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The magazine Science has reported that the mass deaths known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), affecting as many as ninety per cent of bee colonies in US America, may be caused by a virus. A team of researchers directed by Columbia University of New York used genetic analyses in examining bee colonies from four different regions of America for pathogenic microorganisms, viruses and fungi. In the course of these examinations, the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) was found. This virus was discovered in Israel in 2004.

The IAPV was detected in 25 of 30 CCD-affected colonies, but was present in only one of 21 healthy colonies. “This does not identify IAPV as the cause of CCD,” said Jeffery S. Pettis, entomologist and research leader of the USDA Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, which collaborated with Columbia and other institutions on the research. “What we have found is strictly a strong correlation of the appearance of IAPV and CCD together.”

However, the correlation between the incidence of IAPV and the appearance of CCD in diseased colonies implies that IAPV may be regarded as a decisive factor in the affliction with CCD. The first reports of the appearance of CCD in the USA correspond chronologically with imports of IAPV infected bees from Australia. Researchers suspect that other stresses, caused by factors such as malnutrition, plant-protection agents and parasitic mites, also may have weakened the immune systems of affected bees and thereby made the insects susceptible to infection with IAPV. Researchers now intend to infect healthy insects with the virus in order to verify if IAPV may be regarded in fact as the trigger of mass bee deaths.

A study conducted in the Philippines by the Philippine Rice Research Institute and the Strive Foundation indicates that high levels of acceptance for genetically modified (GM) rice may be expected among consumers. In five different Philippine regions, the willingness to plant, buy and sell GM rice was declared by the majority of nearly one thousand consumers and farmers polled. Rice is a dietary staple of the Philippine population and locally-developed GM rice is expected to be commercially available by 2011.

The recent study also demonstrated the particular interest of farmers in the use of GMOs to reduce the financial and agricultural losses caused by pests. Alicia Ilaga, director of the Biotechnology Program of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA-BPO), has responded to these findings with a statement of intent to provide funding for research and development of rice biotechnology.

Eighty-five per cent of poll respondents expressed a desire for more information on rice biotechnology. Actual knowledge on the subject varies: while more then 30 per cent of all respondents had heard of biotechnology and its application to rice, only 17 percent had heard of GMOs. Urban consumers were most aware of biotechnology issues in general. Fifteen percent of all respondents had heard of potential risks and benefits associated with biotechnology, and five per cent of respondents rejected GM rice outright.

GMO rice in general, GM pest-resistance rice and bio-fortified rice all would be accepted by a majority of respondents (between 63 and 69 per cent). Consumers also seem prepared to accept a certain degree of increased cost: for example, approximately one half of respondents also stated willingness to pay up to ten per cent more for rice which has been bio-fortified to contain Vitamin A.

First-generation GM lines were aimed at reducing agricultural costs through the development of resistance to pests and insecticides, and second-generation lines are aimed at the production of higher levels of micronutrients in plants. The DA-BPO now is seeking to use “stacking”, i.e. the combination of such traits, directly to benefit both farmers and consumers. In a current project funded by the DA-BPO, the new “3-in-1” rice is being developed to produce beta-carotene as well as to be resistant to tungro and to bacterial blight. As the first rice to use stacking in this manner, the GM rice would also the first to be produced in the Philippines.

In an international project sponsored by the National Science Council of Taiwan, scientists from Taiwan and the USA have developed genetically modified (GM) eucalyptus as a tool for potential use in the reduction of greenhouse gases and the global warming that they cause.

In September, collaborating biologists of the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (TRFI) and the American North Carolina State University announced the development of GM eucalyptus trees capable of ingesting three times as much carbon dioxide as conventional trees, as reported by The China Post.

Carbon dioxide is used by trees to produce a variety of compounds that include lignin, hemicellulose compounds and cellulose. However, only cellulose can be used in the industrial manufacture and extraction of pulp and bio-ethanol. In addition to heightening the absorption of carbon dioxide, the genetic modifications achieved by the eucalyptus project have resulted in trees which produce more cellulose and less lignin.

In the case of eucalyptus trees that produce 18 per cent less lignin and 4.5 per cent more cellulose, TRFI researcher Chen Zenn-zong estimates that a factory manufacturing 1 million tonnes of pulp per year may generate approximately US$36 million in extra revenues in this time.

Chen states further, "The idea behind the whole project is to increase the value of genetically-modified eucalyptus to related industries, so we adjusted the ratio of cellulose and lignin. Meanwhile, we enhance the tree's capacity in absorbing carbon dioxide to reduce greenhouse gases, so that the more trees planted for production, the more carbon dioxide is consumed."

