GMWatch News Review archive

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WEEKLY WATCH number 258
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

There's good news from the US this week, where the release of GMOs is again being successfully challenged in the courts. But Monsanto's shameful victory over a farm coop shows the war isn't won yet. (THE AMERICAS)

Encouraging developments in Europe include a statement by Germany's agriculture minister supporting the right of EU member countries to opt out of GM crop cultivation, and the vindication of GM whistleblower, Prof Christian Velot. (EUROPE / LOBBYWATCH)

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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LOBBYWATCH
HEALTH RISKS
AUSTRALASIA
EUROPE
ASIA
MIDDLE EAST
THE AMERICAS
FOOD CRISIS
COMPANY NEWS
AFRICA
CLONIED & GM ANIMALS
GENETIC CROSSROADS
*CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK*

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ GM WHISTLEBLOWER VINDICATED
On July 9 2008, the biologist and GM whistleblower Christian Velot met the Presidency of the University Paris-South (Orsay). This meeting was triggered by the mobilization day in support of Christian Velot on June 25. Velot had suffered repeated persecution after raising concerns about GMOs, including public rebukes from the director of the Institute of Genetics and Microbiology (IGM), where Velot is conducting his research, removal of funding, the requisitioning of his lab, and a false allegation of supposed aggression against a colleague - aggression denied even by the supposed victim! Following the meeting, the Presidency of the University made commitments to Velot ON protection of his freedom of speech and his research work. The Presidency will also write a public letter to clear Velot and his team of the false accusations made against them.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/31-GM-whistleblower-vindicated.html

+ PRO-GM CONFERENCE -- MORE MEDIA COVERAGE
Extensive coverage critical of the recent pro-GM conference in Cork, Ireland can be found on the GM-free Ireland Network's news pages for September and August at http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news

+ CORPORATE PR, PROPAGANDA AND LOBBYING
BBC Radio 4's Thinking Aloud programme this week was a discussion on corporate PR, propaganda and lobbying. According to the BBC,, "Laurie Taylor is joined by Professor David Miller, author of a new book entitled Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy and Mark Borkowski, PR Practitioner, to discuss the idea that 'Corporate Spin' has launched a full scale assault on modern democracy to the point that lies, fakes and 'dark arts' are behind a bewildering array of untruths that completely mislead the media and the public." Listen to the programme (broadcast 3 Sept) here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/thinkingallowed_20080903.shtml

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HEALTH RISKS
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+ THE PROBLEM WITH NUTRITIONALLY ENHANCED GM PLANTS
"Biologically active compounds" in GM nutritionally enhanced crops like Golden Rice "could have profound effects on human development", warns David R. Schubert, professor and head of the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute in California. Schubert calls for careful testing of such foods before they are consumed.

Commenting on the lack of safety data on GM foods in general, Schubert writes, "There are, in fact, no data comparing the food safety profiles of GM versus conventional breeding, and the ubiquitous argument that 'since there is no evidence that GM products make people sick, they are safe' is both illogical and false. There are, again, simply no data or even valid assays to support this contention. Without proper epidemiological studies, most types of harm will not be detected, and no such studies have been conducted." (Schubert, D.R., "The Problem with Nutritionally Enhanced Plants", Journal of Medicinal Food, Vol. 11, No. 4, published online ahead of print version, August 2008, http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jmf.2008.0094)
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/30-The-Problem-with-Nutritionally-Enhanced-Plants.html

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ GM FOODS HOT ISSUE IN OZ ELECTION
GM foods have become a major issue in the election campaign in Western Australia (WA). The ruling Western Australian Labor Party is promising to maintain the GM ban, test food sold in WA shops to see if it is being labelled, increase funding of farmers wanting to remain GM free and fund non-GM plant breeding.
http://www.visionwa.org.au/policy/carpenterspeech2008.pdf
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=146&ContentID=94832
http://www.visionwa.org.au/mediareleases/GMmedia020908.pdf

+ FARMERS APPLAUD LABOR FOR ADDRESSING GM ISSUES
The Western Australia Labor Party has announced an increased funding of $5 million to support farmers to remain GM-free. The Network of Concerned Farmers (NCF) have congratulated the WA Labor Government decision, saying it shows the depth of their understanding of the GM debate and their willingness to resolve the problems.
http://news.theage.com.au/national/carpenter-pushes-risk-of-gm-crops-20080902-47v5.html

