from Claire Robinson, editor
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+ GM WATCH IN OTHER LANGUAGES
For the very first time this monthly review is available in German:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6205
and in Dutch:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6235
PLEASE TELL ALL YOUR GERMAN AND DUTCH SPEAKING FRIENDS!
+ GM WATCH NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT
We need people with language skills to help us translate our bulletins so that we can reach the widest possible global readership.
We also need your financial support.
Please find out more about how you can help: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6043
Financial donations can be made online via the PayPal system (in different currencies, according to preference): http://www.gmwatch.org/donate.asp
Alternatively, you can send a check or money order *made out to 'NGIN'* - please note - to: 26 Pottergate, Norwich, NR2 1DX, UK
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EUROPE
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+ EU FARM CHIEF DEFENDS MORE GMOs IN ORGANIC FARMING
Europe's farm chief has defended her plans to permit more GM content in organic farming, saying it would be too costly for farmers to achieve higher purity in their organic produce. Questioned about her draft law that would allow products with up to 0.9 percent of GM content to retain a label of "EU organic," EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said the recommended labeling threshold was a realistic one.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6162
+ AUSTRIA BANS MONSANTO'S GM OILSEED RAPE
The Austrian government has banned Monsanto's GM oilseed rape, GT73.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6163
+ GM CROPS IN GERMANY STALLED
Since German companies and seed producers continue to reject demands of German regulators to pay mandatory contributions to a state-regulated compensation fund, observers don't expect any large-scale planting of GM crops in Germany before 2007.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6156
+ THREE QUARTERS OF SWEDISH FARMERS REJECT GMOs
In an opinion poll published 19 January in the farm journal ATL, 74% of Swedish farmers say they will not consider growing GMOs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6155
+ MORE ANTI-GM ACTIVISTS ACQUITTED BY FRENCH COURT
A group of nine activists who destroyed a crop of GM maize in France in 2003 have been acquitted by a Versailles court. A court in the central French city of Orleans last month acquitted 49 people who had been charged with organised vandalism for uprooting GM maize planted by Monsanto.
The judge said in that December case that the activists were justified in their action because "the unbridled distribution of modified genes... constitutes a clear and present danger for the well-being of others, in the sense that it could be the source of contamination and unwanted pollution."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6131
+ EU COMMISSION CAVES IN TO BIOTECH INDUSTRY - AGAIN!
The European Commission has again ignored environmental and health concerns of member states and approved the import and use of three Monsanto GM maizes.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6130
+ WHAT'S GOING ON WITH GMOs IN EUROPE - A GUIDE FOR THE CONFUSED
Feel confused about what's going on with GMOs in the EU? You are not alone!
Although no new GMOs have been approved for cultivation in the EU since 1998, there have of late been a series of approvals of GMOs for import for consumption - even though these GMOs are unlikely to end up being intentionally incorporated into food products because of consumer opposition to GMOs.
The recent approvals of GMOs for import into the EU have not been made as a result of decisions by a clear majority of EU member states, but by the EU Commission, which is headed by non-elected bureaucrats who appear to want to free up biotech development.
What is the Commission's real agenda? A clear article on this by Helen Holder of Friends of the Earth Europe is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6137
+ EU COMMISSION ORDERS GREECE TO LIFT GM BAN
The EU Commission has ordered Greece to lift its ban on GM maize seeds. Greece, along with a number of other member states, has consistently voted against any new GMO authorisations. Greece is likely to appeal against the order.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6118
+ MONSANTO TRIES TO CONTAMINATE EU WITH GM SOYA
Greenpeace, joined by a former manager of Monsanto and Limagrain in Romania, Mr Dragos Dima, at a press conference, exposed how Monsanto will try to contaminate EU agriculture with GM soya.
Monsanto applied to the EU in December 2005 to grow its GM Roundup Ready soya across the whole of Europe once its current licence - permitting the beans' import but not cultivation - expires in 2006.
Greenpeace says the GM soya crop in Romania covers more hectares than are officially registered. Due to illegal cultivation and uncontrollable contamination, conventional and organic farming is now impossible in many regions.
Romanian Government officials, reacting to Greenpeace's findings, announced that the cultivation of GM crops should be reduced in 2006 and phased out by 2007, when it is due to join the EU. However, Monsanto's filing an application for the whole of Europe now would prevent Romania ridding itself of GM crops and GM contamination.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6121
+ MONSANTO TARGETS EUROPE'S MAIZE
Monsanto is aiming to genetically modify all of Europe's maize over the next 4 years, reveals a new Friends of the Earth report, "Who benefits from GM crops?" It is also aiming to introduce 1 million acres of its GM soybeans. The report reveals that in November 2005 Monsanto announced to its investors that it sees Europe as a "Next Opportunity". Monsanto has currently permission to grow only one type of insect-resistant maize in the EU.
