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WEEKLY WATCH number 280
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
The don't-miss items this week include Monsanto's withdrawal of a GM corn from Europe after safety concerns (AUSTRALASIA), and a strongly worded demand for a freeze on GM crops from the eminent Indian scientist Dr Pushpa Bhargava, one of the two molecular biologists who originally coined the term 'genetic engineering' (RISKS OF GM FOODS AND CROPS). Look out too for a superb new report, Science and the Corporate Agenda, from Scientists for Global Responsibility (CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE - NEW REPORT).
Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org
Follow GMWatch on Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
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CONTENTS
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REVOLVING DOOR
CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE NEW REPORT
AUSTRALASIA
RISKS OF GM FOODS AND CROPS
ASIA
PROBLEMS WITH THE GM OMEGA-3 SOYBEAN
COMPANY NEWS
NON-GM SUCCESSES
FOOD CRISIS
TRADE CHAOS FROM GM CROPS
EUROPE
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
BEES
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REVOLVING DOOR
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+ REVOLVING DOOR: TOP EFSA OFFICIAL JOINS SYNGENTA
A leading official of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has quit to work in industry. Suzy Renckens, scientific coordinator of the GMO panel, officially represented Syngenta in an expert hearing at EU level in 2008. She now holds a position at Syngenta as Head of Biotech Regulatory Affairs for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Syngenta is one of the world's leading producers of GM plants. At the EFSA Mrs Renckens headed the GMO panel responsible for developing guidance documents and the risk assessment of GM plants.
http://bit.ly/GOmqV
+ SHAH AND BEACHY
Following on from Obama tapping a current vice president at CropLife America, the trade group for the pesticide industry, to be the chief agriculture negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, former Gates Foundation ag research chief Raj Shah is moving from head of USDA research to head of USAID. Will Monsanto-linked Roger Beachy now be given Shah's old job at USDA?
http://bit.ly/mVctC
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE NEW REPORT
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+ STOP SELLING OUT SCIENCE TO COMMERCE
An important new report has been published by Scientists for Global Responsibility, called Science and the Corporate Agenda. The report considers how the commercialisation of science "brings with it a wide range of detrimental effects, including bias, conflicts of interest, a narrowing of the research agenda, and misrepresentation of research results. It examines these effects across five sectors: pharmaceuticals; tobacco; military/defence; oil and gas; and biotechnology." In an article for New Scientist, the report's authors, Stuart Parkinson and Chris Langley, say it "exposes problems so serious that we can no longer afford to be indifferent to them":
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11651:stop-s elling-out-science-to-commerce
http://bit.ly/2QvHAm
Report available here:
http://sgr.org.uk/SciencePolicy/CorporateInfluence.html
GM-related extracts from the report:
http://bit.ly/1NWQKs
Great quotes on same issue:
http://www.bangmfood.org/quotes/24-quotes/16-commercial-influence-on-science
+ PROMISES, PROMISES
How hype damages the reputation of science - article from The Scientist:
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4976
+ "FEARED SCIENCE"
Excellent review of Michael Specter's new book 'Denialism'
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091112/REVIEW/711129998/1 093/ART
See also Tom Philpott's review of 'Denialism'
http://bit.ly/1Zg6nc
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ EUROPE REJECTS GM CORN BUT OK IN OZ
A GM corn has been withdrawn from Europe because of safety concerns. Monsanto has pulled its commercial development application for high lysine LY038 corn, originally intended only as feed for animals, after the European Food Safety Authority questioned the safety studies conducted by the company. Rather than conduct additional research as the European authority requested, Monsanto decided to abandon its bid to introduce the corn to the European market. Monsanto says this is a purely commercial decision. But its unwillingness to conduct the additional safety research has raised some interesting questions about the readiness of some other regulators to give this GM corn approval.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/HighLysineGMMaize.php
http://bit.ly/QkafP
Sidney Morning Herald pieces
http://bit.ly/37Iidq
http://bit.ly/11JAle
Expert alleges systematic use of wrong controls and potential for toxins:
http://bit.ly/2yZh9g (listen or read)
Time to replace the regulators says former GM scientist
http://bit.ly/1TXQ31
Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director comments: This [withdrawal] is a very serious blow to the GM lobby's claims that it can deliver 'second generation' GM traits with benefits to consumers (unlike the first generation herbicide and insect resistance traits). Independent scientists have always said that these more complex traits may not only prove harder (or impossible) to engineer, but, as happened in this case, will also generate novel and complex safety concerns.
