Farmer launches GM petition

A WESTERN Victorian farmer has launched a petition on popular social activism website change.org, calling for the government to introduce checks to prevent unwanted contamination from genetically modified (GM) crops.

Farmer Bob Mackley from Duchembegarra, near Natimuk, said he was motivated to create the petition for several reasons.

He said he had directly suffered as a result of GM material being washed onto his property in January 2011 and had to wear the cost of spraying the GM canola volunteers out.

“There have been many GM contamination cases like mine around the country but there is no system in place to protect us from GM crops,” he said.

Chief executive at biotechnology peak body CropLife, Matthew Cossey, said the issue of "contamination" was not unique to GM.

“Every farmer has a responsibility to take reasonable steps to stop what they do on their farm from affecting their neighbours or public land," Mr Cossey said.

"That applies across the board, none of these issues are unique to GM."

Because these issues are not unique to GM the same common law rules can compensate for damage caused by the unwanted and unreasonable presence of GM crops as for damage caused by any other crop.

But Mr Mackley said the mantra used by the biotechnology regarding growing GM food crops, ‘the right to choose’ applied both ways.

“We should have the right to choose not to grow GM and to be able to market it as such.

“That’s the difference, other weed seeds within the crop don’t incur the cost penalty GM contamination does.”

His message appears to have won over many people, with the petition now signed by over 30,000 people.

“It comes down to not having the proper steps in place when the technology was introduced.

“We were told how wonderful it all would be and a whole bunch of issues were railroaded out the way.

“Whether you believe GM crops are safe to eat or not, the fact of the matter is that some people don’t want to eat GM and they should have the right not to.

“I want to be able to market my grain as non-GM.”

Mr Mackley also said he wanted to see more information in labelling laws.

“I believe not having labelling could hurt entire industries, if people can’t be sure their canola isn’t GM free because there are no labelling restrictions then they might just not buy canola oil at all.”

queenslandcountrylife

Genetically modified crops hold the key to food security

In the debate over whether India should go for transgenic or genetically modified (GM) crops or not, there is a viewpoint that supports its ability to enhance production and increase food security, while against the motion there's a word of caution on the grounds that it will encourage monoculture and end diversity of traditional crops. Besides, biotech crops are still not perceived as fully safe for consumption, although nothing is proven scientifically.

The issue is significant as India's economic security depends heavily on agriculture, sustaining 58% of the population, as against 75% at the time of Independence. But since the onset of green revolution in the late 1960s, the country has made impressive strides in agriculture with better use of chemicals, high-yielding cereals and other plant varieties. The green revolution has boosted agricultural output substantially, increasing it 2.85 times to 235 million tones helping feed the country's population that has swollen from 440 million to 1.2 billion.

Saving millions from starvation, self-sufficiency is a driver for poverty reduction and economic transformation in rural areas. The mid-'90s marked a shift in which agricultural slowed down causing stagnation or even decline in farmers' income and agrarian distress turned serious with passing time. Agriculture is no more productive for small or marginal farmers, many of whom have committed suicide because of debt burden.

Studies show 40% farmers would switch over to another job. Sudhir Panwar, president of the Kisan Jagriti Manch, says "farmers are in agriculture by compulsion, not by choice. The impact is most visible in UP, which has seen net decline of 49 lakh agriculture workers in the last five years. The NSS report shows number of total agriculture workers went down from 4.03 crore in 2004-05 to 3.69 crore in 2009-10 and 3.54 crore in 2011-12," said Panwar.

Reason is not far to seek. In spite of the success of green revolution, contribution of agriculture and allied sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen from 61% to 19% in the last five decades. Presently, India sustains 16.8% of world's population on 4.2% of world's water resources and 2.3% of global land. Per capita availability of resources is four to six times less compared to the world average which will decrease further with increasing demographic pressure and consequent diversion of the land for non-agricultural uses.

While sparing virtually negligible land from agricultural use, around 51% of India's geographical area is already under cultivation compared to 11% of the world average. The present cropping intensity of 136% has registered increase of only 25% since Independence. Rain-fed dryland constitutes 65% of the total net sown area. There is also an unprecedented degradation of land (107 million hectare) and groundwater resource, and also fall in growth rate of total factor productivity.

