[searcabic] Latest news postings on biotechnology, 29 September 2008

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*Posted 29 September 2008*

*PHILIPPINES*
1-DOST TECHNOLOGIES READY FOR THE TAKING
2-WINNING BRAINS BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES
3-PCARRD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VSU PREXY SIGN P47.6M MOA
4-GOVERNMENT TO PRODUCE EXPORT-QUALITY COCO WINE

*INDIA*
5-Bt COTTON ACREAGE RISES 20%

*BRAZIL*
6-BRAZIL GOVERNMENT AGENCY APPROVES NEW GMO CORN SEEDS

*GLOBAL*
7-BIOTECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO SOLVE FOOD SHORTAGE, SAYS CEO


*1-DOST TECHNOLOGIES READY FOR THE TAKING*
by Ma. Elena Talingdan-Tabangcura/DOST S&T Media Service
29-September-2008 BusinessMirror

Technologies at your fingertips—this is how the Department of Science and
Technology (DOST) offers knowledge and technologies developed through its
One-Stop Information Shop of Technologies (Osist) portal, which is now made
available to the public.

There are about 280 technologies (services, products and processes) listed
in the Osist portal with information on the technology developer or expert
and the technology itself.

Completely Filipino-owned, the technologies were developed in the
Philippines by the DOST research and development (R&D) institutes, partner
government agencies, academe and the private sector. These are in the areas
of agriculture, energy, food, health/pharmaceutical/medical products,
process, aquatic and marine, disaster management; equipment/devices,
handicrafts and textile, among others.

The Osist is the product of DOST's e-government-funded project which is
anchored on President Arroyo's development agenda particularly in mobilizing
knowledge and S&T for productivity, economic growth and job creation.

The DOST has institutionalized several mechanisms that would facilitate the
transfer of knowledge and technologies to its stakeholders. However, the
DOST has also been beset with the long-time clamor of the public for listing
of these technologies and bringing them out from the laboratory to the
market.

Now with just a click of the mouse, whenever and wherever, stakeholders and
the public, in general, can "shop" conveniently and invest in the best
technology or simply adopt which would be able to help them in their
everyday lives.

In a recent industry and energy symposium in the Ilocos region, Science
Undersecretary Graciano Yumul Jr., also the officer in charge of the
Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development
(PCIERD), the lead agency of the Osist project, said that technology
transfer and utilization are the main activities today and the DOST is
focusing on these activities. R&D will never stop and it is technology
transfer that gives fruition to all R&D activities.

The Osist provides means for the retrieval and exchange of information and
promotes technology-based businesses. In order to keep pace with popular
business operations today, the Osist employs e-business or
e-commerce mechanisms. It features an electronic payment transaction for
downloading premium technology information with its e-bayad facility.

Like most e-business transactions, one may use a PDA, cell phone, a network,
wireless or dial-up connection to the Internet in accessing and downloading.
Initially, transactions can be made via ATM or debit instruction (through
Land Bank of the Philippines), SMS or mobile banking (through GCash) and
credit cards (still under negotiation), where e-shopping of technologies can
be completed.

Moreover, the Osist adopts Government to Business (G2B) and Government to
Citizen (G2C) approach by providing interactive communication with
businesses and individuals.

On a grander scale, the Osist allows government-to-government transactions.
Most foreign agencies nowadays would only want to transact business with
another agency that practices e-Governance.

In accessing the web site (http://www.osist.dost.gov.ph), clients get
information on the technology and the technology experts or developers. This
promotes and establishes collaboration and linkages among S&T practitioners,
enterprises and other agencies at an easier and faster rate.

If a client walks through the Osist web site by clicking the link to
"Available Technologies," he will be given a page that lists all the
technologies by industry or sector. Once a technology is clicked, the client
will be led to a page of information categorized as: 1) Overview of the
Technology; 2) Abstract of the Technology; and 3) Premium Details of the
Technology. The information in the first two categories are available free
of charge but the premium details are with a fee.

The Osist project is a collaborative effort of the DOST and the Commission
on Information and Communications Technology. All the DOST agencies, which
include advisory bodies, sectoral planning councils, R&D institutes and
service institutes, together with academe and network institutions, served
as content providers.

