GMO Food for Thought

The UK newspaper The Independent just published an article on a new study released by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission's scientific body, on the impact of genetically modified crops in Europe. Scientists surveyed more than 400 Spanish farmers who grew Bt maize and found that they produced higher yields and earned up to €122 more per hectare than conventional maize farmers. Read the article below and by following the link.

C.S. Prakash

Farmers praise GM crops in EU study
The Independent
June 30, 2008

European farmers who grow genetically modified crops enjoy higher yields and revenues than conventional growers, according to a new study.

Scientists from the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission's scientific body, surveyed more than 400 Spanish farmers who grew Bt maize – the only GM crop allowed for cultivation in the EU. They found they produced higher yields and earned up to €122 more per hectare (£50 per acre) than conventional maize farmers.

It is the first time scientists have looked into the impact of GM in Europe, said Dr Emilio Rodriguez Cerezo, who led the research. "There are definite economic advantages for farmers for the reason that their crops are not destroyed by pests," he said.

The European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, wants to remove regulatory obstacles to the controversial technology, arguing that GM crops could counter soaring food prices. However, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who takes over the EU presidency tomorrow, will be calling for more controls on GM organisms. Environ-mental groups accuse the GM industry of exploiting the global food crisis to win approval for its products.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 5:05 PM | Permalink

Austria has lifted its ban on importing and processing genetically modified corn. According to the following Associated Press article they are finally complying with the World Trade Organization to lift the ban.

C.S. Prakash

EU says Austria has lifted a ban on importing, processing genetically modified corn
Associated Press
June 24, 2008

GENEVA: Austria has lifted a ban on importing and processing genetically modified corn as part of the European Union's efforts to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling on biotech foods, the EU said Tuesday.

At a regular meeting of the organization, the 27-nation EU informed trading partners that it was cooperating in good faith with Argentina, Canada and the United States, which have successfully pressed their case at the WTO.

The EU said it was taking steps to comply with a 2006 ruling that European countries illegally hindered the sale of genetically modified foods and cited the decision of the Austrian government, long one of Europe's most resistant, to allow genetically modified maize to be imported and processed.

The bloc said the ban was lifted on May 27.

Robert Prochazka at the Austrian mission in Geneva confirmed that his country implemented an EU decision on corn last month. It doesn't allow for the genetically modified crop to be planted in Austria, he said.

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Posted by CS Prakash at 4:14 PM | Permalink

I found the following article by Dennis Avery today. Title “Biotech Wheat to Ease World Food Shortage,” the article addresses the food shortage issues that will likely affect the world in the coming decades and the role biotech wheat could play if developed.

C.S. Prakash

Biotech Wheat to Ease World Food Shortage
News By Us
June 23, 2008

In the midst of the worst global grain shortage in decades, two lines of Australian biotech wheat have out-yielded current wheats by 20 percent - even under drought stress.

“Around the world, 35–50 percent of the wheat-growing areas are under drought risk. The number of drought-affected wheat growing areas is likely to increase with the effects of climate change” John Brumby, of Victoria, Australia told his audience. “These initial results are very promising, and suggest that these genetically modified wheat lines may be part of the solution to help farmers maintain and improve their crop yields in a changing global environment.”

Australia is the world’s driest continent and Victoria’s wheat crop was significantly reduced by drought in 2006/2007. U.S. wheat stocks were cut to an 11-year low this winter by drought that spread last year from Texas through bone-dry Missouri and nearly to the Canadian border.

Researchers are also working on heat-tolerant wheat varieties, examining wild relatives of the wheat plant for DNA that would help wheat to tolerate higher temperatures for longer periods without sacrificing yield. Biotechnology would permit such DNA to be inserted into wheat varieties that already have high yields and good baking characteristics.

Due largely to opposition from environmental activists, no biotech wheats are currently being grown in the world. Monsanto shelved its herbicide-tolerant wheat, which could have allowed higher yields due to better weed control. Syngenta has slowed its work on disease-resistant biotech wheat.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:32 PM | Permalink

The UK newspaper The Independent is reporting the European Union is re-investigating the benefits of GM crops. The EU launched a study into whether a large-scale expansion of genetically modified crops would curb soaring global food prices. Good to see that Europe is taking another look at GM crops!

C.S. Prakash

Europe warms to GM crops as possible solution to food crisis
The Independent
June 21, 2008

The European Union has launched a study into whether a large-scale expansion of genetically modified crops would curb soaring global food prices.

