GMWatch News Review archive

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WEEKLY WATCH number 302
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from Claire Robinson, MONTHLY REVIEW editor
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Dear all:

Don't miss LOBBYWATCH - AFRICA for the US government's sinister agenda to impose GM crops on Africa, as revealed by Wikileaks.

The EU Commission says the 1,000,000-strong citizens' petition for a moratorium on GM foods doesn't count. Are we surprised?

And a crucial court case brought to defend independent science against defamatory attacks from biotech lobbyists has been heard in Paris (EUROPE).

Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.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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CHRISTMAS TREAT - SMITH AND HANSEN VS RONALD
LOBBYWATCH - AFRICA
LOBBYWATCH - EUROPE
AFRICA
CORPORATE CRIMES
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
THE AMERICAS
CATHOLIC CHURCH
EUROPE

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CHRISTMAS TREAT - SMITH AND HANSEN VS RONALD
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American TV host Dr Oz has done a great show on GM foods. Dr Oz (a surgeon and much-published scientific researcher as well as TV host) pitted Jeffrey Smith and Dr Michael Hansen of Consumers' Union against pro-GM lobbyist Pam Ronald. Smith and Hansen made easy mincemeat of Ronald without raising their metabolic rate. See video:
http://www.whybiotech.com/misc_videos/1210/
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-1

Ronald's response, published on her blog, doesn't stand up to analysis.
http://scienceblogs.com/tomorrowstable/2010/12/dr_oz_prescribes_non-gmo_diets.php?utm_source=mostactive&utm_medium=link
The Golden Rice she touts as a GM success is plagued by an absence of safety data and is clearly not the most practical solution to vitamin A deficiency. Her argument that Bt crops reduce chemical insecticide use ignores the fact that Bt crops are themselves a pesticide. Bt crops don't reduce pesticides but simply change the way in which they are used.

Our advice to Pam - it's not enough to claim authority based on your nominal status as a scientist, as you did on Dr Oz - you actually have to use scientific arguments. Like Smith and Hansen, in fact.

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LOBBYWATCH - AFRICA
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+ WIKILEAKS DOCUMENT SHOWS U.S. GOVT PUSHING GM FOOD FOR AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Buried deep in the Wikileaks files is the US government's objective to steer many African countries toward the use of GM agriculture. In a document outlining priorities for intelligence gathering in Burundi, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo and others in the region, one objective is "Government acceptance of genetically modified food and propagation of genetically modified crops." Tom Laskawy commented in an article for Grist: "it's ... a shame to see that our spymasters are actively engaged in efforts to make the world safe for Monsanto. Aren't there better things for them to do?"
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12706
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12711

+ VOICE OF AMERICA PROMOTES GM CROPS FOR AFRICA
The US government-funded news service Voice of America has published an article, "Are GM crops Africa's path to food security?" that clearly aims to convince us that they are. But the article includes incisive comments by Dr Doug Gurian-Sherman to the effect that GM crops fail to increase intrinsic yields and are encouraging the spread of superweeds and Bt-resistant pests. Gurian-Sherman also says that developing a trait using GM takes a long time and costs far more than conventional breeding.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12717

+ INTERNATIONAL COALITION CALLS ON GATES FOUNDATION FOR REAL SOLUTIONS TO HUNGER, CLIMATE CHANGE
Seattle-based AGRA Watch and La Via Campesina North America, supported by 60 organizations and 40 academics and scientists from around the world, have called on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support real solutions to climate change, hunger and poverty. In a letter to the Foundation, the signatories state their concern that the Foundation and its private sector partners are pushing to industrialize agriculture and commercialize GM crops in Africa at the expense of small farmers and the environment. Over one thousand individuals from more than 30 countries and 48 states in the US to date have also signed a separate online petition in support of the letter.

The letter to the Foundation condemns the industrial approach to agriculture and high-tech 'fixes' like GM because they undermine sustainable, resilient food systems that are controlled by local populations. Local systems actually mitigate climate change while the spread of industrial agriculture is one of the heaviest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and loss of plant biodiversity worldwide, thus directly fueling the climate crisis. La Via Campesina stated, "We need millions of peasant communities and indigenous territories to feed humanity and cool the planet" and "thousands of peoples' solutions."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12713

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LOBBYWATCH - EUROPE
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+ EFSA CONFLICTS OF INTEREST - NEW REPORT
A report by Testbiotech reveals severe conflicts of interest at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The chair of EFSA's expert GMO Panel responsible for risk the assessment of GM crops has been working for years with a so-called Task Force group at the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). A member of staff from Monsanto heads the Task Force, and all its members are from biotech corporations. ILSI itself states that its Task Force group influenced EFSA standards for the risk assessment of GM plants. There is evidence in several documents that ILSI did indeed influence the work of EFSA. For example, the authority does not request feeding trials to investigate potential health impacts of GM crops. The document used to justify this doubtful position is partially plagiarized from an ILSI paper.

"This Testbiotech report can only describe the tip of the iceberg. There is reason for concern that the risk assessment of genetically engineered plants is influenced by the relationship between the GMO panel experts and biotech industry in way that renders it impossible for EFSA to fulfil its task as required," says Christoph Then from Testbiotech.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12699
Full report: http://www.testbiotech.org/en/node/431

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EUROPE
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+ SERALINI VS FELLOUS - A GM LIBEL CASE OVER INDEPENDENT SCIENCE
23 November - Prof Gilles-Eric Seralini's libel case against Marc Fellous of the Association Francaise des Biotechnologies Vegetales (AFBV) has begun in Paris. Seralini is a leading researcher into the risks of GMOs.

