GMWatch News Review archive

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

At the end of last week Europe banned US maize imports until they can be proven to be free from the illegal GM maize Bt10 (SYNGENTA MAIZE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL).

And in the wake of the Indonesian bribery scandal, Monsanto is in trouble with the law yet again (THE AMERICAS), this time facing a subpoena from the Illinois attorney general regarding its licensing and pricing practices.

A remarkable and inspiring wave of reports, actions and resitance has marked the GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION against genetic engineering in India (see ASIA).

Notable amongst these were the 500 women farmers who held a demonstration outside the famous International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics, demanding farmers' seeds back from the ICRISAT Gene Banks. They also demanded that ICRISAT must close down if it does not put farmer-led research on their agenda.

The women said the trend of ICRISAT to turn its facilities over to private business and to invite transnational corporations onto its Board, has made it lose their trust.

The women also demanded that ICRISAT hand back the collection of germplasms in its gene bank to farmers: "Please hand us back our germplasm. Close down your gene banks. They have already turned into Gene Morgues. Now they will be turned by you into seeds for predatory corporate profits. THIS IS OUR HERITAGE, GIVE IT BACK TO US." (ASIA)

The other big news this week is that Dr Ignacio Chapela, the UC Berkeley professor who was denied tenure after criticising his university's sweetheart deal with a GM firm, is taking his case to court, as he announced at a press conference on Monday.
(CHAPELA GOES TO COURT)

We'll bring you regular updates on the Chapela case. We also encourage everyone to pay the closest attention to what this remarkably courageous scientist is saying as its relevance goes way beyond just UC Berkeley.

Here's a sample of what Dr Chapela had to say on Monday: "I believe there are illegal channels of influence driven by corporate, academic and political forces that are not disclosed to faculty. The university is governed by a shadow process, which I really look forward to shedding some light on." The net result of the process, Dr Chapela said, is to harness the university, its faculty, and its students to benefit profit-making corporations rather than the common good.

The scandal Dr Chapela is highlighting is the very same corporate take-over that the poor women farmers in India are protesting.

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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CHAPELA GOES TO COURT
GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
SYNGENTA MAIZE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
LOBBYWATCH UK
ASIA
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
BIOWEAPONS

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CHAPELA GOES TO COURT
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Below are press reports arising form Dr Ignacio Chapela's press conference on Monday plus a written statement Ignacio has released which we encourage everyone to read in full.

+ RACISM, FRAUD AND RETALIATION
Dr Ignacio Chapela, a microbial biologist at UC Berkeley, has sued the University of California, saying he was denied tenure because he criticized a multimillion-dollar research deal with a biotech company.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Alameda County Superior Court, also claims Ignacio Chapela was discriminated against because he is of Mexican origin and that he has been a victim of a secret, unwritten rule of UC's tenure process - that professors shouldn't publicly criticize those giving lots of money to the university.

Chapela said the lawsuit takes his fight to a new, public level to illustrate the encroachment of private interests into university research and a resultant atmosphere that squelches scientific inquiry that leads to unpopular conclusions.

"The university has lost the capacity to do science", Chapela said. "This is not a lawsuit against the university. It is a lawsuit for the university and against the people who have bastardized and taken away what the university used to do.

.."It was time to open my case up to the purview of the state of California, the nation and the world. It is with happiness that I come to the court to do what the university has not been able to do."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5134
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5129
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5136

+ DR CHAPELA'S STATEMENT
EXCERPTS: "On 20 November, 2003, a decision was reached by the Chancellor of UC Berkeley to deny tenure in my case, after a process which Berkeley's Academic Senate considers to be at least 400% longer than any other case on the available record... The decision was reached in opposition to an overwhelming record of legitimate evaluation as follows:

* 17 out of 18 world-wide experts recommended that I should be tenured at Berkeley based on an analysis of my record and performance.
* 32 out of 33 (three abstentions) voting members of my department recommended that I should be tenured at Berkeley, based on their observation of my record and my performance.
* Two secret expert committees independently and unanimously recommended that I should be tenured at Berkeley.
* There was no other legitimate reason to deny tenure in evidence.

The decision to deny tenure was therefore reached through illegitimate means, and I claim that it was reached through the illegitimate influence of individuals who stand to lose financially as well as politically and academically - from the results of my public scientific and policy work."

"[I have come to] conclude that the mediaeval structures of academic governance are now fully overrun by the overwhelming power of commercial forces that drive our historical moment.