Gordon Brown backed the move after the European Commission said GM crops could "play an important role in mitigating the effects of the food crisis". Jose Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, warned that the EU's current obstacles to GM products could result in higher food prices in Europe than the rest of the world. EU leaders endorsed the plans to review the complex system of approving GM licences, which is split between the EU and national governments. It could be streamlined to make the approval process easier.

Mr Brown told a press conference in Brussels that decisions on the issue should be driven by science. He said: "In the end, the attitude to GM crops and GM food taken by consumers in our country and in any country is going to depend on the scientific and medical advice. That is what we are looking for from the work of this review group. Scientific advice is going to be the key to the future. It is very important that we see the results of that review before we come to firm conclusions."

The push for an expansion of GM crops comes as British ministers consider plans to relax the Government's controls over their cultivation, as The Independent revealed on Thursday.

In a report to EU leaders, Mr Barroso said the food price rises had added "a new dimension" to the public debate on GM crops. He admitted people were worried about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and farming, but he said the EU was probably one of the largest importers of GMOs as its livestock industry was highly dependent on imported plant proteins.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:10 PM | Permalink

There continues to be buzz about UK Environment Minister Phil Woolas’ push to start talking about GM crops in the United Kingdom. According to this article the National Farmers Union of the UK is supporting Woolas, saying that GM crops have the potential to help feed the world.

C.S. Prakash

NFU welcomes moves for debate on GM crops role
Newbusiness.co.uk
June 20, 2008

THE National Farmers Union has welcomed moves by the Government to start a debate about a greater role for GM crops. As world food prices continue to rise, Environment Minister Phil Woolas said yesterday that he wants a debate on the benefits of GM crops in offering greater yields, particularly in the developing world.

A spokesman for the NFU said: “We are pleased the Defra minister is finally talking about GM crops in an open, pragmatic and science-based way.

“We sincerely hope this indicates a real change in Government thinking and a move away from the highly politicised and emotive way this issue has been dealt with during the last decade.

“The reality is that GM technology is not new and it has been applied to commercial agriculture around the world for more than 12 years.

“In the context of increasing food prices as well as fuel, we are pleased that the benefits of reduced inputs and increased yields by improving crops using GM technology are finally being recognised as a benefit for both consumers and the environment.”

This week, Mr Woolas said: “There is a growing question of whether GM crops can help the developing world out of the current food price crisis.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:59 PM | Permalink

England’s the Independent is speaking out against Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth’s criticism of Phil Woolas’ announcement of support for genetically modified crops. The author of the article notes that while GM crops won’t “solve the global food shortage” on its own, “GM technology certainly has the potential to play an important part down the line in bringing more land under cultivation in the developing world and Africa.”

C.S. Prakash

Leading article: There is no reason for a blanket ban on GM crops
The Independent
June 20, 2008

Some plants that look dead can suddenly spring back to life again. Genetically modified crops seem to have accomplished such a trick. After a prolonged period of quiet, GM is back on the political agenda. The environment minister, Phil Woolas, told this newspaper yesterday, after talks with the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, that these crops might help alleviate the present global food price crisis.

Gordon Brown reiterated this message yesterday at a meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels. After years of bowing to public hostility to GM crops, the Government seems ready to play a more active role in promoting them.

Longstanding opponents of GM, such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, have reacted with hostility. While these environmental groups do a valuable service in influencing many aspects of public policy, this newspaper believes they are misguided in their blanket rejection of GM.

Some of humankind's most significant advances throughout history have been a result of agricultural innovation, from irrigation in ancient Mesopotamia, to Jethro Tull's seed drill. The genetic modification of crops can be part of this noble tradition. Drought and salt-resistant strains of crops have the potential to increase yields considerably and to bring more land under cultivation.

It is, of course, simplistic to argue that GM alone can solve the global food shortage. The present crisis is too complex for any quick-fix solution. And there are, at present, no GM crops with these particular capabilities on the market. But GM technology certainly has the potential to play an important part down the line in bringing more land under cultivation in the developing world and Africa.

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Posted by CS Prakash at 4:41 PM | Permalink

It looks like efforts to create drought-tolerant crops are beginning to ramp up. According to the following Reuters article biotech industry leaders, including DuPont, Syngenta and Bayer Crop Science, were in San Diego last week at the BIO International Conference discussing the development of new disease-resistant and drought-tolerant crops. Read more about it below.

