GMWatch News Review archive

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WEEKLY WATCH number 259
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

Blair's former Chief Scientist, Sir David King, used a speech last week to yet again paint Africa as a poster child for GM. Africa is hungry and impoverished, according to King, only because of the antipathy to GM in developed countries like Britain and the support for organic agriculture.

The last time King tried to use Africa to make a case for GM, he made a complete fool of himself. He falsely claimed a highly successful non-GM agricultural project as a key example of how GM crops were making a real difference to the lives of African farmers around Lake Victoria. This time, King wisely avoided any specifics about how GM crops are transforming the lives of the poor.

King erodes public confidence in science and scientists by exploiting the status that comes from having once been a Chief Scientist to lobby for causes driven by vested interests rather than actual evidence.

Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org

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CONTENTS
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MONSANTO MOVIE
EXPLOITING HUNGER IN AFRICA
AFRICA
EUROPE
AUSTRALASIA
ASIA
RESEARCH
HEALTH RISKS
COMPANY NEWS
GM ANIMALS
GENETIC CROSSROADS

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MONSANTO MOVIE
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+ HOW TO BUY 'THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MONSANTO'
This must-see movie is now readily available on DVD in the U.S.:
http://www.fsicart.com/seeds
If you're outside the US, then exact instructions on how to obtain a copy can be found in English at:
http://www.arteboutique.com/HomeEn.action?lang=en
The film's currently available in 3 different languages: English, French and German.

+ USEFUL REVIEW
Those who haven't yet seen the film can get a real flavour of this remarkable documentary thanks to a brilliant new review by Jeffrey Smith, author of 'Seeds of Deception'. Jeffrey fully understands what a vital campaigning tool this film could be: "This powerful documentary might just inspire a global rejection of Monsanto's plans for our world. If so, it will be the most important film in history."
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/utility/showDocumentFile?objectID=178

+ MONSANTO MOVIE AT EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM
The Monsanto film is due to be shown at the European Social Forum on 17 September in Malmo, Sweden - details and multiple links here: 
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/38-Monsanto-film-screened-at-European-Social-Forum.html

+ COMMENTS ABOUT THE FILM
*Jonathan Matthews of GM Watch: "The World According to Monsanto brilliantly captures the toxic intent and devastating legacy of a corporation without ethics. Wide-ranging yet focused, both pacy and informative, this film is a massive wake-up call for every farmer, parent, food activist, journalist or shopper who wants to understand the vital importance of who controls our food. Marie Robin's film needs to be seen right around the globe." 
*Dr. Ignacio Chapela, Berkeley biologist: "[T]his film... ushers in what may be the beginning of the end of an epoch ruled by greed parading as humanity, ignorance masquerading as knowledge and raw power violating all illusions of democracy and enlightened development. That Ms. Robin is able to accomplish this with humour and a disarming adroitness is a testament to her journalistic stamina. The World According to Monsanto changes minds and hearts with its patient but unrelenting inquisitiveness. The evidence it provides is incontrovertible. The film will continue to grow in importance as the real consequences of these few, last dark decades become more and more tragic."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/38-Monsanto-film-screened-at-European-Social-Forum.html

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EXPLOITING HUNGER IN AFRICA
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+ HUNGER IN AFRICA BLAMED ON WEST'S REJECTION OF GM FOOD
Blair's former chief scientist, Sir David King, has continued his strident GM promotionals with a claim that the rise of organic farming and the rejection of GM crops in Britain and other developed countries is largely to blame for the impoverishment of Africa.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/08/gmcrops.food