What was created as an area of freedom from the normal rules of the land in order to protect the freedom of inquiry and education represented by this campus and by the very concept of a university, has been abused and prostituted to become a safe-haven for the free-wheeling promotion of personal and corporate gain beyond the gaze of the republic."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5140

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GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
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* Greenpeace is calling for an urgent, international product recall after uncovering the illegal release of a variety of GM rice in China. The GM rice has not been approved for human consumption and may have contaminated Chinese rice exports.*

+ ILLEGAL GM RICE FROM CHINA MAY HAVE CONTAMINATED WIDE AREA
Excerpt from New York Times report from Uhan, China:
Some Chinese growers and foreign specialists say they suspect much of this region's rice has been genetically modified. Many sellers here said the supplies came from a local university that specializes in biotech rice research. They said bags of rice could be bought there. "All the anti-bug seeds have been sold out," said a woman operating the store at the Huazhong Agriculture University in Wuhan.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5118

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SYNGENTA MAIZE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
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+ JAPAN WARY OF BUYING US CORN
Japanese importers have nearly stopped making new purchases of US corn due to fears shipments might contain an unapproved variety of Bt corn (Bt10). Some Japanese purchasers reportedly have shifted to non-US origins for their corn. Japan's rules GM products would require importers to destroy US corn or ship it back to the US if it was contaminated with the unapproved GM strain.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5114

+ US SENT BANNED CORN TO EUROPE FOR FOUR YEARS
The Independent on Sunday reports that imports of US corn have been stopped at British ports following the discovery that the US has been illegally exporting Syngenta's banned GM maize Bt10 to Europe for the past four years. The unprecedented move, which has angered the Bush administration, follows efforts to hush up and play down the scandal on both sides of the Atlantic.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5121

+ UK BACKS EMERGENCY CURBS ON US ANIMAL FEEDS
A vote by UK and European member states on 15 April to introduce emergency measures curbing the import of animal feeds from the US. With no way of reliably testing for contamination, and no segregation of GM and non GM animal feed from the US, the measures are likely to result in a de facto ban on the import of US maize based animal feeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5114
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5113
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5110
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5112
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5132

EU spokesman Philip Tod said Syngenta was working to develop a test for the presence of Bt10, but they could not say when it would be ready for use. Such a test would need further approval from EU authorities. It was not immediately clear how long such approval would take.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5118

+ US FACES MASSIVE ECONOMIC LOSSES
Excerpt from revealing article from German newspaper Der Spiegel:

In a state of agitation, US economics officer Robert Cekuta invited his German counterpart, Rainer Wend, to a meeting at the embassy in Berlin last week. It was an unusual move, but Cekuta was extremely worried... Cekuta explained to Wend that his country now faces "an enormous economic loss," and left no doubt that the step could strain the relations between the EU and the US enormously.

...In addition to the ban on feed, the US faces recalls, actions for liability and above all enormous damage to the image of US corn. A similar accident with genetic corn from Starlink cost the US economy over a billion dollars in 2001. The subsequent costs could be much higher this time, especially if until-now lethargic US consumers begin to question the safety of genetically modified varieties of grain.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5126

+ GERMAN MINISTER CASTIGATES "UNBELIEVABLE SLOPPINESS"
German consumer protection minister Renate Kuenast says Europe has no choice but to ban US corn since, "The action is the only possible way of dealing with an unbelievable sloppiness - the mixing of different genetically modified corn families."

TELLING EXCERPT from interview with Kuenast by German newspaper Der Spiegel:
SPIEGEL: But couldn't it be that you want to force the world to adopt your rigid position on agricultural genetic engineering. According to estimates of the German Economics Ministry, this position comes at the expense of both know-how and jobs.

KUENAST: It's quite the contrary. Organic farming has already created 150,000 jobs in Germany alone. A study by Ernst & Young showed that there are only 2,000 jobs in the sector of agricultural genetic engineering. And our clear-cut requirements - security, labeling, and traceability - have already created an economic advantage, especially in the export sector. Throughout the world, consumers are weary of genetically modified products. Producers know this. For many, abstaining from these products is already paying off.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5127

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LOBBYWATCH UK
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+ TAVERNE TRASHED IN FINANCIAL TIMES
The Financial Times has carried an interesting review of Lord Taverne's recently published book, The March of Unreason. The FT reviewer accuses Taverne of exhibiting his own brand of fundamentalism - "a naive and outdated scientism. 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":

"The delicate interplay between science, risk and democracy demands serious analysis and reflection. But any subtleties in these debates are drowned [by Taverne] in the torrent of polemic poured onto those he condemns as the 'enemies of reason'. Near the start of the book he decries those who 'use evidence selectively and unscrupulously to bolster prejudice, and who go through the motions of inquiry only to demonstrate some foregone conclusion'. A more apt description of Taverne's own method it would be hard to find."

