5 years to see the flower."
Contact
Yi Li for more information at liyi@pku.edu.cn
GM DWARF TREES
Researchers
at the Oregon State University have developed dwarf poplar trees
through genetic engineering. Through activation tagging, they were
able to accurately “label” genes in trees, identify
their function, induce new gene variations, and study the effect
of that variation. The same technique was used to control the growth
and induce “semi-dwarfism” in trees.
Steve
Strauss and colleagues says that it gives them “a much better
way to learn the function of various genes in trees and then consider
how they might be used to improve tree characteristics for specific
uses.”
The
research has potential to control dwarfism in poplar trees which
might lead to shorter trees with fat trunks that produce more desirable
wood. Other possibilities include trees with increased fiber and
fruit production, greater ease of management and reduced risk of
introduction into wide populations. Shorter trees cannot compete
with wild trees, hence posing no threat to wild forests.
For
more information contact Steve Strauss at steve.strauss@orst.edu
TRANSGENIC PLANTS FOR PHYTOREMEDIATION OF LEAD AND CADMIUM
Scientists
from the National Research Laboratory for Phytoremediation in Korea
have developed transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants with enhanced
tolerance to heavy metals, lead and cadmium. These transgenic plants
also accumulates greater amount of these heavy metals making it
useful for “phytoremediation.”
“Phytoremediation” is
a complex process which involves solubilization of heavy metals
in the soil, uptake into the plant, translocation into the shoot,
and resistance against and accumulation of these toxic heavy metals
in the plant.
Using
the protein YCF1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Yong Jik Lee and
colleagues found out that this gene confers resistance to both
lead and cadmium. This occurs through the sequestration of cadmium
into the vacuoles of the transgenic plants, and the same mechanism
is also hypothesized in lead resistance. They concluded that the
expression of the YCF1 gene increases tolerance to these heavy
metals, and also increases the content of heavy metals in the total
biomass produced.
Lead is one of the most important heavy metal contaminants in industrialized
countries and is considered as the number one environmental threat to the health
of children. Once accumulated in the human body, lead affects many systems,
including the central nervous system, blood cells and kidneys. Cadmium, on
the other hand, is also found to be highly toxic to human and is considered
as a carcinogenic agent, even at low concentrations.
With
the high prohibiting cost of chemical cleanup of contaminated sites,
phytoremediation is an important alternative as a low-cost and
environmentally friendly strategy to remove lead and cadmium from
contaminated soil.
The
full article is published in Nature Biotechnology Vol. 21 No. 8.
For more information about the research, email ylee@postech.ac.kr.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
NEW INFO
MATERIALS FROM IFPRI
The
following information materials are currently available from the
International Food Policy Research Institute:
- ENDING
HUNGER IN OUR LIFETIME: FOOD SECURITY AND GLOBALIZATION by C.
Ford Runge, Benjamin Senauer, Philip G. Pardey, and Mark W. Rosegrant
(http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/jhu/endinghunger.htm)
- POLICY
NETWORKS FOR EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
Database of over 170 policy networks, searchable by region/country and research
area (http://www.ifpri.org/2020/nw/orgsnetworks/networksearch.htm)
- Fighting
Famine in Southern Africa -- Issue Brief No. 8 now. In Japanese.
(http://www.ifpri.org/japanese/pubs/ib/ib8jp.pdf)
IFPRI
publications in other languages can be accessed at http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/pubs_menu.asp
11th EUROPEAN CONGRESS ON BIOTECHNOLOGY
In celebration
of the 25th Anniversary of the European Federation of Biotechnology,
the 11th European Congress on Biotechnology entitled “Building
Bridges Between Biosciences and Bioengineering” will be held
in Basel, Switzerland on August 24 to 29, 2003. Details about the
Congress can be viewed at http://www.ecb11.ch/ | 
