GMWatch News Review archive

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEEKLY WATCH number 264
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear all:

A new study shows that Roundup residues in food and feed cause cell damage and death. All genetically engineered Roundup Ready (RR) crops used for feed and food purposes will contain RR residues at or above the studied level (NEW RESEARCH AND REPORTS).

And a team from Tufts University in the US is testing GM Golden Rice on children (CORPORATE CRIMES).

Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

CORPORATE CRIMES
CONTAMINATION
LOBBYWATCH
NEW RESEARCH AND REPORTS
THE AMERICAS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
EUROPE
AFRICA
ASIA
CATHOLIC CHURCH
NEW BOOKS/REPORTS/FILM/TALKS
COMPANY NEWS
NON-GM SUCCESSES
LEGAL VICTORIES
LOBBYWATCH

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORPORATE CRIMES
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ CHILDREN USED AS GM GUINEA PIGS
GM-Free Cymru has revealed that a team from Tufts University in the US is using children in a trial of GM "Golden Rice". Details are to be found on the US Government Clinical trial web site.
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00680212?cond=%22Vision+Disorders%22&rank= 17
A clinical trial was cut short in China last month when the government found that 24 children of 6-8 years of age at a primary school in Henyang in Hunan province were to be used as guinea pigs to test Golden Rice.
http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/Economy-and-Banking/Golden-Scare.html

+ MONSANTO DOING "RURAL CLEANSING" IN U.S.
An article for OpEd news tells how private detectives in Illinois are serving notices on many farmers and seed cleaners that they are being sued by Monsanto. Farmers report that a Monsanto investigator laughed that they were doing "rural cleansing".
http://www.opednews.com/articles/MONSANTO-investigator-in-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090110-871.html
TAKE ACTION: Contact your local newspaper in the U.S. or Congress people:
Investigate Monsanto's antitrust and criminal activities.
http://www.usalone.net/cgi-bin/oen.cgi?qnum=6778

+ SETTLEMENT IN BAYER POLLUTION CASE
In 2006 hundreds of illnesses were reported after residents of two US counties breathed an onion-like smell of chemical odorant propyl mercaptan and organophosphate pesticide Mocap. Two related deaths are reported. The Mocap wash water came from a Bayer Cropscience plant in Alabama. Now a $4 million settlement has been reached.
http://www.cbgnetwork.de/4.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTAMINATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ EXTENSIVE GM CONTAMINATION OF HONEY
A German magazine has had honey tested and found extensive GM contamination. In its January edition, the German eco-magazine Oko-Test published its analysis of 24 honeys, including 6 canola honeys, for GM and pesticide contamination, as well as other quality criteria. A whopping eleven samples (almost half of the samples) - mainly from South America - were contaminated with GM pollen, predominantly of GM Roundup Ready soya. The lab found GM canola pollen in Canadian Canola-Clover Honey.
Summary in English
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/48-Extensive-GM-contamination-of-honey.html
Original article in German:
http://www.oekotest.de/cgi/ot/otgs.cgi?doc=92008

+ UK: OUTRAGEOUS - GM CHOCOLATE ON SALE IN TESCOS UK!
Hershey Brazil has removed GM ingredients from its bars but Hershey appears unwilling to do the same for consumers in the UK. Have a look at this label showing 3 different GM ingredients in Hershey's Nutrageous bars on sale in Tescos.
http://flickr.com/photos/mikegrenville/3174531452
URGENT ACTION: GM Freeze sets out 3 effective actions you can take to protest
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?id=357&iType=1083

+ SWEDEN: GM LABELLING CONDEMNED AS MISLEADING
http://www.thelocal.se/16492/20081220/

+ UK: GM CONTAMINATION IN SOMERSET RAISES IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
GM Freeze points out questions raised by the contamination incident that led to over 50,000 GM plants being illegally grown that went on to produce GM seeds.
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?id=363&iType=

+ NEW ZEALAND: SAFETY BREACH DURING GM TRIAL
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/01/12/12459800051c
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0901/S00010.htm
http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/call_ge_field_trials_be_closed

+ GM WHEAT: SEGREGATION IMPOSSIBLE
http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/acres_dwindle_wheat_farmers_consider_options_biotechnology

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW RESEARCH AND REPORTS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ ROUNDUP RESIDUES IN FOOD CAUSE CELL DAMAGE AND DEATH
A research study from CRIIGEN shows that Roundup residues found in GM food and feed can cause cell damage and even death -- even at very low levels. The authors say that their research "points to undesirable effects which are currently masked or hidden from scientific scrutiny."

