GMWatch News Review archive

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GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 64
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RESEARCH
CONTAMINATION
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
ECO-TERRORISM
RESISTANCE
FOOD SECURITY
GM SOYA
LOBBYWATCH
EUROPE
HEALTH AND BIOSAFETY RISKS
COMPANY NEWS
CATHOLIC CHURCH
 
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RESEARCH
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+ GM ANIMAL FEED HAS POOR CONVERSION RATE
Results from studies in Germany and the USA conducted by farmers show that animals raised on non-GM feed produce better quality and a higher quantity of meat than animals fed on GM feed. The same studies reported health problems, such as stomach ulcers, found in the animals fed on GM feed.
 
GM Watch comment: The GM industry and its friends in government have taken advantage of the soaring cost of animal feed to claim that the EU should relax its zero tolerance stance on unapproved GMOs in animal feed in order to help struggling farmers. Well, here’s evidence that GM animal feed, far from helping farmers, disadvantages them.
 
A scientist who has performed many studies on animal feed tells us that the main (some might say the only) consideration when evaluating the quality of animal feed is feed conversion rate. That means the amount of weight that the animal puts on as a result of eating a pound of the feed in question. Now that we have scientific proof that GM feed produces a lower conversion rate, we trust that we will no longer have to listen to pro-GM lobbyists touting GM animal feed as a solution to the food and feed crises.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/countryside-farming-news/country-farming-columnists /2008/12/16/gm-feed-is-not-the-answer-for-our-animals-91466-22483001/
 
+ GM SALT TOLERANCE "TOO COMPLEX" TO ACHIEVE
Growing crops in salt water is becoming necessary to overcome shortages of fresh water, but GM has failed to provide any salt-tolerant crops, says an article in the journal Science. The Dutch researchers say that trying to genetically engineer salt tolerance into crops has so far proved impossible because "the genetic manipulations necessary to achieve this may too complex to be achieved at present."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7765109.stm
 
+ CONTAMINATION RISK UNDERESTIMATED -- STUDY
New research from France shows that current guidelines on the safe isolation distances for GM maize may not adequately prevent cross pollination of conventional crops. The findings suggest that if GM maize becomes more widely adopted by farmers, then existing models will underestimate the 'safe' distance between GM and non-GM crops.
http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=8819&codi=41 060&idproducttype=8&level=0
 
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CONTAMINATION
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+ UK: GM CONTAMINATED CROP GROWN IN BLUNDER
A GM contaminated crop of oilseed rape has been illegally grown on a Somerset farm in a blunder that could see the genes spread to other fields, weeds and honey. The GM trait in the oilseed rape is designed to protect the plant against heavy spraying with weedkillers developed by Monsanto. If this trait is transferred to related wild plants it could pass on this same chemical resistance, creating so-called superweeds.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1098476/GM-contaminated-crop-grown-blunder-sparking-fears-gene-spread-fields.html
 
+ U.S.: UNAUTHORIZED GM COTTON CONTAMINATES ANIMAL FEED
An unauthorized strain of GM cotton was accidentally mixed in with other harvested cotton in Texas last month. The GM cotton, grown in West Texas, was stored along with 20,000 tons of commercial cotton seed in a warehouse. Nearly half the crop was processed into cottonseed oil and cotton meal to use as animal feed before officials at Monsanto, which grows the experimental cotton on a test plot, realized the mistake.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hC7U_BFHfE7fQmWoybm
UPfeAeS_gD94RI6F80
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/content/2008/12/ifruit.shtml
 
+ CONTAMINATION OCCURS AS USDA WEAKENS BIOTECH RULES
This contamination occurs just as the USDA is working to finalize rules that would substantially weaken biotechnology oversight before the Bush administration leaves office. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) recently submitted comments on the proposed rules, lambasting the USDA's rulemaking as "a serious abdication of its responsibility" to regulate agricultural biotechnology and ensure GM crops are produced and used safely. For UCS's comments on the proposed rule, go to:
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/UCS-comments-
APHIS-rule-FINAL-11-24-08.pdf
 
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ EU COMMISSION: "BIG BUSINESS RULES OK"
Campaigners have challenged the democratic legitimacy of the European Commission's Expert Groups after the Commission said it was acceptable that some of them were dominated by big business.
 
ALTER-EU campaigner Yiorgos Vassalos said: "Even the Commission's own guidelines are being violated as Expert Groups including the one on biotechnology and on coal are completely controlled by industry."
 
ALTER-EU has asked the Commission to clarify how such Expert Groups meet the Commission's own codes of conduct on consultation and use of expertise, which state that "a diversity of viewpoints" should be taken into account. The Commission has so far refused to answer this point.
 
