From Claire Robinson, Monthly Review editor
Website: http//www.gmwatch.org
Profiles: http://bit.ly/12UAI2
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c6OnaX
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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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LATEST NEWS:
* URGENT APPEAL
* IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE AVAAZ PETITION
* NON-GM SUCCESSES
* GM EXPANSION / APPLICATIONS
* LOBBYWATCH
* GM COMPANIES IN TROUBLE
* GM RESTRICTIONS / BANS
* SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
* GM LABELLING
REST OF THE MONTH’S NEW IN BRIEF:
* LOBBYWATCH
* GREENWASH
* CLONING
* CONTAMINATION
* SUPERWEEDS
* RESISTANCE
* GM ANIMALS
* RESEARCH
* GM EXPANSION/APPROVALS
* GM FAILURES
* NON-GM SUCCESSES
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LATEST NEWS
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URGENT APPEAL
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+ PLEASE SUPPORT GMWATCH
We’re repeating our appeal for donations to support GMWatch in this mail, for those who only receive our Monthly Review. Many thanks to those who have already donated we very much appreciate your support. A few of you donated without giving your contact details, so we’ve been unable to thank you personally. You know who you are, so here’s a big thank you!
Two years ago, a devastating series of attacks drove the GMWatch website and all our listservs offline. In the aftermath our readers responded so generously that it's been possible for our attention to be almost exclusively fixed on rebuilding and diversifying our campaign so that our impact is greater than ever. But because we've focused on campaign building rather than fundraising, we've now run into the buffers and urgently need to ask you to support our work.
How to donate to GMWatch: You can donate by PayPal or by using your debit or credit card at http://www.gmwatch.org/donations
Alternatively, you can send a cheque or money order made out to "NGIN" to: GMWatch, 26 Pottergate, Norwich, NR2 1DX, UK. Just to emphasise the point, our account is in the name "NGIN". For more information on what GMWatch has been doing and a suggested donation, see
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12290
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IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE AVAAZ PETITION
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Very important if you signed with only one name, please go back and sign with two, or your vote won’t count. Please forward this note to all your friends and contacts.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/98.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK
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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ ORGANIC POTATOES BIGGER AND PEST-FREE
Organic farming may be the way to grow bigger and pest-free potatoes, according to a new study. The balanced mix of insects and fungi in organic fields does a superior job of keeping pests in check, leading to larger plants, according to researchers at Washington State University in Pullman. Potato plants exposed to conditions typical of pesticide-treated fields fared more poorly in the research team's experiments.
The findings may help potato growers cut back on spraying and make more effective use of natural predators to control pests, said entomologist David Crowder, who led the study published in the journal Nature.
William Snyder, a study co-author, said farmers are under pressure from such companies as McDonald's ”” the nation's top potato customer ”” to green up their practices.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012250093_taters01m.html
+ SHAKESPEARE PLAYS “HELP BOOST COWS’ MILK PRODUCTION”
Forget the GM dairy hormone Posilac performing Shakespeare’s plays to dairy cows has been found to boost milk production by as much as four percent.
Rob Forknall, artistic director of the Changeling Theatre Company in Kent, UK, said, “We chose a light-hearted comedy because we thought some of the heavier, woeful scenes from the Bard's tragedies might have had the opposite effect. We don't want to upset the cows by performing some of the more harrowing scenes from the likes of Hamlet or Macbeth. We thought The Merry Wives of Windsor would be just the ticket and so it proved to be the case."
http://bit.ly/cw2SE0
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GM EXPANSION / APPLICATIONS
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+ BEWARE THE EU COMMISSION BEARING GIFTS
The EU Commission is offering member states who would like to ban GM in their territories the freedom to do it in exchange for them dropping any health and environmental concerns they have at the EU level and allow the commission to authorise new crops without argument.
But in the words of a leading lawyer on EU affairs, Professor Ludwig Kramer, "The European Commission is not giving member states the right it claims to be giving them. It has restricted the terms of the agreement to such an extent that national decisions preventing GE cultivation would be an easy target for biotech companies looking to overturn them in the courts.”
