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GE Week - Feb 6 2001 Farm trials have begun for the world's first genetically modified wheat, which means the first GM loaf of bread could be on supermarket shelves within three years. However, any attempt to sell American-grown GM wheat in Europe could reignite the simmering trade war between the Europeans and Americans over biotechnology and food. The advent of GM wheat is likely to become one of the most controversial issues in global agricultural. It is almost certain to generate intense protests from consumer groups opposed to what they see as unwarranted interference in farming and food production. Bread is a staple item in Europe and, unlike maize or soya, the advent of the GM loaf will have a resonance with consumers who may not otherwise worry about GM cereals destined for animal feed or specialised products such as tortilla chips. The first GM wheat will be a spring-sown variety engineered to include a gene for conferring resistance to Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller. It hopes to sell the wheat alongside the herbicide so that farmers can control weeds more efficiently. Mr Buckingham said Monsanto would initially market the wheat in America and last month applied for the first part of the necessary product registration. Attempts to sell the wheat in Europe could, however, be blocked by European demands for GM products to be clearly labelled, which the US government is opposing. American wheat exporters might find it difficult to convince Europe that its cereal crop is "GM free" if a GM wheat variety is widely grown on American soil. Two Field Trials of GM Trees Approved By New Zealand Environment Authority WELLINGTON, New Zealand--The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) Dec. 22 gave approval to the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Rotorua to carry out two field tests of genetically modified trees. At the same time, ERMA placed strict controls on the conditions under which the trials are to be performed. The first approval involves field trials of pine (pinus radiata) and Norway spruce (picea abies) trees engineered to be resistant to the herbicides Buster and Escort, manufactured in Australia by, respectively, Aventis and DuPont. The second approval is for the field-testing of pine trees with genes that speed up the reproductive cycle of the trees and affect wood growth. Strict Controls The main purpose of the controls imposed on both trials is to ensure that pollen does not escape into the environment. The authority has stipulated that throughout the year all trees must be inspected once a week to check whether any reproductive structures have developed. Male and female reproductive structures must be destroyed as soon as they develop. Other controls imposed by the authority include only allowing the trees to grow to a specified maximum height and having a security fence deterring access to the trial area. The containment facility will be regularly inspected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Throughout the 20-year trial period, FRI must submit regular reports to ERMA on the progress of the trial; it must also maintain consultation with the Te Arawa Maori tribe as the local indigenous people. Concerns raised about the proposals included issues surrounding containment of the pollen, as well as ecological, human health, cultural, social and community, and economic matters. Only five submissions supported the proposals. Nineteen individuals and groups such as Greenpeace and the Te Arawa tribe presented their views at a public hearing at Rotorua in November. As the applications for the trials were lodged in June 1999, the approvals were not affected by the New Zealand government's voluntary moratorium on GM field tests that went into effect in June 2000 (23 INER 540, 7/5/00). Nevertheless, the FRI has said it will not begin the trials until the moratorium ends in September 2001. Full details about the approvals can be downloaded from ERMA's Web site here. Duplicate Human On Books A well-known Italian fertility specialist and his U.S. colleague have announced plans to clone human beings, apparently becoming the first scientists with expertise in human reproduction to publicly set such a goal. They may well succeed, cloning experts said Saturday--but not without causing great damage. Cloning would likely produce stillborn and diseased children, they said, and might provoke lawmakers to seek bans on a broad range of medical research, such as work that uses tissue from human embryos to try to cure disease. The two scientists stressed that their cloning procedure would be offered only to couples who cannot bear children by other means. "We are serious people and have a track record to show for it," said Panayiotis M. Zavos, professor of reproductive physiology at the University of Kentucky. "Cloning has already been developed in animals. The genie is out of the bottle. It's a matter of time when humans will apply it to themselves, and we think this is best initiated by us . . . with ethical guidelines and quality standards." The scientists are quite confident at playing God it seems, as long as their's money in it. Zavos said the work would be done in an undisclosed foreign country. The cloning plan "just invites prohibitions across the board that shuts down the very research we need to cure disease," said Ronald Green, a Dartmouth College bioethicist. Equally worrisome to some researchers is that when cloning fails, it often fails in gruesome ways. For every successfully cloned cow, sheep or goat, dozens of others fail to grow in the womb, die at childbirth or perish soon after birth from deformities. "As far as cloning a human being, it's definitely an achievable feat--unsafe and unethical, but achievable with the right resources and know-how," said Dr. Robert P. Lanza, vice president of scientific development of Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Worcester, Mass., which has cloned cows and goats. "Cloning is conceptually very simple, so someone with the drive has a real chance of succeeding." The problem, said Rudolph Jaenisch, a cloning expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is that "there will very likely be defects, and this is very irresponsible." Zavos, in an interview Saturday, said he was well aware that many clonin efforts produce flawed embryos. But he said existing techniques, and those he and his team hope to develop soon, would give scientists the ability to determine which embryos will grow successfully and which are bound to fail. "We are not out there and loose and ready to go," Zavos said from his home in Lexington. "We are very much aware of this. It will take some experimentation to get to where we need to go." But he added that his goal was to develop viable, cloned human embryos within 18 months or two years. Zavos is the president of ZDL Inc., a private corporation that markets infertility products. Government records show that Zavos has been granted four patents in the last decade on laboratory devices and techniques. Antinori is the director of a Rome-based artificial insemination clinic. He attracted international attention when he treated a 62-year-old woman with hormones so she could conceive. She gave birth to a boy in July 1994. Along with his ongoing work in helping older women become pregnant, he has pioneered a technique to aid sterile men by cultivating their nascent sperm cells inside the testicles of mice. Heinz-Wattiešs GE Free Commitment Heinz-Wattiešs Australasia said last week that the ŗHeinz global policy is for its product range to be GM Free˛. The statement from Heinz-Wattiešs said that: ŗOur policy is to eliminate, by replacement or reformulation, ingredients which have Genetically Modified contentOur global ingredient sourcing systems ensure appropriate controls and verification procedures with respect to genetically modified organisms˛. Heinz-Wattiešs is the Australasian subsidiaries of H. J. Heinz and have sales of $90 Million US dollars per year. Their food brands include; Heinz, Watties, Greenseas, PMU, Weight Watchers, Earths Best Organic Baby Foods, Golden days, Epicure and Imperial. Food companies around the world have been rejecting the use of GE foods due to growing consumer concern about the environmental and health risks associated with GE crops. Greenpeace has produced a True Food Guide that gives details of company policies regarding the use of GE ingredients. This can be found online at www.greenpeace.org.nz/truefood .
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