GMWatch News Review archive

WEEKLY WATCH number 289
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor

Dear all:

At the start of the year we pointed out how criticism of the biotech industry has gone mainstream with some of the hardest hitting recent attacks to be found in editorials and investigative articles in the likes of Scientific American, the New York Times, and the Associated Press. Well now it's the turn of Reuters to produce a Special Report looking at many of the problems that have arisen in the US with GM crops (THE AMERICAS).

Over half a million people have signed the Avaaz petition to the EU to ban GM foods until the science is done. We're over half way to the target of one million people, at which point an official request can be made to the European Commission. So please ask anyone you know who cares about food, health, and/or the environment to sign the petition:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

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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THE AMERICAS
ASIA
CORPORATE CRIMES
FEEDING THE WORLD
NEW BOOK
NEW RESEARCH
AGROFUELS
AUSTRALASIA

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THE AMERICAS
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+ U.S.: ARE REGULATORS DROPPING THE BALL ON GM CROPS?
According to a surprisingly clear-eyed article from Reuters, research shows that GM crops could be creating unforeseen problems in plants and soil, thanks to an ill-equipped regulatory process and a government that does more to promote global acceptance of GM crops than to protect the public and farmers from possible harmful consequences.

The article quotes Robert Kremer, USDA soil scientist, as saying of the damage caused by Monsanto's GM RoundUp Ready technology, "This could be something quite big. We might be setting up a huge problem."

According to the article, some scientists say there are indications of increased root fungal disease as well as nutrient deficiencies in Roundup Ready crops. They say manganese deficiency in soybeans in particular appears to be an issue in key farming areas that include Indiana, Michigan, Kansas and Wisconsin.

The article quotes a letter sent in February 2009 by 26 leading entomologists to the Environmental Protection Agency complaining that they were restricted from doing independent research by biotech companies. The scientists wrote, "No truly independent research can be legally conducted on many critical questions regarding the technology."

Reuters goes on to quote University of Minnesota entomologist Ken Ostlie, who co-authored the letter to the EPA, as saying that some of the concerns involve corn engineered to resist corn rootworm pests. Biotech corn crops in Minnesota, Iowa, and parts of Wisconsin and South Dakota harvested last fall showed damage and disease, and some fear the biotech corn could sicken livestock.

"We don't know if something is going on with the plant and the technology or with the insect. We just know things didn't work the way they were supposed to," Ostlie is quoted as saying. "It would be nice to have independently verifiable information going into EPA's decision-making beyond just what the company provides."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12133

+ U.S.: STUDY SAYS OVERUSE THREATENS "GAINS" FROM GM CROPS
A new study of the impact of GM crops on US farmers has been published by the National Research Council, which is affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences. The report, which shows signs of growing realism regarding GM crops, claims that they have provided "substantial" environmental and economic benefits to American farmers, but overuse of the technology is threatening to erode the gains as Roundup resistant weeds proliferate. At the press conference the study chair said Roundup resistance is "growing, it's real and it's going to get worse." However, even the benefits claimed in the report for GM crops are based on questionable assumptions. For example, it claims that GM crops have allowed farmers to either reduce chemical spraying or to use less harmful chemicals. But a 2009 report based on USDA official data shows that GM crops have promoted increased use of pesticides.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/component/content/article/11682-gm-crops-cause-big-jump-in-pesticide-use-report
Also, the NRC report assumes that glyphosate is less toxic to animals than many other herbicides and does not last that long in the environment - but both claims are seriously open to question.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GTARW.php
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Roundup-Glyphosate-Factsheet-Cox.htm
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12134
Long time Monsanto associate Peter Raven was among the NRC report's authors
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Peter_Raven

+ CANADA: BILL TO PROTECT FARMERS PASSES SECOND READING
Bill C-474, calling for changes to the process through which GM seeds are approved in Canada, has received enough support in the Canadian parliament to be sent to committee. The bill is supported by a wide range of farming and other interests, including the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union and the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, and it is strongly opposed by groups like the Canadian Canola Growers Association and CropLife Canada. The bill encourages any new approvals of GM seeds to undergo an analysis of potential harm to export markets prior to their approval, in order to ensure that global markets remain open to Canadian farmers. The radio programme Deconstructing Dinner has a great report on what's happening and the industry disinformation used to fight the bill.
http://www.cjly.net/deconstructingdinner/041510.htm

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ASIA
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+ SPINNING INDIAN SURVEY ON FARMERS AND GM CROPS
Here's a great bit of spin from SciDev.net about GM crop adoption in India. Their article is headlined as "Farmers prefer to use GM seeds for cash crops", but what it actually reports is summarized as follows:

"around 40 per cent of the farmers surveyed were willing to grow cash crops with GM seeds, but 80 per cent of them said they would not cultivate food crops from seeds containing a poison to control pests. The response was consistent across big and small farmers and those educated or uneducated."

