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Key Documents archive results 1-20 of 29 in Agriculture & Environment and GM crops
Agrofuels and the use of genetic modification
This report from GeneWatch UK describes the use of genetically modified (GM) crops as agrofuels and makes policy recommendations on their use. Civil society groups have raised concerns over the sustainability of using food supplies to produce biofuel. Industry and government have responded by...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: July 2009 | EN
Coping with water scarcity: What role for biotechnologies?
This report combines a background paper and summary report from a moderated email conference held by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in March 2007. The background paper outlines the current and future challenges for water availability. The authors discuss options for dealing with water...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2008 | EN
Biotechnology Journal special issue: Talking Biotech with the Public
This special issue of Biotechnology Journal collects together opinion and case study articles to explore a multitude of challenges around public communication of biotechnology in different parts of the world. Topics include combating the negative emotions that many members of the public feel...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2007 | EN
Putting GM technologies to work: public research pipelines in selected African countries
This scientific article provides an insight into the status of public research in genetically modified (GM) crops in Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2004. The authors document 54 transgenic 'events' -- specific instances of genetic transformation -- across the four countries. They...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: November 2004 | EN
African model law on safety in biotechnology
The African Union (AU) developed the African Model Law on Safety in Biotechnology to help countries across the continent fulfil their obligations under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and manage related issues. The AU encourages the development of a common position on biosafety regulation...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: April 2001 | EN
Agriculture and food: who benefits from GM crops?
This document from Friends of the Earth is a partisan analysis challenging claims that genetically modified (GM) crops have brought significant benefits for the environment and poverty alleviation. It nevertheless provides a useful summary of the key areas where the environmental movement takes...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2007 | EN
GM crops: the global economic and environmental impact - the first nine years 1996-2004
This article seeks to quantify the economic and environmental impacts of genetically modified (GM) crops worldwide, since the first such strains were commercialised. The authors, two agricultural economists from the United Kingdom, look at three dimensions in particular: the effects on farm...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2005 | EN
A maize resistance gene functions against bacterial streak disease in rice
This paper reports on the successful transfer of a key disease-resistance gene from maize into rice, demonstrating the feasibility of gene transfer between distantly related grasses. The technique has important implications for introducing resistance to diseases in crops with no inherited...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: October 2005 | EN
Insect Resistant GM rice in Farmers’ Fields: Assessing Productivity and Health Effects in China
This report by US and Chinese researchers analyses the impact of two insect-resistant GM rice varieties grown at eight trial sites in China. The authors studied crop yields, levels of pesticide application and whether farmers growing GM rice varieties reported fewer pesticide-related illnesses than...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: April 2005 | EN
The GM Debate — Who Decides? An analysis of decision-making about genetically modified crops in developing countries
This report analyses key issues surrounding decision-making on GM crops in developing countries. The document was written by Ehsan Masood and others as part of PanosS Communicating Research through the Media Programme, Relay. Using case studies from Brazil, India, Kenya, Thailand and Zambia,...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2005 | EN
Genetically Engineered Corn in South Africa: Implications for Food Security in the Region
This article summarises the findings of a study undertaken by US-based academics at the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture and the State University of New Jersey. The authors analysed data on the impact of the adoption of genetically modified Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: May 2005 | EN
Agricultural Biotechnology: Potential for Use in Developing Countries
The authors of this report, from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), assess the likely socio-economic and environmental issues of adopting biotechnology. They conclude that some of the poorest regions of the world stand to gain the most by the technology, through...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: October 2003 | EN
GM Science Review supplementary Second Report
The GM Science Review formed one element of the UK governmentSs Unational dialogueV on GM issues, which took place in 2003. The Science Review aimed to provide a summary of the (then) current scientific knowledge about GM crops, and fed directly into the UK governmentSs decision-making process on...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2004 | EN
Democratising Biotechnology: Genetically Modified Crops in Developing Countries
This series of briefing documents is based on a three year research programme into policy and governance issues surrounding agricultural biotechnology, especially GM crops, in developing countries. The research involved collaborators from the UK, China, India, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Co-funded by DFID...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: 2003 | EN
Food Safety and GM Crops: Implications for Developing Country Research
More than fifty crops have now been genetically transformed - in the laboratory - in sixteen developing countries. However, regulatory approval and cultivation lags well behind the developed world, having only taken place in a handful of countries, and being restricted to just two crops - cotton...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2003 | EN
The release of genetically modified crops into the environment
These two highly informative papers - which offer overviews of current status and regulationshttp://www.blackwellpublishing.com/plantgm/Nap.pdf and of ecological risk assessmenthttp://www.blackwellpublishing.com/plantgm/Conner.pdf - are an excellent overview of the current status of GM crops in...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: January 2003 | EN
Transgenic crops, biotechnology and ownership rights: what scientists need to know
This general overview illustrates the importance of effectively managing intellectual property (IP) and tangible property (TP) in the development of biotechnology-based products. It also emphasises the value of partnerships between the public and private sector in projects aimed at helping...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: June 2002 | EN
Potential for the environmental impact of transgenic crops
According to the authors of this literature review, there are no innate differences in the potential environmental impact of GM crops compared with non-GM varieties. Crucial questions remain, however, as to what constitutes a "significant", and more importantly, an "acceptable" effect on the...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: June 2002 | EN
Five years of Bt cotton in China — the benefits continue
Bt cotton, developed to resist bollworm attack, can have significant economic and environmental benefits, according to a three-year study of hundreds of Chinese smallholder farmers. The study, carried out by collaborators from China and the USA, also revealed that growing Bt cotton can have a...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: June 2002 | EN
Assessment of the food safety issues related to genetically modified foods
This review gives a valuable insight into the thought processes behind many of the regulatory frameworks in place regarding the safety of foods containing GM ingredients. Starting with the concept of substantial equivalence as a management tool for safety evaluations, it then addresses issues such...
KEY DOCUMENT | Publication date: September 2001 | EN