Greenpeace warns that EU member state governments could walk into a trap that will irreversibly change the face of European agriculture for the worse. Member states should not fall into the trap, but should reject this proposal. They should demand the strengthening of the European risk assessment and until this happens no GM crop should reach the fields or the market.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12327
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12277
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12280
+ MORE ABOUT WHY MEMBER STATES SHOULD REJECT FAKE GM-FREE ZONES
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12312
+ UK: TAKE ACTION: WRITE TO CAROLINE SPELMAN NOW
GM Freeze is asking everyone to write urgently to Caroline Spelman MP, Secretary of State for the Environment asking her to block proposals by the European Commission to amend the GMO Deliberate Release Directive 2001/18 and revise the guidelines on coexistence. The Commission has tabled proposals with an extremely short time frame, so please act before 9 July.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12303
+ UK VOTES FOR ALL SIX GM APPLICATIONS IN EUROPE
The UK voted in favour of six applications to import GM maize at the EU Agriculture Council meeting, but none were approved because no qualified majority votes were achieved.
As most EU food companies continue to avoid GM ingredients in food, the GM maize would mainly be used for animal feed. There is currently no requirement to label products produced using GM animal feed, although legislation to change this will be voted on in the European Parliament on 7 July. The EU’s reliance on imported animal feeds is being challenged and is the subject of a Private Member’s Bill in the UK Parliament.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/12325-uk-votes-for-all-6-gm-applications-in-europe
+ FRANCE INSISTS ON REVIEW OF GM ASSESSMENTS - COMMISSION REFUSES
France has said it will not support draft proposals to allow European Union governments to grow or ban GM crops before a complete review of the bloc's GM approval system, which is run by the EFSA.
But European Commissioner for the Environment, Jazez Potocnik, said, “We should base the authorisation of GMO cultivation on the scientific assessments provided by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), to guarantee that these organisms have no influence on health and the environment... From a scientific point of view, no European country will be exposed to the slightest risk... We have no reason not to trust the institution.”
GM-Free Ireland commented, “This is food fascism in action.”
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12280
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12328-gmo-food-fascism-at-the-european-commission
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ GM IS AN ANTI-CHOICE TECHNOLOGY
A letter from Peter Melchett of the Soil Association was published in the EDP newspaper in response to a previous letter from Prof Derek Burke in which Burke claimed that anti-GM campaigners rob farmers and consumers of the choice to grow and buy GM. Burke was headed the UK regulatory committee that gave approval to the sale of the first GM foods.
Melchett quotes Mark Price, CEO of UK supermarket chain Waitrose, as saying: "Waitrose continues to maintain our non-GM stance, partly because we know our customers don't want it. The major problem with the technology is that it is a 'one in, all in' deal, and that simply isn't fair on those farmers who want their land to remain GM-free."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12318
+ PRO-GM “FARMERS NETWORK” HIRES LOBBY CONSULTANCY FOR GM FOOD TASTING EVENT
A peculiar pro-biotech event took place in Brussels. A 'farmers network' gave Brussels the chance to sample some GM cuisine at an event on 28 June, just across the road from the European Parliament. On the menu there was GM polenta, produced in Spain from Monsanto's Bt maize (also called MON810), along with a variety of meats and sausages, undoubtedly made from animals fed with Roundup Ready soy.
The event was organised on behalf of the Farmers Biotech Network by The Centre (formerly dubbed 'Brussels first Think-Do Tank' - "pioneering new forms of dialogue" - now merged with Edelman public affairs and called 'Edelman The Centre'). The Farmers Biotech Network claims to "unite farmers from all over Europe who want to grow GM crops" and it argues that European farmers' access to this "innovative technology" is being hindered by "an extremely restrictive GM policy, which is currently adopted in the EU for political reasons".
According to one member, this network was formed in the UK by farmers who had previously participated in field trials, and who had stayed in touch. However, on the FBN website it looks as if the network only has in fact 18 farmers, with three each in the UK, Romania and Germany, two in Spain, Portugal and France, and one in Denmark, Hungary and Bulgaria. It is not clear how these farmers were brought together.