Experts at the UN Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO) say by 2050 global population is expected to increase by 40% while associated global food production needs will expand by more than 70% with a rapidly growing middle-class in developing countries. India's population will grow to 1.3 billion by 2017, which means fresh demand for foodgrain in terms of quantity, quality and affordability, so current agricultural output needs to be doubled against odds like changing climatic conditions, declining ratio of arable land to population and water getting scarcer.

Agriculture intersects toughest challenges arising mainly from grim competition for supplies of fresh water, with its share dropping to 75% from the present 83% in the near future, in the wake of growing industrial and domestic sectors. Presently, excess exploitation of groundwater has caused sharp depletion of water table in central Punjab, Haryana, west Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In UP, over 260 out of total 800 blocks are already declared 'dark zones'. Yet, government has not taken water conservation measures for political reasons.

Overuse of canal water in south-west Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan is leading to water logging and development of secondary salinity. Conjunctive use of water and diversification of rice-wheat is required. The problem is compounded by water wastage, around 18.4 million m3/day. Utilising waste water after treatment for irrigation is yet to be made part of water conservation policy. Micro-irrigation and resource conservation technologies (RCTs), economising on water and nutrients need to be promoted in a big way.

Poor soil fertility is another challenge. Around 25 million hectares of land in the country has low productivity of less than 1 tonne/hectare due to deficiencies and toxicities of nutrients. Adoption of cost-effective technology to improve this mass of land could add 25 million tonnes of food grains to the national food basket per annum. TOI

Bt Brinjal may cut UK, EU vegetable markets

Bt Brinjal may cut UK, EU vegetable markets

A London-based campaign group warned Bangladesh to suspend the decision to release GM brinjal

GM Freeze, a London-based campaign group, has urged Bangladesh government to suspend the decision to release four genetically modified brinjal varieties among farmers fearing it might be a threat to the country’s export market in the UK and other European countries. It also said the production of Bt Brinjal would affect the farmers because of fall in production as the demand would go down. GM Freeze which campaigns on GM food, crops and patents recently wrote to the president, the prime minister, and the ministers for commerce and environment for retracting the decision. In October, the National Committee on Bio-safety (NCB) of Bangladesh approved limited-scale cultivation of Bt Brinjal and confined trial of “Golden Rice” and GM potatoes. In a press release, the GMF said: “We reminded the government of the decision to approve the GM crops cultivation in Bangladesh as it will not only jeopardise the farmers in the UK market but also in the rest of the EU markets.” It also said the UK imports some 40% of Bangladesh’s fresh produce exports, worth around $31.18m annually. GM brinjal is not authorised as a food or feed in the EU. The resulting need for all Bangladeshi brinjal farmers to enact strict coexistence practices to prevent crop contamination or comingling with non-GM cargoes for export place the expense of GM production unfairly on those growing non-GM crops, directly impairing the viability of otherwise successful non-GM businesses, the statement said. “There is no good reason to jeopardise Bangladeshi farm and export business by growing GM brinjal,” said Helena Paul, director of the GMF, in the statement released on December 4. However, the Bangladeshi vegetables exporters are yet to express concerns about the probable ban on exports. “The government has just released the Bt Brinjal for demonstration at the farmers’ level. We did not receive any threat from the importers until now,” said SM Jahangir Hossain, president of Bangladesh Vegetables and Fruits Exporters’ Association. Around 40-50 items including vegetables and fruits are exported to the EU and Middle-East. The annual turnover is around Tk800-Tk900 core. If the importer countries show unwillingness about Bt Brinjal, “we can easily cut it down from the list,” Jahangir said. dhakatribune

Zambia: Why Zambia Must Reject GM Crops

ACCEPTING genetically modified crops (GMs) in Zambia could be the greatest betrayal to the ideals of the late President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa.

Dr Mwanawasa fought a spirited fight against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) foods being brought into Zambia. He will be remembered for his stand when he rejected the donation of GMO maize from the United States and ordered thousands of yellow maize out of the country in 2002.

The President's order came at a time when Zambians faced the spectre of hunger due to a crippling drought and poor yield. Quickly the US acted to "avert a looming famine" with a seemingly appropriate lifeline donation which did not seem so to Dr Mwanawasa.

The rejection promptly drew a stinging backlash unimaginable from Washington and its allies. Dr Mwanawasa was told to accept responsibility for the impending deaths of Zambians from hunger.

Dr Mwanawasa had put Zambia on the spotlight but fortunately, against the prophecies of doom, not a single Zambian perished as a result of the rejection of yellow maize.