+ AUSTRALIA: VICTORIA COUNCILS MAY VOTE TO STAY GM-FREE
Councils around Victoria are considering staying free of GM crops, even though the state government is one of the two States which ended its GM ban last year.
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200809/s2354094.htm

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EUROPE
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+ EU STATES SHOULD BE ABLE TO STOP GM CROPS -- GERMANY
Germany wants EU member states to have the power to block GM crops in their countries, agriculture minister Horst Seehofer said. Currently the EU Commission takes the decision whether GMOs are safe and has approved several GMO crops for commercial farming. But some EU states including France and Austria have announced bans on cultivation. "I believe that the EU member states should be able to decide themselves whether they actually want cultivation in their areas," Seehofer said.
http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/09/03/afx5383694.html

+ FRANCE: PROSECUTOR SEEKS EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON FOR BOVE
Farmer Jose Bove could face eight years in prison and four years probation. In a new court case, he and eleven other campaigners face charges relating to a 2006 attempt to destroy GM corn. Marc Giblet, the Belgian farmer whose grain silos were targeted, also faces ten months in prison if he is found guilty of firing a gunshot in the direction of the activists during the incident.
http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/104/article_1444.asp

+ GERMANY: FIVE GM FIELDS SABOTAGED IN THREE WEEKS
In Westheim, about 60 activists destroyed a GM corn crop. In Kitzingen and Werne, fields of GM corn were "liberated". In Rheinstetten, activists destroyed parts of an experimental GM corn crop. In Dambeck a GM Amflora potato trial was disrupted. A few weeks earlier the field had been squatted by GM opponents, an eviction followed. Many of the actions took place despite high levels of surveillance and security with activists declaring that fences, watchtowers and sentinels "will not stop us".
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20080813090939740

+ EU TO APPROVE BAYER GM SOYA IMPORTS
The EU will next week approve imports of GM soybeans made by Bayer CropScience, supposedly to ease a shortage of animal feed. The rubber-stamp approval, permitted under EU law when ministers from the bloc's 27 countries fail to agree, will be granted by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, on September 8.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL312879720080903?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10216

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ASIA
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+ INDIA: POISON IN YOUR STOMACH
A typically brilliant Devinder Sharma article explains that there is no shortage of Brinjal (eggplants/aubergine); nor does Bt Brinjal increase productivity and production; but what Bt Brinjal does do is bring India's first genetically engineered *food* crop directly onto people's dining tables. Let us listen, says Devinder, to Prof Dave Schubert of the Salk Institute in California: "The Bt toxin is 1000 times more concentrated than in Bt sprays, which do not themselves have a history of safe use."
http://www.countercurrents.org/sharma040908.htm

+ PHILIPPINES: RESTAURANTS JOIN GM-FREE RICE CAMPAIGN
Some of the top restaurants in the Philippines have decided that the rice they serve will be free of GMOs. The Bistro Group of Companies, in partnership with Greenpeace, launched the "GMO-free rice restaurants" campaign at Fish and Co. restaurant in Shangri-la Ortigas.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=129712

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MIDDLE EAST
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+ GULF NATIONS WILL CONTROL ENTRY OF GM FOODS
The United Arab Emirates and other Gulf Cooperation Council member countries will control the entry of GM foods into their markets, officials said. "The GCC countries will develop regulations through independent statutory bodies with the power to ban releases of genetically modified foods until agreed standards have been met," said Dr Mariam Harib Sultan Al Yousuf, executive director of policy and regulation at the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority. Dr Mariam stressed that control of gene technology should not be left to scientists and commercial organisations.
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Health/10240390.html

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THE AMERICAS
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+ U.S.: COURT SAYS NO -- AGAIN -- TO GM ALFALFA
An appeals court has ruled that the US government must review the potential environmental effects of GM seeds before farmers can plant them. The decision of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals forces the US Dept of Agriculture to issue an environmental impact statement on Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa seeds. "It's a historic moment of a court requiring an environmental review, and until it's done Monsanto can't plant or sell its seed," said Kevin Golden, a staff attorney for the Center for Food Safety (CFS), which along with eight other parties sued the government.
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=court-just-says-no--again----to-gen-2008-09-02

