Positive signals
September 5, 2008
Piet Vanthemsche, Chairman of the Boerenbond (Belgium's largest farmers association) expresses in an interview his ‘vicarious shame’ over the federal Ministers’ refusal.
September 9, 2008
In the meantime, our head start is slowly melting away. Researchers Vincent Chiang and Hasan Jameel from the University of North Carolina receive 1 million dollar from the American Department of Agriculture for field tests with modified poplars. As VIB, they want to test genetically modified poplars with less lignin in realistic cultivation circumstances, with the goal of producing bio-ethanol. Read more
September 11, 2008
The European Parliament’s Industry and Energy Commission subscribes to the goal to have by 2020 at least 10% of the energy used in road transport from renewables. The European Commission sets an intermediary target of 5 percent by 2015. In this, the importance of second generation biofuels is emphasized.
September 24, 2008
VIB informs about the financial injection from Stanford University in a part of its poplar research program. Next to trees with less lignin the researchers also invest in working on trees with modified lignin, that would be less cumbersome during the production of bio-ethanol. They have now been granted 1.6 million dollar, to be spread over three years, from the American Global Climate and Energy Project, managed by Stanford University. Read the press release (pdf - 55 Kb).
October 5, 2008
As an answer to a parliamentary question of MEP Ivo Belet the European Commission states: 'Field trials with genetically manipulated poplars are a necessary prerequisite for a potential future approval of such products for commercial cultivation. An important support for VIB's field trial request. Read here the full text of question and answer(pdf - 10 Kb).
The Calvary Continued...
Read here.
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