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WEEKLY WATCH number 274
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
The big news this week, apart from the row that's raging over organic food (ORGANICS), is the impending release of multi-GM trait varieties that have not been safety tested (SMARTSTAX) and the Clinton/Vilsack push for GMOs in Africa (AFRICA).
Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org <http://www.gmwatch.org> / www.lobbywatch.org <http://www.lobbywatch.org>
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CONTENTS
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THE AMERICAS
AFRICA
SMARTSTAX
ASIA
LOBBYWATCH
EUROPE
AUSTRALASIA
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
CORPORATE CRIMES
ORGANICS
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THE AMERICAS
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+ NON-GM SOYBEAN ACREAGE UP
US farmers planted one million more acres of non-GM soybeans in 2009 than 2008. The percentage of farmers growing GM soybeans decreased - the first drop in plantings of GM soybeans since 2000.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11357:non-gm -soys-million-acre-increase-in-2009-
http://tiny.cc/lMqAe
+ GM SUGARBEETS FOUND IN SOIL MIX
In May, GM sugar beet plants were found in a soil mix sold to gardeners at a landscape supply business in Corvallis, Oregon. The contamination incident raises doubts about the ability of the sugar beet seed industry to keep GM sugar beets from contaminating non-GM sugar beets and related plants.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11353:gm-sug ar-beets-found-in-soil-mix
http://tiny.cc/T67LX
+ GM MAIZE CONFIRMED IN PERU
Peru's government is reviewing a study that shows GM corn has been detected in five key agricultural valleys. Currently, GM products in Peru cannot be planted, harvested or sold legally.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11358:latin- americas-gm-wars
http://tiny.cc/wvZ9C
+ BRAZIL BECOMES BIGGEST CONSUMER OF PESTICIDES AS GM ACREAGE EXPANDS
Brazil's consumption of pesticides and herbicides grew by 25% in 2008 to 734 million tonnes, worth US$7.1bn. For the first time ever, the country overtook the previous world champion, the USA, which consumed 646 million tonnes, worth US$6.0bn. In what few would see as a coincidence, that same year Brazil recorded its largest area ever planted with GMOs, almost of all of which are crops that have been genetically modified to be resistant to herbicides. Indeed, 45% of the herbicides and pesticides were used in the cultivation of soya, most of which is GM.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11358:latin- americas-gm-wars
http://tiny.cc/mG5D8
+ MORE ON INTIMIDATION OF RESEARCHER
Argentinian scientist Andres Carrasco, whose research found that glyphosate could cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in foetuses, has spoken further about the industry's attempts to intimidate and discredit him. They mounted an unprecedented attack on Carrasco, ridiculing his research and even issuing personal threats. He was even accused of inventing his whole investigation.
Carrasco was firm in his response: "It was a violent, disproportionate, dirty reaction", he said. "I hadn't even discovered anything new, only confirmed conclusions that others had reached. One has to remember, too, that the study originated in contacts with communities that have suffered the impact of agro-chemicals. They are the undeniable proof of the impact." He is not intimidated: "If I know something, I will not shut my mouth."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11358:latin- americas-gm-wars
http://tiny.cc/EHXie
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AFRICA
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+ HILLARY AND VILSACK PROMOTE GMOs IN AFRICA
There was some good coverage of Hillary Clinton and US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's visit to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) laboratories in Kenya, where GMOs have been field tested with U.S. AND Monsanto support. They were meeting GM proponents, one of whom works with the Uganda agency that is partnering with Monsanto to create drought tolerant corn. The trip attracted some highly intelligent criticism.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11364:hillar y-and-vilsack-to-promote-gmos-in-africa
http://tiny.cc/L3gVM
U.S. has wrong approach to African food security
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11373-us-has-wrong-approach-t o-african-food-security
http://tiny.cc/scILZ
+ GM MYTHMAKING IN AFRICA: GMWATCH SPECIAL
As Hillary Clinton and Tom Vilsack headed to Kenya to promote GM agriculture and visit KARI, GMWatch flagged up the dangerous myth-making being used to fool people into believing in mythical GM solutions to some of the continent's most intractable agricultural problems. KARI provides a perfect example of GM myth-making. As the US Working Group on the Food Crisis pointed out in criticising the visit, USAID-Monsanto-KARI spent $6 million on a virus-resistant GM sweet potato project which despite generating hundreds of column inches of hype and false claims of success turned out to be a complete failure. Local varieties outperformed the GM varieties, while researchers developed a virus-resistant hybrid through conventional breeding for a fraction of the cost. A GM cassava project for Africa also failed miserably while conventional breeding again delivered everything and more that was it was claimed only GM could deliver.