So wouldn't it have been more honest to say that "80% of the farmers would not grow their food from seeds genetically engineered to contain pesticides and 60% wouldn't even grow crops for market from GM seeds"?

If so, the headline should have read simply: "Most farmers prefer not to use GM seeds, survey finds".
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12131

+ PHILIPPINES FARMERS AND SCIENTISTS PROTEST AGAINST IRRI
More than 200 Philippines farmers affiliated with the farmer-scientist group MASIPAG have staged mass actions in protest against the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute). The group is demanding the closure of IRRI because “it has relinquished its task in promoting and protecting the interests of the rice farmers”. Instead, MASIPAG says, IRRI has become a servant to the interests of corporations in agriculture.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12132

+ ILLEGAL GM RICE ABOUT TO BE PLANTED IN CHINA
GM rice seeds, along with some rice and rice products, have been on sale in Hunan and Hubei provinces, Greenpeace China claimed during a press conference. Local food authorities said investigations are underway. The organization claimed three batches of tested GM rice seeds contained the Bt gene. Scientists do not agree that the Bt gene is safe for human consumption. Greenpeace said the GM rice seeds will very likely be sown in the coming May.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-04/15/content_9730857.htm

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ DAY OF ACTION
International Peasants Day has existed since 1996 because on April 17 1996, 19 Brazilian peasants who were defending their right to produce food by demanding access to land were massacred by the military. Since then, La Via Campesina has been calling for groups to organize actions of solidarity on this day. For an inspiring list of Worldwide Actions on April 17 this year, including many targeting Monsanto, and a large national demonstration against GMOs in Madrid:
http://bit.ly/bUaQQh

+ SOUTH AFRICA: FARM WORKERS RALLY AGAINST SYNGENTA
Farm workers and allies from the Western and Northern Cape (in South Africa) converged on Lutzville on the West Coast to protest against the agricultural practices of Syngenta. “This is one of the multinational companies that benefits from the racism on the farms,” said Davine Witbooi, an emerging farmer from Lutzville and a member of the Food Sovereignty Campaign. “Workers are exposed to Syngenta's pesticides without consideration of their health by racist farm owners and this is how this company makes its profits.” “We also reject their promotion of genetically modified organisms (GMOs),” she added. “This is damaging all of us, it’s only good for their profits.”
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12136

+ BRAZIL: GMOs, PESTICIDES, AND VIOLENCE
A Terra de Direitos (Organization for Human Rights) has published a case study on the various human rights violations by Syngenta Seeds. The alleged violations include murder, physical and moral violence against landless rural workers, maintenance of private armed militias, carrying out forced evictions without a court order, soil contamination with pesticides, contamination of agro-biodiversity with GM seeds, and criminalization of social movements, among many other actions.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12136

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FEEDING THE WORLD
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+ "STRIP GM MANDATE" FROM FOOD AID BILL
Experts, scientists and advocates from around the world have petitioned the US Senate in an attempt to strip what they term a "stealth corporate giveaway" embedded in a foreign aid bill. The "Global Food Security Act" (S.384), sponsored by Senators Casey and Lugar, is intended to reform aid programs to focus on longer-term agricultural development. While lauding the bill's intentions, the petitioners object to a clause earmarking GM crops for potentially billions of dollars in federal funding. $7.7 billion in US funds are associated with the bill and no other farming methods or technologies are mentioned. Monsanto has lobbied more than any other interest in support of this bill.

Scientists, development experts spanning a dozen countries, and 100+ groups representing anti-hunger, family farm, farmworker, consumer and sustainable agriculture delivered a letter urging the Senate to reject the "Global Food Security Act" until the bill is made technology-neutral. "The bill's focus on genetically modified technology simply makes no sense," said Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network. "Independent science tells us that GM crops have neither increased yield nor reduced hunger in the world. The most credible and comprehensive assessments of agriculture to date say that if we want to end global poverty and hunger, we'll need to focus on increasing the biodiversity and ecological resilience of small-scale farming systems."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12135
URGENT ACTION: The Senate is expected to vote on this soon. If in US, please email your Senators directly on this:
http://action.panna.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2901

+ OXFAM AMERICA SUPPORTING GM CROPS AGAIN
A group of NGOs has written to Oxfam America to express their grave concerns with the recent position publicized by Oxfam America in support of GM crops as a viable solution for addressing poverty faced by resource poor and subsistence farmers in developing countries. The NGOs say Oxfam America appears to be positioning itself as a broker for research on Bt cotton in West Africa with support from the Gates Foundation.

