The 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai has called for biotechnology capacity building in Kenya and other developing countries to enable safe adoption of the technology. Maathai, who is also Kenya’s assistant minister for environment and natural resources, won the coveted prize for her long standing crusade against environmental destruction in Africa.

During a live national television talk show in Kenya, the Nobel Peace Laureate said that agricultural biotechnology is here to stay and the best “we could do is to train the people involved to be able to minimize any inherent risk.” She gave the example of Kenya where President Mwai Kibaki mid this year supported the use of biotechnology to boost food production in the country while commissioning a modern biosafety greenhouse for Bt maize trials being conducted by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Kenya is in the process of enacting biosafety laws and policy that is expected to open up the country for commercialization of transgenic crops like cotton and maize. The environmentalist’s support for agricultural biotechnology comes amidst realization that conventional technology alone can no longer meet food production demands, and that agricultural biotechnology is increasingly becoming an important component of global food security strategy. /Kenya Biotechnology Information Center

For more of the Kenya Biotechnology Information Center, visit http://www.isaaa.org/africenter

REPORT TACKLES PLANT BIOTECH PROGRESS IN AFRICA

In a report published online by Agbioforum on The Status of Plant Biotechnology in Africa, Jennifer A. Thomson of the University of Cape Town, South Africa recounts the progress made so far by South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya in the field of plant biotechnology.

Thomson tracks the progress of various projects underway in Africa, including the University of Cape Town’s maize streak virus (MSV) – resistant maize, drought-tolerant maize, and vaccine production in tobacco; The South African Sugar Experiment Station’s herbicide-resistant sugarcane; The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s fungi-resistant maize and millet; Cairo’s Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute’s insect-resistant Egyptian cotton; and Kenya’s Agricultural Research virus-resistant sweet potatoes. Thomson looks at current setbacks as well, as GM crops move slowly from the experimental to the commercial stage, while meeting regulatory requirements on the way.

So far, Thomson reports, the biotech crops under study show promise. The sugarcane resistant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium showed phenotypic stability in field trials. Field trials are pending for AGERI’s insect-resistant long-staple GM cotton strain, developed by crossing Egyptian elite germplasm with Monsanto's Bollgard II. Other GM crops that have been in field trials for more than one season include potato tuber moth-resistant potatoes, virus-resistant squash and tomatoes, corn borer-resistant maize, and drought-tolerant wheat.

More crops are in the field trial stage, and some companies have expressed interest in their commercialization.

Agbioforum recently released a special issue of its online magazine, this time focusing on Progress, Achievements, and Constraints for Plant Biotechnology in Developing Countries. With guest editors Nigel Taylor, Lawrence Kent, and Claude Fauquet of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., the special edition contains more articles that discuss the experiences of various organizations and agencies in introducing biotechnology to the developing world.

Read Thomson’s article at http://www.agbioforum.org/v7n12/v7n12a02-thomson.htm. For more articles, access the full issue at http://www.agbioforum.org

“ DESIGNING GENES” FOR SAFETY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Risks can be reduced and the benefits of future genetically engineered (GE) crops enhanced by designing GE crops for safety and sustainability. Investment in innovation and design at the front end of the GE product pipeline may reduce 'end-of-pipe' costs, hazards, controversies, and regulatory burdens while also enhancing benefits. So says Don Doering in a World Resources Institute White Paper entitled "Designing Genes".

Doering, a senior associate of Winrock International in the U.S., explored the interface of two crucial science and policy issues - the path to U.S. agricultural sustainability and the future of genetically engineered (GE) crops - and how they can be integrated in one framework.

The paper added that there must be policy that rewards sustainability in agriculture and GE and ecology-based alternatives to current agricultural methods. The paper is available on-line at: http://pubs.wri.org/index.cfm and http://pdf.wri.org/designing_genes.pdf. To contact the author, email Don Doering at ddoering@winrock.org.

BIOTECH SOYBEAN TAKES ROOT IN PARAGUAY

The government of Paraguay recently approved planting and marketing of four Monsanto Roundup Ready soybean varieties. A framework agreement has likewise been approved, which provides for a royalty collection system designed to encourage continued innovation in agriculture.

Paraguay is now the 16th country or region to approve planting or importing of Roundup Ready soybeans. Currently the 5th largest soybean producer in the world, it produces 4 million metric tons yearly, comprising 2% of the world’s soybean yield.

