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Agnet April 27/04 -- II
US seeks pounds 1bn from Europe over GM ban
Department of homeland security selects Texas A&M University and University of Minnesota to lead new centers of excellence on agro-security
UDV seeks talks on GM crop future
EPA extends registration of Monsanto's biotech corn, cotton back
Vermont becomes first state with GE seeds labeling law
Helping tomatoes cope with stress may be good for us
Trapping program easing starling's effect on Valley fruit farms
Australia takes aim at pullulating pests
P A N U P S: A call to action on Malaria
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US seeks pounds 1bn from Europe over GM ban
April 27, 2004
The Guardian
Paul Brown
United Kingdom – According to this story, the US has demanded that the EU abandon its ban on the growing of genetically modified crops and pay at least $1.8bn (pounds 1bn) in compensation for loss of exports over the past six years. The challenge is outlined in papers filed to the World Trade Organisation that have been seen by the Guardian. The WTO is now facing the biggest case in its history, one that could spark a damaging trade war between the US and Europe and split the international community.
Although the US announced it intended launching the case last year, many believed it was bluffing and trying to bully the EU into giving way on the issue of unfettered trade in GM.
But the papers, which were sent to the WTO last week, accuse the EU of imposing a moratorium on GM products in 1998 without any scientific evidence and in defiance of WTO free trade rules. The EU has until the end of May to reply before a WTO panel meets in June to adjudicate. If it finds in favour of the US, the body will decide what trade sanctions can be imposed to force Europe to fall in line. The US has said it has lost $300m a year as a result of lost maize imports and would expect sanctions against the EU to help recoup the sums. The affair has worldwide significance because if the US can force the EU into submission, then no country will be able to keep GM out without facing trade sanctions. But there is strong consumer resistance to GM in Europe and several countries have introduced rules banning imports of individual GMs, either for growing or in food.
These countries - Austria, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and Greece - are all cited by the US in the case presented to the WTO. In its submission it says that none of these bans can be legal. This is probably the strongest part of the US case because the trade rules allow countries to ban products on health or environmental grounds but they need to provide evidence.
The papers say that the EU "can present no scientific basis for a moratorium" and that the "product specific bans. . . are not based on science and are thus inconsistent" with Europe's obligations under WTO agreements.
Britain has sought to avoid these trade sanctions by supporting the introduction of GMs at every opportunity and saying it is treating the growing of crops on a case-by-case basis. This led the government this year to ban the growing of GM oilseed rape and sugar beet on environmental grounds but to permit the growing of GM maize under strict conditions. The case brought to the WTO will not be affected by the meeting of EU agriculture ministers yesterday which ended with a likely lifting of a ban on one specific variety of GM maize.
Department of homeland security selects Texas A&M University and University of Minnesota to lead new centers of excellence on agro-security
April 27, 2004
Ag-Security Alert
DHS Press Office
Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today announced that Texas A&M University and the University of Minnesota have been chosen to lead two new Homeland Security Centers of Excellence (HS-Centers) on agro-security. The Department anticipates providing Texas A&M University, the University of Minnesota and their partners with a total of $33 million over the course of the next three years to address security in two key agricultural sectors - foreign animal diseases and food security.
Texas A&M University has assembled a team of experts from across the country, including partnerships with the University of Texas Medical Branch, University of California at Davis, University of Southern California and University of Maryland. Texas A&M University's HS-Center, which will be known as the National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense, will work closely with partners in academia, industry and government to address potential threats to animal agriculture including foot-and-mouth disease, Rift Valley fever and Avian influenza. Efforts will be headed by Dr. Neville Clark, Director, Agriculture Bio-terrorism Institute, Texas A&M University.
The University of Minnesota's HS-Center, known as the University Center for Post-Harvest Food Protection and Defense, will address agro-security issues related to post-harvest food protection. The University of Minnesota's team includes partnerships with major food companies as well as other universities including Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, North Dakota State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, Harvard University, University of Tennessee, Cornell University, Purdue University and North Carolina State University. The HS-Center’s efforts will be directed Dr. Francis F. Busta of the University of Minnesota's Department of Food Science and Nutrition and will focus on establishing best practices and attracting new researchers to manage and respond to both intentional and naturally occurring food contamination events.
