Seed E-News

November 7, 2003

Chinese Laws on IPR to Be Extended
Beijing (Nov 4, 2003) The Ministry of Science and Technology is looking at law drafts for protecting intellectual property rights covering biological and information technology. The ministry is also considering law proposals to protect property rights on large instruments and animals used in experiments related to State-level research programs, said Li Xueyong, vice-minister of science and technology, at a conference on scientific and intellectual property which opened in Beijing earlier this week. The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council has been charged with drafting frameworks for the proposed laws, he said. The concept of protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) on new technology has become a major consideration in scientific research. For more on this story, follow this link China View.

Trade in GM Crops May Be Allowed Soon in Kenya
At the end of last week, a biosafety framework workshop for members of Kenya's Parliament was told that trials of GM crops were underway. The Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Mr. George Khaniri, announced that genetically modified sweet potatoes were under a greenhouse trial by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and that maize and cotton were also under trial before being accepted for field and commercial use. Mr. Khaniri noted, however, that all the approvals were being done without an existing policy and commented, "This indicates there is a serious need to have the draft policy approved before things run out of control". He said that the development of the Bio-safety Framework would result in the formulation and drafting of the National Biotechnology and Bio-safety policy as well as Bio-safety Bill, which would eventually become an Act of parliament. Several other food security crops will be put under trial once a Bio-safety Bill becomes law.

African Governments Urged to Provide More Information on Biotechnology
Africa needs biotechnology but more effort is needed to show the public its benefits, participants at a biotechnology conference held in Harare, Zimbabwe, recently said. The conference was held last week under the theme of whether biotechnology could benefit developing countries and participants included researchers, scientists, professors and farmers from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa. It was recognized that most people in Zimbabwe and in the wider African continent had no knowledge of biotechnology and this needed to be corrected. The participants agreed that, while biotechnology was good for the country and the continent, it needed to be explained at the level of the ordinary people. Some small-scale farmers attending the conference said they had already realized the benefits of biotechnology. For more on this story, follow this link Africa.

British Scientists Attack Government Over GM Debate
More than a hundred scientists have written to Prime Minister Tony Blair, complaining about the handling of the public debate on genetically modified crops. The group criticized ministers for not correcting "misleading" reports about GM technology in the media, saying that they had been "demoralized" by the hostility to their work, and that public meetings had been hijacked. The scientists said that their letter is an indication of the frustration felt by many in the research community. The signatories had hoped that participating in the GM debate would help inform the public but they felt "undermined" by the government's failure to correct false claims, the letter added. They felt that the process of consultation had been hijacked by anti-GM groups, with scientists, in the words of one of the signatories, "hung out to dry", arguing that, if the same method of public consultation continues to be used, other technologies could lose out to "prejudice and procrastination". Follow this link for the full report from the BBC.

Date Set for New EU GM Food Regulation
Beginning April 2004 new rules on labeling GM food will come into effect throughout the European Union. Under the new European Commission regulation on GM food and feed, all ingredients that contain or consist of genetically modified organisms, or contain ingredients produced from GMOs, will need to be labeled as such. A threshold of 0.9% will apply for the accidental presence of GM material, below which labeling of food or feed is not required. There will also be a 0.5% threshold for the presence of GM material that has not been approved for use in Europe, provided it has a favorable safety assessment from the European Union scientific committees. This latter threshold will apply for three years. The regulations will not apply to food produced using GM processing aids, such as some cheeses, or products from animals fed GM animal feed. Risk assessment of GM foods will be centralized through the European Food Safety Authority. Authorization, if granted, will be for 10 years, after which companies will have to apply for it to be renewed. The second of the European Commission's two GM regulations, on traceability and labeling, was also adopted and published at the same time. This regulation will provide a harmonized EU system on the documentation needed to trace GM products throughout the supply chain.

German Region to Grow GM Crops
The German region (or Land) of Saxony-Anhalt will sign an agreement on November 7, 2003 with six chemical and seed companies to grow genetically modified crops, the Financial Times Deutschland reported, citing the region's agriculture ministry. The Land plans to test the crops working with companies including Bayer AG, Syngenta AG, Monsanto Co. and BASF AG, the paper said, starting with corn and cover several hundred hectares — larger than previous German tests of GM crops. Saxony-Anhalt plans to spend 150 million euros ($171 million) to encourage gene technology for crops and medicine over five years. Although regulators have approved some GM foods, about 75% of Germans oppose the products and most grocery stores don't carry them. Ten European Union regions, including Tuscany in Italy and the Spanish Basque region, declared themselves free of gene-altered organisms earlier this week, Financial Times Deutschland said.

Could Your CD Contain Corn?
Sanyo Electric has developed an optical disc based on a polymer derived from corn which, the company says, is as sturdy as current plastic discs but will biodegrade. The company, which is claiming a world first for the technology, will begin selling its "MildDisc" in December. The discs have been designed to tackle a problem common to many plastics upon disposal: If burned, toxic gases can be released into the atmosphere causing health and global warming concerns; but if buried, they don't break down, causing a potential problem for future generations. The MildDisc will degrade after a period of about 50 to 100 years and break down into water and carbon dioxide, Watson said. This time span means users don't have to worry about losing information during the lifetime of the discs, he said. To read more, follow this link CD.

ASTA Membership Database
To ensure that our membership database is up to date and accurate, please let us know of any changes to your company name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses, company ASTA representatives, etc. Details of changes can be mailed to the ASTA offices at 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 650, Alexandria, VA 22314-2875, faxed to 703-837-9365, or e-mailed to Peter Patterson, Director, Membership Services, at ppatterson@amseed.org.

Industry People
If you have any personnel changes, or other developments in your company, that you would like included in E-News, please send details to ppatterson@amseed.org.

Upcoming Events

December 10-12, 2003
ASTA 33rd Soybean Seed & 58th Corn & Sorghum Seed Conferences & Seed Expo 2003
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
To register, please follow these links: Chicago and Seed Expo 2003

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that the registration brochure for the Corn & Sorghum and Soybean Seed Research Conference incorrectly lists the phone number for the Sheraton Chicago as (312) 464-8000. It should read (312) 464-1000. The Sheraton Chicago is our only overflow hotel for the conference where group rates for ASTA attendees have been established. The headquarter hotel is the Hyatt Regency Chicago and it is already filling up fast!

January 24-27, 2004
43rd Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference
Savannah, GA.
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
To register, please follow this link: Savannah

May 24-26, 2004
International Seed Federation Congress
Berlin, Germany
www.worldseed2004.com

June 27-30, 2004
121st ASTA Annual Convention
Wyndham Franklin Plaza
Philadelphia, PA.
Tel: 1-888.890.7333
Annual Convention

June 19-22, 2005
122nd ASTA Annual Convention
Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Tower
Seattle, WA

July 7-14, 2006
Joint ASTA-CSTA Annual Convention
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL