Biotech Updates

Former UK Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, presented the ISAAA report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2014 (Brief 49) during a media conference on February 24, 2015 in Pretoria, South Africa.

ASA Calls on EU to Issue Import Approvals for 13 Biotech Traits

The American Soybean Association (ASA) and fellow farm groups sent a letter to European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, urging that draft import authorizations for 13 new biotechnology products be considered without further delay by the European Union's College of Commissioners. Import authorizations for soybeans, corn, canola and cotton are pending, some for more than a year. The ASA and the other groups noted that, while the process for approving new biotech traits had slowed in recent years, it now appears to have come to a "complete stop."

Scientists Identify Gene that Could Prevent Cross-pollination

Scientists at the University of Guelph identified a gene that could block genetically modified crops from cross-contaminating conventional crops. According to Sherif Sherif, lead author of the study, this discovery may put down arguments against GM food crops.

FAO DG: Agri Production Must Change

The current model of agricultural production is no longer acceptable to achieve food security. That is according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director General José Graziano da Silva, who delivered a talk at the International Forum on Agriculture and Climate Change on February 20, 2015 held in France.