GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 46
FROM REVIEW EDITOR, CLAIRE ROBINSON
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We've got a great monthly review for you, full of inspiring and incisive news and reviews.
And GM Watch's monthly reviews are now available for the first time in Portuguese, as well as in Dutch and German. HELP SPREAD THE WORD - we need more volunteer translators.
Resumo Mensal No. 44 - Portuguese version
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8012
Maandoverzicht No. 45 - Dutch version
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8003
Monatsruckblick Nr. 45 - German version
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8025
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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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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LOST MARKETS
RESISTANCE/BANS/RESTRICTIONS ON GM
GM HYPE
COMPANY NEWS
CONTAMINATION
GM APPLICATIONS/EXPANSION
PHARMING
GM FAILURES
BIOFUELS
FOOD SAFETY
TECHNO-UTOPIANISM
ENVIRONMENT
GLYPHOSATE RESISTANCE
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
DNA RESEARCH
MEDIAWATCH
CORPORATE CRIMES
BIOWARFARE RESEARCH
GM TREES
SYNTHETIC LIFE FORMS
ZOMBIE CROPS
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LOST MARKETS
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+ ATTACK OF THE MUTANT RICE
An excellent report from Fortune magazine on the US rice contamination disaster is at http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8060
EXCERPT: "This is the most traumatic thing I've seen in the rice industry in 30 years," says Darryl Little, director of the Arkansas State Plant Board. "It's been devastating."
+ CANADA: ORGANIC CANOLA FARMERS HAVE LOST OUT OVER GM
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7982
+ CHINESE EXPORTS LOST
A series of unauthorized exports of GM rice protein for use in animal feed, as well as GM rice in noodles and powder sent to Europe and Japan have been found in tests, causing losses for Chinese exporters.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7981
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RESISTANCE/BANS/RESTRICTIONS ON GM
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+ UK: PROTESTERS MAKE BRITAIN GM-FREE AGAIN
During the night of Friday 6th July, a group of protesters converged on Britain's last remaining GM trial site just outside Cambridge. They scaled the security fences and destroyed the crop of genetically modified potatoes. A similar trial planned in Hull was abandoned earlier this year after a strong campaign and massive concern from nearby farmers. With the destruction of the Cambridge crop, Britain is once again GM free.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8087
+ GM PROGRESS BEING MADE IN EUROPE - MONSANTO CHIEF
Europe is edging slowly towards GM acceptance, according to Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant. GM Watch is not convinced - see above and below.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7952
+ GREECE EXTENDS BIOTECH BAN
Greece has extended for two more years a ban on GM maize seed MON810.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8057
+ CYPRUS WANTS TO BE DECLARED GM-FREE
Cyprus wants to declare itself a GM-free zone, its agriculture minister said. The country has just passed legislation to place GM food on separate supermarket shelves. A previous attempt to introduce such legislation led the US to threaten Cyprus with the WTO.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7974
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8017
+ IRELAND AIMS TO BECOME GM-FREE
In Ireland, following the Green Party agreement to form a coalition government with Fianna Fail, the two parties revealed their policy "to negotiate for the whole island of Ireland to become a GMO-free zone."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8008
+ BRAZIL: JUDGE BANS BAYER'S GM CORN
A federal judge has banned the use of Bayer's GM corn 506285.BY a month after federal biosafety agents approved the product for retail sale. The judge also blocked the official biosafety agency, CTNBio, from approving Monsanto and Syngenta GM corn.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8029
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8065
+ RUSSIA'S DUMA DRAFTS GM FOOD BAN BILL
The Security Committee of the Russian Duma (the lower house of the Federal Assembly) has drafted a bill banning the production and sale of GM food.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8031
+ MOSCOW LABELS GM-FREE FOODS
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8056
+ CANADA: GM FOOD - NO MORE SECRETS
A Canadian MP has tabled a bill that calls for mandatory labelling of GMOs in food.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8014
+ U.S. DAIRIES TO REQUIRE FARMERS TO QUIT rbS
Swiss Premium Dairy (formerly Wengert's) and Rutter's Dairy now require all farmers to supply milk without using Monsanto's GM hormone rbST. Rutter's and Swiss Premium cited pressure from retailers as their reason for going rbST-free.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8048
+ U.S.: TAKE ACTION ON FARM BILL'S VOIDING OF STATE GM BANS
A coalition of 40 consumer, environmental and other groups have petitioned Congress to delete a provision in a proposed farm bill that would nullify state laws banning or restricting GM crops. The provision was quietly slipped into the bill a few weeks ago.