The reviewer concludes, "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=5115

+ GOODBYE BIRDBRAIN (no offence meant to feathered species)
Sir John Krebs has now retired from the UK's Food Standards Agency - to many people's relief! He has used the occasion to launch an attack on his critics, as The Times reports: "Green and consumer organisations are businesses no more representative of the public interest than multinationals, the former head of Britain's food watchdog said yesterday."

Yet Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Soil Association alone have more members than all of Britain's major political parties put together, and now, of course, two of the UK's big three parties are themselves calling for a GM ban until the technology is proven safe - in fact, the same goes for just about every political party in the UK other than Blair's Labour which is massively funded by the biotech entrepreneur Lord Sainsbury.

But the concerns about GM crops run much deeper and wider than even this suggests. The Five Year Freeze campaign, calling for a minimum 5-year moratorium on GMOs, is supported by over 120 national organisations and companies, who between them represent over 4 million people. There are also 500 local councils among the Freeze's supporters.

This represents a massively broad coalition of civil society and public bodies and to dismiss this level of concern as "no more representative of the public interest than multinationals" says a great deal about Krebs' partisan agenda.

Even prior to his appointment as head of the FSA, Krebs was on record as saying that criticisms of GM food were "shrill, often ill-informed and dogma-driven". Some speculate that his historic support for GM may have been a factor in his being offered the top job at the FSA, particularly as his area of specialism had absolutely no connection with food safety - he's an expert on bird behaviour!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5115

+ MELCHETT ON KREBS
The Soil Association's Peter Melchett has published a letter in the Times pointing out that Krebs' claim (see previous item) that the FSA is characterised by impartiality and reliance on scientific evidence has been discredited - in a report commissioned by the FSA itself.

This review, conducted by Baroness Dean, was slipped quietly onto the FSA's website. It concludes that the "vast majority" of people consulted felt that the FSA had "deviated from its normal stance of making statements based solely on scientific evidence", when "speaking against organic food and for GM food". Baroness Dean stressed that "This view was expressed not only by stakeholders representing organic and GM interest groups, but by those who would be regarded as supporters and natural allies of the Agency".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5122

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ASIA
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+ MONSANTO'S "LIE OF THE CENTURY" - P V SATHEESH
A compelling presentation on the failure of Bt cotton in Andhra Pradesh by P V Satheesh, Director of the Deccan Development Society, is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5125

EXCERPTS:
..what is the story that the farmers in AP are telling us with regard to Mahyco-Monsanto Bt hybrids? It is a story of terrible loss, deep pain, and cold anger, leading to explosive violence and even death...

Hundreds of farmers... have repeatedly told us how the Bollgard cultivation had ruined them totally. In the face of this reality, the claim by Mahyco Monsanto [that farmers in Andhra Pradesh had gained five-fold from Bollgard] is an example of dark humour and can easily earn them the Lie of the Century award.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5125

+ INDIA: STORM OF PROTEST AGAINST NOD FOR MORE GM CROPS
Farmers' groups and civil society organisations across the country have expressed deep concerns over the country's regulatory authority approving new biotech (Bt) cotton hybrids for cultivation in new areas when the case for extension of the approval period for three such varieties under cultivation has become controversial.

As part of the Global Week of Action (GWA) being celebrated worldwide, civil society and farmers' groups have stepped up the campaign against "unwarranted approval of new Bt cotton hybrids, when the case for old varieties remains undecided."

For report on a study we recently featured showing how Bt cotton has miserably failed farmers in Andhra Pradesh:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5130

+ FARMERS SAY NO TO GM
Farmers and others from Bangladesh, Canada, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mali, Nepal, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand gathered at Southern Encounters - an international consultation on Bt cotton, organised on 14-15 April 2005 at Hyderabad, India as part of the Global Week of Action. Farmers, scientists and researchers narrated first-hand encounters with Bt cotton and GM crops.

