REVIEW number 310

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GMWATCH REVIEW number 310
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from Claire Robinson, REVIEW editor
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Dear all:

This week has seen important breakthroughs in Sweden, where consumer and retailer pressure has now virtually eliminated GM animal feed from the food and feed chains, while activists are bravely stopping BASF from contaminating the Swedish countryside (EUROPE).

Meanwhile in the US, a court has ruled in favour of consumers and farmers and against the USDA and Monsanto in the GM sugar beet case (THE AMERICAS). And the European Council has been caught lying to citizens and member states over cloning (EUROPE).

Finally, the US biotech industry's continuing GM push in AFRICA is meeting stiff resistance, with the alarm being raised in Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org
Profiles: http://bit.ly/12UAI2
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c6OnaX

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CONTENTS
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EUROPE
THE AMERICAS
AFRICA
GM FAILURES
LOBBYWATCH
RESEARCH
ASIA
CODEX
VIDEOS

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EUROPE
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+ SWEDEN HEADS FOR GM-FREE STATUS
The main Swedish slaughter house operator SCAN has announced that they will no longer accept pigs for slaughter if they have been fed on GM animal feed. This is a major step in Sweden's move towards a completely GM-free food chain. SCAN's decision brings the company into line with Sweden's four major retail companies, all of which have a long-standing no-GM policy, and other producers of poultry/chicken, lamb, beef, veal and milk, which have rules against GM-feed for their animals. Sweden now seems set to exclude GM ingredients, including animal feeds, across its entire food production process. GM Freeze is repeating its call for UK retailers and producers to follow suit.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13162

+ SWEDEN: RISKY POTATO MASHED BY ACTIVISTS
The only GM crop to be cultivated in Sweden is a BASF GM potato which is due to be grown on a smallscale in the north of Sweden. So Swedish activists are occupying BASF's potato warehouse and are hindering the German chemical company from planting the risky GM industrial potato, Amflora. Last year, it was discovered that BASF had accidently contaminated the Amflora field with its own unapproved GM potato, Amadea.

The European Union has allowed up to 0.9% contamination of food crops with Amflora. This GM potato was approved without a proper environmental risk assessment or toxicity testing for humans and animals. The antibiotic resistance genes issue was simply ignored.

Greenpeace is demanding that BASF stop any further cultivation of Amflora and that the European Commission withdraw its approval of the GM potato.

GMWatch comment: Only BASF and its GM potatoes now stand in the way of Sweden becoming a GM-free country. It's important they are not allowed to continue to contaminate the Swedish countryside. The local government in the area has already asked BASF to stop planting GM potatoes but BASF is ignoring their demands.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13171

+ TRADE LAW AN EXCUSE TO STOP LABELLING OF FOOD FROM CLONES
The European Council (the EU's main decision making body) and European Commission misled member states and citizens when it claimed that its position on cloning was backed up by the legal opinions it sought, say Brussels-based Food and Water Europe and Washington-based Food & Water Watch.

A recently leaked legal opinion requested by the Council from its official Council Legal Services contradicts Council and Commission claims that banning or labelling food from clones and their offspring would risk a trade war between Europe and the US. In fact, the legal opinion says a ban could be supported by the arguments that food from clones is not a "like" product as compared with food from conventionally bred animals. A ban or labelling could be supported by consumers' ethical concerns.

Crucially, the legal opinion concludes that even if the argument about the "likeness" of cloned foods was lost, such food could be labelled under a GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) rule because of the moral and ethical requirements of consumers.

Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe commented, "What we now know is that not only is it entirely possible to trace clones and their offspring, but to do so and label the resulting foods is arguably not the violation of WTO rules they said it was, according to their own legal advice."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13168

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AFRICA
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+ TANZANIA MUST GUARD AGAINST GM LOBBY PRESSURE
An alliance of Tanzanian and international NGOs and businesses are urging government regulators to resist pressure to remove safety legislation protecting Tanzanian farmers and consumers. Previously officially free of GMOs, Tanzania is opening the door to GM biotechnology. Biosafety regulations and guidelines have been approved and GM research has started in preparation for commercialisation. But an important campaign of resistance is underway.

ActionAid Tanzania's Country Director, Aida Kiangi, commented, "We are one of many NGOs who have seen the fallout from this technology on small farmers and their families in other countries, and I urge my fellow Tanzanians to beware of the serious risks before it is too late."

