GMWatch News Review archive

GMWatch Monthly Review No. 104
From Claire Robinson, Monthly Review editor
Website: http//www.gmwatch.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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LATEST NEWS:
CORPORATE CRIMES
CONTAMINATION
LABELING
RESISTANCE
PATENTS ON SEEDS
GM FAILURES
RESEARCH
LOBBYWATCH
FILMS
INSPIRATIONAL STORY OF THE MONTH

REST OF THE MONTH'S NEW IN BRIEF

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LATEST NEWS
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ FARMERS DESCRIBE DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENTS IN PIG HEALTH AFTER SWITCH TO NON-GM SOY
Danish pig farmer lb Borup Pedersen has gone public with revelations that GM soy feed had devastating effects on the health of his animals and on his farming profitability. Mr Pedersen found malformations in a large number of piglets born to sows fed GM soy, and diarrhoea in both sows and piglets. Many of the malformations were of the same type as those found in babies born in GM soy-producing regions of South America. When he switched to non-GM soy, the problems vanished. Mr Pedersen is convinced that the effects were caused by Roundup residues in the GM soy.

Mr Pedersen said that though non-GM soy was more expensive, the extra cost was more than compensated for by the lower medication costs for his non-GM-fed pigs, so he is now making a bigger profit per pig than when feeding GM soy.

The Danish newspaper that broke the story carried an editorial arguing that it would be irresponsible for the authorities to ignore the discoveries made by the farmer and congratulated the authorities for commissioning a new study designed to determine whether stomach lesions and other effects might be associated with GM soy.

Unfortunately, however, the proposed study is designed to avoid finding any problems (as both scientists and farmers have pointed out to us). Clearly the major problems noted by the farmers are malformations, stomach-related illness, and stillbirths, apparently related to a GM soy diet. In the study, GM soy will be fed to one group of pigs during the period of weight gain from 30 kg to slaughter at around 110 kg. A control group of pigs will be fed non-GM soy in the same period. However, during the period from weaning (7 kg) up to the 30 kg weight, both groups, including the "control", could well be eating GM soy. So any effects from the GM diet fed to the treated group later on will be masked.

Instead, GM soy should be fed to the treated group from weaning - and to the sow prior to the piglets' birth.

Another problem with the study is that reproductive effects such as malformations will apparently not be looked for. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this study will be an example of "Don't look, don't find".

GM Free Cymru has compiled a dossier on Ib Pedersen's story and that of a second Danish farmer. Read the report and see revealing pictures and graphs here:
http://gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/13882

Ib Pedersen has placed online a video of one of the malformed piglets. Please be warned that many people will find this video extremely distressing.
http://youtu.be/Iri9Mw9OltU

+ MORRISONS UNDER SPOTLIGHT FOR ACCEPTING GM-FED POULTRY PRODUCTS
GM Free Cymru's report, above, reveals the recklessness of UK supermarket chain Morrisons' recent decision to withdraw its non-GM feed policy for its poultry product suppliers.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13866

The difference in cost between GM and non-GM feed is tiny and Morrisons only allows poultry producers to use GM feed because of EU regulations that allow food produced from animals fed GM feed to be put on the market without telling consumers, says Richard Werran, managing director of food certification company Cert ID, in a letter to food industry magazine The Grocer.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13889
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13812
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13814

TAKE ACTION: Go to Morrisons' Facebook page and let them know what you think:  
http://www.facebook.com/MorrisonsWeLoveFood
More ideas on how to take action:
www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/13812

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CONTAMINATION
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+ ITALIAN FARMER ON TRIAL FOR PLANTING GM CORN
An Italian farmer is on trial for planting EU-approved MON810 corn in April 2010. The farmer is charged with violating a 2001 Italian decree that requires additional authorization from the Italian Ministry of Agriculture to cultivate EU-approved GM crops in Italy.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13872

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LABELING
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+ GM LABELS FOR GM-FED ANIMAL PRODUCTS IN TURKEY
Turkey's Minister of Agriculture has given the green light to label products from animals that have been fed GM feed such as corn and soy. "Until today there were no labels on products of animals fed with GMOs and this took the choice away from consumers. With this announcement our minister not only filled a legal void, but also showed that we can be a leader in the region and the European Union," said Tarik Nejat Dinc, head of the Greek Mediterranean Agricultural Campaign.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13857

+ KASHI CEREAL'S "NATURAL" CLAIMS STIR ANGER
Kellogg's is facing anger on social media sites because of complaints that its popular Kashi brand of cold cereals doesn't live up to the company's "natural" billing on advertisements and box covers. The controversy went viral a week ago after a Rhode Island grocer tacked a note to one of his store shelves, telling customers he wouldn't sell the cereal because he found out the brand used GM, non-organic ingredients. Photos of the note began popping up on Facebook pages and food blogs as some consumers claimed Kellogg's was misrepresenting its cereal.

