FARMERS
CONSULTED ON INDIA'S DRAFT BIOTECH POLICY
A
consultation with the National Commission on Farmers (NCF)
was recently held in India, and was organized to assess farmers'
perspectives for developing a national policy on this frontier
technology, which may help improve food, livelihood and economic
security of the Indian farmer. Under the chairmanship of Prof
M.S. Swaminathan, the meeting also yielded a draft biotechnology
policy.
Among
others, the consultation resulted in the following: Biotechnologies
can offer new hope for increased productivity, sustainability
and profitability if the research priorities are right; science-based
pre- and post-release testing and monitoring systems should
be followed when biosafety issues are concerned; biotechnology
awareness and genetic literacy should be enhanced; unofficial
release of transgenics must be prevented; Bt cotton
hybrids and non-hybrid Bt cotton
varieties should be released in order to reduce seed prices
and encourage competition in the market; and drought and other
abiotic stresses, tolerance to saline conditions, nutritional
enrichment for crops are priority areas for biotech applications
in Indian agriculture.
Read
more at http://krishakayog.gov.in/biotech.pdf
ARS PROGRESSES ON ANTI-APHID SOY
The
soybean
aphid is a widespread pest of the crop, and, in high levels
of infestation, can stunt soybean
growth, disfigure leaves, and cause plants to die. Growers
have hitherto fought the pest with insecticides, which add
as much as $25 per acre to production costs.
Scientists
from the Agricultural Research Service of the United States
Department of Agriculture (ARS-USDA) have made considerable
progress in finding a way to combat the pest. A team led by
plant pathologist Glen Hartman and University of Illinois
(UI) collaborators at Urbana have found that a single gene,
called Rag1, can confer resistance to soybean
aphid.
Researchers
found the gene by screening 800 commercial cultivars and 3,000
germplasm accessions. They have already published their findings
in the March 2005 issue of Crop Science, and since then have
mapped the gene and its location on the resistant cultivar's
genome. They have also identified marker regions, and devised
technology to detect such markers, so that breeders may immediately
identify resistant plants.
With
current progress, high yielding cultivars expressing Rag1
may be available by 2008.
Read
the complete article at:
http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/45/2/639?maxto
show=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=Hartman
&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfull
text=and&searchid=1131594020854_4380&stored_search=&
FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&journalcode=cropsci.
Access the press release at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/
nov05/soy1105.htm
COMEPRA RELEASES VIEWS ON GM
Recognize
the potential, but be cautious all the same. This is the view
that France's Ethics and Safety Committee for Agricultural
Research Applications, or COMEPRA (Comité d' Ethique
et de Précaution pour les applications de la Recherche
Agronomique), advocates with regard to products of or derived
from genetically modified organisms (GMO).
COMEPRA
released a document on its views, dividing concerns and effects
of GMOs into two general categories. The first looks at material
effects, including the impact of GM crops on the environment,
and on the societal, economic and political organization of
human communities. The second includes non-material effects,
such as worldviews, the concept of living things, and the
metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical principles surrounding
the use of GMOs.
Among
others, the report concludes that the risks, issues, and even
techniques used to make GMOs cannot be simplified or thought
to be “merely [emulating] nature.” COMEPRA recommends
that “a trade-off has to be worked out, and this should
not result solely from the balance of political and economic
forces in action at the time but should mobilize public authorities
to organize the coexistence of the various production methods.”
As
advisory board of the National Institute for Agricultural
Research (INRA), COMEPRA also recommends that the institute
should guarantee the relevance of any field trials it may
wish to conduct.
Download
the complete document at http://www.inra.fr/
english/COMEPRA_OGM Dave_lindsay231-2.pdf
ROOTWORM ROUTE
TO EUROPE UNDER STUDY
The
Western
Corn Rootworm, once native to the United States, has already
spread throughout Europe since an accidental introduction
in 1992. The pest itself, which feeds on the crop's root hairs
or primary roots, depending on the larval stage, causes billions
of dollars of losses annually.
