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May 2000

Tests On Supposedly Healthy Organic Foods Find High Levels Of Deadly Bacteria
30/5/2000, Herald Express
Tests on supposedly healthy organic foods have found alarming high levels of potentially deadly bacteria. The tests showed there were 100 times more cells from the E-coli bug than on conventional produce.

Britain 'Lags Behind' On GM Crops
29/5/2000, ProBiotech
The current brouhaha over the accidental planting of crops containing tiny amounts (less than 1 per cent) of genetically modified seed demonstrates the total lack of perspective in the UK over the history and benefits of biotechnology in agriculture. We are way behind the game; the sooner we complete our own meagre trials and move to full commercialisation the better for all of us.

Teenagers See Monitored GM Foods As Part Of Future
26/5/2000, The Irish Times
Irish teenagers are not receptive to notions that GM foods are the creation of a modern-day Frankenstein. In fact, the majority believes biotechnology may soon have the same relevance to their lives as the Internet, according to entries in a competition for transition year students.

Debate Please, Not Fear
20/5/2000, The Journal
HRH the Prince of Wales's attitude to science is very much along the lines of the stance he has previously adopted on contemporary architecture. He appears to be "agin it". If Prince Charles's intent is to open a debate on the role of science, his intervention is welcome. Such debate is needed. Fear and dislike of science is not.

Zero Tolerance Of GM Impossible
19/5/2000, Farmers Weekly
Zero tolerance of genetically modified material is an impossible standard. Derek Burke, former chairman of the Novel Foods Advisory Committee said the zero limit concept comes from campaigning groups and organic farmers. "Frankly it's a campaigning position rather than a safety position."

Save The World: Plant GM Crops (Summary)
19/5/2000, The Knowledge Centre
According to an article appeared in the Daily Telegraph, one of the most exciting things about biotechnology is that it is actually very green. GM plants can produce higher yields, in less favourable climates, with less ploughing, less fertiliser and less insecticide, or less toxic insecticide.

GM Mix-Up Offers An Opportunity Not To Be Missed
18/5/2000, CropGen
It seems that some tens of thousands of acres in the UK were planted with oilseed rape, less than one per cent of it genetically modified for herbicide tolerance. As CropGen would have expected, none of the doomsday scenarios predicted by anti-GM campaigners has occurred. The seeds were also grown in Sweden, France and Germany. Together with the UK, those countries can benefit from an evaluation of possible environmental effects of GM oilseed rape in their own local contexts.

GM Food Is Good For You (Summary)
18/5/2000, The Knowledge Centre
The Green Revolution has run its course, and GM technology offers the most promising solution in that it allows better crops to be developed more quickly than is possible by conventional breeding.

"Golden Rice" Collaboration Brings Health Benefits Nearer
16/5/2000, Greenovation
The inventors of Golden Rice have reached an agreement with Greenovation and Zeneca, and are working with agencies throughout the world to enable the delivery of this technology free-of-charge for humanitarian purposes in the developing world .

CropGen Responds To Organic Foods "Health Scare"
16/5/2000, CropGen
"Biotechnology and organic farming share a common agenda - sustainability. They are actually allies in the war against chemical pesticides and fertilisers" said Professor Slater, a member of the CropGen panel. "Biotechnology can help organic farmers to increase their yields with fewer inputs, like fertilisers, and reduced wastage.

Genetically Modified Food
12/5/2000, The Irish Times
It is noticeable that those most vociferously opposed to GM foods are based in countries least likely to be debilitated by malnutrition: the type of people who can afford to indulge their preference for expensive, quick-rotting organic food. However, the countries of the developing world can ill-afford to engage in lengthy disputes about imaginary, hypothetical risks or irrational fears and prejudices.

Supermarkets Are Victims Of Anti-Science Lobby
10/5/2000, CropGen
Anti-GM campaigners consistently invoke the right of consumers to choose what they eat. But what choice is there if GM foods are kept off the supermarket shelves by anti-GM rhetoric? For real choice there also has to be an option to buy GM.

Organic Food Taste Test Was Misleading
10/5/2000, The Journal
Claims by two leading supermarkets that organic food tastes better and that mistakes in GM food technology may have caused deaths in the US were today branded as "misleading" and "unsubstantiated" by the advertising industry watchdog.

The Great Green Con Trick
7/5/2000, The Mail On Sunday
Dr. Patrick Moore, the academic and renowned ecologist who was a founder member of Greenpeace and later became its president, condemns the extremists who, he believes, have taken over Greenpeace, and the celebrities who have flocked to support the rainforest campaign.

Gordon Conway Impatient With The Debate Over GM Food (Summary)
5/5/2000, The Knowledge Centre
"Crude polarisation in the debate over genetically modified crops is preventing proper discussion", says Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Institute.

Biotechnology Investment Needs Big Boost To Sustain Growth
3/5/2000, The Irish Times
Large-scale and sustained investment in biotechnology is necessary if the Irish economy is to continue to maintain its dynamism, it has been claimed following publication of a report on biotech research needs.

GM Crops: Less Risk To Neighbours Than Organic Ones
2/5/2000, Farming On-Line
A Cornish potato grower has told Farmers on Line that he is more concerned about the risk to his crops from organic growers nearby than he is about GM crop trials, and a south west Conservative MEP has called for the trials to continue.