Kellogg's got itself into trouble by "not being entirely transparent," says Roger Nyhus, president of Nyhus Communications in Seattle. He sees a trend among some companies "of fudging language to allay consumer concerns and jump on the green bandwagon, and I think it's starting to backfire."
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13888
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13890

+ AVOIDING GM FOOD IN THE U.S.
The US doesn't require GM foods to be labeled - but here's a short and practical guide to what's likely to be GM and what isn't:
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13890

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RESISTANCE
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+ U.S. FARM GROUP SEEKS HALT ON DANGEROUS CROP CHEMICALS
A coalition of more than 2,000 US farmers and food companies said it is taking legal action to force government regulators to analyze potential problems with proposed GM crops and the weed-killing chemicals to be sprayed over them.

Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto are racing to roll out combinations of GM crops and new herbicides as a way to counter rapidly spreading herbicide-resistant weeds that are choking millions of acres of US farmland. "They (farmers) need this new technology," said Joe Vertin, global business leader for Dow's new herbicide-protected crops called "Enlist".

But critics say key ingredients in these new herbicides - 2,4-D for Dow and dicamba for Monsanto - already are in use and have damaged "non-target" fields. Wind, heat and humidity can cause drift, damaging gardens, crops, and trees. "These are the most dangerous chemicals out there," said John Bode, a Washington lawyer hired by the Save Our Crops Coalition. Bode was assistant Secretary of Agriculture in the Reagan administration.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13863

Farmers, scientists and consumer groups scheduled a news conference to urge US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to shut down Dow's regulatory application for "Enlist":
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13881

Analysis of the row around Dow's 2,4-D-tolerant corn:
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13874

+ MOTHER TAKES ON MONSANTO, WINS GLOBAL PRIZE
Thirteen years ago in Argentina, Sofia Gatica's newborn baby died of kidney failure after being exposed to pesticides sprayed on GM soy. She investigated disease rates in her local community and discovered the cancer rate was 41 times the national average and rates of neurological problems, respiratory diseases and infant mortality were astonishingly high. Sofia and her fellow activists, the Mothers of Ituzaingo, went to court and won a municipal "buffer zone" ordinance, prohibiting aerial spraying less than 2,500 meters from homes. Now Sofia has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13853

+ UK FOOD CHAIN SAYS NO TO GM WHEAT
Farmers, celebrity chefs, bakers, businesses, trade unionists, consumers, and international organisations delivered a pledge rejecting GM wheat to UK farm ministry Defra as part of the "GM Wheat? No Thanks!" campaign organised by national umbrella group GM Freeze. Representatives from the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union and the Real Bread Campaign, as well as individual bakers, farmers and consumers from across the UK, will tell the Government they will not buy or use GM wheat or any products containing it.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13868

+ NEW ZEALAND: GM CROPS HELD BACK BY LACK OF GROWER SUPPORT, NOT LAW
GM crops are not in New Zealand fields because developers cannot get sufficient support from food producers and consumers, not because the law is holding them back, a Sustainability Council report finds. The report shows that the law is not to blame for a fall off in GM field activity in New Zealand, as developers often claim. GM food developers are simply not willing to apply to field trial GMOs because they have not been able to win the support of the agricultural sectors that would use them.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13858

+ PHILIPPINES GM EGGPLANT/AUBERGINE UNSAFE - REPORT
The spread of the Bt gene from GM eggplant/aubergine/talong can create aggressive and problematic weeds, says a new report by Greenpeace. The report focuses on an eggplant currently being field-tested in the Philippines. Not long ago, Greenpeace exposed the results of 90-day lab tests on mice fed with Bt eggplant, which showed signs of toxicity in the liver and kidneys. Studies on Bt corn varieties, already being planted in the Philippines, show similar results.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13852

Gene escape from GM insect resistant eggplants could create aggressive weeds in South and South-East Asia, explains Dr Janet Cotter:
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13854

+ DECISION TAKEN TO PROSECUTE MONSANTO
India's National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), the country's biodiversity preservation watchdog, has decided to prosecute Monsanto for allegedly using Indian brinjal/eggplant/aubergine varieties for commercial purposes without permission.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13855

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PATENTS ON SEEDS
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+ MEXICAN SEEDS, THE NEW SPOILS
Biodiversity and small and medium farms are threatened in Mexico by the looming approval of a reform of the law on plant varieties that will extend patent rights over seeds, activists and experts warn. "They are trying to expand privatisation in this important sector, as part of an offensive backed by transnational corporations to give more rights to breeders (of plant varieties), which are mainly these big companies," Adela San Vicente, head of Semillas de Vida (Seeds of Life), an NGO, said.

