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.



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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