UDV seeks talks on GM crop future
April 26, 2004
Country News
http://www.countrynews.com.au/story.asp?TakeNo=200404263489474
United Dariyfarmers of Victoria will convene a meeting of farmer groups and dairy processors to reach a common position on the growing of genetically modified crops in Vectoria.
Some dairy processors have opposed the expansion of trials or the introduction of GM crops because of concern on how it would affect their markets.
The Victorian Farmers Federation has opposed a Victorian Government decision to delay the introduction of GM crops.
UDV president Peter Owen said last week that he would convene a meeting of the Australian Dairy Farmers and the processors in the near future.
Mr. Owen also said segregation was a critical issue and he acknowledged the dairy companies’ concern about market sensitivity.
EPA extends registration of Monsanto's biotech corn, cotton back
April 26, 2004
American City Business Journals
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2004/04/26/daily9.html
According to this story, Monsanto will be able to sell two of its genetically modified products through 2006 under a registration extension from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA extended the registrations of the YieldGard Rootworm corn product, designed to resist the rootworm pest, and Bollgard II insect-protected cotton, designed to resist the bollworm.
The federal agency originally granted a short-term registration for YieldGard Rootworm corn in 2003 and for Bollgard II cotton in 2002.
Vermont becomes first state with GE seeds labeling law
The Providence Journal
April 27, 2004
http://www.projo.com/ap/ne/1083068642.htm
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – According to this story, Vermont has become the first state to require the labeling of genetically modified seeds.
Governor James Douglas signed the bill into law Monday.
Seed manufacturers now must label seeds that are genetically altered or engineered after Oct. 1 and report the sales of such seeds in the state to the Secretary of Agriculture every Jan. 15.
The bill's journey into law has taken years. Last year, the Senate became the first legislative chamber in the country to pass a labeling measure, which was fought by seed manufacturers for years.
Helping tomatoes cope with stress may be good for us
April 26, 2004
AlphaGalileo via Innovations
Ray Mathias
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/agricultural_sciences/report-28468.html
Scientists at the John Innes Centre (JIC) and Institute of Food Research (IFR), Norwich today reported the discovery and use of a gene that may help protect plants and humans against disease. The gene (HQT) was identified in tomato and is responsible for producing an antioxidant called chlorogenic acid (CGA).
By increasing the activity of HQT, scientists raised the levels of CGA in the tomato fruits, which helped protect them against attack from bacterial disease. Dr Cathie Martin, project leader at JIC, is cited as saying that humans eating the tomatoes may also gain protection against degenerative, age-related diseases. This report was published online on 25 April in Nature Biotechnology.
According to Martin, the research not only adds to our understanding of how plants naturally protect themselves against stress and diseases, but in the long term may be leads to fruits that are better for us.
CGA it is known to be an important antioxidant in both plants and animals. Antioxidants protect against the effects of stress and disease. To test whether higher levels of CGA give added protection, the scientists infected the high CGA tomatoes with bacteria that cause tomato blight (Pseudomonas syringae). In the high CGA plants the effect and spread of the disease was significantly less than in the unmodified plants. Similarly, when the plants were tested for resistance to oxidative stress the high CGA plants were more resistant to stress damage than the unmodified plants.
“This research has highlighted for me the incredible ingenuity of plants in coping with their environment”, said Dr Tony Michael (Project Leader at IFR). “Plants possess a whole repertoire of genes involved in producing protective compounds. CGA is the main polyphenol in this category in tomatoes. Now we have identified the gene for the enzyme that produces it, we can look for genes that produce similar compounds in other plants, with benefits for agriculture and for human nutrition”.
Trapping program easing starling's effect on Valley fruit farms
April 27, 2004
Penticton Herald
A3
John Moorhouse
European starlings cause millions of dollars damage to crops each year in the province of British Columbia. In the Okanagan-Similkameen alone, it's estimated the birds inflict about $3 million in losses to the fruit and grape industry.
However, a two-year pilot trapping program launched through B.C. Tree Fruits has put a big dent in the starling population in the Okanagan-Similkameen.
Robert Quaedvlieg, of Keremeos, estimates he trapped about 9,500 starlings in the Similkameen Valley last year, and helped capture another 5,000 starlings in the Oliver area. This spring, another 6,500 starlings have been trapped at a South Okanagan cattle feedlot.