This is yet another example of harm associated with GM crops which are currently on the market. In this case the harm is "indirect" -- but it is nonetheless inescapable since all RR crops used for feed and food purposes will contain RR residues at or above the studied level.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx800218n

+ NEW PAPER ON MONSANTO'S SAVE THE WORLD RHETORIC
Development expert Dominic Glover shows the cognitive dissonance that has existed since the earliest days between the kinds of GM crops Monsanto has actually been developing (designed to meet the needs of farmers in industrialised countries) and the company's rhetoric about their relevance to the needs of farmers in the developing world. (Made by Monsanto: The Corporate Shaping of GM Crops as a Technology for the Poor)
http://www.steps-centre.org/PDFs/GM%20Crops%20web%20final_small.pdf

+ NEW REPORT ON GOLDEN RICE
A new report for Food Watch on the Golden Rice Project reveals wildly exaggerated claims of "benefits" for Golden Rice, and dubious science and technical data which has been systematically kept hidden from the public. The commercial aspirations of Syngenta and other GM multinationals have also taken precedence over solving the real problem of Vitamin A deficiency in developing countries.
http://www.foodwatch.de/english/golden_rice/index_ger.html

+ NEW STUDY: "BIOFUELS" THE WORST OPTION
An ambitious new study, which attempts to rank the desirability of 11 possible future energy sources, has found biofuels to be the least desirable. Ethanol use was found to cause the most climate damage, air pollution, damage to land and wildlife, and chemical waste. The study has been published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/biofuels-bottom-of-the-heap-in-impact-study.html

+ NEW STUDY: CROPS ABSORB LIVESTOCK ANTIBIOTICS
For half a century, US meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. Now scientists have discovered that vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the University of Minnesota.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/antibiotics-in-crops

+ NEW STUDY: BILLIONS FACE FOOD SHORTAGES
Half of the world's population could face severe food shortages by the end of the century as rising temperatures take their toll on farmers' crops, according to a study in the US journal Science. In many countries, a combination of poor farming practices and deforestation, exacerbated by climate change, may steadily degrade soil fertility, leaving vast areas unsuitable for crops or grazing. In 2007, scientists warned that poor soil fertility meant a global food crisis was likely in the next half-century.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/09/food-climate-change
SOIL ASSOCIATION COMMENT: "There exist practical farming methods that can provide communities with resilience to climate challenges while halting further damage to the environment, as confirmed by a recent UN report. An analysis of 114 projects in 24 African countries found that yields had more than doubled where organic practices had been used, along with benefits such as improved soil fertility and water retention leading to greatly increased drought resistance. Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme stated that, "organic agriculture can be more conducive to food security in Africa than most conventional production systems, and that it is more likely to be sustainable in the long-term."

+ ORGANICS CAN FEED AFRICA OFFICIAL
A major study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concludes organic farming offers Africa the best chance of breaking the long inherent cycle of poverty and malnutrition. Research conducted by UNEP suggests that organic, small-scale farming can deliver the increased yields which were thought to be the preserve of industrial high-tech farming, in addition to reversing environmental and social damages, leading to greater food security. The report is available at
http://www.unep.ch/etb/publications/insideCBTF_OA_2008.pdf

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE AMERICAS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ FARMERS TURNING THEIR BACK ON GM SOYA IN U.S.
A second report of farmers turning their backs on GM soy in the US follows a similar report from Brazil. "We've been hearing about farmers returning to conventional soybean varieties in 2009 to lower input costs and take advantage of overseas demand for non-GMO beans," says Dr David Wright, Director of Research for the North Central Soybean Research Program (NCSRP).
http://www.prweb.com/releases/SoybeanVarieties/soybeans/prweb1833374.htm

+ UPDATE FROM GM-FREE BRAZIL CAMPAIGN
http://www.aspta.org.br/por-um-brasil-livre-de-transgenicos/updates/update-from-the-gm-free-brazil-campaign-jan.2009/

+ GM GOAT MILK TO GET FDA APPROVAL
http://www.medindia.net/news/Transgenic-Goat-Milk-for-Rare-Clotting-Disorder-to-Receive-FDA-Approval-46207-1.htm

+ NEW AG TECHNOLOGIES LEAD TO DESKILLING
Farming skills will be lost as a result of the push for GM crops, says an article for Farm Press.
http://southeastfarmpress.com/news_archive/agricultural-technology-0106/
In contrast, innovative agroecological farming approaches can boost farmers' skills while delivering substantial and sustainable benefits, particularly in the developing world.
http://www.bangmfood.org/feed-the-world