+ AUSTRALIA: INDUSTRY AVOIDS TRUTH ABOUT GM SEGREGATION PROBLEMS
As farmers are commencing delivery of their canola, the agricultural industry is avoiding answering genuine questions from non-GM farmers. According to the Network of Concerned Farmers (NCF), the grain industry is accepting GM contamination but refusing to outline the difficult conditions and consequences for non-GM farmers. "This is a tragic and deplorable situation where no one will answer my questions." Said canola farmer Geoffrey Carracher
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11656:gm-seg regation-nightmare
http://bit.ly/3ogrDx
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RISKS OF GM FOODS AND CROPS
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+ LEADING SCIENTIST CALLS FOR GM FREEZE
Dr Pushpa Bhargava, the scientist appointed by India’s Supreme Court to the country's apex GM regulatory body, the GEAC, has called for a freeze on GM crops on biosafety and health grounds. In a hard-hitting article for the Indian press, Bhargava writes: "Around 30 tests have been identified by responsible and credible scientists around the world which need to be done to establish bio-safety and functional viability of a GM crop. I brought these tests to the notice of the GEAC immediately after I was nominated on it by the Supreme Court. Nowhere in the world including India, have all these tests been done. More than two thirds of these tests, such as long-term toxicity experiments or tests for carcinogenicity, have not been conducted. The tests that have been done, have been done largely by the company itself and that too, at times, in a shoddy way. A few tests that have been done by other accredited organisations have been done on samples provided by the company. None of these tests have ever been validated by an independent organisation with high public credibility and, therefore, are as good as not having been done. The GEAC has put an implicit faith in Monsanto, and has accepted what Monsanto has said as the gospel truth, in spite of Monsanto's well-documented extremely poor record of honesty, integrity and ethics, spanning over several decades."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11645:leadin g-scientist-calls-for-gm-freeze-
http://bit.ly/SQZTd
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ASIA
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+ INDIA: BT BRINJAL APPROVAL IGNORED DISSENTERS
The Supreme Court appointed observer on the GEAC, Dr Pushpa Bhargava, has written to the environment ministry saying that his and two other members' dissenting voices were ignored while giving a hasty recommendation for the environmental release of the Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine). Dr Bhargava points out that the 102-page report, thick with scientific information, was cleared without giving adequate time for its scrutiny, even though it contains major scientific and technical errors. The final report of the GEAC not only failed to contain a dissenting report, but read like the unanimous view of all the members of the committee. Dr Bhargava has said that he was in no doubt that the clearance of Bt brinjal was pre-planned and the committee was a rubber stamping exercise.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11670:bt-bri njal-clearance-ignored-dissenters
http://bit.ly/YlPfJ
+ INDIA: BIG PROTEST AGAINST BT BRINJAL
A large number of consumers, farmers, doctors and students with placards denouncing GM crops and food gathered In Ludhiana, Punjab under the banner of “Alliance for GM-free and safe food Punjab”. The protesters demanded a ban on Bt brinjal.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11670:bt-bri njal-clearance-ignored-dissenters
http://bit.ly/YlPfJ
+ INDIA: ACTION DEMANDED AGAINST BT SEED MANUFACTURERS
With Vidarbha's cotton federation now officially acknowledging a big loss to the cotton crop, farmers' pressure group Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti has demanded that the government should seek compensation to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore from Bt cotton seed manufacturers and insecticide/pesticide makers for the losses suffered by farmers.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11670:bt-bri njal-clearance-ignored-dissenters
http://bit.ly/YlPfJ
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PROBLEMS WITH THE GM OMEGA-3 SOYBEAN
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Monsanto's new soya bean genetically modified to produce the omega-3 fatty acids is supposed to be great news for farmers, consumers and our overfished seas. But do the claims being made for it by the company and its supporters stack up? This compilation of concerns comes from various articles and other points put to us about the problems with Monsanto's omega-3 GM soybean. More details as to sources - plus the articles - here:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11657:proble ms-with-monsantos-omega-3-gm-soybean
http://bit.ly/VyAwi
*Saving the seas from overfishing?
1.It's unlikely that this GM soya will save fish stocks, as oily fish will still be (unsustainably) harvested for fish meal for aquaculture and animal feed.
2.The answer to overfishing has nothing to do with landbased sources of omega-3s. It has to do with international laws to limit fishing and enforcement of those laws.
3.Omega 3 is actually produced by algae, which are then eaten by fish. Why not simply grow the algae and extract the Omega 3 from the algae, rather than relying on fish or GM plants? Research is already underway in this area.
4.It's not only fishing, of course, that causes environmental problems. Mass production of soya also creates serious environmental problems.
