UK public sceptical on GM

The British public has all but rejected genetically modified organisms, citing safety, environmental pollution, and vested interests as reasons for caution and scepticism.

This emerged from the report on the national debate on GM held earlier this year. The report says “The mood ranged from caution and doubt, through suspicion and scepticism, to hostility and rejection.”

It identified seven key feelings:

• People are generally uneasy about GM
• The more people engage in GM issues, the harder their attitudes and more intense their concerns
• There is little support for early commercialisation
• There is widespread mistrust of government and multi-national companies
• There is a broad desire to know more and for further research to be done
• Developing countries have special interests
• The debate was welcomed and valued

Friends of the Earth spokesman Peter Riley said the government would ignore this report “at its peril”. The government “must stand up to US and corporate lobbying, honour the findings of its own consultation, and rule out the commercialisation of GM crops," he said.

Earlier this week the Department of the Environment, Fisheries & Agricultures’s GM inspectorate reported that flowering GM rape plants had been found in four fields a year after farm scale trials ended.

“Only one sample of these plants per site was verified as containing GM material, but all of the flowering plants in the field were destroyed. The Inspectorate has written to the company concerned, and Defra has learned lessons from the incident and will ensure that in future consent conditions are tighter, to prevent any repetition,” Defra said.

RFID-based logistics firm attract $34m
UK rivers on the mend
EU ministers call for Euro venture fund
FSA launches Web site for food inspectors

BRIEFLY

Sandia National Laboratory researchers have found a way to switch the surface chemistry of a biochip so that it could sort protein molecules by size. The device could be used in practical microfluidic systems in as little as two years, SAYS MIT’s Technology Review.

Business

RFID-based logistics firm attract $34m

TrenStar, a logistics firm that uses radio technology to identify and track items (RFID), has raised $34 million in its first institutional round of financing, with more than half of the funding coming from Carlyle Venture Partners parent company Trencor and others.

Trenstar already claims to track some 60% of the UK market for beer kegs, thanks to pay-per-use deals with Scottish Courage and Carlsberg-Tetley. Other clients include Kraft, Goodyear, Burberry, and Prada Stores, while others using the TrenStar technology include ExxonMobil, Ford, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler and Dow Chemical.

RFID is hot news because retailers such as Wal-Mart have asked their top suppliers to switch to RFID for item or case lot tracking over the next two or three years. TrenStar and its affiliates aim at the brewing, food and beverage, chemical, air cargo, automotive, health care, retail and other “mobile asset-intensive” industries.

TrenStar, based in Denver, Colorado, will use the new money to develop the underlying IT and to buy the mobile assets such as bulk containers of firms that wish to outsource their logistics operations. TrenStar’s parent company owns 74% of Textainer, the world’s largest lessor of dry freight marine containers, with over one million 20-foot equivalent units in its fleet.

Carlyle Principal Anand Gowda said “We expect the brewing, food and beverage, synthetic rubber, automotive and air cargo business segments, in which TrenStar has already established important positions, to continue to benefit from the company’s value proposition and outsourced container management services.”

Water

UK rivers on the mend

The UK’s Environment Agency (EA) has detected a massive improvement in the quality of river water since the 1980s, but warns that nearly one in five of its most important rivers are still polluted.

“In England and Wales, nearly 20% of England and Wales’ 77 rivers designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)– the UK’s top conservation status – are failing to achieve top chemical water quality classifications,” the EA says.

Main pollutants are phosphate and nitrates from land-based activities such as agriculture and via discharges from sewage treatment works. Some 54% of rivers had high phosphate levels while 29% had high nitrate concentrations. Last year, the Environment Agency surveyed 7,000 sites, representing 40,000km of rivers and canals, for their chemical and biological water quality.

The EA said the rapid improvement in the chemical and biological quality of rivers witnessed during the 1990s is beginning to stabilise. Water companies had spent GBP5bn to improve discharges to rivers by upgrading key sewage treatment works and sewerage systems. Tighter enforcement detected 1,468 serious (category 1 and 2) water pollution incidents. This was 21% less than in 2001 but more than in 2000.

EA chairman Sir John Harman said "With new European legislation on the horizon – the Water Framework Directive in particular – the basis on which achievement is assessed will change, so we simply can’t afford to be complacent. The healthier and more attractive the environment, the more we will see knock-on benefits for leisure, recreation, tourism and the wider economy."

Innovation

EU ministers call for Euro venture fund

Ministers at this week’s Competitiveness Council in Brussels called for a European risk capital and venture capital market to support its aim of doubling R&D spending to 3% of GDP.

The ministers also called for more “complementarity” between European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Investment Fund (EIF) initiatives and national initiatives with specific regard to the needs of SMEs. They invited the European Commission (EC) and member states to make more effective use of financing instruments, including the EU's structural funds, for research and development (R&D). The EC has earmarked over 16bn euros for R&D under its Sixth Framework Programme.

“There is a particular need to stimulate and improve conditions for more private investment for research and innovation,” the Council said.

Ministers supported the Commission's efforts to simplify and modernise state aid rules and to redirect state aid towards R&D.

Other items included the Commission's communication on life sciences and biotechnology, the Community patent, and the chemicals legislative package. The Council agreed to revisit EU funding for human embryonic stem cell research, and where to put the nuclear fusion energy research project (ITER), at its next meeting on 27 November.

Enforcement

FSA launches Web site for food inspectors

The UK’s Food Standards Agency has launched a new website portal to help food law enforcers carry out their work more effectively and easily. 

The portal covers food alerts, HACCP, audits, food sampling, approval and licensing and the Framework Agreement on Local Authority Enforcement. FSA director of enforcement and food standards David Statham “We will be bringing more information and services online as they become available, and we're really keen to hear from users about any suggestions they have for improving the service. The portal is at www.food.gov.uk/enforcement.

The agency plans to launch a new section on imported food in the next few weeks, with information for consumers, food businesses, and enforcers.