+ HOPE FOR AFRICA LIES NOT IN GM BUT IN POLITICAL REFORM
Famine in Africa is not the result of opposition to GM or the fault of British organic food markets, writes Daniel Howden, Africa correspondent of The Independent newspaper: "The root of the problem in almost every case is political, not scientific. For agriculture in Africa, the real problems stem from a global trade system that favours richer countries and large corporations, chronic under-investment by corrupt governments, and the gross distortion of food prices caused in large part by the explosion of biofuels ... The agribusiness giants who have developed and patented genetically modified crops have long argued that their mission is to feed the world, rarely missing an opportunity to mention starving Africans. Their mission is, in fact, to make a profit. Land rights for small farmers, political stability, fairer markets, education and investment hold the key to feeding Africa but offer little prospect of increased profits."
http://www.independent.co.uk:80/opinion/commentators/daniel-howden-hope-for-africa-lies-in-political-reforms-922487.html
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/36-Hope-for-Africa-lies-not-in-GM-but-in-political-reforms.html

+ KING "UNSCIENTIFIC AND IRRATIONAL"
Peter Melchett of the Soil Association has called Sir David King "unscientific and irrational": "David King and a shrinking number of British and American pro-GM scientists are increasingly out of step with the scientific consensus that GM has little to offer in solving the world's food problems. David King criticises this conclusion of 400 international scientists in the recent IAASTD report as 'short-sighted'. But it is David King's fervent belief in GM crops that is making him blind to reality. No GM crops consistently produce higher yields than non-GM varieties. All GM crops need expensive, oil-based, climate-damaging fertilisers and chemical sprays. All GM seeds cost more than non-GM, and they cannot be saved so that poor farmers can use seeds they grow themselves. David King and a minority of scientists' belief in GM is based entirely on promises of what these crops might deliver in future. Exactly the same promises were being made by Monsanto 25 years ago. Quarter of a century
should be long enough for even the most ardent GM fan to wake up to GM's limitations."

+ KING WRONG OVER NEED FOR GM CROPS IN AFRICA
Commenting on David King's claim that green groups are helping to keep Africa poor by promoting traditional agriculture over "modern scientific agriculture" like GM crops, Friends of the Earth's Nnimmo Bassey said: "GM crops are often presented as the solution to hunger in Africa - but research shows that genetically modified varieties do not have higher yields than local varieties. They are simply the means by which agri-businesses seek to take control of African agriculture. GM crops will completely destroy agricultural practices needed to feed Africa. The continent's agriculture is predominantly small-holder and family based and this thrives on crop biodiversity. GM crops, which are patented, will stop farmers from saving and sharing seeds -- a practice that is of vital importance to millions."

+ GM CROPS NOT THE MORAL CHOICE
Those who use the moral argument to claim that we need GM crops to feed a growing population present no evidence for their stance, writes Father Sean McDonagh of the Columbans in a letter to the Irish Farmers Journal -- in fact, the evidence points in the opposite direction. McDonagh cites the report by Aaron deGrassi of the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University, on GM cotton, maize and sweet potatoes developed for Africa. The report found that conventional breeding and ecological management produced a far higher yield, at a fraction of the cost of GM.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/37-Are-biotech-crops-a-moral-choice.html

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AFRICA
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+ SOUTH AFRICA BACKTRACKS ON SORGHUM DECISION
The South African government has approved greenhouse trials on GM sorghum that it previously rejected as too risky.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i4MWpodvVJv9kxkUar1xl3Pop0dA

GM Watch comment: Only last year South Africa refused a GM sorghum application because it felt the potential risks outweighed any potential benefits, given that sorghum is an indigenous species with wild relatives in South Africa, and that Africa is the centre of origin for sorghum which serves as a staple food for more than 500 million people in Africa. The GM sorghum experiment is part of the African Biotechnology Sorghum Project (ABS), bankrolled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For more on the background see the African Centre for Biosafety website:
http://www.biosafetyafrica.net

+ GM POTATO "NO USE" IN SOUTH AFRICA
A pest-resistant strain of GM potato, earmarked for possible commercial release in South Africa, will be of no use to local farmers, says the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB). It will also increase risk for the farmer in an already volatile agricultural sector. This statement was in response to the Agricultural Research Council's (ARC) application for permission to release the potato commercially.
http://www.supermarket.co.za/news_detail.asp?ID=890

