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Gene Tech Updates

  1. GM Crops: Battlefield (pdf password "model") September 2009
  2. GM Issues 2009 (pdf password "model") Pests could overcome GM cotton toxins, GM crop lures pest killers, Natural defence, Europe prepares for drugs from GM plants, Europe delays decision on GM crop approvals
  3. US team makes embryo clone of men 17 January 2008
    US scientists say they have produced embryos that are clones of two men, in an attempt to produce patient-specific stem cells.
  4. Green light for human-animal hybrid research 17 January 2008
    Scientists want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs in a bid to extract stem cells. The embryos would then be destroyed within 14 days.
  5. US approves animal clones as food 15 January 2008
    After six years of study, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that meat and milk from cloned pigs, cattle and goats and their offspring is safe.
  6. Super-wine might boost lifespan 07 January 2008
    Would you drink wine made from genetically engineered grapes if it had extra benefits? Such wine could be on the menu, thanks to a grape variety six times richer than normal in resveratrol, the compound in red wine associated with increased longevity, decreased heart disease and a host of other benefits.
  7. Concerns raised over Venter patents 14 December 2007
    Will genomics pioneer Craig Venter be the next Bill Gates, enjoying a Microsoft-like grip on a future industry based on synthetic forms of life? That was the claim of an advocacy group concerned about the social implications of technologies earlier this year, after Venter's institute applied for a patent on a synthetic "minimal genome" (New Scientist, 16 June, p 13).
  8. Sea cucumber protein 'new GE malaria weapon' 23 December 2007
    The slug-like creature produces a protein, lectin, which impairs development of the parasites. An international team genetically engineered mosquitoes - which carry the malaria parasite - to produce the same protein in their gut when feeding.
  9. Researchers engineer drought-resistant plants 26 November 2007
    Researchers have created drought-resistant tobacco plants, which can withstand prolonged dry periods and thrive on 70% less water than ordinary tobacco plants.
  10. 'Supermouse' bred to beat cancer 28 November 2007
    Mice carrying a gene which appears to make them invulnerable to cancer may hold the key to safer and more effective treatments for humans.
  11. Modified crops 'silence' insect pests for good 10 November 2007
    GENETICALLY modified plants that can kill just about any insect pest without harming beneficial insects or the environment may soon pop up in farmers' fields. The plants exploit a mechanism called RNA interference (RNAi), which organisms naturally use to switch genes off.
  12. Were 'healthy' GM maize trials suppressed? 26 November 2007
    A row has broken out over the alleged suppression of results of field trials in 2005 that were favourable to genetically modified maize.
  13. Lifespan link to depression drug 26 November 2007
    In the study, detailed in journal Nature, nematode worms were exposed to 88,000 chemicals in turn and mianserin extended lifespan by almost a third.
  14. Skin transformed into stem cells 20 November 2007
    Human skin cells have been reprogrammed by two groups of scientists to mimic embryonic stem cells with the potential to become any tissue in the body.
  15. Scientists harvest fish oil crop 16 November 2007
    Crops such as oilseed rape have been engineered to produce fish oil. Plants genetically engineered to make fish oils offer a new approach to improving diet, say UK scientists.
  16. Lab creates 'long-distance mouse' 2 November 2007
    A genetically modified "supermouse" which can run twice as far as a normal rodent has been created by scientists working in the US. It also lives longer, and breeds later in life compared with its standard laboratory cousin.
  17. Patient dies - gene therapy study stops July 27, 2007
    The US government has suspended a gene therapy study, after the death of a patient this week. The safety of another 28 studies around the country is being reviewed.
  18. GM potatoes expelled from Andes 18 July 2007
    This Thursday, the government of Cusco, a region in the Peruvian Andes, is scheduled to ban all genetically modified (GM) varieties of potato. The area was the birthplace of many varieties of spud, and is still home to thousands of kinds of potato.
  19. 'Zombie crops' funded by British taxpayers to 'get round' GM ban 17 June 2007
    "Zombie" GM crops - so called because farmers will have to pay biotech companies to bring seeds back from the dead - are being developed with British taxpayers' money.
  20. Transgenic crops relatively kind to insects 7 June 2007
    Crops modified to produce insecticides against pests are relatively kind to other insects, an analysis of 42 field experiments suggests. Fields of transgenic cotton and corn contain more non-target insects than those of traditional crops sprayed with insecticides, the study shows.
  21. Geneticists create 'next generation' of GM crops 24 May 2007
    The new crops could help to combat the spread of resistance to other commonly used herbicides. Many farmers already grow crops that have been engineered to resist the herbicide glyphosate. But the new plants are resistant to a compound called dicamba.
