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August 2000

Monsanto Company Response To European Study In Science Magazine
31/8/2000, Monsanto
European researchers have published an article in the Sept. 1 edition of Science magazine using a theoretical model to suggest that the planting of herbicide-tolerant sugar beets could reduce the production of weed seed and ultimately decrease bird populations. This mathematical model, and any conclusions drawn from it, must be viewed with caution, because it does not reflect real farming conditions.

Environmentalists Assault Seeds They Should Celebrate
27/8/2000, National Center for Public Policy Research
Environmentalists frequently urge industry to adopt "Clean Technologies" that reduce pollution and promote conservation. Why is it, then, that those same environmentalists advocate a ban on agricultural biotechnology that significantly reduces the use of potentially harmful pesticides, decreases soil erosion by up to 98 percent and helps prevent the destruction of ecologically important rainforests?

GM Crops
24/8/2000, Stratford-upon-Avon Herald
Until a year ago, I knew relatively little about GM technology. Then I was chosen to be on the key Environment Committee in the European Parliament. As the only MEP from any political party in the West Midlands region on this committee, I made it my business to find out as much as I could.

Britain Gives Go-ahead For GM Rapeseed Trials
23/8/2000, Knowledge Centre
The British government has given official permission for 21 trials of genetically modified (GM) rapeseed to start in England in September.

Corn Growers Reject Researchers' Bt Study Conclusions
21/8/2000, National Corn Growers Association
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) disagrees with the conclusions made by two Iowa State University entomologists in an abstract from a study on the effects of Bt corn pollen on Monarch butterflies. Bt technology is not nearly as detrimental to butterflies and other non-target species as some alternative technologies used to control insect pests, and it allows farmers to produce a safe, abundant food supply.

Senior FAO Official Calls For Scientists To Speak Up For The Poor And Weak
17/8/2000, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
The scientific community has a moral responsibility to speak up for the world's poor and hungry, Assistant Director General Louise O. Fresco, head of the Organization's Agriculture Department, said today. Her wide-ranging speech examined the uneven distribution of food, globalisation, responsible use of land and water, harnessing biological diversity and genetic modification.

GM Crops 'Will Help Save British Farming'
15/8/2000, Birmingham Post
The debate over the safety of GM crop trials was reignited last night after a leading scientist told agriculture experts the tests were vital to the future of British farming. Dr. Colin Scanes, the head of the US Plant Sciences Institute, told experts meeting at the National Agricultural Centre in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, that benefits from GM crops far outweighed any fears.

Why I'm happy To Eat GM Food
10/8/2000, Evening Standard
Personally, I would prefer to eat food produced by GM - about 80 per cent of the stuff on US supermarket shelves - than most organic merchandise, none of which has gone through the rigorous testing standards demanded of GM products. And so far there has been not a single respectable scientific body anywhere in the world that has declared a GM crop now in cultivation to be a danger to the ecosystem.

Monsanto Adds Support For Golden Rice; Opens Its Genome Sequence Data To Worldwide Research Community
4/8/2000, Monsanto
Monsanto announced today at an agricultural biotechnology symposium in Chennai, India, that it will provide royalty-free licenses for all of its technologies that can help further development of "golden rice" and other pro-vitamin A-enhanced rice varieties. The company also announced the recent launch of a new internet web site, www.rice-research.org, opening its rice genome sequence database to researchers around the world.

Science Must Help Set the Global Agenda
4/8/2000, HMS Beagle
Ignorance about or even blatant disregard of the science behind many of the world's most controversial issues is becoming all too common. This disregard for science is even more distressing in light of some of the very real problems that will affect every nation in the coming decades.

New "Field Of Genes" Website On Biotech
2/8/2000, Agweb.com
The National 4-H Council has launched a biotech education website open to everyone -- especially aimed at schools -- called "Field of Genes".