*Improving our diets?
1.Biofortification is not a substitute for a healthy balanced diet based on eco-agriculture. Other vitamins and compounds are important, and only an approach that integrates diet and environment can address these issues.
2.With a healthy balanced diet there is no need for additives in processed food. For the same reasons, hunger, poverty and nutritional problems in the developing world can't be fixed by growing commodity crops.
3.The nutrient-by-nutrient approach to engineering 'healthy' fats back into the food chain is essentially a scam. Factory farming of meat and the use of products such as palm oil in margarine has shifted people's diets to consist of increasingly unhealthy fats. Engineering omega-3 oils back in to fundamentally poor diets is not a credible approach to improving people's health.
*Not tested sufficiently
1.The GM approach involves trying to engineer a complex biochemical pathway into a plant. Plants have very complex chemistries. Interfering with this chemistry means there is a lot of potential for unexpected and unpredictable side effects, e.g. could other, unintended chemicals be created beside the intended omega 3 fatty acid, as a side product?
2.Food safety is impossible to assess under current testing regimes because they do not look closely enough for any unintended compounds.
*Contamination of the food chain
1.The problem with engineering supposedly healthy ingredients into the bottom of the food chain is that it may not be reversible if something goes wrong. In the long-term, other products will become contaminated: this does not happen when new ingredients are added to a final processed product rather than a plant.
2.Even if soya doesn't cross pollinate to the same extent as some other crops, contamination will still inevitably occur, e.g. by unintentional mixing with conventional soya.
3.BASF says it is developing similar GM canola (oilseed rape) plants. This will be a disaster as we know canola outcrosses very readily leading to widescale GM contamination of neighbouring crops.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11657:proble ms-with-monsantos-omega-3-gm-soybean
http://bit.ly/VyAwi
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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO'S NEW RR2 SOYBEAN DISAPPOINTING
Monsanto said the increase in farmers' yields generated by its new GM soybeans is at the low end of its forecast range. "Some investors are losing confidence in Monsanto after growers and seed distributors told OTR Global, a Purchase, New York-based research firm, that the new soybeans aren’t meeting yield expectations." This has added to the slump in the share proce. (GMW: Of course, any yield increase will be due in any case to the elite non-GM parent plant used, not GM. And GMh may be causing a yield drag, as previously).
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aii_24MDZ8SU
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=agSA8yQgeO.Q
+ CHEMICAL COMPANIES FINED FOR CARTEL
EU hits division of BASF with the biggest fine
http://bit.ly/1ZBusK (video clip)
+ UK GOVT GIVES IN TO PESTICIDE LOBBY AGAIN OVER TOXIC WEEDKILLER
The UK government has shamefully capitulated to Dow and the pesticide lobby regarding aminopyralid, the weedkiller that decimated garden- and allotment-grown crops prior to its temporary withdrawal in 2008.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page21280
+ ONE DAY’S EXPOSURE TO AGENT ORANGE COULD CAUSE CANCER?
According to the doctors of a Vietnam vet suffering from cancer, only one day's exposure to Monsanto and Dow's Agent Orange defoliant could have caused or accelerated his cancer.
http://www.post-trib.com/news/davich/1876236,kwak-vet-1111.article
http://bit.ly/1sglb7
+ VETERAN WINS GROUNDBREAKING CLAIM FOR AGENT ORANGE EXPOSURE
A US veteran has won what's thought to be the first Veterans Administration claim for exposure inside the continental United States to Agent Orange.
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/11/veteran-wins-groundbreaking-claim-for-age nt-orange-exposure-at-georgia-military-base.html
http://bit.ly/3rvGCK
+ CORPORATE AGRIBIZ IS REAL ENEMY OF FARMERS
Farmers need to figure out who their real enemies are - and it's agribiz companies, says an article for The Cap Times.
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/article_1aef0308-5e14-5def-8cf9-3 eee9b3ad155.html
http://bit.ly/3VQMee
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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ FIRST HARVESTS OF FLOOD RESISTANT RICE
This is the rice that some have tried to pass off as a GM success.
http://bit.ly/34hnWr
Excellent article by Peter Melchett on how Professor Sir David King tried to claim this project and others as great GM success stories.
http://bit.ly/zCmPl
+ NON-GM APPLE THAT "WON'T ROT"
Australian scientists claim they've bred a non-GM disease-resistant apple that "won't rot" (!!) even when kept out of the fridge for months and they say tests show it still tastes good.