A statement from the Deccan Development Society, India said: "Having shared our encounters with genetic engineering from our countries, we are stronger in our conviction that the use of transgenic crops has unleashed new hazards onto our farms and into our lives. The profit-driven 'life' science industry is more life destroying than life giving."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5123

A new coalition called South Against Genetic Engineering was formed in Hyderabad:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5142

+ WOMEN FARMERS CALL ON ICRISAT TO SHUT DOWN GENE BANKS
About 500 women farmers on 15 April held a demonstration outside the famous International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics, demanding farmers' seeds back from the ICRISAT Gene Banks. They also demanded that ICRISAT must close down if it does not put farmer-led research on their agenda.

The women said the trend of ICRISAT to turn its facilities over to private business and to invite transnational corporations onto its Board, has made it lose their trust. According to a press release from the Deccan Development Society, the women said, "Once upon a time, in trust, we handed over to you, a large number of germplasms. The seeds we had nourished like our own children. Seeds which were a product of generations of our own knowledge."

The women demanded that ICRISAT hand back the collection of germplasms in its gene bank to farmers: "Please hand us back our germplasm. Close down your gene banks. They have already turned into Gene Morgues. Now they will be turned by you into seeds for predatory corporate profits. THIS IS OUR HERITAGE, GIVE IT BACK TO US."

Challenging ICRISAT to show its Human Face, the women asked, "Do you have a Human Face? Why has it been kept so invisible from us, ICRISAT?"
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5139

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THE AMERICAS
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+ MONSANTO SUBPOENAED BY ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL
Monsanto has been subpoenaed by the Illinois Attorney General's office to provide information regarding pricing and licensing of GM seeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5135

Following news of the Illinois subpoena, Monsanto shares fell $1.32 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0504210178apr21,1,2492356.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true

+ PLANS SCRAPPED FOR GM PHARMA RICE IN BOOTHEEL
Beer giant Anheuser-Busch had threatened to stop buying rice from growers in the Bootheel, Missouri if Ventria Bioscience went ahead with plans to plant GM pharmaceutical rice there. It has agreed to amend its application with the US Department of Agriculture to plant its rice at least 120 miles away from southeast Missouri's rice growing areas. Anheuser-Busch had expressed concern that the GM rice had not been declared safe for consumption and that it might have come into contact with conventional rice.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5120

+ LANDMARK BILL GIVES FARMERS SAFETY NET FOR GM DAMAGES
In Sacramento, California, the Assembly Judiciary Committee has passed the Food Integrity and Farmer Protection Act, AB 984. Under this landmark legislation, California farmers, handlers and food processors will not have to suffer the legal and financial liability caused by the inadvertent contamination of crops by GMOs.

North Dakota farmer Tom Wiley commented, "Farmers in my state are being sued for having GMOs on their property that they did not buy, do not want, will not use and cannot sell. With this bill, California has an opportunity to change course before it's too late to protect farmers."

The bill will be heard next in the Assembly Agriculture Committee on April 27.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5143

+ AGRIBIZ TARGETS STATE LEGISLATORS TO PRE-EMPT LOCAL SEED LAWS
Legislators in eight US states have passed bills preventing counties, towns and cities from introducing legislation relating to agricultural seeds. These seed pre-emption bills are an orchestrated industry response to recent local actions on GMOs. For example, ballot initiatives in three California counties have prohibited the cultivation of GM crops, livestock, and other organisms, and nearly 100 New England towns have passed resolutions to limit GM crops.

"Pre-emptive seed laws serve the agribusiness industry by weakening local laws and precluding the introduction of stronger protections in the future," said Britt Bailey of Environmental Commons. "They are industry's stealth response to a growing movement of people that are seeking to protect their communities at the local level."

The same preemptive strategy has been used by the tobacco industry and the National Rifle Association to thwart local efforts to introduce more stringent smoking and gun laws. As Tina Walls of Phillip Morris & Co. admitted, "By introducing preemptive statewide legislation, we can shift the battle away from the community level back to the state legislatures where we are on stronger ground."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5111

+ VIOXX RECALL PROMPTS BIOTECH QUESTIONS
Critics of GM foods have expressed impatience with the federal Food and Drug Administration for putting its regulatory foot down on pharmaceuticals such as Vioxx and Bextra, but keeping its hands off biotechnology.

Most of the letters to companies posted on the FDA's website approving a new biotech food are brief: "Based on the information Monsanto has presented to FDA, we have no further questions ... However, as you are aware, it is Monsanto's continued responsibility to ensure that foods marketed by the firm are safe, wholesome and in compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements," a January 2005 letter reads.