Control efforts have resulted in an estimated 90 per cent drop in the local starling population. Only 297 starlings were counted in the annual Similkameen Valley bird count in January, compared to a few thousand the year before.
As their name suggests, European starlings are not native to North America. In addition to crop damage, they also compete with local species of birds.
Starlings have inflicted severe damage on the Okanagan cherry and grape crop, and, to a lesser degree, on certain varieties of apples.
Australia takes aim at pullulating pests
April 27, 2004
Reuters
Michael Byrnes
SYDNEY - Australia is fighting simultaneous swarms of countless locusts, rampaging attacks on sheep by wild dogs and new outbreaks of mice. The island continent's vast uncontrolled spaces make it one of the countries hardest hit by pests.
For many farmers, a just-announced parliamentary inquiry into the impact of pest animals on Australia's multibillion-dollar agriculture sector is long overdue.
"We're looking at anything and everything and the effect it has on the broad community," committee chairwoman Kay Elson said.
Wild dogs, cats, rats, foxes, toads and locusts would all be included in the scope of the inquiry, she said.
Also in the inquiry's sights are wild camels and donkeys attacking animals and causing environmental damage as they roam Australia's north, wild pigs wiping out crops in southern Queensland state. Rabbits, the nation's most long-standing introduced pest, would also be investigated, she said.
In an average year, pest animals cause about A$420 million (US$316 million) worth of agricultural damage, Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said. Others put the cost in the billions.
INTRODUCED PESTS
Outbreaks of mice in the Darling Downs area of southern Queensland are the worst since a 1995 plague, when billions of rodents devastated A$18 million worth of crops. Authorities say they could get much worse.
Some farmer say rabbits are the worst long-term pest, after two dozen of the cuddly animals, imported into Victoria state in 1859 for sport, bred hundreds of millions which explosively spread throughout the country.
The problem soon grew to such a vast scale that settlers built a rabbit-proof fence around the country's populated coastal fringe, then introduced the myxomatosis virus in 1950 to kill 500 million of the pests. Later still the calicivirus disease was introduced in the 1990s to kill tens of millions more.
Disease-resistant rabbits still breed in the bush.
Queensland grains grower Murray Jones said locusts were the worst pest.
"A swarm of locusts five kilometres (three miles) to six kilometres long and half a kilometre wide can come into a crop that's standing three feet high and eat it overnight," Jones told Reuters by telephone from his property as swarms of locusts attacked green fields of sorghum grain.
"In many cases it's worse than a bushfire. It just wipes everything out," he said after months of swarm attacks.
Woolgrower Robert Pietsch says millions of feral dogs, which are extending their territory from central Queensland to coastal and urban areas, are the most feared predator for sheep.
Every morning farmers are finding more and more sheep on the populated side of Australia's 3,700-mile dingo fence, an improved version of the original rabbit fence, with large chunks bitten from their rear ends and sides.
"Locusts will come and go, a lot of pests will come and go, but wild dogs (are) an ongoing problem. (It is a) very gut-wrenching and emotional problem," Pietsch said.
Nobody knows how many camels and donkeys roam Australia's sandy inland wilds. They were brought into the country in colonial days by exploration teams and then set loose to terrorize the native wildlife.
But up to 10,000 camels a year are caught and exported to the Middle East and Asia.
"(Introduced species) were brought in to fix up one problem that Australia may have been having at the time and caused about 10 more," Elson said.
The year-long inquiry could lead to poison baiting and shooting and to increased government funding for pest control.
P A N U P S: A call to action on Malaria
April 27, 2004
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
http://www.panna.org
The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN), a global coalition working for swift implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has issued a call to action to control malaria. The following IPEN statement was released worldwide on April 25, 2004, designated African Malaria Day by the World Health Organization.
"On May 17, 2004, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants enters into force. The convention immediately bans nine pollutants, but makes a special exception allowing the continued use of DDT for malaria control until satisfactory alternatives are universally available. The IPEN Pesticide Working Group calls on donor nations to support rapid reduction of the number of deaths and illnesses caused by malaria worldwide by promoting and funding sustainable and holistic alternatives to the use of DDT.
"Malaria is a life-threatening disease that kills a million people each yearæ equivalent to 3,000 deaths every day. According to the World Health Organization's Roll Back Malaria campaign, there are more than 300 million cases of malaria every year, which translates to ten new cases every second. Malaria costs African economies billions of dollars, impeding desperately needed economic development.
