GE consultation with Maori 'tokenism'
NZ Herald, September 15, 2004 (New Zealand)

A Maori researcher has rebelled against "tokenism" in consultation with Maori over the ethics of putting human genes into other animals and plants.
Dr Paul Reynolds, a postdoctoral fellow at the Auckland University-based institute Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, said the Government-appointed Bioethics Council heard more than 220 people at hui, but then ignored their concerns when it gave a green light last month to injecting human genes into other species.
Dr Reynolds wrote his doctoral thesis at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University on Maori views of GM. "Their consultations and dialogue sessions with the public and with Maori are just ways of managing dissent," he said.
Notes from the 13 hui showed overwhelming opposition to putting human genes into other organisms.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/01.html

Monsanto's royalty plan rejected
Dow Jones, September 22, 2004 (Argentina)

The Argentine government has publicly rejected a plan by US-based biotechnology giant Monsanto to collect more royalties on the use of its GM soybean seeds.
Agriculture Secretary Miguel Campos said Monsanto's plan was unacceptable because it would set an "incalculably negative" precedent for the future of Argentina's agriculture sector.
"It required a lot of audacity for Argentina to approve the use of these seeds [in 1996]," he said. "The great beneficiary of this has been Monsanto. Argentina has been the launching point for the use of this technology in the continent. This has allowed Monsanto to make advances in other countries."
Monsanto stopped selling GM soy seeds in January, saying it was no longer a profitable business.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/02.html

Experts: GM alone will not end hunger
SwissInfo, September 9, 2004 (Switzerland)

Swiss experts have warned that GM crops are not the only way to combat global hunger. The Ethics Committee on Non-Human Gene Technology, a government advisory body, said that not enough research had been carried out into the impact of gene technology.
"It is a simplification to assume that the food situation will fundamentally improve by relying on gene technology," said the ethics committee's report.
The authors argue that state-funded research projects should not focus exclusively on such technology. The committee called on the scientific community to consider other options, adding that alternative methods were often more promising and produced better results.
The committee concluded that citizens in both the developed and developing world had the same right to a sufficient and healthy diet and that they were entitled to decide for themselves how the food they eat should be produced.
The experts added that it was vital to ensure that the use of gene technology in developing countries did not lead to tensions within a society or between states.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/03.html

China's GM trees get lost in bureaucracy
New Scientist, September 15, 2004 (China)

China has planted more than a million genetically modified trees in a bid to halt the spread of deserts and prevent flash floods. But a bureaucratic loophole means that no one knows for sure where all the trees have been planted, or what effect they will have on native forests.
The State Forestry Bureau, which oversees tree plantations, does not have a licensing system like the one run by the Ministry of Agriculture.
"There is an urgent need for cooperation between the two bodies," Xue Dayuan of the Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science told the China Daily online newspaper. Not least because the experiments in Xinjiang have shown that genes from the GM poplars are turning up in natural varieties growing nearby.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/04.html

Contaminated crops at nine Thai farms
Agence France Presse, September 21, 2004 (Thailand)

Thailand said on Tuesday that at least nine farms had been contaminated by GM crops after a seed selling scandal shut down a major part of the country's GM testing programme.
Three testing centres were closed last week after the government conceded that its controls had failed to stop GM seeds from spreading to a non-GM papaya farm.
"From 1,164 samples collected from farmers, scientific tests have found 41 (GM) samples from nine farmers," said agriculture minister Somsak Thepsuthin, in a statement. He said he expected 1,300 samples more samples would be tested by the end of the month.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/05.html

Council to send 'clear message' on GM food
Otago Daily Times, September 25, 2004 (New Zealand)

A motion to send a "clear message" that the Queenstown Lakes District council did not want any trials of GM food in its district until a working party had looked into the issue was unanimously passed by councillors.
The council then approved a recommendation from Cr Kathy Neal to establish a working party to improve community understanding of the issue and determine if there was any requirement for council action.
"No protection has been put in place by central Government if anything goes wrong in field trials in our district. We, as a community, will have to pick up the cost."
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/06.html

Frio won't see genetically altered corn
San Antonio Express-News, September 8, 2004 (USA)

After seeking permits to plant genetically engineered pharmaceutical corn in Frio County, the College Station-based company ProdiGene abandoned its efforts.
ProdiGene was seeking permits to plant up to several hundred acres of corn that have been altered to produce animal proteins used in medicine.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/07.html

France wants Brazil's natural soy
Agência Brasil, September 2, 2004 (France) - translation

The French province of Brittany has signed a letter of intentions with the state of Paraná for the purchase of conventional soy from Brazil. The province annually imports 6 million tons of grains of the product.
According to vice governor Pascale Loget, within 60 days Brittany will be declared a territory free of genetically modified crops and is interested in how Paraná is enforcing a prohibition on the planting and sale of such crops.
Loget explains that at the moment Brittany imports most of its soy from the state of Rio Grande do Sul where GM soy is grown and sold and wants to change that because it does not want GM soy even as animal feed. She says that 80% of the population of France is opposed to consumption of GM foods even indirectly in milk and meat.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/08.html

Engineered grass genes spread for miles
New York Times, September 21, 2004 (USA)

A new study shows that genes from genetically engineered grass can spread much farther than previously known, a finding that raises questions about the straying of other plants altered through biotechnology.
Monsanto and Scotts have developed a strain of creeping bentgrass for use on golf courses that is resistant to the herbicide Roundup and that could hurt efforts to win approval. Because Scotts has plans to develop other varieties of bioengineered grasses for use on household lawns, the new findings could have implications well beyond the golf course.
In the new study, scientists with the Environmental Protection Agency found that the genetically engineered bentgrass pollinated test plants of the same species as far away as they measured - about 13 miles. Natural growths of wild grass of a different species were pollinated by the gene-modified grass nearly nine miles away.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/09.html

Risking our clichés
Richard Gallagher, The Scientist, July 5, 2004

I recently attended BIO 2004, the annual jamboree of the biotech industry. I also spent some time talking to a couple of anti-biotech protestors who, like me, were in the bar taking stock after a long day. In truth, I was leveled by the parallels between us.
An oft-repeated misconception is that the anti-biotech lobby doesn't understand the science. In fact, the protestors that I talked to did have a good grasp of the science. Needless to say, on [some] issues we disagreed.
I did discover, however, that some protestors are thoughtful, knowledgeable people. Wider discussions between them and the research and biotech communities would be beneficial in helping to frame the issues more clearly.
But I'm not suggesting here that we debate the issues under the pressure of a public forum where the tendency is to take a confrontational line. I instead recommend get-to-know-you sessions behind closed doors, or maybe just chatting in a bar.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102004/10.html