GMWatch News Review archive

WEEKLY WATCH number 290
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor

Dear all:

There's more about the worrying Russian feeding trial on GM soy (EUROPE). And two international agriculture experts have confirmed that GM is not the key to feeding the world (FEEDING THE WORLD).

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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EUROPE
FEEDING THE WORLD
NON-GM SUCCESSES
ASIA
CORPORATE CRIMES
AUSTRALASIA
AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
AGROFUELS

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EUROPE    
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+ 15,000 DEMONSTRATE AGAINST GM IN MADRID
15,000 people gathered in Madrid on 20 April under the slogan "For a Food and GE Free Agriculture". Farmers, environmentalists and consumers around the country have toured the city demanding the Government to follow the same path followed by countries like France, Germany or Austria, and ban the cultivation of GM maize in Spain. Spain is the only EU country that grows GM on a large scale.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12154

+ GM SOY LINKED TO STERILITY, INFANT MORTALITY
More details have emerged of the Russian GM soy feeding trial we reported in last week’s Weekly Watch. Scientists fed hamsters for two years over three generations. Those on the GM diet, and especially the group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed devastating results. By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies. They also suffered slower growth, and a high mortality rate among the pups.

And if this isn't shocking enough, some in the third generation even had hair growing inside their mouths a phenomenon rarely seen, but apparently more prevalent among hamsters eating GM soy.

The study, jointly conducted by Surov's Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Association for Gene Security, is expected to be published in three months (July 2010).

One of the researchers, Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov, said, "We have no right to use GMOs until we understand the possible adverse effects, not only to ourselves but to future generations as well. We definitely need fully detailed studies to clarify this."  
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12160

+ NORWEGIAN GOVT SUBMITS DOCUMENT ON RISKS OF GMOs
The Norwegian government has written an interesting submission to an expert group on GMOs organized by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The expert group is considering, among other things, the framework to identify GM organisms or traits that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, including risks to human health.

In its submission, Norway highlighted information from scientific studies which raise "early warning" signs on the effects of GMOs on biological environments and on human health.
 
It noted that GMOs containing Bt toxins may cause unintended direct adverse effects on biological diversity including insects, aquatic life, soil microbes, and the food web, as well as on crop plants important for sustainable agricultural production and food security. Similar caution was expressed towards GMOs with genes that confer herbicide tolerance as well as GM plants with tolerance to stresses such as drought and cold and GMOs with stacked events.
 
Norway recommended caution with regard to GM fish with traits such as cold tolerance, increased growth rate or high tolerance to environmental pollutants. It also noted that GM trees with long life-spans would be a challenge for risk assessment. Norway also expressed caution with regard to GM viruses with altered traits and host specificity and was concerned about GM pharmacrops entering the food chain.    

The document should be read by anyone who claims that only activists express doubts about GM crop safety.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12148

+ EU SEES INCREASED ROLE FOR ORGANIC FARMING
With the EU's future farm policy expected to have an increased focus on protecting biodiversity, promoting sustainable farming and achieving CO2 reduction goals, organic farming may be worth a closer look, EU officials said. A Commission staff working document accompanying the 2004 EU action plan on organic farming underlines that its main benefits include the protection of soil, nature, biodiversity and habitats. Restricted use of pesticides also improves water quality, it notes.

Anna Barnett from the Commission's environment directorate stressed that the focus should be on reducing pollution from the 96% of farmland currently used for conventional farming. She noted that 50% of France's drinking water needs to be cleaned of pesticides before it is fit to drink.
http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/eu-eyes-increased-role-organic-farming466874

+ APPROVAL OF BT MAIZE SHOULD BE WITHHELD
A recent Testbiotech report showed that the risks associated with Bt maize 1507, which is about to be authorised for cultivation in the EU, were incorrectly assessed by the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). Despite the fact that this type of maize has an extremely high concentration of insecticide in its pollen, the EFSA did not request any investigations be carried out on butterflies or other prevalent insects in Europe.

The EFSA has misinterpreted the data from scientific publications and has even overlooked crucial trial results revealing that a European butterfly species (waxmoth) has a surprisingly high susceptibility. No other investigations concerning protected European butterflies have been published.

"The EFSA is acting irresponsibly. The authority omitted the proper assessment of crucial studies and did not request the basic data which was absolutely necessary for proper risk assessment," says Andreas Bauer-Panskus, author of the recent Testbiotech report. "European governments should give a clear signal and reject the opinion of the EFSA and not grant approval of 1507 maize."
http://www.testbiotech.org/en/node/365

+ GMO BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED
Greenpeace has responded to the European Commission's controversial decision to authorise the Amflora GM potato with a billboard campaign across Brussels. The Amflora decision went against the will of EU member states, public opinion, and the advice of international medical experts such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), who stressed the vital importance of antibiotics affected by the potato's genetic makeup. The billboards are a taste of things to come as Greenpeace turns the spotlight on the Commission and its indigestible pro-GMO agenda. Things will hot up next week when the GMO cookbook hits the streets. Anti-GM actions have been taking place across Europe in the last few weeks, united by a pan-European bus tour.
http://media-newswire.com/release_1117484.html

