Friday, November 13, 2009

Healthier GM soybean oils now being reviewd by USDA and FDA

MONSANTO COMPLETES U.S. REGULATORY SUBMISSIONS IN SUPPORT OF VISTIVE III SOYBEANS THAT PRODUCE HEALTHIER COOKING OILS
Press release

Vistive III Oil Significantly Reduces Saturated Fats and Helps Eliminate Trans Fats

ST. LOUIS (November 12, 2009) – Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) has completed regulatory submissions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Food and Drug Administration in support of the Vistive III soybean trait. This second-generation product builds on Monsanto’s existing Vistive product and would provide food companies with a healthier, more stable soybean oil for frying and baking that contains significantly lower levels of saturated fat and eliminates trans fats.
Research has shown that a diet low in saturated and trans fats promotes heart health.
“Vistive III is a win for farmers, food producers and consumers,” said Jerry Hjelle, vice president of regulatory for Monsanto. “This provides a glimpse into the next-generation of biotech products that can bring direct health benefits to consumers. We also expect farmers to benefit from the premium pricing opportunity the market is likely to offer for the oil once it’s commercialized. And food producers should benefit from a more stable and more healthful soybean oil to use in its food products”
Completing regulatory submissions in the United States is an important step forward in bringing the benefits of this next-generation soybean product to the market, he added.
Vistive III soybean oil is more stable at high temperatures and is shown to have significantly extended fry life when compared to commodity soybean oil, or existing low-linolenic soybean products.
“Application studies show that products fried in the new oil maintain optimum flavor quality,” said Richard Wilkes food applications lead for Monsanto.
Vistive III eliminates the need for hydrogenation, resulting in foods with zero trans fats and reduced overall saturated fat content, thus bringing health benefits to consumers.
“Vistive III anticipates the needs of my customers and will help me offer them the best soybean product today’s technology can create,” said John Buck, a farmer in New Bloomington, Ohio, who has been growing the first-generation Vistive soybeans for several years. This year, Buck is growing only soybeans with the Vistive trait. “As a third-generation farmer who has been in agriculture for a decade, I look forward to advancements in soybeans that continue to improve food quality and can help me and my family eat healthier while enjoying the foods we eat.”

About Monsanto Company
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our world's natural resources such as water and energy. To learn more about our business and our commitments, please visit: www.monsanto.com. Follow our business on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MonsantoCo, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MonsantoCo, or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed.

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

AN ECOPRAGMATIST MANIFESTO

WHOLE EARTH DISCIPLINE: AN ECOPRAGMATIST MANIFESTO
By Stewart Brand
Viking, $25.95, 336 pages
REVIEWED BY MAX SCHULZ  in the Washington Times

"If Greens don't embrace science and technology and jump ahead to a leading role in both, they may follow the Reds into oblivion."

That's strong, hard-hitting stuff. However, the author who derides environmentalists as anti-intellectual Luddites and compares them to communists isn't Michelle Malkin or Glenn Beck. It's Stewart Brand, one of the world's leading environmentalists and a founder of the modern green movement.

...The green left's policy prescriptions arise from a reflexive opposition to the things that have built our technologically advanced, urban society.

Hence, the greens have made theirs a movement of opposition. They oppose large-scale energy development and consumption. They push a regulatory structure that clamps down on private corporations and landowners in a bid to stop them from despoiling the environment. They oppose scientific efforts to improve food production to feed billions because that just means supporting more people who do damage to the planet.

Mr. Brand's "Whole Earth Discipline" says, in effect, that it isn't enough just to oppose. In fact, in some instances, that opposition has been disastrous.

"I daresay the environmental movement has done more harm with its opposition to genetic engineering than with any other thing we've been wrong about," he writes. "We've starved people, hindered science, hurt the natural environment and denied our own practitioners a crucial tool."

He notes that "Silent Spring" author Rachel Carson, patron saint of the modern environmental movement, actually encouraged pursuing the science of biotic controls, i.e. genetic engineering, but that greens have rejected that counsel in defense of a bizarre idea of what is "natural.