Farmer Moses Shaha, the Regional Chairman of the Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers' Forum, warned that, "Big multinational companies are paying our scientists very well and imposing their agenda on what we should grow and eat." He also warned that GMOs will eventually destroy the country's traditional seeds, harm the environment and damage consumers' health.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13169
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13165

+ ARE GM CROPS BEING SNEAKED INTO KENYA?
Tests suggest GM contaminated seed from South Africa is being deliberately brought into Kenya so that farmers are planting GM seed without their knowledge and without any regulatory approval. There is also concern about the role of the Syngenta Foundation.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55648

+ COMPETITION COMMISSION ASKED TO INVESTIGATE MONSANTO'S DOMINANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa is the only African country to have enthusiastically embraced GM crops - something successive governments have done since the time of apartheid. Now groups in South Africa, including the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), the Surplus People Project (SPP), the Trust for Community Outreach (TCOE), the Food Sovereignty Campaign and Biowatch South Africa, have submitted a report to the Competition Commission in support of their requests that the Commission investigate Monsanto's extraordinary market power in the country. ACB director Mariam Mayet said, "Over the course of our investigation, we could only find one GM maize variety, of over 140 registered in South Africa, that contained GM technology not owned by Monsanto."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13163

+ HEAVY HANDS - MONSANTO'S CONTROL IN SOUTH AFRICA
This highly readable report provides an excellent introduction to the Monsanto Corporation as well as explaining its extraordinary market power in South Africa. Highly recommended.
http://bit.ly/mFZemm

+ THE PLIGHT OF FARMERS IN THE EASTERN CAPE
The ugly truth about GM crops in South Africa's Eastern Cape province.
http://bit.ly/ktEnyG

+ HYPING BT COTTON TO AFRICAN FARMERS
Reuters reports claims being made to farmers in Zimbabwe that Bt cotton will boost production by 400%!
http://t.co/2OJnAqc
By way of comparison, see the film A Disaster in Search of Success - Bt Cotton in the Global South which explains what has actually happened to Bt cotton farmers in neighbouring South Africa, as well as to farmers in Indonesia and India when they have grown Bt cotton.
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/22-gm-and-agriculture/12210

+ GM CROPS ARE A FAILURE
Zimbabwean agricultural policy expert Roger Mpande warns that GM crops are not beneficial to farmers and warns about their health, environmental and social impacts.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13170

+ GHANA: CONCERNS OVER GM CROPS
http://allafrica.com/stories/201105180733.html

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THE AMERICAS
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+ MONSANTO'S APPEAL OF GM SUGAR BEETS CASE DISMISSED
The US Court of Appeals has issued a summary order concluding a long-standing lawsuit over the impacts of GM Roundup Ready sugar beets. As a result, previous court rulings in favor of farmers and conservation advocates will remain, including the order requiring the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) to prepare a rigorous review of the impacts of GM sugar beets, before deciding whether to again allow their future commercial use.

Center for Food Safety (CFS) attorney George Kimbrell said the order cements a critical legal benchmark in the battle for meaningful oversight of biotech crops and food: "Because of this case, there will be public disclosure and debate on the harmful impacts of these pesticide-promoting crops, as well as legal protections for farmers threatened by contamination."

CFS, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds, and the Sierra Club, represented by CFS and Earthjustice, challenged the USDA approval in 2008. They argued that GM sugar beets would contaminate organic and non-GM farmers of related crops, such as table beets and chard, as well as increase pesticide impacts on the environment and worsen the Roundup-resistant "superweeds" epidemic. In 2009, a federal district court in San Francisco agreed, and ordered USDA to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) assessing these and other impacts, as required by law. In August 2010, after a year of vigorous litigation over the proper remedy for USDA's unlawful approval, the court again agreed with plaintiffs, threw out the USDA's approval, and halted planting.

Monsanto and other biotech industry intervenors appealed on procedural grounds which, if granted, threatened to undo the earlier rulings. The latest ruling dismissed that appeal and affirmed the lower court's rulings.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13176

+ U.S.: STATES LEAD DEBATE OVER GM FOOD LABELING
In the absence of a federal law requiring labels for GM food, 14 states are debating whether to mandate labeling for GM foods sold within their borders. The discussions, taking place from Albany, NY, to Sacramento, come as federal regulators weigh approval of the first GM animal, a salmon, for human consumption.

In four states - California, Oregon, Vermont and Alaska - lawmakers are considering legislation that would pertain only to fish. The other states, including New York, are grappling with measures that would require all foods made from GM ingredients to disclose that information on the label.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13175

+ GM SALMON: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
An informative collection of questions and answers on GM salmon are here:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13177

+ PHARMA PLANT FIRM HITS THE WALL
A Canadian biotech firm using GM safflowers as factories to develop plant-based insulin and a cardiovascular drug has laid off its staff and hasn't ruled out winding down its operations. SemBioSys Genetics said it had provided "working notice of termination to all affected employees" in an effort to "stretch its available cash runway" while it explores its options.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13178

+ HIGH COST OF GM SOY IN PARAGUAY
An article in the Telegraph tells how scientists and villagers in rural Paraguay are questioning the health and environmental impact of GM soy. The article recounts the story of 11-year-old Silvino Talavera, who died after being sprayed with agrochemicals (including glyphosate).
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13164

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GM FAILURES
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+ GM MAIZE FAILURE IS LESSON FOR THE FUTURE
Last week, the New York Times reported that a new GM maize variety produced by Monsanto did not perform any better than conventional varieties. The findings come from a US Department of Agriculture draft environmental impact assessment, produced as a step towards approval of the new GM crop. It could mean that years of investment in this technology has been a failure, writes Dr Helen Wallace of GeneWatch UK.

