More on how GMOs are aggressively promoted around the world via lies and disinformation, hype and false promises, corruption and double dealing, stratagems and trade pressure.

Previously in this series:
THE WORST OF 2006 - PART 2: JULY-OCTOBER
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7462
DIE SCHLECHTESTEN NACHRICHTEN DES JAHRES 2006 - TEIL 2
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7465
THE WORST OF 2006 - PART 1: JANUARY-JUNE
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7456
DIE SCHLECHTESTEN NACHRICHTEN DES JAHRES 2006 - TEIL 1
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7459
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THE WORST OF 2006 - PART 3: NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

NOVEMBER

+ November: BILATERAL BIOSAFETY BULLIES
A new report exposed how bilateral trade agreements are being used to prise open markets for GM. A powerful alliance of GM-supporting governments, the agribusiness sector and transnational companies have increasingly been using these trade agreements to side-step worldwide opposition to GMOs and weaken regulatory controls.
http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=199

+ November: INDIAN BIOTECH INDUSTRY DISINFO 
An article by C Kameswara Rao of India's Foundation for Biotech Awareness and Education claimed GM rice trials posed no threat because rice pollen is viable only for a few minutes during which it can only tavel a few meters, after which it "cannot 'contaminate' any other rice variety". Rao's complacent claim came at a time when many of America's rice exports were being returned home because rice across six states had been contaminated as a result of GM rice trials! (See next item) 
Rao also made a number of other ludicrous assertions in the article, including a claim that Golden Rice seeds are being stored in a bomb proof shelter because of the alarm created by attacks on laboratories, field trials (there haven't been any! - ed.) and the researchers. Dr Rao failed to explain why no one else had ever heard of any of these terrifying attacks. (More on Golden Rice below)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7244

+ November: BAYER BLAMED FARMERS AND GOD FOR ITS RICE CONTAMINATION! 
The company responsible for the contamination of much of the US long-grain rice supply, contended that rice farmers and an "act of God" were the real culprits. The contamination by an unapproved GMO caused the industry's worst ever crisis with:
*over 40% of US rice exports negatively affected 
*multiple federal lawsuits filed 
*trade with the 25-nation EU at a standstill 
*other countries banning US long-grain rice imports 
*many other countries requiring testing 
*some markets for medium- and short-grain rice also affected *another Bayer GM rice (LL62) also detected 
US rice farmers have also been told they will never again be able to validly describe their crop as "GM-free".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7306
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7294

+ November: BAYER HONOURED WAR CRIMINAL 
On All Saints Day, Bayer had a wreath laid on the grave of the convicted war criminal Fritz ter Meer. Ter Meer, born in 1884, was a board member of Bayer's parent company IG Farben from 1925. During the Second World War he was responsible for the construction of the IG Farben factory in Auschwitz, in which around 30,000 slave labourers went to their deaths. After the war ter Meer was sentenced to seven years in prison for enslavement and looting. Following his release, ter Meer became chairman of the board of Bayer. For decades Bayer refused to pay compensation to surviving slave labourers. Only after international protests did it finally agree to pay damages - more than 50 years after the end of the war.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7272

+ November: LORD SAINSBURY QUIT 
Lord Sainsbury quit as Tony Blair's science minister. British Government sources claimed he was tired of being tainted in the cash-for-peerages scandal. Although unelected, Sainsbury had been Science Minister since 1998, in which time he contributed enormously to the corporate take over of UK public science. A GM enthusiast with biotech business interests, he was also a member of the cabinet biotechnology committee, Sci-Bio, responsible for national policy on GM crops and foods, and as such he was a key adviser to Blair on GM technology. Lord Sainsbury has also been the biggest donor to Blair's Party, leading to accusations from within the Party of corruption of the political process.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7256

+ November: NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY'S "TRUTH" IS A DODGY OPTION 
An editorial in the journal Nature Biotechnology told pro-GM scientists that only the constant repetition of "basic truths" will establish "the facts" and counter the "myths" about the hazards of GM food. But, revealingly, the editorial was itself built upon a lie.
The editorial began by contrasting the publicity surrounding the E. coli O157 contamination of spinach in the US with that surrounding the GM contamination of US rice. The latter coverage was full of alarm and misinformation, claimed the editorial. The truth of the E. coli outbreak, on the other hand, was that organic spinach apparently caused significant numbers of people to get sick and some possibly to die. Yet the publicity surrounding this calamity was very moderate and restrained, the editorial claimed.
GM WATCH commented: There is no scientific evidence that organic spinach caused anyone to get sick or die! All 13 of the bags of spinach which were found to contain E. Coli O157 came from conventional farms - not one was organic. And much of the impression otherwise is thanks to alarmist and misleading propaganda pieces from GM proponents (see PART 2: SEPTEMBER), which seems to be where the editorial writers of Nature Biotechnology get their "facts"!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7243