TAKE ACTION: http://ga3.org/campaign/House Ag?rk=md JbDY1L2b9W
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8032
+ PARAGUAY: FARMER LEADER DISAPPEARS
On 25 June the leader of the campesino organisation MAP disappeared from the community of Pariri in Paraguay. According to witnesses, Perfecto Irala was kidnapped by an official of the National Police. Irala lives with his wife and children on land occupied by MAP members to denounce the illegal transfers of public lands in their community to Brazilian GM soy producers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8065
+ MORE EU STATES WARY ON GM MAIZE
Germany's government is introducing a de facto ban on MON 810. Austria banned the Monsanto maize back in 1999. Hungary outlawed the planting of MON810 seeds in January 2005. The same year, Greece and Poland put restrictions in place against MON 810. Bulgaria's parliament has also indicated support for national restrictions on growing MON 810 maize.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7971
+ EU STANDS UP TO U.S. PRESSURE, REFUSES GM MAIZE
EU member states have stood up to pressure from the US and refused to allow a new strain of GM maize, Pioneer's "Herculex", to be imported into the EU. Herculex maize has been at the centre of contamination scandals including the contamination of US animal feed imported into Ireland. The sudden and rapid move to try and authorize Herculex suggests that the European Commission is more concerned with neutralizing a potential legal problem of illegal GM contamination rather than dealing with contamination by unauthorized GMOs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8053
+ DON'T MENTION THE G WORD
More on the US diplomat who told the EU to steer clear of using the term "GMOs" in order to minimise public opposition to US policies:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7976
+ EU RISKS WTO CASES OVER GM FOOD, WARNS MANDELSON
The European Union must accept more GM foods to avoid renewed complaints about market barriers at the World Trade Organization, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said. Mandelson was UK prime minister Tony Blair's closest political supporter and was appointed an EU commissioner by Blair after twice being forced to resign as a government minister following allegations of impropriety. The press dubbed him, "The Prince of Darkness".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8015
+ NZ: ACTOR SPEAKS OUT ABOUT GM CROP TRIALS
Hollywood actor Sam Neill has criticised a decision to allow field trials of GM crops near Christchurch. A 10-year trial growing GM foods was recently approved by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma). Neill said the decision was "potentially disastrous for New Zealand farmers, primary producers, exporters and indeed the country". Read Sam Neill's letter at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7966
+ CHINESE WARY OF GM FOOD
Among consumers surveyed in China's cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, 65 percent would not choose GM food and 77 percent would not buy GM rice.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7981
+ INDIA'S GM REGULATOR FAILS TO APPROVE NEW TRIALS
Despite predictions to the contrary, India's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has failed to approve field trials of GM food crops. The committee asked the GM seed companies to submit validated protocols for detection of 0.01% level of GM contamination, before it considered proceeding with the trials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8046
+ GEAC GETS CONTEMPT OF COURT WARNING
The GEAC's failure to approve GM food crop trials (see above) may have been influenced by a contempt of court warning it received on the eve of its meeting. The warning pointed out that the granting of fresh approvals for field trials represents a clear attempt to violate the Orders of the Supreme Court and will trigger legal action.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8044
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8046
+ WAVE OF PROTESTS PLANNED IF TRIALS APPROVED
News that the GEAC was toying with the idea of authorising GM food crop trials led to warnings that such a move would trigger a wave of protests.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8045
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20070624011045&Page=Q&Title=ORISSA&Topic=0
+ PANCHAYATS CAN STOP GM TRIALS
More than 80 Indian panchayats (local authorities) have written to the GEAC reminding it that companies wanting to run GM crop trials need to get prior permission from the relevant panchayat.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8035
http://www.countercurrents.org/kuruganti210607.htm
+ GM FOOD CROP TRIALS "IMPOSSIBLE"
Bhagirath Choudhary, Indian representative of the GM industry front group, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), said that the GEAC, by accepting the stringent contamination detection level of 0.01% set by the Supreme Court, had made such trials "impossible", at least for many years. Interestingly, the co-chair of the GEAC is on the board of the ISAAA.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8046
+ LOUD NO TO GMOs FROM ORISSA
The Orissa government will not allow Bt brinjal (eggplant) inside the state because it fears that the GM crop may endanger the biosafety of native farm products. "We are not for any genetically modified (GM) crop, let alone Bt Brinjal. There is no credible scientific study to stand by the GM crops. Nor are there reports from anywhere in the country about farmers welcoming it," agriculture minister Surendra Nath Nayak said. "On the contrary, public protests against GM crops are galore."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8066
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GM HYPE
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+ SOUTH AFRICA: MONSANTO NAILED FOR LYING
Monsanto has been ordered to withdraw an advertising claim that no negative reactions have been reported to GM foods. South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) made the ruling in response to a consumer complaint lodged against a Monsanto South Africa print ad, after Monsanto failed to come up with evidence to substantiate its claim.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8033
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8052
+ GM MOSQUITOES TO FIGHT MALARIA: AT WHAT PRICE?
