|
THAILAND ALLOWS
GM CROPS TO CO-EXIST WITH CONVENTIONAL VARIETIES
Thailand has agreed to allow the co-existence
of genetically modified (GM) crops with conventional varieties.
“This will allow farmers to choose which crop to plant,”
said Dr. Darunee Edwards, scientist at the National Centre
of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) in Bangkok.
Edwards
added that food/feed safety and biosafety assessment will
need to be in place and re-evaluated by Thai technical experts.
The Ministry of Natural Resources will take the lead in formulating
a law governing these pronouncements.
Thailand's
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had earlier announced that
the country would lift the three-year ban on GM crop plantings.
This will allow GM field trials to commence. Thailand's national
daily The Nation quoted the Prime Minister as saying that
“the government won't let the country miss the biotechnology
train.”
For
more information, contact D. Edwards at dedwards@biotec.or.th.
In related news, the Committee on Biotechnology
Policy led by PM Thaksin Shinawatra agreed to set up a Bio
Park to increase Thailand's capability to boost productivity
of biotechnology business.
The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) suggested
that the private sector should use biotechnology as a means
to increase their productivity. Mr. Pornsilp Patcharintanakul,
Vice Secretary of TCC, revealed that the private sector should:
import new technology to standardize the Thai industry; develop
consultative business; and to improve agricultural business
by using biotechnology.
MALAYSIA PM
BATS FOR AGRIC REVOLUTION
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
of Malaysia wants to bring about a revolution in agriculture
- a revolution that would being about tangible benefits to
Malaysia's farmers as well as make Malaysia a center for agro-based
industries and biotechnology.
Wong Sulong of Malaysia's The Star reported
that Abdullah has set the target for Malaysia to become a
net exporter of food productions by 2010. To make this possible,
Malaysia would have to involve the growth of agro-based industries
and the development of a biotechnology industry.
SWISS CABINET
SAYS NO TO GM CROP MORATORIUMINITIATIVE
The Swiss government is against a proposal
calling for a five-year moratorium on genetically modified
(GM) crops in the country. It said the move would damage “Switzerland's
standing in the field of agricultural research as well as
its trade relations with other countries”.
The initiative to ban GM crops for food and
feed was forwarded by a coalition of environmental groups,
consumers and farmers. The group was able to raise more than
120,000 signatures in favor of the initiative since the time
that Parliament voted to reject a moratorium on GM crops.
The cabinet said that a law that took effect
in January 2004 had already set out a procedure authorizing
the import and distribution of GM organisms. It added that
the legislation was precautionary and aimed at protecting
non-GM agriculture.
See
the full article online at http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/
swissinfo.html?siteSect=511&sid=5153637
BIOTECH GAINS
MOMENTUM IN AFRICA
The acceptance of biotechnology is gaining
momentum in Africa as more and more countries realize the
potential it offers for sustainable food production as another
tool to help eradicate famine and poverty. This was stressed
by Prof. Jocelyn Webster, executive director of AfricaBio,
during a Southern Africa Biotechnology Communications Training
Workshop in Pretoria, South Africa. She said that by the end
of 2005 most countries in Africa would have draft biosafety
frameworks in place.
The workshop was organized by AfricaBio to
train delegates on communicating biotechnology to the public
of Southern African countries. More than 70 delegates from
10 of the 14 Southern African Development Community countries,
including representatives from Kenya, Cote D'Ivoire, Tanzania
and the United States attended.
Several delegates indicated that they are
requesting their governments to put the necessary legal frameworks
in place. They also asked the South African authorities to
assist with these procedures.
A consumer survey conducted under the auspices
of the University of Pretoria in January 2004 indicated that
58% of consumers in Gauteng and 56% in Cape Town considered
GM food to be as safe as conventional foods. The survey also
found that respondents had confidence in government regulatory
control measures.
