Australia: 14 Mar 2010:- Joseph Stalin is credited with saying: "It's not important how people vote; it's how you count the votes that matters". That thought came to mind after getting two takes on a report on the state of GM cropping worldwide in 2009, compiled by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Crops (ISAAA).One was from Agrifood Awareness Australia, the lobby group that promotes the uptake of GM technology, which said the global use of GM crops had continued to increase in 2009. The other was from Gene Ethics, the Australian anti-GM group, which stated the report showed seven of the 25 GM countries grew less genetically manipulated crops in 2009.
No more countries adopted GM and just 2.7 percent of agricultural land globally was used for GM soy, corn, canola or cotton, it said.
Gene Ethics director Bob Phelps said that most GM product goes into animal feed, biofuels and cotton products, as shoppers avoid eating GM foods, even though they are unlabelled.
"GM is not a global industry. Just six countries dominate GM cropping, with the US, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada and China growing 95pc of all GM crops; and although 20 other countries, including Australia, grow some GM, they are just dabbling with the ISAAA report, ignoring the policies of the 170 countries and 60 territories that remain GM-free," Mr Phelps said.
In brief, the report stated that in 2009:
134 million hectares of GM crops were planted around the world, representing an 80-fold increase since 1996 when GM crops were first commercialised ? a 7pc annual growth to 2009.
The number of farmers growing GM crops increased to 14 million, with 13 million of them in developing countries.
There were 25 countries growing GM crops in 2009 - the same as in 2008 - with Costa Rica listed for the first time and Germany dropping off after discontinuing growing GM corn at the end of 2008.
As well as 12 other countries, Burkina Faso, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Poland, Costa Rica, Egypt, and Slovakia also grew GM crops in 2009.
Fifty-seven countries have granted regulatory approvals for GM crops for import for food and feed use and release into the environment since 1996.
In terms of commodities, the ISAAA reported:
77pc of the 90 million hectares of soybean grown globally was GM.
49pc of the cotton grown around the world was GM.
26pc of the 158 million hectares of corn grown globally was GM varieties.
21pc of the 31 million hectares of canola was GM.
In relation to GM crop characteristics:
Her bicide tolerance continued to be the dominant trait with GM herbicide-tolerant soybean accounting for 52pc of the total 134 GM hectares, while herbicide-tolerant corn represented 41.7 million hectares, herbicide-tolerant cotton occupied 16.1 million hectares, and herbicide-tolerant canola occupied 6.4 million hectares;
Stacked trait crops - crops with a combination of more than one GM characteristic (for example, herbicide tolerance and insect resistance) - were planted in 11 countries, eight of which were developing countries.
Of particular note, in Australia, GM canola uptake in NSW increased four-fold between 2008 and 2009, with 40,000 hectares successfully grown and handled through the supply chain in 2009.
The GM canola area will continue to increase, as this year, Western Australian growers will plant GM canola commercially for the first time.
July24,2011:KENYA:-Genetically modified food is not harmful to eat, an assistant minister has said.Education assistant minister Ayiecho Olweny asked Kenyans to ignore false claims about the food.“I have eaten genetically modified food in South Africa and I have not died. I have not had any negative effect from eating it,” he said at a press conference at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi.Prof Olweny, who taught genetics and agriculture at Nairobi and Maseno universities before becoming an MP, refuted claims that GM food had negative effects.He said GM crops were the product of research in agriculture just as technological advances resulted in the development of mobile phones.He said Kenya had the capacity to handle GM products, contrary to the assertion made by Public Health minister Beth Mugo a week ago.“I’ll say that here, and I’ll say it again tomorrow,” said Prof Olweny.He said the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the International Livestock Research Institute and universities could handle the products.Prof Olweny claimed there were chances Kenyans were wearing clothes made of genetically modified cotton from China, which has 3.5 million hectares of the cotton.“The most likely thing is that the dress you are wearing, the shirt, the underwear, the towel you use to wipe yourself is made of GM cotton. Have you felt anything?” he posed.
July24,2011:Andhra Pradesh:-The controversial Genetically Modified (GM) crop field trials are all set to get a fillip in the state. The Andhra Pradesh government is moving in the direction of encouraging and regulating the controversial GM crop field trials. For this it has formed a 5-member committee of experts, headed by Principal Secretary to the government, Agriculture Department, to review the situation now and then, and to assess requests for Biotechnology trials (Institutional Strip Tests and BRLs).The Centre recently modified its rules and sought permission from state governments before granting appr-oval of GM crop field trials. Several companies and institutions have appr-oached the Central government’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee for permission to conduct field trials for a variety of crops including BT wheat, tomato, okra (bhendi) and maize.
