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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1510)	3/8/1999 9:31:00 AM
From: David Winkler	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

Hope everyone knows that "ladybirds" are beetles and not birds!!

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1510)	3/8/1999 10:44:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

03/08 08:24 INTERVIEW-Gene crop potential immense - researcher LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - Genetically modified crops have already cut farmers' costs dramatically and slashed the use of chemicals and more benefits are to come, according to one of Britain's leading researchers in the area. "There is immense potential," Professor Mike Gale, Director of the John Innes Centre, said in a telephone interview. "The most pressing argument (in favour of GM technology) is because of global food security. It is unthinkable that we should starve the developing nations of this technology." The John Innes Centre, which researches plants and micro-organisms, is grant-aided by the British government's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Gale listed savings already made. Monsanto Co's <MTC.N> Roundup Ready soya, which has been genetically engineered to resist the company's Roundup herbicide, saved farmers some $30 a hectare because of a 40 percent reduction in herbicide use. "In the normal way of things farmers spray herbicide onto the land before planting. Now they don't have to do that," said Gale, stressing that the figure did not come from Monsanto. The savings with Bt maize, developed by Novartis AG <NOVZn.S> to combat the European corn borer pest, were even more significant with an average saving of $42 a hectare in 1997. And producers of genetically modified cotton were saving $133 a hectare. "In the end these savings can only get passed on to the consumer," Gale said. The next wave of genetically modified crops would include virus resistance, saving on insecticide. Then there would be crop resistance to fungal disease, using plant genes. "It's probable we can produce a general purpose gene for disease resistance," he said. "The genetic solution is always going to be cheaper than the intensive farming solution," Gale added. "The farmer gains, the consumer gains and we don't have to put so many chemicals on the crops." Later there would come more non-food uses for genetic crops, with diversification into, for example, medicines. He questioned the motives of some anti-GM campaigners. "The organic farmers are playing it up for all it's worth. But it's all based on the silliness of saying that if you use a transgene it's not organic," he said. "What could be more organic than DNA?" Fresh controversy over GM foods was sparked in Britain last month when international scientists backed scientist Arpad Pusztai, who claimed his research showed damage to rats fed on genetically modified potatoes. moneynet.com@NEWS-P2&Index=0&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DISABLE_FORM=&NAVSVC=News\Company