GM rice 'sold illegally in China'
BBC, April 13, 2005 (China)

The environmental group Greenpeace says genetically modified (GM) rice is being sold in markets in China and it may have contaminated exports even though it has not been approved for public consumption.
Greenpeace says it made the discovery after interviewing farmers and seed companies and testing rice samples from the area. A spokesman said the government was in effect experimenting on the Chinese people.
Chinese government scientists told the BBC they were unaware of any illegal sales of GM rice. China has been testing GM rice for years and is expected to approve a strain for commercialisation soon. China is a major exporter of rice.
Professor Zhen Zhu, a government scientist at the Institute of Genetics Development Biology, in Beijing acknowledged that cross-pollination from GM crops could have contaminated other paddy fields but, he said, measures had been taken to prevent this.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/01.html

India bans Monsanto GM cotton seeds
Aljazeera, May 3, 2005 (India)

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, a federal regulator, refused to renew licences for the sale of three Monsanto BT cotton varieties in Andhra Pradesh state, because they had been found ineffective in controlling pests there, said Suresh Chandra, the committee chairman. However, the seeds can be sold in other Indian states, Chandra said.
The federal regulator asked state governments to give comments on the performance of BT cotton over the past three years. "The report [from Andhra Pradesh] was not satisfactory, and hence we had to disallow the licences," Chandra said.
The Andhra Pradesh state government also asked Monsanto to compensate farmers who it said lost money by sowing its transgenic cotton.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/02.html

Campaign to stop smallpox experiments
Vermont Guardian, April 8, 2005 (USA)

An international alliance of non-governmental organizations wants the World Health Organization to reject the genetic engineering of smallpox and instead recommend that a firm date within two years should be established for the destruction of all remaining stocks of smallpox virus.
Led by Third World Network and The Sunshine Project, the NGOs have launched a website, www.smallpoxbiosafety.org, urging people to write to the WHO Director General and their government's representatives to the assembly.
The proposal to genetically engineer smallpox would permit smallpox genes to be inserted into related pox viruses and the unlimited distribution of small segments of smallpox DNA. The opposing groups argue that this poses public health, biosafety, and biological weapons risks.
In 1999, the remaining stocks were slated for destruction, but both countries objected to a WHO resolution calling on them to destroy the virus.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/03.html

Celera to quit selling genome information
New York Times, April 27, 2005 (USA)

Celera Genomics, which raced with the publicly financed Human Genome Project to decipher the human DNA sequence, has decided to abandon the business of selling genetic information. The company, originally led by the maverick scientist J. Craig Venter said that it was discontinuing its genome database subscription business and putting the information into the public domain.
Venter, who now runs his own nonprofit research institute, said, "Moving the Celera data into the public domain sets a good precedent for companies who are sitting on gene and genome data sets that have little or no commercial value, but would be of great benefit to the scientific community."
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/04.html

Senate considers 'biopharm' crops ban
Associated Press, April 10, 2005 (USA)

Lawmakers are considering a temporary ban on growing food crops in Oregon that are biologically engineered to produce drugs or chemicals, such as vaccines.
Supporters of the bill say it would protect Oregon farmers from crop contamination. Opponents say the bill is an attempt to ban engineered crops in general.
Oregon would become the first state to ban the crops, called biopharmaceuticals or biopharms.
"There is too much potential for leakage of these genes into the human food supply," said Bitty Roy, a biology professor from Eugene. Roy said the risks and benefits of such crops needs to be more carefully studied before they are grown in the open air. But others said the bill could cut off future economic benefits for Oregon's farms and research facilities.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/05.html

EU GM corn test in place, US imports resume
Bridges Trade BioRes, Vol. 5 No. 8, April 29, 2005 (EU)

The approval of a new test for GM corn strain Bt10 has led to an end of a week-long de facto ban on exports of US corn feed. A 15 April EU decision required all imports of corn feed and brewers' grains from the US to be accompanied by an analytical report issued by an accredited laboratory certifying that the import is free of Bt10, an unapproved strain of GM corn that has been unintentionally shipped into the EU from the US since 2001.
However, the absence of a test to distinguish between Bt10 and Bt11 made certification impossible and resulted in a de facto ban on all corn feed imports from the US. On 25 April the EU's Joint Research Centre approved the biotech firm Syngenta's testing method for Bt10 as an accredited testing procedure and is now in place in US ports where trade in GM corn and brewers' grains has resumed. Japan has also expressed concern about Bt10 and asked the US Food and Drug Administration to provide assurances that Bt10 is safe. The Japanese government is currently considering whether to begin testing for Bt10 in US corn shipments.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/06.html

Roundup doesn't poison only weeds
Le Monde, March 12, 2005 (France) (Translation)

Several recent studies seem to indicate that glyphosate, th[e] active ingredient [of] Roundup, could not be as inoffensive as its promoters claim. The stakes are big, because glyphosate usage grows along with that of GM organisms. In fact, while Roundup and similar products were originally used against weeds, "they have become a food product, since they are used on GMOs, which can absorb them without dying," maintains the biochemist Gilles-Eric Seralini.
The researchers used human placental cell lines, in which very weak doses of glyphosate showed toxic effects and, at still weaker concentrations, endocrinal disturbances. "The effect we have observed is proportional to the dose, but also to the length of exposure," he emphasizes.
His team observed that the commercial product is more disruptive than its isolated main active ingredient. "Consequently the evaluation of herbicides must take into account the combination with additives in the product," he says.
He is joined in his conclusions by Robert Belle, from the National Center for Social Research biological station in Roscoff, whose team has been studying the impact of glyphosate formulations on sea-urchin cells for several years. In 2002, the team had shown that Roundup acted on one of the key stages of cellular division.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/07.html

Senate passes GMO liability bill
Times Argus, April 6, 2005 (USA)

The Vermont Senate gave nearly unanimous approval to a bill designed to make seed manufacturers liable for the impacts of GM crops. As many as a dozen senators were expected to oppose [it], but the final vote was 26-1. Seed manufacturers who will reportedly not sell their products in Vermont if the bill passes may have been responsible for the nearly unanimous vote. "Some of the manufacturers made threats that undermined their arguments," Welch said.
But the political wrangling over the bill is far from over and could end in a veto by Gov. James Douglas.
[One] change would have removed the "strict liability" provision of the proposed legislation. "The fundamental part of the strict liability is to have the responsibility lie where it belongs," said Senate President Peter Welch.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/08.html

US fines Syngenta over sale of altered seed
New York Times April 9, 2005 (USA)

Syngenta, the Swiss agrochemicals company, was fined $375,000 by the United States Department of Agriculture for inadvertently selling unapproved genetically altered corn seed. The Department of Agriculture also required Syngenta to develop a training program to keep the mix-up in seeds from happening again, the company said.
The company could face more fines from the Environmental Protection Agency, which is conducting its own investigation.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/052005/09.html