Agnet Dec. 9/03
Impact of
biotech crops questioned
GM trees
trigger row at UN climate talks
Farmer
leading fight against GM seed to speak in province
Apron Maxx
RTA sets a new standard for pulse and bean seed treatments
Plant immune
system's 'take two aspirin' gene, offers hope for disease control
EPA orders
pest control company to stop selling illegal pesticide
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Impact
of biotech crops questioned
December 9, 2003
The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
C4
Paul Hanley writes that unlike many environmentalists, he is not categorically
opposed to genetically modified (GM) crops. Hanley says that genetic
modification is just the latest tool in plant breeding, and arguably more
precise than traditional methods. That said, every GM crop should be thoroughly
screened to identify its environmental, health and economic impacts.
It is difficult, however, to achieve a reasonable degree of comfort about the
impacts of GM crops when there is a potential for conflict of interest involving
the companies developing these crops, research institutions and the agencies
responsible for assessing the safety of new crops. And that is exactly what
appears to be happening in the case of GM herbicide tolerant wheat.
Hanley says that Monsanto, the company developing Round-up Ready herbicide
tolerant wheat, is doing so in consort with Agriculture Canada, which has
invested $4 million in the development of the product, according to news
reports. If the wheat is approved and goes to market, Agriculture Canada and its
research staff will receive about five per cent of sales.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is one of the agencies responsible
for ensuring the safety of Roundup Ready wheat. The CFIA is an agency of
Agriculture Canada, the department that could benefit from the approval of
Roundup Ready wheat.
At the very least, there is a perception of conflict that would make approval of
Roundup Ready wheat highly questionable. (And this is one case where it should
not occur: GM wheat would be a marketing disaster for Canada.)
Meanwhile, a new study from the U.S. suggests we may have good reason to be
concerned about the environmental impacts of GM crops.
One factor thought to favour GM crops is that they are supposed to require less
pesticide use than conventional crops. A new U.S. study shows the use of GM
crops, such as pest-resistant corn or herbicide-tolerant soybeans, did in fact
result in lower pesticide use in the U.S. between 1996 and 1998, the first three
years in which GM crops were in use. Pesticide use went down by 25.4 million
pounds during this period.
Over the last three years (2001-03), however, things turned around and 73
million more pounds of pesticides were applied on GE crops than would otherwise
have been used. The study concludes that the planting of 550 million acres of GM
corn, soybeans and cotton in the US since 1996 has actually increased pesticide
use by about 50 million pounds.
GM
trees trigger row at UN climate talks
December 9, 2003
Agence France Presse
MILAN - Diplomats were cited as saying that talks here on a scheme to plant
forests that will help offset global warming were foundering Tuesday over
whether to include genetically-modified trees in the package.
The row, on the eve of a ministerial gathering of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), focuses on so-called carbon sinks --
forests that would be planted to soak up carbon dioxide (CO2), the biggest
greenhouse gas.
The story explains that under the UN's Kyoto Protocol on global warming, rich
countries will be able to offset forest-planting in poor countries against their
requirements to cut emissions of C02.
Negotiations under way at the December 1-12 UNFCCC meeting here aim at setting
down the fine technical details as to how this part of the Protocol will work,
such evaluating how much C02 will be stored, the kind of forest that will be
planted and the minimum time the "sink" must grow before being
harvested.
Diplomats said there was discord over whether these "sinks" planted
abroad should only comprise species that are native to the country and whether
genetically-modified trees should be allowed into the mix.
GM technology is cautiously spreading out of food crops and one conceivable
outlet would be trees whose genes have been engineered to make them grow faster,
thus soaking up CO2 more quickly.
However, green groups, which are a powerful force in the European Union, are
angrily against any extension of genetic engineering.
Farmer
leading fight against GM seed to speak in province
December 9, 2003
The Guardian (Charlottetown)
A4
Steve Sharratt
MONTAGUE -- Seventy-two-year-old Percy Schmeiser, the Saskatchewan farmer who is
leading the charge against genetically modified seed and biotech giant
Monsanto's attempts for patent rights will, according to this story, tour Prince
Edward Island and address two upcoming public meetings.
The event is sponsored by the National Farmers Union and the Council of
Canadians.
