By Tutku Ayvaz

Turkey has received the first round of proposals for new projects aimed at
tapping a considerable amount of the 188 million euro fund allocated by the
European Union for biotechnology projects under the Seventh Framework
Program.
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, or TÜBITAK,
which coordinates the cooperation with Brussels, will start the second call
for project proposals in September.

The Special Cooperation Program includes fields supported by the Seventh
Framework Program, namely food, agriculture, fisheries and biotechnology.
Within the program, successful projects with a budget of 1 to 6 million
euros will be chosen and implemented in cooperation with industrial
establishments and research associations.

The program funded 12 Turkish partners who took part in 11 projects last
year, national coordinator of the Seventh Framework Program Okan Kara said,
adding that those projects were supported with a total of 1 million euros.

Turkey's Troyka is a project partner

Because genetically modified food has been a controversial subject lately, a
study on the effects of modified food has attracted particular attention of
those projects received after the first call.

The project on modified food is conducted by the medical department of
Vienna and Turkey's Troyka company. Partners aim to create a tool through
which the effects of modified food on health can be studied.

The project, titled the GM-Biomarkers study of short- and long-term effects
of genetically modified organisms in animal and human health, will last for
36 months and will be supported by a budget of 3.4 million euros.

Genetics of wheat and barley under study

A project on food labeling has a Turkish partner as well. The European Food
Information Council, or EUFIC, and Dokuz Eylül University are collaborating
on the subject.

The project, with a budget of 2.8 million euros, seeks to determine how food
labels affect consumers' choices, nutrition habits and viewpoints on health
issues related to food.

The EU will support another project through a fund of 5.3 million euros,
under the coordination of French National Institute for Agricultural
Research. The project will be conducted with many partners, including
Sabanci University. Thanks to the work on genetic codes of wheat and barley,
an increase in quality and production is being targeted.

Biotechnology defines techniques used to understand and alter the functions
of human, animal and plant cells.

Besides food, agriculture and biotechnology, the EU's Seventh Framework
Program also supports health, information and communication technology,
nanotechnology, energy, environment, transportation, socio-economic and
human sciences, security, and space fields.
www.checkbiotech.org