More: http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11365:gm-myt h-making-in-africa-gmwatch-special
http://tiny.cc/30NlQ
+ SOUTH AFRICA: CHICKENS NOT DUPED BY GM FEED
Strilli Oppenheimer's indigenous African chickens were refusing to eat the mealies in the chicken feed bought from a large supplier. The chickens' diet was changed to include organic vegetables, Oppenheimer stopped consuming the home-grown eggs and the maize was sent to a GM testing facility. The results confirmed Oppenheimer's suspicion - the maize had been genetically engineered to produce Bt toxin and contained Roundup weedkiller.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11354:smart- chickens-not-duped-by-gm-feed
http://tiny.cc/qqQBy
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SMARTSTAX
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+ STACKING UP THE RISKS
A major scandal is emerging over the lax treatment of the multi-GM trait maize (corn), SmartStax, by regulators. Approvals have already been rushed through in Canada, the US and Japan and it's heading to Europe too with both import and field trial approvals being sought. But the Austrian Federal Department for Health is flagging up that there is no scientific base to the approvals of this multiple transgene crop.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11359:smarts tax-in-europe
http://tiny.cc/GOrW5
+ SMARTSTAX COMING TO CANADA
Next spring, farmers in Canada will be able to sow one of the most complicated GM plants ever designed, a corn containing eight foreign genes. But a controversy has already arisen over the new seeds, which were approved for use last month by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency: Health Canada hasn't assessed their safety. The health agency said in response to questions from The Globe and Mail that it didn't have to do so, because it is relying on the two companies making the seeds, agriculture giants Monsanto Co. and Dow AgroSciences LLC, to flag any safety concerns. But the companies haven't tested the seeds either, because they say they aren't required to.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11355:smarts tax-breakdown-smartstax-sows-doubts
http://tiny.cc/I4bbj
+ SMARTSTAX COMING TO EUROPE
There are indications that many regulators in Europe will try to deal with SmartStax in a similar way to their counterparts in N America. The concerns are heightened by the EU food safety authority (EFSA)'s pro-GM reputation. GMWatch has put together a guide to what seems to be going on. The Netherlands and the UK want to wave through the maize on the basis that they have already considered the individual traits engineered into the crop. They fail to consider that interactions between the traits can create unpredicted effects.
But the Austrian Federal Department for Health has rejected the lax regulatory approach being promoted. It states: "Insecticidal Cry proteins produced by GM plants as well as transproteins conferring tolerance to herbicides constitute a sum of new plant constituents possibly interacting within the organism. So far, there is absolutely no scientific knowledge about such new combinations and possibly resulting additive and/or synergistic effects."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11359:smarts tax-in-europe
http://tiny.cc/GOrW5
+ WHAT'S STACKED IN SMARTSTAX?
Eight transgenes are stacked in the new Monsanto/Dow SmartStax seeds. Six of the transgenes generate different forms of the insect-killing toxin Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) - these are the controversial Cry genes:
Attacking insects above-ground:
Cry1A.105 + vector PV-ZMIR245 - Monsanto
Cry2Ab2 + vector PV-ZMIR245 - Monsanto
Cry1F + vector PHP8999 ˆ Dow
Attacking insects below-ground (corn rootworms)
Cry3Bb1 + vector PV-ZMIR39 ˆ Monsanto
Cry34Ab1 + vector PHP17662 ˆ Dow
Cry35Ab1 + vector PHP I7662 ˆ Dow
There are two further transgenes. These confer resistance to specific weedkillers:
Glyphosate - Roundup Ready ˆ Monsanto
Glufosinate ˆ LibertyLink ˆ Dow (under licence from Bayer)
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11355:smarts tax-breakdown-smartstax-sows-doubts
http://tiny.cc/I4bbj
+ JAPAN APPROVES IMPORTS
Japan has granted full regulatory approval for imports of the new SmartStax corn. http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11355:smarts tax-breakdown-smartstax-sows-doubts
http://tiny.cc/I4bbj
+ "SHOT AND STACKED"
A brilliant commentary on GM and SmartStax.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11356:shot-a nd-stacked
http://tiny.cc/9OqLR
+ PESTS CAN OVERCOME MULTIPLE GM TOXINS
Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that pests can develop resistance to multiple toxins engineered into GM crops, such as those in Smartstax, suggesting that the pursuit of resistance-free GM crops may be impossible. So stacked genes mean the risks for the consumer and the environment stack up in return for what may well be unsustainable supposed benefits for the farmer.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11351:pests- can-overcome-multiple-gm-toxins
http://tiny.cc/Q5Abr
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ASIA
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+ CALL FOR IRRI CLOSURE LAUNCHED IN PHILIPPINES
A petition signed by 100 people's organizations from all over Asia calling for the closure of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was launched on July 17 at the university hosting the institution, the University of the Philippines, Los Banos, Laguna. The petition states: "Fifty years of IRRI is enough! The best thing IRRI can do for rice is to close down and give the seeds it has collected back to the farmers∑. We need food systems based on small farmers' control over seeds, land, water, and energy. We need them now. Not another year of IRRI!"