Only one of the three supporting MEPs, German Liberal Britta Reimers, turned up to the GM feast. She echoed the animal feed industry's complaint that the EU's zero-tolerance policy on the presence of non-authorised GMOs in food and feed was detrimental to the sector's competitiveness "in this time of financial crisis". A proposal on this issue is expected by the end of this year, but Reimers said it should come earlier: "We can't close our gates". Bob Fiddaman, one of the farmers present, invited Reimers and the other guests to enjoy a meal that "increases consumer choice". He said that GM crops offered solutions for food security and climate change.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12326
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GM COMPANIES IN TROUBLE
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+ SUPREME COURT CASE A DEFEAT FOR MONSANTO
The US Supreme Court issued a decision on 21 June on the planting of GM alfalfa, which had been banned as a result of a successful lawsuit by the Center for Food Safety (CFS). And, while the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Monsanto by reversing an injunction that was part of the lower court's decision, more importantly, it also ruled that the ban on GM alfalfa remains intact, and that the planting and sale of GMO alfalfa remains illegal.
The Supreme Court ruled that an injunction against planting was unnecessary since, under lower courts' rulings, Roundup Ready alfalfa became a regulated item and illegal to plant. In other words, the injunction was “overkill” because the CFS victory in lower federal court determined that USDA violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws when it approved Roundup Ready alfalfa. The court felt that voiding the USDA's decision to make the crop legally available for sale was enough.
Monsanto and much of the US's mainstream media declared the Surpreme Court verdict a victory for Monsanto, with headlines declaring the ban on GM alfalfa has been lifted but this is not so, according to the CFS.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12304
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12302
+ HOW THE MEDIA GOT THE GM ALFALFA CASE WRONG
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12309
+ WEST VIRGINIA PROBES MONSANTO FOR CONSUMER FRAUD
West Virginia officials have notified Monsanto that they are probing whether or not the company has violated consumer protection laws in marketing its new GM RR2 soybean seeds.
The W. Virginia Attorney General's office said in a letter to Monsanto that investigators have reviewed studies by agricultural experts showing that Monsanto's advertised claims of higher yields for its high-priced new soybean seed have not been realized.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12311
+ MONSANTO ROYALTIES UNDER SCRUTINY IN INDIA
Monsanto's way of calculating royalty on its Bt cotton seeds is coming under fire in India. It seems Monsanto calculates its royalty payment based on the additional income that farmers earn from Bt seeds, a formula that includes the savings in pesticide usage. But as G V Ramanjaneyulu, executive director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture in Hyderabad, points out, productivity is not just a function of seeds but the combination of a lot of factors that include good agronomic practices: "The seed companies are saying success is ours but failures are those of the farmers."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12317
+ MONSANTO EARNINGS AND STOCK PRICES PLUNGE
Earnings are off by 44%; stock price by 47%.
http://bit.ly/aYRdi9
+ BAYER WITHDRAWS GM RICE APPLICATION IN BRAZIL
In 2002 Bayer first applied for approval for Brazilian farmers to be allowed to grow their GM rice. The only problem with their plan, says Greenpace, is that Brazilian rice farmers and producers don’t want GM rice. Bayer has finally gotten the message, and yesterday they finally withdrew their application.
Bayer is saying publicly that they have withdrawn their application “to broaden the dialogue with key members in the production of rice in Brazil”.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12307
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GM RESTRICTIONS / BANS
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+ CHINESE GOVT CRACKS DOWN ON GM RICE
Though the Chinese government prohibits the commercial sale of GM rice, GM rice seeds are still being sold to farmers in Hunan Province. During a recent investigation, 1,500 kilograms of suspected GM seeds were discovered in three villages close to the city of Yueyang in Hunan Province.
The suspected seeds were confiscated and those that had already been planted destroyed - with the affected farmers compensated according to the amount they had paid for the seeds.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12310
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SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
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+ ARTIFICIAL LIFE: LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE
The public have been excluded from the development of synthetic life forms, say Tom Wakeford and Jackie Ha in an article for New Scientist. The authors say the hype over synthetic biology may tempt governments to divert scarce resources from technologies that are already proven. The claims for "synbio" include the possibility of generating organisms able to halt climate change by absorbing excess carbon.
The authors say that including the public in debate about such issues is vital because the public is often proven correct: “In researchers' minds, the MMR and GM scares, and even the BSE disaster get lumped together as examples of the ignorant mob versus scientific truth. The problem is that in the cases of GM and BSE, the mob was partially correct. The risks of feeding cattle the brains of other cattle had not been accurately assessed, and GM foods were not a magic bullet to increase yields of smallholder farmers. In both cases, not only were official predictions flawed, but key experts were reluctant to be frank about the uncertainties and gaps in knowledge underlying their advice.”
