Chemically Speaking - July 2006

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Pesticide Potpourri

• China could soon become the first country in the world to allow the sale of genetically modified rice, as leaders desperately search for ways to mollify the country's increasingly restless peasant farmers and shore up China's shrinking agricultural system.  The country first allowed the sale of genetically modified cotton, corn, tomato, and soybean in the 1990s.  China suspended the commercialization of any new varieties of genetically modified organisms in 2000, when global concerns crested about the potential long-terms effects of tinkering with the genetic makeup of food staples; but experts say the Chinese government is close to lifting this ban. The Chinese government has invested $500 million to research genetically modified foods, more than any other government except the United States.  Four companies that make genetically modified seeds - three local ones and one connected with Monsanto - have filed applications with the Chinese government to permit the sale of their versions of genetically modified rice.  Local proponents of the genetic modification, including China's Ministry of Science and Technology, Monsanto, and local manufacturers of genetically modified products, as well as several leading agronomists, economists, and scientists, say it's the most efficient and ecological way for China to feed its 1.3 billion people and raise rural incomes.  Chinese research shows that genetically modified crops reduce pesticide use by about 80 percent.  (Boston Globe, 7/3/06). 

• The gene swapping antics of two wheat diseases are set to cause upheaval for biologists and deliver a powerful new argument in favor of genetically modified food, researchers say.  The Australian-led research has provided the first evidence of gene transfers between fungal diseases, finding a gene carrying a critical virulence factor moved from one disease to another.  Published in the journal Nature Genetics, the study suggests the gene transfer happened in the early 1940s and created a new, damaging wheat disease.  "In a broader context, it probably means that genes are transferring all the time that they're very rarely fixed in the new host," said research leader Professor Richard Oliver, who heads Murdoch University's Australian Centre for Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens.  “In this particular case, getting the new gene gave (the fungus) a whole important new property and led to the formation of a new disease.  It's the first time that a fungal gene has been shown to move between different fungal species.”  Prof. Oliver said the research meant biologists would need to review their “most cherished notion” that species were distinct entities.  “This sort of work shows that's not really the case,” he said.  “A species becomes more of a mosaic - some individuals have got some genes and other individuals have got other genes and they can swap genes between other organisms.”  The implications for GM food would be difficult to ignore, Prof. Oliver said, suggesting nature had always tinkered with gene modification.  “It's really saying that all the gene combinations that we can think of have almost certainly been tried in nature,” he said.  “There've been, however, many billions of years to put all these combinations together, and any one that would actually survive and cause an impact in the environment, you could argue has already been tried in the environment and shown wanting.  Nature has already been there, done that, and we shouldn't be overly worried about it.”  (AgBioView, 7/10/06).

• Organic farming in the EU could get a boost with the publication of a proposal to reduce pesticide use in Europe.  The draft directive on the sustainable use of pesticides was originally scheduled for last year but the Commission's environment department has had to overcome opposition from farmers and the Commission's agriculture department.  The proposal sets out to “encourage the use of low-input or pesticide-free crop farming.”  Measures proposed include obliging governments to come up with plans to reduce pesticide risks, and restricting the use of pesticides in sensitive areas such as schools or nature parks.  The directive will also ban aerial pesticide spraying, unless there is no alternative, and sets EU-wide standards for spraying equipment sales and inspections.  It will also advise member states to consider the possibility of a pesticides tax to help farmers shift to expensive organic or low-pesticide farming methods.  Sweden and Denmark currently help farmers shift to low-pesticide farming methods with money raised through a tax on all pesticides.  But Sofia Parente of the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) said her group did not believe the directive would change much.  In particular, PAN says too many decisions remain in the hands of member states.  “If there is a problem with pesticides in Europe we should have a different approach to their use, preventing their use or offering alternatives.  Only an EU-wide reduction target would make a difference.”  The choice of sensitive areas is also up to member states.  “There is scope for member states to do a lot but they can pretty much decide what they want to do,” said Parente.  And while welcoming the ban on aerial spraying, she said it was not clear who would decide when exemptions would be allowed.  A Commission spokeswoman said the directive would close gaps in EU pesticide rules.  The review will propose different authorization rules for the different geographical and climactic conditions in three EU zones: northern, central, and southern Europe.  (EU Press Release, 7/6/06). 

• The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has proposed a set of minimum standards for label claims on meat derived from grass-fed livestock.  The proposal states that an animal’s nutrition must be 99% grass or other forage in order to qualify for the “grass-fed” label.  A recent review on the benefit of grass-fed beef and dairy products found lower total fat and higher levels of omega-3-fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid in meat from grass-fed animals.  (Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, 6/10/06). 

• In a recent Applied Soil Ecology article, Danish researchers examined the effect of B.t. corn plants and residues on earthworms.  They demonstrated that no adult earthworms died and the growth rate of juveniles was similar between B.t. and non-B.t. corn.  There was a slight reduction in hatchability of earthworms at the two highest levels of residue incorporation (4 or 5 g per Kg of soil).  (CropBiotech Update, 6/16/06). 