+ KENYA HOSTS FIRST ALL-AFRICA BIOTECH CONFERENCE
Kenya, one of several African countries being heavily targeted by GM companies and their lobbyists, is hosting the First All Africa Biotechnology conference.
http://www.newsahead.com/preview/2008/09/21/nairobi-21-27-september-2008-kenya-hosts-first-all-africa-biotechnology-conference/index.php

+ WAMBUGU WINS AWARD
The Monsanto-trained scientist, Dr Florence Wambugu has been named joint winner of the 2008 Yara Prize in "recognition of significant contributions to the reduction of hunger and poverty in Africa". The prize is said to be for her work on a tissue culture (non-GM) banana and a GM sweet potato. Even though the value of these projects is far from clear, Wambugu has repeatedly trumpeted their supposed successes in the media. This is not the first prize that Dr Wambugu has won. In 2004 she won a GM Watch 'Pants on Fire Award', the prize offered for "scientists' services to lying and deception". This was after she claimed the Monsanto-initiated sweet potato project as "a resounding scientific success", even though three years of field trials in Kenya showed the GM sweet potato not only yielded less but was susceptible to the very virus it was engineered to resist!!!
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/468824/-/item/0/-/ipdj6w/-/index.html
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5823
http://www.lobbywatch.org/mart02.asp?paid=40&maid=44&pg=1

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EUROPE
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+ GM CONTAMINATION IN SCOTLAND POSED SERIOUS RISK
Genetically modified seeds were wrongly sown at three locations in Scotland, posing a "very serious risk" to the environment, the Scottish Government said. The new variety of supposedly non-GM oilseed rape contained unauthorised GM material, it emerged. Sowing of seeds from that batch has been halted and plants on the three trial sites will be destroyed. Scotland's Environment Minister Michael Russell said: "Had these plants been allowed to mature, the risk to the environment could have been very serious."
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i7aI2QGZgJOSFdB2rxrP2tEptS0Q
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/09/12101348
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7612262.stm

+ EUROPEAN COMMISSION APPROVES GM SOYABEAN
The European Commission has approved the import of Bayer's GM soybean A25704-12 for use in food and animal feed. The decision was arrived at by the pro-GM Commission after ministers from the EU member states could not come to an agreement on the subject.
http://euobserver.com/9/26710

+ FOOD FIRMS LAUNCH GM-FREE GRAIN GROUP
Top Brazilian soy producers and processors have launched an association, Abrange, that will guarantee grains and feeds free of GMOs to meet demand in Europe.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSN0927664920080909

+ TWO GOVERNMENTS CALL FOR IRELAND TO BECOME A GM-FREE ZONE
Agriculture ministers from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have confirmed their plans for the island of Ireland to be declared a GM-free zone. This follows similar calls by the Assemblies of Scotland and Wales. In a section of his speech at the Terra Madre Ireland 2008 conference on food and farming policy, Minister, Trevor Sargent, drew rousing applause from the audience when he said: "The whole GM debate is ... at the heart of sustainability and the empowerment of people to grow food. If that power is taken away -- and the corporate spin is certainly very strong in the direction of some kind of silver bullet being available through GM -- we'll have gone beyond the point from which it's very difficult to come back."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/39-Two-governments-call-for-Ireland-to-become-a-GM-free-zone.html

+ GREEN ACTIVISTS ON TRIAL
The acquittal of six Greenpeace activists who scaled the chimney of a coal-fired power station and shut it down temporarily is the latest in a growing list of court victories by environmental protesters, writes John Vidal in The Guardian. In the last decade, cases involving GM crops, new roads and nuclear, chemical and arms trade companies have all collapsed after protesters presented expert witnesses and argued that they were trying to prevent a greater crime.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/10/activists.kingsnorthclimatecamp1

