www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

The government is being watched like a hawk by the wine industry and
environmentalists as it prepares to make two key decisions on the use of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in wine, January 2007 by John Yeld.

The first relates to an application by Professor JJ Hennie van Vuuren,
director of the British Columbia Wine Research Centre at the University of
British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, to use genetically modified yeast in
wine-making in 20 wine- producing regions of the western and southern Cape.

The second - completely unrelated - is by Stellenbosch University's Wine
Biotechnology Institute for field trials for genetically modified (GM)
grapevines to produce both fruit and wine for research purposes.

Both decisions, which will be made by the Department of Agriculture's
Executive Council for Genetically Modified Organisms, may come as soon as
next month, although this could not be confirmed.

The yeast application is particularly controversial and is being opposed by,
among others, the South African Wine Industry Council and the GMO watchdog
Biowatch South Africa, whose formal objection to the application is being
supported by 12 winemakers, including high-profile players like Anthony
Hamilton Russell of Hamilton Russell Vineyards and Anton du Toit of
Lourensford and Lanzerac Wines.

Professor van Vuuren wants to apply genetically enhanced malolactic wine
yeast ML01 for the commercial production of wine in South Africa.

According to Biowatch, permitting this would likely result in "disastrous
consequences".

"There is a ban on genetically modified wine and overwhelming rejection of
all genetically modified food and drink by consumers in Europe, an important
export market for South African wine," it states. "The application ... is
likely to engender general suspicion among consumers, especially in South
Africa's key export markets. It is also likely to jeopardise the organic
wine sector."

There was a "real possibility" that the GM yeast could contaminate microbial
diversity of areas outside the wineries, such as through waste disposal, and
might also have negative impacts on human health, it added.

The second application, which involves a proposed field trial of GM
grapevine plants (chardonnay and sultana) on the university's Welgevallen
experimental farm just outside Stellenbosch, will be for research only.

The institute says fruit and wine that will be produced from this trial (if
the go-ahead is given) will be chemically analysed and then destroyed.

"The main objective of the proposed field trial is to analyse the appearance
and viticultural performance of the vines, as well as any effect on the
environment over at least five seasons under normal field conditions."

It adds that none of the genes or promoter sequences involved is considered
dangerous, and that field trials of transgenic grapevine plants are also
going on in Australia, France, Italy, the US and Germany.

Biowatch South Africa, the African Centre for Biosafety, and Earthlife
Africa are among the organisations objecting strongly to the application.
However, the SA Wine Industry Council has not objected - yet.

Biowatch's objections include that the application has inadequate monitoring
and assessment to prevent contamination and damage to the environment, and
that there are "significant discrepancies" between the institute's public
notice about the proposal and its actual application to the Registrar of
Genetic Resources.

On its website, the institute has set out a lengthy rebuttal of all
Biowatch's objections. It says, inter alia: "The grapevine biotechnology
research programme of the institute focuses on understanding and ultimately
improving disease resistance in grapevine in support of
environmentally-friendly production practices.

"The South African wine and grapevine industries have supported this
research since 1998 for its strategic potential and prospective economic
importance."

Biowatch's appeal against a Pretoria High Court order that it has to pay the
legal costs of GM seed producer Monsanto, despite its successful application
to be granted access to information it had requested about how decisions are
made relating to permits for GM crops in South Africa, has been set down for
April 23.

[allafrica.com]

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