Biotech Updates

CBU's 4th Set of Lucky Subscribers

November 19, 2010

The fourth set of lucky subscribers of the Crop Biotech Update who will each get a bronze duplicate of the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Congressional Gold Medal hail from Brazil, U.S. and Serbia. They are: Valquíria Michalczechen-Lacerda, student of Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brazil; John Freeman of the US Department of Agriculture; and Milorad Plavsic, advisor for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Serbia.

Winners are encouraged to send by email a picture showing receipt of their medals. One of last week's winners, Josie Lynn Catindig of the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, shows the medal she won. "I read the CBU particularly the research section in my work as researcher," Ms. Catindig said.

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) launched a Knowledge Campaign which will run until December 31, 2010. The Knowledge Campaign for "A million healing hands to help a billion hungry" is dedicated to Dr. Norman Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Laureate who was the founding patron of ISAAA. With his full support and initiative, ISAAA established the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology in 2000 in the Philippines with active nodes called Biotechnology Information Centers (BICs) in 24 countries globally. ISAAA and its global family of BICs are celebrating a decade of success in spearheading the sharing of knowledge and capacity building on crop biotechnology to help alleviate poverty in developing countries.

ISAAA has institutionalized the sharing of knowledge on crop biotechnology by creating and distributing a weekly email-based newsletter Crop Biotech Update (CBU) which summarizes the latest world developments in agriculture, food and crop biotechnology relevant to developing countries. CBU is now distributed to over 850,000 subscribers in 200 countries and the campaign hopes to up the figures to 1 Million by December 31, 2010. ISAAA urges people participation by simply enrolling, without cost or obligation, 1 to 5 email addresses, or preferably more, of their co-professionals, and colleagues including students until December 31, 2010.

To participate, log on to ISAAA Knowledge Campaign at http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/invitepromo/cbu-promo,asp.