GMWatch News Review archive

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WEEKLY WATCH number 276
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

The big story this week is the contamination of Europe's flax supplies with an illegal GM variety, aptly name Triffid, that was developed by genetic engineer Alan McHughen in Canada. Illegal GM linseed (from flax) was first identified in bakery and cereal products in Germany, where a new poll shows only 6% of German voters want GM and nearly half German voters wouldn't vote for pro-GM political parties (EUROPE).

An important article in the journal Nature reports on how the scientist who found that GM Bt debris harms caddis flies has been subjected to similar treatment to Arpad Pusztai, Ignacio Chapela, and others who revealed harmful effects of GMOs (VICTIMISATION OF SCIENTISTS). Interestingly, one of those identified by Nature as among her attackers is the developer of the GMO that contaminated Canada's flax, sending flax prices nosediving. We have a profile of Alan McHughen: http://bit.ly/1EY292

And watch out for news about farmers protesting against Monsanto GM trials in Pakistan (ASIA). The development charity ActionAid Pakistan supported those protests. Please support ActionAid's excellent HungerFREE Campaign, demanding urgent action on the major causes of hunger and suggesting solid practical solutions (FEEDING THE WORLD).

Finally, don't miss Greenpeace's excellent video - "Genetic engineering: The world's greatest scam". Please pass it on!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H9WZGKQeYg

Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org
And follow all the latest GM news on Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch

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CONTENTS
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
STAND UP FOR YOUR RICE!
ASIA
FEEDING THE WORLD
EUROPE
VICTIMISATION OF SCIENTISTS
THE AMERICAS
GM FLAX CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
LOBBYWATCH
ORGANICS

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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ URGE THE U.S. DEPT OF JUSTICE TO INVESTIGATE MONSANTO
President Obama's antitrust chief Christine Varney has promised rigorous enforcement of antitrust law with a special focus on the agricultural sector. She should start with the worst of the worst, Monsanto. Take Action Today!
http://action.panna.org/t/5185/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=2096

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STAND UP FOR YOUR RICE
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+ STAND UP FOR YOUR RICE!
Rice is daily food for half of the world's population. At present, GM rice is not grown commercially anywhere in the world. But Bayer has genetically manipulated rice to withstand high doses of a toxic pesticide called glufosinate, which is considered to be so dangerous to humans and the environment that it will soon be banned from Europe. In just a few weeks, the European Union will decide whether or not this GM rice can enter EU countries, appear on supermarket shelves and end up on our dinner plates. If the EU approves the import of Bayer GM rice, farmers in the US and elsewhere may soon start planting it. Sign petition asking governments around the world to protect consumers and farmers, their crops and fields by rejecting Bayer's GM rice, and to stop GM rice field trials.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/genetic-engineering/hands-off-our-rice/hands-off-our-rice

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ASIA
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+ PAKSITAN: FARMERS PROTEST AGAINST MONSANTO'S GM TRIALS
This August, thousands of farmers mobilized in a series of rallies across the Sindh and Punjab provinces of southern and central Pakistan to voice their concern about the government's decision to allow Monsanto to start Bt cotton trials in the country. The aim is to sell the seeds on a commercial basis the following year. According to ActionAid, "In Pakistan 77 million people do not have enough to eat. Yet the government is actively offering incentives to multinational companies to grow GM crops which, far from uplifting the rural poor, will have devastating effects on both food security and the environment."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11510:farmers-in-pakistan-protest-against-monsantos-gm-trials
http://tiny.cc/szWdq

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FEEDING THE WORLD
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+ HungerFREE CAMPAIGN
The development charity ActionAid Pakistan supported the farmers' protests in Pakistan (see ASIA). Please support ActionAid's HungerFREE Campaign, demanding urgent action on the major causes of hunger - and offering solid solutions. ActionAid say "GM is NOT the answer to hunger."
http://bit.ly/QKUwD
You can also join the campaign on Facebook
http://bit.ly/2ObmCz

+ INTERNATIONAL SEED LAWS ARE STIFLING CROP DIVERSITY
Powerful seed companies and government subsidies are weakening crop diversity and may be destroying the keys to future climate adaptation, a group of researchers warned as the World Seed Conference opened in Rome on 8 September.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11482:scientists-warn-seed-laws-stifling-diversity
http://tiny.cc/dA4pL

