El uso y consumo de productos transgénicos es debatido en Perú

Autorizar o no la entrada de semillas transgénicas que pueden poner en peligro los vastos recursos agrícolas de Perú ha desatado un agrio debate, incluso en el seno del Gobierno. La creación de un reglamento sobre el uso de biotecnología que regule la entrada de cultivos modificados genéticamente al país, enfrenta a sus partidarios -encabezados por el Ministerio de Agricultura-, que señalan que ayudará a aumentar la productividad agraria, y a los que creen que dañarán el acervo natural peruano, liderados por el Ministerio de Ambiente.

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Sabotaje a la patata transgénica

Los adversarios de los cultivos transgénicos no tiran la toalla: en Gran Bretaña se vienen dedicando a destruir los campos experimentales de nuevas variedades de vegetales genéticamente modificados. Mediante los sabotajes los activistas pretenden paralizar el proceso legal de aprobación, que exige la realización previa de estudios sobre sus riesgos y beneficios en condiciones controladas. Por lo pronto, han conseguido detener indefinidamente los ensayos con un tipo de patata transgénica.

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Scientists demand protection from anti-GM protestors to assess benefits in crop trials

Field trials of GM crops in the UK need better protection to allow researchers to assess the benefits of genetic modification technology, scientists said today.

Professor Howard Atkinson of the University of Leeds suggested the location and details of small-scale trials could be kept from the public, as they are in Canada, to prevent them being vandalised by anti-GM protesters.

Other options could include a national, secure field testing site for GM crops or that universities conducting trials should not have to bear the costs of security measures such as fences or guards, researchers said.

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Germany's BASF takes GM potato case to EU court

BASF has taken legal action against the European Commission for failure to act on its genetically modified Amflora potato, the German chemicals company said on Thursday.

BASF said in a statement it filed the action with the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg because the Commission unjustifiably delayed the approval of Amflora after a 12-year process.

"EU commissioners have postponed Amflora's approval despite repeated positive safety assessments by EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority," said Stefan Marcinowski, a member of BASF's executive board.

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SA's GM spud awaits commercial approval

Africa's first locally developed genetically modified crop has finished its field trials and is now before an interdepartmental committee that will decide whether it can go on South African markets.

The GM potato, developed by SA scientists using an American "design", has been adapted to fend off the potato tuber moth, which costs the food industry up to R40-million annually.

The potato was developed for local conditions by an Agricultural Research Council team led by Dr Kobie de Ronde. The findings of six years of field trials will be presented to the media in Irene, Pretoria, on Friday.

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Nuevos estudios ponen en jaque a los transgénicos

El Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ha analizado la situación en Cataluña y Aragón, donde hay cultivo comercial de transgénicos desde 1998 y concluye que su coexistencia es prácticamente imposible. Analizamos la situación del Estado español y, en concreto, de Aragón.

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South Africa develops new GM potato variety

South Africa's Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has developed a new potato variety resistant to the potato tuber moth, a major pests causing millions worth of harvest loss in major solanaceous crops.

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