Despite Monsanto's efforts, the report reveals that:
* There have been no new GM crops approved for cultivation in the EU since 1998
* Commercial growing on any significant scale in the EU is still limited to Spain
* The number of countries and regions banning GM products has increased
* Europeans continue to reject GM foods
* GM crops have failed to tackle hunger and poverty.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6109
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THE AMERICAS
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+ REPORT BLASTS OVERSIGHT OF TEST FIELDS
The US Dept of Agriculture has failed to properly oversee field trials of GM crops, including plants designed to produce chemicals for medical and industrial uses, investigators say. A report by the USDA's inspector general said the department "lacks basic information" on where field tests are or what is done with the crops after they are harvested.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6086
+ VENTRIA CANCELS MOVE TO NW MISSOURI
Pharma company Ventria Bioscience has announced that it won't be moving to Northwest Missouri State University. Ventria, currently based in Sacramento, California, had planned to remove proteins from GM rice at a facility under construction at the university.
The collapse of the deal follows major opposition to Ventria's proposal to grow GM pharma rice in Missouri's rice-growing region.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6091
+ NON-GMO PROJECT LAUNCHED IN U.S. AND CANADA
A group of natural grocery stores and co-ops in the United States and Canada have formed The Non-GMO Project, which will provide North American consumers with the ability to purchase non-GMO products.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6111
+ VERMONT SENATE WATERS DOWN GM SEED BILL
A long-debated measure designed to hold seed manufacturers liable for the accidental spread of GM crops was narrowly defeated in the Vermont House of Representatives, which passed a less stringent version of the bill. However, the House will have to negotiate with the Vermont Senate which had already passed the measure which requires that lawsuits over the unintentional spread of GM crops be filed in Vermont courts and affirms farmers' rights to sue companies under consumer protection law.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6095
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6090
+ CANOLA IN MAINE AND VERMONT GM-CONTAMINATED
Maine farmers cannot be sure that the non-GM canola seeds they purchase to grow on their farms do not contain GM traits, University of Maine agriculture research professor John Jemison said.
Tests conducted last fall on research crops in northern Maine and Vermont indicated that the conventional crops and seeds contained genetically engineered DNA even though separated from GM plots.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6146
+ BIO/U.S. PUSHING GMOs FOR BIODIESEL
As a way of pushing commercialization of GM crops while sidestepping the issues of food safety and consumer rejection, the US government has joined forces with industry group BIO to promote GM soybeans as a biodiesel crop that will help solve the problem of global warming.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6143
+ HAWAII: PATENTS ON TARO HYBRIDS PROTESTED
Activists and farmers urged the University of Hawaii to give up three of its patents on varieties of taro - a food crop of great traditional significance in Hawaii.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6136
+ BOLIVIA GOING GM-FREE?
The Bolivian government has resolved to reject all requests to introduce GM maize for field tests, planting, production or deliberate release into the environment.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6167
+ GM CORN THREATENS BRAZIL'S BIODIVERSITY
The illegal presence of GM corn seeds in municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul constitutes a threat to non-GM corn, according to the agronomist, Ventura Barbeiro.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6123
+ BRAZIL'S ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CALAMITIES FROM GREEN AND GENE REVOLUTIONS
French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique reports that GM soya has been smuggled into the fertile state of Parana in southern Brazil, where it is still banned. The smuggling may suit the owners of agribusinesses that cover 70% of the land but it endangers the survival of the remaining small farmers, who provide most of the agricultural jobs and key national foodstuffs.
The article says, "Parana has the dubious honour of being Brazil's leading consumer of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. The state also has the country's highest rate of liver and pancreatic cancer. It is becoming clear that these two records are related. Unsurprisingly, more and more people, especially the MST [Landless Movement], are denouncing the green revolution dream as false."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6141
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ASIA
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+ INDIA: STATE GOVT TO TAKE BT COMPANIES TO COURT OVER ROYALTIES
The Andhra Pradesh government plans to take Mahyco-Monsanto to the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) for the discriminatory royalties collected by it for Bt cotton, state agriculture minister N. Raghuveera Reddy said.
