------------------------------------------------------------
THE GE INFORMATION BULLETIN
An independent digest of widely-sourced information relevant to the GE Debate
------------------------------------------------------------
No. 37 September 2005
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE: http://www.geinfo.org.nz/092005/bulletin37.html
> Kenya Stops Research On GM Maize
> Bt Cotton Ineffective Against Bollworm
> 'Secret' GM Milk Sale Attacked
> US Needs To Pay Attention To Customers
> GM Crops Research Pipeline Going Dry
> WA Seeks National GM Liability Laws
> Scientists Warn Of GM Superweed Risk
> Toxic 2ndry Metabolite Production In GM Potatoes
> Focus On Horizontal Gene Transfer
------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to the Bulletin, or download a PDF version of this Bulletin at http://www.GEinfo.org.nz
------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial
The Kenyan government stopped their first ever crop trial due to a pesticide application that threw the results of the
trial into question. The agriculture secretary also cautioned scientists against succumbing to outside pressures that
might undermine Kenyan standards and safety. Research is showing Indian GE cotton seeds to have problems with pesticide
production, making them susceptible to insect attack, confirming NGO and farmer complaints. The journal Nature Reviews
Microbiology has a special issue titled Focus on Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT). It attempts to summarise existing
knowledge from several disciplines and help build a "holistic picture" of HGT and its effects. And a soybean industry
expert is saying that the US will lose footing in the food-grade soy market unless it starts listening to customers
rather than forcing GE crops on them.
------------------------------------------------------------
KENYA STOPS RESEARCH ON GM MAIZE
Sunday Nation, August 28, 2005
(Kenya) The Government has terminated the first ever GM maize experiments recently launched by the Kenya Agricultural
Research Institute and an American firm, Sygenta, and ordered the crop destroyed. A technician sprayed the trial maize
crop with a restricted chemical, Furadan, which meant it could no longer be possible to tell if it was the Bt maize or
the chemical that would influence results being examined. At the same time, local bio-technology researchers have been
cautioned against succumbing to pressure from international organisations at the expense of standards and safety. "We
don't have an enabling legal framework to fall back on should anything nasty happen. [That] should be reason enough to
be extra vigilant in biosafety. Unfortunately, there's an emerging tendency by our scientists yielding to pressure from
international collaborators pushing to secure approvals for their projects faster, sidestepping procedures," Agriculture
secretary, Dr Wilson Songa said. Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/01.html
------------------------------------------------------------
BT COTTON INEFFECTIVE AGAINST BOLLWORM
Financial Express, August 1, 2005
(India) Research findings on Bt cotton published in Current Science have placed the country's regulatory authority,
Genetic Engineering Approval Committee in the dock. A team of scientists from the Central Institute of Cotton Research
recently found that the resistant power in cotton plant remains only for 110 days, after which the crop can be exposed
to bollworm attacks. The Cry1Ac level declines as the plant grows and is found to drop below its "lethal level" within
110 days after sowing. The study further said that toxin expression [was] lowest in the ovary of flowers and rinds of
green bolls - the most favoured sites of bollworm attack. "[It] means that the farmer has to apply more chemical
pesticides to save his crop. Already, the cost of Bt cotton seeds are high and this incurs additional costs on
pesticides. Eventually, he lands up in heavy debts," a researcher said. In the past three years of commercial
cultivation of Bt cotton, several other NGOs conducted studies and came out with similar results. These NGOs and
farmers' organisations had cautioned GEAC to withdraw approval to Bt cotton. Full item:
http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/02.html
------------------------------------------------------------
'SECRET' GM MILK SALE ATTACKED
Western Mail, August 27, 2005
(UK) Shoppers have sounded an emphatic "No" to GM milk, which campaigners claim is "secretly" sold by major supermarket
stores. Greenpeace claims thousands of tonnes of GM animal feed comes into UK ports each year to be used as feed for
dairy herds that supply all the major supermarkets. "Given the choice, 97% of the thousands we have polled in South
Wales said they don't want it, which seems to be pretty conclusive," Ben Ayliffe, a Greenpeace campaigner, said. "GM in
milk is something the supermarkets are quite tight-lipped about... once we tell people, they are genuinely shocked.
Especially given all the reassurances from supermarkets about GM food, they assume the same goes for milk." The Welsh
Consumer Council found almost 3/4 of consumers said all food with GM ingredients should be labelled as such even if they
contain only a tiny amount. Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/03.html
------------------------------------------------------------
US NEEDS TO PAY ATTENTION TO CUSTOMERS
Agri News, August 30, 2005 (USA) The United States needs to start listening to its customers if it wants to remain a
player in the soybean export market, a soyfoods industry expert said. Peter Golbitz, president of Soyatech, said the
United States' share of that market is decreasing because US farmers aren't growing what the world's consumers want. He
said soybeans [are] the world's largest protein and oil crop. If the US soybean industry wants to be a player, it needs
to invest in food-grade soybeans and adjust its attitude. The US can no longer be the bully that tells other nations
what they have to buy. "There's really no excuse in today's market not to give the consumer what he wants." The crop
changed dramatically in 1996 when US farmers began planting Roundup Ready beans. Now, 86 percent of US soybeans are
genetically modified. Eight to 9 percent are food-grade soybeans and 5 percent to 6 percent are feed and seed. If any
more GMO soybeans are grown, the United States will be out of the food-grade market, Golbitz said, and may have to
import to meet US consumer demand. Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/04.html
------------------------------------------------------------
GM CROPS RESEARCH PIPELINE GOING DRY
The Hindu Business Line, August 21, 2005
(India) The bio-technology industry says it has turned its focus on drought- resistant and health providing GM crops.
