More GM crops in Brazil

Monsanto’s insect-resistant maize MON 810 (called “YieldGard(R) Corn Borer” in the United States) has been approved by Brazilian National Biosafety Technical Committee (CTNBio).

That is not quite the end of the approvals line but final approval by the National Biosafety Council (CNBS) is now likely so that Brazilian farmers can begin to make plans and important issue for them because Brazil is third in the world in maize production, with maize itself the third most planted crop in the world.

Coming up for 2012 according to the Agriculture Ministry, Brazil’s official crop science institute, Embrapa, could have its own transgenic soy on the market. Embrapa is working with Monsanto to develop a new soya variety resistant to the herbicide imazapyr which targets invasive grasses and weeds. BASF sells the herbicide in the U.S. under the Arsenal, Sahara and Stalker name brands.

Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of soya after the U.S. with more than half Brazilian soya now genetically-modified. As this percentage rises it will become more and more difficult to source non-GM commodity soya with consequent implications for animal feed particularly in some European countries.

Sources:

1. Brant McLaughlin (17.8.07). Monsanto's genetically engineered protected corn approved by Brazil. Associated Content (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/350770/monsantos_genetically_engineered_protected.html)

2. Kenneth Rapoza (8.8.07). Brazil's Embrapa could have new transgenic soy on market by 2012. Dow Jones (http://www.agbios.com/main.php?action=ShowNewsItem&id=8715)

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GM feed in Finland

Farmers in Finland will soon be feeding GM soybeans to their pigs but, in accordance with EU regulations, there will be no statement to that effect on the packaging that consumers will see.

With the largest meat producers switching over to GM feeds, smaller companies feel that they have no choice but to follow suit. Gradually almost all of the pork grown in Finland is expected to come from pigs raised on genetically modified feeds.

An industry spokesman in Finland considered it impossible to deliver pork products separated on the basis of their GM/non-GM feed. He added that the overwhelming proportion of Finnish farmers welcomed the move.
Some 15% of Finnish meat is already reared in other countries where it is also most likely reared on GM feed so the Finns would notice no difference, especially as none is detectable in the meat or other products of animals feed GM products.

There is something of a problem for Finnish farmers because on the one hand they like to promote Finnish food as “pure and unadulterated” (whatever that means) yet economic reality is economic reality. The protestors are, of course, protesting….

Source:

Genetically modified feed to be introduced to Finnish pig farms. Helsinki Sonoma (9.8.07) (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Genetically+modified+feed+to+be+introduced+to+Finnish+pig+farms/1135229348151)

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Unintended consequences

The commercialization of a new Canadian barley, bred by traditional means to reduce the phosphorus in livestock manure and save hog farmers money on nutritional supplements, has hit a regulatory roadblock set up mainly for GM crops.

The new strain (HB379) is essentially the popular Harrington barley except that up to 50 per cent of its phosphorus is available to the livestock consuming it compared with only 25-35%, in traditional barley. That would mean less phosphorus in the pig manure, with less pollution of waterways. Moreover, farmers will have to add less phosphorus to the pig diet to compensate for the relatively low levels in conventional barley or stop adding the enzyme phytase to free up bound phosphorus.

But the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) thinks HB379 is a novel food on a par with a new GM strain) and must thus do a safety assessment to see if it poses any potential risk. Not surprisingly, the developer of the new strain regards Canada's regulatory system as flawed because it tries to protect the GM plant breeding industry at the expense of those who use traditional plant breeding techniques.

"When we developed this idiotic definition of plants with novel traits (PNT) and everything that goes with that definition, we just completely screwed ourselves," he said. "The rest of the world sees a PNT, regardless of what the definition is, as a GMO."

He went on: “GM crops are regulated for social reasons, not scientific ones. Canada is the only country in the world where non-GM crops get bogged down in red tape designed for GM crops.”

Maybe so. Perhaps the whole worldwide regulatory system is excessive. After all, nothing at all has happened in more than a decade of GM crop use and new strains made by older means of genetic modification escape safety testing entirely. Maybe it is time to regulate the product itself, not the process that made it.

Source:

Allan Dawson (19.7.07). GM rules block new non-GM barley. Manitoba Co-operator (http://www.agcanada.com/custompages/stories_story.aspx?mid=22&id=1314)

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GM maize approval in Japan

The stage appears to be set for the approval of Syngenta’s Agrisure RW GM corn for human and animal consumption in Japan; this strain of maize is resistant to root worm.

Japanese regulation is very strict, with zero tolerance for unapproved varieties. The approval of the Syngenta product comes as a considerable relief to producers and traders.

With so many approvals around the world for GM products, one might have thought that the protestors would moderate their opposition. But not a bit of it: the objections are clearly not based on fact but in pursuit of some other agendas.

Now we hear that root worm has arrived in Germany.... How will that impact biotechnology in Germany (see http://www.cropgen.org/article_145.html)?

Sources:

Japan set to approve Syngenta GMO corn seed. Reuters (9.8.07) (http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=comktNews&rpc=33&storyid=2007-08-09T102510Z_01_T113571_RTRIDST_0_JAPAN-CORN-SYNGENTA-UPDATE-2.XML)

Maiswurzelbohrer erreicht Bayern. Ernaehrungsdienst (22.8.07) (http://www.ernaehrungsdienst.de/nachrichten/aktuell/pages/protected/show.prl?params=%26recent%3D1%26type%3D1&id=23622&currPage)

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