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September 1999

Advantages Of GM Crops
29/9/99, University of Bristol
The protein (commonly called the Bt protein) present in GM insect-resistant maize comes from a common soil bacterium. It is toxic to some insects, but it does not affect bees or many other benign insects. Variants of the Bt gene have been introduced into several crops grown in the US, and US farmers (not the biotech industry) cite simplified pest control, reduced spending on pesticides, higher yields and the return of wildlife to their farms as the reasons for using these GM varieties. These benefits would also help our own beleaguered farmers and our agriculture.

Monsanto Statement Regarding Biodegradable Polymers
28/9/99, Monsanto Statement
Monsanto conducted research and some trial manufacturing of biodegradable polymers. Despite impressive technical studies, market research has yet to prove that there is a potential market for a premium price biodegradable plastic. However, our work has certainly shown that this application of the technology is a possibility and it could be licensed some time in the future.

Biodegradable Plastic Grown From Plants
27/9/99, Agence France Presse
Genetic engineers in the United States have grown plants which produce an environmentally-friendly plastic that holds out great commercial promise, the monthly journal Nature Biotechnology reports. The plastic, they hope, could be harnessed for packaging and containers and rot quickly after it is thrown away -- unlike many plastics today, which are derived from petroleum and sometimes take decades to biodegrade.

Monsanto Confirms Stakeholder Dialogue Approaches
27/9/99, Monsanto Statement
Monsanto, a life sciences company whose UK roots go back to 1919, today confirmed it has entered into a stakeholder dialogue with interested parties. Working together with them, Monsanto hopes to resolve existing problems and prevent new ones, using the relevant experience, diverse knowledge and expertise of such parties.

Genetic Crops To Prevail
23/9/99, The Scotsman
Sound science and pragmatism will get genetically modified crops accepted in the UK, a leading biotechnologist said yesterday. Dr Paul Rylott, a scientist with AgrEvo, one of the major biotechnology companies, made his comments after delivering a paper to a conference in Edinburgh, organised by the Scottish Agricultural College, on genetically modified crops and the environment.

GM Foods Can Help Economy Says Scientist
20/9/99, The Scotsman
A leading Scottish-based plant breeder and geneticist has hit back at the critics of genetically modified food, arguing that the development of the technology will bring benefits for both farmers and consumers - as well as the national economy.

Monarchs Bearing Grenades
20/9/99, University of Nebraska
The emerging trend toward publicizing little laboratory studies is going to cause big problems for scientific credibility if it is not reined in quickly. For example, a Cornell University study resulted in public declarations that the Monarch butterfly could be wiped out by genetically modified corn. But the study didn't give a complete picture of what would be expected in a natural setting. The result has been a disservice to science, unnecessary concern among the public, a discrediting of a valuable technology and a lot of work for conscientious scientists who have to mop up the mess.

Friendly Fire; Have Stray Bullets From The 'Frankenfood' Affair Killed Off A Force For Good?
18/9/99, New Scientist
One small British company, Axis Genetics, began earlier this year clinical trials of the world's first oral vaccine against hepatitis B at two biomedical institutes in New York state. But now the company has gone under after trying to raise the 10 million it needed to fund the next phase of development. Investors were apparently frightened of any corporate portfolio that had both "genetic engineering" and "food" in it.

Deadly Salad Dressing
17/9/99, The Express
With the advent of genetically modified crops there has been an outcry over the perceived dangers of tinkering with biology. But few people stopped to think about the risks, if any, inherent in the conventional production methods for fruit and vegetables sold in this country.

Genetically Modified Organisms: A Briefing Paper
15/9/99, Church of England's General Synod Board for Social
Responsibility
The public has expressed enormous concern at the prospect of genetically modified organisms, and this needs to be taken seriously. Much of this concern, more or less well articulated, arises from a sense that genetically modified foods are radically unnatural. This paper attempts to clarify the scientific facts and the theological and ethical issues arising from them in order to assist clear thinking in this area.

Junk Journalism Unfairly Taints Biotech Food
11/9/99, The London Free Press
Virtually nothing we eat is truly "natural." From cattle to corn, apples to artichokes, today's food is the result of cross-breeding experiments dating to the dawn of history. Many plant varieties we consume didn't exist a century ago. With biotechnology, you isolate a specific gene or genes with the desired features and splice them into the organism you want to improve. It's faster, surer and safer than the old technique of cross-breeding.

Genetic Engineered Crop Studies Questioned
10/9/99, Cornell University
Two prominent entomologists, one from Cornell University, warn that three recent studies on the effects of genetically engineered crops have distorted the debate about engineered crops and that this could have "profound consequences" for science and public policy.

If We Fear Technology, We Really Fear Ourselves
06/9/99, The Irish Times
Technology should not be feared, as it is no more unnatural than music, philosophy or any other product of the human intellect. Just as with these other activities, you can have good and bad technologies, and the process needs to be monitored. We have learned in recent decades that we are part of the natural environment and must also accept that technology is a natural product of human activity and a natural extension of the human capacity.

Wealth Warning On Health Foods
05/9/99, The Sun Herald
Health food retailers are getting rich off the backs of public fear about consuming genetically modified foods and chemical overload. Prices tags on organic food are routinely marked up at least 100 per cent and a bag of groceries costs nearly three times as much as non-organic equivalents.

Scientists Hope Rice Will Give Taste Of GM Crops' Lifesaving Potential
05/9/99, Scotland on Sunday
Scientists have developed a yellow rice that can help prevent blindness. The EU-funded project, known as Carotene Plus, has modified rice grains to naturally produce beta-carotene, a substance the body instantly converts into vitamin A. This is a vital dietary component that prevents fatal childhood diseases including xeropthalmia, a crippling condition which is the main cause of childhood blindness and a significant health problem in the developing world.

Allegations Made By The Independent On Sunday Are Untrue, Monsanto Says
05/9/99, Monsanto Press Release
A story in today's Independent on Sunday newspaper inaccurately states that Monsanto is intending to abandon its business in the United Kingdom. This report, and the gossip cited from an unnamed source, are untrue, as The Independent was told.

GM Crops Without Antibiotic Resistance?
01/9/99, The Rockefeller University
A new way of selecting foreign genes in plants could eliminate a potential risk of genetically modified (GM) crops - the transfer of antibiotic-resistance genes into the environment. Antibiotic-resistance genes are used by genetic engineers to track recombinant genes in plants, allowing transgenic seedlings to be differentiated from seedlings that have failed to take up recombinant DNA.