"Decades ago, DDT saved millions of lives around the world. Today fewer than a dozen countries still heavily rely on it for malaria control. The latest scientific studies provide evidence that its use can threaten the health of the very children it is intended to protect. DDT persists for long periods of time in the environment, it is an endocrine disruptor, and it bio-accumulates in the food chain and the human body. Children are threatened with health problems via exposure to DDT in the womb and in breast milk. Furthermore, illegal diversion of public health supplies of DDT to agricultural uses can contaminate the environment and crops sold in international markets. House spraying programs based on DDT have been weakened by local opposition to spraying and by mosquitoes becoming resistant to it. DDT has proved to be unsuccessful in frontier areas where housing is poor.
"Integrated vector management strategies that discontinue the practice of spraying houses with DDT have successfully reduced malaria in countries as diverse as Mexico, Vietnam, and India. Components to holistic approaches include: epidemiological surveillance that allows early detection of malaria cases and prompt medical treatment; community participation to improve home and water sanitation levels and eliminate mosquito larvae sites in streams and standing water; bed nets treated with insecticides other than DDT; and improved medical treatment and drugs. The challenge ahead is to provide many more nations with increased capacity to combat malaria and to assist those nations now using DDT to move toward the adoption of safer alternatives.
"When negotiation of the Stockholm Convention began more than five years ago, IPEN member organizations -- indigenous and environmental and public health professionals and advocates from 65 developed and developing nations -- declared that public health should not be compromised when phasing out POPs. We reaffirm this declaration. We further asserted that the richer nations of the world have a moral obligation and must provide financial and technical support to developing states to strengthen national capacity to reduce hazards from POPs. We firmly believe that DDT's elimination critically depends on commitments from donors to fund the promotion of alternatives. We therefore commend the Global Environment Facility, the funding mechanism for the Stockholm Convention, for funding projects in both Central America and Africa to assist countries in developing malaria control programs that reduce reliance on DDT.
"Following a major investment in malaria eradication and control over forty years ago that saved millions of lives, donor nations have substantially downsized their malaria control investments. With the launch of the Roll Back Malaria campaign in 1998 by the World Health Organization and its partners, there has been a heartening increase in international support for malaria prevention and control. From an estimated level of $60 million spent worldwide in 1998, spending increased to approximately $200 million by 2002. Roll Back Malaria has as its goal halving the world's 1998 malaria burden by the year 2010. To reach this goal, Roll Back Malaria emphasizes bed nets treated with insecticide other than DDT; rapid diagnosis and treatment; and focused research on new medicines, vaccines, and insecticides.
"Despite the recent increases in global spending, funding levels to combat malaria are nowhere near what they must be. At the African summit on Roll Back Malaria in Abuja, Nigeria in 2000, African nations called for spending of at least $1 billion annually. Recognizing the importance of protecting public health, IPEN member organizations urge the donor community to increase their investments substantially in preventing and controlling malaria. This investment is critical to lowering the human costs of malaria, speeding economic development, and hastening the day when DDT can be removed from the earth."
Note: See the PANNA website for a compilation of articles on the use of DDT against malaria at http://www.panna.org/campaigns/docsPops/docsPops_030317.dv.html#D.
Sources: Africa Malaria Day, April 25, 2004, http://ipen.ecn.cz; Roll Back Malaria, Africa Malaria Report 2003, http://rbm.who.int.
Agnet is produced by the Food Safety Network at the University of Guelph and is sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Plants Program at the University of Guelph, Agricultural Adaptation Council (CanAdapt Program), AGCare, Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, ConAgra Foods Inc., Meat Livestock Australia, Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited (Canada), Monsanto Canada, National Pork Board, Syngenta Seeds, Inc. USA, JIFSAN, CropLife Canada, Canadian Animal Health Institute, National Cattlemen's Beef Association/Cattlemen's Beef Board, Burger King Corporation, Southern Crop Protection Association, Ag-West Biotech Inc., Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, Syngenta Crop Protection, Feedlot Health Management Services, Institute of Environmental Science Research Limited , National Food Processors Association, Tactix Government Consulting, Inc., CanAmera Foods, Global Public Affairs, and Agri Business Group, Inc.
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