GM mosquitoes are again being hyped in the press as a means of fighting malaria. However, a paper by the evolutionary biologist Dr Christophe Boete of the Institute of Research for Development in France explains the success of such a plan is merely hypothetical and may divert funding and attention from proven methods of tackling the problem.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7972
+ GM CAN BRING "NEAR INSTANT SOLUTIONS" TO HUNGER AND POVERTY!
According to Monsanto's biotechnology regulatory manager for South Africa, Wally Green, "In Africa, biotechnology has the capacity to bring about near instant solutions for problems like hunger, malnutrition and poverty"!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7975
+ OZ FREE MARKET LOBBYIST TOUTS GM CROPS AS ANSWER TO GLOBAL WARMING
Max Rheese, executive director of the Australian Environment Foundation (AEF), has published an article touting GM crops as a solution to global warming. Rheese claims "the reduction in greenhouse gases emitted through minimum tillage by growing GM crops is equal to removing four million cars from the road". Unfortunately for Rheese, according to USDA, the introduction of GM crops did not significantly affect low-till adoption. The AEF, incidentally, is a front group of Australia's ultra-free market lobby group, the Institute of Public Affairs, which not only has Monsanto amongst its funders but is highly sceptical about the contribution of greenhouse gases to climate change!!!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7978
+ MONSANTO'S GM DROUGHT TOLERANT MAIZE IN SOUTH AFRICA
During March 2007, the South African authorities gave Monsanto permission to conduct GM drought tolerant maize field trials in South Africa. The African Centre for Biosafety has now released a report on the issue. The report says that drought tolerance is at least 8-10 years away from commercialisation. Nevertheless, GM drought tolerant crops are being used as PR tools by biotech lobbyists to promote acceptance of GM crops, expand existing markets and develop new markets. Finally, the report points out that traditional breeding, marker assisted selection, and building up organic content of the soil are proven methods of dealing with drought.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7969
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COMPANY NEWS
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+ GM GIANTS PAIR UP TO DO BATTLE
Unable to deliver the next generation of GM crops by themselves due to their cost and complexity, GM giants like Monsanto, BASF and Bayer are pairing up.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8080
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8051
+ MONSANTO - DELTA & PINE MERGER CONDEMNED
The Center for Food Safety has blasted the US Dept of Justice's approval of Monsanto's $1.5 billion buyout of cotton seed giant Delta and Pine Land. "This merger will strengthen Monsanto's monopoly, meaning increased seed prices and reduced seed choices for American farmers," said Bill Freese of the Center for Food Safety.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7964
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CONTAMINATION
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+ MINISTERS OPEN DOOR FOR GMOs IN ORGANIC FOOD
EU ministers have decided to allow contamination of organic food with GMOs. The ministers adopted a new law which allows organic food containing up to 0.9 percent "adventitious or technically unavoidable" GMO content to be classed and labelled as organic. Environmental groups criticised the decision as it goes against the principle of consumer choice. Peter Melchett, Policy Director of the UK organic regulator, the Soil Association, said that regardless of the minsters' decision, "Organic farmers and producers must aim for zero GMO contamination, they must have the processes and procedures in place to protect the purity of organic produce. Any contamination over 0.1% should be clearly labeled."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8000
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8006
More comments on the decision:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8009
http://www.freshplaza.com/newsdetail.asp?id=2959
Price of organic food could rise due to new rules:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8034
+ AUSTRALIA: GM MILK ANGER
Milk is being produced on south-west Victorian dairy farms using GM feeds without the public's knowledge, reveals newspaper The Standard. Director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research, Dr Judy Carman, said there had been no long-term testing on livestock fed GM feeds, or on consumers eating GM foods or meat produced with GM feeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7979
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8027
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GM APPLICATIONS/EXPANSION
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+ AUSTRALIA: THE PEOPLE VS VICTORIA
Rumours that the state of Victoria has decided to lift its GM moratorium have prompted an excellent article on how the pro- and anti- groups are stacked. On the pro-GM side are industry lobbyists, the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), certain politicians, and scientists from industry-aligned research body CSIRO. On the anti-GM side is "people power", including independent scientists, most farmers, and health and environment groups.