For
more information, contact AfricaBio at africabio@mweb.co.za
THERON: ENCOURAGE
NOT STOP GM POTATO RESEARCH IN AFRICA
Potatoes South Africa, the representative
organization of South Africa's potato producers, supports
the use of modern biotechnology to improve the production
of potatoes in South Africa provided it is done in a safe,
responsible and ethical manner. Dr. DJ Theron, chief executive
officer, Potatoes South Africa, Pretoria, made this clarification
in the light of some groups to “derail the efforts by
the Agricultural Research Council and Michigan State University
to develop a potato variety that is resistant to tuber moth,
a major pest of potatoes in South Africa”.
Theron noted that the development of a GM
potato should be allowed to proceed, subject to objective
and scientific evaluation as provided for by current legislation
rather than be thwarted by speculation and misleading information.
He said that both farmers and consumers will benefit from
the technology by reducing production costs, particularly
pesticide application, thus resulting in less environmental
pollution and lower pesticide residues.
Theron
said that Potatoes South Africa will not support the production
or sale of any genetically modified potato unless it has passed
all official and legal requirements for general release. He
added that no GM potatoes are grown commercially or marketed
in the country at present.
For
more of Theron's views, see http://www.pretorianews.co.
za/index.php?fSectionId=667&fArticleId=2199185
ISSUES HINDERING
GROWTH OF AGRI-BIOTECH
The growth of agricultural biotechnology is
being hampered by three major issues: trade, biosafety regulations,
and the food industry. So says Channapatna Prakash, professor
in plant molecular genetics and the director of the Center
for Plant Biotechnology Research at Tuskegee University, Alabama,
USA in an interview in the business magazine BioSpectrum.
Prakash noted that some countries perceive
that bringing in biotechnology would jeopardize their trade.
He gave the example of Namibia, one of the biggest importers
of corn, which cut off all its corn trade with South Africa
because the latter grows GM corn. China was also cited for
not approving Bt cotton despite being field tested for several
years now. In both cases, trade more than any other concern
continues to be the guiding factor in growing GM crops.
Current
regulations are “very burdensome, costly, and mostly
unscientific,” Prakash added. He said that the private
sector has several GM crops that are ready for the market
but are hindered by the high cost of regulations. The food
industry was likewise cited as a problem with company monopoly
dictating the nonuse of GM potato despite being comparable
to conventional potato and using less pesticide.
Visit
BioSpectrum online at http://www.biospectrumindia.com.
NATURAL BIODIVERSITY
CAN ENRICH GENETIC BASE OF CROPS
Natural biodiversity can enrich the genetic
base of cultivated plants with novel alleles that improve
productivity and adaptation. This was highlighted in a study
of Ait Gur and Dani Zamir of the Robert Smith Institute of
Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture of the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, Israel.
Gur and Zamir evaluated the progress in breeding
for increased tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) yield using genotypes
carrying a pyramid of three independent yield-promoting genomic
regions introduced from the drought-tolerant green-fruited
wild species Solanum pennellii. Yield of hybrids parented
by the pyramided genotypes was more than 50% higher than that
of a control market leader variety under both wet and dry
field conditions that received 10% of the irrigation water.
The
study, according to the authors, demonstrated the breaking
of agricultural yield barriers that provides the rationale
for implementing similar strategies for other agricultural
organisms that are important for global food security.
For
the article published in the August 24 issue of PLoS Biology,
visit http://plosbiology.org/plosonline/
?request=getdocument&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020245
ANNOUNCEMENT:
BOOK
ON GMF
“The
Frankenfood Myth: How Protest and Politics Threaten the Biotech
Revolution” by Henry Miller and Gregory Conko has just
been released. The authors trace the origins of gene-splicing,
its applications, and the backlash from consumer groups and
government agencies against so called “Frankenfoods”.
They also discuss the peril of allowing the precautionary
principle to drive risk analysis and policymaking. The foreword
is written by Dr. Norman Borlaug.
|
