Sunday, April 22, 2012
Medicinal plants
Company is already growing other medicinal plants in mine
By Paul Egan
Detroit Free Press
April 22, 2012
WHITE PINE — In a brightly lit chamber 250 feet below the earth’s surface, where hard-rock miners once blasted for copper, no marijuana is growing, but two other types of plants are.
SubTerra is using genetically modified forms of a legume called tarwi and a tuber called oca to produce an enzyme needed to fight Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, commonly known as bubble boy disease.
If successful, physicians say the research could mark significant advances in treatment for a disease that affects about one in every 100,000 births.
Children born with SCID have immune systems so compromised that some must live behind plastic to protect them from germs.
The disease takes several forms. The second most common type results from a genetic defect that results in too little of a germ-fighting enzyme called adenosine deaminase, or ADA.
The tightly controlled chamber in the former White Pine Mine — where the tarwi and oca grow — is lit by 64 specially designed 1,000-watt bulbs and serviced by an automated system for delivering water and nutrients. The two types of plants have been modified to produce the human form of ADA.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
BT brinjal row
BT brinjal row: National Biodiversity Authority decides to prosecute Monsanto
By Savita Verma
India Today
April 17, 2012
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), the country’s biodiversity-preservation watchdog, has finally woken up to its job.
It has decided to prosecute multinational seed company Monsanto for allegedly using Indian brinjal varieties for commercial purposes without permission.
The decision was taken in a vote at a meeting on February 28, 2012. The majority of the members voted in favour of initiating action against Monsanto for violating India’s biodiversity law.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, too, is in favour of prosecuting the seed giant.
The vote was essential as some board members of the NBA were against holding Monsanto to task, sources said.
The decision is bound to send a clear cut message that any attempt to fiddle with the country’s biological wealth will not go unpunished.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
GM papaya to Japan
Japan opens up to GM Hawaiian papaya
By Rob Hay
fruitnet.com
January 06, 2012
Japan has agreed to allow the import of genetically modified papaya from Hawaii
The Japanese government has granted approval for the commercial shipments of genetically modified ‘Rainbow’ papaya from Hawaii, according to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report.
“This announcement marks the end of a long process that began back in 1999, and the beginning of a new chapter for Hawaiian papaya growers,” the report stated. “The approval of Rainbow papaya is significant because it is the first horticultural biotech product and the first direct-to-consumer food product to gain regulatory approval in Japan.”
The report continues on to state that at its peak in 1996 Hawaii shipped nearly US$15m worth of conventional papaya to Japan.
The move to biotech papaya varieties in Hawaii came about when the ringspot virus devastated the industry there in 1996. Japan did not initially approve the import of biotech varieties, which saw imports from Hawaii fall from an average of US$10m a year to just US$2m a year.