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Spanish scientists have developed a new technique that may result in better nutritional and safety profiles for the next generation of genetically modified plants. The method has been published in the recent issue of the scientific magazine Analytical Chemistry and analyses potential changes in the amino acid composition of transgenic crops.

The new technique may be of great interest for industry and consumers alike, since it potentially improves nutritional and safety profiling of transgenic crops and shows how they may differ from their conventional counterparts. "The analysis demonstrated for the first time that it can be used as an additional indicator in assessing the existence of unexpected modifications in metabolic pathways linked to the amino acid profile within a GMO," wrote researchers.

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Herrero and co-workers were able to analyse the amino acid composition in less than 25 minutes, and found that conventional maize varieties show different profiles, reflecting the variability expected from nature. Comparison with corresponding transgenic Bt maize varieties found no significant difference. "This result seems to indicate that, in these maize samples, the new inserted Cry1Ab transgene has not modified any metabolic pathway linked to the detected amino acids, which seems to add a further proof of the safety equivalence of these samples," stated researchers.

Peter Mandelson, EU Trade Commissioner, has warned that unless the EU closes the gap between its own GM approval system and those of countries exporting feed, "hungry cows" and "struggling farmers" will be the result. "There is an economic risk in Europe, if we fall behind the global economy in approving safe biotechnology," he stated in a speech at the European Biotechnology Info Day in Brussels.

The commissioner cited a recent report from the European Commission that suggests that Europe might experience increasing problems in sourcing and importing animal feed approved under EU rules, thereby putting heavy strain on the EU livestock sector. He added that "…isolation from international trade in agricultural biotech products that have passed credible safety standards may not be a viable option for the EU."

Mandelson argued that, with the population of the world projected to reach nine billion by 2050, food demand will double, while the fight against climate change will also require agriculture to produce more energy crops and raw materials for industry. "It is simply not responsible or defensible to calmly refuse to assess the role of GM food in meeting those demands," the commissioner stressed.

In Australia, an application for the first field trial of the cultivation of genetically modified wheat has been approved by federal authorities. The trial of new GM wheat lines, modified for drought tolerance, will take place at two sites in the state of Victoria.

The trials will be funded by the Molecular Plant Breeding Co-operative Research Centre and are planned to start this month. On a total area of 0.225 hectares, researchers will evaluate the agronomic performance of the GM wheat lines according to their yield under rain-fed and drought-prone conditions. This performance will be compared with that of conventional plants. As many as 30 GM wheat lines will be tested, and each contains one of six different genes for drought tolerance derived from maize, thale cress, moss and yeast.

France will not ban the only genetically modified crop allowed in the country, MON810 from Monsanto, because there is no new information to question its approval, as stated last week by the French Environment Ministry. Several countries of the European Union recently have debated hotly on whether their farmers may grow MON810 maize, the only GM plant approved for cultivation in the EU.

Last month, the German Federal authorities decided that the Monsanto is not allowed at the moment to market seeds of genetically modified maize MON810 in the country. Sale in Germany may resume after the company has provided a monitoring plan for the observation of potential environmental effects of the GM plant.

Shortly thereafter, French politicians asked the French biotech commission to provide the government with a new evaluation of the product, since the last one had been undertaken in 1996. "The commission's opinion shows that there are no elements at this stage to question the environmental evaluation of this maize," declared the ministry in a statement. The status of MON810, and of this year’s expected harvests from the 25,000 to 30,000 hectares of land sown with this variety, therefore are not questioned. "The growing of this maize will not be suspended in France because there is no danger according to the commission's opinion," stated a government official.

The slow approval procedures for GM plants in the EU likely will affect the European meat industry, according to an internal report of the European Commissions’ DG AGRI cited by Agrar Europe. While an average of only 15 months is needed for the approval of a new GM plant in the USA, 2.5 to 10 years are required in the EU.

This "asynchronous authorisation" already has caused trouble for food and feed producers, such as in cases of GM maize approved in the USA but not in the EU. However, a new soy bean variety, Roundup Ready 2 from Monsanto, is likely to have an impact unseen before. The main EU-importing countries USA, Argentina and Brazil are likely to have adopted the new variety by 2009/10, whereas the process will take several years in the EU and potentially will lead to a shortfall of soy imports.

Due to the importance of soy as feed in the farming of pigs and poultry, the report predicted extreme changes in the EU meat sector. In the worst-case scenario, the EU would be faced with an import deficit of 32 million tonnes, of which only approximately 20 percent could be substituted by increased local production.

In 2010, the production of pork may fall by more than one third, poultry by almost 50 percent, and only beef production is expected to remain unaffected. Pork imports are estimated to increase more than 50-fold, imports of beef almost 3-fold and of poultry by 150 percent. Exports would fall drastically: no poultry and beef would remain for exports, and pork exports may be lowered by 85 percent.

According to the report, asynchronous approval of GM maize is unlikely to have strong economic impact, as substitution is relatively easy. Only coastal member states may be affected by increased transport costs.

Bt plants have fewer damaging effects on biodiversity than does the application of insecticides in conventional farming. The tallies are even better when insecticides are fully avoided. This is the conclusion of a meta-study compiled by a group of ecologists of Santa Clara University in California and published in the current issue of Science magazine.

The ecologists evaluated, under consistent criteria, a total of 42 individual studies of Bt plants and their effects on non-target organisms. This was aimed at allowing comparison between individual results and to determine general tendencies. A broad database thereby has been made available that allows "empirically sound conclusions to be drawn."

All studies incorporated in the meta-study are publicly available in a specially established database. Studies of Bt cotton (Cry1Ac) and Bt maize were included, as well as of the Bt variant Cry1Ab that is effective against the European corn borer and of the Cry3Bb toxin that is effective against the corn root borer.

The authors of the meta-study draw the conclusion that the Bt toxins of transgenic plants affect non-target organisms. However, such effects are significantly lower than those caused by the application of insecticides. All variants of Bt toxins function in a targeted manner and are more specific than chemical insecticides or Pyrethroids, a plant-derived agent used in the control of the corn root borer. When, however, no insecticide is used on the control fields, the incidence of non-target organisms in these fields is slightly higher than on Bt fields.

In the approval process of two new GM maize varieties, EU biotech experts have failed to agree. The first variety, MON810/NK603, is a product of Monsanto and is a hybrid of two GM maize lines. The second variety, 1507/NK603, is also a hybrid and is the result of cooperation between Pioneer Hi-Bred and Mycogen Seeds. The two maize types are designed to resist certain field pests -- such as the European corn borer and corn rootworm -- and specific herbicides. Herculex RW, a third GM maize for which Pioneer and Mycogen have filed an application, has not been voted on -- the decision has been postponed to July 5^th. The applications do not relate to cultivation.

The European Council of Ministers now must assume responsibility for a decision. However, in all similar cases, the ministers have failed to find qualified majorities. Thus, in a third step, the European Commission eventually may be forced to decide and, under a legal default process, usually accepts the applications.