Swiss approve five-year ban on GM
AFP, November 27, 2005 (Switzerland)

A clear majority of Swiss voters defied their government in a referendum by approving a blanket five-year ban on the use of GM organisms in farming.
Fifty-eight percent of voters backed an initiative to strengthen existing restrictions introduced last year. The moratorium also swept through the required dual majority hurdle, gaining majority support in not just half but all of the country's 23 cantons.
The use of GMOs in farm animals is already outlawed permanently, while GM plants or crops are subject to a long testing and authorisation process that would take at least five years to complete, according to Swiss authorities.
Economics Minister Joseph Deiss acknowledged that there was a clear demand for more people-friendly farming instead of mass production. "You have to recognise that the skepticism about GM plants is spread rather evenly around the country."
"The population doesn't want GMOs in their plate, so we don't want them in our fields," said Luc Barthassat, a Christian Democratic Party parliamentarian and farmer. Many Swiss farmers argued that more time was needed to assess the environmental impact of GMOs.
After Sunday's vote, there were growing calls on both sides of the fence for some form of monitoring of the results of biotech research, both on the safety side and on the value of GM foods.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/01.html

GM pea causes allergic damage in mice
NewScientist.com, November 21, 2005 (Australia)

A decade-long project to develop GM peas with built-in pest-resistance has been abandoned after tests showed they caused allergic lung damage in mice.
The researchers - at Australia's national research organisation, CSIRO - took the gene for a protein capable of killing pea weevil pests from the common bean and transferred it into the pea. When extracted from the bean, this protein does not cause an allergic reaction in mice or people.
But the team found that when the protein is expressed in the pea, its structure is subtly different to the original in the bean. They think this structural change could be to blame for the unexpected immune effects seen in mice.
"When expressed in the pea, the protein was glycosylated at different points - that's the only structural change we've been able to identify so far," says Paul Foster of the Australian National University, who led the immunological work.
He adds that slight differences in protein synthesis might also occur in other plants with other genes, meaning each new GM food should be very carefully evaluated for potential health effects. "If a GM plant is to go up for human consumption, there should be a detailed descriptive list of how one should go about analysing that plant," he says.
Jeremy Tager, Greenpeace Australia's campaigner on genetic engineering, agrees. "These results indicate the potential for unpredicted and unintended changes in the structure of transferred proteins. And I'm not aware of any country that requires feeding studies as part of its approval process... If it had been a private company doing this, it might never have seen the light of day."
Journal reference: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (vol 53, p 9023)
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/02.html

Farmers get go-ahead to plant GM maize in UK
Financial Times, November 16, 2005 (UK)

The biotechnology industry was told yesterday it must bear the cost of compensating UK farmers who suffer losses after contamination by the spread of GM seeds.
Margaret Beckett, Britain's environment secretary, made her long-expected announcement approving the planting of GM maize - the first transgenic crop to be permitted in the UK - but insisted neither the British taxpayer nor non-GM farmers should be expected to pick up the bill for commercial damage to farmers who lose their "non-GM" status.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/03.html

East Europe's anti-GM food movement grows
Foodnavigator.com, November 14, 2005 (EU)

Around 76 per cent of Polish consumers said they didn't want to eat any food containing GM ingredients, according to a PBS opinion poll commissioned by Greenpeace. The news follows an earlier study by Russia's largest public opinion research body, VCIOM, that 95 per cent of Russians aware of GM ingredients said they were either opposed to them or seriously concerned by them. The surveys are an important sign that public opinion in Eastern Europe is moving towards the widespread GM scepticism already present in Western Europe.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/04.html

China committee not recommending GMO rice
Reuters, November 28, 2005 (China)

A Chinese government committee has failed to reach a consensus on the safety of GM rice, putting off the world's first large-scale production of the transgenic grain.
"There has been no safety agreement for commercial release," said Lu Baorong of Shanghai Fudan University, who is one of 74 members of the committee, which comes under the ministry of agriculture. "Next year, if they provide sufficient safety information, we will assess again."
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/05.html

Farming, tourism at risk without GE rules
Northern Advocate, November 17, 2005 (New Zealand)

Northland's billion-dollar-a-year farming and tourism industries could be at risk if GMOs are not controlled, a new report says.
Whangarei District Council monitoring team leader Kerry Grundy said the report clearly showed local authorities could impose controls on the release of GMOs, on top of those imposed by the Environmental Risk Management Authority.
"The risks are very real, mainly from two things - the contamination of farming produce and losing Northland's clean, green image," Mr Grundy said.
Another important issue raised by the report was the lack of an adequate liability regime to recoup costs associated with any GMO damage. That was wrong and against the principles of natural justice, Mr Grundy said. That compared to Germany which placed strict liability for any damage on those that released the GMOs.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/06.html

The 35S CaMV plant virus promoter
is active in human enterocyte-like cells
European Food Research and Technology, October 20, 2005 (Online)

The 35S cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) promoter is commonly used to drive transgene expression in the GE crop plants that have been commercialized so far. Whether, and how far, the 35S promoter might be active in mammalian cells has been scientifically unsettled and controversial.
We have investigated the promoter capacity of 35S in human enterocyte-like cells.
It was demonstrated that the 35S CaMV promoter was able to drive the expression of both reporter genes to significant levels, although the protein expression levels might seem modest compared to those obtained with the strong promoters derived from human cytomegalo virus (hCMV) and simian virus 40 (SV40).
Some of the identified motifs indicate that transcriptional activation by the 35S CaMV promoter may be stronger in other human and animal cell types than in those investigated.
Research News: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/07.html

India maps basmati DNA to protect it from West
Independent, November 4, 2005 (India)

Indian scientists are mapping the DNA of one of the country's basic food products: basmati rice. Concerned that Western corporations may try to take out patents on the food, their aim is not to produce genetically modified rice but to protect one of India's most treasured natural products from a foreign takeover. It is one of the Indian agriculture sector's prime exports.
Already the country has fought off an attempt by an American company to copyright the name basmati for its own product, a crossing of American rice and Indian basmati.
The project to prove that basmati rice is quintessentially Indian is a sign of how GM methods are transforming the agricultural industry. Today, traditional farmers are trying to fight off what is being called "gene piracy". Everybody knows basmati rice comes from India, but lawyers are warning that there is no way of proving it in a court of law.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Icar) is hoping to genetically "fingerprint" 72 different varieties of basmati rice that are grown in different regions of India.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/08.html

Austria to launch EU-wide GMO debate
after Swiss referendum
EUobserver.com, November 29, 2005 (EU)

Austria is planning to hold a pan-European debate about GM farming, following strong Swiss support for a five-year ban on gene technology in a referendum. Vienna will take over the EU's six-month rotating presidency in January and aims to host a conference about GM crops on 4-5 April.
Austria is one of the staunchest opponents of GM technology in the EU and is sticking to its own ban on modified plants within its territory. Along with Italy, Austrian authorities indicated they view the Swiss vote as strong proof of the European public's opposition to GM farming.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/122005/09.html