BOOKS: 'Whole Earth Discipline' - Washington Times


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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

GM crops now $130 billion dollar market

The Market Value of GM Products
- Rob Carlson, Nature Biotechnology 27, 984 (2009) http://www.nature.com/nbt/

To the Editor: I am writing to point out that the Data Page published in the March issue 1 substantially underestimates the market value of transgenic crops. Using a more accurate estimate dramatically changes the fraction of US gross domestic product (GDP) that can be attributed to genetically modified (GM) systems....

...Taken together, the reports enable an estimation of the revenues from the major GM crops at about $65 billion in 2008. The data demonstrate substantial fluctuations in revenues due to changes in annual prices, even as the fraction of GM crops planted continues to increase. The ISAAA reports that about half of all transgenic seeds were planted in the United States 2, and if one assumes that prices paid for crops in the United States are representative of global averages, then global farm-scale revenues from GM corn, soy and cotton in 2008 were about $130 billion

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

NYT have an intelligent conversation about crop technology

Put Aside Prejudices
 
Paul Collier is a professor of economics at Oxford University and the director of the Center for the Study of African Economies. He is the author of "The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It."
 
Opponents talk darkly of risks but provide no scientific basis for their amorphous expressions of concern. Meanwhile the true risks are mounting. Over the past decade global food demand has risen more rapidly than expected. Supply may not keep pace with demand, inducing rising prices and periodic spikes. If this happens there is a risk that the children of the urban poor will suffer prolonged bouts of malnutrition.
African governments are now recognizing that by imitating the European ban on genetic modification they have not reduced the risks facing their societies but increased them. Thirteen years, during which there could have been research on African crops, have been wasted. Africa has been in thrall to Europe, and Europe has been in thrall to populism.
Genetic modification alone will not solve the food problem: like climate change, there is no single solution. But continuing refusal to use it is making a difficult problem yet more daunting.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Movement of GM protective trait in pollen makes wild squash more attractive food for beetles

Indirect costs of a nontarget pathogen mitigate the direct benefits of a virus-resistant transgene in wild Cucurbita. M A Sasu and others, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (2009)

Abstract

Virus-resistant transgenic squash are grown throughout the United States and much of Mexico and it is likely that the virus-resistant transgene (VRT) has been introduced to wild populations repeatedly. The evolutionary fate of any resistance gene in wild populations and its environmental impacts depend upon trade-offs between the costs and benefits of the resistance gene. In a 3-year field study using a wild gourd and transgenic and nontransgenic introgressives, we measured the effects of the transgene on fitness, on herbivory by cucumber beetles, on the incidence of mosaic viruses, and on the incidence of bacterial wilt disease (a fatal disease vectored by cucumber beetles). In each year, the first incidence of zucchini yellow mosaic virus occurred in mid-July and spread rapidly through the susceptible plants. We found that the transgenic plants had greater reproduction through both male and female function than the susceptible plants, indicating that the VRT has a direct fitness benefit for wild gourds under the conditions of our study. Moreover, the VRT had no effect on resistance to cucumber beetles or the incidence of wilt disease before the spread of the virus. However, as the virus spread through the fields, the cucumber beetles became increasingly concentrated upon the healthy (mostly transgenic) plants, which increased exposure to and the incidence of wilt disease on the transgenic plants. This indirect cost of the VRT (mediated by a nontarget herbivore and pathogen) mitigated the overall beneficial effect of the VRT on fitness.

Indirect costs of a nontarget pathogen mitigate the direct benefits of a virus-resistant transgene in wild Cucurbita — PNAS

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Monday, October 26, 2009

More on corn that has novel synthetic enzyme to digest starch

Corn amylase improves efficiency and environmental footprint of corn to ethanol
25.oct.09
Crop Biotech Update

Corn Amylase (CA), an enzyme essential to convert available starch to fermentable sugars in the production of biofuels, can improve the efficiency, cost, and environmental footprint of biofuels. It will reduce the demand for natural resources, the consumption of fossil fuels, the emission of greenhouse gases, reduce utility costs at the plant and improve the energy balance (compared to ethanol produced from conventional corn). In Corn Amylase: Improving the Efficiency and Environmental Footprint of Corn to Ethanol through Plant Biotechnologypublished in the e-journal AgbioForum, John Urbanchuk and colleagues from LECG, LLC and Michigan State University review the potential economic and environmental benefits of CA on the production of ethanol from corn and sorghum.
Results were confirmed in a trial of a new variety of corn developed by Syngenta that expresses alpha-amylase directly in the seed endosperm. The authors noted that "This technology represents a novel approach to improving ethanol production in a way that can be integrated smoothly into the existing infrastructure."

