GMWatch News Review archive

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WEEKLY WATCH number 303
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

Lots of important news in this week's Weekly Watch. Worth reading right to the bottom!

In India, the bollworm pest, which GM Bt cotton is engineered to kill, is thriving on the crop (GM FAILURES).

And while there are few more boring words than "no-till", it's a concept that we need to know about, as it will play a big part in GM lobbying in the next few years. Biotech interests are pushing for no-till agriculture with GM crops and herbicides to qualify for carbon credits on the grounds that it's climate-friendly. But it's far from clear that no-till lives up to the magical claims often made for it (NO-TILL).

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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NO-TILL
GM FAILURES
EUROPE
LOBBYWATCH
CORPORATE CRIMES
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
THE AMERICAS
MEDICAL BIOTECH
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

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NO-TILL
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+ CARBON CREDITS FOR NO-TILL WITH GM AND GLYPHOSATE?
Monsanto and the biotech lobby are pushing for no-till agriculture (as practised with GM Roundup Ready crops/glyphosate herbicide) to qualify for carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which aims to promote technologies that counter climate change. If farmers that grow Roundup Ready crops can access carbon credits for the no-till methodology, sales of Monsanto's seeds will increase, as will sales of its chemicals, as countries will encourage more large-scale farmers to plant Roundup Ready crops to qualify for carbon credits. This is a serious development that, if approved, will herald a big expansion of GM agriculture.
Excerpt from article: http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12723
For full article and references, please go to http://www.cetri.be/spip.php?article1940〈=en

+ NO-TILL: BIG WHITE LIE?
Much of the farming that is called no-till is nothing of the sort, according to US farmer and author Gene Logsdon. Logsdon says that many "no-till" fields are actually ploughed - just by different, sometimes more destructive, machinery than the traditional type of plough. He adds that genuine no-till GM crop-stubble fields are extraordinarily difficult to plant into. Logsdon's view is interesting in the light of Monsanto's and the biotech lobby's attempts  to get no-till farming with GM Roundup Ready crops approved to qualify for carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism to combat climate change. Logsdon is also the author of a book on organic fertilization called Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12724

+ THE TRUTH ABOUT NO-TILL
Many studies suggest that no-till is no better than tillage at sequestering carbon in soil - and the herbicides used with no-till may cancel out supposed environmental benefits:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/images/pdf/gmsoy_sust_respons_full_eng_v14.pdf

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GM FAILURES
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+ NON-GM BREEDING CHEAPER AND MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN GM
A GM trait typically costs a minimum of about 5 million USD, but realistically more like 60 million or more, whereas a typical trait in a non-GM maize costs about 1 million USD. These figures are cited by Dr Doug Gurian-Sherman in a comment about an article for Voice of America touting GM crops for Africa. Dr Gurian-Sherman adds that conventional breeding is generally more successful in producing crops with desirable complex traits such as drought tolerance.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12721

+ WORMS EAT INTO GM CROP MYTH
Insects expected to drop dead after feeding on GM Bt cotton plants - bollworms - have instead been found in research conducted in India to be thriving and even successfully breeding on the plants. Entomologists at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Karnataka, say their observations, coming within eight years after the start of commercial cultivation of GM cotton in India, question the wisdom of relying heavily on GM plants to fight pests.

"We saw virtually no differences between the biology of insect populations reared on the GM cotton and the non-GM cotton," said Aralimarad Prabhuraj, associate professor of agricultural entomology at the UAS. Their findings appeared in the journal Current Science, published by the Indian Academy of Sciences.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12725
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/12/gm-cotton-fails-pests-thriving-when-they-should-be-dead.php

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EUROPE
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+ GM MAIZE PLANTINGS DECLINING IN EUROPE
A report for ENDS notes that the popularity of GM maize - the main GM crop approved for cultivation in the EU - is waning among cereal growers in the Iberian peninsula. This is highly significant because Spain and Portugal accounted for almost 86% of the 94,700 hectares under GM cultivation in the EU in 2009. GM maize (MON 810) cultivation in Portugal fell this year for the first time since the variety's commercial authorisation in 2005. In Spain, 2010 has seen an 11% year-on-year drop to 67,726 hectares, the smallest area of GM maize cultivation since 2006, according to data from seed producers. The figures are said to indicate that a significant percentage of producers who experiment with GM maize end up abandoning it.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12742

