Information Systems for Biotechnology (ISB) News Report
November, 2006
Covering Agricultural And Environmental Biotechnology Developments

PARTIAL TABLE OF CONTENTS, relevant to seed professionals (links are to the ISB News Report website)

REGULATORY NEWS

Taking aim at peaceful coexistence
Phillip Jones

In August, the US Department of Agriculture revealed that allotments of conventional long grain rice harbored trace amounts of LL601, a genetically engineered (GE) rice. US rice growers soon found their international markets sheltered behind trade barriers. The unpeaceful coexistence of LL601 in conventional rice shipments exposed the continuing need to isolate agricultural products.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/artspdf/dec0601.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/news06.dec.htm#dec0601

Agbiotech evolution needs a regulatory revolution
Henry I. Miller and Gregory Conko

Although the gains in scientific knowledge have been stunning, commercial returns from two decades of R&D have been meager. Attempts to expand "agbiotech" to additional crops, genetic traits, and countries have met resistance from the public, activists, and governments. The costs in time and money to negotiate regulatory hurdles make it uneconomical to apply molecular biotechnology to any but the most widely grown crops.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/artspdf/dec0602.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/news06.dec.htm#dec0602

RISK ASESSMENT NEWS

Ecological impacts of genetically engineered crops: ten years of field research and commercial cultivation
Olivier Sanvido, Michèle Stark, Jörg Romeis and Franz Bigler

We have reviewed the scientific knowledge on environmental impacts of GE crops deriving from ten years of worldwide experimental field research and commercial cultivation. Our study focused on the currently commercially available GE crops that could be relevant for agriculture in Western and Central Europe (i.e., maize, oilseed rape, and soybean), and on the two main GE traits that are currently commercialized, herbicide tolerance (HT) and insect resistance (IR).

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/artspdf/dec0603.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/news06.dec.htm#dec0603

Gene flow from GE to conventional maize in real situations of coexistence
Joaquima Messeguer and Enric Melé

All European countries need to develop national strategies to ensure coexistence, taking into account that the threshold value of 0.9% for labeling GE maize food and feed has been established. The adventitious presence of genetically engineered organisms as a result of cross-pollination is one of the factors that needs to be evaluated in different cropping areas, as local climatic conditions may influence the extent of pollen-mediated gene flow.

Complete article:|
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/artspdf/dec0604.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/news06.dec.htm#dec0604

The entire news report is available:
- in PDF format at http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/dec06.pdf
- on the web at http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/news06.dec.htm