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12308
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GM LABELLING
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+ EUROPE: TAKE ACTION - CHANCE TO GET LABELS ON FOODS FROM GM-FED ANIMALS
On 7 July 2010 the plenary of the European Parliament will vote on significant amendments to the Novel Food Regulations overwhelmingly supported by the EU Environment Committee in May. They are:
1) a new requirement that all foods produced from animals fed GM to carry a label saying so
2) an opposition to any authorisation to use foods derived from cloned animals and their descendants and a request to the Commission to come up with a separate proposal prohibiting this outright
3) a requirement that foods produced by nanotechnology should undergo specific risk assessment before being put on the market and should not be approved until then.
This vote could move to close the loophole that allows GM soya and maize to enter the EU food chain as animal feed unnoticed by the public. It will provide the EU public with a genuine choice as to whether they wish to buy products produced using GM crops and enable farmers and retailers to provide clear information on packs.
Please write to your MEPs before 6 July to urge them to support ALL of the proposals, and not to permit the GM vote to be separated from the others, which may be proposed.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12316
+ WHERE TO BUY GM-FREE MEAT IN THE UK
Supermarkets update:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12322
+ U.S.: GM LABELLING LEGISLATION INTRODUCED INTO CONGRESS
http://bit.ly/bOse4r
+ U.S. LOBBIES TO BLOCK GM LABELS IN AUSTRALIA
US biotech companies are lobbying the Australian Government not to label GM products, asserting this would be an undue restriction on trade with the US.
http://bit.ly/b5lRXr
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REST OF THE MONTH'S NEWS IN BRIEF
For those who do not receive GMWatch’s Weekly Watch
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ UK: LEADING ACADEMIC RESIGNS FROM FSA "PUBLIC DIALOGUE" ON GM
A leading academic has resigned from the Government's food watchdog in protest at the use of taxpayer's money to promote pro-GM propaganda. Prof Brian Wynne was vice chairman of a steering group set up by the Food Standards Agency to gauge the public mood on GM food. But he said the public consultation was "rigged" from the start in favour of the controversial new technology.
Wynne was the second prominent member of the FSA steering group to walk out. Earlier in the week another member of the group Dr Helen Wallace resigned in protest at the FSA's allegedly close links with the agri-chemical industry. "Taxpayers will be shocked that the FSA is blowing public money on a PR exercise on behalf of GM companies," she said.
The Food Standards Agency, which had been commissioned by the former Labour government to gauge the public mood on growing and eating the controversial foods, said that it would ask the new coalition government if it should continue with the dialogue.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12253
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12254
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12257
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12258
+ SINISTER BID TO TWIST PUBLIC OPINION - FOOD WRITER BLYTHMAN
Joanna Blythman is an award-winning British investigative food journalist and writer. She commented on the FSA GM "public dialogue": "As part of its drive to rebuild Britain's shattered public finances, the new coalition Government has pledged to reduce the number of bloated, expensive and undemocratic quangos that infest our public life. One of the first for the chop should be the Food Standards Agency, a GBP135 million drain on the taxpayer and a menace to the public. Originally set up to give protection to the consumer, it now acts as a mouthpiece for big business.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12259
+ MORE LEADING ACADEMICS CONDEMN FSA GM “DIALOGUE”
Other leading academics have written to the Telegraph newspaper condemning the FSA’s GM “dialogue”.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12265
+ FSA BOSS CONDEMNED FOR BRANDING PUBLIC "ANTI-SCIENCE"
The boss of Britain's Food Standards Agency, Lord Jeff Rooker, has been condemned for criticising opponents of GM food as “anti-science”.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12274
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12272
+ GM LOBBY HELPED DRAW UP CRUCIAL REPORT ON UK FOOD SUPPLIES
A powerful lobbying organisation representing biotech business interests helped draft a key FSA report. Emails between the FSA and the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC) show the council inserted key sentences strengthening the case for GM food that ended up in the final report. The report, "Food Standards Agency work on changes in the market and the GM regulatory system", examined how GM products are entering the UK, where the growing of GM products is banned, through the animal feed system. It said food prices could go up if GM products continue to be excluded.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12265
+ SCIENTIST CALLS FSA "PIONEER IN TRANSPARENCY"
Neuroscientist Colin Blakemore has defended the FSA, calling it “a pioneer in transparency”, with a “rigorous commitment to the best evidence” and to making "efforts to consult widely and without bias in the development of advice to government"! He also calls the criticism of GM foods a "witch-hunt".
