GM crop use to double by 2015, Study Predicts--Agricultural use of genetically modified crops across the world has increased almost 70-fold in the past 10 years, breaking the 100m-hectare mark, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application. The US and Argentina have given over the most land for growing GM crops, with 57.7m and 19m hectares respectively. India this year overtook China to become the fifth largest producer in the world. The report states that twenty three countries at present plant GM crops, with a further 29 allowing imports for food or animal feed. According to the report, countries that could adopt GM crops in the next one or two years include Vietnam, Egypt and Burkina Faso.

The GM market - primarily made up of soybean, -cotton, canola and corn seeds - will this year be valued at $6.9bn, (€4.66bn £3.5bn) according to Crop-nosis, an Edinburgh-based consultancy. Europe has only one product pest-resistant maize that has been approved for cultivation. Friends of the Earth released conflicting facts before the ISAAA report was issued, saying the adoption of GM crops has actually led to a significant increase in pesticide use, including more toxic pesticides. Friends of the Earth claimed that GM crops are failing in Europe, with less than 2 percent of the total maize grown in the EU being genetically modified. In 2007, biotech crop area grew 12 percent or 12.3 million hectares to reach 114.3 million hectares, the second highest area increase in the past five years. Two million more farmers planted biotech crops which now total 12 million farmers globally benefiting from the technology.

CA Legislative Bills to Watch:

Jared Huffman's—AB 451 deals with so called pollen drift protection for organic farmers from nearby biotech crop plantings

Carol Migden—SB63   on food labeling for cloned food from animals

EU, US Seek Arbitration in Biotech Crops—in the long disputed battle over EU banning utilization of biotech crops the issue will be discussed at the WTO in late Feb. 2008. The WTO has ordered Brussels to end the ban on GMO crops, and Washington has asserted its right to retaliate if the EU fails to do so by seeking compensation equal to the lost value of exports and licensing fees. But the EU says this compensation is out of line with WTO rules, hence the need for arbitration.  Washington says its main interest is to open up EU markets to biotech crops rather than seeking compensation by suspending benefits enjoyed by the EU in US markets under WTO rules. Brussels has found it hard to implement the WTO ruling in the dispute, which also pits it against Argentina and Canada, because the 27 EU member states operate their own bans. In late Feb. 2008 European Union farm ministers debated authorizing no fewer than five genetically modified (GMO) products, but due to contention all five are expected to return to the European Commission for a default approval.

Ben & Jerry’s Fights for hormone free label--Ben & Jerry's, one of the first companies to label its ice cream as free of Monsanto's GM hormone (rBST), is joining others in a national effort to protest a ban on hormone-free labels. Pennsylvania was recently the site of such a battle, as the state enacted a ban on the labels, only to approve hormone-free labeling later. Indiana recently pulled legislation that would have banned the labels, and lawmakers in Ohio are expected to make a decision on them soon.

New NYT Pundit Bravely Defends Biotech and Cloning--Tom Philpott of Gristmill reports that the New York Times' op-ed page appears to be grooming James E. McWilliams, a professor of history at Texas State University, as a rising pundit on food-politics issues. Recently, McWilliams despaired about cloned meat getting a fair hearing (as the FDA has approved it as safe). McWilliams also claims that hysterical opposition to GM foods has cost the world a litany of wonders: 'insect-resistant cassava or drought-tolerant maize [that] could be a boon to subsistence farmers in Africa.

APHIS Sued over Biotech Seeds-- The Organic Seed Alliance (OSA), Center for Food Safety, and Sierra Club have sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to block commercial release of the sugar beet seeds genetically engineered to tolerate Roundup Ready (glyphosate) herbicide. The suit charges that APHIS failed to thoroughly investigate whether a three-mile buffer zone between GE and natural crops will be sufficient to "thwart the spread of glyphosate-tolerant genes" to fields of organic beets and chard.

Genetically modified carrots provide more calcium--Genetically modifying carrots to express increased levels of a gene that enables the transport of calcium across membranes of plant cells can make the vegetables a better source of calcium, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas A&M University.

Genetic engineering makes apples more environmentally friendly--Genetic modification of apples can result in a more sustainable way of cultivation. This was the outcome of an Wageningen UR study in which the resistance of 280 genetically modified apple trees against scab, the most common fungal disease in the apple farming industry. The genetically modified trees had 60 percent less damage from the fungus, meaning that less pesticide is required to keep these trees healthy.

Many US consumers oblivious to GM food fears—according to a recent report by ABC News, “Concerns over genetically modified foods have failed to make much impact in the United States, where consumers and the US media are less fired up about the issue than in Europe.”  But environmental groups in the US such as Consumers Union continue to call for mandatory safety checks before any GM food is able to be sold, citing research by the National Academy of Sciences indicating that toxic or allergenic substances may be introduced through genetic engineering and that it may be difficult to "predict and assess unintended adverse effects on human health." But the same consumer apathy does not apply to meat and dairy products from cloned animals. A survey carried out two years ago by the International Food Council found that 65 per cent of Americans were opposed to eating such products - a level of concern matched in Europe. Despite the opposition though, in Jan. ‘08 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved meat and milk from cloned animals, clearing the way for them one day to appear on store shelves.

Cloning issue debated in EU--The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a report on a technical meeting with its Stakeholder Consultative Platform held in Feb. to discuss its Draft Opinion on animal cloning and among the sub-issues they touched on was: labeling, tracability, regulation and consumer opinions. The meeting was attended by representatives of the European Commission and the European Group on Ethics and New Technologies (EGE). The latter has already said that it does not see "convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring", adding "Further ethical, legal and social implications of animal cloning for food supply as well as qualitative studies on public perception should be carried out". The EFSA Final Opinion is due in May 2008.

Development of new plant breeding methods for more yield in food crops—was recently announced in the highly respected industry journal Nature, regarding a breakthrough by scientists at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, involving the identification of gene ‘DYAD’ and said that the next step was to go about devising a way of re-engineering it. What this meant was that hybrid seeds could be produced and plants grown for seeds that would retain the original combination of genes of the parent plant with high-yielding properties by utilizing ‘apomixis’ as the formation of asexual seeds in plants using biotechnology in this new patent pending process.

Overcoming Aphids through Gene Silencing--Scientists from Kansas State University are one step closer to discovering the mechanism of insect resistance to some pesticides. The scientists reported that by silencing a gene highly expressed in the pea aphid salivary glands, the insect’s lifespan was cut by more than 50 percent. Proteins present in insects’ saliva have been known to play roles in conferring pesticide resistance.

Biotech critics challenging Monsanto GMO sugar beet—Opponents of biotech crops said in late January they were filing a lawsuit to challenge the USDA's deregulation of Monsanto Co's genetically engineered sugar beet because of fears of "biological contamination" and other harm to the environment.  The Center for Food Safety, the Sierra Club and two organic seed groups said the lawsuit involved the United States Department of Agriculture's approval of Monsanto's glyphosate-resistant sugar beet, which is engineered to withstand treatment of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. The groups said the wind-pollinated biotech sugar beets will cross-pollinate and contaminate conventional sugar beets, organic chard and table beet crops.

Collaboration on a Global Genebank Information System--The Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Bioversity International, and the Global Crop Diversity Trust are joining efforts to develop an Internet-based information management system for the world's plant genebanks. ARS’s existing Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) will be the system’s information backbone. The database has information about more than 480,000 accessions or distinct varieties of plants in ARS’s National Plant Germplasm System.