+ OVER 600,000 HAVE SIGNED THE EU PETITION FOR A GM MORATORIUM - HAVE YOU?
http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK
http://bit.ly/bHCt18

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FEEDING THE WORLD
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+ GM CROPS ARE NOT THE ANSWER INTERNATIONAL AG EXPERTS
The IAASTD report on the future of agriculture in the developing world concluded that "agroecological" and sustainable farming, not GM crops, was the way to ensure food security. Now two experts from IAASTD, Dr Hans Herren and Dr Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, have published a hard-hitting critique of the US’s proposed Global Food Security Act, which includes a mandate that the US spend foreign aid dollars developing GM crops. No other kind of agricultural technology is mentioned. Unsurprisingly, Monsanto has lobbied more frequently on this bill than any other entity.

The authors write: "The trouble with a mandate for GM crops is this: it won't work. A recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists demonstrates that GM crops don't increase crop yields. USAID has already spent millions of taxpayer dollars developing GM crops over the past two decades, without a single success story to show for it, and plenty of failures. A recent, highly touted partnership between USAID and Monsanto to develop a virus-resistant sweet potato in Kenya failed to deliver anything useful for farmers. After 14 years and $6 million, local varieties vastly outperformed their genetically modified cousins in field trials. Another 10-year USAID project for GM eggplant in India recently met with such outcry - from scientists and Indian farmers alike - that the government put a moratorium on its release. Growing insect resistance to genetically modified cotton and corn shows that the technology is already failing farmers and will continue to fail over the long term. Sadly,
today's GM obsession shows every indication of duplicating the first ill-fated Green Revolution that trapped millions of farmers on a pesticide treadmill while devastating the functioning of the ecosystems on which we depend."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12166

+ FOOD PRODUCTION TARGETS FLAWED
A declaration that global food production needs to double to feed the world by the middle of this century provoked shock when it was announced by the UN food chief. It has since become a founding pillar of food policy, cited by leading British politicians and government scientists, farming leaders and some of the world's biggest agricultural companies.

But the source of the now infamous statistic did not actually say that, claims a new report by the Soil Association, the UK's leading organic group.

The study, entitled "The big fat lie about doubling food production", traced the original source of the doubling claim back to a report published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in 2006. However, using the FAO's own figures, the Soil Association says the forecast increase needed in production would be closer to 70% by 2050.

The FAO itself also warns that the figures are distorted by using food prices: because meat and dairy products are worth more per weight, a small increase in volume appears as a significantly bigger increase in "production" measured in US dollars.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12157

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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ GHANA RELEASES DROUGHT- AND STRIGA-RESISTANT NON-GM MAIZE
Ghana has released four Quality Protein Maize varieties tolerant of drought and resistant to striga hermontica -a parasitic weed that reduces maize yield - to farmers to boost maize production in drought-prone areas of the country
http://bit.ly/93znu0

+ SALT-TOLERANT WHEAT DEVELOPED IN AUSTRALIA
CSIRO researchers have developed a salt-tolerant durum wheat that yields 25 per cent more grain than the parent variety in saline soils.
http://www.csiro.au/news/CSIRO-develops-highest-yielding-salt-tolerant-wheat.html

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ASIA
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+ INDIA RESEARCHING 36 GM CROPS
In India, research projects on at least 36 GM crops including rice, okra, brinjal, potato, groundnut and tomato are in process.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/07211601.htm

+ "IT TAKES UP TO $100 MILLION TO DEVELOP A GENE"
It takes up to US$ 100 million to discover and develop a gene for a GM crop, and 5-8 years for testing until it gets launched in the market, says Indian gene scientist Dr KK Narayanan, MD, of Metahelix Life Sciences, previously of Monsanto.
GMWatch comment: At a time when India tops the world hunger chart and the key driving factor is poverty, for an Indian scientist to suggest that GM is a sensible way to feed poor countries and increase food security is insanity.
http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2010/03/3508

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ PROTESTS GREET DOW GREENWASH EVENT
As part of Earth Week in the US, Dow sponsored a Live Earth Run for Water, to support the provision of clean water in the third world. The irony of Dow’s sponsorship of this event did not escape activists worldwide, who turned out at the Runs for Water to protest. Dow’s terrible history of toxic pollution includes the Bhopal pesticide factory explosion in India, owned by its subsidiary Union Carbide. Dow never cleaned up the contamination, which still blights water supplies and has caused birth defects in local children. Dow has also dumped hundreds of millions of pounds of toxic chemical byproducts into wetlands of Louisiana, and has even poisoned its own backyard, leaving record levels of dioxins downriver from its global headquarters in Midland, Michigan.

