ISAAA Videos and Podcasts on Global Status of Biotech/GM Crops

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The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) has co-produced a series of six short videos on /Highlights of the Global Status of Biotech Crops/. Dr. Clive James, ISAAA Founder and Chair, provides a focused and comprehensive analysis of the different themes of the video series. All six videos are available in video streaming or in downloadable format at the ISAAA website (http://www.isaaa.org ) or in YouTube. The topics of the videos are:

* The Norman Borlaug Legacy
* Global Adoption of Biotech Crops
* Biotech Crops in Developing Countries: The Significance of Bt Rice
and Phytase Maize in China
* The Global Impact of Biotech Crops
* The Future Prospects of Biotech Crops
* The Mission of ISAAA: Knowledge Sharing

Web visitors may also subscribe to podcasts to be alerted on new videos such as those mentioned above, audio files and PDFs by visiting http://www.isaaa.org/rss/podcast/default.asp.

Isaaa

Road Map for Delivering GM Crops to the Third World?

A Search for Regulators and a Road Map to Deliver GM Crops to Third World Farmers
March 31, 2010

The New York Times
by Gayathri Vaidyanathan of ClimateWire

“In the transgenic crop fight, the foot soldiers on either side have been dug in for years. But despite the doubts about the necessity of GM, farmers have been voting with their seeds.”

http://www.truthabouttrade.org/news/latest-news/15812-a-search-for-regulators…

Key points in article:

Now and what is to come:

* transgenic crop acreage is increasing with developing nations and small farming ops being the newest adopters (up 7% over the last year according to the ISAAA)
* European Commission predicts that by 2015 there will be 120 commercial crops grown worldwide (currently there are 30)
* ~ 90% of 14 million farmers worldwide that use GM are ‘resource
poor’ farmers

Problem:

* As many as 100 developing countries lack tech and management capacity to review tests and monitor compliance of GMs

“Biosafety regulations of countries are usually modeled after the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, an international agreement that promotes a “precautionary approach.” It says that GM crops can be adopted if they are of minimal risk to the environment and human health. It lays out a clear set of guidelines to test for that risk. But guidelines alone don’t suffice.”

Truth_about_trade_tech

Schumacher on Oilseed Grain Markets

Klaus Schumacher, Toepfer International http://www.acti.de/en/index.php

“Developments on the Markets for Grain, Oilseeds, Oils and Fats”

http://www.agritrade.org/events/speeches/Transatlantic_Biofuels/Schumacher_Gr…

Presented at:
Transatlantic Biofuels Policies: What’s in it for Developing
Countries?
Washington, DC
March 16, 2007

Schumacher