In This
Issue:
GM SEEDS
AND GLYPHOSATE TO REDUCE CHEMICAL MARKET
Farmer expenditures for crop protection chemicals for corn, cotton, and soybeans
are expected to decrease by more than $1 billion over the next five years.
This is the prediction of a recently published study by the international consultancy
firm Kline and Company due to increasing adoption of herbicide-tolerant and
insect-resistant seeds as well as lower prices for glyphosate herbicide.
BIOTECH
2012 Business Analysis says the introduction of several new insect
resistance genes for corn over the next few years will greatly
reduce the need for insecticides to control corn rootworm, cutworm,
and armyworm. Kline's study predicts sales of conventional insecticides
for corn to decrease from $300 million in 2002 to $70 million in
2012. "This effectively turns the largest single-pest insecticide
market into a smaller specialty market," says Mancer Cyr,
senior associate in Kline’s Agribusiness Practice.
Cyr
adds that there are more attractive opportunities to develop entirely
new businesses based on value-added traits for food, industrial,
and pharmaceutical uses. "For firms that are still dealing
only in chemicals and haven't started exploring GM seed, their
days as major basic suppliers could be numbered," says Cyr. "There
could be room for them as niche suppliers as long as the niches
are small enough to discourage new biotech inroads and large enough
to keep the businesses afloat."
For
more information, e-mail Kline and Company at: consult@klinegroup.com or
visit their website at http://www.klinegroup.com/
BIOTECH CROPS
PROVIDE ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Plant
biotechnology is creating high-paying jobs and economic value and
will deliver even more value for both farmers and other stakeholders
in the agrifood chain. This was the conclusion of a study by C.
Ford Runge, a professor at the University of Minnesota and director
of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy.
According
to the Council for Biotechnology Information, the study entitled "The
Economic States and Performance of Plant Biotechnology in 2003:
Adoption, Research and Development in the United States," is
an up-to-date effort to provide a detailed view of biotechnology's
value at the farm level and beyond the farm gate.
The
U.S. Corn Belt and cotton-growing regions gained the most economic
value from planting biotech crops in 2002, led by Iowa ($3.8 billion),
Illinois ($2.5 billion), Minnesota ($2.2 billion), Nebraska ($1.8
billion), Indiana ($1.3 billion) and South Dakota ($1 billion).
Runge
noted that aside from the more than $20 billion in biotech crops
grown in 2002, new plant biotech firms and research facilities
are being created throughout the US. The number of agricultural
and food scientists were also found to be increasing and that more
states are reaping the benefits of this investment and job-related
activities.
The
study is available online at http://www.apec.umn.edu/faculty/frunge/plantbiotech.pdf.
GM TRIALS SHOW
EVIDENCE OF CO-EXISTENCE
Evidence
show that conventional and organic crops have co-existed with genetically
modified (GM) trial crops without any economic and commercial problems.
Also, the adventitious presence of GMOs were absent in conventional
and organic crops that were located near the transgenic crops.
These were the highlights of the recent study conducted by Graham
Brookes and Peter Barfoot entitled “Co-existence of GM and
non GM arable crops: case study of the United Kingdom.”
In this
paper, Brookes and Barfoot examined the issue of co-existence of
GM and non-GM crops, focusing on the main arable crops grown in
the UK. At present, no GM crops are grown commercially in the UK,
however 260 Farm Scale Evaluation field trials (FSEs) have been
conducted for the past three years for crops such as oilseed rape,
sugar beet and forage maize. These FSEs covered about 1,220 hectares
(an annual average of 405 hectares) as compared to the 693,000
hectares planted to the three crops previously mentioned, 99.76%
of which is conventionally produced and 0.24% is organic.
Lastly,
the authors emphasized the importance of “context” and “proportionality.” They
considered it disproportionate and inequitable if difficult GM
crop stewardship conditions would be imposed to farms that might
wish to grow GM crops, even though they are not located near conventional
or organic crops. Thus, majority of the conventional farmers (99.76%)
could be discouraged from adopting a technology that could have
farm level benefits (yield gains, cost savings), and provide wider
environmental gains (reduced pesticide use, usage of more environmentally
benign herbicides, reduced levels of greenhouse gas emissions).
The
full paper is available at http://www.isaaa.org/kc.
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
AND UNCERTAINTIES IN BIOSAFETY LAWS
With
the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, developing
countries now face challenges on how to address several issues
left to national discretion, and how to balance their rights and
obligations in accordance with their commitments to the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
According
to Ruth Mackenzie of the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton,
United Kingdom, and Dominic Glover, a primary issue faced by developing
countries is the development and implementation of the national
biosafety frameworks that deal with the importations of genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) and GM commodities. Another consideration
is on how to best incorporate the precautionary principle and socio-economic
considerations of the Protocol into the national decision-making
process.
The
authors added that developing countries are also likely to become
susceptible to pressures for harmonization applied via diplomatic
channels, through bilateral trade, and investments. Given this
diversity of conditions, interests, experience, and capacity, Mackenzie
and Glover suggested that developing countries employ additional
flexibility in the application of international trade disciplines
with regards to the assessment of biosafety measures.
Harmonizing
national diversity in the advent of a new technology is a challenge
itself to the national biosafety authorities, and the entire international
trade regime, concludes the authors.
Download
the paper entitled “Harmonization, Diversity and Uncertainty
in International Biosafety Regulation” at http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/env/PDFs/%20Briefing6.pdf.