C.S. Prakash

Biotech crops seen helping to feed hungry world
Reuters
June 19, 2008

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Biotechnology in agricultural will be key to feeding a growing world population and overcoming climate challenges like crop-killing droughts, according to a group of leading industry players.

"It is critical we keep moving forward," said Thomas West, a director of biotechnology affairs at DuPont, interviewed on the sidelines of a biotechnology conference in San Diego. "We have to yield and produce our way out of this."

DuPont believes it can increase corn and soybean yields by 40 percent over the next decade. Corn seeds that now average about 150 bushels per acre could be at well over 200 bushels an acre, for example, DuPont officials said.

Crop shortages this year have sparked riots in some countries and steep price hikes in markets around the globe, and questions about how to address those issues were the subject of several meetings at the BIO International Convention being held this week.

Despite persistent reluctance in many nations and from some consumer and environmental groups, genetically modified crops, -- and the fortunes of the companies that make them -- have been on the rise. Growing food and biofuel demands have been helping push growth.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:36 PM | Permalink

The UK’s Environmental minister Phil Woolas’ is coming out in support of GM crops. Woolas recently met with the Agricultural Biotechnology Council to discuss ways in which genetically modified crops could be grown in Britain on a wider scale as a means of dealing with the global food crisis. Woolas told the Independent, “There is a growing question of whether GM crops can help the developing world out of the current food-price crisis. It is a question that we as a nation need to ask ourselves." Read more of Woolas’ comments below.

C.S. Prakash

Government takes fresh look at GM crops
The Guardian
June 19, 2008

Genetically modified crops could be grown in Britain on a wider scale as a means of dealing with the global food crisis, it was revealed today.

Phil Woolas, the environment minister, last night held preliminary talks with the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, an umbrella group formed in 2000 to promote the role of biotechnology in agriculture.

"There is a growing question of whether GM crops can help the developing world out of the current food-price crisis. It is a question that we as a nation need to ask ourselves," Woolas told the Independent.

"The debate is already under way. Many people concerned about poverty in the developing world and the environment are wrestling with this issue."

He told the newspaper that the "very robust" procedures for ensuring the safety of experiments would continue, with scientists looking at each application on its merits.

Gordon Brown is said to be increasingly sympathetic to taking a fresh look at the issue. The government decided in 2004 after a heated public debate that there was no scientific case for a blanket ban on GM crops. But the global food crisis is thought to have persuaded him that the time was right to reconsider the role of GM crops.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:25 PM | Permalink

Dow AgroSciences LLC and Martek Biosciences Corporation say they will develop and commercialize a canola seed that produces omega-3 fatty acid, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). DHA has been touted as a fatty acid that supports brain, eye and heart health. Read more about this below.

C.S. Prakash

Biotech canola could offer even healthier oil
The Farm and Ranch Guide
June 19, 2008

A new generation of healthy canola oils could soon be available to consumers.

Dow AgroSciences LLC and Martek Biosciences Corporation have announc-ed they will develop and commercialize a canola seed that produces omega-3 fatty acid, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).

The two companies hope to eventually produce DHA-rich canola oil for people to eat.

DHA omega-3 is a healthy long-chain fatty acid that is used by the brain and eyes. It supports brain, eye and cardiovascular health.

Science is finding that people of all ages, from babies through aging adults, benefit from DHA omega-3 in their diets. Clinical studies are underway to evaluate the role of DHA in decreasing the prevalence of certain neurological disorders.

Despite its importance, Americans consume very little DHA omega-3.

Today, DHA is primarily sourced from algal fermentation and fish oil.

While canola and flax naturally contain omega-3 fatty acids, they do not contain DHA omega-3, which is found in fish.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:18 PM | Permalink

Salmonella and Tomatoes

Abstract: Members discussed the recent outbreak of salmonella contamination of tomatoes in the United States. A member started the conversation by posting links to two different stories about raw tomato contaminated with salmonella, noting that it was “strange.” Another member responded by noting that there have been “dozens of similar outbreaks for decades,” providing links to the “Barf Blog,” a blog belonging to the Food Safety Network. Members went on to discuss agriculture standards, specifically those of organic agriculture. Many agreed that if irradiation was used more widely, it would reduce the number of illnesses and deaths associated with food-borne diseases. Finally a member posted an article written by Henry Miller, titled “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,” on the salmonella outbreak in the U.S. The article was originally published in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian, but has since been picked up by several other newspapers in the United States.

