India Court to tighten GM crop test norms
Times of India, October 5, 2006 (India)

The Supreme Court has directed the government that it should not give any fresh approvals to GM crop field trials until further orders.
Until May 1, permission [for] field tests of GM crops was being given by the Review Committee of Genetic Manipulation under the department of biotechnology, the very same department that promotes GM technology. The apex court discovered that under rules framed under the Environment Protection Act, permission for field trials was actually meant to be granted by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee under the environment ministry.
Intervening for the first time on May 1, the Supreme Court ordered that only GEAC could clear field trials. But GEAC turned out to be a mere rubber stamp.
The regulatory structure for field trials in India is strict in theory, but in practice, scandalously lax. This is what the Supreme Court discovered when it issued its order.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/01.html

Will GE foods cause allergic reactions?
Press release: Michigan State University, September. 27, 2006 (USA)

Although protocols are in place to ask questions about the allergy-causing possibilities of GE foods, there has been no test that offers definitive answers.
But Michigan State University researcher Venu Gangur, MSU assistant professor of food science and human nutrition, has developed the first animal model to test whether GE foods could cause human allergic reactions [and], has received a $447,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to validate the test.
The Food and Agriculture Organization within the World Health Organization has a structured approach to determining whether GE foods cause allergies, according to Gangur. "But it has a major flaw. A critical question in that process asks, 'Does the protein cause an allergic reaction in animals?' The problem is that there has been no good animal model available to test this."
He'll use the EPA grant to examine whether the model works on a variety of proteins. If successfully validated, the testing could be available commercially in about five years.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/02.html

Stores told to remove GM rice
The Guardian, October 6, 2006 (UK)

The government's food watchdog has changed its advice to retailers about GM rice. Stores must remove any rice known to contain GM strains from their shelves, the Food Standards Agency said. The move follows ongoing concerns over the presence of GM strains in batches of long-grain rice from the US.
The FSA previously told businesses that actively tracking down and removing contaminated rice products was unnecessary because they didn't pose an "imminent" health risk. The watchdog's updated advice follows the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) assessment of safety implications of GM material in rice. EFSA experts said [it] was "not likely" to pose an imminent safety concern, but they found insufficient information to complete a full risk assessment.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/03.html

Bt brinjal faces consumers, scientists wrath
Financial Express, September 12, 2006 (India)

There seem to be more troubles ahead for the country's first transgenic food crop, Bt brinjal [eggplant]. Several consumer groups across the country have now come forward to oppose the proposed large-scale field trials of Bt brinjal.
They found support from an eminent molecular biologist, Puspha M Bhargava who criticised the veracity of risk assessment of transgenic crops in the country.
The consumer groups bid to prevent the proposed large-scale field trials comes in wake of reported contamination of US rice exports due to Bayer's GM field trials in that country.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/04.html

Human error 'probable cause' of GM mix-up
ABC, September 7, 2006 (Australia)

Human error has been identified as the most likely cause of the GM contamination of conventional canola two years ago. Low level contamination of the commercially-grown 'grace' variety was discovered in 2005 during routine sampling of canola exports.
Alex Schaap from Tasmania's Department of Primary Industry says there is not enough evidence to provide a definite answer. "The mystery still remains as to what the source of the contamination is," he said. "The only hypothesis left standing is some form of human error, perhaps something as simple as somebody not labelling seed bags correctly, and seed hence being mixed."
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/05.html

East Africa: doubts over cassava project
The East African , September 12, 2006 (Africa)

Controversy has deepened over a multi-million dollar USAid-supported cassava research programme, which proponents had said would help boost East Africa's food security, but which critics have dismissed as an attempt by the US to develop alternative sources of "renewable" energy.
In the latest twist, a leading American research facility, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, has admitted that varieties of GM cassava that it had to be disease-resistant are declared actually vulnerable to the devastating cassava mosaic disease, the leading cause of farm losses for the crop.
A statement by the centre says that though resistance to CMD had been established through genetic engineering seven years ago, "the resistance was subsequently lost, and [changes to] the plant's DNA had taken place."
Revelations of the resistance failure came even as plans were at an advanced stage to have the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute test the transgenic cassava plants under natural field conditions as a preamble to its release to farmers.
Critics of the cassava-research programme say that the objectives of the project go beyond food security, and touch on the search by the US of a cheap source of starch other than maize to manufacture ethanol to help wean it from oil. [It] would also help break down resistance to the introduction of GM crops across the region
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/06.html

Japan: foodmakers seek new suppliers
Nikkei Weekly, September 27, 2006 (Japan)

The increased output of GM corn and soybeans in the US is forcing small and midsize Japanese foodmakers to look for new suppliers in an effort to meet demand from local consumers who are wary of food containing modified ingredients.
Data prepared by the US Department of Agriculture shows that 89% of the 30.31 million hectares (74.9 million acres) used to grow soybeans in America was reserved for GM crops, up 35 percentage points from six years ago.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/07.html

Japan widens testing of US rice for illegal GMO
Reuters, September 28, 2006 (Japan)

An official at Japan's Agriculture Ministry said that testing of US rice for the unapproved GMO rice strain LLRice 601, previously limited to long-grain rice and its products, now covers short- and medium-grain rice. A lack of information from the US government about how extensive the contamination could be, despite enquiries from Tokyo, has made the Japanese government take a more cautious stance.
Japan has a zero-tolerance policy on imports of unapproved GMO crops, and importers of tainted crops must destroy them or ship them back to exporting countries.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/08.html

EU to require mandatory tests of US rice
Reuters, October 4, 2006 (EU)

The EU is to introduce mandatory tests of rice imports from the US following the finding of an unauthorised GMO strain in recent weeks. Earlier this month, two bargeloads within a 20,000-tonne US rice cargo tested positive for the GMO strain after first having tested negative, leading the EU to consider a tightening of controls.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/09.html

GE plums may not find a willing market
San Francisco Chronicle, September 16, 2006 (USA)

A GE stone fruit tree, the 'HoneySweet' plum could be the first such stone fruit to be released for commercial use.
The patented 'HoneySweet' plum, developed by the USDA Agricultural Research Service, resists the plum pox virus, a plant virus deadly to stone fruit yields.
The ubiquitous presence of a unique small RNA molecule in the 'HoneySweet' concerns Joe Cummins, genetics professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, who warns against assuming the new RNA is safe for human consumption.
In a study reported in Nature in May 2006 on the effects of high levels of small RNA molecules in adult mice, many of the mice developed liver damage and died.
Perhaps the biggest question is whether consumers will eat the fruit. "The packers in our industry are saying, 'We don't want to touch this with a 10-foot pole because we know customers are already very averse to anything GM' " says Rich Peterson, executive director of the California Dried Plum Board.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/102006/10.html