+ OBAMA PICKS VILSACK AS AG SECRETARY
US President-elect Barack Obama has picked former Iowa governor and biotech/ethanol/agribiz lobbyist Tom Vilsack for agriculture secretary.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/16/2326/6775 GM Watch comment: This appointment saps hope for a sustainable future and will help create as much trust in US agriculture as US financial institutions.
More comment: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/18/obama_picks_pro_ethanol_former_iowa
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98417440
http://stuffedandstarved.org/drupal/node/452
Vilsack’s response to maize being contaminated with GM pig vaccine pharma maize:
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE4/ProdiGene-Under-Fire14nov02.htm
TAKE ACTION: Oppose Tom Vilsack's Confirmation as Secretary of Agriculture:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1783
Biotech "Yes Men" on Obama's team threaten to expand the use of dangerous GM foods in our diets:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/obamas-team-includes-dang_b_147188.html
TAKE ACTION: Sign a petition asking President Obama to make his GM labeling plan comprehensive and meaningful.
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/TakeAction/MandatoryLabelingPetitiontoObama/index.cfm
 
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ECO-TERRORISM
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+ UK: CRIMINALISATION OF PROTEST
A law that was enacted by stealth under the guise of protecting women from stalkers is already being used to stifle peaceful protest, reports George Monbiot. Using the Protection from Harassment Act of 1997, the power company RWE power obtained an injunction against Oxfordshire villagers who were peacefully protesting against its plans to fill a local lake with fly ash. If anyone breaks this injunction they could spend five years in prison.
 
To obtain an injunction, a company needs to show only that someone feels "alarmed or distressed" by the protesters, a requirement so vague that it can mean almost anything. What is more, the Oxfordshire protestors’ names have been put on a list of "high court injunctions that relate to domestic extremism campaigns" by the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit (Netcu), the police team directing the fight against extremists. A man who asked for his name to be removed met with refusal.
 
The National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit claims that domestic extremism "is most often associated with single-issue protests, such as animal rights, anti-war, anti-globalisation and anti-GM crops". But with the exception of animal rights protests, these campaigns in the UK have been overwhelmingly peaceful.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/23/activists-conservation-police
GM Watch comment: GM Watch warned in early 2005 about legal dodges to clamp down on GM protestors, especially given the support demonstrated by juries for the actions of protestors. We were not the only people to flag this up. Bayer CropScience's PR man, Julian Little, told The Telegraph: "We are hoping that new legislation which clamps down on animal rights protesters may be used to apply to us as well."
http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_print.asp?ID=2113
 
+ WALES: SECRET MAIZE HARVEST STARTS GM ROW
Plant biologist Jonathon Harrington claims to have defied the Welsh Assembly Government's declaration that Wales is a GM-free zone by secretly planting and harvesting GM maize on his land.
Harrington, who claims to have grown the maize on his farm at Tregoyd near Hay-on-Wye, said, “I wanted to make the point that we should welcome GM crop technology and that Wales could not be described as a GM free zone. Far from shunning this technology, AMs should be pressing for it to be introduced as soon as possible in order to overcome some of the problems faced by our agricultural industry."
 
Harrington did not explain how this GM maize, which he admitted performed “poorly”, is supposed to help Welsh farmers.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/countryside-farming-news/farming-news/2009/01/03/secret-maize-harvest-starts-gm-row-91466-22595858/
 
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RESISTANCE
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+ CHINESE WANT GM-FREE AND CHEMICAL-FREE FOODS
Chinese shoppers are clamouring for chemical-free and GM-free foods in the wake of the melamine poisoning calamity that harmed over 50,000 children.
http://www.grassrootsnetroots.org/articles/article_16190.cfm
 
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FOOD SECURITY
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+ BENN CALLS FOR NEW SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEM
In a speech at the Fabian Society, Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, gave a speech on the need for a new sustainable food system that is less dependent on fossil fuels. Benn did not close the door on GM. He also carefully avoided mentioning the IAASTD report on the future of agriculture. Could this be because it failed to endorse GM crops?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/10/food-foodtech
 
+ LAWLESSNESS AND LOOPHOLES FOR GM IN PERU
As Peru awaits final legislation for biosafety regulation, many worry that it will be insufficient to protect food security and genetic diversity in the country.
http://www.latinamericapress.org/articles.asp?art=5761
 
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GM SOYA
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A big thank you to all of you who sent letters to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) criticizing their participation in a GM Soy Debate about sustainability criteria for GM soya. Your intervention has been VERY effective with WWF issuing a statement in which they apologise for appearing to endorse GM soya.
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/our_solutions/responsible_fore stry/forest_conversion_agriculture/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=152801
 
So well done! BUT this response on their website is still very weak. It is filled with justification of the RTRS (Round Table on Responsible Soy), which has dropped the GM issue totally from their discussion. Their logic is that the RTRS is about assuring the sustainable production of soya whether it is GM or non-GM. This is total sophistry. GM soya is overwhelmingly what is being grown in those South American countries where soya is proving destructive both socially and environmentally. GM soya is fundamentally NOT sustainable.
 