+ CALIFORNIA'S FARMERS PROTECTED AGAINST MONSANTO LAWSUITS
A landmark piece of legislation protecting California's farmers from crippling lawsuits was passed through both legislative houses this week. The bill, AB 541, enacts protections against lawsuits brought against California farmers who have not been able to prevent the inevitable -- the drift of GM pollen or seed onto their land and the subsequent contamination of their non-GM crops. Currently, farmers with crops that become contaminated by patented seeds or pollen have been the target of harassing lawsuits brought by biotech patent holders, particularly Monsanto. The bill also establishes a mandatory crop sampling protocol to prevent biotech companies that are investigating alleged violations from sampling crops without the explicit permission of farmers.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/categories/2-News

+ U.S.: MONSANTO LEGAL INTERVENTION BLOCKED
A federal judge has partially barred Monsanto from participating in a lawsuit over glyphosate-resistant "Roundup Ready" sugar beet seeds. US District Judge Jeffrey White ruled that Monsanto, several sugar beet companies and other interested parties could not intervene in the initial "merits" phase of the lawsuit, which will examine whether the USDA breached federal law by deregulating Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets.
http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=616&ArticleID=44078&TM=54280.73

+ SETTLEMENT OF MONSANTO CASE AGAINST FARM CO-OP
Monsanto continued a string of victories over farmers it claimed saved its seeds to use in subsequent growing seasons. The company announced the settlement of a two-year dispute involving alleged patent infringement by Pilot Grove Cooperative Elevator Inc. The case started in 2004 with an anonymous phone call to Monsanto and wound through federal court in St Louis before being resolved. Under the terms of the settlement, Pilot Grove farmers group will give $275,000 to fund local agricultural scholarships, and will buy $1.1 million in Monsanto products over six years.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1857737/
For the horrific story of Monsanto's harassment of the Pilot Grove Coop: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805

+ DOWN ON THE FARM WITH OBAMA
Read about Barack Obama's policies on GM food (a qualified 'for'), genetics research (a qualified 'for'), and ethanol (in bed with the ethanol lobby) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/politics/23ethanol.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=12 20529657-rq5Kdj0rDcKR+q5MQ1k2Vw), at
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=40
http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/09/03/rnc-farming-agriculture-biz-beltway-cx_jz_0903rnc-farm.html

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FOOD CRISIS
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+ TACKLING THE GLOBAL FOOD CHALLENGE
The issue of declining global food security is far more pressing than even climate change -- it is the scientific challenge of the age, says an article for ScienceAlert that focuses on Australia. The author, Julian Cribb, criticises the Australian government's destructive obsession with GM, which makes it "out of step with world scientific opinion". Cribb lays out the practical methods of achieving food security, including water use efficiency and an effort to put organic methods on a scientific footing. He notes that in the face of real challenges, "With its current depleted agricultural science effort and over-commitment to a single technology (GM), Australia is in a position to tackle few, if any of them."
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20080309-17885.html

+ GM CROPS WILL ADDRESS FOOD CRISIS -- MP
Australia should accept that GM crops will be crucial in addressing the world food crisis, federal agriculture minister Tony Burke told an agriculture science conference in Canberra.
http://news.smh.com.au/national/gm-crops-will-address-food-crisis-mp-20080903-48hm.html

+ WOOLAS ISSUES ULTIMATUM
Farming Today on BBC Radio 4 had a week of programmes examining in part the controversy over GM crops. In the programme on 5 September, UK government environment minister, Phil Woolas, set down an ultimatum:  those opposed to GM crops had just 12 months to prove GM crops are not safe, he said. Listen to the programme here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/farmingtoday/
In a letter to Woolas, Dr. Brian John has accused him of "ignoring abundant evidence, some of it collected by your own Government during the FSE [FSE = Farm Scale Evaluations] programme a few years ago”¦ Are you also unaware of the extensive literature relating to health impacts and environmental damage directly linked to GM technology? ”¦We are [also] gravely concerned that you appear to have decided to adopt the anti-precautionary principle with respect to GM crops”¦ assuming that GM crops are safe unless somebody”¦ can prove otherwise. That attitude is”¦ both arrogant and unscientific. Arrogant because GM crops have NEVER been proved to be safe, since both the GM industry and the British Government have carefully avoided any independent studies designed to assess harm”¦ And your attitude is unscientific because it is a fundamental feature of both EU and UK legislation that the precautionary principle MUST be used in the assessment of GM crops and foods. Your scientists have NOT
demonstrated lack of harm with respect to GM..."