On the contrary, the rejection propelled Zambia to its unprecedented agricultural policy of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). Since then Zambia has become a grain basket of Southern Africa recording successive bumper harvests each year.

Amid the controversy, Dr Mwanawasa appointed a team of Zambian scientists that visited countries with GMO programmes, prominent among them US, to meet their fellows, critical or supportive, for their views.

Clearly, the fall in maize production in the receding agricultural season has evidently ignited the current debate, tasting the waters, so they say. They want to psychic Zambians in anticipation of shortage of food next year as a result and lay ground for the importation of GMOs.

Last month two articles in support of the GMOs appeared in the Times of Zambia on November 27 and 30 written by IRIN, soliciting or better still, campaigning for the introduction of GMO foods in Zambia. In editorial etiquette the story must be serialized, dramatic or sponsored to get such attention or else one is a material for the spike.

ALL Africa

Uganda looks to GM crops to improve food security

Major scientific advances are being made in the landlocked central African country of Uganda.

A big investment in biotechnology aims to improve the country's food security, but the nation's push to feed itself with help from genetically modified crops is being met with resistance by some people who are wary of the technology.

China rejects 545,000 tons of US corn

China rejects 545,000 tons of US corn after finding unapproved genetically modified strain
BEIJING — China has rejected 545,000 tons of imported U.S. corn found to contain an unapproved genetically modified strain, the country's product safety agency announced Friday.

China's government is promoting genetically modified crops to increase food production. But it faces opposition from critics who question their safety, especially those imported from the United States.

An unapproved strain called MIR162 was found in 12 batches of corn at six inspection stations, according to the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. It said the shipments would be returned to the United States.

In a statement, the agency called on U.S. authorities to strengthen controls on corn exports to ensure unapproved strains are not sent to China.

China allowed its first imports of a genetically modified crop, soybeans, in 1997. Authorities are trying to develop others that produce bigger yields or can resist insects without use of pesticides.

An announcement in June that regulators had approved imports of three new types of modified soybeans prompted an outcry by opponents who said they might be dangerous. The Ministry of Agriculture has launched a publicity campaign to dispel concerns and says the criticisms are unfounded.

U.S. officials were in Beijing this week for trade talks. One participant, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, said earlier that U.S. officials hope they "help open even more markets for U.S. exports." The Republic

EU court annuls approval of BASF's Amflora GMO potato

Europe's second-highest court has overturned a decision by the European Commission to allow the cultivation and sale of a genetically modified potato developed by German chemicals group BASF.

The General Court of the European Union said on Friday the Commission had failed to follow the bloc's rules when approving the Amflora potato, which is genetically modified to produce extra starch for use in the paper industry.

While Amflora is no longer grown in Europe - BASF withdrew the product in 2012, citing opposition to the technology - the ruling may raise new concerns about the EU's complex and much-criticised approval system for GMO crops.

It could also delay a decision on a separate Commission proposal to approve cultivation of a new type of modified maize developed jointly by DuPont and Dow Chemical.

"Because the Commission significantly failed to fulfil its procedural obligations, the General Court has annulled the connected decisions," the court said, referring to the Commission's approvals for both cultivation and sale of Amflora.

A Commission spokesman said the EU executive was analysing the ruling.

"The follow-up which the Commission could take would be to appeal on a point of law, but I can't respond to you now because lawyers are still looking at the judgment," Commission health spokesman Frederic Vincent told a regular news briefing.

Environmental campaigners welcomed the ruling, and said the Commission had no choice but to withdraw its cultivation proposal for the new type of GMO maize, known as 1507, or face a similar outcome.

"Today's legal judgment demolishes the Commission plans to rush through the approval of Pioneer-DuPont's GM maize 1507 for cultivation," Greenpeace's EU agriculture policy director, Marco Contiero, said in a statement.

Currently, only one GMO crop is grown commercially in Europe - an insect-resistant maize developed by Monsanto. It is sown on about 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of farmland, mainly in Spain.

That level is dwarfed by an estimated 170 million hectares of GMO crop cultivation globally, mainly in the Americas and parts of Asia.

While repeated EU scientific assessments have concluded that GMO crops are as safe for humans and the environment as their conventional counterparts, consumer opposition to the technology in Europe remains strong.