+ November: HIGH COURT CHALLENGE AGAINST FSA OVER GM 
A High Court judge gave Friends of the Earth permission to take its legal challenge against the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) to a full hearing in the High Court. The FSA is accused of failing to take appropriate action to prevent unauthorised GM rice entering the UK food chain. 
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7312

+ November: SPINNING NON-GM BREAKTHROUGHS AS GM SUCCESSES!
Faced with the repeated successes of non-GM plant breeding approaches, such as marker-assisted selection (MAS), GM proponents repeatedly presented these breakthroughs as if they were GM successes! CS Prakash's AgBioView even posted a press piece that not only claimed a non-GM biofortified wheat as a *GM* success story but also used it to deliver a sermon on the subject - ridiculing "traditionalists" for their "shrieks of terror" at GM!!!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7344
While much hyped GM crops like Golden Rice are still years away from going into farmers' fields, this non-GM biofortified wheat joins a growing list of non-GM successes, some of which are already being tried out by farmers:
Non-GM flood-tolerant rice could help millions of small farmers http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7340
Natural 'golden millet' rivals 'golden rice' 
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7182
Dream (non-GM) rice to curb malnutrition
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7078
Non-GM vitamin A fortified potato to combat blindness
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7248
Non-GM maize boosts vitamin A
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7079

+ November: CONFLICTS NOT DISCLOSED 
Research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, showed that scientists are failing to disclose their financial interests in the form of patents. The study of research papers on molecular biology and genetics published in Nature over a 6-month period, showed that in two thirds of papers relevant patent applications or company affiliations are not disclosed by the authors.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7221

+ November: POTRYKUS CLAIMED 240,000 AVOIDABLE DEATHS 
The co-inventor of Golden Rice, Ingo Potrykus claimed India's delay in releasing Golden Rice had led to an avoidable loss of nearly a quarter of a million lives. But this is nonsense. Golden Rice is still in the labs and the developers have yet to even apply for permission for field trials in India. 
Despite Golden Rice being stuck at the development stage, Potrykus has been accusing opponents of GM of "crimes against humanity" for the last 4 years and has been claiming to have solved the problem of Vitamin A deficiency for even longer. The irony is, of course, that as the renowned Indian scientist Dr Pushpa Bhargava has pointed out, "there are other cheaper and better sources [for tackling Vitamin A deficiency] already available." 
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7311
More on Potrykus and his use of Golden Rice as a poster child for GM
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=105

+ November: BLAIR ATTACKED "IRRATIONAL ARGUMENTS" ON GMOs 
Tony Blair claimed the arguments against GM foods are not "rational". He was making a keynote speech on science and the economy, in which he called for Britain to discuss technological innovations in a more "scientifically literate" fashion and attacked those who had "distorted" facts to oppose developments such as GM foods. Responding to the speech, Dr Sue Mayer, GeneWatch UK's Director said: "The prime minister is extraordinarily ignorant about the scientific method. This makes him blind to the dangers of corporate control of science and deaf to the genuine concerns that people have about the impacts of new technologies on society."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7245
See also John Vidal on "Blair's science fiction".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7245

+ November: MURDEROUS MISINFORMATION 
The dire failure of Bt cotton in Maharashtra in 2005, which triggered a wave of farmer suicides so awful it was reported around the world, still did not prevent the hyping of Bt cotton for the following growing season. In late November 2006 the renowned Indian development journalist, P Sainath reported on the failure yet again of Bt cotton. And Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a local grassroots pressure group representing hard pressed farmers in the main cotton growing belt of Maharashtra, reported that all recent farmer suicides there involved Bt cotton. VJAS later dismissed claims by pro-GM lobbyists that it was fake Bt cotton that was the problem. The farmers adversely affected had all been growing Monsanto-Mahyco's Bt cotton, VJAS reported. 
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7430