http://www.zeenews.com/news578102.html
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FOOD CRISIS
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+ NEW REPORT
New Greenpeace report, Agriculture at a Crossroads: Food for Survival, presents key findings from IAASTD, showing how ecological farming offers the real 'green revolution'.
http://bit.ly/4Xqno
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TRADE CHAOS FROM GM CROPS
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+ TRADE CHAOS LOOMS FROM GM CROPS
The giant US agri-biotech and commodity trade corporations are using their monopoly on seeds and a "contaminate first and legislate later" policy to push their unwanted GM animal feed into the European market, says GM-free Ireland. GM-free Ireland is commenting on a story in the New York Times in which EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel is once again scaremongering about the EU running out of animal feed if it does not drop its resistance to importing unapproved GMOs in animal feed.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11642:trade- chaos-looms-from-gm-crops
http://bit.ly/4zI3Fw
+ ETHIOPIA BLOCKS GM IMPORTS
Ethiopia's parliament has passed a Proclamation on Biosafety to give the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority power to block the import of GMOs. Anyone who thought the days of the Reuters headline "Eat GM or starve, America tells Africa", were over, should read the coverage of this Ethiopia story by Voice of America. The VOA story begins, "Ethiopia is reviewing a newly-passed law that could restrict imports of food aid at a time when millions of its people are suffering from severe malnutrition."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11644:more-t rade-and-aid-chaos-thanks-to-gm
http://bit.ly/2FJ5QY
+ NIGERIA BEING FLOODED BY CONTAMINATED GM RICE
http://bit.ly/1rB23g
+ CONFUSION REINS OVER TURKEY'S GM IMPORT REGULATIONS
Turkey, the 27th largest export market for all US goods, has issued a new biosafety regulation placing additional requirements on all food and feed products containing GMOs.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11644:more-t rade-and-aid-chaos-thanks-to-gm
http://bit.ly/2FJ5QY
http://bit.ly/3tMLqt
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EUROPE
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+ EU GM LABELLING NOT SUFFICIENT
The official French advisory body on GMOs, the Haut Conseil des Biotechnologies (HBC), has advised the French government that a GM-free label should be based on a lower threshold than in EU legislation. The government is now expected to follow the Council's advice and to issue a proposal. The European Commission is currently overseeing a major review of GM laws, to be completed in 2010. Friends of the Earth Europe is calling for the labelling of all meat, eggs and dairy from animals fed with GM animal feed.
http://bit.ly/2bqx2M
+ UK: ILLEGAL GM FLAX SEED FOUND IN MARKS AND SPENCER BREAD
Illegal GM 'Triffid' flax seed has been found in bread sold by Marks & Spencer. Critics of GM farming say the discovery provides damning evidence that Britain's food watchdogs are failing to police the nation's food chain. Flax seed oil, which is also known as linseed, is often used in health foods because it contains high levels of beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids. GM Freeze's Eve Mitchell said: "We tested one loaf of bread and found this illegal GM when the FSA says there are 'no grounds' to issue a Food Alert. We were very surprised that it was from a company that has prided itself on its high level of traceability, but this illustrates the need for imports to be cleared before they leave ports."
http://bit.ly/1lVeMs
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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+ ENOUGH MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT COUNTERING HYPE ON GM CROPS
Although it seems important to demonstrate that the science and alleged benefits of GM crops are untrue we shouldn't have to invest a whole lot of money to show that GM crops don't cause harm. There is enough evidence to show that they do not increase yield consistently, that they are a serious threat to biodiversity, increase the use of chemicals over time and do not benefit consumers or small farm holdings. Would we invest a lot of effort to counter claims by oil companies such as Exxon who have poured money into research to show that global warming is not taking place? We have enough work to do mitigating and adapting to climate change. Similarly, we need to focus on the challenge at hand - food security in an uncertain future. And we can do that without GM plants by using proven agricultural practices and other innovations that improve food security.
-- Dr Sujatha Byravan, writer on science and technology policy, Chennai, India, in an article for India Together, 6 Nov 2009
http://bit.ly/2cfjLO
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BEES
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+ NEW FILM ON WHY BEES ARE DYING
A new film, called Nicotine Bees, provides an excellent synopsis of the loss of honeybees and the issue of nicotinyl insecticides (also known as neonicotinoids) being used in a new way - as seed coatings.
http://bit.ly/1qwMCW
See also on bees:
GM crops and honey bee research
http://bit.ly/44jRDp
Bee learning affected by Bt Cry1Ab toxin
http://bit.ly/3obI9s
See also:
GM crops impact beneficial insects
http://bit.ly/1YXCye
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides 