The NGOs are also concerned about a recently published book, Biotechnology and Agricultural Development: Transgenic Cotton, Rural Institutions and Resource-Poor Farmers, which reports on the outcome of an Oxfam-America project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The book, edited by Robert Tripp, assesses the socio-economic impacts of GM cotton on smallholder farmers in India, China, Colombia, and South Africa. Although the book claims a neutral stance, it appears biased in favor of GM crops in its unsubstantiated claims of benefits, selective use of research, and lack of attention paid to sustainable alternatives.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12130
http://ionglobaltrends.blogspot.com/2010/04/gm-crops-us-branch-of-oxfam-being-used.html

This isn't the first time that Oxfam America has been accused of cosying up to the biotech industry:
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Oxfam_America

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NEW BOOK
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+ GENE CARTELS
A review of disillusioned patent lawyer Luigi Palombi's new book, Gene Cartels, is here:
http://whoownsyou-drkoepsell.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-review-of-luigi-palombis-book-gene.html

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NEW RESEARCH
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+ GM CHICKEN TO BOOST POULTRY INDUSTRY AND FIGHT CANCER, AIDS AND PARKINSON'S!
Indian scientists have inserted a jellyfish gene for luminescence into a chicken, claiming it is "for therapeutic use in fighting viral diseases and cancer, AIDs and Parkinson's disease". But the Wall Street Journal says India's GM chickens are not only for treating diseases but will boost its poultry industry by increasing its productivity and generating "a huge quantity of flesh". The Hindu, on the other hand, says the GM chickens are "not edible". Pick a fairytale”¦ any fairytale!
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396362.ece
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303828304575179812834664070.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
http://bit.ly/9saGfS
For more GM fairytales
http://www.gmwatch.eu/gm-myths

+ GM DNA DETECTED IN REFINED GM OIL
A study in the journal Food Research International has shown that it is possible to detect and quantify GM DNA in fully refined soybean oil. Previous studies that failed to detect GM DNA used very small samples, say the authors. GM supporters and some regulators have claimed there is no need to label oils derived from GM crops on the assumption that GM DNA is not present in the refined oil.
http://bit.ly/aUrYjA

+ RUSSIA SAYS GM FOODS ARE HARMFUL
An article in the Voice of Russia says Russian scientists have proved in a 2-year feeding trial that GMOs are harmful for mammals, affecting their ability to reproduce.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/04/16/6524765.html

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AGROFUELS
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+ THE TROUBLE WITH THE ETHANOL "MIRACLE"
Has there ever been a "green" technology more ecologically discredited than corn-based ethanol? - asks Tom Philpott in Grist. It may yield slightly more energy than it consumes during production, Philpott writes, but only if you grant a generous credit to distillers grains, an ethanol byproduct now used as a highly dubious livestock feed. But corn ethanol's unimpressive energy balance makes it a pathetic candidate to displace energy-rich petroleum gasoline. Moreover, its total greenhouse gas emissions are likely titanic - a fact limply acknowledged by the EPA and then eventually retracted under industry pressure. And even Brazil's much celebrated sugar cane ethanol is much more environmentally destructive than has generally been realised. In fact, Brazil's ethanol "miracle" could be dire for the Amazon.
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-13-raising-cane-the-trouble-with-brazils-much-celebrated-ethanol-mi/

+ TAKE ACTION: TELL CONGRESS
Biofuels don't cut global warming - they contribute to it! Stop dirty corn ethanol subsidies. The production of corn ethanol requires petroleum-based fertilizer and pesticides, leads to the destruction of forests and topsoil and raises the cost of food. Tell your members of Congress to vote against the ethanol tax credit extension.
http://bit.ly/a6UU6q

+ BIOFUELS BILL DIES IN IOWA, USA
Even in Iowa, a bill known as SF 2359, which would have required that all gasoline sold in Iowa contain at least 10% ethanol, has died in the legislature because Iowa lawmakers couldn't garner enough political support for the bill in the biggest ethanol-producing state in the US! A story in Ethanol Producer Magazine reports that throughout the US, 19 ethanol plants with a capacity of 884 million gallons per year are now sitting idle.
http://www.counterpunch.org/bryce03052010.html

STUDY: ALGAE BIOFUEL PRODUCTION GUZZLES WATER AND ENERGY
http://bit.ly/c8Z9Vd

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ NEW ZEALAND: FORMER SPY CLEARS WAY FOR GM ANIMALS
The decision by New Zealand's Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) to approve GM goats, sheep and cows at AgResearch’s Ruakura research facility is a decision Dr Strangelove would be proud of, said the Green Party's GM spokesperson Sue Kedgley. "New Zealand is moving into the strange, brave new world of transgenic animals, and into the realms of science fiction, and the person guiding us there is New Zealand's former spy chief," said Ms Kedgley. ERMA’s current chair is former head of the Security Intelligence Service, Richard Woods.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1004/S00162.htm
Superb commentary on how the GM animal decision smells of both U.S. and political influence:
http://bit.ly/dxgNS9