CONKO: FAMILIAR
PHENOTYPES NEED LESS BIOSAFETY SCRUTINY
The precautionary principle has led to an inappropriate level of biosafety
scrutiny for genetically modified (GM) plants with transgenes with a history
of safe use, argues Gregory Conko of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
In a paper in Transgenic Research, he stresses that the precautionary approach
does not give a clear picture of what information is needed to make a risk
assessment. The precautionary principle (PP) and precautionary approach "are
public policy tools, not scientific ones," says Conko.
Conko
says that the PP entails making a decision based on how much information
is available and that certain experiments, production and commercialization
processes cannot proceed without express permission from a government
authority. He notes that standards for evaluation could vary, since
there's no established or widely accepted definition of how much
data one needs to make an approval decision."The problem is
not just that different regulatory authorities might have different
standards, but rather that a single regulatory agency could apply
different standards to similar products," adds Conko.
Giving
governments so much subjective discretionary authority allows "politics" and
other biases to affect the regulatory process. Conko explains that
this might slow down innovation and the introduction of new technologies.
The
paper recommends a tiered set of regulatory standards for different
risk classes of transgenic organisms. Conko says there is a need
to re-think about the regulation of transgenic organisms. He suggests
that in cases where specific transgenes are known to be environmentally
benign and safe for human and animal consumption.
The
paper, "Safety, Risk and the Precautionary Principle: Rethinking
Precautionary Approaches to the Regulation of Transgenic Plants" by
Gregory Conko appears in Transgenic Research 12 (6): 639-647 or
at this site http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1023/B:TRAG.0000005157.45046.8e ;
or email Gregory Conko at gconko@cei.org for
more information.
RESEARCH PROVES
BT GENE PYRAMIDING HELPS PREVENT PEST RESISTANCE
Researchers at Cornell University have provided the first experimental evidence
that breeding plants to produce two different proteins by a process called "gene
pyramiding" delays the development of resistance in targeted insect pests.
The research has important implications for the long-term protection of agricultural
crops produced through biotechnology, particularly Bt corn and Bt cotton.
Resistance
was compared under several different management strategies. "Plants
containing two Bt toxin genes substantially delayed the development
of resistance compared to two single-toxin plants used sequentially
or in a mosaic," said Shelton. "Regulatory agencies and
companies now should work together to promote the development of
these pyramid plants and, in the long term, phase out single gene
plants."
Mathematical
models of insect resistance suggest that plants with genes for
two different Bt toxins would delay resistance longer than planting
a mixture of two single-toxin plants in the field or using two
single-toxin plants sequentially in crop rotation. This research
provides the first experimental confirmation of the value of dual-toxin
plants.
A full
report of the work entitled, "Transgenic plants Expressing
Two Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Toxins Delay Insect Resistance
Evolution," is published in Nature Biotechnology.
For
further details email Anthony Shelton at ams5@cornell.edu.
NEW REPORT ON
USE OF GM CROPS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Genetically
modified (GM) crops of relevance to poor third-world farmers can
be expected within the next 5-10 years. Hence, development aid
organizations must prepare poor developing nations to properly
handle GM crops regardless of whether the organizations recommend
introducing such crops or not.
These
were among the recommendations made in the report "Genetically
Modified Crops in Developing Countries - Challenges for the Development
Aid" written by an interdisciplinary task force appointed
by The Danish Board of Technology. The Board has facilitated a
yearlong assessment of the pros and cons of using GM to fight poverty
and hunger in the third world.
The
task force urges all development aid organizations to assist developing
countries in the task of building up the proper institutional capacity
to make their own assessments of genetically modified crops through:
- the
establishment of and cooperation with representative, efficient
and legitimate agricultural organizations;
- the
establishment of relevant public institutions and organizations
responsible for everything from legislation to assessment of
technology and management of environmental problems;
- ensuring
the ability to enforce laws and regulations relative to the handling
of GM crops; and
- ensuring
support for research into GM crops in the developing countries.
The
summary can be viewed online at http://www.tekno.dk/pdf/projekter/
p03_gen_mod_crops_summary.pdf
Any
questions concerning the summary can be directed to Project Manager
Søren Gram at sg@tekno.dk.
LITHUANIA’S
FOOD IMPORT PROCEDURES
The
United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Services
(USDA-FAS) has released a country report on the current food and
agricultural import regulations and standards that are currently
in place in Lithuania. These new laws and regulations are seen
to be beneficial to exporters.
Prepared
by the International Business Network, the report discusses detailed
information regarding Lithuania’s import procedures including
food laws, labeling requirements, packaging and container regulations,
recycling requirements, food additive regulations, regulations
on pesticides and other contaminants, and other laws pertinent
to the food industry.
Lithuania
will formally become a member of the European Union (EU) in May
2004. It is also one of the countries of the former Soviet bloc
that have adopted regulations consistent with those in place in
the EU.
Read
the country report in detail at http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/
200311/145986793.pdf.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
NEW MASTER’S PROGRAM: “THE
AGROFOOD CHAIN”
The
Universities of Toulouse and the AGROMIP consortium are launching
in September 2004 in Toulouse a two-year multidisciplinary Master
course in Agrobiosciences, entirely in English and open to students
worldwide : "THE AGROFOOD CHAIN - Innovations for a sustainable
agriculture and better products". Further information is available
on the web site: http://www.agromip.educagri.fr. | 