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*2-WINNING BRAINS BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES*
by Federico M. Macaranas
26-September-2008 Philippine Daily
Inquirer<http://blogs.inquirer.net/insidescience/2008/09/26/winning-brains-back-to-the-philippines/>

AFTER posting its highest growth rate in more than three decades in 2007,
the Philippine economy is poised to slow down in 2008 on account of external
factors whose domestic impact its managers cannot fully tame. This should be
less of a problem for those who are more long-term oriented and less swayed
by medium-term political goals. After all, given the past economic reforms
in banking and finance (capital adequacy ratios of commercial banks and the
expanded value-added tax) among others, it is these long-term factors that
really matter for sustained growth.

Yet short-term gains from the much-vaunted outsourcing bonanza that could
result from the US slowdown, as corporations cut down costs, should be taken
with much caution. Even the call for greater financial integration in the
region espoused by the ADB should be tempered with a focus on the production
of real goods and services — lest the economy be trapped forever in its
low-level growth.

More fundamental than these financial factors is the need for the
Philippines to align its economic growth with the path taken by dynamic
Asia-Pacific countries and the developed world — a path that is based on
innovation and technology. But more productive raw materials or chemicals,
machinery or equipment, processing or marketing ideas do not grow out of
trees. They come from people, educated men and women — be they peasants
tutored in appropriate technologies rooted in indigenous practices or PhD's
able to translate scholarly learning into commercial ventures.

Short or even bereft of a science and technology culture, the Philippines
must now seriously harness its human resources spread around the world to
boost its productive capacity in real goods and services. Services in this
case includes an appropriately risk-managed banking and finance system that
should respond to the needs of smaller enterprises to generate more jobs
relative to capital, and bring about an increase in employment numbers.

This is the time to win back more brains to return. Successive Philippine
administrations attempted to to do this after the big brain drain in the
1970s and later in the 1990s. But this time around, it is not only the
government that must act; the private sector must do its share in
permanently harnessing Filipino overseas talents – not through permanent
return but through permanent connections, not through remittances alone but
transfer of technology and market information. These are the very areas that
the private sector can concentrate its efforts on — but there must be
appropriate government policies, both national and local, to attract these
overseas resources to come home to roost. Here is where a new public private
partnership (PPP) must come in.

The Philippines' Balik Scientist (returnee scientist) program should be
redesigned to enable the private sector to be its immediate and direct
beneficiary in the current priority areas namely: alternative energy,
biotechnology, information and communication technology, pharmaceutical, and
environment, and even areas outside these government-identified R&D
interests. Many agriculturists and fisheries experts, industry specialists,
etc. are needed by the country, as special scholarships set up for these
fields attest. These areas include biofuels, coco-chemicals, business
process outsourcing, herbal medicine, marine remediation and afforestation.

The Philippine private sector should be enticed to identify talented
Filipinos abroad so that they can partner with them to develop new process
technologies or new products. For example, Filipino food scientists abroad
can be tapped to help raise farm productivity. Rather than simply market the
Balik Scientist Program through the typical academic routes, wouldn't it be
better to try matching available private sector R&D funds with overseas
Filipinos who are expert in their fields? This means a call for pro-active
public-private partnerships, starting with the development of an inventory
of Filipino human resources designed like a talent bank for specific
industries.

This proposed overseas Filipino talent bank should be a roster that is
frequently updated by a public-private group. It can serve as a potential
skilled supply base of R&D partners that can be tapped by young
entrepreneurs, established firms, cooperatives, etc., in the Philippines. It
can be a national roster that can be developed from professional
organizations, alumni chapters, hometown associations, etc. based abroad.
This talent bank should contain information on the special skills of these
expatriate Filipinos, whose homing instincts could be fanned by attractive
professional and commercial prospects in their home country — similar to how
Taiwan, Korea, India, China and other countries succeeded in attracting
their own nationals to their science parks to incubate new products.