+ GM FOODS -- THE WRONG DEBATE
Ministers' calls for debate over whether GM foods will help feed the world are a red herring disguising a crisis at the heart of British science, says an intelligent press release from the Food Ethics Council marking the Autumn 2008 issue of its Food Ethics magazine on GM food. The Food Ethics Council is an advisory body on food and farming that provides research, analysis and tools to help find ways through difficult and controversial issues, and builds tools to put ethics at the heart of decisions about food and farming. The Council says the UK's research institutions and regulators are not set up to respond to public debate about what people need or want, and are hidebound by who holds the purse strings. This clashes with a growing global consensus on how innovation for better food and farming should work.

In a direct challenge to ministers, the Council urges the government to have a genuinely open debate about the future of food and farming. The Council challenges government to:

*Instigate reform of our research bodies, building open discussion on the needs of producers, consumers and the environment into the way research is commissioned

*Argue for the overhaul of European regulatory systems for GM foods, embedding public involvement in the process to ensure trust and transparency

*Make a commitment to discuss all technologies -- not just GM -- in the debate on the future of British food and farming in a world of rising hunger and climate change.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/29-GM-foods-the-wrong-debate.html

+ FOOD ETHICS MAGAZINE: AUTUMN 2008 ISSUE ON GM FOOD
The Autumn 2008 edition of Food Ethics magazine lays the foundations for informed debate, taking stock of a decade of study and research around GM food, and asking what lessons we've learnt, and inviting contributors to explain what they'd do to solve some of the key problems GM foods are claimed to address.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/29-GM-foods-the-wrong-debate.html

+ CONTRIBUTOR QUOTES FROM FOOD ETHICS MAGAZINE
"There have been large numbers of animal studies...[that] are generally neither peer-reviewed by independent professional toxicologists nor published in scientific literature; moreover, they are often conducted by the very companies who are applying for permission to market the foods that they are testing."
-- Dr Peter Lund, senior lecturer in molecular genetics, cell biology and biotechnology at the University of Birmingham, and member of the Government's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes

"If some people are allowed to choose to grow, sell and consume GM foods, soon nobody will be able to choose food, or a biosphere, free of GM. It's a one way choice, like the introduction of rabbits or cane toads to Australia; once it's made, it can't be reversed."
-- Roger Levett, specialist in sustainable development policy

"Poor people only starve because we maintain a global economic order which allows rich nations and people to outbid poor ones for the fruit of the land."
-- Roger Levett, specialist in sustainable development policy
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/29-GM-foods-the-wrong-debate.html

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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO HOOKS UP WITH EVOGENE
Monsanto is hooking up with small companies in research and development deals to try and keep potential technology from falling into the hands of rivals Syngenta and DuPont. Its newest partnership, a five-year deal with Israel-based Evogene, is actually an expansion of a year-old partnership with the company. The partnership aims at discovering "genes related to yield, environmental stress and fertilizer utilization".
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/08/29/monsanto-seeds-its-pipeline.aspx

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AFRICA
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*SEE ALSO: CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK*

+ TREAD CAREFULLY OVER GMOs -- KENYA LANDS MINISTER
Kenya lands minister James Orengo says the government should not rush the introduction of GMOs into the country before their effects on health and environments are known. Orengo's statement comes in the wake of an effort by minister of agriculture William Ruto agitating for the adoption of GM foods.
http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=52242

+ THE PROBLEMS WITH GMOs
A perceptive article about the problems associated with GM foods and globalization, with particular focus on India and Africa, is at http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9638&Itemid=5821

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CLONIED & GM ANIMALS
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+ MEPs VOTE OVERWHELMINGLY FOR BAN ON CLONING FOR FOOD
European parliamentarians have voted with an overwhelming majority in favour of a proposal to ban cloning of animals for food. No fewer than 630 MEPs voted in favour and only 32 against. The motion urges the Commission to prohibit cloning of animals for food and any products from cloned animals and their offspring. Protagonists on both sides of the debate acknowledge that cloned animals are faced with a wide range of health problems, with a high death rate and a high incidence of disease.
http://euobserver.com/19/26681
http://www.farminguk.com/Commission-urged-to-prohibit-cloning-for-food-after-MEPs-vote-to-support-ban8460.asp
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4247     

