1.NO! to JIC GM potato trials
2.New head for John Innes Centre

EXTRACT: Prof Sanders, currently head of biology at the University of York... has also been outspoken in his support for genetically modified technology. "There is a burning need to enhance the bond between scientists who have developed some of these approaches, and the wider public especially in Western Europe which remains largely sceptical of modern technologies." (item 2)

NOTE: There's no evidence of any public objection to "modern technologies", just to risky, unnecessary, and socio-economically (and/or ethically) suspect technologies like GMOs, animal/human cloning, etc. And this kind of misleading spin suggests the John Innes Centre has found yet another ideal candidate in Sanders to promote its dangerous overcommitment to GMOs.

More on the JIC: http://ngin.tripod.com/biospin.htm
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1.NO! to JIC GM potato trials in the UK - Norfolk
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?ID=419&iType=1083

GM Freeze have produced a briefing to help you object to proposed field trial of GM potatoes in at the JIC in Norfolk, UK.
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/63A_spud_briefing_jic_final.pdf

The deadline for objections is 4 April 2010.

The Sainsbury Laboratory at the John Innes Centre, Norwich has applied to Defra to conduct field trials of GM potatoes engineered to resist late potato blight. These potatoes contain genes from a potato relative from South America. They are different from the genes in BASF's GM blight resist potatoes field tested near Cambridge in 2007 and 2008, and different to the GM potatoes proposed to be trialled in Leeds.

The release of GM potatoes would commence from 1 May 2010 and run to 30 November 2010 and continue for a further 2 years until 2012. The release would take place at the John Innes Centre, Norfolk, in an area of 1,000 square metres with 200 square metres used each year for GM potatoes with not more than 200 GM plants per year.

There is no need for GM to address this problem, nor is there any market for GM potatoes, so this trial should not go ahead.

For further action against GM potato applications in the UK, see our briefing on current proposals for trials in Yorkshire at http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?ID=417&iType=1083 - Deadline for objections in that case is **5 March!**
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2.New head for John Innes Centre
William Surman
Farmers Guardian, 2 March 2010
 
ONE of the world's leading centres of excellence in plant science, the John Innes Centre, has announced Professor Dale Sanders as its new Director and Chief Executive.

Prof Sanders, currently head of biology at the University of York, is a leading authority in the control crop traits such as nutritional value of foods and resistance to drought.

He has also been outspoken in his support for genetically modified technology.

"There is a burning need to enhance the bond between scientists who have developed some of these approaches, and the wider public especially in Western Europe which remains largely sceptical of modern technologies," he said in response to the Government’s Food 2030 report recently.  

"As the urgency of the issue of food security grows, the report sensibly suggests that we keep an open mind to new technologies. Simply being ‘pro-GM’ or ‘anti-GM’ is not an issue anymore,” he added.

The John Innes Centre, part funded by UK taxpayers, is based on the Norwich Research Park.

The centre is home to some of the world’s leading scientists and Prof Sanders said he was looking forward to taking up his post.

“JIC scientists can help to shape the future of our world, through contributing to the development of new, higher quality or disease resistant crops to improve food security, and by discovering new antibiotics from studies in microbes.

“It will be a privilege to work with front-rank scientists and to lead the Institute in the coming years,” he said.

Prof Sanders succeeds Prof Chris Lamb who died in August 2009. He will take up the post on September 1 2010.