2011-06-06
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These two pieces from the Flemish newspaper, De Morgen, give the lie to the claims made following the protest last weekend in Wetteren, in Belgium, that the destruction of a GM potato trial represents an unjustifiable attack on independent science. What emerges strongly from both pieces is a clear sense of powerful political and financial interests underlying this technology, in Wetteren just as much as St. Louis, and the way in which "independent science" is being remorselessly shaped by such interests in the field of biotechnology.
2011-05-30
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Environmental activists stormed a field of genetically modified potatoes in Belgium Sunday, breaking through a security cordon in a raid that left police and protesters injured, authorities and organisers said. Police said they briefly detained around 40 people taking part in the ”Field Liberation Movement”, which aimed to destroy the research crop in the northwestern town of Wetteren, according to Belga news agency.
2011-05-23
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The yield of bio-ethanol from the wood of GM poplar trees from a VIB field trial is up to 81% higher than non-modified poplars VIB-UGent researcher Wout Boerjan presented these results at the international conference ”Bioenergy Trees in Nancy, France. ”This is just the beginning. The results of the field test confirm that we are on the right track. Further research will allow us to select poplar varieties that are even better suited for bio-ethanol production,” said Wout Boerjan from VIB and Ghent University.
2011-05-19
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The rector of the UGent, prof.dr. Paul Van Cauwenberge started the field trial with GM potatoes resistant to late blight, which is caused by Phytophthora infestans. [...] In the scientific field trial that has now been started 27 different GM lines will be tested. Twenty-six thereof are stemming from Wageningen University & Research Center, and one from BASF Plant Science. The have one to three resistance genes. Their resistance will be compared with important non-resistant varieties such as Bintje and Agria, but also with the resistant varieties Bionica and Sarpo Mira that are used in organic agriculture.
2010-06-11
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Belgium fears that proposals due next month giving European Union governments the right to ban or grow genetically modified crops will undermine the bloc’s internal market and investment security for biotech companies. “We have some doubts …- with their compliance with the internal market rules, with the World Trade Organisation and with some bilateral agreements,” Belgian diplomat Herman Claeys said at a seminar on Brussels on Wednesday.
2010-04-30
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George Tzotzos, IIBN programme co-ordinator, told SciDev.Net that the network would provide biotechnology support and access to high-level technologies for developing countries wanting to make better use of their existing biological resources. [...] Tzotzos added that a major hurdle for developing countries that wish to sell biotechnology products in Europe is meeting the European Union’s stringent safety standards and maintaining a high product quality.
2009-05-26
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Organizations internationally are condemning the planting of a highly controversial field trial of GE poplar trees on 6 May by The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB). The poplars, planted in the Belgian countryside, have been genetically engineered for altered lignin content specifically for the production of agrofuels (industrial- scale biofuels).
2009-01-09
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The Council of State has consigned the federal ministers Magnette and Onkelinx’ decision to refuse a permit for a field trial with genetically modified poplars to the wastepaper basket. These poplars are intended for the sustainable production of biofuels. The Council of State rules that the refusal causes severe damage to VIB as an institute, and that the arguments used are not legal. The refusal has now been suspended, awaiting a verdict to all intents and purposes.
2008-09-15
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BASF Plant Science and VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) today signed a major cooperation agreement. The focus is on plant genetic mechanisms that increase yield and improve tolerance to envi-ronmental stress such as drought and cold. This is the third research project, in which BASF Plant Science and the VIB-UGent Department of Plant Sys-tems Biology join forces: earlier this year, both had signed a license agree-ment on yield increasing genes and extended an existing cooperation project, which aims to optimize the growth process of corn roots to enhance nutrient and water absorption.
2008-08-20
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The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, VIB, submitted a request to the Council of State on July 23, 2008, to suspend and quash the decision of Ministers Magnette and Onkelinx denying its approval for a field test of genetically modified poplar trees. Flemish Minister of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Science, Innovation and Foreign Trade, Patricia Ceysens, has given VIB permission to take the necessary action to prevent the field test from being lost.
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