GMWatch News Review archive

WEEKLY WATCH number 284
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor

Dear all:

This week there's news from India about pending legislation that will shock even the most hardened cynic by its intent to suppress debate on GM. Disturbingly it appears to be part of wider moves by pro-GM elements within the Indian Government to seize control of decision making on GM and silence critics (see ASIA).

The week's other big news out of India is the warning from the acting director of India's Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) that GM cotton has resulted in the rise of hitherto unknown insect pests; increased pesticide use by farmers; and declining cotton productivity (see ASIA).
 
Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Website: http//www.gmwatch.org
Profiles: http://bit.ly/12UAI2
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c6OnaX

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CONTENTS
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LOBBYWATCH
GM VACCINES
FEEDING THE WORLD
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
ASIA
BT BRINJAL BACKLASH

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ KING OF MISLEADING STATEMENTS
Yet another example has emerged of the media's repeated failure to challenge pro-GM scientists when they make false claims in support of GM crops. It involves one of the worst offenders: Prof Sir David King, director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and former UK government chief scientific adviser. Read on at:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11937:the-liar-king
http://bit.ly/9YgYwx

+ ATTEMPTS TO SPIN GM TOMATO AS NOT GM
Indian scientists are claiming that a GM delayed-ripening tomato engineered to have a long shelf life should not create controversy because it has no alien genes. But molecular biologist Dr Michael Antoniou comments, "These GM tomatoes are very much a product of standard transgenic procedures". He adds that the lead researcher is being "quite disingenuous when he says there are no foreign genes in these GM tomatoes. They contain two foreign stretches of genetic material".
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11939:foreign-genetic-material-in-long-lasting-tomato
http://bit.ly/cAtLPE

+ IS GM JUST LIKE ORDINARY PLANT BREEDING?
Dr Nina Federoff, science advisor to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and GM lobbyist, has been claiming, "There's almost no food that isn't genetically modified. Genetic modification is the basis of all evolution." But Prof Jack Heinemann says, "This stance is grossly misleading. Genetic engineering/modification, as defined in the international agreements governing it, was not even in existence before discoveries of the 1970s. Her misuse of language is an attempt to wave away people's (and by this I also mean scientists') concerns that the safety testing of this technology could be better, should be better, and must be more transparent and independent of the vested interests driving it."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11942:what-are-gm-cisgenics-intragenics-synbio
http://bit.ly/bJvbWS

+ SPINNING THE GM DEBATE THROUGH MANIPULATION OF LANGUAGE
The terms cisgenics and intragenics are proposed to replace the term transgenics for describing some GM products. Prof Jack Heinemann comments: "The 'cis' and 'intra' are meant to convey that the origins of the building blocks of genes that are being manipulated are from the same 'species', perhaps even the same genome into which they will be again inserted. Transgenics is a term they reserve for products using genes from different species. Since advocates of such language have come to personal conclusions that there is no particular hazard arising from using the techniques of modern biotechnology to insert and delete genes, they perceive that the use of genes from closely related organisms would eliminate most of the risks special to GMOs."

But, says Heinemann, "There is no question that these techniques result in the creation of GMOs”¦ The point is that these genes are taken out of a cellular context and inserted back, not that they derive from a particular genome. It is this process and the products of which that define the risk issues that are to be assessed on a case-by-case basis."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11942:what-are-gm-cisgenics-intragenics-synbio
http://bit.ly/cQ275T

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GM VACCINES
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+ NO NEED TO GENETICALLY ENGINEER VACCINES INTO FOODS
One of the key reasons given for the need to genetically engineer vaccines into food plants is that vaccines normally need to be kept refrigerated, which requires expensive cold-chain systems - an often daunting challenge for vaccine delivery in the developing world. GM food-based vaccines are claimed to be able to remain stable, and so maintain their immunogenicity at room temperature for considerable periods. But a new breakthrough offers a simple and extremely cheap way of avoiding refrigeration without resorting to the risks of genetic engineering or the inevitable danger of contamination of the food supply with pharmaceutical products.
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11948:no-need-to-genetically-engineer-vaccines-into-foods
http://bit.ly/a9Qy46

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FEEDING THE WORLD
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+ HEAD OF THE UNDP GETS IT RIGHT ON AGRICULTURE
The Chief Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme said that world food security depended upon getting "back to basics" with agriculture.
 
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who now heads the UNDP, spoke on what she saw as the solution to future food security problems. Responding to questions today on Zealand's national radio show Nine to Noon, Clark said, "smarter farming and production has got to be part of the solution".
 