+ TURKEY: ANIMAL FEED PRODUCERS WORRIED BY BIOSAFETY LAW
Officials are worried about the future of animal food production in Turkey, due to a new law that blocks importing GM soy and corn products. The Turkey Animal Food Producers' Union, or TURKIYEM, has applied to Turkey's Biosafety Commission for the approval of three soy genes that have been approved by the European Union. Animal food producers in Turkey have not been able to import GM soy and corn products since the biosafety law was enacted in September and have already used nearly all of their stock.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12729

+ UK MINISTER CLAIMS LABELS FOR CLONES IMPOSSIBLE
UK agriculture minister James Paice claims labeling for clones is impossible - but traceability systems are already in place for cows because of BSE (mad cow disease), and there's sheep tagging too.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12740

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ THE INTERNET IS BEING CAPTURED BY ORGANIZED TROLLS FOR INDUSTRY
Pro-corporate interests are using the internet to hijack proper debate about issues that affect their profitability, writes George Monbiot in The Guardian. The method is called astroturfing. An astroturf campaign is one that mimics spontaneous grassroots mobilisations, but which has in reality been organised. Monbiot writes:

"Reading comment threads on the Guardian's sites and elsewhere on the web, two patterns jump out at me. The first is that discussions of issues in which there's little money at stake tend to be a lot more civilised than debates about issues where companies stand to lose or gain billions: such as climate change, public health and corporate tax avoidance. These are often characterised by amazing levels of abuse and disruption.

"Articles about the environment are hit harder by such tactics than any others. I love debate, and I often wade into the threads beneath my columns. But it's a depressing experience, as instead of contesting the issues I raise, many of those who disagree bombard me with infantile abuse, or just keep repeating a fiction, however often you discredit it. This ensures that an intelligent discussion is almost impossible - which appears to be the point."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12731

+ UNBIASED EXPERT HELPS VATICAN ON GM CROPS
An article in the US press headlined "Iowan visits Vatican to share ag expertise" recounts how when leaders of the Catholic Church sought information about GM crops and their impact in developing countries, it was an Iowan they turned to for help.

The man in question was Andrew Apel, who "was excited to help the church" and found it "a huge honor to be considered a worldwide expert in the field."

Apel describes himself, and the 39 others who participated in the study week organised for the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2009, as "an independent source of objective information upon which the Holy See and its various bodies can draw".

And it's not just the papacy who can benefit from this unbiased information. Apel says, "Farmers who grow GMO crops can now look at the proceedings and know they are in-line with humanitarian efforts and the teachings of the church - in the opinion of the 40 people."

The following profile of Apel makes clear just how unbiased and objective this "worldwide expert" on GM crops really is. It also gives an insight into the mind of a great humanitarian:
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Andrew_Apel
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12735

+ LEAKED CABLES SHOW GM IS KEY STRATEGIC INTEREST FOR U.S.
A leaked cable (via Wikileaks) on discussions between US government representatives and Vatican officials from 2005 reveals the extent of the lobbying for GM by US biotech interests. Interestingly, Cardinal Renato Martino, the most prominent pro-GM cheerleader at the Vatican, is reported in the cable to have supported GM foods "in part to compensate for his vocal disapproval of the Iraq war and its aftermath -- to keep relations with the USG [US government] smooth". So even Martino's support for GM may have had little to do with any supposed benefits and more to do with politics. At the time of the report, he was thought to be "through pushing the issue".
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12741

+ JEFFREY SMITH COMMENTS ON DR. OZ SHOW
Jeffrey Smith's comment on his and Dr Michael Hansen's appearance on the Dr. Oz Show in the US, in which they were pitted against GM lobbyist Pam Ronald, is at
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12726

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ COLONIALISM AND GM MOSQUITOES
A new GeneWatch UK briefing questions the role of the British scientific establishment in the release of three million GM mosquitoes in the Cayman Islands earlier this year. The secret experiments were revealed by UK biotech company Oxitec last month, which claimed misleadingly that the mosquitoes were sterile. The GeneWatch briefing shows that no public consultation was undertaken on potential risks and informed consent was not sought from local people. Oxitec is a spin-out company from Oxford University and the trials were funded by the Wellcome Trust: neither body appears to have required any ethical oversight before using Grand Cayman for the trials.