EXTRACT: After the bans were put in place four years ago, I undertook a content analysis of all newspaper articles about GM in Australia's canola-growing States as a postgrad research project. I looked at who was quoted, and I followed the money. Without exception, quoted scientists (many claiming "scientific consensus" about GM) had received funds from biotech companies, sponsored think tanks, or GM grant and regulatory bodies. Most who made safety claims had no relevant expertise. Not one of the adverse research results or dissenting scientists - and there are many - was reported.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7984
High cost of opening the doors to GM crops - good article:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7995
+ AUSTRALIA: PROPOSAL TO LIFT GM MORATORIUM ENDANGERS EXPORT MARKETS
Victoria's apparent intention to lift its GM moratorium will endanger export markets, says a commentary in Online Opinion:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8001
+ GM WHEAT TRIALS APPROVED
The first ever Australian field trials of GM wheat have been approved to take place in Victoria this year. The 30 GM wheat lines contain transgenes for drought tolerance. Land agent Mark Griffiths commented: "Ironically Australia is taking these measures in response to the drought situation in the country. Yet Australia has refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol on climate change. Australia is in effect adopting a policy of 'carbon pollute and GM contaminate'. This is a downward spiral of self-compounding mistakes which can only risk the further devastation of Australia. The most appropriate response to these problems is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the adoption of sustainable soil and water management measures."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8049
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PHARMING
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+ NZ BIOPHARMING FUTURE UNCERTAIN
A Lincoln University study has sounded a sceptical note about biopharming, saying it is too early to forecast what economics benefits, if any, are to be gained by New Zealand establishing a commercial biopharming industry. This is because there's scant information about the final cost of producing biopharmaceuticals, the demand from consumers, and the possible damage to New Zealand's "clean and green" reputation.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8047
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GM FAILURES
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+ GM CHICKEN FIRM AT DEATH'S DOOR
The future looks bleak for Viragen, the Edinburgh-based firm that co-developed, with the Roslin Institute, cancer treatments derived from the eggs of GM chickens. Viragen was praised recently by then deputy first minister Nicol Stephen as an example of Scotland's "key strengths in life sciences". But it has lost more than $193.8m since its inception, and now faces possible bankruptcy.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8047
+ BT COTTON DISASTER FILM
A review of the award-winning film, "A Disaster in Search of Success: Bt cotton in global south", made by Indian women farmer-filmmakers about the failure of Bt cotton in India, Africa, and Indonesia, is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7994
+ INDIA: BT COTTON CAN KILL FARM ANIMALS, ANDHRA GOVT CAUTIONS FARMERS
The Andhra Pradesh government has advised farmers not to allow animals to graze on Bt cotton fields after four institutes reported the presence of toxins. Goats and sheep died after grazing on post-harvest Bt cotton fields in 2006 and 2007.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8023http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8041
+ INDIA: FARMERS' WIDOWS MEET PRESIDENT, URGE BLANKET BAN ON BT COTTON
A delegation of farmers' widows from the Indian state of Maharashtra's cotton growing belt of Vidarbha, have had an audience with the President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to draw his attention to their helpless condition following their husbands' suicides. The suicides followed widespread failure of the Bt cotton crop.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8022
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8028
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8019
+ INDIA: NEW PATHOGENS WITH BT COTTON
Punjab Agricultural University plant pathologists have warned about a high incidence of fungal and bacterial pathogen problems as a result of Bt cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8042
+ PAKISTAN: FARMERS SPEAK OUT ABOUT BT COTTON FAILURE
Farmers have related disappointing experiences with Bt cotton at a press conference in Pakistan organised by Catholic aid agency Caritas. Pakistan approved Bt cotton this year, and provincial governments have yet to give approval, although GM seeds have been available illegally.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8024
+ MONSANTO'S FAILED GM SWEET POTATO PROJECT RIDES AGAIN
The US's Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has announced a grant of more than $3 million to fund research to enhance resistance to viral infection and increase the nutritional content of the sweet potato for Africa. The grant will fund research that uses technology donated by Monsanto and the Danforth Center.