A public action near the court focused on the importance of independent science in the public interest and warned against the dangerous dependency on industry 'expertise' by public authorities today.

Seralini has undertaken the crucial task of re-analysing the data presented by Monsanto and various member states on the health impacts of three Monsanto GM maize varieties (MON 863, MON 810 and NK603). He found that there were "signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn", but both EFSA and Monsanto dismissed the result of the findings. Seralini's research, and his consistent critique of the approval processes for the Monsanto crops, have made him unpopular in biotech circles.

Seralini is suing for libel following a smear campaign, which appears to have come from the French scientific organisation for biotechnology, the Association Française des Biotechnologies Vegetales. Seralini believes the researchers Claude Allegre, Axel Kahn, and Marc Fellous are behind the campaign and that is why he is pursuing Fellous in the courts. He argues that the campaign has damaged his reputation, reducing his opportunities for work and his chances of getting funding for his research.

The court's verdict is expected in January 2011.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12715

+ BRUSSELS SAYS FIRST EVER CITIZENS' PETITION DOESN'T COUNT
Campaigners have presented a Greenpeace-organized petition of more than a million signatures to the EU executive, demanding a halt to approvals of new GM crops. But now officials from both the European Commission and the European Parliament say the citizens' views don't count. The conflict is over when the EU's new citizens' initiative (ECI) - a petition procedure under the Lisbon Treaty allowing European citizens to demand action in a particular area - enters into force.

"We've always said that we take their opinion very seriously but it's not an ECI as the legislation is not yet in place," Michael Mann, the EU Commission's administration spokesman, said. "Strictly speaking, they would have to do it all over again. The Greenpeace view that the petition counts as the Lisbon Treaty is in place doesn't stand up to legal scrutiny."

The satirical magazine Private Eye commented that the Commission's response was "Worrying but pehaps not surprising: the Commission's European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has so far ignored all public opposition to GM foods and given a staggering 125 GM authorisations since 1998."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12702
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12703
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12718

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AFRICA
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+ SOUTH AFRICA: COMPETITION COMMISSION REJECTS PIONEER HI-BRED TAKEOVER
South Africa's Competition Commission has decided not to approve the takeover of Pannar Seed, the country's largest seed company, by the multinational corporation and seed giant, Pioneer Hi-Bred, a subsidiary of the DuPont chemical company. The decision is significant as it keeps over 50 years of plant breeding experience and expertise in South African hands and puts the brakes on increased consolidation of the South African agricultural seed sector.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12716

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ GREENPEACE SUES CHEMICAL AND PR FIRMS FOR SPYING
Greenpeace has filed a lawsuit against Dow Chemical, Sasol North America (which owns CONDEA Vista), and PR firms Dezenhall Resources and Ketchum, for hiring private investigators to steal documents from Greenpeace, tap its phones and hack into its computers. Boxes of files from the security firm hired by Dezenhall Resources and Ketchum on behalf of Dow, Sasol North America, and other companies, reveal daily logs, emails, reports, phone records and other evidence that shows what these corporations were working to disrupt the private lives of community members in Louisiana fighting to keep their communities free of toxic poisons and community meetings and efforts to educate the public about the public health threats posed by these companies.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12697

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ASIA
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+ INDIA: CLEARANCE FOR FIELD TRIAL OF GM RUBBER?
In the face of opposition from the Kerala government to all GM crops, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has approved a proposal from the Rubber Board for conducting field trials of GM rubber.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12705

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ WEST AUSTRALIA: GM CANOLA CONTAMINATES ORGANIC FARM
A West Australian organic farmer has found GM canola seeds contaminating nearly two thirds of his arable land. Australian organic standards mandate zero tolerance for any GM so he will consider suing for financial loss, the first case of its kind in Australia. Steve Marsh believes the seed may have blown in from a neighbouring farmer's GM canola field. Marsh's organic certifier, the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA), is investigating.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12714

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THE AMERICAS
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+ U.S. COURT ORDERS UPROOTING OF GM BEETS
Federal District Judge Jeffrey S. White issued a preliminary injunction ordering the immediate destruction of hundreds of acres of GM sugar beet seedlings planted in September after finding the seedlings had been planted in violation of federal law. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety on behalf of a coalition of farmers, consumers, and conservation groups. The court outlined the many ways in which GM sugar beets could harm the environment and consumers, noting that containment efforts were insufficient and past contamination incidents were "too numerous" to allow the illegal crop to remain in the ground. In his court order, Judge White noted, "farmers and consumers would likely suffer harm from cross-contamination" between GM sugar beets and non-GM crops. He continued, "the legality of Defendants' conduct does not even appear to be a close question," noting that the government and Monsanto tried to circumvent his prior ruling, which made GM sugar beets illegal.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12698

+ GM CORN TAKES ROOT IN MEXICO
Monsanto, DuPont's Pioneer Hi-Bred unit and Dow AgroSciences recently completed experiments in northern Mexico with GM corn, and are seeking government authorization to enter a "pre-commercial" phase, expanding the growing area to nearly 500 acres from 35 acres.
http://on.wsj.com/eDr6Gy

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CATHOLIC CHURCH
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+ VATICAN HAS NOT ENDORSED GM FOOD, OFFICIAL SAYS
The Vatican did not endorse a statement in favor of easing restrictions on and allowing more widespread use of GM crops, especially in poorer nations, said a Vatican official. "The statement is not a statement of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences because the Pontifical Academy of Sciences as such - 80 members - wasn't consulted about it and will not be consulted about it," Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the academy's chancellor, said. Some news agencies had mistakenly reported that the statement, "Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context of Development", represented the Vatican's endorsement of easing regulations on and promoting the use of GM crops.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12704