Highlights of Biotech Industry in 2012 (part 3)

Regulation

• The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) supported by several organisations and members of the South African public are calling for an immediate ban on the import and cultivation of the maize in question: Monsanto's RoundUp Ready Maize NK603 with health impacts concerns.

• France is to maintain a temporary ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crops - MON810 maize from Monsanto.

• A national bio-safety authority, to regulate and oversee the application of modern biotechnology, is to be established soon in Ghana.

• The Indian government has opposed suggestions to ban open-field trials of genetically modified crops, telling the Supreme Court on Friday that any such move will be detrimental to the country's food security and set back research in this area by 20 years.

• Public Health minister Beth Mugo subsequently directed all Public Health Officers at all ports of entry and all other government regulators to enforce the ban on importation of Genetically Modified Foods in Kenya.

• Peru became the latest state to introduce a ban on genetically modified foods, as a new law prohibiting use or cultivation of transgenic crops came into effect.

• Poland has officially imposed a ban on Monsanto's MON810 GMO maize.

• Russia has temporarily suspended import and circulation in the Russian Federation of genetically modified maize NK603 according to the recent publication by Seralini, et al "Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize" in "Food and Chemical Toxicology" journal.

• Russia lifts restrictions on GMO to to ease Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

• Ukraine continues to struggle against the GM-production, and in accordance with new rules regulating product labeling, it is planning to abandon the current definition of products containing GMO as products where the proportion of GMO exceeds 0.9%.

to be continued……