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12265
For more details on the FSA's actual record and how it has been condemned for extreme bias:
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Food_Standards_Agency
+ TAKE ACTION: WRITE TO YOUR MP
Please write urgently to MPs to protest at FSA bias and the outrageous waste of taxpayers' money:
http://bit.ly/but2sn
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12255
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GREENWASH
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+ 230 GROUPS CONDEMN RTRS GREENWASH
The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS), a greenwash initiative of WWF and the food and biotech industries which aims to certify highly damaging soy production as "responsible", has been condemned by an alliance of over 230 international environment, farming and consumer organizations from over 30 countries. The groups pointed out that the criteria for assessing "responsible" soy have now been widely discredited.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12245
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12270
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CLONING
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+ EUROPEAN UNION: NO TO CLONED MEAT
The European Parliament's environment committee has voted not to authorise the entry of any food derived from cloned animals onto EU markets, putting MEPs on a collision course with the European Commission and the EU's Council of Ministers.
A new Testbiotech report prepared for German MEP Martin Häusling (Greens) concludes that cloning could have adverse human health effects. Häusling said, "Higher rates of infection, along with diseases and malformations in liver and brains of mice, sheep and cows, have been reported. Furthermore, these effects could also be detected in subsequent generations of these cloned animals. From a consumer perspective it is alarming that US research has shown in a few cases that even the composition of milk can differ between a cloned and non-cloned animal,"
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12251
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CONTAMINATION
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+ BANNED GM MAIZE SOWN IN GERMANY
A GM maize banned in the EU, NK603, has been sown accidentally across Germany. It is not clear how the contamination occurred, but it could cost farmers millions of euros, as crops will have to be destroyed.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12267
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SUPERWEEDS
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+ SUPERWEED OUTBREAK TRIGGERS ARMS RACE
Hardy superweeds immune to Roundup are invading fields, prompting a counterattack from agribusiness that could leave farmers using greater amounts of harsh old-line herbicides, reports the Wall Street Journal. The article reports: “As nasty invaders with names like pigweed, horseweed and Johnsongrass develop immunity to the mighty Roundup, chemical companies are dusting off the potent herbicides of old for an attack on the new superweeds. And big chemical companies - taking a page from Monsanto's book - are engineering crop varieties that will enable farmers to spray on the tough old weedkillers freely, instead of having to apply them surgically in order to spare crops. "Dow Chemical Co., DuPont Co., Bayer AG, BASF SE and Syngenta AG are together spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop genetically modified soybean, corn and cotton seeds that can survive a dousing by their herbicides, many decades old." Dan Dyer, head of soybean research and development at Syngenta, is
quoted as saying, "The herbicide business used to be good before Roundup nearly wiped it out. Now it is getting fun again."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12263
+ IMPACT OF GLYPHOSATE RESISTANT PIGWEED ON U.S. AGRICULTURE
The rapid spread of glyphosate resistant Palmer pigweed constitutes a major agronomic failure of GM Roundup Ready (RR) seeds. A new paper from Third World Network examines the issue.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12249
New paper available as a PDF here: http://bit.ly/9HQYzw
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RESISTANCE
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+ LUGAR-CASEY, GM AND GATES
A new AGRA Watch position paper takes a closer look at the Lugar-Casey bill, "a case study in the interlocking interests of big business, big philanthropy, US foreign policy and US aid". It also highlights new developments, both in Kenyan legislation and in the international political economy that “threaten to use the global food crisis as an opening to solidify genetic engineering as a necessary part of food security strategies.” AGRA Watch formed in 2008 to challenge the Gates Foundation's participation in the problematic Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and to support sustainable, agro-ecological alternatives already practiced in Africa.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12296-lugar-casey-gm-and-gates
+ 10,000 PEASANTS MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO IN HAITI