Rules Broken

The surprise approval of Amflora was one of the first decisions taken by the EU's then-health commissioner, John Dalli, who took office in February 2010. Dalli was forced to resign from the Commission last year after being linked to a tobacco bribery scandal.

Genetically modified crops - Food fight

Genetically modified crops

A fierce public debate over GM food exposes concerns about America

Food fight

OF THE many thousands of usually small protests that break out in China every year, few relate to national policy. Many consider the risk of challenging the central government too great. But the entrance to the agriculture ministry is a gathering spot for occasional demonstrations. Their complaints are about an issue dear to the ministry: genetically modified (GM) crops. At one protest this year, a group chanted slogans calling for the eradication of “traitors” who support GM food. Debate over the technology is escalating, putting the government in a bind.

Public unease about genetic modification is common around the world. In China, alongside rising concerns about food safety, it has taken on a strongly political hue. Chinese anti-GM activists often describe their cause as patriotic, aimed not just at avoiding what they regard as the potential harm of tinkering with nature, but at resisting control of China’s food supply by America through American-owned biotech companies and their superior technology. Conspiracy theories about supposed American plots to use dodgy GM food to weaken China abound online.

Peng Guangqian, a retired major-general and prominent think-tanker, echoed these sentiments in an article published by official media in August. He said America might be setting a “trap”. The result, he said, could be “far worse than the Opium War” between Britain and China in the 1840s that Chinese historians regard as the beginning of a “century of humiliation” at the hands of foreign powers.They are even believed by some in the government. In October an official video made for army officers was leaked on the internet and widely watched until censors scrubbed it. “America is mobilising its strategic resources to promote GM food vigorously,” its narrator grimly intoned. “This is a means of controlling the world by controlling the world’s food production.”

China already uses plenty of GM products. More than 70% of its cotton is genetically modified. Most of the soyabeans consumed in China are imported, and most of those imports are GM (often from America). The technology is widely used for growing papayas. The government wants to develop home-grown GM varieties and has spent heavily on research, eager to maintain self-sufficiency in food. Officials see GM crops as a way of boosting yields on scarce farmland.

In 2009 China granted safety certificates for two GM varieties of rice and one of maize. This raised expectations that it might become the first country in the world to use GM technology in the production of a main staple. But further approvals needed for commercial growing have yet to be granted. To the consternation of GM supporters, the safety certificates for the rice are due to expire next August.

Public opinion is a big reason for the delay. Environmental groups in China have rarely succeeded in changing government policy. Officials have long treated such NGOs with suspicion and made it hard for them to register or set up offices in more than one place. The only NGO in China that devotes much time to the GM issue is an international one: Greenpeace. But the anti-GM lobby has thrived, thanks not least to the adoption of the cause by conservatives in the establishment as well as by informal groups of diehard Maoists who see America as a threat.

To the Maoists, opposing GM food is an urgent priority. Hardly a speech is made by one of them without mentioning it. “I support Mao Zedong thought,” shouted one of the protesters outside the agriculture ministry. The police usually treat them with kid gloves; unlike others who protest in public, they are ardent supporters of Communist Party rule. And on this issue, at least, the Maoists enjoy much sympathy; public anxiety about food safety has soared in recent years thanks to a series of scares. Of 100,000 respondents to an online poll in November, nearly 80% said they opposed GM technology.

The fightback begins

Since a change of China’s leadership a year ago, however, supporters of GM food inside the government and among the public have begun fighting back. In October Chinese media reported that 61 senior academics, in a rare concerted effort, had petitioned the government to speed up the commercialisation of GM crops. The Ministry of Agriculture was also said to be preparing a new public-education campaign on the merits of GM food (it issued a swift rebuttal of General Peng’s remarks, saying GM foods certified in China were just as safe as any other food). Since May Huazhong Agricultural University in the central city of Wuhan has organised nearly 30 public events promoting GM rice, including, in October, the serving of porridge made from it to about 300 people.

One of the recent petitioners, Li Ning of China Agricultural University, laments that the issue remains ensnared by nationalist sentiment. Among students, he says, “lots of them wonder how to express their patriotism; people say opposing GM is patriotic, so they say, ‘Fine, I’ll oppose GM.’” He says the scientists have not received an official answer to their appeal, but he is heartened at least by their new willingness to speak out. “Previously there was only one voice, and it was anti-GM. Now we’ve entered a period of acute antagonism.” The government, it appears, is waiting for the dust to settle before it lets the paddy fields fill with the controversial strains. That may take some time. Economist

Protests in Kolkata against Bt-Brinjal cultivation in Bangladesh

More than 20 Indian organisations participated in a campaign here to protest against the commercial release of genetically modified crops like Bt-Brinjal in Bangladesh, with scientists saying it was a "threat to India".