For the full article visit http://www.agbioforum.org/v12n2/v12n2a01-stone.htm

See earlier Pundit Post
New Breakthrough Biotechnology Adds Value to Corn Growers Output & Reduces Costs of Ethanol Biofuel.

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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Royal Society on Reaping the benefits: Science and the sustainable intensification of global agriculture

 Reaping the benefits: Science and the sustainable intensification of global agriculture

Reaping the benefits: Science and the sustainable intensification of global agriculture

21 Oct 2009

Reaping the benefits report coverThe Royal Society has published the report of a landmark study examining the contribution of the biological sciences to food crop production.  The study was conducted by a working group chaired by Sir David Baulcombe FRS. The group included experts on agriculture, international development, conservation biology and plant science.

Food security is one of this century's key global challenges. Producing enough food for the increasing global population must be done in the face of changing consumption patterns, the impacts of climate change and the growing scarcity of water and land. Crop production methods must also sustain the environment, preserve natural resources and support livelihoods of farmers and rural populations around the world. This report discusses the need for a sustainable intensification' of global agriculture in which yields are increased without adverse environmental impact and without the cultivation of more land.

The report begins by setting out the challenges to food crop production. It then goes on to examine in detail the various technologies that might be used to enhance production, with the conclusion that a diversity of approaches are needed. Due to the scale of the challenge, no technology should be ruled out, and different strategies may need to be employed in different regions and circumstances. Finally, consideration is given to the consequences and complications of food crop innovation.

The recommendations of the report include the following:

  • Research Councils UK (RCUK) should develop a cross-council grand challenge' on global food crop security as a priority. This needs to secure at least £2 billion over 10 years to make a substantial difference.
  • RCUK should increase support for ecosystem-based approaches, agronomy and the related sciences that underpin improved crop and soil management.
  • Universities should work with funding bodies to reverse the decline in subjects relevant to a sustainable intensification of food crop production, such as agronomy, plant physiology, pathology and general botany, soil science, environmental microbiology, weed science and entomology

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Friday, October 16, 2009

GM Eggplant passes safety assessment in India.

BT brinjal safe for consumption
Thursday, October 15, 2009
By Kalyan Ray, CheckBiotech

 
BT brinjal to go commercial big time.
 
India is all set to commercialise its first ever genetically-modified (GM) food crop — Bt brinjal — as the country’s highest biotechnology regulatory authority on Wednesday declared the crop safe to be released in the environment.
"The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), under the Union Environment Ministry, has cleared the introduction of Bt brinjal," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said. The government will formally approve the GM eggplant after discussing its scientific, bio-safety and licensing issues with stakeholders.

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

70 percent more food needed by 2050 says FAO

Agriculture to 2050 – the challenges ahead
12-10-2009

FAO's Diouf opens High-Level Forum on food’s future


Director-General Jaques Diouf opening the High-Level Expert Forum
 
12 October 2009, Rome - Agriculture must become more productive if it is to feed a much larger world population while responding to the daunting environmental challenges ahead, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said here today.
Opening a two-day High-Level Expert Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050 Diouf told the 300 delegates that over the next 40 years:

"The combined effect of population growth, strong income growth and urbanization ... is expected to result in almost the doubling of demand for food, feed and fibre."

"Agriculture will have no choice but to be more productive," Diouf added, noting that increases would need to come mostly from yield growth and improved cropping intensity rather than from farming more land despite the fact that there are still ample land resources with potential for cultivation, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa and Latin America. He also noted that "while organic agriculture contributes to hunger and poverty reduction and should be promoted, it cannot by itself feed the rapidly growing population."