Oxford University is an investor in Oxitec, which it expects to generate income for it in the future. The company also owes GBP2.25 million to a multi-millionaire venture capital investor in Boston, which it is due to pay back by 2013. The company is losing GBP1.7 million a year and its business plan requires it to commercialise its products and charge ongoing fees for continual releases of the GM mosquitoes, which are intended to reduce the transmission of the dengue virus. Former science minister Lord Drayson and former Royal Society President Lord May both acted as advisors to investors in the company.

GeneWatch UK's Director, Dr Helen Wallace said: "The British scientific establishment is acting like the last bastion of colonialism, using an Overseas Territory as a private lab. There is no excuse for funding trials without public consultation or ethical oversight to help out a spin-out company that is heavily in debt".
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12732
GeneWatch report at:
http://www.genewatch.org/uploads/f03c6d66a9b354535738483c1c3d49e4/Oxitecbrief_fin.pdf

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ASIA
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+ GM RICE TRIALS THREATEN INDIA
Calcutta University (CU) has been given a go-ahead to conduct field trials of GM rice at the Rice Research Station (RRS), Chinsurah. Experts, however, fear that the new variety might wipe out the 1200-odd existing rice varieties conserved at the rice station.
GMWatch comment: It's worth remembering the massive damage that GM rice trials did to US rice:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSIndia-30351820071106
And Bayer, the company responsible for the trials, is still trying to shift the liability onto the farmers who suffered the damage!
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12733

+ INDIA: SONIA GANDHI MEETS KISAN SWARAJ YATRA
The Kisan Swaraj Yatra was a massive 71-day long outreach demanding that the governments change their anti-farmer policies and adopt a pro-farmer, pro-nature approach. At the culmination of the Yatra in New Delhi on 11 December, Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress Party, met with a delegation from the Yatra and assured them that she shares their concerns. Meanwhile, thousands of citizens from across the country came together at Rajghat, the memorial of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, to proclaim their sovereign right over food and farming. The Yatra, one of the biggest initiatives in the recent past to bring together people from all sections of society on the issue of sustainability in Indian farming, interacted with farmers and others in 100 districts of 20 states that it cut across.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12728

+ CORPORATE SEEDS FLOOD PAKISTAN
The flooding that submerged nearly a fifth of Pakistan starting in July this year displaced about 20 million people and killed nearly 2,000. But the destruction isn't over yet. "A big threat looms in the way the government is rebuilding agriculture, in partnership with big agribusiness companies, in the flood-stricken areas of Pakistan," says Azra Sayeed of Roots for Equity, a Karachi-based grassroots NGO that works with small and landless peasants in the flooded areas. "A torrent of corporate hybrid seeds, and possibly GM seeds as some suspect, packaged with fertlisers, farm implements and production credit is streaming into the affected provinces in the name of agricultural reconstruction."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12727

+ FURY AS CHINA'S MINISTRY OF AG BANS GM OIL IN ITS KINDERGAARTEN
China's Ministry of Agriculture was criticized for promoting GM food as safe for human consumption while calling for one of its affiliated kindergartens not to use GM edible oil. Like other prominent GM promoters, the Chinese elite engage in the most amazing double standards:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12730

+ GM SOY REPORT AVAILABLE IN CHINESE
Please tell any contacts in China that the scientific report on the health and environmental risks of GM soy, GM Soy: Sustainable? Responsible?, which is available in English and four other languages here -
http://www.gmwatch.org/component/content/article/12479-reports-reports
- has been translated into Chinese (with added commentary) and is at:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4bb17e9d0100mq3q.html

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ AUSTRALIA: GM CONTAMINATION - BROKEN VOW FURY
Western Australia agriculture minister Terry Redman has broken his promise that there would be no contamination of non-GM crops by nearby GM farms, Shadow Minister for Agriculture Mick Murray said. Tests revealed nearly two-thirds of a non-GM farm in Kojonup was contaminated after a neighbour's GM material blew onto the property, Murray said.

"Not only has the crop been contaminated, but sheep have also consumed contaminated material," he said. "The farmer now risks losing his organic certification and is left with crops he cannot sell. The financial impacts of the contamination could be devastating and it is only a matter of time before more non-GM crop farmers will be forced to pay for the Barnett Government's reckless stance on GM crops. This is pitting farmer against farmer, neighbour against neighbour."
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12734-gm-contamination--broken-vow-fury

+ PROBLEM OF PREMATURE SPROUTING IN GM CANOLA
A crop of GM canola has sprouted in the pod while still green. The unusual phenomenon was found by Quentin Willmott in a crop of NuSeed's Roundup Ready variety GT scorpion he grew with his father, Kevin. Quentin discovered the problem when he began checking pods to see if the crop was ready for windrowing.