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ ROW OVER ANTI-GM ADVERTISEMENT
A row has broken out in West Australia over an anti-GM advertisement citing the study conducted by Russian scientist Dr Irina Ermakova, which found damaging effects from GM soya on rats and their offspring. A pro-GM researcher, Prof Michael Jones, claims that the study has been debunked by experts in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology. But Dr Judy Carman, director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research, said, "Some pro-GM people and the editor of a journal worked together to try and discredit this study and bury the results. As none of them seems to have any training or experience in doing animal feeding studies, their efforts were frankly absurd. None of them called for more studies to investigate further."
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=96406
GM Watch comment: So who are these "experts" who debunked Ermakova's work? One of them heads a pro-GM lobby group funded by the biotech industry; another is a former vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Organisation, which proclaims itself "the champion of biotechnology"; and the other two are not just GM scientists but well known champions of the technology and its alleged safety.
http://www.gmfreecymru.org.uk/pivotal_papers/involvement_ermakova.htm
Click here to read a summary of the Ermakova experiment
http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=2599
or Ermakova's longer version of her study.
http://www.madge.org.au/Docs/Ermakova-report.pdf

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ASIA
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+ SCIENTIST WHO COINED TERM "GENETIC ENGINEERING" WARNS OF HEALTH RISKS
Leading scientist Dr P M Bhargava, who first coined the term "genetic engineering" in 1973, warns against GM foods being pushed into the Indian market without appropriate safety assessment to ensure that they do not increase health risks, in an interesting interview at
http://infochangeindia.org/200807077208/Agriculture/Features/Genetically-modified-crops-The-risk-factor.html

+ MORE CONCERNS OVER GM CROPS IN INDIA
According to KP Prbhakaran Nair, chairperson of an independent expert committee constituted to examine the suitability of Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) for India, the measures taken to test GM crops for safety leave a lot to be desired. Nair says that Bt protein has been found even in non-GM brinjal before cooking. No one knows if this is due to contamination during the experiment or to poorly regulated field trials of Bt brinjal which have contaminated non-GM brinjal. One of the most important parameters to test the safety of Bt crops is heat stability, to see whether the toxic Bt protein persists after cooking. Mahyco, the Monsanto subsidiary seed company in India, claims that once cooked, the Bt toxin gets destroyed, but this claim is challenged by Nair.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20080915&filename=croc&sec_id=10&sid=2
GM Watch comment: It is worth bearing in mind that US FDA claimed that the heat applied in pasteurization of milk destroys 90% of GM growth hormone rBGH/rBST. Author Robert Cohen pointed out that FDA had to heat the milk to 162 degrees Fahrenheit for half an hour to get this result, whereas milk is typically heated to that temperature for just 15 seconds during pasteurization. In its reply to Cohen, FDA did not dispute the discrepancy in times used, but merely resorted to a technical definition of pasteurization, which theoretically could mean heating milk for half an hour!
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/foi/citpet.pdf
Another worrying fact is that the Bt Cry 1 toxin used in the Bt brinjal has been found in a study to damage the mammalian ileum (the final section of the small intestine). (Nagui H. Fares et al., "Fine Structural Changes in the Ileum of Mice Fed on -Endotoxin-Treated Potatoes and Transgenic Potatoes", Natural Toxins, Vol. 6, No. 6, 1998, pp. 219-233)

+ DESPITE BAN, BT COTTON CULTIVATION WIDESPREAD IN ORISSA
The recent death of 93 goats after grazing on Bt cotton fields in Orissa has put the authorities on alert for illegal cotton seeds. Planting GM cotton is banned, but illegal Bt cotton seeds have flooded the market and there are hardly any non-GM seeds available to buy.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20080915&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=4