Leo Broderick of the Council of Canadians which is a host sponsor of the visit,
was quoted as saying, "While Schmeiser agreed that some of his fields
contained Monsanto's GM canola, he also claimed they were contaminated the
previous year by pollen from a neighbour's field. The seeds blew off trucks on
their way to a nearby canola processing plant."
He speaks in Summerside on Sunday, Dec. 14, at St. Paul's Hall at 2 p.m. and in
Charlottetown on Monday, Dec. 15, at 7:30 p.m. at the Basilica Rec Centre.
Apron
Maxx RTA sets a new standard for pulse and bean seed treatments
December 8, 2003
Syngenta Media Release - Communique aux Media Calgary, Alta.
A revolutionary new seed treatment is about to change the face of Canada's pulse
and bean industry. Called Apron Maxx RTA, this new seed treatment has just
received approval for use on all of the major pulse and bean crops grown in
Canada, including soybeans, dry beans, lentils, dry peas and chickpeas.
"This is a very exciting development for the pulse and bean sector,"
says Rick Istead, Seed Treatments Crop Manager with Syngenta Crop Protection
Canada, Inc., the manufacturer of Apron Maxx RTA. "It is a significant
advance for our growers in that Apron Maxx RTA can be used on all of the major
pulse and bean crops, controlling the major seed and soil-borne diseases in each
of those crops. That's convenience and peace of mind protection all in one
package."
Apron Maxx RTA delivers broad spectrum seed and soil-borne disease protection
to pulse and bean growers:
- In soybeans: damping-off and seed rots caused by Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and
Pythium
- In dry beans (white, dark red kidney, light red kidney and cranberry beans):
damping-off caused by Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and Pythium and anthracnose caused
by Colletotrichum
- In chickpeas: damping-off caused by Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and Pythium
- In lentils: seedling blight caused by Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and Pythium
- In dry peas (including field peas): seedling blight caused by Fusarium,
Rhizoctonia and Pythium.
Apron Maxx RTA is a water-based, ready-to-apply formulation that can be applied
on-farm or in commercial treating facilities, says Istead. "It's also
inoculant-friendly so growers can treat and inoculate their seed in one
operation.
"There is a definite connection between seed treatments and better
yields," says Istead. "The more pulse and bean growers can do to help
their crops overcome early season diseases and get the best start possible, the
better chance they have at gaining higher yields and quality come harvest."
www.syngenta.com.
Plant
immune system's 'take two aspirin' gene, offers hope for disease control
December 8, 2003
Cornell University News Service
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Scientists have found the gene that sends a signal through plant
immune systems, saying, in effect: "Take two aspirin and call out the
troops – we're under attack!"
Discovery of the salicylic acid-binding protein 2 (SABP2) gene, by scientists at
Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) at Cornell University, is
being called an important step toward new strategies to boost plants' natural
defenses against disease and for reducing the need for agricultural pesticides.
Salicylic acid, the chemical compound found naturally in most plants (as well as
in the most-used medication, aspirin), is a plant hormone produced at elevated
levels in response to attack by microbial pathogens. According to a report on
the Web today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS Early
Edition, week of Dec. 7, 2003) by BTI's Dhirendra Kumar and Daniel F. Klessig,
the aspirin-like hormone is perceived by the SABP2 protein and a message is
transmitted, via a lipid-based signal, to activate the plant's defense arsenal.
Says Klessig, "Now that we know a key signaling protein in plant immune
systems, we can work on ways to enhance the signal and help plants fight disease
without using potentially harmful pesticides."
The PNAS authors say SABP2 plays an important role in restricting infections by
inducing host cells at the site of infection to undergo programmed cell death
and sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the rest of the plant.
SABP2 also plays a critical role in activating the innate immune system in other
parts of the plant to guard against further attack or spread by the same
pathogen – and even against unrelated pathogens. (Innate immune systems, which
mount an immediate defense against infections, are found in all plants and
animals. But only vertebrates, including humans and other mammals, have
additional levels of defense – the antibody-producing B cell and T
cell-mediated acquired immunity for a delayed response that can take weeks to
develop.)
The Klessig laboratory discovered the presence of the SABP2 protein in plants in
1997. But it took five years to purify the protein, which occurs naturally in
"excruciatingly small amounts," then to clone the gene that encodes
it, and finally to assess the role of SABP2 in disease resistance. The PNAS
article tells how the researchers proved that SABP2 is a key player in innate
immunity by silencing the SABP2 gene and watching the plant immune system fail.
