|
GM crop controls questioned after second fine
Red wine may be the new sun-screen
Heineken bags BBAG for E1.9bn
Ahold continues sell-off in Far East, gets new boss
UK’s FSA warns against cyclamates
Soy offers mixed blessing
Gas-free oxygen sensors for food, waste processing
Don’t do it
GM
GM crop
controls questioned after second fine
There are new questions over the
ability of the biotechnology industry to control the spread of genetically
modified organisms following the $72,000 fine levied by the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Pioneer Hi-Bred International,
the US's largest seed company.
The EPA fine, paid in March,
follows a separate $9,900 EPA fine last December. This was because Pioneer
failed to report promptly test data that showed that a gene engineered to
protect against corn rootworm had contaminated other experimental plants
in a next door field. Pioneer believes the plants inherited the gene from
a different crop grown in an isolated one-acre (400 square metre) plot
nearby.
The incident is expected to boost
European fears of run-away “frankenfoods” if governments permit
commercial GM crops.
Knowledge
Simulation
predicts knowledge clusters
Knowledge networks are most likely
to form when the products in an industry are highly specialised (ie they
use one knowledge type intensively). When the knowledge base is broad and
deep, the chances are much lower.
This comes from research by Muge
Oznam at the Maastricht University into the dynamics of network industries
and the role of the depth and breadth of the knowledge base. The findings
are the subject of a seminar at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven on 7
May.
In a simulation study,
self-interested agents formed pairs to integrate their knowledge and
produce together under different schemes of the knowledge base, forming
networks.
Research
Red wine
may be the new sun-screen
Drinking red wine may help you live
longer, but it could also help to treat skin cancer.
In a recent lab experiment at
Marshall University in West Virginia, resveratrol, a polyphenol found in
grapes, red wine and peanuts, was found to destroy human skin cancer
cells. Now the researchers want to see if it inhibits the growth of
melanoma in mice.
Cancer Letters
reported the study in its 20 February issue. In the experiment melanoma
cells were left in contact with solutions of reservatrol ranging from five
to 100 micromolars in strength for up to 72 hours. They began to die after
only 24 hours. The resveratrol needed to kill all the melanoma cells was
30 micromolars, to an 8-ounce (240 ml) glass of cabernet, said lead
researcher Richard Niles. Lower doses of the compound didn't kill all of
the cells. At higher doses, the cancer cells died faster. One strain in a
solution of 100 micromolars of resveratrol was “completely eradicated”
in 48 hours.
M&A
Heineken
bags BBAG for E1.9bn
Dutch brewer Heineken is to pay 769
million euros for a majority stake in Austrian brewer BBAG. It will then
offer minority shareholders 124 euros per BBAG share and 127.27 euros per
Brau Union share, valuing BBAG at 1.9 billion euros. The merged BBAG and
Heineken businesses in the region will be called Brau Union AG, and hold
27 percent of the 92 million hectolitre market.
Brau Union will be responsible for
all operations in Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary,
Serbia-Montenegro, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Slovenia, Macedonia and Albania. It will be top brewer in eight of the 13
countries, hold number two slot in Croatia and a strong presence in the
Czech Republic, and be handy to export to Serbia-Montenegro, Slovenia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Beer consumption in Central Europe
in 2002 was 92 million hectolitres, seven percent of the global total. The
expected average five year volume growth rate is three percent.
Ahold
continues sell-off in Far East, gets new boss
Ahold, the financially embarrassed
Dutch retailer, has asked former Ikea president Anders Moberg (53) to
become its president & chief executive officer.
Meanwhile it agreed to sell the 34
stores and one grocery distribution centre in its 85 million euros/y
Malaysian company, TOPS Retail, to Dairy Farm Giant Retail, a subsidiary
of Dairy Farm International, for an undisclosed sum. This follows the sale
earlier this week of its Indonesian business. Nearly 1,800 jobs are at
risk.
Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm owns a
range of food retailers in several Asian markets. The $4 billion firm is
listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Ahold also guaranteed to cover $450
million in outstanding loans at US Foodservice, the US-based subsidiary
that blew a $500 million hole in Ahold’s accounts.
Nutrition
UK’s FSA
warns against cyclamates
Britain’s Food Standards Agency
is advising parents to give no more than three glasses (about 500ml) a day
of dilutable soft drinks or squashes containing the sweetener cyclamate,
also known as E952, to young children. Any more would exceed the
recommended average daily intake (ADI) for young children, it said.
“Young children drinking large
amounts of dilutable soft drinks containing aspartame, acesulfame K, or
saccharin would not be above the ADI for these sweeteners,” it added. In
an FSA survey only two percent of dilutable soft drinks for young children
contained cyclamates.
Soy
offers mixed blessing
Eating soy-based foods may do your
heart and mood lots of good, but it may harm your fertility, a review of
research into the impact of phytoestrogens on health concludes.
The independent Committee on
Toxicity (COT) says phytoestrogens are compounds produced naturally by
some edible plants, most notably soya. In the body, they mimic or block
the action of the human hormone oestrogen, although they are much less
potent.
Conflicting results of research
worldwide prompted COT to summarise the findings. In animals, exposure to
large quantities of phytoestrogens adversely affect fertility, but studies
on populations with diets rich in phytoestrogens (eg Japanese and Chinese)
suggest that they may have a beneficial effect on osteoporosis,
cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
The researchers recommend that
those responsible for infant health and feeding practices review advice on
the use of soya-based infant formulas. They add phytoestrogens could
adversely affect people with hypothyroidism and consider that, despite
many claims that phytoestrogens have a beneficial impact on health, the
evidence does not convince them.
Waste
treatment
Gas-free
oxygen sensors for food, waste processing
An Austrian research institute has
developed special optochemical oxygen sensors for many applications.
Unlike traditional oxygen electrodes, they do not use up oxygen during the
measurement process, are unaffected by other gases, and can be stored for
a long time.
Based on the detection of change in
the fluorescence decay time, the units are suitable for non-invasive
oxygen detection in chemical and biochemical processes, activated sludge
basins or in surface and deep water, and to determination of the
permeability of packaging materials.
The company is looking for
industrial partners interested in licence, manufacturing or commercial
agreements.
Contact René Stix at E stix@aps.tugraz.at
or W www.aps.or.at
AIDS
Don’t do
it
The US House of Representatives
passed a $15 billion initiative to fight AIDS worldwide, after
conservatives insisted that one-third of the money must promote
“abstinence”. |
