Under its IFPRI Discussion Papers series, the International Food Policy Research Institute publishes papers containing preliminary material and research results which are circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment. Three of its recent papers deal with genetically modified organisms. Paper number 795, entitled "Publish or patent? Knowledge dissemination in agricultural biotechnology", by A. Michiels and B. Koo, analyses recent patterns of knowledge generation and dissemination in agricultural biotechnology, in particular plant breeding, by using the example of the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. Paper 796, entitled "Biosafety at the crossroads: An analysis of South Africa`s marketing and trade policies for genetically modified products", by G.P. Gruere and D. Sengupta, analyses the current and potential future of South African trade-related policies on GM products. Paper 808, entitled "Bt cotton and farmer suicides in India: Reviewing the evidence", by G.P. Gruere, P. Mehta-Bhatt and D. Sengupta, reviews the evidence on the alleged resurgence of farmer suicides in India and the potential relationship between the adoption of Bt cotton and suicides among Indian farmers. See http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/pubs.htm#dp or contact [email protected] for more information.

25/10/2008