  22. Rice with human proteins to take root in Kansas May 19, 2007
    Rice modified to express proteins often found in breast milk will be planted in Kansas.
  23. GM patent rejected after 13 years 4 May 2007
    The European Patent Office (EPO) has revoked a patent owned by global agricultural giant Monsanto for the genetic modification (GM) of soybeans, saying the technique it approved 13 years ago lacked "novelty".
  24. Bt cotton spells doom for cattle? Mar 27, 2007
    Grazing on residual Bt cotton crop seems to have resulted in the death of over 200 animals in various mandals of the district in the last two months.
  25. GM mosquito 'could fight malaria' 19 March 2007
    As they reproduced, more of the GM, or transgenic, mosquitoes survived. After nine generations, 70% of the insects belonged to the malaria-resistant strain.
  26. GMO soy maker likely to be Brazil's new Ag Minister Mar 20, 2007
    Balbinotti owns Sementes Adriana, the largest individual seed company in Brazil and a licensed maker of Monsanto Co.'s (MON) Roundup Ready soybeans, a transgenic soy seed.
  27. EFSA to review Monsanto maize concerns Mar 17, 2007
    The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has revealed that it will review the new data presented by French scientists that revealed toxicity concerns in rats fed the MON863 variety of GM maize from Monsanto.
  28. Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods (Review)
  29. Tough GM salmon lose their nerve in the 'wild' 26 February 2007
    Transgenic fish that behave ferociously in a bare tank, appear meek under more natural conditions, meaning it will not be easy for biologists to predict the ecological consequences of escaped GM animals.
  30. STUDY: DNA from Bt corn persistent in aquatic environments Feb 25, 2007
  31. Turning plants into protein factories 5 October 2006
    Companies making proteins in plants are cooking along, while the agbiotech continues to give itself a black eye.
  32. China breeds 55 new GM cotton strains December 29, 2006
    Chinese scientists have developed 55 new genetically modified (GM) cotton strains, bringing economic returns of 16.8 billion yuan (2.1 billion U.S. dollars).
  33. Herbicide-Resistant Superweed Spreading Among Genetically Engineered Cotton Fields in the U.S. Dec 19, 2006
  34. Escaped Chinese GM rice reaches Europe 5 September 2006
    Imported rice noodles in Europe contain rice with genes from Bt-bacteria — often introduced to crops to help them fight off insects. The strain is not approved for human consumption even in China, but has somehow wandered out of field trials and into the food chain there (see 'GM rice forges ahead in China amid concerns over illegal planting'). Now it seems that processed foods made with the rice have made the trip across international borders.
  35. Out of bounds 11 January 2007
    With the use of transgenic crops expanding around the globe, we need to decide what level of unapproved plants we are willing to accept in our diets. Zero is not an option.
  36. US citizens ignorant of genetically modified diet 16 December 2006
  37. GM potato trials given go-ahead 1 December 2006
    The crops have been modified to include a gene from a wild species of potato in a bid to make them resistant to blight, a disease costing growers £70m a year.
  38. Scientist warns over GM potato trials
  39. anti_GM activist Acquited 2 Dec 2006
  40. GENE THERAPY: PROCEED WITH CAUTION 14.11.2006
  41. US GM rice found in EU despite ban 13.09.2006
  42. Escaped GM grass could spread bad news 11 August 2006
    Rogue golf course strain may harm wild habitats, ecologists warn.
  43. Transgenic Goat's Milk Kicks Up Immunity August 04, 2006
    Researchers report that transgenic goats can successfully produce milk containing the enzyme Lysozyme, and that this milk exhibits an antibacterial effect when fed to young goats and pigs. The researchers hope that in the future, enhanced nonhuman milk will give an immune boost to children in the developing world where diarrhea takes more than two million lives each year.
  44. Transgenic cotton drives insect boom 25 July 2006
    After 7 years of planting cotton genetically engineered to kill bollworms, other insects have boomed so much on Chinese farms that their owners are losing money.
  45. Killer tomatoes attack human diseases 29 June 2006
    Genetically modified tomatoes containing edible vaccine are to be used to challenge two of the world's most lethal viruses. The aim is to create affordable vaccines for HIV and the hepatitis B virus.
  46. Genetically Engineered Crops May Produce Herbicide Inside Our Intestines Jun 3, 2006
  47. Maize in global gene bank crisis 15 May 2006
    Maize, the world's most widely grown crop, is facing its own genetic meltdown. At least half the seed stocks are unable to germinate because of incorrect storage, with potentially dire consequences for the world's food supply.
  48. A future with no bananas? 13 May 2006
    The world's most popular fruit and the fourth most important food crop of any sort is in deep trouble. Its genetic base, the wild bananas and traditional varieties cultivated in India, has collapsed.