World population is projected to rise to 9.1 billion in 2050 from a current 6.7 billion, requiring a 70-percent increase in farm production.

Growing scarcity
In addition to a growing scarcity of natural resources such as land, water and biodiversity "global agriculture will have to cope with the effects of climate change, notably higher temperatures, greater rainfall variability and more frequent extreme weather events such as floods and droughts," Diouf warned.
Climate change would reduce water availability and lead to an increase in plant and animal pests and diseases. The combined effects of climate change could reduce potential output by up to 30 percent in Africa and up to 21 percent in Asia, the FAO Chief noted.
"The challenge is not only to increase global future production but to increase it where it is mostly needed and by those who need it most," he stressed. "There should be a special focus on smallholder farmers, women and rural households and their access to land, water and high quality seeds... and other modern inputs."

Water challenge
Diouf noted the special challenge posed by water as climate change would make rainfall increasingly unreliable. Investment in improved water control and water management should be considered a priority.
It is also important to bridge the technology gap between countries through knowledge transfer using North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation to achieve sustainable increases in agricultural production and productivity.

Competition from bioenergy
Food production would also face increasing competition from the biofuel market "which has the potential to change the fundamentals of agricultural market systems", with production set to increase by nearly 90 percent over the next 10 years to reach 192 billion litres by 2018.
At the Forum, about 300 eminent experts from around the world will review and debate the investment needs, technologies and policy measures needed to secure the world's food supplies on horizon 2050. It is calculated that $44 billion a year of official development assistance (ODA) will need to be invested in agriculture in developing countries - against the $7.9 billion that is being spent now. Higher investments, including from national budgets, foreign direct investment and private sector resources, should be made for better access to modern inputs, more irrigation systems, machinery, storage, more roads and better rural infrastructures, as well as more skilled and better trained farmers.

Through its conclusions and recommendations the Forum will contribute to the debate and outcome of the World Summit on Food Security scheduled at FAO headquarters on November 16-18, to be attended by Heads of State and Government from FAO's 192 Member Nations. It is hoped the Summit will agree then on the complete and rapid eradication of hunger so that every human being on Earth can enjoy the most fundamental of all human rights - the "right to food" and thus to decent life.

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Thursday, October 08, 2009

Eating too much of natural plant chemicals can be bad

Monash research cautions against use of anti-oxidants
7 October 2009


Professor Tony Tiganis and Kim Loh

Press release
Monash University Press release


An international team of scientists, led by Monash University researchers, has found that anti-oxidants commonly touted for their health-promoting benefits, could contribute to the early onset of Type 2 diabetes.

The team, led by Professor Tony Tiganis from the Monash Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has found that molecules known as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) may play a protective role in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes by enhancing insulin action. Anti-oxidants prevent the beneficial effects of ROS.

The team showed that when ROS levels were elevated in muscles of genetically-modified mice they could prevent the onset of insulin resistance and diabetes that is induced by a high-fat diet.

However when these animals received anti-oxidants, which 'mop up' ROS, the improved insulin response was lost and the mice became more 'diabetic'.

The findings, published today in the prestigious journal Cell Metabolism, challenge the widely-held view that ROS are always harmful and that anti-oxidants are always beneficial.

"ROS molecules, such as hydrogen peroxide, are important for normal cell function. We have shown that ROS present in muscle enhance insulin action and help lower blood sugar levels," Professor Tiganis said.

"However, our studies do not negate the role of ROS in late-stage disease. There's a 'yin and yang' relationship that takes place, wherein ROS are beneficial in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes and shift to being harmful at later stages of the disease. We are now trying to find out when ROS make the switch from being 'good' to 'bad'.

"Although we need to undertake further studies in humans, our results indicate that the widespread use of anti-oxidants by the general public as a preventative measure is something that should be discouraged, particularly if you are otherwise healthy," Professor Tiganis said.

"Eat healthy and exercise as this is a natural source of ROS that promotes insulin action."

Diabetes is Australia's fastest growing disease, with an estimated 275 people developing the disorder each day. Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to genetic and lifestyle factors including obesity, low physical activity and poor diet, costs our health care system an estimated $3 billion dollars annually.