+ GMOs HAVE FAILED AT PRODUCING HEALTHY FOOD FOR MORE PEOPLE
For a technology that has sucked up billions of research dollars and prolonged agriculture's dependence on chemical inputs, GMOs have yet to justify their role in a world desperate for more sustainable ways to produce healthier food for more people, says an article by Timothy J. LaSalle of the Rodale Institute. In a recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists entitled "Failure to Yield," a summary of on-farm production levels of GM crops showed less than marginal gains in actual yield. In fact, the review concluded, "no currently available transgenic varieties enhance the intrinsic yield of any crops."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11483:why-gmos-have-failed
http://tiny.cc/rPzSa

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EUROPE
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+ BIG ANTI-GM PROTEST IN GERMANY
Thousands of protesters took to the streets against GM on September 13, in the southern German town of Ulm. The protest kicked of with a tractor demonstration involving 120 vehicles. The event was themed "Diversity feeds the world" and included a huge GM-free food festival. The protesters called for a ban of GMOs in farming in Germany, for both cultivation and feed. They argued that the recently found GM-contaminated linseed showed yet again that coexistence is impossible and they demanded from state agriculture minister to support for sustainable GM-free and small-scale agriculture. http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11495:big-anti-gm-protest-in-germany
http://tiny.cc/rkC83

+ ANTI-GM SENTIMENT COULD AFFECT GERMAN ELECTION
A new survey shows that 65% of German citizens, and as much as 70% in Baden-Wurttemberg, are against GM. Only 14% of the public agree that tax money should be spent on GM even for research purposes. Only 6% of German voters want GM, the vast majority of voters are opposed, and over 40% of those polled would not vote for a political party that supports GM. Half of the respondents were against the use of public money to fund research into and application of GM crops.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11495:big-anti-gm-protest-in-germany
http://tiny.cc/rkC83
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11489:anti-gm-sentiment-could-affect-german-election
http://tiny.cc/7Rqhp

+ UK: SUPERMARKETS IN SECRET TALKS TO INTRODUCE GM FOODS?
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the big supermarkets have held secret talks to pave the way for the introduction of controversial GM crops on to their shelves. "Industry sources" are quoted as saying that all the major supermarkets were involved except Waitrose. However, Tesco denied it was involved in talks to encourage the acceptance of GM foods.
GMWatch comment: It would be interesting to know who the "industry sources" for this story actually are as it follows on so neatly from the recent flurry of biotech industry propaganda in the UK media - see 'Perfect storm of media spin', and all the UK supermarkets deny they're aiming to change their non-GM policies.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11442:pefect-storm-of-media-spin
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11457:supermarkets-in-qsecret-talks-to-introduce-gm-foodsq
http://tiny.cc/DLqGl

+ BARROSO BACKS NATIONAL GM BANS
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has declared himself open to the possibility of member states ruling on their own GMO cultivation policy, adding momentum to the campaign to wrestle authority away from Brussels on the matter. Broaching the GMO question in a 41-page set of 'guidelines' for a new term in office, Barroso said: "In an area like GMOs, for example, it should be possible to combine a Community authorisation system, based on science, with freedom for Member States to decide whether or not they wish to cultivate GM crops on their territory."
GMWatch comment: There's almost certainly a massive catch here - an attempted trade-off of allowing national bans in return for speeding up approvals within the EU, i.e. "You'll be allowed a national opt out, but only if you agree to a system that delivers rapid approvals first."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11504:barroso-backs-national-gm-bans
http://tiny.cc/FXFfj

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VICTIMISATION OF SCIENTISTS
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+ SCIENTIST VILIFIED FOR PUBLISHING PAPER SHOWING BT HARMS CADDIS FLIES
Emma Rosi-Marshall, the scientist who published a paper showing that Bt maize residues washing into streams produce high mortality in caddis flies, has been subjected to a hail of abuse from the pro-GM brigade, says an article in Nature. Rosi-Marshall says, "The repeated, and apparently orchestrated, ad hominem and unfounded attacks by a group of genetic engineering proponents has done little to advance our understanding of the potential ecological impacts of transgenic corn." An editor for the Entomological Society of America who asked to remain anonymous commented, "Part of what exasperates me is that they have declared themselves to be the experts in this field, and forcefully present themselves as the ultimate arbiters of truth."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11463:the-intimidation-of-researchers-whose-papers-suggest-concerns-about-gm
http://tiny.cc/ejnV1