Such a human resource talent bank will truly engage the Philippines in
planning an innovation and technology-based strategy. After all, are we not
in a networking age in the creative knowledge era? Knowing where its talents
are at any time could truly be one of the wisest investments the Philippines
can make as it reaches the fork of low vs. high growth possibilities — most
recently documented by the study of De La Salle University economist Dr.
Michael Alba, in his book on the long-term decline of Philippine
competitiveness published by the AIM Policy Center (December 2007).

Creative products and services generated by human innovation are the
comparative advantage of the Philippines even in a financially volatile
global economy. Local production of farm goods and improved logistics
services can be stimulated by higher food prices. For example, higher value
products and processes are likely to come out of research laboratories — as
the coconut coir ventures being used to prevent soil erosion shows. But more
networks abroad are needed by the Philippines to connect to the larger
overseas markets, including those that are decoupling from globally frenzied
industries as local initiatives are linked to each other through new
financial schemes (for sourcing and using of funds) such as carbon credits,
pooled financial resources, fair trade, etc .

The Science and Technology Advisory Councils (STAC) that were once organized
by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the purpose of linking
overseas Filipino high-level talents to Philippine institutions, agencies,
firms, universities, etc. through short-term consultancies among others,
were funded by a UNDP scheme called TOKTEN (Transfer of Knowledge Through
Expatriate Nationals) that is now managed by UN Volunteers.

After about a decade of successfully stirring the interest of top-level
scientists and engineers, the Philippine program, which was actually cited
by the UNDP TOKTEN administrator as one of the most successful in the world,
ceased to operate in 1998 – but many of its chapters and erstwhile members
are independently working for the same cause today.

It is high time that the Philippines seriously embarks on setting up these
talent banks through public-private partnerships. The successful Science and
Technology Advisory Councils could serve as a model.

*Dr. Federico Macaranas is the Executive Director of the Asian Institute of
Management (AIM) Policy Center, argues that the Philippines needs to
organize its overseas science and technology diaspora into talent pools for
possible collaboration with Philippine industry. He currently sits as a
Technical Advisory Council member of the bicameral Congressional Commission
on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE)*

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*3-PCARRD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VSU PREXY SIGN P47.6M MOA*
by Freddy Jesus M. Baldo & Pia Paula P. Mateo, S&T Media Service
15-September-2008
PCARRD<http://maidon.pcarrd.dost.gov.ph/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1228&Itemid=122>

Memoranda of agreement (MOA) collectively worth P47.6 million (M) was
recently signed between PCARRD and the Visayas State University (VSU). The
MOA signing coincided with the 84th VSU anniversary convocation last August
11.

Signatories to the MOA were PCARRD Executive Director Patricio S. Faylon and
VSU President Jose L. Bacusmo, chairperson of the Regional Research and
Development Coordinating Council of the Visayas Consortium for Agriculture
and Resources Program (ViCARP).

VSU is the lead institution of ViCARP, one of the 14 PCARRD-organized
consortia in the country. Since 1978, the consortium has been very active in
packaging research and development (R&D) programs and projects in the
agriculture, forestry, and natural resources (AFNR) sectors.

The two institutions inked their partnership in research endeavors with the
signing of the three MOAs for the projects on: (1) Enhancing the demand for
AFNR graduates through science and technology (S&T); (2) Australian Centre
for International Agricultural Research-PCARRD-ViCARP collaborative projects
on fruits and vegetables; and (3) Enhancing the functionality of the VSU P2
laboratory (transformation laboratory) that will provide additional
equipment to support capability development.

The MOAs signed encompass implementation of the following projects: Policy
research on the state and future supply and demand for AFNR graduates in the
Philippines; Institutional capability enhancement: Institutional innovations
to increase enrollment by enhancing the employability of AFNR graduates of
selected state universities and colleges in Eastern Visayas; Support to
income-generating projects and DAT-BED; Development of sweetpotato varieties
resistant to sweetpotato virus disease complex through
agrobacterium-mediated transformation (Phase 2); Development of immuno-based
assay for detection of abaca viruses; and Impact assessment of the R&D
utilization component of the S&T Anchor Program for native chicken. (Freddy
Jesus M. Baldos/VSU-Information and Communication Office)

*PCARRD highlights VSU's role in P200-M HRDP*

Dr. Faylon acknowledged VSU's partnership with the Council in implementing
programs and projects for food security, poverty alleviation, and
sustainable development in the country, he commended them especially
especially for their involvement in the Department of Science and
Technology-PCARRD P200-million program on "Enhancing the demand for AFNR
graduates through S&T" during the university's 84th founding anniversary
convocation last August 11 at Visca, Baybay City, Leyte.