Professor Tiganis led a team of 12 Monash researchers, scientists from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, University of Melbourne, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the US.

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Sunday, October 04, 2009

Mexican race debate heats up further.

It is indeed interesing to witness real scientic debate is alive and well in crusty scientific journals:

Molecular Ecology, 2009 News and Views
COMMENT
Insufficient evidence for the discovery of transgenes in Mexican landraces
BERND SCHOEL and JOHN FAGAN
Genetic ID NA, Inc, SO4 N 4th Street, Fairfield, Iowa 52556, USA
 
 
The authors claim either sampling effects or reporting of false negatives as the most likely source of differing detection results between their study and that of Ortiz-Garcı´a et al. (2005). Our interpretation leads to the conclusion that Pin˜eyro-Nelson et al. (2009) essentially came up with negative results in their survey of Oaxaca for transgenic maize.
Although sample 5 appears to be positive, it is hard to conclude from the provided data whether this is a true positive result as the authors provided neither confirmatory Southern blot data nor information regarding the specific corn event. This interpretation is consistent with the conclusions reported by Ortiz-Garcı´a et al. (2005). We contend that the sample number was too small in both the study (Ortiz-Garcı´a et al. and Pin˜eyro-Nelson et al.) and that sampling was not representative of the total Oxacan maize population. Therefore, our conclusion from both publications on this topic is that results obtained to date are not sufficient to ascertain whether introgression of transgenic traits into the Mexican maize population has or has not taken place.

References include
Ortiz-Garcıa S, Ezcurra E, Schoel B et al. (2005) Absence of detectable transgenes in local landraces of maize in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102, 12338–12343.
 
Pineyro-Nelson A, van Heerwaarden J, Perales HR et al. (2009) Transgenes in Mexican maize: molecular evidence and methodological considerations for GMO detection in landrace populations. Molecular Ecology, 18, 750–761.
 

Response
Molecular Ecology, 2009 News and Views
 
REPLY
Resolution of the Mexican transgene detection controversy: error sources and scientific practice in commercial and ecological contexts

A. PIN˜ EYRO-NELSON,* J . VAN HEERWAARDEN,† H. R. PERALES,‡J . A. SERRATOS-HERNA´ NDEZ,§ A. RANGEL,–M. B. HUFFORD,**, P. GEPTS,** A. GARAYARROYO,*
R. RIVERA-BUSTAMANTE– and E. R. A ´ LVAREZ-BUYLLA*

Bernd Schoel and John Fagan (Vice-President and Founder ⁄ CEO, respectively, of Genetic ID, henceforth BS&JF) criticize and dismiss our recent publication in Molecular Ecology by focusing on our use of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to detect specific DNA sequences. They raise important questions about the standards required to use PCR in various environmental conditions, pointing to the well-known fact that this delicate method may lead an unskilled operator to false results. They further suggest that our observations of transgenic DNA sequences in Mexican landrace maize should be attributed to false positives, i.e. a type I error. After considering their challenge and reviewing the evidence, we find their arguments seriously
lacking in substance, and their practice permissive of false negatives, a type II error.

We seem to have attracted BS&JF’s attention because, in an effort to corroborate our own results, we utilized the services of Genetic ID as full-paying customers. We established that Genetic ID failed on occasion to detect positive blind samples, which should not be surprising given the known vagaries of the PCR method. Yet for BS&JF this detection failure is not a
factual possibility; instead, to explain our observations they would have us both (i) contaminating our samples and (ii) lying about the origin and nature of our materials. Specifically, BS&JF state:

1 ‘We contend that results such as these are incorrectly interpreted as positive and are more likely to be indicative of contamination in the laboratory.’ and
2 ‘We would argue that the leaf sample provided by the authors did not contain the claimed NK603 event and, furthermore, does not contain material from any commercialized
transgenic single plant.’

Other charges include an implication that we used false evidence and ⁄ or withheld inconvenient data (BS&JF, p.5, lines 5–11) to reach our conclusions.
All of these are indeed very serious challenges to our technical capacity and expertise, as well as our professional and personal integrity.

PCR contamination or false negatives (type II error)?