The minister said the company had been forcibly collecting a royalty of Rs 1,250 per packet of 450 grams of Bt cottonseeds, for which the farmers have to shell out Rs 1,850. This has resulted in a significant increase in the cost of production.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6092
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6085
+ MONSANTO-MAHYCO PURSUED OVER FARMER COMPENSATION
Andhra Pradesh has threatened to cancel the licence of the Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco) if it doesn't compensate farmers for poor quality seeds leading to the failure of Bt cotton crop in the state.
Based on the reports of 20 expert teams, the state government has verified that the farmers had indeed been duped by the seed company, which had entered into a memorandum of understanding to pay compensation in case the seed quality led to crop failure.
Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy said, "If Mahyco does not pay compensation this season, we will not hesitate to cancel their license and also fight them in the high court."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6102
+ MOST FARMERS WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE WERE BT COTTON GROWERS
According to the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS, People's Movement in Vidarbha) 170 cotton growers from Western Vidarbha who had opted to sow Bt cotton committed suicide from June to December last year.
Farmers in Vidarbha had sown Bt cotton on the assurance that the minimum yield would be 20 quintals per acre, the statement said. However, the average yield per acre was only two to three quintals per acre.
The VJAS proposes to initiate legal action against the US-based seeds company demanding compensation for farmers who had been ''misled by false assurances''.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6092
+ GM CROPS CAUSE SUICIDES
A number of farmers who planted GM cotton have committed suicide on failing to repay debts with the produce, a group lobbying for a ban on GM crops said. Agriculture scientist Palash Ranjan Ghoshal of the Maharashtra-based NGO YUVA and Pallapadu Damodar of Andhra Pradesh's Sarvodaya Youth Organisation claimed a number of farmers' suicides in the cotton growing belts of the two states were linked to GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6110
+ ANDHRA PRADESH FARMERS HIT BY FAILED BT COTTON
A report for Indian TV station NDTV says farmers in Andhra Pradesh are grappling with crippling debt and desperation and choosing to end their lives after their Bt cotton crop failed.
In the last four years that Bt cotton has been grown, every time farmers encountered a failure, they were told that particular variety had failed for some reason but the technology itself was faultless.
So a new variety was popularised the next year. As one activist put it, Bt cotton has become the story of "operation successful, patient dead".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6159
The Bt-cotton connected suicides are deeply ironic, says NDTV in a separate report, considering that Bt was promoted as a solution to cotton farmer suicides.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6169
+ MONSANTO TO INTRODUCE 20 NEW HYBRID COTTON SEEDS
In an attempt to keep farmers on the GM treadmill, Monsanto India Ltd is planning to roll out 20 new hybrids of Bt cotton seeds - despite the widespread failure of the existing 20 hybrids of such seeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6164
+ FARMERS TO GO TO CONSUMER COURT OVER BT COTTON
About 50 cotton growers of Madhya Pradesh plan to approach the state's consumer court over the alleged failure of GM (Bt) cotton to deliver promised results.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6112
+ GM CROP TRIAL SCANDAL IN INDIA
The scandal of secret GM crop trials in India has been blown wide open by a team led by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA).
The CSA has exposed how Mahyco - Monsanto's partner in India - has been conducting secret trials on GM vegetables in Narakoduru village in Andhra Pradesh which violate all biosafety norms. The CSA revealed that even the farmer whose land was being used for the trials had not been informed that it was a GM crop.
The farmer's only point of contact with Mahyco was with a temporary employee whose contract with the company was terminated soon after a team of university scientists visited the trial plots. The farmer was then left not knowing what to do with the crop, which was left standing in his field. This despite biosafety guidelines that say that all material from the field trials should be destroyed by burning.
It also emerged that the farmer and other local people had been consuming the vegetable without knowing it was GM or that it had never been approved for human consumption. Some of the crop may even have reached the open market. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6085
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6096
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6100
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6126
+ GROSS IRREGULARITES IN GM FIELD TRIALS
The Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) has revealed hard hitting evidence of blatant biosafety violations in field trials of Bollgard II cotton in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu , Maharashtra and Punjab.
The MEC report says field trials of GM crops are being conducted in an "unscientific" and "unmonitored" manner in gross violation of biosafety regulations and the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
A film prepared by the MEC showed farmers from many states admitting to the violations and alleging that the company officials rarely visited the fields. While the law mandates that the crop residue be burnt in the field, one farmer said he was using the residue as cooking fuel. All the farmers shown on video said they were selling the produce of the trials in open market.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6114
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6110
+ THE PRICE OF HYPE: S. KOREA'S STEM CELL SCIENTIST DISGRACED
South Korea's disgraced human cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk did not produce any stem cells tailored to individual patients as claimed, a Seoul National University panel has concluded.