Although the salicylic acid-signaling experiments were done with tobacco plants
– because tobacco is a well-known plant species for studying disease
resistance – similar salicylic acid-binding proteins are found in other plant
species, the BTI researchers say, making their results applicable to other crop
plants.
And the finding might even help immunologists understand evolutionarily related
signaling pathways in vertebrates, including humans, according to another BTI
researcher and professor of plant pathology at Cornell, Gregory B. Martin. In a
2001 research article, he suggested that some molecular mechanisms involved in
innate immunity in mammalian and insect systems "are remarkably similar to
the molecular mechanisms underlying plant disease-resistance responses."
Innate immunity in all kinds of living things, Martin and his co-authors added,
"might be an evolutionarily ancient system of host defense."
When tobacco mosaic virus attacks a tobacco plant, the PNAS authors report, the
immediate visible effect of SABP2 is to enable salicylic acid to induce the
so-called hypersensitive resistance response. "We see programmed cell death
at the site of the attack as plant cells sacrifice themselves for the overall
survival of the plant," Klessig explains. "We believe programmed cell
death helps restrict the infection to a small part of the plant. Something
similar happens in animal systems, when virus-infected cells or cells with
defective growth control that could become cancerous undergo programmed cell
death," he says, noting that aspirin has been found to have a protective
effect against cancer.
Even as the infection is being contained, the plant begins to signal other parts
of itself that it is undergoing attack. "This leads to long-lasting,
broad-spectrum systemic resistance to infections against the initial attacking
pathogen and also against other viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens,"
Klessig says. "Systemic acquired resistance can last throughout most of the
life of an annual plant."
Earlier this year the Klessig research group announced (in the May 16, 2003,
issue of the journal Cell) their discovery of a plant gene for nitric oxide
synthase, the enzyme that rapidly produces nitric oxide (NO) after infection.
This is one of the earliest responses to pathogen attack.
"With nitric oxide synthase and now with SABP2, as well as other
defense-signaling pathway components that have already or are sure to be
discovered, we are beginning to see some effective and sustainable alternatives
to pesticides," Klessig says, suggesting two possible strategies:
Genetic manipulation could enhance a crop plant's ability to make more of a
scarce defense-signaling compound or a limiting receptor needed to transmit this
signaling compound. Alternatively, crops could be treated with a functional
mimic of the signaling compound itself when plant disease is anticipated.
"Either way, we are utilizing and enhancing a plant's own natural
defenses," Klessig says. "That should be a better way, both because it
will be much more difficult for pathogenic organisms to develop resistance and
because we can avoid contaminating the environment."
He adds that an attack by a plant pathogen "marks the start of a war. If
the plant can recognize the pathogen and activate its defense arsenal in time,
the plant usually wins. But if the pathogen circumvents detection or the
defenses themselves, the plant is in trouble. The more we learn about plant
immune systems, the better are the chances we can help important crop plants win
their war – without the collateral damage from chemical pesticides."
EPA
orders pest control company to stop selling illegal pesticide
December 8, 2003
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/r9press.nsf/7f3f954af9cce39b882563fd0063a09c/8b80ad041cfbbe9c88256df6006d2172?OpenDocument
SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with assistance from
the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, last week ordered the owner
of the Diamond Company of Grover Beach, Calif. to immediately stop selling an
unregistered pesticide product.
The company owner sold and distributed from its Web site a product called,
"Siamon's Mold Control," which was never registered with the EPA. The
company made several public health claims that its product eliminated or
inactivated mold, bacteria, fungus and viruses. Under the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the EPA requires products that make these claims
to be registered with the agency and provide data proving their effectiveness.
"Without EPA registration, we have no information on the ingredients and
possible effects of this product, which could result in harm to public health
and the environment," said Enrique Manzanilla, director of the EPA's Cross
Media Division for the Pacific Southwest region. "It is the company's
responsibility to register its pesticides with the EPA."
If the Diamond Company fails to comply with the EPA order issued on Dec. 4, it
will face criminal action or civil fines.
The EPA will not register a pesticide until tests show that it will not pose an
unreasonable risk when used according to the directions. The agency also ensures
that pesticide labels provide consumers with the information they need to use
the products safely. Pesticides that have been registered with the agency will
have an EPA registration number on the label.
The EPA's action was based on an investigation of Web sites that sell or
distribute illegal or unregistered pesticide products.
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