When asked if she agreed with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's science advisor Dr Nina Federoff that without GM the world would suffer future food shortages, she said, "I don't think GE [GM] is the solution to the food security problem."

Instead, Clark argued for more funding for agriculture that emphasised solutions to the problems faced by poor farmers. Public funding for extension services and agricultural research that improves productivity and yield had to increase rather than relying upon GMOs.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11954:head-of-undp-says-gm-not-answer-to-food-security
http://bit.ly/aX9vXf

+ GM CROPS NOT A PANACEA FOR SMALL FARMERS
GM crops are promoted as a 'pro-poor' technology, but the reality is more complicated, says development specialist Dominic Glover. Farming success depends heavily on institutional, infrastructural and agronomic factors, such as functioning markets, effective transport systems, a dependable water supply and good quality soil.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11951:gm-crops-still-not-a-panacea-for-poor-farmers
http://bit.ly/b9rnZD

+ AFRICA'S LAND AND FAMILY FARMS: UP FOR GRABS?
From brilliant article by Canadian journalist Joan Baxter:

Over the years many Big Ideas have been imposed on Africa from outside. The latest is that the region should sell or lease millions of hectares of land to foreign investors, who will bring resources and up-to-date technology. None of the blueprints has worked, and African farmers have become increasingly impoverished. It is time for Africans to turn to their own histories, knowledge and resources.

In the early 1990s, when I was living in northern Ghana, an elderly woman farmer decided that I needed some education. In a rather long lecture, she detailed the devastating effects that the Green Revolution - the first one, which outside experts and donors launched in Africa in the 1960s and 70s - had had on farmers' crops, soils, trees and lives. She said that the imported seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and tractors, the instructions to plant row after row of imported hybrid maize and cut down precious trees that protected the soils and nourished the people - even the invaluable shea nut trees - had ruined the diverse, productive farming systems that had always sustained her people. When she finished, she cocked an eye at me and asked, with a cagey grin, "Why do you bring your mistakes here?"
Read on at http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17694

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THE AMERICAS
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+ MEXICO'S STRUGGLE FOR NON-GM CORN
In Oaxaca, Mexico, this year's theme of the 4th annual Zapotec Feria of the Cornfield was focused on the dangers of contamination from GM corn, with a showcase of indigenous corn based culture and food sovereignty.

"We plant corn for the well-being of the communities," said community leader, Rodrigo Santiago Hernandez during the opening session, emphasizing the importance of the culture of corn for the Zapotecs. "If we don't cultivate corn, we have no life. It is central to our existence. We are the people of corn."

Community President, Baltazar Felix said, "Corn is the basis for our expression of autonomy and central to our usos y costumbres (practices and customs), which represent our Zapotec culture and indigenous way of life. Genetically-modified crops have the potential to cross-breed with native crops, altering the evolution of the entire population."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11949:mexicos-struggle-for-uncontaminated-corn
http://bit.ly/cyQvEu

+ CANADIAN FARMERS HURT BY GM CONTAMINATED FLAX
Canada is the world's leader in the production and export of flax. The price of flax fell 32 per cent before GM contamination had even been confirmed. Farmers don't yet know how widespread the contamination is or how it happened. It's likely, however, as in all cases of contamination, that farmers will bear the costs of the clean-up, says a good overview of the scandal for GRAIN.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11941:canadian-farmers-hurt-by-contamination-fiasco
http://bit.ly/bKCvTY

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EUROPE    
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+ UK: GM POTATO TRIALS IN YORKSHIRE AND NORFOLK
Two sets of GM potato trials are planned in the UK this year - one in Yorkshire and the other in Norfolk. Both have heavy security due to their unpopularity.
TAKE ACTION: How to object to the GM potato trial in Yorkshire: (PDF)
http://bit.ly/daLMMS
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11938:gm-potato-trials-in-norfolk
http://bit.ly/ab1gv5

+ SWISS BAN EXTENDED
The moratorium on GM animals and plants that has been in force in Switzerland since 2005 is to be extended for a further three years to 2013.
http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/news/488.docu.html

+ INDUSTRY INVOLVES ITSELF IN EU GM POLICY
Corporate Europe Observatory and Greenpeace European Unit, along with nineteen other organisations have written to the members of the STOA (Assessment of Scientific and Technological Policy Options) panel of the European Parliament, to raise concerns about an upcoming seminar they are holding on the EU GMO policy. This seminar is organised in cooperation with the Public Research Regulation Initiative (PRRI), an industry-biased pro-GMO lobby group, despite its name and pretentions.

