New GM food fears

A British newspaper is reporting clinical links between genetically modified (GM) foods and cancer.

A weekend article in the Independent cites a Russian study affirming the work of Árpád Pusztai. Pusztai is a Hungarian-born protein scientist who in 1998 published an article in The Lancet medical journal raising questions about GM food safety. He detailed genetic damage observed in the digestive tracts of rats fed a diet of genetically modified potatoes. It concluded that the abnormalities were "mainly due to the expression of the GNA transgene in the potato."

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Secret Monsanto Genetically Engineered Potato Study Suppressed for 8 Years

A secret feeding study of Monsanto GM potatoes, conducted in 1998 by the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and suppressed for 8 years, showed that the potatoes did considerable damage to the organs of the rats in the study. In comparison the rats in the “control groups” which were fed on normal potatoes or on a non-potato diet were healthier, and had much less organ and tissue damage. This research, fully supported by Monsanto through the provision of the GM potatoes, was conducted at approximately the same time as Arpad Pusztai’s research in the Rowett Institute.

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Secret Monsanto Genetically Engineered Potato Study Suppressed for 8 Years

A secret feeding study of Monsanto GM potatoes, conducted in 1998 by the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and suppressed for 8 years, showed that the potatoes did considerable damage to the organs of the rats in the study (1) (2). In comparison the rats in the “control groups” which were fed on normal potatoes or on a non-potato diet were healthier, and had much less organ and tissue damage. This research, fully supported by Monsanto through the provision of the GM potatoes, was conducted at approximately the same time as Arpad Pusztai’s research in the Rowett Institute.

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SA: GM crops cover 1,4m hectares

South African farmers, commercial and emergent, are growing more genetically modified (GM) crops.

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Jamais Cascio - Open the Future

Denise Caruso’s new column at the New York Times kicks off with an essay on patents in the world of biotechnology. Most of the piece looks at how to build an intellectual property regime for biotechnology that serves the interests of society, not just a handful of companies. She cites a troubling, if not surprising, statistic: more than 20% of the human genome has already been patented, mostly by corporate biotech.

She also mentions the case of genetically-modified potatoes from biotech firm Syngenta. Not only are the GM spuds patented, they’ve been modified to be sterile without the application of a particular chemical. Potato farmers can’t “copy” the crop without paying a fee.

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200m ha of GM crops seen by '15

At least 20 million farmers in 40 countries would be growing genetically modified (GM) crops on 200 million hectares by 2015, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri- Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said on Tuesday.

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Idaho's Simplot company tries to perfect GM potatoes

In the potato capital of the world, spud honchos made sizzling rich on America's french fry affair fill downtown offices. In the distance, potato fields sprawl east and west and there are ample cafes to carbo-load on spuds served baked, stuffed, fried and, somewhat miraculously, frozen into ice cream.

And inside tucked-away laboratories in the town that hash browns built, teams of scientists are splicing potato genes, working daily to perfect Idaho's top cash crop with modern biotechnology.

At J.R. Simplot Co., the eponymous potato company founded by Idaho's richest man, biologists have used gene technology to design a spud that's tastier and resistant to unsightly bruises and sprouts.

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