Sources: Houston Chronicle
Reuters
Barf Blog (Food Safety Network)
Barf Blog (Food Safety Network)
The Guardian (UK)

Jonny Gressel’s book Genetic Glass Ceilings Discussed

Abstract: Members discuss a new book by Jonny Gressel, Genetic Glass Ceilings: Transgenics for Crop Biodiversity. One member notes that the author “asks challenging questions and discusses realistic, clear-eyed solutions to the questions – all about the genetic glass ceilings faced by plant breeders.” Another noted that the book was the number one seller on Amazon.com and was sold out. All appeared to agree that it was a really good book.

Source: Amazon.com listing

Vatican Set to Release Opinion on Biotechnology; Rumored to be Favorable

Abstract: A member posted a CBCP News article on the possibility of Pope Benedict XVI issuing a “favorable” stand on the use of genetically modified food as an answer to world hunger. The article quotes Bishop Jose Oliveros, Episcopal Commission on Bioethics chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines as saying that the Vatican is set to release its report early next month, hinting that the findings may be in favor of biotechnology. Also noted is that the Vatican has remained neutral on the issue, but “is said to have been swayed by scientific evidence of biotechnology’s safety and the unrelenting problem on world hunger. Another member posted links to two older article on the Vatican’s opinion on GMOs.

Sources: CBCP News
Nature (PDF)
National Catholic Reporter (PDF)

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times published an article on June 5th on Monsanto’s push to boost global food production, now Newsweek is promoting Monsanto’s efforts as well. According to the article, the biotechnology company plans to funnel millions of dollars into research on wheat and rice, in addition to it’s efforts to double yields of corn and soy by 2030.Well done Monsanto!

C.S. Prakash

Monsanto on the Menu
Business Week
June 10, 2008

It's betting the food crisis will create new markets for genetically modified products.

Monsanto, the leading producer of genetically modified seeds, has spent years trying to shed its image as a purveyor of Frankenfood. The political battles over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) through the 1990s left the company bruised, profitless, and with scaled-back ambitions on the consumer-food front. Out were promises of GMO wheat, rice, and tomatoes. In was a focus on corn, soy, and cotton—big-volume crops destined for industrial uses such as animal feed, ethanol, and textiles. The gambit worked. Since 2003, Monsanto (MON) has transformed itself from a money-losing pariah into a $5 billion agribusiness titan with 20% profit margins and a stock price that is up 1,200%.

Flush with success, Monsanto this month has launched a new push to feed the world. Amid food shortages and rampant inflation, the St. Louis company now wants to reassert its position in the global food chain. On June 5, during a U.N. food summit in Rome, Monsanto announced ambitious goals to boost global food production, funneling millions into public research on wheat and rice—areas the company had abandoned in recent years—while pledging to double yields on corn and soy by 2030. The company says it will also distribute seeds to African farmers royalty-free. "That isn't a feel-good thing," says Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant. "Satisfying the demand curve is a great business opportunity."

Indeed, a number of agribusiness giants see a new opportunity for biotech crops. And they downplay fears of a backlash this time around: "I think the world has moved on," says Grant. Executives at rivals such as Swiss agrochemicals giant Syngenta (SYT) have also spoken out in recent weeks. Europe's food safety chief, Androulla Vassiliou, has talked about being more flexible while Columbia University Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs and World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick have noted that GMOs could fight global hunger. In particular, many point to new lines of drought-tolerant corn, due out in 2012, that have been engineered to use water more efficiently.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 5:42 PM | Permalink

The Urban Cowboy blog posted an entry on Martin Taylor’s – current chair of the board of directors for Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta AG – stop in Guelph, Canada to discuss a solution to the global food crisis, current technology. The author comments on Taylor’s attitude during the meeting with key influencers in Canada, saying that he was more interested in discussing Canadian agriculture and “selling a bag of seed.” I’m glad to see Syngenta getting out there and promoting biotechnology to Canada!

C.S. Prakash

Technology can help address food fright
Urban Cowboy
June 10, 2008

As world leaders were scrambling for answers last week in Rome at a United Nations summit on the global food crisis, agribusiness leader Martin Taylor was quietly stepping to the podium before 40 farm industry leaders and media in Guelph to suggest his solution to the problem — current technology.

On Monday, Taylor, chair of the board of directors for Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta AG, stopped in Guelph — where the company makes its Canadian headquarters — as part of his first visit to Canada as company chair. The Canadian group, led by president Jay Bradshaw, invited key influencers to meet him, pick his brain and see what the head of one of the world's most influential and globally minded agricultural companies is thinking.

