Centre for Society and Genomic’s “Ten Years After: Mapping the Societal Genomic Landscape” Conference
May 2010
Amsterdam
mapping the Canadian and EU flax supply chain: a systematic analysis to estimate costs associated with AP & Triffid Flax
GM
ISAAA Videos and Podcasts on Global Status of Biotech/GM Crops
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* 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.
Science is not trusted by organic farmers, and that plays against their economic interests
Green thumbs
Genetically engineered crops are more environmentally friendly thanorganic ones By Elliot Entis
April 11, 2010
The Boston Globe * The yield per acre of such organic crops as wheat and beans is
between 50 and 80 percent of the yield of conventional crops * GE outperforms conventional crops: yields from genetically
engineered crops are 36% better for corn and 12% better for soy beans * Since 1997, the reduction in pesticide use resulting from
genetically engineered crops is estimated at 790 million pounds,
or 8.8%, and herbicide reduction in soybeans at 161 million
pounds, or 4.6% “Farmers who grow Bt-corn [a GE variety that contains the natural pesticide Bt] use 75 percent less pesticides, essentially receiving the benefits of chemicals without releasing them into the environment or leaving residue on the final product.’’ Bt is one of the pesticides organic farmers use to protect their own crops.” “The organic movement is largely a romantic ideal, far removed in many ways from science. It believes it is environmentally friendly, but it largely avoids science. True environmentalists look at the facts, and those facts do not support the growth of organic farming as a way to feed the world. However, with few exceptions, environmental organizations do not admit to this publicly. Why? Because they share a constituency: citizens who oppose certain elements of mass production farming, who yearn for a simpler time, when things were more natural. But this constituency is built on a shared belief system about the past, not the future.”
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/04/11/…
Kenya protests block GM maize shipment in Mombasa
BBC News
April 9, 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8609316.stm
A shipment of genetically modified (GM) maize has been blocked at the Kenyan port of Mombasa after protests by environmentalists. GM imports have been banned in several African countries. The 40,000-tonne shipment contained four varieties of maize, three of which were made by Monsanto. Mariam Mayet, an activist at the South African-based African Centre for Biosafety, criticised her government’s policy. “The way it is, one is inclined to say that South Africa was a springboard to contaminate the rest of the African continent by allowing multinationals to export from South African soil,” she told South Africa’s Business Report newspaper. Many African countries are under increasing pressure to grow GM crops to tackle hunger and malnutrition, and drought in recent years has caused food shortages in Kenya.
A survey of views on genetically modified (GM) crops shows that 80 per cent of Indian farmers are unwilling to use GM seeds to grow food.
Farmers prefer to use GM seeds for cash crops, survey finds
T. V. Padma 9 April 2010SciDev “India’s first survey of farmers’ and consumers’ views on genetically modified (GM) crops indicates farmers are more willing to use GM seeds for cash crops rather than food crops…The findings, released last week (1 April), revealed that around 40 per cent of the farmers surveyed were willing to grow cash crops with GM seeds, but 80 per cent of them said they would not cultivate food crops from seeds containing a poison to control pests. The response was consistent across big and small farmers and those educated or uneducated…The survey revealed low awareness among urban consumers of GM foods. ” See more at: http://xrl.us/bhf7fp
DG Sanco and LLP Policy Options for the EU
On 7 May 2008, the European Commission delayed a decision on allowing farmers to grow more GM crops, and asked European Food Safety Authority to reconsider its previous review, which it had admitted was inadequate, as it was unable to take indirect and long term impacts into account. This paper represents a follow up from this debate which concluded that the Commission services should work on a technical solution for the issue of LLP of non approved GMOs in feed and foodstuffs before the summer.
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/animal_feed/zero_tolerance_DG_Sanco_draft_techn…
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
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.”
Is China the great equalizer in the global GM debate?
Genetically modified foods get U.S. traction, global debate
by Elizabeth Weise, USA Todayhttp://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-03-17-Biotech17_cv_N.htm?loc=inters… Biologically engineered crops continue to be embraced in both developed and developing nations. Last year, 330 million acres of biotech crops were planted in 25 countries, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Application (ISAAA) says. “China most definitely will have an influence in the future of agriculture and trade. They grow an incredible amount of food and fiber, and the more they embrace this technology, the more it’s going to be used,” says Eric Hoffman, the group’s genetic engineering policy campaigner in Washington, D.C. “There’s potential for China shifting the balance away from the movement that Europe is creating to stop these technologies.”
Prize for GM Organics paper… winning compromise for food and food development
‘GM Organics’ Paper Awarded International Society of Bioethics 2009 Prize
The International Society of Bioethics has decided to award its 2009 prize to the paper entitled “More sustainable food: genetically modified seeds in organic farming” presented by Mrs. *Mertxe de Renobales Scheifler*, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. You can find the announcement here: http://www.sibi.org/ingles/jgp/index.htmOne hectare of GMO maize = 15 tonnes of seed (5 x conventional)
Zimbabwe Farmers Calls for Planting of GMOs
– Sarah Ncube, The Zimbabwe Telegraph, Nov. 19, 2009 http://www.zimtelegraph.com
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