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11362:call-f or-irri-closure-launched
http://tiny.cc/YGrgB
To sign up your organisation to the petition go to: http://www.panap.net/irriclosure
For an in-depth profile of IRRI (International Rice Research Institute), including its close ties to GM corporations and long history of promotion of GMOs:
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/International_Rice_Research_Institute
+ NON-GM FLOOD-TOLERANT RICE RELEASED IN PHILIPPINES
A non-GM flood-tolerant rice variety has been released in the Philippines.
GMWATCH comment: This is the flood tolerant rice that GM promoters like David King, the UK's Government's former chief scientist, have claimed as a GM success story. In fact, the researchers tried to produce a GM version but without success. Non-GM plant breeding worked better and faster and without the risk of negative side effects.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/09/david-king-gm-crops
+ INDIA'S NON-GM DROUGHT-RESISTANT RICE
A new variety of rice being tested in the fields of India's eastern Jharkhand state is drought-tolerant and can survive even if there are no rains for 12 days. The rice is the result of 15 years of joint effort by scientists at the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Central Rainfed Upland Rice Research Station (CRURRS) in Hazaribag town.
GMWatch comment: Imagine the insane hype if this rice had been GM∑
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11371:indias -non-gm-qdrought-resistant-riceq
http://tiny.cc/FaQiJ
+ INDIA: MEALYBUG MENACE AFFECTS BT COTTON
Large-scale mealybug infestations have damaged the Bt cotton crop in Amreli district.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11371:indias -non-gm-qdrought-resistant-riceq
http://tiny.cc/FaQiJ
+ HERBICIDE RESISTANCE: TOO RISKY TO TOLERATE
Monsanto India Ltd has sought regulatory approval in India to sell its GM corn that is tolerant to herbicides, posing a threat to biodiversity and food security, writes Suman Sahai.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11349:too-ri sky-to-tolerate
http://tiny.cc/zYcNq
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ LAMB'S REWARD FOR TWO-FACED SCIENCE?
Chris Lamb, the director of the John Innes Centre for the last decade, has been awarded a CBE for services to plant sciences in the Queen's Bithday Honours List. Since joining the JIC, Lamb has continued the institute's pro-GM trajectory both in terms of research and corporate links, and in terms of its lobbying for the technology and lack of transparency over its vested interests. Read more about Lamb and the JIC's two-faced science.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11370:lambs- reward-for-two-faced-science
http://tiny.cc/FgWPN
+ SCIENCE MEDIA CENTRE EXPANDS ITS EMPIRE
The current successor to biotech entrepreneur, billionaire and Labour Party donor, Lord Sainsbury, as the UK's Minister for Science and Innovation, is biotech entrepreneur, multi-millionaire and Labour Party donor, Lord Drayson. Like Lord Sainsbury, Drayson's relationship with Labour has been mired in allegations of corruption and cronyism - not least because before going into government, Drayson owned the biotech company Powderject when it made massive profits from a Labour Government contract. Drayson was also at one time head of the BioIndustry Association, whose motto is "Promoting UK Biotechnology".
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Paul_Drayson
Drayson's company, while he still headed it, was a financial supporter of the Science Media Centre - a pet project of Lord Sainsbury's. Powderject's support for the SMC dried up following Drayson's departure. Drayson has also served on a working party of another controversial pro-GM lobby-group, Sense About Science. Drayson now operates out of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). BIS has just set up a Science and the Media Expert Group. The Group has been asked to draw up an action plan which includes exploring the possibilities for an expansion of the role and remit of the Science Media Centre.
The BIS Group is chaired by Fiona Fox, the directorof the SMC. Fox is an intimate of Frank Furedi's controversial LM network, that denies climate change and eulogises GMOs, human cloning and nuclear power (the directors of Sense About Science are also part of the Furedi network), and Fox's own journalism has been called "an affront to the truth" and has proved enormously controversial.