+ USA: GM-FREE LABELS OPPOSED BY THE INDUSTRY
http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/biotech_industry_tags_Oge_free¹_labels
_misleading

+ OBAMA-WATCH
The Guardian's environment correspondent John Vidal writes:
Here's a new year's resolution for British greenies: must stop expecting that Obama will change everything. Eco Soundings sees that he has made Tom Vilsack his farming supremo. This is the man who vociferously promoted the US dash to ethanol and biofuels that helped make hundreds of millions of people in poor countries hungrier. He is also the biotech industry's poster boy since he banned the right to regulate where GM foods could be grown.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/07/eco-soundings-obama-environment-green

+ THE COMING CAPITALIST CONSENSUS
The swift unraveling of the global economy combined with the ascent to the US presidency of an African-American liberal has left millions anticipating that the world is on the threshold of a new era. How realistic is this view? Walden Bello tries to answer this question in an article at:
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20090107-181959/The-co ming-capitalist-consensus

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ GM SOYA WREAKS CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC HAVOC
"[Soy is] a disease, stuck in the marrow of my bones. It sustains me enough to keep me breathing at the end of each day, but it is rotting me alive. It is slowly numbing my body from the inside out. This crop has robbed me of my child. It has robbed me of my youth, my hope, my want to look ahead to a future. I am not the only one. There are many of us. In America you have cocaine to kill slowly; in Argentina we have soybeans.”
- Sonita Ponce, Argentinian farmer, cited by Meriwether Hardie in “Argentina: GM Soy Wreaks Cultural and Economic Havoc in Jujuy”, Upside Down World, 8 January 2009. ARTICLE WORTH READING IN FULL:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1656/1/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EUROPE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ BELGIUM: REFUSAL OF GM POPLAR FIELD TRIAL OVERTURNED
The Belgian Council of State has suspended the refusal by federal ministers of a GM poplar field trial.
http://www.vib.be/NR/rdonlyres/E8FB2BC8-3D32-4D76-BFC1-9609FA07C689/2794/2008123 0_ENG_RaadvanStateschorstweigeringvanVIBvel.pdf

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFRICA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ MALAWI STRIKES ORGANIC GOLD
Peasant farmers in Malawi are breaking the cycle of poverty by using organic farming in an innovative way, reports an article in The Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/appeals/indy-appeal/independent-appeal-malawi- strikes-organic-gold-1225814.html
This is far from a one-off - see Organic farming 'could feed Africa' report:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/organic-farming-could-feed-africa -968641.html

+ MONSANTO FRONT GETS $5.4M FROM GATES FOUNDATION TO HELP OVERCOME REGULATIONS
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, which exists cheek by jowl with Monsanto - its main financial backer, was recently awarded a $5.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "The funding will help the center secure the approval of African governments to allow field testing of genetically modified banana, rice, sorghum and cassava plants that have been fortified with vitamins, minerals and proteins."
http//www.truthabouttrade.org/content/view/13106/54/&cid=0&usg=AFQjCNEVHX8E_Gr7U gmHTMsMeeO995JN_Q
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/E34D9E 8106D7B38E8625725A00160E76?OpenDocument

+ IS GM FOOD THE FUTURE FOR AFRICA?
The cover story in the latest edition of New African deals with Sir David King's claim that GM is the technology to feed Africa.
http://www.africasia.com/newafrican/na.php?ID=2031
See also article on Genetic Colonialism:
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/khadijasharife/2008/12/23/from-mendel-to-machiave lli/

+ GM FOOD AID CHALLENGED IN ETHIOPIA
An article in the Times of Malta says that the week before Christmas, when we were busy with holiday menus, Ethiopians were challenging GM food aid flown in to the hungry nation from the US.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090104/environment/genetically-modif ied-foods

+ BIO-EARN PROMOTING BIOTECH IN ETHIOPIA
http://www.waltainfo.com/walnew/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5904&I temid=45

+ SOLUTION TO AFRICA'S HUNGER IS POLITICAL
http://www.agbios.com/main.php?action=ShowNewsItem&id=10353

+ UGANDA: GM CASSAVA READY FOR FIELD TRIALS
http://allafrica.com/stories/200901070050.html

+ MONSANTO SAYS GM COTTON SEED OUT IN BURKINA FASO
Monsanto says it has released its GM Bollgard II cotton seed for commercial cultivation in the West African nation of Burkina Faso.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN085427912 0090108

+ NIGERIA: GM NOT ANSWER TO FOOD CRISIS
http://allafrica.com/stories/200901020674.html