The reform, defended by the government of conservative President Felipe Calderon, would cover all plant material, including harvest products, and would introduce the definition of "essentially derived varieties" to protect GMOs.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13859

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GM FAILURES
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+ U.S.: FARM COSTS SOAR AS ROUNDUP FAILS
As Roundup fails under the onslaught of resistant weeds, farmers are being forced to spend more and use more chemicals to control the weeds that threaten yields, says a report for USA Today. "I've gone from budgeting $45 an acre just two years ago to spending more than $100 an acre now to control weeds," said Mississippi farmer John McKee, who grows corn, cotton and soybeans on his 3,300-acre farm in the Delta.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13861

+ AUSTRALIA: MONSANTO PROPS UP WEAK GM CANOLA PRICE
In Australia, Monsanto is underwriting the price of GM canola to prop it up and bags of Roundup Ready canola seeds are being given away for free! The news comes as global agribusiness company Viterra is paying a $45 a tonne premium for non-GM canola in Western Australia - 8% more than for GM canola.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13871

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RESEARCH
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+ BT MAIZE LINKED TO SOIL ECOSYSTEM THREAT
A new study has found that GM Bt corn can be harmful to the overall health of soil ecosystems. GM Bt corn has been linked to a decrease in beneficial fungi that form a symbiotic bond with plant roots, allowing them to draw in more nutrients and water from the surrounding soil. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are important for the overall health and fertility of soil ecosystems, and were found to form less bonds with the roots of Bt corn than with non-Bt corn.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13860

+ ROUNDUP READY CANOLA A NEW AND DIFFICULT WEED
GM herbicide-tolerant canola has become a troublesome new glyphosate-resistant weed in California, according to a study. Volunteers from dormant canola seeds produced thousands of plants per hectare in the fourth year (2011) following a 2007 crop harvest. This occurred with no additional canola seed production since the 2007 harvest. This was a surprise as volunteer plants following harvests of annual crops are typically only a problem for the first year after harvest.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22258428

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ EFSA ADMITS FAILURE ON REVOLVING DOORS
For the first time, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has admitted that it did not take the necessary action to stop revolving doors. EFSA states that "regrettably" the authority did not follow up the relevant information. Further, the authority acknowledges that it has strengthened internal rules in response.

The statements were made in regard to the case of Suzy Renckens. She was head of EFSA's GMO Unit from 2003 to 2008. The GMO unit is responsible for the risk assessment of GMOs. In 2008, Renckens moved directly to a lobbying position in Brussels for the GM firm Syngenta. In 2009, the NGO Testbiotech brought the case to public attention but EFSA and the EU Commission refused to take any action. So Testbiotech, with the support of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), asked the EU Ombudsman to investigate the case. In a letter sent to the Ombudsman, EFSA has admitted its failure for the first time.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13862

+ BBC VETERAN APOLOGISES FOR BACKING DEATH CAMP DENIER (AND GM PROMOTER) DEICHMANN
BBC veteran John Simpson has apologised for backing Living Marxism magazine in a 1997 claim that an exposé by ITN news service of Serb-run death camps in Bosnia was false. Living Marxism had published an article by a German journalist, Thomas Deichmann, which claimed that there was no barbed wire around the death camp at Trnopolje, Bosnia. Deichmann said it was a collection centre for refugees and not a prison, and that the barbed wire was in fact around the ITN news crews who, he said, were filming from a small enclosure next to the camp.

The ITN reporters, he added, had deliberately misrepresented the camp, and when the world's media inevitably interpreted the pictures as evidence of Serb-run concentration camps they failed to correct that impression. ITN sued Living Marxism for libel and won, driving the magazine out of existence. The case was remarkable for the fact that many notable people, Simpson one of them, supported Living Marxism.

As the debate over Bosnia receded, Deichmann was transformed from an expert exposer of 'myths' about Serb nationalist atrocities into an expert apologist for GM.

For more about the extraordinary network of GM promoters and genocide deniers that Deichmann is part of, as well as their roles in directing the UK's Science Media Centre and Sense About Science, among other organisations:
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Living_Marxism
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=337
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13870

+ BIO-ECONOMY TRUMPS BIODIVERSITY
The White House has announced the formulation of the National Bioeconomy Blueprint, aimed at shoring up the US commitment to bioscience-related research. But critics warn that the new programme focuses too much on economic concerns, placing too little emphasis on either social issues or on the environment itself. "We're disappointed to see what finally came out," said Eric Hoffman, a Washington-based campaigner with Friends of the Earth. "This report largely seems to be an endorsement for the biotechnology industry to rush ahead without any real oversight."