One thing on his mind — which is not unlike other companies — is the bottom line.

Syngenta has a lot to gain if technology takes on an increasing role in addressing food problems. It already has a major stake in the situation, having realized sales of $9.2 billion last year, followed by a 20 per cent increase in the first quarter of 2008.

Syngenta is immersed in technology, through its development of crop protection products and seed technology, including genetically modified seed.

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Posted by CS Prakash at 5:36 PM | Permalink

I found this article in Modern Ghana discussing a recent meeting in Nigeria on the need for genetically modified crops in Africa, specifically Bt cowpea. Participants from Australia, the United States and some African countries attended the three-day international conference, which was organized by the Nairobi-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Currently, AATF is working to develop a new genetically modified cowpea with a Bt gene that would enable farmers in Africa to have access to high quality seed and socially acceptable cowpea varieties with increased resistance to maruca pod borer, an insect that troubles the produce in Africa.

C.S. Prakash

Scientists Advocate GM Food
Modern Ghana
June 6, 2008

AS WORLD leaders met earlier this week in Rome to find solutions to the global food crisis, a number of scientists and other stakeholders also converged on the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to consider the possibility of increasing Bt cowpea production in Africa to feed the continent.

The three-day international conference, organized by the Nairobi-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, attracted participants from Australia, the United States and some African countries.

Speaker after speaker called for effective ways to propagate the message that Bt cowpea, given the necessary attention, could be a major source of food especially protein, to the ever-increasing population of the continent.

Currently, AATF is engaged in a process of developing a new genetically modified cowpea with a Bt gene that would enable smallholder farmers in Africa to have access to high quality seed and socially acceptable cowpea varieties with increased resistance to maruca pod borer, an insect that troubles the produce.

In a presentation on her behalf, Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Science and Technology, Chief (Mrs.) Grace Ekpiwhre, assured the participants that the government of Nigeria, the largest producer and consumer of cowpea, supported every progress being made to develop Bt cowpea.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 5:19 PM | Permalink

Monsanto recently announced that they are pledging to develop crops that will hopefully double the yield of corn, soybeans and cotton by 2030. The announcement was made at a meeting in Rome where world leaders were discussing rising food prices and growing food shortages. The biotechnology company is also pledging to waive the royalty fees for the development of drought-tolerant corn in Africa.

C.S. Prakash

Monsanto Seeks Big Increase in Crop Yields
New York Times
June 5, 2008

Monsanto, the leader in agricultural biotechnology, pledged Wednesday to develop seeds that would double the yields of corn, soybeans and cotton by 2030 and would require 30 percent less water, land and energy to grow.

The announcement, coming as world leaders are meeting in Rome to discuss rising food prices and growing food shortages, appears to be aimed at least in part at winning acceptance of genetically modified crops by showing that they can play a major role in feeding the world.

Much of what is in the commitment are things the company was doing anyway. But Monsanto’s chief executive, Hugh Grant, said in an interview Wednesday that the company wanted to make the goals public “so this isn’t just a bound report on some library shelf.” He said it was only coincidence that the announcement was made at the same time as the meeting in Rome.

Monsanto said it had developed its commitment after consulting farmers, political leaders, academics and advocacy groups as to what needed to be done to increase food production without converting more forests into farmland or increasing pollution.

It is a matter of debate how much genetic engineering, which involves adding bacterial or other foreign genes to the DNA of plants, could contribute to improving output.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:46 PM | Permalink

The Financial Times recently published an article on the need for a second green revolution. With commodity prices soaring, the need for high yield crops is there, but the agricultural community is meeting more resistance this time around. We need to get these crops developed to feed the ever expanding world population!

C.S. Prakash

The End Of Abundance: Food Panic Brings Calls For A Second ‘Green Revolution’
Truth about Trade & Technology
June 4, 2008

The world stood on the brink of starvation and, warned doomsday forecasts in the 1960s, the battle to feed all of humanity was already lost. Famine was common in some of the most populated countries. Predictions of Malthusian catastrophe made the bestseller lists, with Paul R. Ehrlich writing in The Population Bomb that by the 1970s and 1980s the victims would number in the hundreds of millions.

But human ingenuity saved the day. A massive programme of investment in agricultural research and infrastructure – avidly supported by the US out of a cold-war-fuelled fear that hungry countries could fall into the arms of the Soviet Union – led to an explosion in farm productivity. Nations that never dreamt of being able to feed themselves were transformed into net exporters of food.