+ GM OPPONENTS "PLAYING WITH HUMAN LIVES"
Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, director of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tubingen, Germany, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1995, has given an interview lambasting critics of GM to the German news site Focus-Online. The interview shows even Nobel Laureate biologists can have a distorted and technically inaccurate view of what GM entails, and are happy to attack organics without ever setting foot on an organic farm!
German article available here:
http://www.focus.de/wissen/wissenschaft/gentechnik/tid-12634/interview-die-setze n-auch-menschenleben-aufs-spiel_aid_350759.html
English translation by John Rosenthal:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/biotech-opponents-are-playing-with-human-lives/

+ SOUTH AFRICA: BIOWATCH'S BATTLE OVER COURT COSTS CONTINUES
http://allafrica.com/stories/200812240042.html

+ NEW REPORTS FROM THE AFRICAN CENTRE FOR BIOSAFETY
*GMOs in South Africa - 2008 Overviews
http://www.biosafetyafrica.net/portal/images/ACB/files/gmosbooklet.pdf
*Public participation in context of Patent Laws in South Africa
http://www.biosafetyafrica.net/portal/images/ACB/files/public%20participation.pd f
*Agrofuels in South Africa - projects, players and poverty http://www.biosafetyafrica.net/portal/images/ACB/files/agrofuelsbooklet%281%29.p df
*Marine Bioprospecting - key challenges and the situation in South Africa
http://www.biosafetyafrica.net/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id= 239&Itemid=63

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASIA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ JAPAN TO SELL CLONED BEEF AND PORK THIS YEAR?
The (often unreliable!) biotech lobby group Truth About Trade claims "the Japanese government will announce cloned beef and pork made from cloned eggs or body cells are safe, allowing their commercial sale this year."
http://www.truthabouttrade.org/content/view/13117/54/

+ INDIA: BT BRINJAL "SERIOUS RISK FOR HUMAN AND ANIMAL HEALTH"
Prof G-E Seralini, in his independent scientific appraisal of Mahyco-Monsanto’s Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) feeding studies, says, "Bt brinjal may present a serious risk for human and animal health and the release should be forbidden."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/49-Bt-brinjal-A-serious-risk-for-human-and-animal-health.html
http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/11/stories/2009011160490900.htm

+ INDIA: DOCTORS CALLS FOR MORATORIUM ON GM CROPS AND FOODS
As the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) began a "discussion on Bt Brinjal proposal under large scale trials" in the Ministry of Environment & Forests, eminent medical experts from a network called "Doctors for Food & Bio-Safety" called for a moratorium on all open air trials of GM crops in India. More on this story, including Dr Judy Carman's review of Monsanto-Mahyco’s Bt brinjal safety studies, is at
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/50-Doctors-call-for-moratorium-on-GM-crops.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CATHOLIC CHURCH
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ PRO-GM CONFERENCE AT THE VATICAN
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is organizing another pro-GMO Study Week, in Rome from 15-19 May 2009. The title of the 2009 Study Week is "Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context of Development." GM zealots Dr C.S. Prakash and Dr Peter Raven, along with a very long list other "usual suspects", will be speaking at the Study Week.

GMWatch comment: The views of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences do not represent those of the Holy See, and pro-biotech and pro-nuclear interests have been using the Academy to provide a 'Vatican' soapbox for these dangerous technologies for some time.

On a previous occasion, this even involved the Pontifical Academy in jointly running a pro-GM conference on the "moral imperative" to adopt GM with the US Embassy to the Holy See.

A key player in the Academy is Peter Raven, a Catholic scientist so closely associated with Monsanto that it used to be said that even his sex life came corporate sponsored! He's also been called "a paid traveling salesman for Monsanto".
More, and the speakers and agenda of the conference:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/51-Latest-pro-GM-conference-at-Vatican.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW BOOKS/REPORTS/FILM/TALKS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ NEW BOOK: HOPE NOT HYPE
Background info and details of Jack Heineman's new book, to be released February 2009:
http://sites.google.com/site/jackheinemann/Home

+ NEW BOOK: GM FOOD FRAY
Food Fray author Lisa Weasel, funded by a National Science Foundation grant, discovered that Americans do care about GM food; they simply don't know what's happening. Planning to focus primarily on science and ethics, Weasel soon discovered the issue's inextricable intersection with politics. The public relations claims that GM foods will help solve world hunger is revealed to be a gross overstatement at best and at worst an outright lie. The “We've eaten it, and nothing has happened to us” argument many pro-GM scientists offer is exposed as unscientific.
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/835030.html

+ YOUTUBE: RED, GREEN OR GM?
Film about how chillis are threatened by genetic engineering in New Mexico.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lyEZvk6BPQ4