The 84-year-old institution has committed to participating in the program,
which aims to boost enrolment in agriculture and related fields, and
eventually, increase human resources in the AFNR sectors.

According to Faylon, the involvement of state universities and colleges
(SUCs) like VSU is critical in the success of the program. They will serve
as the training ground of agriculture graduates and professionals who will
provide the needs of other major demanders, which include the private
industry. Thus, with the help of the SUCs, the program will enhance the
knowledge of the agriculture graduates on entrepreneurship and management.

Faylon thanked VSU for being the first among the SUCs to respond to the
challenge to pilot-test institutional capacity enhancement through
curricular innovation, short-term trainings, and business models designed
for making students into agri-entrepreneurs.

Aside from VSU's unwavering assistance to the human resource development
program, Faylon also acknowledged its long support to PCARRD's Techno Gabay
Program. In addition, the state university has been managing S&T-based farms
and Farmers Information and Technology Service centers in Region 8, hand in
hand with ViCARP.

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*4-GOVERNMENT TO PRODUCE EXPORT-QUALITY COCO WINE*
13-Sepember-2008 Philippines Department of
Agriculture<http://www.da.gov.ph/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4gPCgHJgFjGpvqRqCKOcAFfj_zcVP0goESkOVDE0C1YPyonNT0xuVI_WN9bP0C_IDc0otzb0REAvhdm4Q!!/delta/base64xml/L0lDU0lKTTd1aUNTWS9vQW9RQUFJUWdTQUFZeGpHTVl4U21BISEvNEpGaUNvMERyRTVST2dxTkM3OVlRZyEhLzdfMF8xRlIvMjI!?WCM_PORTLET=PC_7_0_1FR_WCM&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/DA%2BSite/News/News%2BArchives/2008/September/013%2BGovernment%2Bto%2Bproduce%2Bexport-quality%2Bcoco%2Bwine>

The Arroyo government, in tandem with a private company, is planning to
develop and produce wine of export-quality from coconut sap or nectar, which
it expects to be in the league of popular spirits like Russian vodka and the
Japanese sake, in support of President Arroyo's vow to rev up the coconut
industry.

One of the farm-friendly commitments by President Arroyo was her pledge in
her 2004 State of the Nation Address (SONA) to help revitalize the coconut
industry by, among others, making sure that coconut farmers benefit from the
multibillion-peso coconut levy fund. To date, P786 million had been allotted
for the Coconut Industry Investment Fund Safety-Net Program or CSNP and
another P86 million for the upgraded insurance program benefitting 1.02
million coconut farmers.

Given the sustained, higher farm spending by the government in support of
the President's SONA promises, the agriculture sector grew by a high 4.7% in
the year's first semester as against 3.74% in the same period in 2007.

The main engine of growth for Philippine agriculture during the January-June
period was the crops subsector, with palay output soaring 5.84% to 7.12
million metric tons and corn yields rising 19.62% to 3.292 million MT. The
coconut subsector also posted a turnaround in growing by 6.49% during the
semester after contracting minus 4.48% during the same six-month period in
2007.

In his report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Administrator Oscar Garin
of the Philippine Coconut Authority said the PCA has entered into a
memorandum of agreement with Nilak Research and Development Services,
represented by Marius Diaz, to develop this type of wine that will meet
international standards and make this product uniquely Filipino.

The alcoholic beverage, which will come from the sap or nectar of coconut
inflorescence (flower clusters), is expected to elevate the status of the
lowly tuba by upgrading it to a conventional wine category, Garin said.

Garin reported to Yap that the PCA expects this new kind of coconut-based
wine to be identified with the Philippines, just as sake is known to
originate from Japan, and vodka from Russia.