Those efforts, led by Norman Borlaug, an American agronomist who was later awarded the Nobel peace prize, resulted in the development of higher-yielding seeds and an exceptional expansion in the use of irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides in developing countries.

By 1968 the jump in farm productivity was so clear – India, for example, harvested a record wheat crop, as did the Philippines for rice – that William Gaud, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said the world was witnessing the “makings of a new revolution”.

“It is not a violent red revolution like that of the Soviets, nor is it a white revolution like that of the Shah of Iran,” Gaud said in a speech 40 years ago. “I call it the green revolution,” he added, coining a term that has long survived him.

Yet, like its counterparts elsewhere on the spectrum, the green revolution eventually lost momentum. Today, the world stands on the brink again as agricultural commodity prices surge, triggering food riots in countries from Haiti to Bangladesh. This time, however, efforts to increase supply – and the political backing in Washington and other capitals – appear far weaker. The task of raising productivity is meanwhile rendered more difficult by record oil prices, which make fertiliser more expensive.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:27 PM | Permalink

According to a new study published by entomologists at Cornell University, genetically modified (GM) plants that use Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) to kill pests won't harm the pests' natural enemies. The study claims the Bt insecticidal proteins are not toxic to a parasite that lives inside the caterpillar of the diamondback moth, a devastating worldwide vegetable pest. Read more about this study below.

C.S. Prakash

New study shows that transgenic plants don't hurt beneficial bugs
Physorg.com
June 3, 2008

Genetically modified (GM) plants that use Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), a common soil bacterium, to kill pests won't harm the pests' natural enemies, according to new research by Cornell entomologists.

That is welcome news for ecologists and farmers in the debate over GM plants. Much of the debate surrounding the use of GM crops focuses on their effect on organisms that aren't pests.

The research showed that GM plants expressing Bt insecticidal proteins are not toxic to a parasite that lives inside the caterpillar of the diamondback moth, a devastating worldwide vegetable pest. It was published in the May 27 issue of the online scientific journal PLoS One.

"The conservation of parasites is important for enhancing natural biocontrol that will help suppress pest populations as well as reduce the potential for the pest insects to develop resistance to the Bt," explained Anthony Shelton, Cornell professor of entomology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., who conducted the study with postdoctoral associate Mao Chen. "Our studies make it clear that Bt plants are a win-win situation to control pest insects and to enhance biocontrol and biodiversity."

The Bt bacterium, which is not harmful to humans, has been used for decades as a leaf spray and since 1996, in GM plants, a method that has proven much more effective and is now more widely used. Both uses are approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2007, Bt corn and cotton plants were grown in 22 countries on 104 million acres, according to Shelton.

"Few studies have examined the effect of Bt plants on parasites of caterpillars, but some of them have reported negative impacts," said Chen, noting that the new research suggests that those negative findings were likely due to testing methods.

Read more...

Posted by CS Prakash at 4:31 PM | Permalink

The Telegraph of the United Kingdom published an article on the need for GM crops in the UK and Europe. The author cites rising fuel costs, food costs and the fear of a food shortage as reasons why more farmers are beginning to consider GM crops a positive thing. He states that last time GM crops were tested in the UK, GM sugar beets and maize, crops were pulled up and destroyed, if crops are tested again, the UK population may not be so indifferent to such action. Sounds positive to me!

C.S. Prakash

Why we need GM foods
The Telegraph
June 2, 2008

The Government is accused of having lost touch with reality.

No better example exists than agriculture minister Hilary Benn's insistence that domestic food production is unnecessary for food security.

Other countries across the world are protecting their populations from running low; even major food exporters like Argentina are beginning to restrict some exports. American rice rationing is a fact.

World leaders are starting openly to talk about food running out. The sharp commodity price hikes after 10 years of stagnation are causing alarm. China is now seeking to buy farm-land abroad further increasing alarm.

The arguments about genetically modified crops are being resurrected. When the price of a loaf of bread doubles, as it is on the way to doing, the public's pickiness about production methods will weaken.

GM can be seen as crop modification addressing contemporary problems. Take fuel costs and the carbon effects of heavy tractors churning over fields. On a crop of GM sugar-beet or oil seeds weeds are controlled with one 'pass', the tractor using an all-inclusive weed-killer to over-spray the crop which itself remains undamaged. Ordinary sugar-beet varieties require three to four sprayings.

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Posted by CS Prakash at 5:14 PM | Permalink