Archived News

1998

Role For New Green Crops
05 December 1998 Eastern Daily Press
Farmers and producers around the world are reaping the financial rewards of the latest plant technology, said a leading Norfolk plant scientist.

High Time To Explain GMOs To Consumers
04 December 1998 Farmers Weekly
Growers around the world are beginning to reap the benefits of genetically modified crops. Lower inputs costs and higher yields are helping them compete more effectively on world markets. No wonder some are keen to adopt thetechnologie.

Field of Genes
02 December 1998 Royal Agricultural Society of England
As a biologist and science writer who has watched the development of genetic engineering from the start, I see genetic modification (GM) as just the latest technology to serve the massive intensification of agriculture. There is nothing new about either the benefits it promises or the risks it threatens, many of which are already upon us.

Gene-Altered Foods Face Uphill Battle In EU
05 November 1998 The Journal of Commerce
Consumers in the European Union are far less accepting ofgenetically modified products than North American buyers, speakers at a Canadian Wheat Board conference said this week. According to Ray Mowling, vice president and director ofMonsanto's Life Sciences business in Canada, there is substantial approval of genetically modified products in North America, with 34 products approved in the United States and 30 in Canada.

Safe Climate, Sound Business
27 October 1998 Monsanto Press Release
Industrial Leaders and Environmental Group Announce Actions to Address ClimateChange: Automotive, Agriculture, and Energy Companies Propose Emission ReductionSteps.

Monsanto and American Home Products Agree to End Merger Plans
13 October 1998 Monsanto Press Release
Monsanto Company (MTC) and American Home Products Corporation (AHP) announced today that they have terminated their merger agreement by mutual consent. The boards of directors of each of the two companies have determined that the transaction is not in the best interest of their respective shareowners.

Scientists Sitting On A Goldmine With Plants That Absorb Precious Metals
08 October 1998 The Scotsman
Money may not grow on trees, but scientists believe they could soon be harvesting crops of gold by encouraging plants to "mine" precious metals.

High Court Rejects Grounds Of Challenge To Beet Trials
07 October 1998 The Irish Times
The High Court yesterday cleared the way for fieldtrials of genetically-modified crops in the State when it upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to permit controversial trials of genetically-engineered sugarbeet in Co Carlow.

The Biosafety Protocol And The Challenge Of Feeding The World In The 21st Century
20 August 1998 Le Devoir
At the dawn of he 21st Century, starvation and malnutrition remain serious threats. The 1996 United Nations' World Food Summit reported that over 800 million people, mostly in developing countries, suffer from chronic malnutrition. This problem is most critical in sub-Saharan Africa where the population of 49 countries are likely to double over the next 25 years.

Genetically Modified Foods -- Royal Society Calls For A Rational Debate
13 August 1998 The Royal Society (UK)
In response to the recent intense publicity surrounding the work conducted by the Rowett Research Institute into the safety of genetically modified potatoes, President of the Royal Society, Sir Aaron Klug OM, expressed concern that the premature release and misinterpretation of unsubstantiated research into Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) could only serve to mislead the general public in what is a complex and important area.

Genetically Modified Foods
12 August 1998 Rowett Research Institute (Press Release)
This week's intense and global publicity given to Dr. Pusztai's work and its implications has led to the Rowett Research Institute's decision to carry out a fully audited analysis of the date before they are presented to MAFF and EU Committees dealing with the issue of the safety of genetically modified foods. This field is of exceptional importance to the public.

Plants Without Seeds Challenge Historic Farming Practices
30 July 1998 The Christian Science Monitor
Ever since humans started farming 10,000 years ago, they have followed a basic tenet: Save some of the harvest as seed for next year's crop. Saving seed shaped more-modern notions of savings and investment. "Eating one's seed corn" became, in America, a metaphor for desperation.

Fruit Fly Genes Are Farmers' Pest Friend
14 July 1998 Daily Mail
Genetic scientists are attempting to develop a revolutionary new chemical which can kill one type of insect while leaving others unharmed.

GMOs: Debate Must Be Based On Science, Not Hysteria
02 July 1998 Country Life
Consumers do have the right to have proper and informative labelling. The NFU has pushed long and hard for thisin order to provide the appropriate reassurances demanded by the public. However, to suggest that as DrCunningham has banned beef on the bone (while ridiculing the action) he should now take more extreme action toban GMOs is illogical  two wrongs do not make right.

Monsanto Warns Of High Prices For 'Natural' Foods
11 June 1998 Marketing Week
Food made without genetically-modified (GM) ingredients will become "very expensive" and comparable to organic food, predicts US biotechnology giant Monsanto.

Safeway Confirms Numbers Of 170g GM Tomato Puree Cans Sold At 29p.
04 June 1998 Safeway
Sales of genetically modified (GM) tomato puree in 200 trial stores have been confirmed at more than 600,000cans. In some of these stores, the clearly labelled GM puree outsells the (20%) more expensive, conventional can.

Opponents Of GMO 'Could Stifle UK Beet Growers' Efficiency'
22 May 1998 Farmers Guardian
Opponents of genetically modified organisms could stifle the efficiency of UK and European sugar beet growers in an increasingly competitive world market, the seminar was warned. Mike Garrod, secretary of the World Association of Beet and Cane Producers, said future competition would come from countries which were fast becoming big players in the world's sugar markets, among them a 'very aggressive' Australia.

Monsanto Apologises Over GM Soya Bean
22 May 1998 Farmers Guardian
Agrochemical multinational Monsanto has publicly apologised to farmers and consumers for its heavy-handed approach to the introduction of the genetically modified Round Up herbicide tolerant soya bean into Europe. The company admitted it had communicated badly and hand not understood the different consumer reaction to GM products in Europe, compared with the more friendly approach in the United States.