Europe’s chemical safety law reviewed
The world’s most extensive chemical safety regulation, implemented in Europe 5 years ago, is working well, according to a review published today by the European Commission. Read more
Researchers step up fight against wheat pathogens
Researchers are putting up a strong fight against devastating wheat pathogens, and have made progress in tracking and controlling disease outbreaks helping to protect crops from East Africa to South Asia. But the wheat fields of central Asia, including China – the world’s largest wheat producer – are still vulnerable, agricultural scientist will warn at an international conference in Beijing next week. Read more
Chinese herbal medicine breaks into EU market
A traditional herbal medicinal product manufactured in China has been given the go ahead for sale in Europe for the first time, under the continent’s strict new laws to ensure the safety and quality of herbal products. Read more
United Nations to appoint a chief scientific adviser
The United Nations could soon have its own chief scientist or panel of science advisors, the Planet underPressure conference in London heard last week. Read more
World’s best universities ranked
The US continues to lead the world in top performing universities keeping its grip on seven of the top ten spots in this year’s world university rankings complied by the Times Higher Education and Thomson Reuters, a higher education data provider. Read more
Companies leave gaps in chemical safety information
Chemical companies in Europe are not providing sufficient information on the hazards and risks of the substances they produce to ensure their safe use by citizens, says a report from the EU’s chemical regulator. Read more
Millions of animals spared from chemical safety tests
Tens of millions of animals will be saved from use in chemical safety tests over the next eight years after Europe’s chemical regulator gave the go-ahead to a new streamlined study to assess the safety of substances. Read more
Anti-GM groups attempt to sully transgenic control of dengue fever
Genetically engineered mosquitoes developed by British biotech firm Oxitec as an approach to controlling dengue fever have been caught up in controversy since 6,000 of them were deliberately released to an uninhabited forest in Malaysia in a trial in December 2010. Read more
Monsanto’s transgenic drought tolerant maize approved
Agricultural biotechnology giant Monsanto has received the green light from the US Department of Agriculture to sell its transgenic drought tolerant maize (corn) MON 87460. The move marks the start of a new wave of biotech plants to reach the market engineered with traits tolerant to environmental stresses such as heat, and soils starved of nitrogen, phosphorus and other essential nutrients (Retuers). This second generation of transgenic crops moves beyond what until now has been a mainstay of the ag-biotech business: developing and selling pesticide- or herbicide-resistance crops, such as Monsanto’s Bt maize (See Nature’s feature on agricultural biotechnology companies … Read more
Land grabbing in Africa continues to harm the poor
More than 200 million hectares of land in poor nations has been sold by governments in land grabbing deals with industry and investors between 2000 and 2010, a new study reports.
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