The organisations ask the STOA panel members to postpone the seminar "in order to make sure that independent scientific experts as well as representatives from civil society are invited to debate the role of genetic engineering". PRRI is well known for its pro-industry positions, is funded by corporations such as Monsanto, and many of its members have ties with industry.
http://www.corporateeurope.org/agrofuels/content/2010/02/letter-meps-stoa-prri-gmo-seminar

+ GENETICS DAY AT JOHN INNES CENTRE
Pro-GM John Innes Centre: Genetics Day in the Forum (Norwich) Thursday 18 March. Featuring the science show "Genetics Are you Taking the Pea" by Dr Ken, the Juggling Geneticist, which starts with Mendel and ends with GM.
http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/search/events.asp

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ASIA
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+ INDIA SEEKS JAIL FOR GM CRITICS
In the wake of the successful democratic opposition to the commercialization of Bt brinjal/aubergine/eggplant see BT BRINJAL BACKLASH, below) the Indian government is proposing to bring in a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) bill aimed at silencing opposition to GM foods. The bill has provisions that can put GM opponents in jail for a minimum of six months, says Devinder Sharma. In addition, it also imposes a fine of 200,000 rupees. And if opponents hold a demonstration against a university or try to "obstruct" research, they face imprisonment for three months and/or a fine of 500,000 rupees.

Devinder comments: "This is the power and reach of the GM companies. If the bill was already in force, you and me (those who opposed the introduction of Bt brinjal) would have been in jail by now. Dr M S Swaminathan and Dr Pushpa Bhargava too would have been in jail. ”¦ Environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who has questioned the safety of GM crops, would have been behind bars because he would have violated it."

Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said of the bill: "It is definitely meant to scare people so that they don't say anything against GM technology. Even journalists writing critical articles can be punished."

The Supreme Court observer in Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), Dr Pushpa Bhargava said that the latest version of the bill "seems to have draconian clauses to stifle anti-GM voices in the country".

Dr Bhargava commented on a section in the proposed bill which says, "whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about safety of GMOs and products thereof shall be punished" with imprisonment and a fine. He said, "This is meant to harass civil society groups and scientists who are voicing their concern on this technology. And who is to decide on 'misleading', on what basis?" Rather than penalize those who intend to release GMOs without conclusive safety proven, clauses like this are being inserted to harass concerned voices, he said.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11955-india-seeks-jail-for-gm-food-critics
http://bit.ly/bOCDly
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11946:new-gm-bill-threatens-critics-with-prison
http://bit.ly/aPIUcF
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11952:science-minister-used-gm-lobby-data-to-push-bt-brinjal
http://bit.ly/b7xMnu

+ BT COTTON BOOSTING PESTICIDE USE PRO-GM RESEARCHER
GM lobbyists have tried to paint Bt cotton in India as a massive success story that has cut insecticide use and boosted productivity. But now Keshav Kranthi, a leading Indian entomologist and acting director of India's Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), has told the Indian government that the rapid adoption of GM cotton by farmers across the country has coincided with:
*the rise of hitherto unknown insect pests
*increased pesticide applications by farmers
*declining cotton productivity over the past three years.
-- And Kranthi is a pro-GM scientist.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11944:bt-cotton-boosting-pesticide-use
http://bit.ly/9pY7g0

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BT BRINJAL BACKLASH
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+ INDUSTRY BACKLASH AFTER BT BRINJAL MORATORIUM
After the failure of US and GM industry lobbying to get Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) approved for commercialisation in India, the industry and its political and scientific supporters are staging a nasty backlash. This involves attacks not just on the Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, who decided on a moratorium, but attacks on scientists who have raised concerns about Bt brinjal. According to Ramesh, "I have independent reports from ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) scientists that those who raised even mild queries on introduction of Bt brinjal are now being harassed".
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11934:the-busy-american-and-the-bt-brinjal-backlash
http://bit.ly/cIQE1v

+ COUP PLANNED BY PRO-GM MINISTRIES
According to trade and policy analyst Devinder Sharma, efforts are under way to wrestle away control of GM crops from Jairam Ramesh’s environment ministry so that pro-GM ministries can call the shots from now on.

Devinder warns, "Efforts on to reverse the decision against Bt brinjal in India. Under pressure from GM companies, Agri and S&T [Science and Technology] Ministry planning a coup."
http://twitter.com/Devinder_Sharma/status/9227331836

The Agriculture Minister is Sharad Pawar who has lobbied constantly for GM crops, even during the public consultation and even in his power base of Maharashtra where so many Bt cotton farmers have committed suicide. Pawar's nephew is said to own a Bt cotton seed company.

