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| 29 December 2006 | | Genetically modified crops can bring economic benefits | | Growing genetically modified crops can result in economic benefits for farmers. This is the conclusion of a study by the European Joint Research Centre (JRC). However, the benefits are not always due to higher yields, rather are mainly caused by savings on herbicides, pesticides and machinery.
The literature study is part of the EU research programme SIGMEA and aimed to evaluate the economic impacts of GMOs. The JRC researchers found that significantly higher yields of GM crops had only been reported in a few regions, and that most farmers reported savings in weed control, tillage, labour, and machinery costs. Still, for some crops, these savings just barely compensate for the higher seed prices.
The report also looked into the increased costs resulting from coexistence measures, as are being introduced in Europe. For GM maize, these costs were estimated at 84 Euros per hectare – several times more than the average savings on pesticide use. |
| 19 December 2006 | | EFSA seeks opinions on safety assessment | | On 15 December, the European Safety Authority (EFSA) published a draft report on the role of animal feeding trials in the safety assessment of foods and feed which have been derived from genetically modified plants. The draft report was produced by a working group of the EFSA Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms and approved by the GMO panel for public consultation in December 2006.
The draft report discusses the mandate, scope and general principles for the risk assessment of such foods and feed. The draft provides an overview of studies which provide safety and nutritional assessments of whole foods and feed and supplies information on the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, as well as supplying findings obtained from animal feeding studies. The draft outlines assessment strategies to determine the safety and nutritional values of foods and feed derived from GM plants. Further, the document specifies the conditions under which safety and nutritional testing of the GM plant, or derived foods or feed, may be considered.
Interested parties are invited to comment on the draft before 31 January 2007. |
| 13 December 2006 | | DemoSCOPE Poll: Acceptance of Green Gene Technology is growing in Switzerland | | A referendum among Swiss citizens in 2005 showed that more than half of the voting public agreed with a five-year moratorium on the application of gene technology in agriculture. Nonetheless, a similar poll one year later now has confirmed that current resistance to the application of gene technology is slowly and steadily declining - and that this decline is the continuation of a trend which began years ago.
Between 2000 and 2006, DemoSCOPE, a polling institute based in Adligenswil, researched current Swiss attitudes towards issues of politics and economics. Interviews on gene technology were conducted in June 2006 with a representative selection of 2,008 people from German- and French-speaking regions.
Expressing their "general attitude" towards gene technology in agriculture, 45 percent spoke negatively, 31 percent positively and 24 percent were undecided. In 2000, 58 percent of interviewees declared a negative attitude towards gene technology – and this proportion has decreased each year since then. Simultaneously, the percentage of those expressing positive or undecided views to gene technology has increased.
Generally, greater acceptance of gene technology in agriculture was notable among interviewees under the ago of 30. Furthermore, while the largest proportion of interviewees in the French-speaking regions of western Switzerland were undecided (36 percent), detractors here were in the minority: 31 percent stated opposition to the technology.
The statistical reduction of resistance towards agricultural applications may be attributed to better information: through increasing global experience with green gene technology, individuals originally identifying themselves as opponents have become more broadly informed. However, the increase in undecided individuals may point to the need for further public information. |
| 06 December 2006 | | No qualified majority for approval of GM potato "Amflora" | | On Monday, the Standing Committee of EU environment experts conferred on the first approval for commercial cultivation of a genetically modified plant since 1998. Based on the safety assessment by EFSA, the European Commission had recommended approval. However, no qualified majority voted in favour of the new GM potato "Amflora" developed by the German chemicals group BASF.
The decision will now be passed on to the EU Ministers for the Environment, who will have three months to come to a conclusion. It is expected that the ministers also will fail to achieve a qualified majority in favour of the approval and, in this case, the decision will lie with the European Commission. Since similar situations with applications for the import of GMOs have always resulted in the approval by the European Commission, BASF expresses hope that Amflora will be available for cultivation in 2007.
The new GM potato has a modified starch content and is intended for industrial use only. However, in a separate application, BASF has filed for the approval of processing waste of Amflora to be used for feed.
Environmentalists claim that there is no need for this potato and consider the application to be politically motivated. They also fear that the GM potato could accidentally reach the food chain. |
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November 2006