The row over the apparently fabricated scientific research should alert us to the enormity of biotech hype. S. Korea had designed a stamp to celebrate Dr Hwang's work and the "procedure of establishing stem cells and hope." The stamp shows a series of silhouettes in which a man in a wheelchair gets out of his wheelchair, takes his first step, jumps and finally embraces a woman.
It's also interesting that the problems with Hwang's research were not originally exposed by the scientific community but by investigative journalists who were told it was unpatriotic to challenge someone who had given the country a lead in such a promising new area.
See the stamp here: http://www.pennfamily.org/KSS-USA/linns-world-of-new-issues-02282005.htm
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6094
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MIDDLE EAST
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+ IRAN COMMERCIALISES GM RICE
It is being claimed that Iran commercialized its first variety of GM rice last year. Iranian scientists crafted the crop in the Philippines at the International Rice Research Institute, a sister organization of the International Food Policy Research Institute.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6160
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AFRICA
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+ TEN YEARS OF GM CROPS FAIL TO DELIVER BENEFITS TO AFRICA
Ten years after the first significant planting of GM crops there are no apparent benefits for consumers, farmers or the environment, and despite renewed promises by biotech corporations, there has been no impact on hunger and poverty, according to a report ("Who benefits from GM crops?") by the African Center for Biosafety and Friends of the Earth International.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6107
+ KENYA'S AG SECRETARY SEES NO CONFLICT BETWEEN HIS ROLE AND DIRECTORSHIP OF GM CROP BODY
Kenya's new permanent secretary for agriculture, Dr Romano Kiome, is the former executive director of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), which has been involved in a series of controversial GM-crop collaborations with the likes of Monsanto, USAID, the Danforth Center and the Syngenta Foundation.
One of these projects - the Syngenta Foundation's Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project - is being jointly implemented by KARI and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). CIMMYT's funding for the project comes from Syngenta via its Foundation.
Dr Kiome, who also sits on CIMMYT's board, said he saw no conflict of interest in his continued membership and his position as permanent secretary for Agriculture, the ministry which regulates GM crops and grants permits for plant research activities to both local and international organisations (i.e. the likes of KARI and CIMMYT).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3632
+ GM CROPS ON TRIAL IN AFRICA
Cotton-growers and other farmers in Mali, West Africa, are getting the chance to judge whether GM technology is the way forward for the world's fourth poorest country. A "citizens' jury" will cross-examine international experts, representing a broad spectrum of views, before reaching its decision.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6171
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FOOD SAFETY
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+ NEW STUDY SHOWS UNBORN BABIES COULD BE HARMED
There's been mainstream media coverage of the Ermakova study on GM soya, which found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed on GM soya died in the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Six times as many were also severely underweight.
Dr Irina Ermakova, a leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Monsanto spin doctor Tony Combes talked about the study on BBC's Farming Today. Dr Ermakova told the BBC that when she saw her findings, "I was shocked. I was so shocked by these data that I repeated these experiments 3 times." Monsanto's Tony Combes told the BBC that they were irresponsible even to report Dr Ermakova's findings!
Read The Independent on Sunday's report on the Ermakova study:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6104
Read Dr Pusztai's comments on the Ermakova study and the UK regulator's response to it:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6149
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6154
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ GM CROP REVOLUTION DRIVEN BY HYPE AND CORRUPTION
The new FoE Nigeria/African Center for Biosafety report ("Who benefits from GM crops?") shows that the widely quoted industry-backed body ISAAA "misrepresents GM crop reality", inflating figures for GM plantings. The report also shows that Monsanto and the biotech industry have designed the US regulatory system to enable rapid market penetration for GM products.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6113
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6119
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6120
+ A COLUMNIST BACKED BY MONSANTO
US newspaper columnist Michael Fumento's failure to disclose payments to him from the GM giant has now caused the Scripps Howard News Sevice to sever its ties to him, reports Business Week.