The Science and Technology Minister, Prithvi Chavan, is another vocal supporter of GM crops who's just been exposed as having parroted paragraph after paragraph of a GM industry lobby group's promotional material in an official Government letter defending GM crops.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11953:coup-planned-by-pro-gm-ministries
http://bit.ly/cLTdY9

+ SOME ON BT PANEL WERE PROMOTING OWN INTEREST
Four of the 16 members in the EC-II panel that recommended approval for commercialization of Bt brinjal were either growing Bt brinjal or working on projects funded by companies promoting GM food, civil rights activists say.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11935:indias-battle-against-monsanto-rages-on
http://bit.ly/cUjyjX

+ SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MINISTER (OR WAS IT MONSANTO?) SAYS BT BRINJAL SAFE
Four days after environment minister Jairam Ramesh put a moratorium on the commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal, Union Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan said it was safe.

But investigations reveal that Chavan - a vocal supporter of GM crops - copied and quoted in an official letter material from reports published by a lobbying outfit funded by seed companies including Monsanto and Mahyco. Monsanto and Mahyco are respectively the patent holders and the Indian distribution rights holders of Bt brinjal.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11940:chavan-puts-weight-behind-bt-brinjal
http://bit.ly/cYgaSo
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264220
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11952:science-minister-used-gm-lobby-data-to-push-bt-brinjal
http://bit.ly/b7xMnu

+ FEDEROFF: THE BUSY AMERICAN AND BT BRINJAL
Nina Federoff, Science and Technology Adviser to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a vocal lobbyist for GM crops, arrived in New Delhi apparently too late to change the Indian government’s decision to impose a moratorium on Bt brinjal commercialization.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11934:the-busy-american-and-the-bt-brinjal-backlash
http://bit.ly/cIQE1v

+ BT BRINJAL MORATORIUM: A VICTORY FOR SCIENCE AND DEMOCRACY
The Indian government's decision to impose a moratorium on Bt brinjal commercialization is a victory for science and democracy, says an article by Hemant Anant Jain.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11935:indias-battle-against-monsanto-rages-on
http://bit.ly/cUjyjX

+ BT BRINJAL DECISION "LIKE A BRESH OF FRESH AIR" EXCELLENT MEDIA REPORT
The environment minister's decision-making process on Bt brinjal was like a breath of fresh air in that it embraced the risk and uncertainty that true democracy brings, says a report for Indian news channel CNN-IBN
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11936:like-a-breath-of-fresh-air
http://bit.ly/daQJya

+ "THIRD WAR OF INDEPENDENCE AVERTED" SCIENTIST
Dr P M Bhargava, who was nominated to the biotech regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee by the Supreme Court, believes that the Bt brinjal moratorium makes the third war of Independence by India unnecessary. He says, "The biggest lesson is that we showed up the people who are trying to sell our country... it is a declaration of India's independence."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11940:chavan-puts-weight-behind-bt-brinjal
http://bit.ly/cYgaSo

+ FARMERS ORGANIZE FOR PERMANENT BAN ON BT BRINJAL
Farmer and other groups are lobbying the Indian government to place a permanent ban on Bt brinjal. According to G. Nammalvar from Vanagam, a non-profit-making organisation in Tamil Nadu that campaigns in favour of ecological farming, "There is no necessity for the introduction of a Bt brinjal in India, which holds the merit of having huge biodiversity. We have 2,500 traditional brinjal varieties in India. Every community is used to consuming a particular variety, i.e. locally produced. Introduction of Bt brinjal with false claims for its advantages will contaminate the local varieties and erode the biodiversity of the vegetable that is consumed by millions."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11943:bt-brinjal-and-the-politics-of-knowledge
http://bit.ly/d9xFVO

+ THE INADEQUACY OF BT BRINJAL SAFETY STUDIES DR JUDY CARMAN
Dr Judy Carman's devastating critique of the food safety studies done on GM aubergine/eggplant (Bt brinjal), submitted to the Indian government as part of the case against Bt brinjal approval, is easy to follow and worth reading in full. You'll find what it exposes hard to credit. Want to predict the effect of feeding Bt brinjal to 1.15 billion Indians over generations? Then run some poorly devised short-term animal studies on a few, er ... fish! And remember: what's being exposed here is not some wild farcical aberration but pretty much the norm for the kind of research that's used to approve GM foods.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11932:the-inadequacy-of-gm-brinjal-food-safety-studies-dr-judy-carman
http://bit.ly/aru3Pp