BS&JF declare their suspicion that all of our PCR positive results arose from systematic contamination. They note the presence of bands in the PCR gels that are weaker than they would expect for a ‘100% (homozygous) or 50% (heterozygous) GMO level’, the only evidence that they would take as a positive result. Such a view is based on the unwarranted expectation
that an end-point PCR could be used as a quantitative method. In our experience and that of other independent laboratories, the PCR amplification of transgenic sequences in landrace maize backgrounds tends to produce relatively faint bands of variable intensity in end-point reactions visualized on agarose gels, which so far has been the standard approach in the field (Quist &
Chapela 2001; Alvarez- Morales 2002; Pin˜ eyro-Nelson et al. 2009). Genetic ID’s own gels (their standard to screen-out ‘negatives’) show this kind of variability, even for repeats of a single sample in a single assay, or for different assays performed for the same sample at different times [see Fig. S1 (Supporting information)]...

...There is evidence arguing against BS&JF’s PCR contamination hypothesis. We observe, for example, that the presence of positive bands in our samples is neither randomly nor homogeneously distributed as would be required by such a hypothesis. Specifically, at the inception of our study, maize ears were collected, seeds were subdivided from each ear and distributed independently to our separate laboratories (RR in Irapuato and EAB in Mexico
City) by an outside researcher (S. Ortı´z-Garcı´a, a co-author with B.S. in Ortı´z-Garcı´a et al. 2005). Maintaining each laboratory in complete isolation from the other through double-blind coding, seeds from these subsamples were germinated, emergent leaf tissue lyophilized in facilities free of cloning or PCR products, extracted and PCR-amplified, after which we compared all results for congruence. As explicitly described in our original study, we took a highly
conservative position before we would call a positive sample: samples were never scored as positive unless we had at least two repeated confirmatory results in each separate laboratory based on independent DNA extractions and amplifications.

Under these circumstances, the laboratory contamination implied by BS&JF should be expected to either appear in all samples or to be randomly distributed among families within laboratories, with a possible differentiation between the two laboratories reflecting their differing patterns of contamination. None of these scenarios occurred. Families and ⁄ or localitiesconsistently appeared with positive individuals in both laboratories while others consistently failed to show positives. We have now subjected all our results to a statistical analysis showing that the distribution pattern of positive samples among seed families or localities is indistinguishable between the two independent laboratories; i.e., overall, the frequency of positives among families matches across laboratories. The probability of this pattern emerging from a contamination source is <0.001.>There are good reasons to believe that such limited focus may place Genetic ID’s methods at a relative disadvantage for detecting transgenic DNA sequences in landrace maize. Using real-time PCR, we found that there are significant differences when comparing a hybrid transgenic commercial line against a landrace sample in the relative amplification of an internal control, a zein gene, included in the TaqMan(R) kit for the quantification of the 35S CaMV promoter sequence (see Fig. 1.)...

1 We have already pointed out the expectation of much higher levels of molecular diversity in Mexican landrace samples with a diverse genetic background compared with hybrid, commercial varieties (Pin˜eyro-Nelson et al.2009). Significant genome size variation among landraces has been reported (1700 to 3300 megabases; see comment in Walbot 2008), while lack of genetic colinearity and pervasive gene duplication have been described (Fu & Dooner 2002; Wang & Dooner 2006).

We stand by our expectation that such diversity could cause inefficiencies and variability in PCR results stemming from direct or indirect molecular effects on any of the components and conditions of PCR assays. In these conditions, a protocol with no flexibility for careful observation and follow-up of bands that are less than optimal would create ample opportunity for false negatives.

2 BS&JF dismiss any discussion of PCR inconsistencies by vaguely invoking an undefined and unaccountable protocol, thus: ‘[Genetic ID] includes at several points in its analytical procedures controls that would detect the kinds of problems cited by the authors and therefore ensure accurate reporting of results. For example, PCR inhibition tests are routinely conducted to rule out the presence of compounds ‘metabolites’) that could interfere with PCR amplification.’ Of particular interest is their claim of a standard, routine test for inhibition of the PCR assay, which should stand for any and all sources of inhibition possible from commercial and landrace materials that have a wide range of, for example, phenolic compounds in their constitution (Arnason et al. 1994); no details are given about the specific sequences used in such tests,gene dosage or specific genetic behaviour. Our own experimental routine shows this facile dismissal of the inhibition problem to be fallacious. Specifically, we showed as part of our careful method evaluation that there are indeed differences between commercial, hybrid maize varieties and landrace materials as far as their PCR performance is concerned.