An estimated 10,000 peasants gathered for a massive march in Central Haiti on June 4, 2010, to protest what has been described as "the next earthquake for Haiti" - a donation of 475 tons of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds by the US-based agribusiness giant Monsanto, in partnership with USAID.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12276
+ MEXICO: FIRST GM MAIZE CROP STOKES ANGER
Mexico's first crop of GM maize - due to be harvested later this month is stoking anger and anxiety.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12294-gm-crop-battle-in-latin-america
+ CHILE: MOBILIZATION AGAINST GM CROPS
Dozens of Chilean civil society organizations are standing together in the fight against a so-called "Plant Breeders' Rights" Senate bill, which they say will put in danger native seeds, negatively impact consumer health, threaten agricultural exports and organic production, increase the dependence of farmers on agrochemical corporations, and raise the price of food.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12294-gm-crop-battle-in-latin-america
+ BOLIVIA: GM CROPS ARE NOT WELCOME
Bolivian president Evo Morales has decreed a five-year transition period in which to eliminate GM crops from the national territory, as well as a process for rescuing local seeds in order to promote food sovereignty.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12294-gm-crop-battle-in-latin-america
+ SCOTTISH ANGER AS UK MINISTER BACKS GM CROPS
The Scottish and UK governments could be set for a clash over GM crops after a key Tory minister appeared to back growing them in Britain. The newly installed UK Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, said she was in favour of GM foods "in the right circumstances" during a newspaper interview. However, the Scottish Government rushed to make clear its "fundamental" opposition to the move, which could potentially mean GM crops being grown in Border areas such as Northumberland and Cumbria, affecting Scotland.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12266
+ GERMANY: GM-FREE LABELS DELIVER SALES SURGE
The world's largest dairy firm has got a huge sales increase from GM-free products.
http://is.gd/cVAI4
+ TWO-THIRDS WANT GM TO BE KEPT OFF THEIR PLATE - NEW OPINION POLL
Two-thirds of people in the UK want GM crops to be kept out of the food chain, a new GFK NOP survey for Friends of the Earth and GM Freeze revealed. The survey also revealed that 72 per cent would pay extra for non-GM food.
The survey follows news that Walmart-owned food retailer Asda has abandoned its commitment to GM-free eggs and poultry. The campaigning groups are calling on Asda and other supermarkets to respond to public opinion by pledging to keep GM out of the nation's meat and dairy.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12283
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12286
+ BULGARIA MOVES TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM GMOs
A ban on all GM products and ingredients in children's foods in Bulgaria has been proposed in an amendment in the Bulgarian Food Act.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12291
+ LUXEMBOURG BANS THE "AMFLORA" GM POTATO
Luxembourg's Health Minister Mars Di Bartolomeo has banned the cultivation of BASF's "Amflora" GM potato in the country.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12297-luxembourg-bans-basfs-gm-potato
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GM ANIMALS
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+ STOP THIS LITTLE GM PIGGY
As technology grows increasingly complex and our environmental problems ever more serious, the proposed "technological fixes" from industry grow more ludicrous and dangerous, says Lucy Sharratt in an article about the Enviropig, genetically engineered to produce less phosphorus in its faeces as a solution to water pollution caused by run-off from factory farms. Sharratt says Enviropig is “a classic false technological fix that ignores the real causes of a problem and instead tries to develop, at great cost, a shiny, new, patented product for sale to mask the symptoms.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12252
TAKE ACTION: The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network has started a new campaign, "Stop Enviropig": http://www.cban.ca/enviropig
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RESEARCH
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+ UNINTENDED EFFECTS FOUND IN GM RICE
In research carried out by Chinese scientists, three kinds of GM rice with resistance to fungal diseases or insect pests were comparatively studied with the non-GM counterparts in terms of key nutrients such as protein, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, elements, and antinutrient phytic acid. Significant differences for these compounds, except for phytic acid, were found.
Comment from Prof Joe Cummins: “In North America [as elsewhere] GM crops have been evaluated for safety based on superstition and the use of the magic words 'substantial equivalence'. The GM rice paper shows how the numerous real differences between GM and conventional crops can be evaluated scientifically.”