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Fiona_Fox
Like Fox, the SMC is not what it claims. In a formal complaint about bias and the SMC, the investigative journlaist Andy Rowell noted: "[P]eople have asked me why such a pro-science organisation as the SMC has done so little on climate, given that it is emerging as quite possibly the most important scientific issue of our time. Climate change is also one where there is massive anti-science lobbying, much of which is ending up in publications like the Mail, the Telegraph and the Spectator. Yet, if my memory serves me correctly, of the 120 odd press releases the SMC has issued - and which are on its website - only about 4 have been on climate. This compares to over 40 on issues to do with genetics and roughly another dozen each on animals in research and GM crops.
...I also think there is evidence that the SMC is failing in the mission it has set itself. In its consultation report it says: 'the Centre will be free of any particular agenda within science and will always strive to promote a broad spectrum of scientific opinion - especially where there are clear divisions within science'. As well as 'the SMC will provide access to the wide spectrum of scientific opinion on any one issue. We can provide an anti-GM scientist and a pro-GM scientist... etc, etc'.
But on the exact issue it quotes, GM, it is difficult to see much evidence of the SMC promoting or providing such a spectrum. The views of scientists critical of GM are all but absent, whereas pro-GM scientists are routinely quoted. The SMC also includes quotes from the Chairman of the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC) - a corporate lobby group for the biotech industry. Its chairman is clearly neither an eminent nor an independent scientist. The independence of others whose views the SMC has promoted is also open to question. Some of the pro-GM scientists quoted could be regarded as campaigners or lobbyists on the issue..."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7761
More information about the Science and the Media Expert Group, including a list of its members and the minutes of its first meeting, can be found at:
http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/scienceandsociety/site/science-and-the-media/
Your views on the key objectives of the Group should be sent to <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11375-science-media-centre-ex panding-its-empire
http://tiny.cc/71bAk
For a revealing profile of Fiona Fox
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Fiona_Fox
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EUROPE
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+ WALES: "NO EVIDENCE" THAT GM CROPS WERE CIRCULATED
An inquiry has found no evidence that a farmer who claimed he grew GM crops had circulated GM seeds to others. Jonathan Harrington, who farms near Hay-on-Wye, Powys, said in January he had grown two varieties of the maize and passed the seeds onto other farmers. But Powys council said there was no evidence GM crops had been circulated to farms or fed to stock in the county, as Harrington had claimed.
GMWATCH comment: The findings of this enquiry support doubts expressed at the time about pro-GM lobbyist Jonathon Harrington's claims. Questions arose among some of Harrington's neighbours in Wales as to whether he is a farmer at all!
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11361:no-evi dence-for-harrington-claim
http://tiny.cc/K9Zwj
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ WEST AUSTRALIA: DOCTORS VOICE GM CONCERNS
A group of West Australia doctors have presented a petition to the local shire council urging them to remain GM free, citing health concerns. A growing number of medics have expressed their concerns of late, including the Irish Doctors' Environmental Association
http://www.ideaireland.org/gmfood.htm
and the American Academy of Environmental Medicine:
http://www.aaemonline.org/pressrelease.html (press release)
http://www.aaemonline.org/gmopost.html (position paper)
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11366:doctor s-join-gm-foods-protest
http://tiny.cc/xbdCi
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ BOOST FUNDING FOR PUBLIC-GOOD PLANT BREEDING
Traditional plant breeders have improved crops immensely over the years, and continue to deliver new varieties with valuable traits, writes Dr Doug Gurian-Sherman. New non-GM disease-resistant and insect-resistant lettuce varieties developed by USDA plant breeders over the last year are just the latest success stories of traditional breeding. But while public plant and animal breeders are working in relative obscurity, their programs are also losing critical support and funding as attentiuon and resources are diverted to the less productive GM approaches.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11350:boost- funding-for-public-good-plant-breeding
http://tiny.cc/VcC1W
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ COMPANIES CONCEALED EFFECTS OF DIOXIN
Interesting interview with an American lawyer and a French activist who say chemical companies that produced Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant used by the US Army during the Vietnam War, connived to cover up its dangers.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11369:agent- orange-legacy-us-vietnam-brazil
http://tiny.cc/jilaI
+ DOW WANTS "AGENT ORANGE" SOYA IN BRAZIL
Dow AgroSciences has issued a request to the National Technical Commission for Biosafety (CTNBio) to undertake field trials with a GM soya variety tolerant to the 2,4-D herbicide. 2,4-D was one of the two components of the infamous Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War responsible for thousands of cases of cancer, leukaemia and neurological pathologies, as well as the birth of countless babies with physical and mental problems. Dow's move has been described by GM Freeze as "a step back into the Dark Ages".