Similar Dow-sponsored Runs were cancelled in London, Milan, Berlin, and Sweden after protests.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12155

Great video of some of the protests here, including amazingly articulate 12 year old!
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0w9id9hUA

+ 10 THINGS MONSANTO DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW
Download campaigning leaflet from
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ WESTERN AUSTRALIA GOVT HID RISKS TO GM-FREE MARKETS
In a letter dated February 26, three European grain traders told Western Australia (WA) Premier Barnett they would not buy WA grain if GM canola is grown. Barnett and agriculture minister Redman hid this letter from the Lower House during the disallowance debate on March 10.

"Redman failed in his duty to mention possible market losses despite asserting that markets are the state's primary responsibility," says Gene Ethics Director Bob Phelps. "They hid the letter which could have affected the vote that passed approval for GM canola by the slim margin of 26 votes to 24. They had a clear duty to disclose the letter's existence and its contents before the disallowance vote."

Phelps said the Japanese are writing GM-free contracts with South Australian growers, where the government has extended a GM canola ban till 2014.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12147

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AFRICA
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+ FORCE-FEEDING SOUTH AFRICANS SMARTSTAX
Monsanto has made an application to the South African GMO authorities for permission to import Smartstax maize, one of the most controversial and risky GMOs ever produced for commercial use.

In November last year, Monsanto chairman Hugh Grant hubristically claimed that he expected the gene giant to triple its 2007 gross profits by 2012. Smartstax was to be one of the cornerstone’s of this expansion. However, Monsanto is struggling to convince US farmers to grow Smarstax.

In a bid to secure export markets for the risky GM maize, Monsanto has set its sights on South Africa. Mariam Mayet, Director of the African Centre for Biosafety, said, "South Africa does not need this dangerous GM maize. The Department of Agriculture's latest estimates suggest that in 2009/10 South Africa will produce almost 13 million tons of maize, a 7.5% increase on the previous year, and the second largest maize harvest in South African history. This will leave almost a 6 million ton surplus for export, and the evidence shows that international grain traders are already dumping South African's surplus GM maize in Kenya and Swaziland."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12159

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THE AMERICAS
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+ COLOMBIA: THE FAILURE OF GM COTTON
Monsanto's GM cotton has failed in Colombia, announced the organization Grupo Semillas. Last March, the Columbian Agricultural Institute (ICA) imposed a fine on Monsanto due to the poor performance of its GM cotton, which caused losses among cotton growers in the 2008/2009 season.

"Seven years after having released the seeds of GM cotton commercially, their failure is evident," declared the Colombian organization. "They did not live up to promises of being more productive, nor of reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides, nor the lowering of production costs, nor the generation of greater profits for growers. Monsanto presented GMO technology as the redemption of the cotton industry; in reality it has helped take growers to the bottom of an abyss, especially the small and medium cotton-growers of Cordoba and Tolima, who in the 2008-2009 harvest had enormous losses."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12167

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AGROFUELS
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+ BIOFUELS DRIVE RAISES RISK OF FARMER EVICTIONS IN AFRICA
African farmers risk being forced from their lands by investors or government projects as global demand for biofuels encourages changes in crop cultivation. Research from the University of Edinburgh has found that livelihoods may be put at risk if African farmland is turned over to growing crops for biofuel.

Researcher Dr Tom Molony said biofuel projects had also raised accusations of 'neo-colonial' behaviour, with wealthy countries acquiring vast tracts of land in poorer nations. In Madagascar, South Korean company Daewoo Logistics has attempted to buy an area half the size of Belgium to farm corn and palm oil for biofuel.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100422093534.htm

+ RUNNING ON EMPTY: U.S. BIOFUELS STANDARD
From The Economist:
The renewable-fuel standard released in February by America's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) paints an ambitious picture of biofuels’ future. It wants the amount of the stuff used as transport fuel to climb from 13 billion gallons (49 billion litres) in 2010 to 36 billion gallons in 2022, requiring by far the largest part of that increase to come from various advanced biofuels, rather than ethanol made from corn (maize). But although the future looks exciting, the present is rather grim. The EPA has been forced to slash its 2010 mandate for the most widely touted of the non-corn biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, from 100m gallons to just 6.5m, less than a thousandth of the 11 billion gallons produced from corn in 2009. ”¦ Ethanol, which is used mainly as an additive to petrol, is not a particularly good fuel: it offers only about two-thirds as much energy as petrol and can corrode pipelines and car engines.
http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15773820

+ THE POST-INDUSTRIAL WORLD: DETROIT
For those who missed Requiem for Detroit, the shocking BBC documentary on the post-apocalyptic dystopia that is Detroit, here are some short films on what happened to an economy built on the car:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjCObHJlkiU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h1mBGgTNZY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn1jw7l2ZRw&feature=related

The full film, Requiem for Detroit, is at the time of writing available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN5_YLfsoXg&feature=related

Tellingly, the only sign of regeneration in the film is urban guerilla gardeners growing their own veg on any vacant plot. Seems this activity has also broken through the previously intractable racial tensions in the city.