1.Anger after Bill Gates gives GBP6m to British lab to develop GM crops
2.GBP6.4m grant awarded for GM cereals
EXTRACTS: Dr Michael Antoniou, a molecular geneticist from King's College London's medical school [said]: "There are safer, proven technologies, so I'm afraid the Gateses have been grossly misled. GM has failed to deliver for farmers.." (item 1)
Soil Association policy director, Peter Melchett, added: "This grant is dwarfed by the GBP45 million of UK taxpayers' money already given to the John Innes Centre. Researchers working on the possibility of creating nitrogen fixing crops admit that any possible practical application is decades away, and some genetic experts, who are not working on this project, say that genetic engineering cannot actually deliver commercial crops that will fix Nitrogen." (item 2)
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1.Anger after Bill Gates gives GBP6m to British lab to develop GM crops
Nina Lakhani
The Independent, 16 July 2012
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/anger-after-bill-gates-gives-6m-to-british-lab-to-develop-gm-crops-7945448.html
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given British scientists a multi-million pound grant to develop GM crops in what could be the most significant PR endorsement for the controversial technology.
The John Innes Centre in Norwich has received GBP6.4m for a five-year project to engineer cereals such as corn and barley to extract nitrogen from the atmosphere, rather than relying on ammonia-based fertilisers.
But the decision by the Gates Foundation to invest substantial funds in technology that has been promising an agricultural revolution for almost two decades provoked anger last night. The money would have been better spent on proven bio-tech techniques and cheap "agro-ecology sustainable practices" (low-input, traditional, organic) that have the potential to meet global food needs and yield long-term food security, said Dr Michael Antoniou, a molecular geneticist from King's College London's medical school.
"There are safer, proven technologies, so I'm afraid the Gateses have been grossly misled. GM has failed to deliver for farmers; it can only deliver commercial returns," he said.
The Microsoft founder and his wife have established themselves as major players in global health and development over the past 16 years, having donated GBP26bn. Only last week Melinda Gates was in London to pledge $560m (£360m) to improve family-planning services across the developing world. But the Foundation's support for GM crops has attracted criticism, as has its investment in Monsanto one the world's largest GM seed producers.
Katherine Kahn, senior programme officer of Agricultural Development at the Gates Foundation, said the research had the potential "to transform the lives of small farmers" by "dramatically boosting the crop yields in Africa."
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2.GBP6.4m grant awarded for GM cereals
Olivia Midgley
Farmers Guardian, 16 July 2012
http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/arable/%C2%A364m-grant-awarded-for-gm-cereals/48374.article
THE John Innes Centre will lead a GBP6.4m research project to develop GM cereals.
The five-year project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will see scientists attempt to cultivate corn, wheat and rice which need little or no fertiliser.
The centre said the work would benefit African farmers, who could not afford fertiliser.
Professor Giles Oldroyd said: "During the Green Revolution, nitrogen fertilisers helped triple cereal yields in some areas. But these chemicals are unaffordable for small-scale farmers in the developing world."
As a result, yields are 15 to 20 per cent of their potential, he said, adding nitrogen fertilisers also came with an environmental cost.
Prof Oldroyd added: "A new method of nitrogen fertilisation is needed for the African Green Revolution.
"Delivering new technology within the seed of crops has many benefits for farmers as well as the environment, such as self-reliance and equity."
The new research will investigate the possibility of engineering cereals to associate with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and of delivering this technology through the seed.
If it is found to work, farmers would be able to share the technology by sharing seed.
But anti-GM campaigners have slammed the move as a waste of money.
Friends of the Earth Food and Farming Campaigner Kirtana Chandrasekaran said: "GM crops have over-promised and under-delivered – this grant would be better spent helping developing countries build on their traditional knowledge to develop diverse and resilient farming systems that meet local needs."
Soil Association policy director, Peter Melchett, added: "This grant is dwarfed by the GBP45 million of UK taxpayers' money already given to the John Innes Centre. Researchers working on the possibility of creating nitrogen fixing crops admit that any possible practical application is decades away, and some genetic experts, who are not working on this project, say that genetic engineering cannot actually deliver commercial crops that will fix Nitrogen."