Monsanto also plans to use its royalties to fund research and development projects in Paraguay, to compare different technologies and germplasm across a range of growing regions throughout the country

With information from American City Business Journals Inc, and Seedquest. Read the full article at http://www.seedquest.com/News/releases/2004/october/10242.htm.

EU APPROVES NK603 MAIZE FOR FOOD

The European Union (EU) has finally approved the NK603 Maize line for food use, after safety assessments that took into account its potential environmental impact; compositional, safety, and agronomic characteristics; potential allergenicity; and nutritional content. In the end, a panel convened by the Union found that NK603 “is as safe as conventional maize and…its placing on the market – for import for processing and food or feed use—is unlikely to have an adverse effect on human or animal health, or in this context, on the environment.”

NK603 maize is genetically modified to make it tolerant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in commonly used herbicides. This allows farmers to still use herbicides to keep weeds away without damaging their corn crop. It has already been approved for import in Australia, Colombia, Korea, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Russia, and Taiwan, and has received authorization for cultivation in Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Japan, South Africa, and the USA.

Access the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) release on NK 603 maize at
http://www.efsa.eu.int/pdf/pressrel_gmo_0203_final_en.pdf. For more information, contact Adeline Farrelly at a.farrelly@europabio.org and Simon Barber at s.barber@europabio.org.

GCC AGREE ON SAFETY ASSESSMENT OF BIOTECH FOODS

Representatives from the States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) met in Rome, Italy where they agreed on the importance of establishing the necessary regulations governing the production, distribution, and the imports and exports of genetically modified (GM) foods, at national and regional levels. They attended a workshop on the safety assessment of foods derived from modern biotechnology, which was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization.

The participants agreed to establish a regulatory framework to identify those ministries, authorities, and institutions interested in GM foods, and then to designate one of these entities to take the lead. This will be followed by a task force to carry out specific tasks.

At the GCC level, it was recommended that the following actions, among others, would be taken:

• Inventory of existing international and national regulations/guidelines
• Creation of a GCC committee composed of GM food focal points in each member country
• Creation of a drafting committee to prepare the draft food regulations for the GCC
• Seek accreditation in GM food analysis of at least one laboratory within the GCC region from an internationally recognized body; and
• Establish databases to strengthen capability building

For the workshop proceedings, view ftp://ftp.fao.org/es/esn/food/meetings/
rome2004_report.pdf

ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF GM RICE ADOPTION

Welfare gains stand to be more significant than farm productivity gains as a result of the potential health-enhancing attributes of golden rice. This was the conclusion of Kym Anderson and colleagues in a World Bank Policy Research Working Paper entitled “Genetically Modified Rice Adoption: Implications for Welfare and Poverty Alleviation.”

Substantial welfare gains are expected even assuming that golden rice has no positive effect on farm productivity. There is also no valuation of the non-pecuniary welfare gain of Vitamin A deficient persons from being able to reduce that vitamin deficiency through access to golden rice. The authors who were from the University of Adelaide, Australia and the Danish Research Institute of Food Economics in Copenhagen at the time of the study, added that if developing countries particularly Sub-Sahran Africa would adopt golden rice, the welfare gains and alleviation of poverty and ill-health would be even greater. The gains would even be more significant if golden rice adoption encouraged the adoption of other GM rice and other crop varieties.

See the full report at http://econ.worldbank.org/files/38016_wps3380.pdf.

UGANDA PUBLISHES BIOSAFETY POLICY BILL

Uganda’s State Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Kibirige Sebunnya, has now paved the way for a new GM policy through the publication of Uganda’s first Biosafety Policy Bill. The enactment of the Bill into law is likely to pave way for new GM projects, including Bt cotton, disease-tolerant banana, improved virus-tolerant potatoes, and insect-tolerant sorghum varieties.

National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) director-general George Otim-Nape Otim-Nape clarified that, “Uganda will continue to build capacity to understand, assess, evaluate, and manage potential risks and benefits of biotechnology".

Read the full article at http://www.africabiotech.com/news2/article.php?uid=115

BACTERIA GEARED TO MAKE DECAF COFFEE BEANS

Justin Gallivan and Shawn Desai, chemists at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, have provided bacteria with a molecular switch that senses the presence of theophylline, a by-product of caffeine degradation. They incorporated the theophylline-sensitive switch into Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells and grew them in the presence of an antibiotic. Without theophylline, the cells died. However, when the researchers supplied the E. coli with the caffeine by-product, a built in mechanism, called a riboswitch, turned on the gene for antibiotic resistance. The cells then proliferated.

The riboswitch is an RNA segment that changes conformation when bound to certain small molecules. This change in conformation can turn genes on or off. Riboswitches exist naturally in cells, and researchers have recently begun to create synthetic versions that can be used as sensors or for gene therapy.

Coffee plants already produce a yet uncharacterized enzyme that naturally, but slowly, breaks down caffeine into theophylline. To search for the enzyme’s gene, the Emory group plans to insert various coffee-plant genes into bacterial hosts. Only those microbes that get the gene of the caffeine-destroying enzyme will produce theophylline, live through antibiotic exposure, and yield virtually caffeine-free coffee beans.

The full article is available to subscribers at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/
20040410/bob8.asp.

STUDY EXPLORES RISKS OF EATING AND DRINKING

In The Risks of Eating and Drinking, Susan B.T. Wilkinson and her colleagues from the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom (UK) used recent studies on UK consumers’ greatest food fears to assess what makes people avoid certain foods.

The article is published in the latest European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Journal, where Wilkinson points out that, “Scientists and policy makers would do well to consider the basis for consumer beliefs in order to preempt future food- and drink-related health and policy crises.”

By detailing the most significant sources of food and drink health risks, then discussing the implications of consumers' perceptions of these hazards, the article considers the reasons behind apparent 'misperceptions' of risks. Consumers rank risks differently, and can suffer cases of over-reaction, by over estimating the presence of allergens in food, for example; or, conversely, under-reaction, as in not eating a balanced diet, even when one is educated on how to do so.

Download the complete article at http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/ embor/journal/v5/n1s/full/7400225.html&filetype=pdf

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

NEW GENETICS WEBSITE IN PORTUGUESE AVAILABLE

An educational website on plant genetics was recently released, aiming to simplify issues in plant genetics and biotechnology. Constructed during a project implemented on some Portuguese Rural Development and Agricultural Professional Schools during 2002 and 2003, the website presents edited didactic material made available to enrolled schools, tackling the ABC’s of genetics and genetic engineering, Phytoremediation, and Law and Patents, among others.

The website is a product of partnership between Estação Agronómica Nacional and Instituto Virtual and is available, in Portuguese, at http://www.institutovirtual.pt/edu-agri-biotec

PEW INITIATIVE RELEASES CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

The Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology (PIFB) and the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC) held a two-day public conference in September 2003 in Mexico City to discuss Gene Flow: What Does It Mean for Biodiversity and Centers of Origin? The conference drew over 200 participants, including scientists, government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), industry representatives, and reporters.

Proceedings from the conference are now available on the Pew Initiative website in both English and Spanish. Highlights include opening remarks by Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, noting the importance of conserving biodiversity; and discussions by panelists, with subjects such as the persistence of transgenes, and the impact of agricultural practices and cultural barriers on the biodiversity of maize in Mexico.

Download the proceedings of the conference at http://pewagbiotech.org/events/0929/
Proceedings-English.pdf

BECA IN NEED OF NETWORK COORDINATOR/CEO

Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa (BECA) in Nairobi, Kenya, a center of excellence in biosciences being established under the auspices of the New Program for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), now seeks to recruit a Network Coordinator. Applicants should have a PhD in agriculture, biological sciences, or related areas of science, and should be an experienced and credible senior manager with strong leadership skills and excellent organizational abilities.

Applications should be submitted to Bourrier International Consultants Inc. (BICI) before 26 November 2004. They should include a cover letter, a detailed CV, and the names and addresses (including phone, fax, e-mail) of three or more professional referees. They should be marked confidential and sent by e-mail to: bici@sympatico.ca

The Network Coordinator position is open to qualified African nationals, especially women.

Further information is available at www.biosciencesafrica.org.

ETAE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Emerging technologies in agricultural and food engineering is the focal theme of the forthcoming ETAE 2004 International Conference, to be held on the 14th to 17th of December at the Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.

Technical sessions will deal with Power and Machinery Systems, Natural Resources Engineering and Management, Food and Bioprocess Engineering, Agro Environmental Engineering, and Ergonomics Safety and Health

For more details visit http://www.agri.iitkgp.ernet.in/etae2004/index.html or e-mail the organizing secretary at vktfeb@agfe.iitkgp.ernet.in