Health Impact News  Editor Comments:

White sugar, in any form, is not very healthy. But at least one can choose sugar cane over sugar beets to be assured you are not consuming a GMO product.

Sadly, that may not be true much longer, as Indonesia announced recently that they were developing a GMO variety of sugar cane.

Development underway for first transgenic sugarcane plantation

by Anggi M. Lubis 
The Jakarta Post

Excerpts:

The National Genetically Modified Product Biosafety Commission (KKHPRG) recently approved the first genetically-altered sugarcane crop, paving the way for the development of transgenic sugarcane for commercial production.

The cane, developed by state plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara, the Indonesian Sugarcane Plantation Research Center (P3GI) and experts from the State University of Jember in East Java, is currently under a limited field testing.

“We are proud to announce that the first biotech staple crop will be a drought-resistant sugarcane. We expect to see the transgenic sugarcane planted by next year at the latest,” Bambang explained.

The commission is currently assessing another sugarcane variety — said to be resistant to herbicide — developed by the state plantation company and scientists from the research center and the university.

Read the Full Story Here: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/05/20/development-underway-first-transgenic-sugarcane-plantation.html