Wallace says the problems highlight an unpalatable truth for advocates of GM - the technology has been spectacularly unsuccessful at delivering complex traits such as drought tolerance, which involve multiple genes and complex interactions with the plant's environment. Meanwhile, conventional breeding and marker-assisted selection have produced a long string of successes.

Wallace concludes that GM is a tool best left at the bottom of the tool box if we want to support Britain's farmers and feed the world in a sustainable way.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13160

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ GM TOMATO PUREE: THE SUCCESS STORY THAT NEVER WAS
GM tomato puree is often touted by the biotech lobby as an example of a GM product that outsold non-GM equivalent products and would have been a success were it not for the fearmongering of anti-GM activists. But this is untrue, as revealed by an article by Dr Peter Quaife, based on research he conducted for his PhD thesis. Quaife's research showed that the GM tomato puree was actively promoted in UK stores by those pushing the technology. These people pressured store owners to price the GM product at an artificially low cost that did not reflect the cost of production. They also ensured that it was placed in stores known to have lots of cost conscious customers, who are more likely to value cheapness. Information leaflets given to customers offered only positive messages about GM, not arguments against.

In other words, the 'success' of GM tomato puree was not due to a free choice by consumers, but to a promotional launch. The launch showed not what consumers want, but the extent to which they can be persuaded to buy a product by marketing techniques. Even this engineered 'success' was short-lived, as consumers rapidly turned against GM when they found out more about it.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13173
Pro-GM website claims GM tomato as "big success":
http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/grocery_shopping/fruit_vegetables/15.genetically_modified_tomatoes.html

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RESEARCH
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+ WHOLE GM BT TOXINS FOUND IN HUMAN AND FOETAL BLOOD - GM CROPS/IMPORTS MUST STOP
The study that found GM Bt toxin in the blood of women and evidence that it was passed to foetuses continues to make headlines. Articles appeared in the UK's Daily Mail, Telegraph and Independent newspapers. GM Freeze is calling for an immediate halt to GM Bt crop cultivation and imports of Bt GM food and feed until the findings are properly evaluated and further studies can be done.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13174
Useful study summary
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/GM_blood_study_summary_FINAL.pdf
Why Bt toxin found in human blood is not harmless
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13142

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ASIA
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+ INDIA'S POLITICIANS JOIN OPPOSITION TO GM CROPS
As India gets ready to unleash GM food crops, politicians have joined activists in opposing engineered crops. This is snowballing into a volatile political issue with states refusing to let the Centre have the final say in the matter. A number of chief ministers have objected to field tests of GM crops being conducted in their backyard, while some have declared that their states will be GM-free, citing health and environmental concerns.

The political standoff comes against the worrying backdrop of slipshod regulation, says an article for Down to Earth. Not only is illegal herbicide-tolerant cotton spreading across the country, but biosafety regulations are being openly flouted by private crop developers acting in collusion with public research institutions. At the same time the industry is demanding a dilution of the rules on field tests and other regulations.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13161
Links to several other related articles can be found here
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/33512

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CODEX
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+ CODEX POISED TO ADOPT NEW GM LABELLING GUIDELINES
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a UN agency which sets international norms for food safety and the food trade. After nearly two decades of debate, the Codex Committee on Food Labeling has finally adopted a Guideline on labeling of GM foods. The Guideline will provide some protection from the World Trade Organization for national-scale GM-labeling programs around the world. For a country considering whether to have a labeling scheme or not, this means US diplomats can no longer whisper in their ear that they could face a WTO trade dispute as a result.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13179

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VIDEOS
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+ PROBLEMS WITH GM SALMON
Patty Lovera from Food & Water Watch and Eric Hoffman from Friends of the Earth discuss the problems with AquaBounty's GM salmon.
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/34-gm-animals/12454

+ ANTI-GM SONGS
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/35_songs
***Smells like genocide: Why we don't want to eat GM foods
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/35-songs/12986
***OGM Monsanto 2011: Song from the album Zulu Nation by Square Lohkoh about Monsanto's terrible record
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/35-songs/12929