July24,2011:KENYA:-quires 200,000 bales of cotton every year to be self-sufficient in cotton needs and this is easily achievable through planting GMO cotton.These revelations come when the country is debating whether it should import GMO maize from South Africa.Arguments in favour of adopting genetically modified maize have resonated from the larger science community, while environmental activists have opposed it on the grounds that GMOs are harmful to humans and biodiversity in the long term.
July17,2011:-Guidelines issued by the Cabinet yesterday on genetically modified foods clear up a great deal of confusion.They are bound to be controversial insofar as they allow the importation of GM maize at a time when there are still a lot of worries over the safety of such foodstuffs.The Cabinet statement came just a day after an assurance by Public Health minister Beth Mugo that Kenya had not opened the doors to GM maize. Not so reassuring, however, was her admission that she could not rule out such maize being already in the market.Her assurance came with the rider that “officially we are not aware of the presence of GM maize in the country . . . we cannot rule it out completely because we understand what happens at the port of Mombasa.”The garbled message presented the picture of a government unaware of what was going on; and one that would be impotent if merchants chose to circumvent all safeguards related to GM foods.It also presented a picture of a government whose left hand does not know what the right is doing.Kenyans are being presented with conflicting information from the ministries of Public Health, Agriculture, Special Programmes, and Higher Education, Science and Technology.The situation is also muddied by the conflicting positions exhibited by a myriad administrative, research and regulatory bodies, especially the National Biosafety Authority, the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and the University of Nairobi’s Centre for Biotechnology.At the very least Kenyans should expect coherent policies from their government free of doublespeak and contradictions.Hopefully the Cabinet statement clarifies matters, but it must be followed by action that ensures Kenya has the capacity to vigorously enforce the safety regulations. Public worries about the safety of GM foods cannot be taken lightly.
July17,2011:-As I reported last week, the USDA's recent surprise decision not to regulate genetically modified bluegrass poked yet more holes in an already-porous regime for overseeing GM crops—essentially to the point of regulatory collapse.There were a few important strands I wasn't able to wrestle into the story. The main one is an odd letter that USDA secretary Tom Vilksack sent Scotts Miracle-Gro as an addendum to the agency's response to Scott's GM bluegrass petition. Vilsack's letter, dated July 1, acknowledges concerns that GM bluegrass will contaminate non-GM bluegrass—that is, that the Roundup Ready gene will move through wind-blown pollen and work its way into non-modified varieties. This is the process known as "gene flow," and it has already been well-established for GM corn and other modified crops.Since bluegrass shows up (among other places) in cow pastures, organic dairy and beef farmers face the risk of suddenly having their animals nosh on fields full of a GM crop, which would jeopardize their organic status. As the the secretary put it in his letter:he USDA recognizes that if this GE variety were to be commercially released, producers wishing to grow non-GE Kentucky bluegrass will likely have concerns related to gene flow between the GE variety and non-GE Kentucky bluegrass. Exporters of Kentucky bluegrass seed, growers of non-GE Kentucky bluegrass seed, and those involved in the use of non-GE Kentucky bluegrass in pastures will likely have concerns about the loss of their ability to meet contractual obligations.
July17,2011:-Differences continued to emerge among leaders over whether the country should import genetically modified crops.Medical assistant minister Kazungu Kambi and Belgut MP Charles Keter warned against the importation of GM maize, arguing that it had negative effects.“We do not want our people to eat GM maize because it has bad effects on their health. We totally are against it,” said Mr Kambi.However, Agriculture secretary Wilson Songa said the country could not run away from GM technology.“The technology is coming, there is no stopping it,” he said.Dr Songa said maize production in the country would double if the country adopted GM crops.“Before we fully introduce the crop, it will go through the necessary agro-research analysis through Kenya Agricultural Research Institute,” he said.He argued that a farm with GM crop could produce as much as 40 to 50 bags of maize per acre unlike the current case where only 30 bags were produced.Kenya produces about 32 million bags of maize yearly while the consumption has shot up to 38 million due to rise in population.The agriculture secretary noted that if the country adopted the technology, production would shoot up to about 64 million bags.A 90kg bag of maize is currently going for Sh4,500, up from Sh1,200 three years ago.Speaking during a Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security meeting at Intercontinental Hotel, Dr Songa said the country could not be competitive if it stuck to the old traditional methods of farming.He cited South Africa, where farmers used three to four pesticides on a GM crop while in Kenya farmers used more than 15 pesticides before a crop matured.