British scientists seek go-ahead for GM ‘Omega-3’ crop trial

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – British scientists have applied for permission to run an open-air field trial of a genetically modified (GM) crop they hope may one day become a sustainable and environmentally friendly source of healthy Omega-3 fats. The proposed trial – likely to generate controversy in a nation where GM foods have little public support – could start as early as May and will use Camelina plants engineered to produce seeds high in Omega-3 long chain fatty acids. No GM crops are currently grown commercially in Britain and only two – a pest-resistant type of maize and a potato with enhanced starch content – are licensed for cultivation in the European Union (EU). But scientists at Britain’s agricultural lab Rothamsted Research have developed Camelina plants to produce Omega-3 fats that are known to be beneficial to health but normally found only in oils in increasingly limited fish stocks.

Medical charity in Myanmar says treated wounded near alleged massacre site

By Jared Ferrie YANGON (Reuters) – Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Friday it had treated 22 people in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state who had apparently been wounded last week around the time of a reported massacre of Rohingya Muslims, an incident the government denies. The United Nations and human rights groups say at least 40 Rohingya were killed by security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist civilians in mid-January in a restricted area of the conflict-ridden western state. On Friday, government spokesman Ye Htut denied there had been any mass killing, in line with statements over the past week. But information provided by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) further erodes the position of the government, which is facing international pressure to investigate the incident.

India’s Ranbaxy hit by FDA product ban at 4th Indian plant

File photo of a Ranbaxy office building in the northern Indian city of MohaliBy Toni Clarke and Sumeet Chatterjee WASHINGTON/MUMBAI (Reuters) – Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd faces long delays and high costs in launching big-selling generic drugs in the United States after products from a fourth plant were banned from entering its main market due to manufacturing violations. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's sanction is the latest in a series of regulatory rebukes for India's largest drugmaker by revenue since Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd took control of the company in 2008, and deals a further blow to the $12 billion Indian drug industry. The FDA said Ranbaxy is prohibited from making and selling pharmaceutical ingredients from its facility in Toansa in the northern state of Punjab, "to prevent substandard quality products from reaching U.S. consumers." The FDA ban on Ranbaxy's Toansa plant followed an inspection completed on January 11.

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