ANOTHER SCIENTIST UNDER ATTACK - RESEARCH STOPPED

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GMW: ANOTHER SCIENTIST UNDER ATTACK - RESEARCH STOPPED

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 26 May 2005 13:25:09 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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Here we go again...

 

EXCERPT: A bio-engineering scientist in Turkey with five years of

experience in DNA testing of transgenic crops said that she came to the

subject with an open mind, " neither for nor against, but now the risk

side

seems to outweigh the benefits for me. "

 

She declined to reveal her name while pursuing a court case against her

university for this month reassigning her to another department and

taking her lab away...

 

She was days away from final stage testing on seed samples gathered

around Turkey when the news came from her rector.

 

.... she believes " GM [contaminated] corn and soy to be growing [in

Turkey], Turkey's two largest crops, and of course we already found [GM]

tomatoes. "

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Turkey working to form policy on genetically modified organisms

Risk to biological (and career) diversity

MICHAEL KUSER

Turkish Daily News (ISTANBUL)

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=14143

 

The introduction of transgenic crops is especially sensitive in Turkey,

which boasts a rich biological stock with over 12,000 species of flora

and fauna. This compares to 13,000 in all of Europe.

 

Archeologists have found the earliest strains of domesticated wheat in

the fertile crescent of ancient Mesopotamia, specifically at a site in

present day Turkey near the Syrian border.

 

A bio-engineering scientist in Turkey with five years of experience in

DNA testing of transgenic crops said that she came to the subject with

an open mind, " neither for nor against, but now the risk side seems to

outweigh the benefits for me. "

 

She declined to reveal her name while pursuing a court case against her

university for this month reassigning her to another department and

taking her lab away. The researcher had raised funds from government and

industry (80,000 euros from the State Planning Organization and 175,000

euros from Turkish food conglomerate Ülker) to set up an independent

laboratory.

 

She was days away from final stage testing on seed samples gathered

around Turkey when the news came from her rector.

 

The chairman of the Agricultural Engineers Association, Gökhan

Günaydýn, said they were aware of the woman's situation and were

writing a

formal letter of support.

 

" Where the pressure comes from is not clear, except that the same

pressure is coming to our association, " he said. " They blame us as

anti-GMO

activists, but I stood up in Parliament last month and said that we

have no financial ties to any of these companies, unlike certain

academicians who have a salary from their university and at the same

time, take

money as consultants to industry. "

 

Researchers in the UK conducted tests on the effects on bio-diversity

of GM oil seed rape and corn, studying the amount of weed seeds and

biomass left after harvest.

 

Overall results showed a detrimental effect on wild plants and animals,

though initial lower rates of herbicide application with the corn crop

benefited insects and birds.

 

The trouble in Turkey is that the government is trying to please all

sides -- the public, the EU and the United States.

 

" The ministry (agriculture) has changed its tune every time, from no GM

seeds at all, to only some, to no GM grain imports, to only those for

animal feed, " said the university researcher.

 

For example, Günaydýn cited a study at Middle Eastern Technical

University (METU) that found GM tomato seeds in Turkey.

 

" The minister of agriculture said it was not true, that testing was

complicated and that the school must have made a mistake, but METU

researcher Candan Gurakan came back and asserted that foreign labs had

confirmed the findings, " he said.

 

Everyone interviewed agreed that Turkish customs does nothing to

control the importation of GMO seeds. " Customs does absolutely no

testing,

only accepting the importer's declaration, " said Günaydýn.

 

The temporarily anonymous university researcher said she believes " GM

corn and soy to be growing, Turkey's two largest crops, and of course we

already found tomatoes. "

 

Testing is difficult if you don't know what you're looking for, such as

is required with protein-specific field tests.

 

Researchers worry about the risk to biodiversity because the newly

introduced traits come from dominant genes, which mean they may be very

difficult, if not impossible, to breed out. The woman mentioned American

approval of patented crops in Iraq as a real danger to Turkey's huge GAP

irrigation project in the Southeast. The risk from cross-pollination is

very real to one of the country's most important agricultural

production areas.

 

" I hear they are passing out free samples of the seed in Manisa and

Adipazari, corn seed, " said the besieged researcher. " The ministry just

doesn't want to be the one to say GMOs already exist in Turkey. "

 

BOX

Genetic modification for agricultural purposes aims at either making a

plant poisonous to insects or tolerant to various herbicides.

 

The most famous herbicide-related treatment prepares a plant to

tolerate glyophosphate, a weed-killer patented by Monsanto and

marketed under

the trade name Roundup.

 

Crop seed bio-engineered to tolerate the herbicide is marketed as

Roundup Ready.

 

Chemical companies involved in the business of

developing biotechnology for agricultural applications aim to " stack "

the genetic traits, so that a corn resistant to certain herbicides may

also contain a protein toxic to insects.

 

The most common form of built-in pesticide comes from transferring a

gene from a common soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, into a plant,

say corn, which then renders the corn's leaf tissue toxic to

caterpillars, which feed on that crop. Corn engineered in this way is

known as Bt

corn.

 

 

 

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