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March 2000

Ecologists Urged To Challenge 'Green' Activists
31/03/2000, CropGen
As the GM debate enters what is likely to be a week of high drama, ecologists around the world are being urged to challenge the right of green activists to speak on behalf of the environment and diversity.

Proposed Listing Of GM Maize To National List
29/03/2000, The Cabinet Office
UK Ministers today announced that they have proposed a GM forage maize variety for addition to the UK National List. The National List system looks at the agricultural performance of a variety.

Eat Your GM Greens, They're Good For You (Summary)
27/03/2000, Knowledge Centre
Dr. James Watson, elaborates on his attitudes about genetics and GM foods. Last week Dr. Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, made some harsh comments about the Prince of Wales work against GM foods in the UK.

Who's The True Hypocrite?
25/03/2000, The Grocer
All the samples of GM and conventional soya tested from Asda, Co-op, Morrisons, Plymco, Safeway, Sainsbury's and Tesco, no glyphosate could be found above the 0,1 ppm detection level, let alone the EU maximum of 20 ppm. In other words, the levels of glyphosate found in GM soys were 200 times lower than the permitted safety levels.

Real Aim Of Supermarkets
24/03/2000, Farmers Weekly
UK farmers are operating at the mercy of supermarkets, which aim solely to make money for themselves. They say that they want to provide for customers but we know their real aim. There's one chain aiming to provide GM-free food. The others hypocritically demand farm assurance, while entrepreneurs set up assurance scheme businesses to be bought and sold.

Gm Food Is Not The Bogeyman
24/03/2000, Farmers Weekly
If those opposed to GM foods could identify what has been harmful then we could assess the risk. But I don't think anyone has died of GM food yet. I would prefer the protesters to divert their enthusiasm to more harmful products such as tobacco, alcohol or petrol.

Biotechnology Survey
23/03/2000, Monsanto Company
Over 2000 farmers returned our questionnaire, and approximately 78% farmed over 100 hectares, and 25% farmed over 300 hectares. And, 89% of farmers support biotechnology crops for agriculture.

Scientists And Farmers Create Improved Crops For Scarce World
21/03/2000, E-Markets
Farmers and scientists are developing "miracle rice," "hardy corn" and other innovative crops to help the 2.7 billion people who will be living in water-scarce regions by the year 2025, says the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Monsanto Donates $1 Million Of Conventional Maize To The People Of Mozambique
15/03/2000, Monsanto Company
Monsanto Company has announced that it will provide 500 tons of conventional, hybrid maize seed to the flood-ravaged South African nation of Mozambique. The estimated commercial value of the seed is over $1 million (US) and is intended to provide enough food – after harvest – to feed approximately one million people for a year.

Bishop Gives His Blessing To GM Crops (Summary)
15/03/2000, Knowledge Centre
The new Bishop of Ely, the Right Rev Anthony Russell has spoken out in favour of crop trials for genetically modified crops. The Bishop believes that the negative opinion of many people about GM foods is mostly based on "media excitement" and not on scientific evidence. Bishop Russell also stated that GM crops may be the answer to food related problems in the developing world as well as that of Britain.

Biotechnology Will Save The Poorest
15/03/2000, International Herald Tribune
Science and technology are under attack in affluent nations, where misinformed environmentalists claim that the consumer is being poisoned by high-yielding systems of agricultural production, including genetically modified crops. How it is that so many supposedly ''educated'' people could be so illiterate about science? There seems to be a growing fear of science, per se, as the pace of technological change increases.

GM Foods: What Went Wrong (Summary)
15/03/2000, Knowledge Centre
Accoding to an article in the March 15th Wall Street Journal (Europe), the battle over genetically modified foods appears to be heating up again for the new season. Scientists must alert the public to the implications of abandoning biotechnology. Increased use of chemical fertilizers and the inability of organic farming to feed a world of 6 billion people.

GM Crops
14/03/2000, CropGen
The expression "biotech crops" is starting to gain some currency but playing with the words will not be enough to restore balance to the debate. At the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development conference on GM foods at the end of last month the chairman, asked the 400 delegates if they knew of any published data which indicated a human health risk. The hall fell silent.

Green Campaigners Could Condemn Britain To A Chemical Future, Warns CropGen
12/03/2000, CropGen
The warning comes as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace mobilise their activists to demonstrate against 70 or so farm-scale trial sites. "GM crops can help to reduce British agriculture's over-dependence on chemical herbicides and pesticides," said an ecologist with the Institute of Arable Crops Research and a member of the CropGen panel.

Monsanto Fund Pledges Flood Relief To Mozambique
08/03/2000, CropGen
The Monsanto Fund, Monsanto Company's philanthropic arm, today pledged $100,000 (US) to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts in the flood-ravaged South African nation of Mozambique.

Cloudy Horizons In A Brave New World
07/03/2000, The Hoover Institution
Unnecessary and unpredictable regulation invariably discourages use of a technology. The extreme regulations imposed on GM Foods create a prescription for disaster. The regulations will deprive scientists, farmers and food companies of research tools, and consumers of additional choices in the marketplace.

MPs Call For More Informed Debate On GM Foodstuffs
07/03/2000, Birmingham Post
MPs will urge the Government today to replace the "confusion" over GM technology with "rational debate and education". Such a move would enable the market to serve farmers who actively choose to grow GM crops and those who want to eat them, as well as those who do not, according to the all-party agriculture committee in its inquiry into the controversial new technology.

Dear Sun
07/03/2000, The Sun
As a farmer growing GM crops for scientific pusposes, I am dismayed at calls for trials to be stopped. We must make judgments on the basis of sound scientific data. GM technology can improve our crops and our environment.

Chairman's Report Of The OECD Conference
01/03/2000, OECD
This proposed forum will allow the best scientific analysis of the risks and benefits of the new technology, and it could create a better understanding of the relationship between technological developments, policy, and the concerns and aspirations of citizens.

Rapporteurs' Summary Of The OECD Conference
01/03/2000, OECD
This report reports the views of the two rapporteurs on common ground emerging during the conference, both on matters of substance and on how to move debate forward.

Chairman Of OECD Conference Calls For International Consultative Panel On GM Foods
01/03/2000, OECD
The OECD conference in Edinburgh on the scientific and health aspects of genetically modified (GM) foods ended with a call from the conference chairman for the creation of an international consultative panel to address all sides of the GM debate.

£25 Millions Biotechnology Centres To Study GMOs
01/03/2000, The Irish Times
Three biotechnology centres are to be built in Ireland at a cost of (pounds) 25 million. They will carry out research in agriculture, including GM foods, under an investment programme to be implemented by Teagasc, the State's agricultural research body.

Organic Myths: The Retreat From Science
01/03/2000, Biotechnology & Development Monitor
According to a survey, British consumers prefer organic food because they believe it is produced without artificial chemicals and therefore better for human health and for the environment. Roger Bate claims these assumptions are not justified because organic food may be worse than genetically modified foods.