[NB: Contrary to FDA's half-baked belief, Monsanto has never accepted any responsibility to ensure that GM foods are safe. Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications, told The New York Times that the corporation should not have to take responsibility for the safety of its food products. "Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job," he said. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4926 ]

"If somebody was to submit a study like those presented to the FDA for peer review, it would be rejected flat out," said Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist at the nonprofit Center for Food Safety in Washington, DC, and a onetime biotech safety reviewer with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Industry studies don't thoroughly explain how the study was done, which a peer review would demand, Gurian-Sherman said. And they often cite only summaries of data, not the raw data needed to verify the studies' conclusions.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5116

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EUROPE
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+ UK: GM ELECTION PLEDGES
Now that the UK's general election campaign is underway, Friends of the Earth, Five Year Freeze, the National Federation of Women's Institutes and FARM have come up with four GM pledges. You can send these to election candidates and ask for their responses.

They are:
1. Do you support the need for tough rules that prevent any GM contamination of non-GM and organic crops, if GM crops are ever grown in the UK? YES/NO
2. Do you support the need for strict liability on GM companies for any damage their products may cause, to farmers' livelihoods, the environment or our health? YES/NO
3. Will you add your voice to thousands across Europe calling for the democratic right for local areas to be able to decide whether GM crops are grown in their area? YES/NO
4. Will you sign the biteback citizen's objection calling on the WTO to dismiss the GM complaint lead by the US? YES/NO
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5138

+ JOHN INNES CENTRE UP A GM CUL-DE-SAC
In a letter published in the Eastern Daily Press, GM WATCH's Jonathan Matthews comments on the current funding crisis of the GM-obsessed John Innes Centre:

EXCERPT:
Dr Ian Gibson is right to blame the difficulties the John Innes Centre has been suffering in obtaining funding on "the current public ill feeling over genetically modified crops" and the collapse of a multi million pound deal with GM giant Syngenta.

The JIC's director, Chris Lamb, was warned time and again that putting so many of the institute's eggs in the GM basket was both dangerous and futile, given the lack of not just a public mandate but even of a market.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5124

+ DECLARATION OF ONE THOUSAND GMO-FREE ZONES IN IRELAND
One thousand GMO-Free Zones were declared throughout Ireland on 22 April by farmers, food producers, hotels, restaurants, markets, pubs, retailers, and homes. These sites require legal protection from contamination by GMOs. Hundreds of participants placed GMO-FREE ZONE signs outside their place of business. The event was co-ordinated by the GM-free Ireland Network, an association of 56 farming organisations, companies and environmental groups.
http://www.gmfreeireland.org

+ RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS CALL ON TOUGHER CONTROL OVER GMO's
Russian scientists have called for tougher control over the use of transgenic organisms, emphasizing that the effect of such organisms on the human system remains unclear. According to Mikhail Sokolov, of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the long-term effect of GMOs on the human body has not been thoroughly explored. Some studies suggest that such foods may cause allergy and mutation.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5117

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AFRICA
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+ ANTI-GM SENTIMENT ON THE RISE
A bulletin from Biowatch South Africa notes how anti-GM resistance is on the increase in Africa.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5131

+ RUMPUS OVER GMOs
Participants at a recent two-day conference on GMOs in Nigeria concluded that their safety is not yet guaranteed. There are fears that GM food crops which have been widely rejected internationally may have been quietly introduced into the country.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5133

+ US BLACKMAILED ZAMBIA
An article on allafrica.com says that over a year after the controversy over Zambia's rejection of US GM food aid, US health secretary Tommy Thompson visited Zambia, where he criticised in strong terms the rejection of the GMO food aid and linked future American assistance to Zambia in its fight against HIV/AIDS, to accepting GMO food aid.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5133

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CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
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+ SHARE WEEKLY WATCH WITH A FRIEND
GM WATCH sends a free weekly bulletin to subscribers reporting on the growing concerns about genetic engineering, also known as genetic modification. GM WATCH has developed a particular focus on the use of hype, propaganda and spin used to promote this technology, and on exposing the role played by corporate-friendly scientists, industry front groups, PR companies, lobbyists, and political groups.

