2005-11-28 | permalink
Switzerland voted in favor of a five-year ban on the farming of genetically modified plants and animals on Sunday, putting in place some of the toughest restrictions in Europe. Official results showed that 55.7 percent of voters accepted the proposal to impose a five-year moratorium.</p><p><a href="http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=110259+27-Nov-2005+RTRS&srch=swiss+GMO"> Reuters</a></p><p><a href="http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=6271553&cKey=1133121023000&rss=true">Swiss Info: Swiss consumers side with GM opponents</a></p><p><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/27/news/swiss.php">International Herald Tribune: Swiss back ban on modified crops</a>
2005-11-24 | permalink
The EU Commission has authorised a Danish law which provides for compensation of farmers for their financial losses, if their crops have been contaminated with GMOs. The compensation would come from a fund, which is financed by farmers cultivating GM crops.</p><p><a href="http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/1458&forma">EU: Commission authorises Danish state aid to compensate for losses due to presence of GMOs in conventional and organic crops</a>
2005-11-20 | permalink
Renessen, an animal feed joint venture of Monsanto and commodity giant Cargill has announced its first product for 2007/2008: Maize with high lysine content to replace additives in industrial animal production. However, the company, so far having lost 445 mio US $ still faces considerable challenges.</p><p><a href="http://www.dailyitem.com/archive/2005/1115/biz/stories/02biz.htm">Business News: Corn genetically engineered for animal feed to be marketed</a>
2005-11-19 | permalink
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has announced the stop of 10 years of research into genetically modified peas because they caused lung inflammation in mice. The peas were designed to kill the pea weevil - Bruchus pisorum - by introduction of a bean gene to block alpha-amylase, an enzyme important for digestion of starch. Weevil larvae feeding on the pea seed are unable to digest the starch and starve. While the gene product does not cause any immune reactions in beans it obviously did in the peas. The researchers suspect the subtle change with massive consequences to be caused by a process called glycosylation, which plays a major role in protein folding. The GM peas were also resistant to Bayer's herbicide "Basta".</p><p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/afx/2005/11/17/afx2345014.html">AFX News:Australian researchers scrap GM peas after mice fall ill</a></p><p><a href="http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?id=212GM&type=mediaRelease">CSIRO press release</a>
2005-11-18 | permalink
Rough seas on Thursday forced Greenpeace activists to give up a blockade of a ship they say carried 25,000 tonnes of genetically modified Argentinian soya to Poland. However an "unlikely coalition" is emerging against GM imports in Poland.</p><p><a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-11-17T201037Z_01_SCH772582_RTRUKOC_0_US-FOOD-POLAND-GMO.xml&archived=False">Reuters</a></p><p><a href="http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=29912&j=2">Polish Radio: Greepeace and the conservative government form an unlikely alliance</a>