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12278
http://bit.ly/cSpos7
+ UNINTENDED EFFECTS FOUND IN GM MAIZE
In an earlier study, wild type and GM Bt maize transformed by a single gene insertion, grown side-by-side in the same conditions, were compared. The GM maize had many differently expressed genes compared with the wild type - rather than just one, as might be expected from a single gene insertion. There appeared to be no pattern to the changes. One spot that was newly expressed in the GM maize was that of gamma-zein, a known allergen. In addition, some storage proteins such as globulins were truncated with respect to their controls, which may be due to gene insertion.
Comment from Dr Michael Antoniou: “Even by current gross analysis no GM crop is found to be ‘substantially equivalent’ to its non-GM isogenic parental line if the two are grown appropriately side-by-side at the same time and conditions to minimise environmentally induced variables and so isolate and reveal the effect of the GM transformation process.”
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12278
http://bit.ly/cSpos7
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GM EXPANSION/APPROVALS
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+ WARNING OVER UK GM POTATO TRIALS
The first British field trial of GM potatoes has been planted - in defiance of public opinion and complaints from green campaigners. The test, funded by the taxpayer, is designed to create a crop resistant to a serious disease called late blight. But critics argue the experiment is a waste of public money because blight-resistant potatoes produced through natural techniques already exist.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12271
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12273
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12269
The Sainsbury Laboratory's senior scientist, Jonathan Jones, is in charge of the project. Jones has a long history of ardent support for GM crops and is a co-founder of Mendel Biotechnology, which has Monsanto as a key investor and collaborator.
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Jonathan_Jones
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GM FAILURES
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+ BRAZIL BREAKS THE RECORD ON PESTICIDES - AGAIN
In 2008 Brazil was the world leader in pesticide use and in 2009 it broke its own record. Over one million tons were sold, which means an average of 49 pounds per hectare in the 2009/10 harvest, or 11 pounds per inhabitant! Herbicides used on soybeans were responsible for the rise in the total use of agrochemicals. Even though 2009/10 was the first GM corn harvest in Brazil - with the promise of a decreased use of pesticides - the use of toxic chemicals remained the same for the crop.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12279
+ PARAGUAY: LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION AND GM SOY DRIVING DEFORESTATION
http://bit.ly/bvv1H9
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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ ORGANIC COTTON FARMING BEATS GM IN INDIA - REPORT
A new report on cotton farming in India by Dr Reyes Tirado for Greenpeace International shows:
* Bt cotton farmers suffer more pest damage than organic farmers, due to heavy attacks from secondary pests and developing Bt resistance by bollworm.
* A total of 26 different chemical pesticides were used by Bt farmers who commonly apply pesticides classified by the World Health Organisation as Extremely or Highly Hazardous.
* Organic cotton farmers use methods that require spending very little money on pest control.
* Net income from cotton is 200% higher for organic farmers than for Bt cotton farmers in the drought-affected year 2009/10, while it is not significantly different between Bt and organic cotton farmers in the favourable rainfall year, 2008/09.
* The difference in income is mostly due to the much higher cost of cultivation for Bt cotton farmers.
* Organic cotton farmers maintain more than twice the number of crops besides cotton in their farm than Bt cotton farmers. The net income from the farm as a whole is 90% higher for organic farmers (2009/10 similar 2008/09).
* Bt cotton farmers incur 65% higher levels of debt than organic cotton farmers.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12284
Download report "Picking Cotton - The choice between organic and genetically-engineered cotton for farmers in South India":
http://greenpeace.in/safefood/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Picking-Cotton.pdf
Photo essay and audio commentary:
http://bit.ly/df1SQk
+ BLIGHT-RESISTANT NON-GM POTATO IMPROVES ANDEAN SMALLHOLDERS' PRODUCTION
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=7185&id_region=&id_category=47&id_crop=
+ BLIGHT-RESISTANT POTATO MEANS NO NEED FOR GM
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/farming-news/39There39s-no-need-to-grow.6371679.jp
+ MAKING KENYAN MAIZE SAFE FROM AFLATOXINS WITH NON-GM BIOCONTROL
Natural, safe, cost-effective.
http://www.genet-info.org/information-services/news/en/22110.html
+ AFRICA: RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NON-GM STRIGA-RESISTANT SORGHUM
http://bit.ly/bDhoHN