A second report by the Global Forest Coalition counters many of the messages of the Bioeconomy Blueprint, warning about the costs to the environment and food security posed by the rush to biofuels.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13887

+ WHO BENEFITS WHEN GATES HYPES GM CROPS?
Bill Gates is acting as a propagandist for Big Ag and GM crops - and possibly undermining food security for the poor, says an interesting analysis in the Globe and Mail.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13886

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FILMS
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+ TWO IMPORTANT NEW FILMS ABOUT GM IN INDIA
"Bitter Seeds" and "Cotton For My Shroud" explore the plight of India's farmers who adopted GM Bt cotton and the slew of farmer suicides that have been linked to the crop.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13867

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INSPIRATIONAL STORY OF THE MONTH
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+ DEBAL DEB, KEEPER OF SEEDS
Every year since 1997, Dr Debal Deb has sown the 700 varieties of folk rice seeds in his collection, in order that they may not be erased from India's heritage. He has collected these strains from humble farming folk in eastern India, whom the Green Revolution has mercifully passed by.
Read on: http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13869

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REST OF THE MONTH'S NEWS IN BRIEF
For those who do not receive our GMWatch Review
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+ CHILE STANDS UP TO MONSANTO
The Chilean Transparency Council has supported Chileans' right to know about GM crops. The Council's decision to insist that people are informed where GM crops are grown ensures that farmers, beekeepers and rural residents can find out exactly where GM crops are planted - basic information that is critically important as they seek to protect their farms, apiaries and families from toxic pesticide drift and contamination by pollen from GM plants.  
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13847

+ MONSANTO AND BIG TOBACCO BLAMED FOR BIRTH DEFECTS
Monsanto, Philip Morris and other US tobacco giants knowingly poisoned Argentine tobacco farmers with pesticides, causing "devastating birth defects" in their children, dozens of farmers are claiming in court. The farmers claim the tobacco companies asked them to use Roundup and other toxic products made or distributed by Monsanto, and assured them the products were safe. They say the defendants "wrongfully caused the parental and infant plaintiffs to be exposed to those chemicals and substances which they both knew, or should have known, would cause the infant offspring of the parental plaintiffs to be born with devastating birth defects." Monsanto's pesticides contaminated the farmers' non-tobacco crops, water wells and streams meant for family use, the farmers say.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13837

+ BASMATI RICE GM-CONTAMINATED
Food manufacturers are being warned of a possible food fraud involving basmati rice that may have been intentionally contaminated with GMOs. According to Richard Werran, managing director of food certification firm Cert ID, unauthorised GMOs have been turning up in consignments of basmati rice from India and Pakistan. Werran suggests that the source of the contamination may be the adulteration of the more expensive basmati rice with cheap GM rice (cheap because no one wants it, not because it's cheap to develop!).
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13842

+ POLAND TO BAN MONSANTO GM MAIZE
Poland has imposed a ban on growing Monsanto's MON810 GM strain of maize on its territory. Agriculture minister Marek Sawicki said that as well as being linked to range of health ailments, the pollen originating from this GM strain might harm bees.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13818
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13832

+ FARMER DITCHES MILK FROM CLONED COWS
Public opposition has killed off plans to sell milk from Britain's only herd of cloned cattle. Most of the 96 animals, which were kept on a farm in Scotland, have been destroyed or exported to Portugal. Simon Gee of Holstein UK, which keeps breed records for milking cows, said no new clone offspring had been born and registered in the UK since the 96 on the Scottish farm. He also said most farmers had no interest in using clones. "Farmers do not want lots of copies of the same animal for either breeding or food," he said. "They are constantly looking to improve the animals they have on farms."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13835

+ ROUNDUP CAUSES DEFORMITIES IN VERTEBRATE
Exposure to sub-lethal doses of Roundup caused tadpoles to grow abnormally large tails in a study by University of Pittsburgh biologist Rick Relyea.
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13811

+ WHY GM ISN'T NEEDED: THE NON-GM SUPERCROPS
Recently our attention was drawn to unpublicised attempts to promote a not-very-impressive GM drought-tolerant maize in Europe
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/13143
 
We're pleased to remind our readers that not only have 34 non-GM drought-tolerant maize varieties been developed, but they won the 2012 Climate Week Award: http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=118342&CultureCode=en
 
There are countless more examples of non-GM supercrops that provide the best argument for why GM is not needed. We have a database of them here, which we update regularly:
http://www.gmwatch.org/component/content/article/31-need-gm/12348
 
Please tell all your friends and contacts about it, as you never know when the next piece of GM hype along the lines of "only GM can solve the phosphorus pollution/drought/rust disease problem" will be presented to decision-makers.