+ November: GM SCIENTIST IGNORED SCIENCE IN HUSBAND'S BOOK!
Dr Mary Christey is the project leader for the GM brassicas that the Institute for Crop and Food Research are seeking to field test in New Zealand. In promoting the tests, Dr Christey has been quoted in the NZ press saying there's no scientific evidence of insects becoming resistant to the Bt toxin deployed in plants like her GM brassicas. However, Dr Elvira Dommisse, herself a former GM scientist at Crop and Food Research, pointed out that Dr Christey's claims not only failed to tally with the scientific literature but they were even contradicted by evidence available in a book on Bt co-authored by Dr Christey's husband, also at Crop and Food Research.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7263

DECEMBER

+ December: CANCER PIONEER ON MONSANTO'S PAYROLL 
It emerged in late 2006 that a renowned British scientist was on the payroll of Monsanto while investigating cancer risks. Sir Richard Doll was said to have received a consultancy fee of $1,500 a day from Monsanto during the mid-1980s. Doll, an epidemiologist, also received payments from the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the companies Dow Chemicals and ICI. Doll largely cleared the chemical industry of having links with cancer, a conclusion which goes against the World Health Organisation's assessment. 
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7376
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7378
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7380
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7448

+ December: PHONE THREATS THAT NEVER WERE 
The Guardian ran an article by its science correspondent, Ian Sample, headlined, "Farmer quits GM trial after phone threats" and the BBC also reported that "many scientists" were angry about "what they deem to be intimidation". There was also discussion of the locations of UK GM crop trials being kept secret in future. And an article circulated by CS Prakash's AgBioView claimed the story showed reason, freedom and democracy all under threat. However, the farming press later quoted the police as saying there had never been any threats made against the farmer. This is not the first time such claims have been exposed as having no other source than industry spin.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7422
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7400
For official complacency over the GM potato trials
http://www.gmwatch.org/print-archive2.asp?arcid=7161

+ December: GM THE ANSWER - SCOTLAND'S SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR
Scotland's new chief scientific adviser, Prof Anne Glover, urged people to embrace GM as an answer to poverty, hunger and toxic pollution. Glover is a business-savvy genetic engineer who set up the firm Remedios, named Scotland's "Best New Biotechnology Company" for Biotech Scotland by its industry peers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7421

+ December: SPINNING GM FROM ST LOUIS AS THE SAVIOUR OF AFRICA 
In December Monsanto's home-town paper - the St Louis Post-Dispatch - ran a series of articles claiming to explore "hunger in Africa and the role that biotech has in stemming it". The articles promoted the work of Monsanto's "non-profit" partner in St Louis, the Danforth Center. According to the Post-Dispatch, "The center is trying to give away a genetically engineered cassava, one of the most important foods in Africa. A spreading virus is wiping out the crop. The St Louis scientists think they have the cure."
GM WATCH commented: Only a few months ago the Danforth Center quietly admitted that its GM cassava varieties had lost their resistance to the virus. Although the cassava has now been re-engineered, given that the failure of the previous GM varieties took some 7 years to show up, it's more than a little early to be talking up a cure! The Post-Dispatch also underplayed the fact that non-GM virus resistant varieties are already available. We can only speculate as to who paid for this PR showcase.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7381
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7384

+ December: SOLUTIA-MONSANTO BANKRUPTCY FARCE CONTINUES
In 2006 Solutia Inc. continued to seek ways to emerge from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Solutia was spun off from Monsanto as a way for Monsanto to divest itself of billions of dollars in environmental cleanup costs and other liabilities for its past actions - liabilities that eventually forced Solutia to seek Chapter 11 protection. According to a spokesman for Solutia, "(Monsanto) sort of cherry-picked what they wanted and threw in all kinds of cats and dogs as part of a going-away present," including $1 billion in debt and environmental and litigation costs. Some pre-bankruptcy Solutia equity holders allege Solutia was set up fraudulently as it was doomed to fail under the financial weight of Monsanto's liabilities.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7282
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7428

+ December: ANIMAL CLONING COMPANIES GUIDING THE FDA
At the end of the year the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) issued a landmark draft decision. The meat and milk products of cloned animals were safe to eat, they said, which could result in cloned food being sold in the US - and exported - within months without any labels identifying its origins. This draft risk assessment leaned heavily on the work of animal-cloning companies. Over a quarter of the 700-page draft was a data dump from just two such companies - a fact that the New York Times failed to mention, even when quoting the president of one (ViaGen) as saying, "I think that this draft is going to provide the industry the comfort it needs." The founders of these companies, incidentally, also support the genetic engineering of humans.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7440
GM WATCH note: You can respond to the FDA here http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/clones.htm