• Two strains of a tiny, wormlike nematode could give citrus growers a more effective natural way to rein in the serious pest known as citrus root weevil (Diaprepes abbreviatus).  The nematode Steinernema riobravis has been licensed by BioControl Systems of Greendale, Ind.  Entomologist David Shapiro-Ilan, at the ARS Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Byron, Georgia, with Clay McCoy and Robin Stuart at the University of Florida, found the two S. riobravis strains in Texas and Mexico.  The naturally occurring roundworms kill the pests but don't harm people or the environment.  According to Shapiro-Ilan, S. riobravis generally ranks as the best beneficial nematode for biological control applications against larvae of the citrus root weevil in citrus groves.  Earlier this year, Donald Sturniolo, owner of BioControl Systems, licensed the technology from ARS.  Since then, the nematodes have been mass-reared and stockpiled for future large-scale trials.  These new strains also have the potential to control other important pests, such as plum curculio, pecan weevil, and corn earworm, according to Sturniolo.  (ARS News Service, 6/22/06).   

• Brazil was in the news twice recently for GM happenings.  First, discovery of illegal Monsanto transgenic cotton plants on roughly 18,000 hectares of Brazilian cotton farms caused a quarantine of those fields by federal authorities and will likely amount to $30 million in losses.  Currently, Brazil's government only legally allows for the planting of Monsanto's Bollgard® cotton in a few experimental fields.  Twenty properties throughout Brazil's top cotton-producing states were discovered this month to be using transgenic cotton.  The association representing the cotton growers said it will enter talks with the government in the days ahead to reverse a decision by the Agriculture Ministry to destroy the plants.  Secondly, four Brazilian research institutions are starting the first tests with 120 transgenic orange plants.  The aim is to select varieties which are resistant to the most important diseases which affect citrus.  Brazilian producers currently invest about 50 percent of their costs to control the diseases.  (Dow Jones News Service, 6/23/06 & Fresh Plaza, 6/23/06). 

• In 1990-1991, Mexican-American women in the Rio Grande Valley experienced pregnancies affected by neural tube defects (NTDs) at a surprisingly high rate.  Investigators learned that NTD-pregnancies are endemic to the region.  Mexican-American women on the Rio Grande border are poor women who consume a diet heavy in corn tortillas.  The corn is contaminated with a mycotoxin called fumonisin.  Similar patterns of NTD-afflicted pregnancies have been found in China, Guatemala, and South Africa.  B.t.-corn is a transgenic crop that is resistant to certain insects.  B.t.-corn has significantly reduced fumonisin contamination because it better controls these insects.  In an article in the Food & Drug Law Journal, the author argues that women would benefit if their corn diets came from B.t.-corn varieties.  Two additional arguments, lacking the urgency and importance of the health benefits for women and their unborn children, are that consumers and animals would also have better, improved health through the wide-spread adoption of B.t.-corn.  (Food & Drug Law Journal, June, 2006). 

• Scientists at the Sugarcane Breeding Institute (SBI) in India have developed transgenic sugarcane varieties which are resistant to red-rot disease and borer pests.  SBI director Dr. N. Vijayan Nair was quoted as saying, “We have also started identifying the genes resistant to the red-rot and pests from indigenous sugarcane species, particularly from the wild, in collaboration with the New Delhi-based National Research for Plant Biotechnology.”  Dr. Nair said they had earlier bred transgenic plants using imported genes to check the deadly diseases and pests in sugarcane.  They would be tested under a specially-built glass houses for their efficacy.  (The Hindu, 7/10/06). 

• A subsidiary of Bayer CropScience announced that they have signed an agreement under which Bayer CropScience will have access to Cellectis' proprietary custom-made Meganuclease technology for use in plant research and to develop products for use in agriculture.  Meganucleases are proprietary genome engineering agents developed by Cellectis that allow for highly precise “editing” to genetic sequences.  They consist of sequence-specific endonucleases with large (18-24 basepair) recognition sites.  This high specificity ensures Meganucleases can bind and cut at a single point in a chosen genome without the imprecision associated with most other forms of gene modification.  Custom-made Meganucleases can be designed for very specific gene targeting applications.  Bayer CropScience intends to use custom-made Meganucleases in plant research and the development of new products.  (Cellectis Press Release, 6/30/06). 

• A new sterilization method for fruit and vegetables has been developed, which quite literally sucks the life out of bugs.  This method could be used in place of ozone-depleting chemicals, like methyl bromide, which are currently used to sterilize fresh produce.  The technique, called metabolic stress disinfection (MSDD), was developed by a team at University of California, Davis.  The MSDD system works by subjecting insects on fruit and vegetables to alternating vacuum and carbon dioxide.  This effectively suffocates organisms because they require oxygen to live.  Ethanol gas is also used to kill fungi and bacteria.  The initial hardware cost of an MSDD system is higher than methyl bromide, but the cost of chemicals is much cheaper, so eventually it would pay for itself.  Around $20 - $40 worth of methyl bromide is needed to fumigate one pallet of fruit, whereas carbon dioxide and ethanol used to treat with MSDD, assuming no recovery, would cost about $10.  The MSDD system also has additional benefits to the environment, as the gasses can be recovered and recycled.  (Society of Chemical Industry, 7/2/06). 

• In late June, a French court of appeal convicted 49 activists for destroying a crop of genetically modified corn, quashing an earlier court ruling which found their actions were justified.  Jean-Emile Sanchez, a leading member of the Small Farmers' Confederation of anti-globalization hero Jose Bove, was handed a two-month jail term, while the 48 others were given two-month suspended sentences.  State prosecutors had appealed after the activists - who attacked two fields of GM corn planted in France by Monsanto in 2004 and 2005 - were cleared in December of charges of organized vandalism.  The judge had ruled they were justified in ripping out the crops because “the unbridled distribution of modified genes... constitutes a clear and present danger for the well-being of others.”  (Agence France Presse, 6/30/06).