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11369:agent- orange-legacy-us-vietnam-brazil
http://tiny.cc/jilaI
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ORGANICS
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+ FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY'S LATEST CRUSADE AGAINST ORGANICS
The Food Standards Agency, the government's so-called independent watchdog, has just published a report claiming that a study it commissioned found there is no nutritional benefit to be gained from eating organic produce. But in reality, the study, carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said nothing of the sort. As an editorial in The Ecologist says, "the researchers did find statistically significant differences between the nutritional content of organic and conventional food in the literature they examined. Organic food contained higher levels of phenolic compounds, magnesium, zinc, flavonoids, sugars, dry matter, and phosphorus."
While there is dispute about whether these differences affect health, higher levels of some phenolic compounds and flavonoids have been linked with health benefits. So why did the FSA study conclude that there were no significant differences between organic and conventional food? Because the studies that showed the significant differences were not rigorous enough:
*20 per cent of the studies failed to mention which crop cultivar they were examining
*less than half the studies had mentioned which organic certifiers had rubber-stamped the produce they had tested, so it's hard to tell what sort of growing regime had been applied
*regarding the health impacts of organic food, most of the human studies reviewed involved too few participants to have statistical power. And most of the studies failed to take account of the participants' daily diets.
Also, the FSA study included research from 50 years ago, when intensive agriculture had not yet done its work in depleting soils and crops of nutrients. And some important nutrients, such as antioxidants and total phenolics, were not measured in older studies as scientists didn't know much about them.
On the other hand, the FSA study did not take into account (possibly because of its cut-off date) the best study ever done on organic food by Leifert and colleagues with European funding. This study found clear nutritional benefits from organic food.
In addition, the FSA completely ignored other benefits (e.g. to the environment and animal welfare) of organics and the risks and damage caused by intensive agriculture and pesticides.
The FSA's researchers concluded correctly: "It should be noted that these conclusions relate to the evidence base currently available, which contains limitations in the design and in the comparability of studies∑ Examination of this scattered evidence indicates a need for further high-quality research in this field."
But that's not how the FSA reported the study's conclusions. As a result, we were treated by the world's press to headlines like "Organic no better for you."
The FSA has been on a pro-GM anti-organic trajectory since it was first launched under the chairmanship of John Krebs. From the beginning there was a total failure to re-examine the safety of GM foods, despite the high level of consumer concern. Indeed, Krebs declared all approved GM foods safe on his first day in the job before he even had time to look at the evidence!
Instead, he quickly ordered a safety enquiry into organic food, which has a high level of consumer confidence. Krebs then made a high profile attack on organic food that lead Dr Patrick Wall, then chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, to describe Krebs' views on organic food as "extreme".
When the Government ordered a review of the Food Standards Agency after Krebs' departure, the Dean Review in 2005 concluded:
"Recommendation 20
It is clear that many stakeholders believe the Agency has already made policy decisions on GM foods and organic foods and is not open to further debate. The Agency must address the perceptions of these stakeholders who have now formed views of the Agency founded on their belief that the basis upon which the Agency's policy decisions were made was flawed."
http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/deanreviewfinalreport.pdf
At the time, the Food Standards Agency said:
"Baroness Dean has made 22 constructive recommendations, all of which have been accepted by the Board."
Yet, recommendation 20 has been completely ignored and the Agency has continued to push its pro-GM and anti-organic agenda. You can share your views with the FSA via <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
FSA statement on its study:
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2009/jul/organic
Ecologist comment:
http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/bloggers/the_editors_blog/294396/ fsa_organics_study_read_it_closely.html
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11347:a-canc erous-conspiracy-on-organic-food OR
http://tiny.cc/ckXfD
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11352:row-ov er-fsa-research-rages-on OR
http://tiny.cc/UCbSu
The Organic Center reviewed the same studies that the FSA's review considered and came to very different conclusions:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11352:row-ov er-fsa-research-rages-on
http://tiny.cc/UCbSu
For what's really interesting about organic agriculture, see Doug Gurian-Sherman's commentary "Organic agriculture is the future".
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11344-organic-agriculture-is- the-future
http://tiny.cc/WKLmY
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides 
