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The Companies section...
is dominated by Monsanto, which, apart from producing record second-quarter results, entered into a deal with Bayer CropScience for a fungicidal seed treatment for GM SmartStax maize. The company is also to expand its glyphosate herbicide production facility in the US. This has been prompted by a global shortage and strong demand for the herbicide, which boosted second-quarter sales.

In other results, Arysta completed a strong 2007 spurred by robust Latin American sales, although Amvac’s results pointed to a somewhat muted first quarter.

In this issue’s Interview section, Agrow talks to the general secretary of the Chinese Crop Protection Industry Association, Shubao Sun, to get his insights into the vigorous Chinese market and the IPR issues that it faces.

In the Europe section...
The EU has approved six new ais for inclusion in Annex I of the EU agrochemical registration Directive (91/414) on August 1st.

The EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health has cleared nine herbicides, three insecticides and two fungicides for EU re-registration.

The European Commission has lost a European Court of Justice case against France over its rules on the parallel import of pesticides.

Germany has approved field trials of GM sugar beet.

In the United States section...
A coalition of US environmentalist and farmworker advocate groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA over the re-registration of four organophosphate insecticides. It is understood to be the first time that health effects and endangered species assessments have been linked in a single case.

The suit was filed on the eve of the CropLife America/Informa conference, “Regulation of Crop Protection Chemicals in the US”. Endangered species assessments figured largely during the first day of the meeting, with industry and EPA representatives repeatedly referring to the huge challenge involved. One of the main concerns was that lawsuit-driven assessments would impact the EPA’s ability to carry out nationwide reviews.

In the World section...
The Indian Supreme Court has delivered a ruling that may make the rules about GM field trials less stringent.

Brazil mulls the speeding up of the approvals process for new active ingredients.
Uganda has adopted a biotechnology law.

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