In their response to your letters re the GM Soy Debate, WWF talks about the "successful completion of the RTRS process." The fact is that unless it gets strengthened to (1) reject GM soya completely and (2) have real teeth in its protection of the rainforest, it will be a success only for the big soya processors, the big exploitative farmers, and Monsanto!
 
Please reply to WWF by telling it that it is an accomplice to greenwashing through the RTRS. If they haven’t written to you, you can let them known your concerns at their continued involvement in greenwashing here: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/who_we_are/offices/index.cfm
More information: http://www.lasojamata.org/files/RTbriefing%202008_6.pdf
 
+ HIDDEN COST OF GM ANIMAL FEED
A good recent article about the environmental and social devastation caused by soya expansion in Paraguay is here (85% of the soya grown in Paraguay is GM):
http://www.guardian.co.uk:80/environment/2008/dec/07/meat-soya-environment-paraguay
 
+ DEMAND FOR GM SOYA DROPS IN THE STATE OF PARANA, BRAZIL
This year the seed trade in Parana offered more conventional soya seeds than GM ones for the 2008/09 harvest. According to the Secretary for Agriculture and Supply Valter Bianchini, the Paraná farmers are planting less GM soya after having verified that the conventional crop has lower production costs.
Source: Agência Estadual de Notícias do Paraná (Paraná State News Agency, 12/18/2008)
 
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ UK: KING PROMOTES GM ON BBC
The former chief scientific advisor to the UK government, David King, has been promoting GM crops again, this time to members of the public at a cafe in Oxford as part of BBC Radio 4's "Street Science" series. King pushes all the most unscientific industry lies on GMOs, including claims that:
*15-20 years (!) of GM food consumption by Americans proves it's safe
*GM crops "reduce the use of pesticides"
*GM enables farmers to "get twice as much out of the crop".
 
Still most preposterously, King claims, "Using GM technology there are now varieties of major crops, rice, wheat and maize being produced that are drought resistant, flood resistant, saline resistant and disease resistant, which could transform Africa's ability to feed its people." In fact, no such GM crops are available, though conventional breeding has produced notable successes in this area. But this doesn’t stop King giving completely bogus details about the supposed successes of GM flood-resistant and drought resistant crops!
Transcript of the programme:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/46-Transcript-of-David-Kings-Street-Science.html
Listen to the programme:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/streetscience.shtml
Peter Melchett's critique of King's claims:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/09/david-king-gm-crops
Street Science follows King's bogus claim of a GM breakthrough in Africa on Radio 4's Today programme last year, and the misleading recent BBC Horizon programme, Jimmy's GM Food Fight. Details of how to make a complaint to the BBC about its standards of accuracy are here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/
 
+ JIMMY'S FARM STRICTLY GM-FREE!
In the wake of pig farmer Jimmy Doherty's GM promotional on the BBC's so-called science series Horizon, a member of the public has forwarded to GM Watch an email from Jimmy's farm in response to a question about whether they use GMOs. Jimmy's farm manager is categorical: "all our products are completely GM free as is the feed which we use for all the animals".
 
+ NATURE ON IAASTD AND BANGMFOOD.ORG
An editorial in Nature journal implies that the IAASTD report on the future of agriculture failed. This is untrue. The report only failed in one respect it failed to please the GM industry, whose representatives walked out of the process when it became clear that the report would not endorse GM crops as a solution to food security problems. The Nature editorial also gives some welcome publicity to a new campaign opposing GM crops - www.banGMfood.org
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n7221/full/456421b.html
 
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EUROPE
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+ EU GM CAMPAIGN SUCCESS!
Campaigners have managed to prevent pro-GM countries (the UK and Germany) from wrecking an important EU environment ministers' meeting on GMOs and food safety. Over 70,000 messages were sent to EU politicians. Subsequently, EU environment ministers agreed that:
*The long-term effects of GMOs on the environment and health need to be assessed.
*There should be independent scientific research on GMOs, and access to information that is currently kept secret by agro-biotech companies.
*The European Food Safety Authority should consider the environmental impact of herbicides spread over GM crops.
*Pesticide-producing GM crops should be treated in the same way as chemical pesticides.
*Regions and local communities have a right to establish GM-free zones.
Details of the new legal framework for the authorisation of GMOs can be found at:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/fr/envir/104510.pdf
 