The cultivated area of genetically modified Bt maize has risen by forty percent in Spain and comprised 75,148 hectares in the growing season of 2007. Almost a half of this area lies in the north-western Spanish region of Aragon, where the percentage of Bt maize in production is approaching forty per cent. In Catalonia, Bt maize already represents more than the half (i.e., 53.6%) of regional maize cultivation, which totals 23,000 hectares. In 2007, Bt maize also was sown for the first time on the Balearic Islands and in the regions of Murcia and Castile-Leon. The statistics are derived from enumerations conducted by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and were published by ANTAMA, a foundation for the application of new technologies in agriculture.

In areas strongly affected by the European corn borer, the cultivation of Bt maize is financially attractive to farmers. According to statements by the Catalonian regional government, Bt maize considerably reduces the harvest losses caused by this pest and thereby facilitates the increase of yields to as much as one tonne per hectare. Gross profit thereby may be boosted by as much as 12 per cent.

Furthermore, contamination with mycotoxins (fungal poisons) was found to be reduced by 83 per cent in Bt maize. When maize crops are infested with caterpillars of the European corn borer, which bore into the stems of the plants, the probability of fungal infections rises. Some of these fungi produce toxic metabolic products. In the case of lowered levels of corn borer infestation, fungal diseases also are diminished.

In Spain, special requirements are valid for the cultivation of Bt maize. In addition to maintaining specified minimum distances of plots to neighbouring fields, farmers are obliged also to plant at least twenty per cent of their fields with conventional maize in order to prevent the development of resistance in pests.

The German seed producer Deutsche Saatveredelung (DSV) has partly recalled its winter rape seed two weeks ago. During official controls, traces of genetically modified rapeseed were found in a particular variety. The GM portion was measured to be approximately 0.03 per cent. The affected GM rapeseed, which is resistant to herbicides (active ingredient glufosinate, Liberty), is not approved for cultivation in the EU.

Seeds already had been delivered to several farms. According to the statements released by a representative of the company, the seeds concerned may be spread over an area of 1,500 hectares. Locally responsible agencies have directed that affected areas be ploughed under once the seeds have germinated.

The seeds were propagated in Europe, and the reasons for the entry of the GM rapeseed into the seed batches are unclear. However, several release trials were conducted with such GM seed in the EU at the end of the 1990s.

The GM content measured in the seeds are minor and lie below the technical limits of verification. Binding limit values remain undetermined in the EU for the accidental GMO present in seeds.

According to statements by the Association of German Plant Breeders (BDP), breeding companies are motivated by their own interests to avoid GMO presence in conventional seed ware and conduct their own extensive quality controls. In the case of the affected seeds, internal checks are stated to have been performed twice within the normal company controls before marketing – and to have resulted both times as negative. A third analysis by an independent laboratory found no traces of GMO.

Particularly in the cases of results below the technical limits of verification of 0.1%, the occurrence of mistakes in analysis procedures cannot be discounted. Since only one sample of four displayed an apparently positive result, it may be speculated that such a mistake also here is the case. The BDP therefore has demanded that a further analysis of the affected portion of seeds be performed. However, this has been refused to date by the ministry.

In an appeal case on Thursday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared the legal ban on gene technology by Upper Austria to be invalid. Court judges in Luxembourg thereby upheld the decision that already had been made against the ban in the first legal instance. The Austrian federal state now ultimately has failed in its attempt to declare itself by law a “gene-technology-free zone”.

As early as 2003, the EU Commission had refused to notify the legal ban. The commissars based this decision on their perspective that such a law violates European legislation. The Austrian state subsequently filed an action at the ECJ against this refusal. This action was dismissed both in the first instance and in appeal, based on the point of view of ECJ judges that Upper Austria failed to deliver new scientific findings on the possible dangers associated with the cultivation of genetically modified plants. Such scientific findings may be used by EU Member States in justifying national cultivation bans on GM plants that have been approved for use in the EU as a whole. The plaintiffs had argued that the coexistence of GMO and GMO-free cultivation is impossible, due to the small-scale farming structures and high prevalence of organic cultivation practices in Upper Austria. However, ECJ judges remained unconvinced by such reasoning and responded that such farming structures are not distinctive to Austria and may be found in other European regions.

In order to restrict the cultivation of GM plants as broadly as possible in spite of the expected ECJ judgment, Upper Austria already issued a precautionary law in 2006 that specifies rigorous requirements for approval and registration for farmers using GM plants. The law also strictly regulates such farmers’ accountability. EU agencies have not objected to this law.