Importers question purity of US crops
The Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2007 (USA)

Recent breakdowns in the system meant to keep experimental GE plants from contaminating the hundreds of millions of acres of crops grown in the US has farmers and import markets questioning the purity of US goods.
Mexico, the largest foreign market for US rice, sent tremors through the US sector midmonth when it stopped shipments on the border out of concern the US can't keep its experimental transgenic long-grain rice out of commercial crops.
California's medium-grain rice growers have demanded a statewide moratorium on any biotech field trials to avoid the contamination recently plaguing long-grain growers.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/01.html

Is growing Bt cotton merely a fad?
The Hindu, February 13, 2007 (India)

In his study published in Current Anthropology, Glenn Davis Stone explores how the arrival of GM crops has affected farmers in developing countries, taking Warangal, a key cotton growing district of Andhra Pradesh known for suicides by farmers, as an example. In 2003 to 2005, the market share of Bt cottonseed rose from 12 per cent to 62 per cent in Warangal. [Monsanto] has been interpreting the rapid spread as the result of farmer experimentation and management skill.
But Mr. Stone's multiyear ethnography shows an unexpected pattern of "localized cottonseed fads." Rather than a case of careful assessment and adoption, Warangal was plagued by a severe breakdown of the "skilling" process by which farmers normally hone their management practices, he argues.
The seed fads had virtually no environmental basis, and farmers generally lacked recognition of what was actually being planted, a striking contrast to the highly strategic seed selection processes in areas where technological change is learned and gradual. According to him, farmers' desire for novelty exacerbates the turnover of seeds in the market, and the firms frequently take seeds that have fallen out of favour, rename them, and sell them again with new marketing campaigns.
"On the surface, [Warangal] appears to be a dramatic case of successful adoption of an innovation," Stone explains.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/02.html

Key Monsanto patent rejected
Commercial Appeal, March 4, 2007 (USA)

The US Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a key patent in Monsanto's Roundup Ready arsenal, possibly stripping the agribusiness giant of its power to license the technology to farmers. Monsanto has the right to appeal the decision or try to reach a compromise by reducing the breadth of the patent.
"The notion that a company can get a utility patent on a plant is new and controversial," said Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety. "A utility patent is for a mechanical invention. For decades, it didn't apply to plants because they are not inventions."
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/03.html

EU may reconsider GM labelling
Bridges Trade BioRes, Vol. 7 No. 3, February 16, 2007 (EU)

On 8 February Greenpeace submitted a petition to EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou signed by one million EU citizens demanding compulsory labelling of milk, eggs, meat, and other products produced by animals fed with GM crops. The EU currently requires processed foods to be labelled if they contain over 0.9 percent GM ingredients, however it leaves products derived from animals raised on GM feed from any labelling requirements.
More than 90 percent of the EU's imports of GM crops are used in animal feed.
Upon receiving the petition, Commissioner Kyprianou said "A petition supported by one million citizens shows strong interest in this issue. We will look into the matter again. We will look into the science ... to see if what is asked of us would be justified." Until now, The European Commission has not considered such labelling necessary.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/04.html

US courts critical of USDA GM approvals
Bridges Trade BioRes, Vol. 7 No. 3, February 16, 2007 (USA)

US federal courts have handed down two decisions in the last weeks chiding the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for not properly evaluating the environmental impact of GE crops before permitting field trials. The courts ordered the USDA to halt approval of all new field trials of GE crops until more thorough environmental reviews are conducted, and ruled that past approvals were illegal.
The first case, decided on 5 February, involved trials of herbicide-resistant grasses manufactured by Monsanto and the Scotts Company. A second ruling was handed down on 14 February over Roundup Ready alfalfa, also manufactured by Monsanto. Plaintiff's in the second case said they would ask for an injunction on future sales or plantings of the modified alfalfa. Monsanto said it would explore its legal options.
Both cases were filed by a coalition of farmers, consumers, and environmentalists led by the Center for Food Safety. They allege that the major threat of genetically engineered crops is genetic drift, whereby pollen from the modified plant can transfer traits to organic crops and native plants from wind, workers clothes, or shared equipment.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/05.html

China: no commercial production of GM rice
Xinhua, February 25, 2007 (China)

China, the world's top rice producer, has shelved proposals for commercial production of GM rice for the fourth time since 2004, but has given the green signal for experimental cultivation of a pest-resistant version.
A national committee for safety of GM food has shelved the commercial production of GM rice in November 2006, the Beijing Times reported.
'The application was rejected because some safety-related data were missing,' said Lu Baorong, a member of the State Committee for the Safety of Agricultural Transgenic living Things.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/06.html

US rice contamination crises continues
Bridges Trade BioRes, Vol. 7 No. 5, March 16, 2007 (USA)

Unauthorised GM material has again contaminated US rice. According to the US Department of Agriculture, seed of CL131 - an approved GM rice variety - contains "trace levels of genetic material not yet approved for commercialisation." The unauthorised genetic material in question is LLRICE601, developed by Bayer CropScience. The discovery of trace levels of the same material led to Japan and EU halting rice imports from US at the end of the 2006 growing season. Now, the USDA is asking farmers and seed dealers to destroy the contaminated seed or planted rice.
Meanwhile, Mexico, the largest buyer of US rice, has halted imports at the border. Again, the reason is potential LLRICE601 contamination, with the Mexican government asking for certification that their rice imports are uncontaminated.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/07.html

The rice with human genes
The Daily Mail, March 5, 2007 (UK)

The first GM food crop containing human genes is set to be approved for commercial production. The rice produces some of the human proteins found in breast milk and saliva.
Its US developers say they could be used to treat children with diarrhoea, a major killer in the Third World.
Friends of the Earth campaigner Clare Oxborrow said: "Using food crops and fields as glorified drug factories is a very worrying development. If these pharmaceutical crops end up on consumers' plates, the consequences for our health could be devastating. The biotech industry has already failed to prevent experimental GM rice contaminating the food chain."
In the US, the Union of Concerned Scientists, a policy advocacy group, warned: "There would be little control over the doses people might get exposed to, and some might be allergic to the proteins."
As well as the contamination fears there are serious ethical concerns about such a fundamental interference with the building blocks of life. Yet there is no legal means for Britain and Europe to ban such products on ethical grounds.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/08.html

Rice board spurns biotech
Sacramento Bee, March 15, 2007 (USA)

The California Rice Commission on Wednesday called for a moratorium on experimental plantings of genetically modified rice in the state, saying federal controls meant to keep such varieties from contaminating commercial rice are inadequate.
The vote is advisory, but Tim Johnson, president of the Rice Commission, said it is likely to carry weight with the AB 2622 Advisory Board, which controls nearly all test plantings of rice in the state.
The decision by the 40-member group was driven largely by concerns that the contamination of the state's rice supplies with even a tiny amount of genetically engineered material could devastate sales to touchy export markets such as Japan and South Korea.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/042007/09.html