Scripps Howard announced January 13 that it is severing its business relationship with Fumento, who's a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute. The move comes after inquiries from BusinessWeek Online about payments Fumento received from Monsanto - a frequent subject of praise in Fumento's opinion columns and a book.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6132
+ TAVERNE DOES GM PROMOTION FOR MONSANTO
Lord Taverne, chairman of the UK lobby group Sense About Science, has done a GM-promotional for Monsanto. Although Taverne heads Sense About Science, he has no background in science. One well-known scientist told GM Watch, "This self-promoting joker has neither sense nor science, and for an opinion on GM we may as well consult our milkman. He may well be more sensible."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6148
Taverne's book The March of Unreason has also come under attack with one reviewer commenting, "His is a world in which science can do no wrong; in which research is untainted by vested interests, and companies such as Monsanto exist purely to feed the hungry. Those seeking a more thoughtful encounter with the contemporary dilemmas and opportunities of science are advised to march elsewhere."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6115
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GLOBAL CONTAMINATION
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+ THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF GMO CROPS
An excellent article for CounterPunch by Peter Montague of Rachel's Health and Democracy looks at global GM contamination and asks, "Who benefits from all this?"
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6106
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BIOTECH SLOWDOWN
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+ GM FARMING GREW AT SLOWEST RATE FOR 10 YEARS
From Dow Jones Newswires:
The annual rise of biotech cultivation grew last year at its slowest pace since 1996, when US farmers sowed their first crop of genetically modified soybeans for sale on the open market, according to a report by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).
Experts attributed the slowdown to countries like the US nearing saturation point in their use of herbicide-resistant and insect-resistant seeds, as other countries hesitate to use the seeds over health and environmental concerns.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6122
+ BIOTECH REVOLUTION MAY BE LOSING STEAM
An excellent article with this title for Inter Press Service News Agency says, "Long trumpeted as the solution to world hunger, some biotech supporters have scaled back their claims and now say the technology will make a substantial contribution to ending hunger. But just when or if that contribution will ever arrive is not clear."
The article criticizes industry body ISAAA's inflated figures for GM plantings. It also casts a cool eye on the supposed benefits of biotech: "Yields are not directly affected, nor are there additional nutritional benefits, improvements to the soil or environmental benefits."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6147
+ ANOTHER BIOTECH FIRM BITES THE DUST
Biotech firm Phytodyne Inc., based in Ames, Iowa, has folded. State and federal government and private investors poured millions of dollars into the biotech startup. State officials touted Phytodyne as a poster child for the burgeoning biotech economy. Early in 2004, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack announced a three-year, $5 million financial assistance package for Phytodyne, saying the company had the potential to revolutionize agriculture.
By late 2004, Phytodyne had been dissolved. In an article that reported Phytodyne's demise, a state official is quoted saying biotech is booming. In fact, since its inception in 1976 the biotechnology industry has lost a combined $40 billion.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6134
+ BIOTECH FIRM SEEKS PROTECTION FROM CREDITORS
Large Scale Biology Corp. of Vacaville, one of the first biotech companies focused on genetically engineering plants to produce medicine, has filed for protection from its creditors under the bankruptcy code.
The company ceased operations in December, having lost $25.3 million in 2003 and $17.4 million in 2004.
Robert Erwin, a founder and the chairman of Large Scale, has said the main problem for the company was the reluctance of drug companies to have their products developed in crops. He is quoted as saying, "There are very few corporate executives willing to bet on an unproven process."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6135
+ PHARM TROUBLE SIGNALLED BY GM PIONEER'S CLOSURE
An article in The Scientist puts Large Scale Biology Corp's failure into a wider perspective: "A decade ago more than 180 companies and organizations, including many of the big pharmas, were involved in pharming research. Since then, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Novartis, and others have spun off or disposed of their agricultural-biotech drug divisions. Today, fewer than 75 companies worldwide - and only a handful in the US - are engaged in any form of plant-based therapeutics."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6140
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TERMINATOR
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+ RENEWED CALLS TO BAN TERMINATOR
Governments gathered from 23-27 January to discuss the Convention on Biological Diversity in Granada, Spain. A key item on the agenda was the potential impact of Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs) on indigenous and local communities.
Terminator Technology, which is one of the GURTs under development, is a particularly controversial application of genetic engineering. It renders seeds sterile at harvest, thus preventing farmers from saving and re-using seed, and forcing them to return to corporations to buy seed every year.
Industry is now presenting the technology as suitable for "biological containment", to prevent gene flow. But Terminator crops produce pollen and could cross with neighboring non-GM or organic crops. So gene flow could still occur, with potentially catastrophic impacts on agrobiodiversity and wider biodiversity, and on seed saving.
Civil society groups are calling for an international ban on Terminator Technology.
For more information, please visit www.banterminator.orghttp://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6166
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6179