+ ANIMAL CLONES' OFFSPRING ARE IN U.S. FOOD SUPPLY
Milk and meat from the offspring of cloned livestock are entering the US food supply, and no one is keeping track, says an article in the Wall Street Journal. Barbara Glenn, managing director of animal biotechnology at BIO, the biotech industry's trade group, said clones and offspring shouldn't be excluded even from the organics label. Doing so would be difficult because no one is tracking the progeny.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122031044800588585.html [subscription needed]

+ US COMPANIES PLEDGE ON CLONING
The Wall Street Journal also reported that twenty US food companies have said they won't use milk or meat from cloned livestock. But many haven't made a similar pledge to avoid using food from the conventionally bred offspring of clones, however, partly because no one is tracking the offspring.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122049659020697987.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

+ DEFORMED CALVES DON'T ENHANCE NEW ZEALAND'S IMAGE
The Green Party is amongst those who have roundly condemned the government funded Agresearch institute over its planned continued involvement in GM anaimals. Greens Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons noted that Agresearch, "admits a less than 9 percent live birth rate, aborted deformed foetuses, deformed calves, gangrenous udders and 'animals suffering from respiratory conditions', but denies there are animal welfare concerns."
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0809/S00091.htm
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411319/2049104

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GENETIC CROSSROADS
News and Views from the Center for Genetics and Society
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+ CLONES' OFFSPRING MAY BE IN FOOD SUPPLY: FDA
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4248

+ DNA'S IDENTITY CRISIS
If defense attorney Bicka Barlow and a growing group of skeptical lawyers and scientists are right, we have built our justice system’s use of DNA evidence on statistical sand.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4246

+ SCIENTISTS REPROGRAM ADULT CELLS' FUNCTION
Scientists have transformed one type of fully developed adult cell directly into another inside a living animal, an advance that could sidestep the political and ethical quagmires associated with embryonic stem cell research.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4240

+ EGGS ON ICE: NEW PROFIT CENTER FOR THE BABY BUSINESS
by Marcy Darnovsky, Biopolitical Times
Egg freezing is still experimental, but some in the assisted reproduction industry are pushing it hard as a way to "extend fertility."
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4239

+ POLITICIZED PROGNOSTICATION ON PLURIPOTENCY AND PATENT PORTFOLIOS
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
Initial reactions to developments to alternatives to embryos were all too predictably polarized. I don't pay too much attention to them. But why the drastic turn in rhetoric from Robert Lanza of ACT?
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4238

+ REPUBLICANS TOUGHEN ON EMBRYONIC RESEARCH. WILL MCCAIN FOLLOW?
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
The Republican party platform, to be unveiled next week, will take a much harder line than before against research that uses embryos. And John McCain has left himself enough wiggle room to move to the right.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4237     

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CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
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+ FINAL FEW SIGNATURES NEEDED ON GM POTATO PETITION
Just 40 or so signatures are needed to get to 2000. If you haven't signed or want to send the petition against GM potatoes in South Africa on to friends please go urgently to
http://www.activist.co.za/campaigns/2008/gmpotato.php

+ U.K. SUPERMARKETS CAMPAIGN
Don't forget the URGENT call for letter writing to UK supermarkets to reinforce the level of public concern over GM foods. Obviously, it's important for maximum impact to make your letter as personal as possible but a model letter is available on the GM Watch site, plus addresses for each of the supermarkets. PLEASE SPREAD NEWS OF THIS CAMPAIGN AS WIDELY AS YOU CAN. Thank you!
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/27-UK-SUPERMARKETS-CAMPAIGN.html

+ U.S. CITIZENS FIGHT GM SUGAR BEETS
Michigan residents are calling for a boycott of Kellogg's to pressure the company into rejecting the use of sugar from Monsanto's Roundup Ready GM sugar beets and to spark widespread market rejection in products ranging from cereal to baby food to candy. Links to all the boycott details here
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/8/7/164144/8933