He said the technology to produce the wine, which will be developed by
Nilak's Diaz, a local wine maker, will be transferred to coconut-based areas
and preferably to viable farmer-owned cooperatives or equally viable
enterprises taking into consideration the intellectual property rights
generated by the project.

Under the law, all intellectual property rights are deemed assigned,
transferred and conveyed to the PCA, which will commission the project for
P5.5 million.

Garin said the coconut wine project would include a survey and examination
of sap availability and yield, preferably of the dwarf coconut variety from
the various coconut-producing regions in the country, which will be jointly
identified by the PCA and Nilak.

Both the PCA and Nilak will have to evaluate, he said, the fresh coconut sap
with respect to its physical and chemical characteristics and contents and
assess the appropriate methods of harvesting to ensure the safety of the
product in accordance with international standards.

PCA expects the project to produce approximately 1,200 liters a month of
quality coconut sap or about 7,200 liters over a six-month period.

The end product—coconut wine—which will be aged for four months, will be
equivalent to 9,600 bottles of 750 ml content with 12%-13% of alcohol
content per volume. ### *(DA-PRESS OFFICE)*

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*INDIA
5-Bt COTTON ACREAGE RISES 20%
*23-September-2008 Business
Standard<http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=335145>

Bollgard Bt cotton is India's first biotech crop technology approved for
commercialisation in India in 2002.

Indian farmers seem to have taken to Bacillus thurengiensis (Bt) cotton
seeds in a big way. According to technology supplier Mahyco Monsanto Biotech
(MMB), India, the farmers have brought 20 per cent more area under cotton
cultivation in 2008. This is likely to shoot up cotton production in the
country, which is already the second largest producer of cotton in the
world.

As per an estimate by the MMB, India, approximately 4 million farmers
cultivated Bollgard II and Bollgard Bt cotton on 172 lakh acres equivalent
to 76 per cent of India's total 225 lakh cotton acres in Kharif 2008.

The acreage has steadily increased from 87 lakh acres in 2006 to 144 lakh
acres in 2007. The farmers have a choice from over 150 Bollgard II and
Bollgard Bt cotton hybrid seeds.

Bollgard II acreage area increased to 45 lakh acres during the ongoing crop
season as compared to 12.2 lakh acres during the last season. Similarly,
Bollgard continued to be widely adopted on 127 lakh acres.

Bollgard II has a superior double-gene technology that offers farmers better
Insect Resistance Management (IRM), along with higher yield, more pesticide
savings, and thereby higher income.

"Within six years of the launch of Bollgard Bt Cotton in 2002, India's
cotton production has doubled, making it the second largest producer, and
second largest exporter of cotton in the world," said Raj Ketkar, Deputy
Managing Director, MMB.

The highest growth for Bollgard II was witnessed in Maharashtra with 21.6
lakh acres (up 70 per cent as against 6.3 lakh acres in 2007), Andhra
Pradesh with 8.4 lakh acres (up 88 per cent as compared to 1.01 lakh acres
in 2007), and Gujarat with 5.3 lakh acres (up 42 per cent versus 3.1 lakh
acres in 2007).

Dr B B Bhosle, professor and head, Department of Entomology, Maharashtra
Agriculture University, Parbhani, Maharashtra said, "Bollgard II - double
gene cotton technology has two Bt proteins, Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab2 which are
better for insect resistance management (IRM). With both the Bt proteins
having different modes of action, the chance of resistance to both proteins
in Bollgard II is highly unlikely, and this makes Bollgard II an effective
tool in insect resistance management. The US EPA has removed the need for 20
per cent refuge for Bollgard II and if we do in India, we can increase our
cotton productivity even more."

Bollgard Bt cotton (single-gene technology) is India's first biotech crop
technology approved for commercialisation in India in 2002, followed by
Bollgard II - double gene technology in mid-2006, by the Genetic Engineering
Approval Committee (GEAC) - the regulatory body for biotech crops.

These technologies were launched in India by MMB, a 50:50 joint venture
between Mahyco and Monsanto Company, USA. MMB has sub-licensed the Bollgard
and Bollgard II technologies to 23 Indian seed companies, all of which have
introduced the Bollgard technology into their own germplasm.