+ MASTERCLASS IN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
http://www.reportermasterclass.co.uk

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPANY NEWS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ MONSANTO CLAIMS DROUGHT TOLERANT MAIZE COMING 2010-2012
Monsanto claims it has made a "significant step" in creating a drought-tolerant maize which could the company claims be available as early as 2010, or in some reports 2012. The claims were dismissed as "hype and misinformation," by Bill Freese, a science analyst at the Centre for Food Safety in Washington DC. Pioneer has a non-GM drought-tolerant corn that it says should be available 2010-2011. It also has a GM version that is said to be 5-7 years away.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090111/BUSINESS/901110324/1029/BUSINESS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7817684.stm
http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/monsanto_seeks_fda_approval_drought_tolerant_corn
There has been lots of progress with non-GM drought resistance.
http://www.bangmfood.org/feed-the-world/17-feeding-the-world/14-non-gm-breakthroughs
The recent GM edition of The Ecologist had an article by Prof Jack Heinemann on drought resistance - only part published online.
http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=1995

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NON-GM SUCCESSES
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ NON-GM PURPLE POTATOES DEVELOPED
Recently there was a lot of hype about GM purple tomatoes which were said to have the same kind of health giving properties as fruits like raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Less hype is expected about non-GM purple potatoes with the same properties, even though potatoes are even more common in the British diet than tomatoes.
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/uk/Purple-spud-will-put-you.4841710.jp

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEGAL VICTORIES
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ NEW REPORT: RECENT VICTORIES IN THE BATTLE OVER GM CROPS
Gaining Ground in the Courts: The Center for Food Safety's Recent Victories in the Battle Over Genetically Engineered Crops.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=548

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOBBYWATCH
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ UK: LM GROUP IN THE NEWS AGAIN
This week, the UK government announced that a third runway will be built at Heathrow. The Government, airline bosses and rightwing newspapers have been trying to soften us up by insisting that this is happening for the benefit of the poor, points out George Monbiot in The Guardian. Those trying to stop new runways are toffs preventing working class people from having fun.

The group which has worked hardest to portray the issue this way is the weird cult, the LM network. This libertarian "Marxist" splinter group, whose chief theorist is the sociology professor Frank Furedi, has spent the past 30 years moving ever further to the right. They have become pro-corporate lobbyists who have infiltrated the science and cultural establishment in the UK, including Sense About Science and the Science Media Centre. They deny global warming while lobbying for GMOs and human cloning.
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/01/13/flying-over-the-cuckoos-nest/
More on LM: http://www.lobbywatch.org/lm_watch.html

+ AUSTRALIA: HOAX ARTICLE THAT LAUDS GMOs IS PUBLISHED WITHOUT QUESTION
The right-wing Australian journal Quadrant has unwittingly published a hoax article lauding GMOs and panning their critics. Purporting to be by "Sharon Gould" a New York biotechnologist, the Quadrant article says that Australia's ultra-industry-friendly public science body CSIRO has been experimenting with engineering human genes in wheat crops to fight cancer, modifying dairy cattle to produce milk suited to lactose-intolerant babies and modifying mosquitoes to carry genes that produced human antibodies to render their bite less dangerous.

The content of the article mimics, and to some extent understates, the kind of GM hyperbole and techno-utopian claims that regularly get broadcast and published. The hoaxer - Katherine Wilson - has put online a blog-style Diary of A Hoax: "a short summary of what a stinking pile of fraudulent nonsense the essay I sent you [Quadrant editor, Keith Windschuttle] is, and of the issues surrounding many truth claims made in the name of 'science'."

As the Diary says, "hey, if you say you're a scientist, you can get away with saying anything [if it's ideologically acceptable]. Scientists, see, are a one-size-fits-all authority."
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/crikey/files/2009/01/diary-of-a-hoax.html
http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20090106-How-Quadrant-swallowed-a-giant-hoax-.html

+ USA: CORE SHILLS WANT MORE DRILL
The industry-funded former US civil rights group Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) continues to bash environmentalists, most recentluy in support of a Bush administration auction in Utah of oil and gas leases, some near national parks.
http://www.prwatch.org/spin
EXTRACT ON CORE'S GM PROMOTING: When it came to honoring Bush's election strategist at CORE's celebratory dinner at the New York Hilton, Monsanto was certainly no ghost at the feast. Hugh Grant - not the actor but the CEO of Monsanto -- presided as chairman of the occasion. A little black-washing at this Martin Luther King holiday event was a PR opportunity too good to pass up. (The Uncle Tom Award)
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.php?id=337