Introduction of transgenic brinjal in Bangladesh - a centre for the origin and diversity of the vegetable - would give rise to contamination of the crop in India, said scientist Tushar Chakraborty.

"It is a threat to India as brinjal largely cross-pollinates and therefore such transgenic contamination poses a threat to the local varieties of brinjal and natural biodiversity as well," said Chakraborty, a molecular biologist at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology.

Representatives of the organisations participated in a four-km protest march from the Sealdah station to Minto Park, near the office of Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), partly-owned by the US-based corporation Monsanto.

Mahyco is mainly responsible for the development of Bt-Brinjal - a variant engineered by inserting a gene from soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that produces an insecticidal toxin.

In India, an indefinite moratorium has been imposed on the cultivation of Bt-Brinjal while field trials of the crop are banned in the Philippines.

Chakraborty is one of the 250 scientists from across the country who endorsed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that was released Nov 21 in New Delhi, in which they have urged that steps be taken to stop open air release of Genetically Modified Organisms. BS

Taiwan to tighten rules on GM product labeling

Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration said Monday that it plans to tighten its regulations on the compulsory labeling of food products containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients, adopting the standards used by the European Union.

Compulsory labeling will apply to food products that contain at least 0.9% of their weight in GM ingredients, administration deputy chief Chiang Yu-mei told the media on the sidelines of a legislative committee hearing.

The current minimum level, based on the Act Governing Food Sanitation, is 5%, but "we will follow the EU standard" and will notify the public of the planned change by the end of December, she said.

After the notification process, public opinion will be sought and scholars and experts will discuss the plan, according to an FDA official responsible for public affairs, implying that the change may not be implemented soon.

The administration must be very cautious since such a change will affect many businesses, the official said.

The food sanitation act will also be amended to raise the maximum fine for false labeling to NT$4 million (US$135,000)from the current NT$200,000, according to the administration.

Taiwan introduced the 5% minimum level regulation in 2001 and has not amended it since then.

Currently, Taiwan allows the importation of GM soybeans and corn. Wantchinatimes

No plans to introduce GMOs into Ghana — Agric Ministry

No plans to introduce GMOs into Ghana — Agric Ministry
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has denied pushing a legalisation in support of the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country.

It has, therefore, described as untrue, recent discussions by some institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs) and individuals that the Plant Breeders Bill, currently before Parliament, was meant to give legal backing to the production and consumption of GMOs in the country.

Instead, a Deputy Minister at MOFA in-charge of Crops, Dr Yakubu Alhassan, said the bill was meant to protect people, corporate bodies and research institutions that initiated the development and production of various varieties of plants and crops in the country.

The non-existence of such a law, the minister said, had created a loophole through which some foreign entities and countries were taking advantage to enrich themselves to the disadvantage of the very people who toiled for the creation of those breeds.

"There are a lot of plant and crop varieties that were developed by Ghanaians but today, other countries are using them in their agricultural economies and not a single penny is paid as a reward to this country simply because they were not protected. So, we are saying that let's have a law that can protect varieties developed by institutions and people so that they can benefit from the use of those varieties by third parties," Dr Alhassan, who is also the NDC Member of Parliament for the Mion Constituency in the Northern Region, said.

His comments follow the intense lobbying by some CSOs and political parties against the supposed introduction of GMOs into the country.

GMOs are organisms whose genetic material have been altered using genetic engineering techniques and come about as a result of laboratory process that fuses genes from one species with another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic.

In most cases, they are used to produce genetically modified foods for the western countries. They can be produced on a large scale within a short time and therefore serves as a good relief to countries battling food insufficiency.

Their introduction into the country would, however, come at a cost, especially given that they will compete with naturally produced crops for patronage and consumption.

As a result of the expected impact of GMOs on the farmer communities in the country, some CSOs and individuals including the Chairperson of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Mrs Samia Nkrumah, have kicked against its introduction into the country.