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*BRAZIL
6-BRAZIL GOVERNMENT AGENCY APPROVES NEW GMO CORN SEEDS
*by Tony Danby
24-September-2008 Dow Jones via
Agbios<http://www.agbios.com/static/news/NEWSID_10036.php>

Brazil's National Biosafety Commission has given the green light to two new
varieties of genetically modified corn seeds, which should further pave the
way for the uptake of such products in the 2008-09 crop season, according to
analysts and industry specialists.

CTNBio approved Monsanto Co.'s Roundup Ready 2 and Syngenta AG's GA21, both
of which are resistant to glyphosate, a non-selective herbicide which is
widely used in corn growing areas, an agency press officer said on Friday.

These two new varieties of genetically modified corn join three other types
of GM corn seeds that were approved in 2007 by CTNBio from Syngenta,
Monsanto and Bayer CropScience Ltd.

Paulo Molinari, a grains analyst at consulting firm Safras & Mercado, said
that genetically modified corn seeds are only just starting to enter the
Brazilian market due to the long development and approval process.

Molinari said that farmers are likely to plant only 4% or 5% of their land
with genetically modified corn in the first harvest, but should plant
between 40% and 50% with GMO corn in the second harvest.

Brazil has two corn harvests each year. The first corn is planted between
September and December, while the second corn crop is planted between
December and January.

Brazil should plant corn in over 6 million hectares in 2008-09, said
Molinari.

The analyst said corn farmers are keen to use transgenic seeds, which are
resistant to pests and insects, but the process will start slowly because
the seeds still aren't widely available.

By Brazil's second corn harvest, however, transgenic corn seeds should be
more widely available and more farmers will buy them, said Molinari.

Medard Schoenmaeckers, head of media relations for Syngenta in Europe, sees
Brazil's regulatory process as increasingly favorable towards genetically
modified crops.

"Approval by CTNBio of our GA21 and BT11 transgenic products, shows that
Brazil takes a responsible, scientific approach to making decisions," said
Schoenmaeckers.

He also said Syngenta is likely to expand its mix of transgenic corn and soy
products in Brazil, but gave no details.

Schoenmaeckers said Brazil is still behind other countries such as the U.S.,
where the use of genetically modified corn has been faster and where
Syngenta expects its entire range of seeds to shift to GMO by 2012.

Still, the use of genetically modified seeds remains controversial in Brazil
and Syngenta has faced invasions of its test center in Parana state by Rural
Landless Workers Movement, or MST. Parana is the No.1 corn producing state.

The landless rights group has been campaigning against the use of
genetically modified seeds and has vowed to keep on fighting companies such
as Syngenta that develop them.

Other groups such as non-governmental group, Greenpeace, is also campaigning
against the use of genetically modified seeds in Brazil.

"We are against the use of genetically modified crops in Brazilian fields
because of the negative impact on the environment and the potential risk to
humans and animals," said Gabriella Vuolto, a Greenpeace specialist on
transgenic crops.

Vuolto said that CTNBio hasn't undertaken adequate scientific research into
the impact of transgenic crops and that many of the potential impacts are
still unknown. Seeds from genetically modified crops in one field can get
carried and start to grow in neighboring fields, meaning that the farmer's
crop are contaminated, she said.

CTNBio also approved one version of transgenic cotton last week and approved
transgenic soybeans two years ago. Depending on the state, a little more
than half of the soy crop is transgenic.

Corn is Brazil's No. 2 crop in acreage behind soybeans, which is Brazil's
leading farm commodity.

*------------------------------------------------------------*
*GLOBAL
7-BIOTECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO SOLVE FOOD SHORTAGE, SAYS CEO
*by Bruce Johnstone
25-September-2008
Leader-Post<http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=5b5c45c8-6ae5-4ac1-8992-270658d71ac8>

Regina - More genetically modified crops must be developed if agricultural
producers are to meet the challenge of global food shortages and climate
change, a Biotech Week event was told Thursday.

