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December 2000

Monsanto Issues 1999/2000 Corporate Environmental Report As World-Wide-Web Document
20/12/2000, Monsanto
Monsanto Company has issued its most recent corporate environmental report (CER) entitled the "1999/2000 Report on Sustainable Development and ES&H".

Prodi Welcomes The Report Of The EU-US Biotech Forum
20/12/2000, The Knowledge Centre
The EU-US Biotechnology Consultative Forum presented its report to the summit leaders. Established from the initiative of Presidents Prodi, Clinton and other world leaders, the EU-US Biotechnology Consultative Forum was created to bring together twenty of the top independent experts from the EU and US to examine the “broad range of issues of concern in biotechnology.”

Report 10 Of The Council On Scientific Affairs (I-00): Genetically Modified Crops And Foods Summary
18/12/2000, American Medical Association
Read the AMA's review of transgenic crops and genetically modified foods, including the current regulatory framework, possible human health effects, potential environmental impacts, and other consumer-related issues.

European Perception of Biotech Foods Skewed by 15 Years of Food and Medical Technology Scares
15/12/2000, American Seed Trade Association
The European Commission needs to re-establish its credibility as a decision-making organization; the Food Safety Control Authority, to be set up in 2002, will have to ensure its independence and gain the trust of European consumers; and consumers will have to be able to perceive that there are real benefits to be gained from the next generation of GMOs (and) given guarantees that all possible risks will be reduced to a minimum or kept fully under control.

Threat That Never Was
14/12/2000, The Knowldege Centre
When a 1999 laboratory study suggested that monarchs could be killed by a common form of genetically modified maize, it attracted a furious reaction from environmentalists and the public. Now, it turns out, the panic was unjustified. The episode serves as a warning for those wading into controversial areas, where quick answers appear to be prized above accuracy.

GM Food Debate Gets Spicy
11/12/2000, The Scientist
Several points in Kate Devine’s article, “GM Food Debate Gets Spicy,” deserve amplification. The first pertains to the widespread recall of foods containing “StarLink” corn. The bottom line is that not a single person is at all likely to be harmed by this product, which differs from other commercial varieties by the presence of a Bacillus thuringiensis protein called Cry9C.

Biotech's Glories
10/12/2000, The Richmond Times Dispatch
To the anti-technologists who probably would consider Louis Pasteur a dangerous madman if he were around today, few menaces loom larger than biotechnology. To the starving and malnourished souls in the Third World, few promises offer so much hope.

Anti-Science Activists Entertain But Don't Enlighten
8/12/2000, Hudson Institute
India's Vandana Shiva, one of the world's most prominent opponents of genetically engineered crops, recently took part in a demonstration against Rice-Tec, a plant-breeding company in Alvin, Texas. Looking out at Rice-Tec's experimental field, Ms. Shiva said, "The plants look unhappy. The rice plants at home look very happy." A Rice-Tec representative replied, "We harvested the rice in August. Those are weeds."

Only One Side Of The Risk Equation
8/12/2000, Center for International Development at Harvard University (CID)
The precautionary principle is increasingly being invoked as an approach that governments should embrace to deal with risks, especially environmental and health risks arising from new technology or new products. However, the precautionary principle biases the process of "decision-making under uncertainty" against the new. It is arbitrary, does not compare risks, and addresses only the risk of innovation, not the risk of stagnation.

A Biotech Crop Risk Is Downgraded
7/12/2000, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Genetically engineered crops pose little risk to monarch butterflies and may even benefit the insects, scientists were cited as saying Wednesday. Richard Hellmich, an entomologist, was quoted as saying, "We never said there was no impact, but the question becomes, 'Is it substantial?' It appears that it's not and may even be close to zero."

Texas A&M Biologists Are Developing Genetically Modified Rice Resistant To Insects And Microbes
6/12/2000, Science Daily
Texas A&M University biologists are developing genetically modified rice resistant to insects and microbes, which could revolutionize the food and agriculture industries and help alleviate hunger in developing countries.

We Need Biotech To Feed The World
6/12/2000, Texas A&M University
Science is under attack in affluent nations, where antibiotech activists claim consumers are being poisoned by inorganic fertilizers and synthetic pesticides. They also claim that newer genetic engineering technologies decrease biodiversity and degrade the environment. Neither claim is true, but fear-mongering could be disastrous for less-developed nations.

Monsanto Reaffirms Commitment To Product Stewardship To Ensure Choices For Farmers And Markets For Their Products
4/12/2000, Monsanto
Monsanto Company today reaffirmed its pledge to work closely with interested parties on biotechnology and renewed its long-standing a commitment to product stewardship to ensure choices for farmers and markets for their products.

Borlaug Urges Scientists To Speak Out For Biotechnology -- Or Else
01/12/2000, American Council on Science and Health
At a recent gathering in his honor, 1970 Nobel Peace prizewinner Norman Borlaug, Ph.D., said, "Scientists must develop a thick skin and speak out for science, especially biotechnology." The famed father of the Green Revolution is worried that biotechnology, which he sees as transforming the way we feed ourselves and protect the natural environment, may be nipped in the bud if the scientific community doesn't rise to its vigorous public defense.