GM Watch comment: This is an attempt to give new legs to Monsanto's failed GM sweet potato project. This showcase project was hyped around the world for years as a massive success before the results of three years of field trials in Kenya were finally made public. These showed that the GM sweet potatoes despite supposedly being virus resistant were no less vulnerable than ordinary varieties, and their yield was no better or in some cases poorer. In Uganda, by contrast, conventional breeding produced a high-yielding variety much more quickly and cheaply.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7973
+ ISLANDS AT RISK: FILM REVIEW
A review of a film highlighting the tragedy of Hawaii's designation as a "national and international sacrifice area for biotech and genetic modification research" is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8064
+ NEW REPORT ON GM YIELDS AND IMPACTS
A new report which it is hoped will feed into EU policy on GMOs has been compiled by FoE, Greenpeace, IFOAM and others. "Agricultural biotechnology: yield, competitiveness, jobs and environmental impact" can be read at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8059
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BIOFUELS
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+ EU'S BIOFUEL FOLLY: POLICY CAPTURE BY CORPORATE INTERESTS
A superb new report from the Corporate Europe Observatory uncovers how the EU's promotion of biofuels has been heavily influenced by corporate interests, including car manufacturers, biotech companies and the oil industry. On the invitation of the European Commission, these industries have steered EU policy on biofuels through industry-dominated advisory bodies such as the Advisory Research Council for Biofuels (BIOFRAC) and the European Biofuels Technology Platform (EBFTP).
http://www.corporateeurope.org/agrofuelfolly.htmlhttp://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7958
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FOOD SAFETY
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+ ANOTHER MONSANTO MAIZE POTENTIALLY TOXIC
New research into the health impacts of GM food already approved in Europe casts further doubt on the safety of the approvals system. The study, carried out by French scientific research institute CRIIGEN on the results of rat feeding trials using Monsanto's GM maize NK603, highlights 60 significant differences between the rats that were fed the GM maize and those fed normal maize (all for 90 days). The first group showed differences in their kidney, brain, heart and liver measurements, as well as significant weight differences.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8018
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TECHNO-UTOPIANISM
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+ DOES THE KNOWLEDGE-BASED BIO-ECONOMY ADD UP?
What's the real basis for the vision of biotech as a major engine of economic growth, the key means of feeding the world, the cure for deadly diseases, etc.? After all, there's remarkably little evidence to support such a vision. An article in the Wall Street Journal sums up the economic picture: "Not only has the biotech industry yielded negative financial returns for decades, it generally digs its hole deeper every year." Yet this truth, according to the WSJ, gets lost in the periodic bursts of enthusiasm for biotech stocks.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4134
Now an incisive, and at times funny, critique of the gung-ho-for-GM BIO4EU report for the European Parliament has been published by BioscienceResource.org, which points the finger at technological utopianism.
EXCERPTS: Experts do not have an entirely unblemished record of predicting the future of agriculture. In the 1950s it was envisioned that agriculture would be irrigated with water from icecaps that had been melted by nuclear explosions, this water (naturally) would be stored in ponds, also "dug" by nuclear explosions.
