News
Archives

July 2000

Cabinet's Support For GM Technology
31/7/2000, The Knowledge Centre
According to the Daily Mail, a secret Cabinet report has turned Labour policy on genetically modified food on its head by claiming that the technology could win the war against hunger in the Third World.

Criminal Acts Of Britain's Eco-Warriors Can't Be Ignored
26/7/2000, Bridge News
The flavor of the month for Britain's eco-warriors is genetically modified crops. With universities and colleges on vacation and the weather fine, the activists' seasonal migration from the cities to the countryside was expected. But the routine arrest of the activists for vandalizing fields of genetically modified crops was not.

Bio-Food Is Winning Public Acceptance
26/7/2000, The Hudson Institute
Transgenic crops have swept across the world more rapidly than any previous farming technology, mainly because they protect crops more effectively, using less pesticide. The world's farmers are likely to plant record amounts of land to biotech crops in 2000, to reduce pesticide usage and get modestly higher yields.

G8 Summit: Blair Stands By Clinton In Defence Of GM Food
24/7/2000, The Knowledge Centre
The Daily Telegraph reports that Tony Blair stood side by side with Bill Clinton yesterday as the US President accused Europe of being too cautious about experiments in biotechnology and genetically modified foods.

Luke Johnson's View: Starving From Ignorance
23/7/2000, The Knowledge Centre
This article portrays the view of the chairman of the Belgo Group and founder of Intrinsic Value, Luke Johnson, on the public's misperception of biotechnology and GMOs and the negative consequences this has for Third World countries.

Transgenic Plants And World Agriculture
17/7/2000, National Academy Press
This is a report prepared by the Royal Society of London, the US National Academy of Sciences, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy, the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the Third World Academy of Sciences about transgenic plants and their impact on world agriculture.

Facts On GMOs In The EU
13/7/2000, European Union
This is a detailed report on the current legislation in the EU on GMOs, the authorisation procedure, the rules on labelling, and the rules on liability.

Commission Takes Initiative To Restore Confidence In GMO Approval Process
13/7/2000, European Union
The European Commission decided yesterday to propose to Member States a strategy to regain public trust in the approval procedure for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The objective is to resume the authorisation process for GMOs in the near future whilst addressing public concerns on GMOs as well as problems of legal uncertainty for stakeholders.

GM Food Can Feed Hungry Millions
12/7/2000, Knowledge Center
Some of the world's top scientists launched a campaign supporting genetically modified food, with a report outlining how the technology could help to feed the world.

Organic Food Complaints Upheld
12/7/2000, Ananova
Advertising watchdogs have upheld complaints against claims that organic food is tastier, healthier and better for the environment and animals.

Transgenic Technology Could Be Key
To Easing World Hunger
11/7/2000, Royal Society
Leading scientists have urged private corporations and research institutions to share their knowledge of transgenic technology in order to help alleviate the problem of growing world hunger.

Seven Academies Of Sciences Urge ActionTo Promote Use Of Biotech In Alleviating World Hunger, Poverty
11/7/2000, National Academy of Sciences
Seven academies of science from around the world, including five from developing nations, issued a white paper today spelling out the promise of agricultural biotechnology to alleviate hunger and poverty in the Third World.

Genetically Modified Food Fear Unfounded
7/7/2000, London Free Press
According to Rory Leishman, boycotting all GM foods for fear of food poisoning is no more rational than cowering indoors on a cloudless day, for fear of lightning.

Immnunity To Virus Triggered By Vaccine In Potato
6/7/2000, Daily University Science News
Human immunity to a virus has been triggered for the first time by a vaccine genetically engineered into a potato. The specific virus involved is the pervasive Norwalk virus, the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States and much of the developed world.

Some Straight Talk About GMOs -
Interview With Professor Philip Stott
3/7/2000, Agriculture Online
An interview with Professor Stott about the major benefits and drawbacks of GM food crops - economically, politically or environmentally - for the developed and the underdeveloped world.

GM Crops Could Solve Food Supply Problems
1/7/2000, Aberdeen Press and Journal
Bill MacFarlane Smith, the head of scientific liaison and information services at Invergowrie's Scottish Crop Research Institute, told a delegation from the Institute of Directors that the doubling of the world's population over the next 50 years could cause food supply problems. But he believed GM crops could help ensure the world of the future was fed.