10 February 2003
MONSANTO SHARES ALERT/INDIA SET TO EMBRACE GM RICE - CLAIM
With Europe still blocked for GM expansion, Syngenta having to cut back on its research alliances in the UK and the US, and Monsanto without a CEO and its share price plummeting (see item 2), the gene giants are desperate to open up the Third World, both as a market place in its own right and as a means of exerting pressure on Europe.
Hence Monsanto and its associates are hyping GM cotton in India as a fairytale success despite the fact that almost all independent reports show the first year of GM cotton commercialisation in India has been anything but. Syngenta, meanwhile, appears to be trying to buy its way into Indian agriculture through research collaboarations and by staging a series of events involving India's science establishment at which it is seeking approval for GM regulations and GM crops - most recently GM rice.
The report below (item 1) shows this is a total confidence trick. It
talks about NGOs concerns being overcome but if you check the workshop
participants at you http://www.gmriceworkshop.com/ you'll see that only
one Indian NGO with a critical perspective was actually at the workshop
despite the fact that Greg Conko of America's Competitive Enterprise Institute
(funders include Dow Chemicals) was there and was included as a panelist
at the workshop's public forum along with other well-known non-Indian GM
zealots such as Klaus Ammann and Paul Christou. Conko, amusingly, is listed
as "Director of Food Safety Policy, Washington DC"!!!!
http://www.gmriceworkshop.com/public%20forum.htm
1. Gene Giants target India - India set to embrace GM rice
2. ALERT - Merrill cuts Monsanto rating as shares continue to fall
***
1.India set to embrace GM rice
GENET-news
TITLE: India set to embrace GM rice
SOURCE: Nature Biotechnology 21 (2): 117, doi:10.1038/nbt0203-117
by K.S. Jayaraman
DATE: Feb 2003
archive: http://www.gene.ch/genet.html
India's apex body of agricultural scientists has given the go-ahead for the widespread introduction of genetically modified (GM) varieties of rice, lifting the gloom in the biotech industry cast by government indecision over GM mustard (Nat. Biotechnol. 21, 9, 2003). GM varieties of rice may soon be widely planted on the Indian subcontinent.
"With a need for an additional 50% more rice by the year 2030, we need rice varieties with higher yield and greater yield stability. We should use all the tools at our disposal to meet these challenges," a spokesperson for the New Delhi-based National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) said while releasing the recommendations of a workshop held in Chennai to discuss the biosafety issues of transgenic rice. Although the workshop took place during October 27-30, 2002, the final recommendations were officially released only at the end of December 2002.
The academy, the largest body of professional agricultural researchers in India, has endorsed development of rice varieties tolerant to drought, submergence, and salinity, and rich in micronutrients. Transgenes encoding products such as Bt (already introduced in cotton varieties released in India last year) can also be put in rice for pest resistance.
However, the academy has discouraged work on transgenic rice varieties that produce drugs and pharmaceuticals, apparently to avoid unnecessary risks with a crop that is the staple of India's diet.
Swiss-based Syngenta (Basel), which has a major rice program in India, is expected to be pleased with the recommendations. According to Pawan Malik, president of the seeds division of Syngenta India, the company is working in collaboration with as many as 35 institutions in India, including the Pant University of Agriculture and Technology at Pantnagar and the Konkan Agricultural University in Dapoli.
The academy's full support for GM rice came after the workshop dispelled the fears of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) [only one NGO at that workshop is known to have some knowledge in the field, GENET/HM] that releasing transgenic varieties in a "center of origin of rice" would risk contaminating the land races, as reportedly happened with maize in Mexico. Although the workshop admits that "the potential of gene flow in rice does exist," Virendra Lal Chopra, president of NAAS says, "it did not identify any scientifically valid environmental or ecological impact" of transgenes on the center of diversity.
Although agreeing with this, Suman Sahai, convener of Gene Campaign, an NGO that opposed the introduction of Bt cotton in India last year, says the question of genetic pollution "must be addressed for transgenic rice through appropriate regulatory oversight, on a case-by-case basis."
Meanwhile, "The NAAS recommendations are a shot in the arm for biotech research," says E.A. Siddiq, formerly deputy director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and a workshop participant. "Researchers who have been unsure if their work would enter field trials would be enthused."
One researcher is Akilesh Tyagi of Delhi University, whose salt-tolerant rice is ready for trials. At the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi, Madan Mohan and colleagues have developed a variety resistant to attack by "gall midge," a major pest of rice worldwide. "We will have a gall midge-resistant transgenic plant growing in our lab in three months," he says, adding that he does not anticipate any NGO opposition because "we have only transferred a gene from one rice to another."
However, this is not the case with vitamin A-rich golden rice, which contains genes from bacteria. Gurumurthi Natarajan, a biotechnology consultant in Chennai, says that, under the recommendations, application of golden rice "must be reviewed through the regulatory process, keeping in view the social, political, and cultural implications." Although the Indian government has decided to introduce golden rice, "we have made sure that golden rice will not contain antibiotic markers," says Siddiq.
According to NAAS, lack of a scientifically sound regulatory review
process is one critical factor that might limit the realization of the
numerous proven and potential benefits of GM rice. Therefore it has called
for "a transparent regulatory process and appropriate regulatory oversight
based on sound scientific information."
*****
you find more information on that workshop:
http://www.gmriceworkshop.com/
critical voices from Indian research institution have not attended the
workshop:
Can Golden rice eradicate vitamin A deficiency?
Ramesh V. Bhat and S.Vasanthi
National Institute of Nutrition Hyderabad
The Hindu, India
Dec 5, 2002
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/seta/stories/2002120500070200.htm
Non-GE solutions in plant breeding obviously are faster and not bound
to patents and trade restrictions as result from licence agreements
Dream [non-GE] rice to curb malnutrition
Pallav Bagla
The Indian Express
Jan 29, 2003
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=17506
***
2.Reuters, RESEARCH ALERT-Merrill cuts Monsanto rating
Thursday February 6, 12:00 pm ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030206/food_monsanto_research2_1.html
NEW YORK, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch on Thursday said analyst
Donald
Carson cut his investment rating for Monsanto Co. (NYSE:MON - News)
to "neutral" from "buy," based on an absence of "any near-term catalysts
for the stock." Shares of the agrochemical company closed at $17 on the
New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Reuters, RESEARCH ALERT-DB Securities cuts Monsanto EPS view
Thursday February 6, 12:00 pm ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030206/food_monsanto_research1_1.html
MONSANTO SHARE PRICE:
Feb 2003 closing average at $ 16.01
July 2001 closing average at $ 35.20 (hit a high of $ 38 that month)
Keep an eye on the Monsanto good news shares, they have taken a pounding
in the last 2 days:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MON&d=c&k=c1&a=v&p=s&t=6m&l=on&z=m&q=l