US pushing GMOs in Africa and India / Brazil GM slow-down (27/7/2005) | |
some items shortened: 1.Weeding out GM myths 1.Weeding out GM myths As someone who was broadly in favour of GM until reading your report indicating that modified genes have been transferred from GM rape seed to charlock (Weed discovery brings calls for GM ban, July 26), I have to say this is far more worrying than it may seem. Charlock is also known as wild mustard, and food historians and geneticists have demonstrated that most of the green vegetables farmed in the western world (apart from lettuce) were developed from it. This suggests that any GM vegetables in the brassica family are vulnerable and whatever trait may be introduced into one plant may be undesirable or even ruinous in another. Steve Wilson 2.US Promoting GM Research for Africa 4. Danforth Center Researchers Will Receive $3.3M 5. DuPont Donates Technology Valued At $4.8 Million to Africa Nutritionally Enhanced Sorghum Project Press Release from Pioneer Hi-Bred, 1/7/2005 3.GMOs & nukes for India c/o USA [NEW DELHI] India and the United States have pledged to increase scientific cooperation in a wide range of fields including energy, agriculture, health, and space, nanotechnology and information technology. The discussions were held during a visit by the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh to the United States last week. The two countries have agreed to launch a "second generation" of cooperation in agricultural sciences. The first major agriculture collaboration was in the 1960s, when the United States helped India set up agricultural universities and research institutions. The new initiative will focus on research to meet the challenge of raising agricultural productivity under drought conditions, Singh told a joint session of the US Congress on 19 July. Researchers will also study crop pests and diseases and try to develop technologies to improve food storage to reduce post-harvest waste. The aim is to ensure that research findings reach farmers directly. The talks on cooperation in diverse fields of science were overshadowed by concerns from some security experts in both India and the United States about one aspect -- the US decision to provide India with nuclear reactors and materials. The decision to support India's nuclear energy ambitions reversed a 30-year-old US stand brought about by India's first underground nuclear weapons test in 1974. An umbrella agreement on Indian-US cooperation in science and technology was expected to be signed during Singhs visit, but a senior DST official in Delhi said that has been deferred as more details needed to be worked out. 4.Brazil GMO soy sales start slowly; royalties cited SAO PAULO - Sales of genetically modified (GMO) soybean seeds for next harvest, which were legalized earlier this year in Brazil, are very slow, industry sources said on Monday. Farmers' financial difficulties and royalties charged by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto Co. are seen as the main reasons for the slowness. "The market isn't moving. GM sales are sluggish and things are generally quiet because farmers don't have cash," said Ivo Carraro, executive director of the Central Cooperative of Agricultural Research (Coodetec, Brazil's biggest producer of GM seeds). Coodetec has sold less than 10 percent of its seeds, compared with 90 percent at the same time last year, he said... Coodetec, one of Monsanto's partners in Brazil, produced around 2.5 million 40-kg bags of GM seeds for next year's harvest. Following lengthy negotiations, Monsanto reached a deal with seed growers in mid-July to charge 0.88 real per kilo for use of its Roundup Ready (RR) soybean technology. As the market considered the charge to be excessive, Monsanto sought to boost sales by offering farmers credit in proportion to the volume of their GM seed purchases. In addition, seed producers can offer farmers discounts by passing on some of the bonuses they receive from Monsanto for various services. "These benefits could be given to farmers," said Narciso Barison Neto, interim president of the Brazilian Seed Producers Association (Abrasem). Monsanto also made an agreement earlier this year with soy producers from Rio Grande do Sul state under which those using illegal Argentine seed must pay a charge equivalent to 2 percent of 2005/06 soy sales. Coodetec's Carraro said that the situation concerning GM soy sales should become clearer in August and September. http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=news&doc_id=10853&start=1&control=211&page_start=1&page_nr=101&pg=1 |