by
David Tribe on 6 October 2011
Quasi-science prevents an environmentally friendly agriculture and forestry
(see original blog post here)
European legislation in the field of genetic engineering is so narrow that it blocks the ability of researchers to take progress from publicly funded basic research on plants through to practical applications. We, 41 scientists who have received funding for basic research on plants from the Swedish Research Council, urge politicians and environmental groups to take the necessary steps to change the relevant legislation so that all available knowledge can be used to develop sustainable agricultural and forest industries.
One of the “Grand Challenges” facing mankind is to find ways to provide food, fuel and clean water to a burgeoning population using agricultural and forestry practices that are environmentally and economically sustainable. Research on plants has made tremendous progress and we now understand well how plants grow, how they protect themselves against disease and environmental stress and what factors limit production in agriculture and forestry. The prerequisite for progress has been basic research, especially studies of plant genes.
by
David Tribe on 6 July 2011
From GMO Pundit.
The European food safety authority is currently tracing the sources and distribution of allegedly deadly
E. coli contaminated fenugreek seeds originating in Egypt which have been implicated in several different outbreaks of severe pathogenic
E. coli infections occurring these last weeks in Germany, France, and Sweden (see several other recent GMO Pundit Posts).
To quote from the European food safety authority’s website:
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by
David Tribe on 29 June 2011
From GMO Pundit.
European Food Safety agency EFSA has traced the food chains from the seed sprout associated E. coli food illness in the EU that has killed 48 people. The evidence is pointing to imported Egyptian fenugreek seeds at this moment in the investigation. CIDRAP provide a good commentary on this, reposted here**.
The problem may be invalid seed sanitisation and seed supplier auditing.
If this common source of contamination is confirmed, it would demonstrate that all of the following are true:
1) Organic* seed sanitisation procedures at the farm linked to the German outbreak are faulty and unsafe.
2) Quality and safety standards for seed supplies used at the same organic farm are inadequate.
and
3) Legal standards for farm food safety compliance in Germany are faulty.
Egyptian fenugreek seeds suspected in E coli outbreak**
Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer
Jun 29, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – New trace-back investigations in German and French Escherichia coli outbreaks are pointing to two lots of fenugreek seeds that were imported from Egypt, according to the latest threat assessment from European officials.
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This post was syndicated from GMO Pundit. You may comment here or on the original entry.
by
David Tribe on 23 June 2011
From GMO Pundit.
Nanotechnology Now – Press Release: “Nanostructured water treatment products to be worth $2.2 billion in 2015″
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| Warnings from nutritional hell, with apologies to El Bosco |
We live in a world where whole organisations make comfortable incomes by demonising technology. These self-styled “technology critics” early successes included active
blocking of the use of irradiation to make food safe or years. This largely unused technology is based on using electrons or radioactively generated gamma rays to kill germs.
Eleven years ago the German government vetoed the use of such radiation based technology to make food safe to eat in the EU. Odd that they should do this given that it’s a widely used and successful tool to avoid deadly infections during modern surgical operations. It could have prevented the ghastly current E. coli sproutbreak in Germany that has killed 44 and has condemned near 900 people to coping with the vile aftermath of HUS — which include kidney transplants or a lifetime of being hooked to dialysis machines. [It could also have prevented a second outbreak of sprout promoted lethal disease from the same E. coli strain now taking place in France.]
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This post was syndicated from GMO Pundit. You may comment here or on the original entry.
by
David Tribe on 16 June 2011
From GMO Pundit.
It is widely known that pathogenic E. coli germs have ability to survive inside fresh vegetable produce such as spinach, lettuce and sprouts, where they are protected against disinfection. This ability may be a key factor explaining the transmission of the E. coli strain in the dreadful (and still ongoing) German outbreak.
A new article has just come out dissecting how related EHEC E. coli bacteria attach to plant surfaces. They have remarkable complex adhesion abilities that enable the deadly microbes to persist inside plant tissue cavities and on plant surfaces. These consist of various different surface protein hooks that are given names like pili, curli, and flagella.
Although we know that EHEC and EAEC bacteria are a bit different to one another, this new work on EHEC E. coli teaches us a lot about the possible routes of transmission of the German HUS germ– for example through seeds.
A scientific summary on the mechanisms of the EHEC germ attachment to plants is given below. The paper provides access to the latest research on this topic.
(The term STpEAEC which means Shigatoxin producing EAEC is now being used to describe the German outbreak strain; see previous GMO Pundit post for the latest news about STpEAEC)
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This post was syndicated from GMO Pundit. You may comment here or on the original entry.
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