How
the pest was able to escape into Europe has been a matter
of speculation. Lately, however, the United States Department
of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS)
has found that the spread of the pest throughout the European
continent was achieved through at least three independent
transatlantic introductions. The research team, headed by
Thomas Guillemaud and Nicholas Miller at Institut National
de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in Sophia Antipolis, France,
also suggests that such crossings of the pest may be occurring
more often than previously thought.
Read
more at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2005/051110.2.htm
COTTON IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM FOR WEST AFRICA LAUNCHED
According
to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and U.S. Trade
Representative Rob Portman, USAID is allocating US$7 million
(with US$5 million in fresh funding) as part of a new West
Africa Cotton
Improvement Program (WACIP) aimed at the cotton sectors of
Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Senegal.
According
to Johanns and Portman, the National Cotton Council (NCC)
will be a key WACIP partner, and will provide assistance to
Africa during the cotton
harvest. For its part, WACIP will focus on reducing soil degradation
and expanding the use of good agricultural practices; strengthening
private agricultural organizations; establishing a West African
regional training program for cotton
ginners; improving the quality of C-4 cotton through better
classification of seed cotton
and lint; improving linkages between U.S. and West African
agricultural research organizations involved with cotton;
improving the enabling environment for agricultural biotechnology;
and policy/institutional reform.
Read
the press release at http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/
Press_Releases/2005/November/US_AnnouncesLaunch_of_West Africa_Cotton_Improvement_Program.html.
POLL SHOWS MIXED
RESULTS ON GM
A
recently concluded poll, conducted by the Pew Initiative on
Food and Biotechnology, revealed, among others, that Americans'
knowledge of genetically modified (GM) foods and animals continues
to remain low.
The
poll shows that consumers do not support banning new uses
of GM technology, but rather seek an active role from regulators
to ensure that new products are safe. Other results include:
Overall awareness of GM foods and biotechnology is up slightly,
but overall attitudes are unchanged, with only 41% of consumers
saying they have heard about GM food that is sold in grocery
stores; when asked about GM animals, 63% of respondents believe
government agencies should include moral and ethical considerations
when making regulatory decisions about cloning and genetically
modifying animals.
The
nationwide survey consisted of telephone interviews of 1,000
American consumers. View a summary of the findings from the
survey, as well as the statistical results at http://pewagbiotech.org/research/2005update/.
BETTER
SAFFLOWER MOVES TO THE FIELD
Arcadia
Biosciences, of the United States, has recently announced
that they have engineered safflower
plants to contain more than 35% gamma linolenic acid (GLA)
oil. The company is now in the process of validating the transgenic
safflower in the field, and may broadly commercialize the
crop in 2008.
GLA
is an omega-6 fatty acid, and has been shown in recent literature
to have significant anti-inflammatory effects. GLA can act
as a supplement for those affected with atopic eczema, dermatitis,
diabetic neuropathy, breast pain, infant nutrition, premenstrual
syndrome symptoms, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure,
skin health, and general inflammation.
"By
developing safflower
plants that produce seeds that contain high levels of GLA,”
says Eric Rey, president of Arcadia, “We can make the
health-promoting benefits of the omega-6 fatty acid more available
to the people who need them."
Read the company's press release at http://www.arcadiabio.com/media/press_05.11.14%20GLA.pdf
PAPER LOOKS
AT POTATO LATE BLIGHT CONTROL
W.W.
Kirk of Michigan State University and colleagues, take a look
at another angle of pest control for potatoes
as they conduct “Evaluation of potato
late blight management utilizing host plant resistance and
reduced rates and frequencies of fungicide applications.”
Their paper is published in the latest issue of Crop Protection.
In
their experiments, researchers evaluated the efficacy of combining
host resistance with reduced rates and frequencies of the
residual contact fungicide fluazinam to control foliar potato
late blight. By varying levels of fungicide applications,
as well as the duration of the applications, they found that
applications made at 7-10 day intervals, combined with the
use of potato less susceptible to late blight, were sufficient
in providing acceptable levels of control of the pest.
Researchers
say that such a technique can provide a cheaper way of controlling
late blight in the crop.