3 In their critique, BS&JF deride our expectation of sequence diversity in our target sequences by claiming that such an expectation violates ‘the known and accepted norms of genetics’ (Schoel & Fagan, p. 3). BS&JF’s sole source of support is a general evaluation of the average rate of spontaneous mutation across broad taxonomic groups (Drake et al. 1998). This approach fails to recognize site-specific differences in mutation rates, especially well known in transgenic constructs where, for example, the borders of the transgenic construct are prone to sequence variation (Matsuoka et al.2002). Maize itself has highly variable mutation rates at different loci, ranging from <0.1>

Selected References

Fu H, Dooner HK (2002) Intraspecific violation of genetic colinearity and its implications in maize. Proceedings of the National Academyof Sciences USA, 99, 9573–9578.

Drake JW, Charlesworth B, Charlesworth D, Crow JF (1998) Rates of spontaneous mutation. Genetics, 148, 1667–1686. Matsuoka T, Kuribara H, Takubo K et al. (2002) Detection of recombinant DNA segments introduced to genetically modified maize (Zea mays). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 50, 2100–2109.

Pin˜eyro-Nelson A, van Heerwaarden J, Perales HR et al. (2009) Transgenes in Mexican maize: molecular evidence and methodological considerations for GMO detection in landrace populations. Molecular Ecology, 18, 750–761.

Walbot V (2008) Meeting report: maize genome in motion. Genome Biology, 9, 303. doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-4-303)

Wang Q, Dooner HK (2006) Remarkable variation in maize genome structure inferred from haplotype diversity at the bz locus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 103, 47.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Fluffy revolution

Financial Chronicle, India Sep 23 2009

EDITORIAL

Bt cotton farmers are raising acreage, unfazed by activist protests

It was ultimately the users of genetically modified cotton who would decide the success or failure of what has been dubbed as ‘Frankenstein’s seeds’. Despite the uproar by activists, and strong campaign by non-governmental organisations, the test was to be whether it would be beneficial to farmers. And whether they would come back to sow the seeds again after the first harvest. ...Despite doomsday scenarios painted by some well-known opponents of hybrid varieties, Bt cotton has spread to around 80 per cent of the fields in seven producing states. Had the seeds impoverished the farmers, as claimed by these activists, would they have adopted it so readily? Numbers often are answers to irrational opposition. And, in this case, they are telling. In 2002, when the Centre’s genetic engineering approval committee allowed the use of Bt cotton seeds, the country’s production was 13.6 million bales. According to the cotton advisory board, the yield per hectare was 302 kg and the total area under cotton cultivation was 7.67 million hectares. Within four years, with widespread usage of the new seed, production had more than doubled to 28 million bales. The yield has moved to 521 kg and the area under cotton has risen to 9.14 million hectares. For several years before the introduction of the new variety, cotton exports from India fluctuated between few thousands bales and one lakh bales. Within three years, exports moved to 5.8 million bales, peaking at 8.5 million in 2007-08 and earning foreign exchange worth Rs 8,366 crore. Compared with the other two top producers of cotton in the world, India’s performance is even more impressive. In 2002, the United States produced 17.2 million bales and China 25.2 million bales, according to figures published by the US department of agriculture. The spurt in India’s cotton production took it to 29 million bales in 2008-09, while the US declined to 13.52 million bales, having peaked at 23.89 in 2005-06. China produced 36. 5 million. From producing around 40 per cent of what China did, India has now touched a level of almost 70 per cent. Against the US, India’s output was 61 per cent...If the farmers are happy and are expanding the use of Bt cotton; if the spinning mills are elated by the raw material; and if markets abroad are giving a thumbs up to India’s exports, should the voices of doom have a say in the cotton future of the country? The answer is obvious.