On economic issues ... BIO4EU sometimes pushes the envelope of optimism to breaking point... Including GMO detection in a list of economic benefits seems no different to arguing that crime has benefits since it boosts the economy by increasing the need for police officers and prisons.
John Gray, the English political philosopher, has proposed that a fundamental characteristic of western thought is "technological utopianism", the belief that we will eventually attain a heavenly state of social and economic bliss in which all our needs will be painlessly met through technology. This belief, he suggests, is essentially irrational, in that it is supported by neither science nor history. He would find nothing to contradict his thesis in BIO4EU.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8004
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ENVIRONMENT
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+ GM AND NON-GM CROPS TOO CLOSE, STUDY SAYS
Field trials could be seriously underestimating the potential for cross-pollination between GM and conventional crops and buffer zone distances may be too small, according to new research from the University of Exeter in the UK.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7959
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7957
+ INSECTICIDE STUDY CLAIMED TO SHOW GM BENEFITS
According to a report in the UK Guardian, new research shows that GM cotton and maize with a built-in insecticide is better for the environment than conventional crops sprayed with insecticide. But one of the researchers involved in the study, Michelle Marvier at Santa Clara University in California, cautioned, "The answer you get about whether Bt crops are having side-effects on the environment depends on what you compare them to. If you compare them to insecticides they come out looking pretty good."
But that may not always be the best comparison. "For field maize here in the US there weren't a lot of insecticides being used to begin with. You could make an argument that the proper comparison is to maize grown without insecticide," said Dr Marvier.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7983
+ NON-GM RESEARCH CUTS COTTON PESTICIDES 50%, BOOST PROFITS 75%
A low-tech non-GM approach to managing pesticides promises to help hundreds of thousands of cotton farmers across Asia raise yields and reduce environmental contamination.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7990
+ NON-PESTICIDE, NON-GM COTTON MANAGEMENT SUCCESS IN INDIA
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7990
+ STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF TRANSGENE FLOW
A paper commissioned by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) studies the effects of transgene flow on human health, the environment, and genetic resources. The study, by Jack Heinemann of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, concludes that transgene flow is highly likely, with implications for human health, the environment, biodiversity, and farmers' economic situations.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8030
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GLYPHOSATE RESISTANCE
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+ GALLOPING GLYPHOSATE RESISTANCE THREATENS AUSTRALIA
Following the recent confirmation of glyphosate resistance in barnyard grass in northern NSW, four more weeds have been identified as at risk of developing resistance to glyphosate (e.g. Roundup). Researchers say wild oats, sowthistle, flaxleaf fleabane and liverseed grass are all at risk of developing glyphosate resistance.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8062
+ NEW CROP OF GM CROPS PROMISES YET MORE (AND DIFFERENT) HERBICIDES
According to a story in Science, 24 percent of farmers in the northern Midwest USA and 29 percent in the South USA say they have glyphosate-resistant (GR) weeds. Crop scientists in Argentina, Brazil, and Australia report GR grasses popping up too. "The selective pressure for weeds to develop resistance has been huge," Stephen Duke, a plant physiologist at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, said.
