(1) The High-Stakes Battle, Brute-Force Genetic Engineering STEPHEN R. PALUMBI; The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com)  April 13, 2001 Genetically modified crops stand at the center of an intense debate between consumers and industrial developers, and between governments touting the benefits of high-tech agribusiness and citizens unsure about the safety of genetic manipulation. The biggest question centers on whether gene-altered crops are any different from artificially selected ones. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, for example, considers genetic engineering just another form of selective breeding, likening the insertion of a bacterial gene into a sugar beet to artificially selecting beets for the same characteristics. Consumer advocates and scientific watchdogs such as the Union of Concerned Scientists are not yet convinced. They call for more-comprehensive testing of potential genetically modified crops, and more-careful consideration of potential risks before widespread environmental release. `

Some caution seems warranted. Already, genes for herbicide resistance have escaped from their host plants to enter weed species through hybridization with pollen from crop plants. Such genes have also been up your nose if you've walked past a pollen- filled field of modified crops. Each bee carries those genes back to the hive in pollen sacks: They will be in honey. Each seed that escapes the thresher carries the gene into exile in next year's hedgerows or roadside verge. Worry about such escapes rings throughout the agricultural world.  But do these evolutionary manipulations differ....  

(2)   The Tightening Grip of Big Pharma (The Lancet) http://208.141.36.73/listarchive/index.cfm?list_id=30 (4/17 post) 14 April 2001 Editorial from THE LANCET. When Prof Martin Cormican, a bacteriologist at University College Hospital, Ireland, wrote to Bayer in November last year asking for a supply of pure ciprofloxacin and related products for his research into antibiotic resistance, he was asked to sign a document stating that, "We declare that we will inform Bayer AG in writing of our test results and will not publish or commercialise them without written permission of Bayer AG". He replied that he was "concerned in respect to the restriction on publication without permission". `

A Bayer employee, Dr Andrew Saich, called Cormican to say that he could neither waive nor remove the restriction, but he was sure it would not be enforced. Dissatisfied with this response, Cormican wrote to the European Commission seeking their support for his unfettered right to publish whatever results he obtained. Philippe Jean replied on March 13, 2001, describing the matter as "delicate". All he could do was remind pharmaceutical companies of "the potential public interest of this type of research". `

Nobody would deny a pharmaceutical company its right to commercialise results of scientific research. But that issue is completely different from its "right" to block publication. <italic>The Lancet</italic> recently came under pressure to remove a sentence from the discussion of a research paper, which raised questions over the safety of a drug. The lead author had shown the report to the company after final journal pages were passed for publication. She was satisfied with the paper but the company was unhappy. The best way for the journal to support her was to promise to publish an editorial naming the company and describing its attempts to manipulate the study's conclusions, if the offending sentence was removed. The final report remained in its original form. `

Efforts by drug companies to suppress, spin, and obfuscate findings that do not suit their commercial purposes were first revealed to their full, lethal extent during the thalidomide tragedy. Although government drug regulation schemes around the world are now in place, the insidious tactics of big pharma have changed little. For example....  

(3)   Highlights of Pharmacia's Successful First Year Presented at Annual Shareholder Meeting (PR Newswire, 17 April 2001) Fred Hassan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pharmacia Corporation, today told shareholders at the company's annual meeting that the company has delivered on its merger promise to create a first-tier global pharmaceutical business with a leading agricultural subsidiary. For full text, See: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010417/nytu111.html  

(4)   Thailand to Make GM Food Labelling Mandatory The Hindu Businessline (India) www.hindubusinessline.com or www.hindubusinessline.com/stories/071803bd.htm MUMBAI, April 17. THAILAND, a major food exporter, has committed to making labelling of genetically engineered (GM) food mandatory latest by the end of the year. The intention to introduce labelling rules for GE food came a week after the Thai government's decision to ban release of GE crops into the environment and to stop GE field trials was made public. According to Greenpeace, tests it conducted on food products demonstrated that the public was routinely and unknowingly exposed to GE-contaminated food. Almost 1 in 4 products tested contained GE ingredients, Greenpeace said adding that Nestle baby food (Baby Cerelac), Knorr cup soup (instant cream of corn soup) and Lay's Stax (potato crisp original flavour) and Pringles snacks were some of the products that were found to contain GE ingredients. Thailand is one of the world's leading food exporting countries and regularly exports to markets such as the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia that require strict labelling of GE ingredients in food. Currently, there are 28 countries with labelling legislation in place including Japan, Korea and 15 countries of the....  

(5)  Japan stays glued to fence on GMO 'traceability' issue http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010417b6.htm Kyodo News, 16 April 2001. Japan is the focus of mounting attention over its stance on the issue of establishing standards for foods made from genetically modified organisms, a subject taken up by a U.N. task force during a meeting in Japan in March. The main issue regarding the proposed standards is that of "traceability." Th is is a system whereby the various steps involved from the cultivation and processing of farm products to the manufacture of food products and their distribution, even after they are marketed, are tracked and pinpointed. The European Union wants to introduce a system of this kind, while the United States and Canada, the biggest producers of GMO foods, oppose such a move. Thus far, Japan has not clarified its position on the issue. The traceability system is similar to that used by public administration officials when they get reports of food poisoning. They investigate the reports, tracing the places where the food products were purchased and manufactured and how the raw materials were distributed. The traceability issue was a key focus of discussions during the second meeting of the Codex Ad-hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Food Derived from Biotechnology. The meeting was held from March 25 to 29 at the Makuhari Messe convention complex in Chiba Prefecture. The EU, which is cautious over....  

        (6)  GM seed export to East Slammed. Indonesia. South Africa. London's Daily Mail and Guardian, 12 April 2001. http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/archive/2001apr/features/12apr-gm.html A large consignment of genetically modified seed to Indonesia raises questions about South Africa's failure to sign an international treaty. When a South African cargo plane was offloaded at the military section of Indonesia's Makassar airport a few weeks ago, demonstrators and reporters were not allowed nearby. The cargo: 39 tons of cottonseed. If the consignment had been ordinary cottonseed, no one would have bothered. But this seed was genetically modified.  Activists on two continents are angry over the transfer - they see it as the proliferation of dangerous technology - and at the heavy-handedness that allegedly accompanied the transfer.  The incident has increased pressure on the South African government to sign an international protocol regulating cross-border trade in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which include seed....  According to the Jakarta Post, which witnessed the South African consignment being offloaded on March 15, the difference of opinion over GMOs is reflected at the highest level of the Indonesian state: The agriculture minister issued a decree allowing the distribution of the seed to farmers in the province, while the state environment minister criticised the decree and questioned the safety of the crops. The Jakarta Post says authorities 'apparently concealed' the consignment from the press - they denied at first that it was arriving. When reporters noticed a 'tightly guarded' Ilyusin cargo plane, chartered from Johannesburg, offloading the seed at Makassar airport, soldiers refused access. Environmental protesters, demanding....  

        (7)  The Regulation of Genetically Modified Foods (18 Apr 2001) The Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee (CBAC) has released a Consultation Document on the Regulation of Genetically Modified Foods to solicit stakeholder, expert and public input. Comments are welcome via the web, by telephone at 1-866-748-2222 or by mail at CBAC 235 Queen Street Ottawa K1A 0H5. Deadline for comments is April 20, 2001. http://www.checkbiotech.org/Society&Economics/TechnologyAssessment/docum ents

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