But world-wide data shows that the pipeline of GM crops research is drying up. In the US not a single petition has been
filed for field trials this year. According to the US Department of Agriculture, there has been a slide since 1995 when
15 petitions were filed. The lowest number of applications - five - were filed in 2002 and things improved marginally
during 2003 and 2004. In Canada, confined research field trials of GM crops have declined from 178 in 2000 to 64 in
2004. In the EU, environmental release of GM crops has slid from 264 in 1997 to 68 in 2004. One reason for the loss of
interest in carrying out research in GM crops could be the length of time taken to review the petitions by the
authorities, especially in the US. During 1995-99, the FDA took six months to review a petition but between 2000 and
2004 [it] was 13-14 months. Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/05.html
------------------------------------------------------------
WA SEEKS NATIONAL GM LIABILITY LAWS ABC,
August 9, 2005
(Australia) Western Australia's Minister for Agriculture Kim Chance says he would like to see national legislation
governing liability for GM contamination. The call comes after preliminary test results in WA identified a small amount
of GM canola in non-GM canola. "The question of liability laws is one that the pro-GM groups ought to support as well.
Properly constructed, it would give a degree of legal certainly to both sides," he said. The issue is set to widen, with
th[is] discovery coming just weeks after a similar incident in Victoria. Authorities believe the source of the
contamination could be from lines of commercial seed sold to farmers all over Australia. Full item:
http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/06.html
------------------------------------------------------------
SCIENTISTS WARN OF GM SUPERWEED RISK
The Guardian, August 18, 2005
(UK) Scientists have identified 15 weed species that are resistant to a herbicide widely used on GM crops and are
warning farmers they may become a serious problem on "a global scale," unless a strategy for dealing with them is
developed. Some of the most common weed species either have some strains with a natural resistance to the widely used GM
herbicide glyphosate or have developed one. Writing in the journal Outlooks on Pest Management, four scientists argue
there is a danger that by ignoring the threat these weeds pose, farmers maybe giving them a huge advantage over other
plants which are killed by glyphosate. The paper says that glyphosate has been used by farmers to kill off weeds for 30
years but since the 1990s, when GM crops were modified to resist glyphosate, worldwide use has increased from 5,000
tonnes a year to more than 30,000 tonnes in 2002. "The problem of glyphosate-resistant weeds is real, and farmers have
to realise that the continuous use of glyphosate without alternative strategies will likely result in the evolution of
more glyphosate-resistant weeds." Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/07.html
------------------------------------------------------------
TOXIC 2NDRY METABOLITE PRODUCTION IN GM POTATOES
J. Agric. Food Chem., September 2, 2005
Potatoes produce a number of toxic secondary metabolites. The development of GM potato varieties has made it prudent to
ascertain whether there may be changes in the amounts or types of these secondary metabolites either as a direct effect
of the transgene or due to its interactions with environmental variables. Transgenic potato lines were exposed, along
with nontransgenic lines, to a range of biotic and abiotic stresses and a range of environmental conditions in the field
and store. Significant differences were observed... Research News: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/08.html
------------------------------------------------------------
FOCUS ON HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER
Nature Reviews Microbiology 3, Vol 3 No 9; September 2005
Foreword: Barth F. Smets & Tamar Barkay
The evidence indicates that HGT is a central process in microbial activities that control our health and the
environment, and that it holds promise as a tool for their improvement. Several scientific disciplines are addressing
HGT, each providing their unique perspective and each using different approaches and methodologies - evolutionary
biology, molecular ecology and molecular biology. With such distinct perspectives, conflicts are bound to arise, but
opportunities for synthesis are certain to emerge. The ability to control harmful effects and to enhance desired
attributes of HGT depends on the integrated understanding of HGT as a continuum and its integration within an ecological
framework. The goal of this Focus issue is to present HGT from the perspective of these different disciplines and to
provide a path towards the construction of a holistic picture of HGT and its effects on extant microbial communities.
Research News: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/092005/09.html
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
The items in this Bulletin are excerpts from articles which remain the copyright of the original owners. The material is
edited for brevity and published here for educational and public interest use only. Full items and web links to source
where available, can be found at www.GEinfo.org.nz along with PDF and Word versions of all Bulletins that can be
downloaded free.
Hard copies of the Bulletin are available. Single issues can be purchased for $5. You can also take out an annual
subscription, covering a minimum of 10 issues, for $35.
The GE Information Bulletin is a project of the GE Information Service. It presents a regular digest of significant
information from an international range of sources. We rely on donations, grants and sponsorship. Please support our
work to promote informed debate regarding the responsible use of genetic engineering. Supporters have no editorial
influence.
ENDS