B4FA Week in Review – 4 May 2016

In the news...

B4FA Week in Review – 4 May 2016

May 4th, 2016 / B4FA.org

This week, we are pleased to feature the second in a series of articles written by B4FA adviser Dr Jocelyn Webster: “Drought in Southern Africa: Do GMO Policies Need to Change?” In this article, she questions the bans on growing and importing GM maize in countries like Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia, noting that ongoing drought and lack of food may spark further debate over the safety of GM crops to ensure that enough maize is imported into the region to avert widespread hunger.

In global news, Nature reports that farmers are fighting to contain Asia’s first outbreak of a fungal disease that devastates crops in South America. Plant pathologists are worried that the Bangladeshi wheat blast fungus strain, which is not closely related to known local strains and was probably introduced from Brazil, could spread to Asian countries that import Brazilian wheat – including Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Also of interest: researchers have found a way to evolve a completely new Bt toxin in a virus that infects bacteria, and showed that it was effective in killing insects. This could help stop the emergence of pests resistant to genetically engineered crops.

Of the B4FA Fellows, we hear from Christopher Bendana, who writes that the ISAAA 2015 report called out Uganda as the only country in Africa doing confined biotech crop trials with no biosafety law in place. “Uganda is currently testing five biotech crops in confined field trials. They are bananas, cassava, maize, rice and potatoes,” says the piece. Michael Ssali asks, “Should GM crops be grown in Uganda?”, while in ‘I always expect a bumper harvest’, he profiles a Ugandan farmer who explains how he carefully makes choices in crop varieties and farming practices to ensure bountiful harvests and freedom from disease. Ssali also covers a story regarding Ugandan farmers petitioning Parliament to pass the biotechnology bill without delay. From Ghana, Noah Nash submits a video report about how challenges in the seed sector are being addressed through a seed licensing agreement.

Finally, from Nigeria, Abdallah el-Kurebe reports that the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (an agency under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology) has joined GMO advocates to support production of Bt cotton in Nigeria, and Jimoh Babatunde writes about how new greenhouse technology may help fill a gap between tomato supply and demand in Nigeria.

As ever, please send questions, comments and story links to [email protected] Visit B4FA.org for further reading and useful resources, and add us on Twitter to keep up with daily news! Thanks for joining us.

Bioscience around the world

Devastating wheat fungus appears in Asia for first time
Nature

Researchers evolve new toxin to target agricultural pests
Ars Technica

Three new disease resistant GMOs could address climate change and save farmers billions
Genetic Literacy Project

Global wheat breeding returns billions in benefits but stable financing remains elusive
World Bank

GMOs, seed availability, national security concerns threaten Syngenta-ChemChina deal
Genetic Literacy Project

India: ‘If field trials of GM crops were encouraged, we would have drought-resistant varieties by now’
Genetic Literacy Project

French regulators split on whether to regulate CRISPR, new breeding techniques as GMOs
Genetic Literacy Project

European, WHO agencies in war of words over glyphosate findings
The Western Producer

EuropaBio demands end of maladministration on GMOs
EuropaBio

Go-ahead given for GM ‘fish oil’ crop trial
Farmers Weekly

Is there a future for GMO-free soybeans?
Genetic Literacy Project