"Technology prevented mass starvation in the 20th Century,'' said David
Dennis, CEO of Performance Plants Inc., which operates plant biotechnology
facilities in Kingston, Ont., Saskatoon and New York.

"Technology will solve the problems of the 21st Century, I believe,'' added
Dennis, a former Queen's University plant scientist, who founded PPI in
1995.

Dennis said the global agriculture industry is facing a number of
challenges, namely water shortages, climate change and yield volatility that
threaten to cause large-scale crop failures and mass starvation.

Agriculture biotechnology -- genetically modifying plants to improve their
productivity, size and resistance to drought and disease -- could provide
the solution to these challenges, he added.

For example, PPI has used gene-modification technology to improve crop
yields in corn, canola and soybeans by 15 to 25 per cent by improving their
drought resistance.

GM technology has also been used to help protect crops from heat stress and
use water more efficiently, as well as increase biomass and carbohydrate
content for biofuels crops.

Contrary to popular misconception, GM-modified crops have "no negative
impacts'' on the quality, safety or quantity of the food they produce,
Dennis added.

"The technology works under a lot of conditions. There appears to be no
negative impact of the technology at all."

Daren Coppock, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers in the U.S.,
said widespread production of GM-modified wheat could help offset the
steadily declining acreage of cropland sown to wheat in the U.S.

"Seven of the last 10 years, we've consumed more wheat locally (in the U.S.)
than we've produced. You just can't keep doing that without having a market
response.''

Corn and soybeans are moving west and north into traditional wheat-growing
areas in the U.S., pushing wheat acres to 30-year lows, Coppock said.

"Even under the most optimistic scenario, (one expert) does not see wheat
acres exceeding 50 million when it used to be almost 80 (million)."

The need to improve crop yields is another "compelling case for
biotechnology," Coppock added. While wheat yields have remained "flat" at
around 40 bushels per acre, corn yields have been expanding four times
faster -- thanks to biotechnology, he said.

"The longer we wait to deal with this problem, the bigger the hole we've dug
for ourselves. That's why there's a sense of urgency by our producers to get
this (biotechnology) ball rolling as soon as we can.''

But even if GM-modified wheat varieties were approved tomorrow, it would
take 10 years to get them into production, he added.

"Our board has set a goal of a 20-per-cent yield increase in 10 years, with
the fundamental assumption that biotech commercialization is part of that
answer. We won't get there without it.''

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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*OFW lady turns biotech corn
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*Pinoy is new president of Asian economists'
body*<http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/sep/press/23.html>

*Nobel Peace Prize 2007 goes to IPCC with 6 Filipino Scientist
Members*<http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/sep/web/23.html>

*SEARCA zeroes in on climatic risk management for agricultural
production*<http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/sep/web/09.html>

*How can science reach the farmers?: The Importance of Good Science
Communication* <http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/sep/web/04.html>

*How can science reach the farmers?: The Importance of Good Science
Communication* <http://www.searca.org/web/news/2008/sep/web/04.html>

*---------------------------------------------------------*
<http://www.searca.org/web/announcements/photocontest2008/index.html>
*---------------------------------------------------------*
*Download available paper and/or presentation handouts of some notable
speakers presented at SEARCA Agriculture and Development Series. CLICK HERE.
* <http://www.searca.org/web/adss/2007/index.html>

*SEARCA ADSS: Development of High Yielding and Bunchy-top Virus Resistant
Abaca (Musa textiles Nee) Cultivars* <http://www.searca.org/>
*by Dr. Antonio G. Lalusin
Drilon Hall, SEARCA, College, Laguna Philippines
30 September 2008, 4:00 - 5:00 PM*

*IRRI Thursday Seminar Series: GreenPhylDB: a comparative genomics platform
to drive functional genomics in plants*
*by Dr. Matthieu Conte
Havener Auditorium, IRRI, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines
02 October 2008, 1:15 - 2:15 PM*

*BIO Korea 2008*<http://www.biokorea.org/main/e_main.html?gclid=COyW2p3s_5UCFQPjTAodYVqGFg>
*Osong Bio Technopolis, Korea
08 - 10 October 2008*
         [image: visit discussion board] <http://bsearcabic.runboard.com/>
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