So scientists at the University of Nebraska have engineered a new category of GM crops. The new plants - which include broad-leafed greens such as soybeans, tomatoes, and tobacco - are resistant to a herbicide called dicamba. But the researchers themselves don't seem so confident that Mother Nature won't soon outsmart even this manoeuvre. Monsanto, which has licensed the dicamba technology, is hard at work on "gene stacking" - combining genes for multiple herbicide resistance into one plant.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7955
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ MONSANTO MOVES TO TIGHTEN GRIP OVER LATIN AMERICA
Monsanto has launched a fresh offensive on Latin American countries. The corporation appears intent on completing the invasion of GM crops throughout the continent and crushing resistance, warns GRAIN, an NGO. For analysis of the strategy and how it's impacting on different countries:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7977
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DNA RESEARCH
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+ "JUNK" DNA HIGHLY ACTIVE
Large swathes of the genome, previously dismissed as "junk DNA" because it was thought to serve no practical purpose, have been found to be highly active. The findings highlight how scientists have become so blinded by the importance of genes that the role of other parts of the genome have gone unappreciated.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8021
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8073
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MEDIAWATCH
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+ ISAAA FIXING MEDIA COVERAGE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The industry-funded lobby group, ISAAA, is utilizing public bodies to help it train journalists and shape the reporting of "agri-biotechnology" in developing countries. ISAAA itself has a long record of hype and media manipulation.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8038
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ VIETNAM AGENT ORANGE GROUP TAKES ITS CASE TO U.S. COURT
Vietnamese people whose lives have been devastated by the Agent Orange herbicide, supplied by Monsanto and Dow and sprayed by the Americans during the Vietnam war, have taken their lawsuit against the companies that produced the herbicide back to a U.S. court. A decision as to whether the case can proceed is expected to take several months. A Vietnam veteran who stood in front of the courthouse for hours while the judges heard testimony inside told reporters, "I am here to demand simple justice and dignity for victims of Agent Orange, both Vietnamese and others. We have to hold those who provided these chemicals accountable. They knew."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8043
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7997
+ INDIA: BAYER AND MONSANTO STILL BEHIND CHILD LABOUR PROBLEMS
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7998
+ S. AFRICA: MONSANTO THREATENS TO WITHDRAW FROM WHEAT SEED MARKET
Monsanto says it might have to withdraw from South Africa's wheat seed market if farmers don't pay it extra to meet the cost of its wheat seed research. There is a precedent for such blackmail. In 1997, Novartis threatened Ireland that if the country did not permit the deliberate release of GM products, the company might stop providing traditional sugar beet seed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7980
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BIOWARFARE
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+ CORPORATE AMERICA'S DEADLIEST SECRET
According to US reporter Sherwood Ross, biotech and pharma corporations are concealing the nature of the highly lucrative biological warfare research work they're doing for the US government. A study by nonprofit bioweapons watchdog, the Sunshine Project, lists among the corporations holding back information about their activities BASF Plant Science, DuPont, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Hoffman-LaRoche, Merck, Monsanto, Pfizer, Schering-Plough, and Syngenta.
The biowarfare buildup is getting an enthusiastic response from academia, which sees new funds flowing from Washington's horn of plenty. Ross quotes Francis Boyle, an international law authority at the University of Illinois, Champaign, as saying, "American universities have a long history of willingly permitting their research agenda, researchers, institutes and laboratories to be co-opted, corrupted, and perverted by the Pentagon and the CIA."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8043
+ NEW FILM ABOUT PERSECUTED ARTIST
A documentary film about US bio artist Steve Kurtz, "Strange Culture", has been released. Steve is currently awaiting trial on charges that could land him in prison for 20 years. After Kurtz's wife died one night, the FBI raided his home and found stocks of harmless bacteria that Kurtz uses in his art projects, leading to accusations of bioterrorism. Kurtz is a well-known GM critic.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8054
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GM TREES
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+ USDA MUST REJECT PERMIT FOR GM EUCALYPTUS TREES
The STOP GE Trees Campaign is demanding that USDA reject a request by ArborGen to allow a field trial of GM eucalyptus to flower and produce seeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7970
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SYNTHETIC LIFE FORMS
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+ GOODBYE DOLLY, HELLO SYNTHIA
Ten years after Dolly the cloned sheep made her debut, the J. Craig Venter Institute is applying for a patent on the world's first-ever human-made species. The novel bacterium is made with synthetic DNA in the laboratory. The Institute claims that its stripped-down microbe could be the key to cheap energy production. But Jim Thomas of ETC Group said, "The same minimal microbe could be harnessed to build a virulent pathogen that could pose grave threats to people and the planet."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7986
+ ROYAL SOCIETY WANTS YOUR VIEWS ON SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8063
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ZOMBIE CROPS
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+ SUICIDE SEED SEQUEL: TERMINATOR INTO ZOMBIE
ETC Group has released a report on "Zombie" GM crops - a new crop of GM technologies that are being promoted as a biosafety solution to the unwanted spread of transgenes from GM crops, trees and pharmaceutical-producing plants, but which could enable companies to pull the plug on plants they believe are being grown without the proper licensing agreements.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8013
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8020