Subscribers
to Crop Protection can read the complete article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2004.12.016
RESEARCH MAPS MAIZE GENE DIVERSITY
Maize
was domesticated from the teosinte
grass through a single domestication event which may be traced
to southern Mexico. This occurred between 6000 to 9000 years
ago, and resulted in the original landraces which were then
spread throughout the Americas by Native Americans and adapted
to a wide range of environmental conditions. But what gene,
or genes were responsible for the improvement and domestication
of maize?
Masanori
Yamasaki of the University of Missouri, and colleagues, find
their answer as they report that “A Large-Scale Screen
for Artificial Selection in Maize
Identifies Candidate Agronomic Loci for Domestication and
Crop Improvement.” Their work appears in the latest
issue of Plant Cell.
By
sequencing 1095 maize
genes from a sample of 14 inbred lines, researchers chose
35 genes with zero sequence diversity as potential targets
of selection. These 35 genes were then sequenced in a sample
of diverse maize
landraces and teosintes
and tested for selection. Using two statistical tests, researchers
identified eight candidate genes, with three domestication
candidates (designated as AY108876, AY105060, and AY106371)
and three improvement candidates (AY107195, AY110109, and
AY108178). The eight genes, the researchers report, “have
functions consistent with agronomic selection for nutritional
quality, maturity, and productivity.”
Subscribers
to Plant Cell can read the complete article at http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/content/full/17/11/2859.
NUMBER
OF GM LITERATURE TALLIED
Philip
Vain documents “Published Literature on Plant Transgenic
Science: Pace and Geographic Distribution” in the latest
issue of Nature Biotechnology. In his article, he tracks the
number of plant transgenics related articles collected from
the ISI Web of Science and CAB Abstracts published between
1973 and 2003.
Vain found a total of 30,624 articles, with 4,545 focusing
on the development of plant transgenic technology; 21,843
focusing on the applications of these technologies; and 4,236
concerned with the development of GM crops. He also found
that the number of published articles on the development of
genetically modified (GM) crops and the application of plant
transgenic technology has increased annually, but not significantly
since 1995.
Geographic
analysis of the data shows that historically, North America
and Western Europe jointly led research on plant transgenic
science. In the last ten years, however, Vain found there
has been a sustained expansion of scientific literature in
North America, a dramatic increase in Asia, and recently,
a slow-down in the rest of the world, including Western Europe.
Read
more at http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v23/n11/
full/nbt1105-1348.html. You may also visit http://www.esi-topics.com/gmc/
for additional information.
ICGEB
TO HOLD WORKSHOP
A
workshop entitled "Introduction to biosafety and risk
assessment for the environmental release of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs): Theoretical approach and scientific background,"
will take place March 6-10, 2006 in Treviso, Italy. The workshop
is being organized by the International Center for Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in collaboration with
the Instituto Agronomico per l'Oltremare. The closing date
for applications is November 30. More information is available
online at http://www.icgeb.org/MEETINGS/CRS06/6_10marzo.pdf
CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE CENTRES,
MUSEUMS SLATED
The
Center for Science and Technology of the Non-Aligned and Other
Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre) announces the organization
of an African Regional Conference on “Enhanced Role
Of Science Centres and Museums In Developmental Strategies”
during 10 - 14 January, 2006 in Lusaka, Zambia. The Center
invites nominations for participation in the same from the
member countries of the NAM S&T Center, and other developing
countries.
Request
for participation may please be sent to the NAM S&T Centre
at namstct@vsnl.com
and apknam@gmail.com
before December 15, 2005 by completing the Nomination Form
available at http://www.namstct.org.
BARCELONA HOSTS BIOTECH, FINANCE
FORUM
A
Biotech and Finance Forum will be held on the 1st of December
2005, in Barcelona, Spain. The Forum will present about 50
European fast-growing (venture-backed) biotech and Life Sciences
companies seeking for market visibility, partnership opportunities,
or capital to an audience of international venture capital
investors, key corporate contacts, and senior advisors. For
more information on both events please visit http://www.e-unlimited.com
or contact Anneli Prohaska, Europe Unlimited at anneli@e-unlimited.com.
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