Brazil, New Zealand block LMO proposal
Financial Express, June 6, 2005 (India)

Brazil and New Zealand were successful in blocking the birth of an effective global regime for disciplining transboundary movement, handling and packaging of living modified organisms (LMOs).
The 119 member countries could not arrive at a consensus till the last day of the Second Meeting of Parties (MOP/2) to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The last bid by Switzerland in form of a fresh non-paper draft package to restore the negotiation process failed. Subsequent intervention by India proved ineffective.
Brazil and New Zealand could block the proposal to which all other countries had agreed to. Brazil, which has recently approved GM soyabean for cultivation, thought that the proposal to discipline transboundary movements, handling and packaging of LMOs would go against its trade interests. New Zealand's move was expected as it is a member of JUSCANZ (Japan-US-Canada-New Zealand) group.
The seed multinationals had come under one umbrella called Global Industry Coalition (GIC) [which] feels "progress of the industry will be hampered if a strict liability regime comes into existence."
A representative from Ethiopia questioned as to how the developing countries can depend upon the role Brazil is slated to play as chair of MOP/3.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/01.html

Call on UN to move agency from Canada
Canadian Press, May 25, 2005 (Canada)

A UN environmental agency should be moved from Montreal if delegates continue to have problems getting Canadian visas to attend meetings, says a top African diplomat. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, official negotiator for the G-77 group of developing countries and China, made his demand in a letter to Klaus Topfer, executive director of the UN Environment Program.
Tewolde appealed for a motion to censure Canada for the difficulty he had in getting a visa and for the continued difficulties he said are being experienced by other delegates to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
Tewolde received a visa to visit Montreal only after protests from many North American groups including the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Council of Canadians. At least four other would-be participants in the meeting are known to have been refused visas and there are likely others, said Eric Darier, a Greenpeace activist in Montreal. He said all the delegates who have encountered visa problems are from poor countries and all are critics of Canada's policies promoting the trade in GM foods and crops.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/02.html

China ratifies GMO transparency treaty
Reuters, May 19, 2005 (China)

China, one of the world's largest importers of GMO crops, said it has ratified the UN's Cartagena Protocol the US has spurned that aims for more transparency and control over trade in genetically modified foods.
China's ratification of the Cartagena Protocol could give a boost to the agreement, which has been signed by more than 100 countries but not the United States.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/03.html

EU demands Monsanto's tests on MON863
Agence France-Presse, May 24, 2005 (EU)

Agribusiness giant Monsanto has been asked to provide all its research results into a GM corn that may be a health risk. "Monsanto must immediately transmit to the EU's food safety authority (EFSA) its entire research into MON 863," said Italy's professor Giorgio Calabrese, an EFSA member.
The company is said to have given only partial results of its tests when first seeking backing for the strain from the EU, [he] said. Guinea pigs fed on the corn developed abnormalities, an internal scientific report at the company found.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/04.html

Codex defers decision on biotech labeling
Pesticide and toxic chemical news No 90, Volume 7, May 12, 2005

The Codex Committee on Food Labeling on May 11 deferred a decision on draft guidelines for mandatory labeling of bioengineered food in response to opposition from the US and four other countries, according to Consumers International.
CI reported that during debate 30 delegations spoke in favor and 18 remained silent. "Despite the overwhelming support for labeling, the conclusion was to defer a decision," CI said. The US has kept labeling bottled up in the CCFL for more than a decade. This year the US argued that the committee should abandon work on the issue if it cannot make progress.
"The interests of biotech companies are being put before consumer interests," commented Samuel Ochieng, head of the CI lobbying team. "However, we are encouraged that many countries are beginning to recognize the need for labeling."
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/05.html

Comment: The unselfish gene
Prof. Johnjoe McFadden, Guardian, May 6, 2005 (UK)

Uncovering the true nature of genes has turned biology on its head. Geneticists [a]re puzzled by an abundance of genes with no apparent function. But a gene without function isn't really a gene at all. By definition, a "gene" has to make a difference; otherwise it is invisible to natural selection. But now it seems that the genes, at the level of DNA, are not the same as genes at the level of function.
Rather than having a single major function, most genes probably play a small part in lots of tasks within the cell. By dissecting biology into its genetic atoms, reductionism failed to account for these multitasking genes.
So the starting point for systems biologists isn't the gene but rather a mathematical model of the entire cell. In this new vision of biology, genes aren't discrete nuggets of genetic information but more diffuse entities whose functional reality may be spread across hundreds of interacting DNA segments. This radical new gene concept has major implications for the gene hunters. Despite decades of research few genes have been found that play anything more than a minor role in complex traits like heart disease or intelligence. The reason may be that such genes simply don't exist. Rather than being "caused" by single genes these traits may represent a network perturbation generated by small, almost imperceptible, changes in lots of genes.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/06.html

Biowatch, seed groups at odds over cotton
allAfrica.com, May 31, 2005 (Africa)

Since the introduction in 1998 of GM Bt-cotton to the Kwa-Zulu-Natal's Makhathini flats, its farmers have been show-cased by the biotechnology industry as a success story.
[But] lobby group Biowatch's five-year study challenges University of Pretoria research that showed Makhatini's cotton farmers enjoyed yields 18% higher than would be produced from normal cotton, used less chemicals on their modified cotton crops and were financially better off than before.
Only four out of 36 farmers interviewed by Biowatch had made profits on their Bt-cotton, and only 20% were still growing the crop five years down the line. The farmers were on average R8645 in the red, and about 80% of them had defaulted on their loans from the Land Bank. There were 4000 farmers growing Bt-cotton several years ago, but only 1200 today, Biowatch researcher Elfrieda Pschorn-Strauss said.
Seed companies Monsanto and Delta & Pineland have disputed the findings. Delta & Pineland GM Danie Olivier attributed the fall in the number of Makhathini farmers planting Bt-cotton to depressed cotton prices and drought.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/07.html

Ireland intercepts US biotech corn
The Associated Press, May 25, 2005 (EU)

Irish port authorities intercepted a shipment from the US of animal feed that contained GM corn banned in the European Union, the European Commission said Wednesday.
US officials tested the shipment for Bt10 corn before it left, "and notified to Irish authorities before the ship arrived" in Ireland, EU Commission spokesman Philip Tod said. The cargo will be offloaded and stored, pending a decision on its disposal, the commission said.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/08.html

Two-thirds of Russians unwilling to eat GM
RIA Novosti, May 18, 2005 (Russia)

According to a poll conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center, about two-thirds of Russians say they are not ready to eat foodstuffs comprising GM ingredients. Almost half of them (45%) flatly reject GM food, with 23% being unlikely to consume them. Only 3% showed willingness to eat such foods and 4% said they did not care altogether.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/09.html

GM contamination incident register launched
GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace Release, June 1, 2005 (UK)

GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace International launched the first on-line register of GM contamination incidents today. The searchable web site, www.gmcontaminationregister.org gives details of all the known cases of GM contamination of food, animal feed, seeds and wild plants that have taken place worldwide. Since their introduction in 1996, 62 incidents of illegal or unlabelled GM contamination have been documented in 27 countries on five continents.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/062005/10.html