+ BRITAIN TRIED TO BLOCK VITAL GM SAFEGUARD
Britain single-handedly set out to sabotage a vital safeguard against farmers unwittingly growing GM crops, a leaked document reveals. The document shows that the UK government is alone among European member states in opposing a provision that would keep GM contamination of seed to the "lowest possible" levels.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/britain-tries-to-block-vital-gm-safeguard-1041641.html
 
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HEALTH AND BIOSAFETY RISKS
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+ FORMER FOOD SAFETY CHAIR QUESTIONS GM RISK ASSESSMENTS!
In an astonishing interview released on YouTube, the former chairman of the European Food Safety Authority Prof Patrick Wall says people have lost confidence in EFSA's ability to assess the risks of GM food.
 
Prof Wall says: "Do we want corporate giants to own the food chain? GM food has no benefits for consumers... EFSA is a consumer protection agency; it is not meant to rubberstamp biotech dossiers... We cannot force-feed European citizens products that they don't want. We live in a democracy. People have a right to have objections... If people don't want (GM) technology they have a right not to have it."
 
Although Prof Wall believes GM foods approved by EFSA are safe, he said EFSA's GMO panel is "populated by experts who are comfortable with the technology... and many of them use it in their laboratories and their research institutions and they're quite comfortable with it; and so - for them - they wouldn't see the same risks that maybe a citizen would see..."
 
He likened this situation to a motorbike convention: "if you ask the motorbike riders 'do you think riding a motorbike is dangerous?' they say 'no', whereas other people would think they're half crazy!"
For the full interview + link to transcript: http://www.gmfreeireland.org/efsa
Press release at http://www.gmfreeireland.org/press/GMFI44.pdf
 
+ GM FOODS ARE HEALTH RISK INDIA'S HEALTH MINISTER
India's health minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has made a strong statement warning of the health risks of GM food. Speaking at a farmers' meeting, he said, "GM food is a health hazard. No independent health impact tests have been conducted on the safety of Bt brinjal. But people are pushing for its introduction in the market. The health ministry will take all necessary steps to see that GM food is not commercialized unless all the safety criteria are met. As a minister of PMK [Indian political party] and as the health minister, I will always oppose this technology."
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php
http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/10/stories/2008121054150400.htm
Government should not allow GM food in Gujarat:
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-58360.html
 
+ NORMS FOR GM CROP TESTING CREATED BY BIOTECH INDUSTRY
Dr Pushpa Bhargava was appointed by the Supreme Court of India to oversee the GM regulator GEAC as a result of a public interest lawsuit brought by Aruna Rodrigues and others. Dr Bhargava has written a letter to India’s prime minister demanding a ban on GM foods being imported into the country until proper safety testing is carried out:
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Ban+GM+food,+GEAC+member+tel ls+PM&artid=3BQWOeSzMpI=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&Secti onName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==&SEO=Genetic,%20Engineering,%20Approval,%20Commit tee,%20Anbuman
 
In recent months Dr Bhargava has come under attack from members of GEAC who want him off the committee. Now the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in Washington, DC has written an open letter in support of the more stringent testing of GM foods demanded by Dr Bhargava.
http://www.madge.org.au/Docs/centreforfoodsafety.pdf
 
+ TEN PIVOTAL PAPERS ON GM HEALTH AND SAFETY
Listed at: http://www.gmfreecymru.org/pivotal_papers_introduction.htm
 
 
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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO LOSES MARKET SHARE
Monsanto's refusal to cut its prices is costing it market share, according to a report in investment journal The Motley Fool.
http://caps.fool.com/blogs/viewpost.aspx?bpid=115238&t=01001019292467236494
 
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CATHOLIC CHURCH
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+ GMOs NOT THE ANSWER TO THE FOOD CRISIS TOP VATICAN OFFICIAL
In the past, Cardinal Renato Martino has adopted the position of spokesman for the biotech industry at the Vatican. But now he seems to have done a U-turn. According to an article in the Catholic News, Martino thinks the responsibility for the food crisis "is in the hands of unscrupulous people who focus only on profit and certainly not on the well-being of all people."
 
The reporter paraphrases Martino as adding, "A more just system of distribution and not the manufacturing of genetically modified foods is the key to addressing the problem."
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0900016.htm