Mrs Samia said at a press conference on November 27 that the Plant Breeders Bill, which was nearing its final stages of hearing in Parliament, was as a result of "an overwhelming lobby" by some multinational food giants to get the country to introduce GMOs.

The CPP Chairperson, however, noted that introducing GMOs into the country through the bill would collapse the food chain and further called on the MPs to kick against its passage.

But the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in-charge of Crops, however, sees that posturing as rather surprising.
"Basically, what the Plant Breeders Bill seeks to do is to protect breeders and not to introduce GMOs to the public," Dr Alhassan insisted.

He thus described as regrettable the on-going debate on the supposed intentions of the bill and called on those championing the discussion to do that using the right information.

Credit : Daily Graphic

'A crop does not become harmful after it is genetically modified'

'A crop does not become harmful after it is genetically modified'
While several states, including Odisha, are opposing the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, Dr S R Dhua, adviser, genetic conservation to the state government, says there is no scientific basis of any apprehension to the opposition. Excerpts of an interview with Ashok Pradhan:

Q: What are your reservations about BRAI Bill?

A: I don't find any reason to be worried about the proposed regulation. Those opposed to BRAI are against genetic modified (GM) crops. I think GM crops are the only way to address food shortage by maximizing production. We can't stop GM crops any way, as our neighbour Bangladesh has already allowed such a regime.

Q: What about the impact of GM crops on health and environment?

A: A crop cannot be harmful just because it is genetically modified. These undergo enough tests before being introduced to the public. Each GM crop should undergo scrutiny. However, opposing GM crops and BRAI in totality will mean denying the scope of increasing yield. The country, and the world at large, badly needs to improve production to feed its growing population and ensure food security.

Q: Can't there be ways to increase production other than manipulating genes?

A: Some people perceive gene modification as meddling with mother nature. We should be thankful to biotechnology that it has made possible to change genes to make the crops more disease-resistant and yield more. It is far better than using excessive pesticides and chemical fertilizers, which are more harmful than GM foods.

Q: Why is Odisha opposed to the BRAI Bill then?

A: The opposition by Odisha and some other states are mainly related to the question of states' rights over taking decision on GM crops in their territory. The Bill gives sweeping powers to the BRAI to take a call on GM crops. Personally, I feel it is high time to allow GM crops in the country. The country should take an early decision.

Q: What is Odisha doing to protect farmers' interest in case GM crops and high yielding varieties (HYV) replace traditional seeds?

A: Odisha has started a gene bank, which has become fully functional since July this year. Around 900 indigenous varieties of paddy and 100 other seeds have been preserved. Applications have been filed under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Authority, so that if any new variety is developed from these native sources, farmers get share of the benefits. As many as 23 farmers have got the certificates of rights. Unfortunately, so far scientists, who developed HYV using farmers' native seeds, got all the benefits leaving none for the farmers. TOI

China Rejects U.S. Corn Shipment Due To GMOs

China Rejects U.S. Corn Shipment Due To GMOs; Could Be Move To Boost Domestic Prices

Reuters

China has rejected five batches of U.S. corn tainted with a genetically-modified strain not yet approved by its agriculture ministry, a move that could discourage imports amid a growing domestic supply surplus.

Traders said the spectre of further rejections could prompt a sharp decline in new Chinese orders for U.S. corn, dragging on global prices that have already dropped around 40 percent this year.

Shipments totalling 120,642 tonnes - the biggest ever grain volume to be turned away from China's ports - were found to contain the unapproved insect-resistant MIR 162 variety of corn, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said on its website on Wednesday (www.aqsiq.gov.cn).

The bureau also said it had told the United States to improve its inspection procedures to ensure that it complied with Chinese quality standards.

The total volume did not include a cargo of about 60,000 tonnes that was turned away last month, it said.

"With the latest discovery, buyers and sellers are likely to be increasingly cautious about placing new orders while shipments are in danger of being rejected," ANZ Bank said in a note.

Traders had said on Tuesday that Syngenta AG's MIR 162, also known as Agrisure Viptera, had been found in some shipments to China, one of the world's largest corn importers.

The latest GMO discoveries were made at ports in Fuzhou, Shenzhen and Shandong, AQSIQ said.

Nearly 2 million tonnes of U.S. corn are currently on their way to China, and may face stringent testing for MIR 162, which Beijing has not approved for import but has been in the U.S. supply chain since 2011. The strain is already shipped to Japan, South Korea, Russia and even the European Union, which is notoriously slow in approving GMO crop varieties.

