The Bioscience Resource Project : Ethical Research in Biotechnology, Ecology, Plant Biology and Food Sciences

"It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young."
K. Lorenz

The Bioscience Resource Project
Exclusive to the BSR News Service Pew Commission Report: Industrial animal farming poses "unacceptable" risks for public health and the environment 04 May 2008 Important study condemns agro-industrial complex. Download here Civil Society Statement on nano-technology: Guiding principles for regulation 14 Mar 2008 New study sparks call for nano-specific regulations. Read the study Parkinson’s disease linked to pesticide exposure 26 Dec 2007 New study reinforces previous evidence...Read more Farm Bill amendment calls for NAS to study safety and impacts of cloned meat and animals 18 Dec 2007 Amendment passes the senate....Read more The Excommunication of a Heretic 26 Nov 2007 Impartiality of Nature Biotechnology questioned over 'interview' with Irina Ermakova ...Read more Corn fakes 02 Nov 2007 Food preference paper "a flagrant fraud"...Read More Effects of Bt pollen in aquatic ecosystems 02 Nov 2007 Study finds Bt maize pollen and detritus harms caddisflies...Read More Goodbye Dolly... Hello Synthia 08 June 2007 Venter Institute claims patent for worlds' first synthetic microbe: Mycoplasma laboratorium Read More US beef causes infertility? 30 Mar 2007 Pregnant women who eat beef from cattle treated with growth-promoting hormones may be damaging the future fertility of their unborn sons... Read More Study questions concordance 30 Mar 2007 Much of science, including healthcare research and important fields of risk assessment, depend, in part or in whole, on the presumption that animal models can usefully predict human responses to treatments... Read More FOE report criticises EU biotech strategy 20 Mar 2007 A major stated goal of the European Union is to integrate and support ecological sustainability, job creation and competitiveness as stated in the form of the Lisbon objectives... Read More Contaminated rice cultivar banned 20 Mar 2007 As part of an ongoing US effort to purge contaminating transgenic traits from rice varieties, the state plant board of Arkansas has banned the BASF rice variety Clearfield 131... Read More Conflicted FDA chair faces jail 5 Dec 2006 Lester Crawford, ex-chairman of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) Obesity Working Group faces the likelihood of a jail sentence in the new year... Read More Rice Contamination Sept 16 2006 Transgene escape has again become a major biosafety and financial issue. On 18 August the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed that non-transgenic long grain rice in the US was contaminated with Bayer transgene event LL601... Read More Bt endangers Swallowtails 07 Aug 2006 Pollen from a Bt insect resistant maize is highly toxic to the European common swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon) according to a paper published last week in the journal Basic and Applied Ecology... Read More		Agriculture News from elsewhere... Farmers reclaim lost land in Mexico's Oaxaca region Patent land grab on 'Climate Ready' crop genes? Union of Concerned Scientists report: The untold costs of CAFOs IAASTD news: widespread support for radical changes to world farming Currently debated Farm Bill spells disaster for bees, native prairies, organics Sludge fertilizer program spurs concerns about unethical and incomplete research Irradiation could be key to food safety USDA scientists say Despite accidents FMD lab may move to the US mainland EU alert Imports of Chinese Bt63 rice 'unsafe' European Universities Association urges advance of open access Monsanto Agrees to Buy De Ruiter Seeds deal subject to approval Monsanto's legal tactics: A harvest of fear Food additives 'could be as damaging as lead in petrol' Scientific Institutions are 'flabby guardians of scientific integrity' American songbirds being wiped out by banned pesticides Baby rice warning: study finds high arsenic levels Pesticide exposure and Parkinson's: a family-based case-control study Italy's toxic waste scandal becomes a mozzarella scandal Brazil wrestles with GM corn decision, seed patents too Mexico allows experimental GM maize plantings Centers of origin excluded Stem rust reaches Iran Wheat fungus strain Ug99 threatens price rises Nanotechnology as food safety concern At least