Fluffy revolution | mydigitalfc.com

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Linseed takes root in Germany

 Genetically modified linseed found growing illegally in Germany - The Local

Published: 11 Sep 09 07:09 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20090911-21853.html

Officials in Baden-Württemberg have discovered large quantities of genetically modified linseed growing illegally in the southwestern German state. It has apparently been unwittingly sold to several EU countries.

Peter Hauk, the state’s agriculture minister, said on Thursday the majority of the seeds came from Canada, which is the principal supplier of linseed to Germany.

"We assume that this discovery will affect not only Germany, but rather all of Europe" Hauk said.

Though the GM linseed is not considered dangerous to consume, it has not been approved for human consumption in the European Union.

Linseed, also known as flax, is used in a number of food products such as pastries or muesli. Linseed oil, which is a high-grade cooking oil, is also a product of the plant...

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Monday, September 14, 2009

A Tribute to Norman Borlaug

Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Saved More Human Lives Than Any Other Has Died
Reason Online, 13 September 2009

Ronald Bailey

Norman Borlaug, the man who saved more human lives than anyone else in history, has died at age 95. Borlaug was the Father of the Green Revolution, the dramatic improvement in agricultural productivity that swept the globe in the 1960s. For spearheading this achievement, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. One of the great privileges of my life was meeting and talking with Borlaug many times over the past few years. In remembrance, I cite the introduction to Reason's 2000 interview with Borlaug below:

Borlaug grew up on a small farm in Iowa and graduated from the University of Minnesota, where he studied forestry and plant pathology, in the 1930s. In 1944, the Rockefeller Foundation invited him to work on a project to boost wheat production in Mexico. At the time Mexico was importing a good share of its grain. Borlaug and his staff in Mexico spent nearly 20 years breeding the high-yield dwarf wheat that sparked the Green Revolution, the transformation that forestalled the mass starvation predicted by neo-Malthusians.
In the late 1960s, most experts were speaking of imminent global famines in which billions would perish. "The battle to feed all of humanity is over," biologist Paul Ehrlich famously wrote in his 1968 bestseller The Population Bomb. "In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." Ehrlich also said, "I have yet to meet anyone familiar with the situation who thinks India will be self-sufficient in food by 1971." He insisted that "India couldn't possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980."

But Borlaug and his team were already engaged in the kind of crash program that Ehrlich declared wouldn't work. Their dwarf wheat varieties resisted a wide spectrum of plant pests and diseases and produced two to three times more grain than the traditional varieties. In 1965, they had begun a massive campaign to ship the miracle wheat to Pakistan and India and teach local farmers how to cultivate it properly. By 1968, when Ehrlich's book appeared, the U.S. Agency for International Development had already hailed Borlaug's achievement as a "Green Revolution."...
 

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Plant biotech reduces poverty

To the Editor:
A News story in your July issue highlights a controversial report from the Union of Concerned Scientists concluding that commercialized genetically modified (GM) crops have had negligible effect on food crop yields in the United States 1. Despite the increasing use of GM crops around the world 2, agricultural biotech remains contentious in some countries, especially in Europe 3. Influenced by biased reports, Europeans tend to overrate GM crop risks, while underrating the benefits 4. Claims that the technology is needed to ensure food security and poverty reduction are often considered empty promises and are dismissed as industry propaganda. This in turn prompts widespread public concerns about negative social implications in developing countries 5. Correspondence in this journal has also documented how GM crop opposition in Europe is hurting farmers and researchers 6. More seriously, through trade relations and lobbying efforts of antibiotech groups, European attitudes are spilling over to developing countries, where they crucially impede biotech developments as well 7. Here, we summarize our recent research on the socioeconomic effects of insect-resistant Bacillus thuringiensis toxin (Bt) cotton in India 8,9. In this case, at least, there is strong evidence that the trait in this crop is already contributing to poverty reduction in the subcontinent.... continues in the journal.

Nature Biotechnology
volume 27 number 9 page 803-4 September 2009
Matin Qaim, Arjunan Subramanian &
Prakash Sadashivappa

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