With domestic prices eroded by a corn supply glut, the authorities may be inspecting cargoes more closely to reduce import volumes, some analysts suggested.

"To some extent, there is a link to the domestic supply surplus - these are the rules of the game," said an industry analyst with a government-linked think-tank, who declined to be identified.

"We believe future incoming cargoes will face strict inspection."

AQSIQ declined to comment.

The move has already slowed the country's imports, and some cargoes may have to be re-directed to Japan or South Korea, analysts said.

The U.S. supplied nearly 94 percent of China's corn imports in the first 10 months of 2013.



MORE MEAT

In the long run, China is expected to increase corn imports as the country urbanises and demand for meat and dairy products rises, with the nation prioritising staple grains such as rice and wheat.

But China is expecting a record corn harvest this year, and demand has also been hit by a series of food safety scares early in the year, which reduced meat and poultry consumption and slashed the use of corn feed.

"Domestic firms may be scared away from the (import) market due to the (GMO) issue, which will support domestic corn prices in the south," said Feng Lichen, senior analyst with an industry portal (www.yumi.com).

Beijing has promised to stockpile the domestic harvest in the growing area of the northeast as it seeks to shore up domestic prices and boost farmer incomes.

Domestic buyers are unlikely to be especially inconvenienced by any delays brought about by the decision to reject the U.S. cargoes.

Following adjustments made to import agreements between the U.S. and China last year, U.S. exporters are now deemed liable for any losses caused by problematic or unapproved cargoes, analysts said. Previously, the buyer was held completely responsible.

As well as the 2 million tonnes of U.S. corn currently on its way, there are still another 3 million tonnes bought by China that have not yet been dispatched. Buyers might also welcome the opportunity to slow deliveries in hope that domestic prices might recover, boosting their margins if they re-sell locally.

"We saw it in cotton a few years ago - you get a sharp drop in prices and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that buyers will want to be a little more picky on specifications and use any excuse to knock back or renegotiate a cargo," said ANZ's senior agriculture analyst, Paul Deane.

"There's probably not a lot of urgency to be importing a lot of corn at the moment," he added.

Odisha opposes biotech bill

Odisha opposes biotech bill
BHUBANESWAR: The state government sought withdrawal of Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, stating that it was undermining its authority.

Agriculture minister Debi Prasad Mishra on Monday in a letter to T Subbarami Reddy, chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests, requested him to recommend scrapping of the "unconstitutional" Bill. The Bill is now being considered by the committee after it was introduced in the budget session of Parliament.

Mishra, in his letter, pointed out that the Bill proposes a decision-making process on introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops ignoring the state governments and local self-governments. "Any decision to introduce a GM crop or permit its field trial in Odisha must ultimately rest with Odisha government, which alone is empowered by the Constitution to look after agriculture and health," he said.

Pointing out mounting evidence on ill-effects of genetically modified crops on human health, environment, livelihood and food security of people, the minister warned of the looming danger if the Bill becomes a regulation.

Mishra said risk assessment proposals in BRAI fail to take into account socio-economic and cultural impacts of GM technology. TOI

Bangladesh takes to GM food crops

Bangladesh takes to GM food crops


DHAKA] Bangladesh has become the first South Asian country to approve commercial cultivation of a genetically modified (GM) food crop — brinjal (also known as eggplant or aubergine) spliced with a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis .  
 
On 28 October, Bangladesh's National Committee on Biosafety (NBC) approved cultivation of four indigenous varieties of brinjal incorporating a gene from the B. thuringiensis (Bt) to make it resistant to attacks by the fruit and shoot borer (FSB), a common pest in South and Southeast Asia.
 
“We will make seeds and distribute them among the farmers. Hopefully, the vegetables will be available in the market next year,” Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Mondal, director-general of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), tells SciDev.Net. 
 
According to BARI scientists, the Bt protein in GM brinjal disrupts the digestive systems of the FSB pests, causing them to die within three days of ingestion.
 
The approval comes in the teeth of protests from a section of health,agriculture and environmental activists, accusing the government of ignoring the possibility of negative impacts on public health from consuming the GM version of a popular vegetable.
 
Farida Akhtar, founder of UBINIG, a Bangladeshi NGO which maintains community seed banks, says that Bangladesh is a 'centre of origin' of brinjal and home to over 100 varieties. "These varieties now face genetic contamination from the GM varieties through natural cross-pollination," she tells SciDev.Net.  
 