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GM FLAX CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
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+ ILLEGAL GM FLAX CONTAMINATES CANADIAN EXPORTS
The European Commission's Rapid Alert  System for Food and Feed has confirmed the contamination of Canadian  flax exports with a GM flax, devastating Canadian flax sales to Europe. The GM flax, called Triffid, has been illegal to grow in Canada since 2001 when flax growers forced the government to take the product off the market pre-commercialisation. A German company confirmed the GM contamination in its cereals and bakery products.

The GM flax was approved by Canadian regulators in 1998 but the Flax Council of Canada convinced the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to de-register it in 2001, making it illegal to grow. Flax growers took this action to protect their export markets from the threat of GM contamination. Approximately 70 per cent of Canada's flax is exported to Europe.

"This is an absolute nightmare for flax growers and why we worked so hard to have the GM flax removed," said Terry Boehm, a flax grower and Vice President of the National Farmers Union. "Flax growers forced the GM flax off the market eight years ago to prevent any threat of contamination and protect our export markets. GM flax was never wanted or needed. We knew it would destroy our European markets and now we fear this has happened."

At the beginning of this month, cash bids for flaxseed in Western Canada fell dramatically based on rumours of GM contamination. Then the European Union (EU) Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) reported finding the unapproved GM flax variety in cereal and bakery products in Germany and subsequent warnings show it's also known to have been distributed to Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. The problem may well be Europe wide.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11485:illegal-gm-flax-contaminates-canadian-exports
http://tiny.cc/5vGtJ
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11506:contamination-of-cereals-and-bakery-products-in-the-eu
http://tiny.cc/EMObU

+ UK FAILS TO RESPOND TO GM CONTAMINATION OF FLAX
GM Freeze has written to the Food Standards Agency and Food and Environment Minister Hilary Benn at the Dept for Food and Rural Affairs asking for urgent clarification as to why the UK Government and FSA have failed to respond to the flax contamination with the unapproved GM Triffid variety.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11496:illegal-gm-contaminates-flax-uk-fails-to-respond
http://tiny.cc/nBTuk

+ TRIFFID: A HISTORY
Canada approved Triffid for environmental release in 1996, for feed in 1996 and for food in 1998. The USA authorized the release of Triffid to food and feed in 1998 and to the environment in 1999.
Prof Joe Cummins's comments:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11507:re-illegal-gm-contaminates-flax
http://tiny.cc/QFmUc

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THE AMERICAS
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+ WHY DID MONSANTO'S SMARTSTAX GET FREE PASS INTO CANADA?
Health Canada has begun permitting GM foods onto the market without any health safety assessment, reports Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. The government has never adequately examined the safety of GM foods and crops but has now dropped the pretence altogether. After almost 15 years of approving the varieties of GM soy, canola and corn that Canadians and others around the world now eat, Health Canada has stopped bothering with the formalities.

On July 15, Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences announced that they had received approval to introduce their new eight-trait GM corn SmartStax into Canada and the US. But Health Canada did not assess SmartStax for human health safety and didn’t even authorize it. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) officially approved the environmental release of SmartStax but didn’t conduct an environmental risk assessment. Furthermore, the CFIA actually substantially weakened a critical environmental stewardship rule (the requirement for a non-Bt crop refuge around the Bt crop, aimed at slowing pest resistance to Bt) just for the introduction of SmartStax - without publishing a justification.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11490:why-did-smartstax-get-free-pass-into-canada
http://tiny.cc/0v15n

+ MONSANTO A WATER BULLY IN HAWAII
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11466:monsanto-sustainable-water-bully-id-say
http://tiny.cc/q6ev4

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ ANIMAL FEED INDUSTRY ACCUSED OF GREENWASH
(Comment by GM-free Ireland)
FEFAC - the European Compound Feed Manufacturers' Federation has released its first-ever Environment Report. The report is worth reading for what seems like genuine concern about climate change. But in a related article for AllAboutFeed.net, "European feed makers consider the environment", FEFAC President Pedro Corrêa de Barros reveals a collossal degree of scientific ignorance by claiming that "intensive livestock production systems based on efficient compound feed supply" are "ecological". His idea of "efficient compound feed supply" is code for GM monoculture plantations that have devastating ecological and social impacts in the producing countries.