Who do you know who might want to receive WEEKLY WATCH? Help us grow our subscriber list! Just forward this message to people you know, encouraging them to sign up at this link:
http://www.gmwatch.org/sub.asp

+ MONSANTO 'EDUCATES' BRAZIL'S CHILDREN - PROTEST!
Monsanto, supported by Brazil's Ministry of Culture, has developed a "social" project to take its doctrine into state-run schools. The company has announced a new partnership with a publishing house that plans to distribute educational materials on agriculture and the environment to a number of schools in the country. The project is presented as a programme of "social responsibility", but it surely aims to gain future consumers of GMOs.

At one point in the program, teachers are instructed to promote a debate among the students around the subject, "The grain that conquered Brazil", a reference to the soya seed.

Please write a letter to the Ministry of Culture, asking for this project to be stopped. Emails to:
Gilberto Gil Minister of Culture: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Adolpho Netto Cabinet Executive: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Luiz Artur Tor’bio Communications Assessor: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5137
See letter from activist Lilia Firefly: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5141

+ HELP STOP CLONED & GM PETS - ACTION NEEDED NOW
A California-based company called Genetic Savings and Clone (GSC) has sold two cloned cats, for $50,000 each, and sees that as the start of a multi-billion-dollar industry. We need to stop them now.

Recognizing this, a California Assembly member, Lloyd Levine, has introduced a Bill (AB1428) to ban the sale of cloned or GM pets in the state. It's a start, and will be a great precedent. The company, which has a billionaire behind it, is fighting hard to stop passage.

The Bill will be heard in Committee on April 26. Levine needs your support NOW.

One GSC tactic is to claim that only animal-rights activists support the bill. That's meant as an insult, and it's not true. As well as the American Anti-Vivisection Society, United Animal Nations and the Humane Society of the United States, supporters include Friends of the Earth, the International Center for Technology Assessment, the Center for Genetics and Society - and, hopefully, YOU.

Please say so. (Suggested letter follows, or use your own words.) Send email AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Assembly member Lloyd Levine, State Capitol Building, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0040, USA. Fax: (916) 319-2140

And please pass this on. For more information, see: http://www.NoPetCloning.org/
http://www.genetics-and-society.org/analysis/pet/

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear Assembly member Levine,

I strongly support AB 1428, which will ban the retail sale of cloned and genetically modified (GM) pets. Several companies are marketing cloned and GM pets to California consumers despite strong opposition from the public and a lack of scientific grounding. In fact, the scientific literature clearly indicates that cloned animals suffer and often die, and by one such company's own admission, up to 45 percent of cloned kittens who are born alive will die within four weeks of age. The health and well-being of cloned and GM animals and the impact upon public health and the environment have not been assessed.

In addition, there is no guarantee that cloned animals will be 'carbon-copies' of the original animals in either appearance or personality. Further, companies that market cloned and GM pets currently are not regulated by the federal government which requires basic standards of animal care and use.

AB 1428 prohibits the commercial sale and transfer of cloned or GM household pet animals within California and in doing so, it 1) saves animals from unnecessary and cruel experimentation; 2) protects consumers from being exploited during their grief over dying pets; and 3) ensures that the environment and public health are not negatively impacted by wanton genetic tinkering.

Please register my support of AB 1428 to prohibit this unethical commercial activity.

Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address

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BIOWEAPONS
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+ COURTING ARMAGEDDON
There's an excellent if hair-raising article with the above title on the commondreams website (http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0414-21.htm) on how the Bush administration's bioweapons buildup affects us all.

EXCERPT:
News that a US company recently sent vials of a 1957 pandemic flu strain to laboratories across the world by accident is only the latest outrage from the billion-dollar boondoggle called the federal biological weapons program.

As you might recall, the Bush administration started its "biodefense" spending spree following the September 2001 deadly anthrax attacks, and one of its first projects was to genetically engineer a super-resistant, even more deadly version of the anthrax virus. Our leaders are nuts.

Unfortunately, Project Jefferson has good company. A US Army scientist in Maryland is currently trying to bring back elements of the 1918 Spanish flu, a virus which killed 40 million people. And a virologist in St. Louis has been working on a more lethal form of mousepox (related to smallpox) - just to try stopping the virus once it's been created.

... How ironic that while [US Senate majority leader Bill] Frist cited the 2001 US anthrax attacks as proof more biological weapons research was necessary, he failed to mention that those incidents involved anthrax produced right in the good ole USA - or that the primary suspect in the attacks was a US Army scientist. Frist also didn't clarify how developing even more biological warfare agents would make the world safer.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5119

Mike Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said: "Who needs terrorists or Mother Nature, when through our own stupidity, we do things like this?"
http://video.msnbc.com/id/7497874/