NBC has, however, justified the approval saying that Bt brinjal would significantly reduce the need to use pesticides and announced that various safeguards were being put into place.
 
Bangladesh's Bt brinjal varieties are derived in part from similar GM varieties developed in India by the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) and Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company, the Indian subsidiary of the US-based Monsanto Corp.
 
While TNAU had announced that Bt brinjal was safe for consumption, widespread protests compelled the Indian government to order an indefinite moratorium on its release in February 2010.
 
The Philippines has also halted trials on Bt brinjal since 2011 because ofhealth and safety concerns, represented by activists at its supreme court.  
 
Contrastingly, Bangladesh is moving ahead to release more GM food crops, including a vitamin A-enriched rice variety called ‘golden rice’.  
 
Exporters of agricultural produce in Bangladesh are apprehensive that GM crops may cause them to lose markets in importing countries opposed to the technology. SCIDEV

79% want councils to have power over GM crops - poll

79% want councils to have power over GM crops - poll

New Zealand

A group opposed to genetic modification has released a poll showing almost 80% of respondents want councils to retain the power to create GM-free zones.

The phone survey of 1000 people was commissioned by Pure Hawke's Bay and carried out by Colmar-Brunton.

Under proposed changes to the Resource Management Act, central government rather than councils would have the power to decide where GM crops can be grown.

However, Pure Hawke's Bay says 79% of the people surveyed want decision making powers to stay with the councils.

Spokesperson Bruno Chambers says GM free products command a premium price and the group wants GM-free zones so farmers can grow unmodified crops with less risk of contamination.

The survey has a plus or minus margin of error of 3.1%.

RadioNewZealand

Research on GM food in China will not stop: scholar

Research on GM food in China will not stop: scholar

Jiang Gaoming, a researcher at the Institute of Botany of The Chinese Academy of Sciences, said research on genetically modified (GM) food in China will continue no matter what problems arise.

In 2004, the Chinese government listed the cultivation of GM crops as a major scientific development for the country, and it allocated a total budget of more than 20 billion Chinese yuan (US$3.28 billion). Since then, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have become a very popular area for research, Jiang stated.

The 49-year-old Jiang is a noted anti-GMO scholar in China. He has released several theses questioning the engineering techniques used in the production of GMOs.

He pointed out that an online survey projects that over 90% of Chinese nationals consider GM food unsafe and opposed the commercial production of GM crops in China.

More than 10 years ago, research into GMOs was a niche field of research until a book triggered a discussion on the genetic engineering techniques amongst the Chinese people.

Genetic Engineering-Dream or Nightmare?: The Brave New World of Bad Science and Big Business, a book that opposed genetic engineering, raised the first public debate on GMOs among the Chinese people in 2001.

The book, first published in 1998 and translated and published in Chinese in 2001, noted that GM food could potentially endanger the health of humans and animals. More importantly, the book informed the Chinese people of the debate on GM crops raging in Western society.

Following the public reaction to the book, Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization headquartered in Amsterdam, announced in 2002 that GMOs had been found in food products in Hong Kong.

Zhang Jing, a Greenpeace official, stated that the organization had been following the development of GM crops in China since 2002.

So far, Greenpeace has released 23 reports on GMOs in China.

In 2005, the organization announced that it had found GM crops being grown illegally in Wuhan and Jingzhou during four separate investigations in Hubei. In the latest incident to attract the public spotlight, genetically modified rice was being tested on children in Hengyang in 2012, in what subsequently became known as the "golden rice incident."

Zhang claimed the government's research and development agencies should focus on the potential harm of GMOs to humans rather than simply advertising the advantages of GM food.

An immunology professor at Peking University, Wang Yuedan, said he supported techniques to grow GM food, but he was opposed to GM food being widely promoted without allowing public debate to decide whether it was safe for consumption.

In China, the commercial production of GM crops needs approval. It was said that the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) planned to grant a security certificate for GM rice, but this did not happen due to the intense debate among the public.

Since 2006, the MOA has issued security certificates for GM papaya and insect-resistant rice, but only GM cotton and papaya are allowed to be produced commercially.

A food law issued in 2012 mandated that GM techniques cannot be adopted as the main food source in the country without prior approval. Wantchinatimes