10 YEARS OF GM WATCH - QUIZ-TIME!
Here's the second in our series of quizes celebrating 10 years of GM Watch. Send your answers to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by August 22.
THE PRIZES!
The 2 people with the highest score will get a DVD of Marie Robin's brilliant new movie The World According to Monsanto (plays in English, French or German).
A HELPING HAND!
As we had a couple of complaints that our first quiz was a bit on the hard side, we're pleased to say this one's a bit easier (even for non-Googlers) - as long as you're prepared to use your imagination!
For many of these questions all you need do is conjure up a biotech version of the Wizard of Oz. Transport yourself to a GM wonderland where nothing is as it seems”¦
QUIZ 2: FARMING IN A GM WONDERLAND
1. Many pro-GM commentators hail the technology as the solution to the current food crisis because of its ability to reduce fertilizer use and help farmers cope with problems like drought, salinity or flooding. After 20 years of GM research, how many GM drought tolerant, or salt tolerant, or flood tolerant, or fertilizer-reducing crops are there on the market worldwide?
2. There have been tens of thousands of articles in the world's media about 'miracle' crops genetically engineered for enhanced appearance, flavour, nutrition, or to be allergen-free, or to combat problems like obesity or to contain edible vaccines that protect against major diseases like cancer. How many of these GM crops are there on the market worldwide?
3. When published in April 2008, which appraisal of global agriculture, sponsored by the World Bank and the U.N., and undertaken on a scale comparable to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, concluded that GM crops have at best variable impacts on yields and would not play a substantial role in addressing climate change, loss of biodiversity, hunger or poverty?
4. More than 50% of the GM crops grown worldwide are farmed in the United States, and by far the most widely grown crop is herbicide-tolerant soyabeans. Based on U.S. Department of Agriculture trend data and numerous field studies, by roughly how much has GM soya increased yield for U.S. farmers compared to conventional (non-GM) varieties?
5. Who said the following about GM crops when promoting them as a solution to the food crisis? "We've been using them for 10 years in the United States and they have a proven effectiveness in increasing yields, in lowering the use of fertilizer, in providing better water and soil management and also increasing taste and appearance. So, you know, those are all good things."
6. What word did Prof. Dennis Murphy - the head of biotechnology at the University of Glamorgan, recently use to describe claims about GM crops solving the problem of drought or feeding the world?
7. Monsanto and its supporters claim that GM crops have been widely adopted in countries like the United States because of their economic benefits for farmers. Which organization in its review of GM crop cultivation in the U.S. commented, "Perhaps the biggest issue raised by these results is how to explain the rapid adoption of [GM] crops when farm financial impacts appear to be mixed or even negative"?
8. The Director of Corporate Affairs for Monsanto India says the increase in GM cotton acres there "bear testimony to the success of this technology and the benefit that farmers derive from it." According to Washington University researcher Glenn Stone's multi-year study of the behaviour of cotton farmers in a key cotton growing area of India, what underlay the rapid spread of GM cotton there?
9. The wife of which South African farmer who has been flown around the world by Monsanto to preach the benefits of GM cotton and detail how it has transformed his family's life, admitted on camera that they made no profit from the crop?
10. What was surprising about the posters that appeared in many places in Madhya Pradesh, India, featuring a man who said he'd gained great benefits from growing GM cotton and urging others to do the same?
11. Why was Gary Rinehart surprised to be publicly harassed over violating the Monsanto's patent on GM soybeans, and subsequently to have the company file a federal lawsuit against him?
12. What is the annual budget that Monsanto devotes to harassing, intimidating, suing - and in some cases bankrupting - American farmers over alleged improper use of its patented seeds?
Conditions:
1. No squabbling over the answers. Our verdict stands!
2. If more than 2 people get the highest score, we'll draw the winners out of a hat.
3. If you won a copy of the film in our earlier quiz, we won't send you another copy but your entry will still be marked to help decide if you are the highest scoring individual across all the quizzes. If you are, we'll send you a copy of the book Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy: Corporate PR and the Assault on Democracy.