He found about 10-15 per cent of seeds - mostly from the lower pods of plants - had sprouted, which potentially could render his crop worthless. About half the seeds in affected pods had begun shooting. Kevin said the seed would be rejected if more than 5 per cent were sprouted. "We won't be able to give it away," he said. "I've been farming all my life and I have never seen a green crop shoot."

Quentin said they had to re-sow the GT scorpion canola after locusts ravaged the paddock in April, wiping out about 90 per cent of the young seedlings. "We got the crop in the second time as early as possible (after the locust attack) to keep the crop even," he said. "So this crop has already cost us a lot of money."
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12734-gm-contamination--broken-vow-fury

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THE AMERICAS
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+ NON-BROWNING APPLE SLICES - ANOTHER MARVEL FROM GM PROFITEERS
Non-browning apple slices are the latest marvel from the GM profiteers. A Canadian company has applied to US authorities for permission to market the "Arctic", a GM apple that doesn't go brown when cut into. Assessing the need for such a product, author and commentator Jim Hightower points out that keeping apples from going brown is as simple as putting lemon juice on them. His comment is well worth reading:
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12736

+ CISGENICS, INTRAGENICS, AND GM LOBBY DOUBLESPEAK
The "non-browning apple" that a Canadian company is asking the US to approve, is an example of an "intragenic" or "cisgenic" product. Cisgenics or intragenics is touted by biotech lobbyists as safer and more publicly acceptable than transgenics, on the claimed grounds that it uses genes from the species of interest or related species, not from an unrelated foreign species. But a scientist explains that cisgenic/intragenic food is every bit as unsafe as GM/transgenic food:
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12737

+ OHIO FARMERS "SNATCHING UP" NON-GM SEED - BUT IT'S HARD TO FIND
Though far more GM seeds are available to growers than non-GM, Ohio growers are snatching up non-GM seed and planting more non-GM acres than their Midwest counterparts, including Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. Some reasons, said Ohio State University Extension agronomist Peter Thomison, include economics, premiums, and fewer pest problems.

The problem is that biotech companies are restricting access to non-GM seed. Since a California court ordered the USDA to stop all planting of Monsanto's GM sugar beet seeds in August, farmers have found it difficult or impossible to source non-GM seed.
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12739

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MEDICAL BIOTECH
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+ THE GREAT DNA DATA DEFICIT: ARE GENES FOR DISEASE A MIRAGE?
The "genes for disease" that were confidently expected by medical geneticists to explain common disorders cannot be found, despite the huge amounts of money that have been poured into research, says an article by Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson that's well worth reading in full. The article notes that the media often gives little attention to even strong environmental links to disease, while speculative genetic associations can be front page news.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12720

+ CANCER IS A MAN-MADE DISEASE - RESEARCH
Cancer is a modern man-made disease, caused by environmental pollution and lifestyle factors, shows research. In other words, genetics are not much of a factor, except insofar as environmental factors can damage people's genetic material. Note this is by no means the first research to show this, but at least it's made headlines.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1320507/Cancer-purely-man-say-scientists-finding-trace-disease-Egyptian-mummies.html

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SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
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+ U.S.: "BUSINESS AS USUAL" WINS OVER PRECAUTION ON SYNBIO
A report on synthetic biology by the US president's bioethics commission concludes that no new regulations are needed for the field, which aims to create novel organisms with techniques that manipulate and synthesize DNA sequences. ”šÄ®”šÄ®A letter signed by 58 public interest organizations from 22 countries - including the Center for Genetics and Society - characterizes the recommendations as "deeply flawed." A press release from Friends of the Earth, International Center for Technology Assessment and ETC Group expressed disappointment that "'business as usual' has won out over precaution in the commission's report." FoE's biotechnology policy campaigner Eric Hoffman put it bluntly: "Self-regulation equates to no regulation."

The letter takes issue with the recommendations for
*ignoring the precautionary principle (the commission instead relied on the completely new concept of "prudent vigilance," a term that it coined and used as its guiding principle)
*lacking adequate review of environmental risks
*placing unwarranted faith in "suicide genes" and other technologies that provide no guarantee against the accidental or intentional release of synthetic organisms into the environment
*relying on industry "self regulation".
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12738