one regulator needs help Solution Pollution Biofuels plants becoming a problem Industry sponsorship and the integrity of nutrition research in Plos Medicine Canadian labs don't have to report GM fish escapes Environment audit finds US states move to label cloned meat After FDA refuses The end of rBGH? The fight to end labelling Harvard makes open access compulsory Faculty agree to establish repository Obesity Society President-elect resigns over Restaurant Association payments Venters' modest proposal to make octane from CO2 'in 18 months' Soybean farmers suspend $1.5 million in grants after University publishes biofuels study in Science Did Ecoterrorists save planet from climate chaos? Significane of Ice-minus bacterium reevaluated New Report: Biomass pellets are eight times more efficient than corn ethanol and twice as efficient as soybean biodiesel Earthworms concentrate household products in soils treated with biosolid waste On GMO approvals China pauses for thought Political interference in science UCS coordinates call for congress and next president to act Climate change Biofuels hinder rather than help new papers show First evidence of resistance to Bt Helicoverpa zea on cotton France requests EU for GMO ban on MON810 Contaminants of biosolid fertilisers Household toxins, pharmaceuticals, triclosan and more Homogeneous horror Livestock farming concentration EU biofuels report leaked Report predicts biofuel failure costing 33-65 billion euros Alternative energy collaborations report University independence 'sold for a low price' ASA warns EU of "massive retaliation" over GM approvals Pesticides in US children A daily dose of organo-phosphates Cloned animals The death of diversity The politics of organic seed certification The grassroots versus the seed industry Ecological Society of America Statement on Biofuels Part human, part animal embryos to be created UK body gives research approval subject to restrictions Women faculty 'less satisfied' than colleagues Cornell study reports Double-blind review favours increased representation of female authors Says study in Trends in Ecology and Evolution Kraft to offer Hormone-free cheese Blow to rBGH technology Maize in Peru Contaminated by Transgenes (report in an unpublished paper) USDA Recommends That Food From Clones Stay Off the Market But clones already being eaten EFSA draft opinion on cloned animals Impacts on animal health, welfare and food safety Senate mandates NIH on open access Bush signs bill requiring OA for NIH-funded papers after 12 months Lymphotoxin-Beta in transgenic maize Extremely low doses provoke immune responses in mice Atrazine underestimated CDC's standard assay has been systematically underestimating exposure Doubts raised over US beef safety 20 recalls this year for contamination Court documents allege chocolate price-fixing Nestle, Hershey, Cadbury and Mars investigated Australian states lift GM moratorium Canola ban lifted in two states APHIS fines Scotts over creeping bentgrass trial EU GM maize ban being proposed by EU environment officials Weed it and reap Michael Pollan on the farm bill EU challenges Swedish transparency legislation Sweden's openness inconsistent with CBI provisions Organically-grown food more nutritious European project provides further evidence France suspends Bt maize Until further studies are complete New EU pesticide legislation would 'ban 90 per cent of insecticides' Long-Hidden Dangers? Early Exposure to DDT May Raise Risk of Breast Cancer Maternal exposure to pesticides linked to autism Endosulfan and Dicofol implicated Brazil's landless movement breaks with Lula Call him a tragedy for the country USDA approves GM pharma rice Ventria to grow treament for diarrhea in Kansas: rice farmers displeased- "We just want them to go away." FDA nears approval of cattle antibiotic Despite resistance threat warnings from American Medical Association and others Planned merger angers black farmers Monsanto seeks to acquire Delta and Pine Land Dutch to increase GM import checks 'GM-free' maize contained unapproved events Judge makes ban on GM alfalfa permanent USDA must consider effects on conventional and organic farmers. Free Trade vs Small Farmers Today, perhaps the greatest threat to small farmers is free trade. And the farmers are fighting back... by Walden Bello European Patent Office Revokes Monsanto Soy Patent ...........13 years late