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January 1999

Big Debate Planned On Future For GM Crops
30/1/99, Eastern Daily Press
An important farming conference in East Anglia, the main testing ground in the country, for genetically modified crops, is set to fuel the debate about the benefits and risks of bio-engineered plants.

Peer Pressure
28/1/99, Daily Mail (Letter to the Editor)
The claim that the recent House of Lords report on the regulation of genetic modification in agriculture was prompted by a desire ‘to get the Government off a nasty public relations hook’ (Mail) is untrue.

GM Crops? We All Love ’Em!
22/1/99, Farmers Weekly
The fur may be flying over genetically modified crops in Europe, but in western Canada ex-UK farmer Nick Parsons is delighted with his GM rape. He moved from Gloucestershire to British Columbia in 1991 and now has a 1250-acre arable farm.

Monsanto Welcomes Select Committee Report On Genetically Modified Food
21/1/99, Monsanto Company (Press Release)
"This is the second major Report in five months to look comprehensively at the science behind biotechnology. Like the Royal Society, the Select Committee has concluded that it can offer great potential benefits to agriculture, industry, consumers and the environment," said Ann Foster, Director, Government and Public Affairs Monsanto UK.

Australia To Be Left Behind On Genetic Research: Scientists
20/1/99, Australian Associated Press
The Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS) was cited as calling on Prime Minister John Howard to invest as much as other governments into biotechnology research, warning that Australia risked becoming irrelevant in the coming century unless it matched the massive amounts being spent by other countries on research into genetic modification.

Sierra Club Executive Endorses High-Yield Agriculture, Biotech Crops
14/1/99, Hudson Institute (Press Release)
Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, has endorsed high-yield agriculture, including bio-engineered crops, because high farm yields will help save wildlife habitat and wild species. Hudson Institute's Center for Global Food Issues has researched and advocated this agricultural production technique to help preserve the world's environment.

'Food Debate Must Stick To The Facts'
14/1/99, Evening Standard (London)
Campaigners against so-called "Frankenstein foods" were today accused of having closed minds as supporters of both sides of the controversial issue prepared for a major London debate.

Biotechnology 'To Be Key Player In Economy'
13/1/99, Newcastle Upon Tyne Journal
The fast-developing science of biotechnology will be a key part of the region's economy in the coming century, an expert claimed yesterday. The prediction came from Colin Self, professor of clinical biochemistry at Newscastle University and organiser of the first conference at the city's landmark Millennium Project International Centre for Life.

Monsanto Responds to Molly Ivins' Article "Let's Try Making Green Bluebonnets Instead" (Forth Worth Star-Telegram, 05/01/99)
11/1/99, Monsanto Company (Statement)
By parroting the propaganda of a small but vocal number of biotechnology critics, Molly Ivins (Let's Try Making Green Bluebonnets Instead, 05/01/99) actually contributes to stifling greater public understanding of biotechnology that she so ardently calls for in her column.

Monsanto Cites Support For Biotechnology As Best Solution For World Hunger
11/1/99, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Government regulators, scientists, farmers, non-governmental organizations, nutritionists, doctors, cancer researchers even former presidents agree that biotechnology will be a critical component in solving many of the world's problems like hunger, poverty and pollution.

Food -- It's All In The Genes
02/1/99, Nottingham Evening Post
Environment Correspondent Helen Ward speaks to Professor Don Grierson, one of the pioneers in the genetics revolution.

The Science of Selling
02/1/99, The Economist
Car makers have long used sex to peddle their wares. Recently, however, a new twist to this old idea has developed. Or, rather, two twists—the double helix of DNA. For both BMW and Renault have based their latest European marketing campaigns around this icon of modern biology. Their advertising agents, it seems, have decided that genetics is metaphorically, as well as literally, sexy.

A Super-Banana A Day Will Keep The Doctor Away
01/1/99, Daily Post (Liverpool)
Painful childhood injections could soon become a thing of the past following the discovery of "vaccinating bananas." Pioneering scientists in the North West have discovered bananas can be genetically modified and converted into a puree for children to take as an alternative to having an injection.