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RESEARCH
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+ BT CROPS NEGATIVELY IMPACT SOIL -- STUDY
A new study investigated the effects of two Bt corn lines (Bt 11 and Bt 176) and their plant residues on arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, a group of beneficial organisms important to soil fertility. The study found that both transgenic plants decreased AM's colonization and Bt 11 plant residues negatively affected AM establishment four months after their incorporation into the soil.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/34-Bt-crops-could-negatively-impact-soil-microorganisms.html
PV Satheesh of the Deccan Develoment Society (DDS) in Andhra Pradesh, India comments, "This study does not surprise us. In fact as early as 2005, DDS studies had pointed towards the arrival of Rhizoctonia Root Rot disease on the Bt cotton fields, which had never been seen in cotton fields in the history of the region. By 2007, five years later, this soil borne disease had spread from 2% of fields in 2002 to 40% fields in 2007."

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HEALTH RISKS
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+ HAZARDS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING
Superb editorial from a Sri Lankan newspaper:
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=25777

+ SCHOOLS MUST REMOVE GM-TAINTED FOODS FROM CAFETERIAS
The US Institute for Responsible Technology is calling for a junk food ban in school canteens. They say not only does it remove most of the GM food but doing so leads to better behaviour by the students.
http://www.comanchecountychronicle.com/viewarticle.php?id=397

+ PRAWNS, GM CANOLA AND ALLERGIES?
The Australian group MADGE has produced a report on how GM food may be causing allergies.
http://www.madge.org.au/Docs/allergy-report.pdf

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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO SELLS BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE TO ELI LILLY
Monsanto has sold off its bovine growth hormone (rBGH/rBST) business to Ely Lilly's animal division, Elanco. Monsanto dumped this GM drug after snowballing consumer rejection of dairy products from cows treated with rBGH had driven it out of Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Kroger, and 40 of the top 100 dairies.

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GM ANIMALS
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+ LORD WINSTON TO FARM GM PIGS FOR TRANSPLANTS
Lord Robert Winston, the fertility expert and Labour peer, is to begin breeding GM pigs to produce hearts, livers and kidneys for transplanting to humans. Winston has pioneered a technique to create pigs with "humanised" organs that (he hopes) will not be rejected by the patients' immune systems. Attempts to transplant animal organs -- xenotransplantation -- were previously abandoned because the tissue was rejected and because of fears that animal viruses would spread to humans. Enthusiasm for the procedure waned in the late 1990s after patient deaths. Winston and his colleague, Dr Carol Readhead of the California Institute of Technology, believe pigs can be genetically modified to exclude the dangerous viruses. Winston has filed several patents covering the technique and claims it "carries huge commercial opportunities".
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4692850.ece
GM Watch comment: Genetically modifying animals to exclude dangerous viruses only works if you know which viruses you are looking for. There is no way (that we know of) to screen for unknown viruses. Also, viruses can mutate and change from harmless to deadly.

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GENETIC CROSSROADS
News and Views from the Center for Genetics and Society
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+ CANADA: ARE WE ALREADY DINING ON CLONES?
Canadians may have been consuming food from clones for years without knowing it, despite a Health Canada ban.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4259

+ CONTROVERSIAL STEM-CELL CO. SINKING IN DEBT
Advanced Cell Technology may be on its last breath. It is vacating its Massachusetts facility and not renewing its lease on a California research center.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4264

+ NEO-CON LOGIC: DESIGNER BABIES FOR ALL
by Marcy Darnovsky, Biopolitical Times
A neo-conservative pundit endorses inheritable genetic enhancement.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4263

+ ENHANCEMENT: OF BREASTS AND BOTTOM LINES
by Marcy Darnovsky, Biopolitical Times
The maker of breast implants (and Botox) is busy trying to portray them as "sources of power, freedom, individuality and self-confidence."
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4256

+ NATIONAL ACADEMIES REVISE STEM CELL RESEARCH GUIDELINES
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
The National Academies' Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, which were just revised. There are changes in two key areas, one encouraging, and one less so.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4257