The report itself boasts that FEFAC is a member of the controversial Round Table on Responsible Soy, which promotes GM soy from the Amazon basin, and claims that "1st generation biofuel production generates valuable products for feed use... and the EU feed industry is prepared to use them." Could FEFAC be trying to greenwash itself in the lead-up to the UN Summit on Climate Change on 22 September and the UN Climate Change Conference in December?

FEFAC and COCERAL are the two biggest animal feed industry lobby groups in Brussels. Their members operate as a cartel with a virtual monopoly in some EU member states including Ireland and the UK, where they promote GM feed while making it difficult or impossible for farmers to source non-GM feedstuffs that are widely available in other member states:
FEFAC’s report: http://www.fefac.org/file.pdf?FileID=22145&CacheMode=Fresh
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11487:feed-industry-accused-of-greenwash
http://tiny.cc/NfDoZ

+ "THE LEGEND PASSES ON"
With the death of Norman Borlaug, "the father of the Green Revolution", the GM lobby has gone into inevitable overdrive. Avid GM promoter CS Prakash even devoted the whole of one of his AgBioView bulletins to a series of eulogies under the heading, "The Legend Passes On". These culminated in the extraordinary "Norman Borlaug Rap" by CS Prakash's son Rohan.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11494:qthe-legend-passes-onq
http://tiny.cc/WLHaX

Borlaug's GMWatch SpinProfile: http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Norman_Borlaug

+ BORLAUG'S FARMING METHODS THREATEN HEALTH OF PLANET
Borlaug intended his methods to be used for the benefit of people across the planet. Instead they were seized on by industrial countries with the wealth to pay for expensive seeds and fertilisers. Where they were used in developing countries, this often came at the cost of a crippling debt burden, says author Graham Harvey in an article for The Times.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11499:green-revolution-wasnt-green-enough
http://tiny.cc/imzbf

+ THE AGRICHEMICAL REVOLUTIONARY
Borlaug was innocent of politics and focused narrowly on a single aspect of crop production: yield, creating huge problems in the process, says Tom Philpott in a superb article for GRIST.

Philpott writes: "One of the most ironic things I see in Borlaug obits is the idea that his innovations made countries like Mexico and India 'self-sufficient' in food production. Actually, these nations became perilously dependent on foreign input suppliers for their food security.

"In India, site of the Green Revolution's greatest putative triumph, the legacy is even more mixed. Today in India's grain belt, less than 40 years after Borlaug's Nobel triumph, the water table has been nearly completely tapped out by massive irrigation projects, farmers are in severe economic crisis, and cancer rates, seemingly related to agrichemical use, are tragically high."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11509:the-agrichemical-revolutionary
http://tiny.cc/wFf72

+ SWAMINATHAN'S PLATE FULL OF TOXINS
Vandana Shiva takes issue with M.S. Swaminathan's pro-GM claims.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11492:swaminathans-plate-full-of-toxins
http://tiny.cc/OXOx4

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ORGANICS
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+ RESEARCH VERIFIES ORGANIC NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS
A new report by the French Agency for Food Safety (AFSSA) has found that organic foods are more nutritious and contain less pesticides and nitrates, which have been linked to a range of health problems including diabetes and Alzheimer's. Shane Heaton, Nutritionist for the Biological Farmers of Australia, says, "This review does the question justice by comparing not just a handful of nutrients but also dry matter content, antioxidant content, pesticide levels, and nitrate content. Organic wins out over ordinary food in every respect."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11493:new-research-points-to-organic-benefits
http://tiny.cc/CguCs
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11467:french-report-contradicts-fsa-organic-study
http://tiny.cc/F0SXp