from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
Dear all:
This week's focus is on the recent EU conference on "coexistence" of GM and non-GM farming, which despite some telling comments from the environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, failed to address any of the contamination problems currently occurring and typified the EU Commission's approach of allowing the GM companies to pollute with impunity (COEXISTENCE IN EUROPE).
It's not all bad news from Europe, however. The corrupt and ineffectual European Food Safety Authority, which has rubber-stamped every GMO that has come before it for approval, may be forced to start cleaning up its act (FOOD SAFETY IN EUROPE).
A special GM WATCH Award for Tame Media goes to the BBC. In a TV programme devoted to the recent drug trial catastrophe ("Real Story with Fiona Bruce"), the BBC managed not to even hint at the fact that the drug was genetically engineered. See more coverage of this story in GM MEDICINES.
Finally, don't forget JIGMOD on April 8. Find out more about what's happening around the world: http://altercampagne.free.fr/
And don't forget the convergence in Chicago: April 8-11: http://reclaimthecommons.net/ http://www.bioethics2006.org/
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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COEXISTENCE IN EUROPE
FOOD SAFETY IN EUROPE
WTO
ASIA
GM MEDICINES
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COEXISTENCE IN EUROPE
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+ POLISH GOVERNMENT EYES GM BAN
Poland's government wants to ban sowing and curb imports of genetically modified plants to protect its image as an environmentally-friendly state, Deputy Farm Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski said on Wednesday.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6419
+ EUROPEAN GM CONFERENCE: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY
During a European Commission conference on "coexistence", which failed to resolve any of the problems of growing GM crops, agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, said GMOs were here to stay, while Europe's environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, attacked the EU's food safety agency (EFSA) for flawed risk assessments of GM crops and foods, saying it relied too much on data given by the biotech industry.
Fischer Boel reconfirmed the Commission's position not to set EU rules that would protect consumers and European farmers from contamination, and continued to deny the right of regions to establish themselves as GMO-free zones. But Stavros Dimas pointed to the failures of the European Food Safety Authority in evaluating the long-term risks of GM foods and crops.
At the end of the conference Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth warned that Europe's food and farming will be widely contaminated if GM crops are grown in Europe. And a coalition of farming and environmental organisations issued a statement calling for a Europe-wide debate open to all citizens.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6418
+ EU "COEXISTENCE" CONFERENCE: FREEDOM OF CHOICE FOR WHOM?
The Commission's policy on the "coexistence" of GM, conventional and organic crops, presented at this week's conference entitled "Freedom of Choice", refused to accept that organic and conventional farming have the right to remain GM-free.
Friends of the Earth's new publication, "Contaminate or legislate?", shows how the Commission is pushing for "coexistence" rules to allow up to 0.9% GM contamination of conventional and organic crops, because anything containing up to 0.9% accidental GM contamination does not have to be labelled. But this denies consumers and farmers a genuine choice, and if accepted will lead to genetic contamination creeping inevitably upwards.
"Freedom of choice for whom?" asked Helen Holder of Friends of the Earth Europe. "The Commission is listening to the biotech industry and not its Member States and citizens."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6408
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6414
Contamination incidents show worldwide illegal spread of GMOs:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6318
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6414
+ GM CONTAMINATION IN SPAIN: A WARNING FOR EUROPE
The spiralling uptake of GM crops in Spain is causing massive genetic contamination, threatens the livelihood of farmers and urgently needs to be suspended, says Greenpeace. Their new report, "Impossible Coexistence", shows how GM crops in Spain - the only EU country that grows GMOs on a large scale - are undermining agricultural biodiversity and consumer choice.
Greenpeace campaigner Geert Ritsema said, "Testimonials from farmers demonstrate that the unabated growth of the GM industry now represents the single largest threat to their livelihoods, especially in the regions Aragon and Catalonia where GM crops are mainly cultivated."
The new report is based on thorough research including laboratory tests of samples taken from the maize fields of 40 Spanish organic and conventional farmers. The report's findings include:
***In almost a quarter of the investigated cases unintended and unwanted presence of GM maize was found in the maize fields of non-GM farmers. The GM contamination was as high as 12.6 %;
***In several cases the affected farmers suffered economic losses, as they were unable to sell the contaminated maize at a premium market value.
***Three of the contamination cases involved local maize varieties which, after years of careful selection, can no longer be used for future plantings. These cases show how GM contamination is a threat to biodiversity and to local varieties still in the hands of farmers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6412
+ EU COMMISSIONER'S SPEECH ON GMO "COEXISTENCE"
EXCERPT from speech given by Stavros Dimas, EU environment commissioner, at the Conference on GMO Coexistence in Vienna:
... it is not hard to see that GMOs have more opponents in the EU, than friends. The low level of acceptance of GM crops will mean that consumer demand for GMOs is not likely to increase and as a consequence farmers will chose to continue to grow conventional or organic varieties in Europe.
We must, therefore, persist in looking at the means to continually improve these varieties. Biological techniques may in fact play an important role in this respect. Indeed, marker-assisted-selection or 'MAS-technology' is attracting considerable attention in conventional plant breeding programmes as a 'genetic' tool to ensure that improved characteristics are reliably introduced into new varieties.
We should not ignore the use of 'upgraded' conventional varieties as an alternative to GM crops, particularly where similar characteristics can be introduced without genetic modification. We also cannot ignore that the need for co-existence measures would become largely redundant if such varieties predominated in agricultural production systems.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6416
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FOOD SAFETY IN EUROPE
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+ SAFETY CHECKS ON GMOs FLAWED: EU ENVIRONMENT CHIEF
Reuters reports how Europe's environment chief has attacked the EU's top food safety agency for flawed risk assessments of GM crops and foods, saying it relied too much on data given by the biotech industry.
In a strong hint he was unwilling to process new requests for approval of GMOs for growing until their potential long-term impact was known, EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas also warned against using such data as a sole information source.
His comments on EFSA, Europe's food safety agency, which conducts scientific risk assessments of GMO products awaiting EU approval, echoed similar criticisms made last month by the bloc's environment ministers.
"There are questions like whether scientific opinions rendered by EFSA have relied exclusively on information provided by companies that look at short-term effects," he said.
"EFSA cannot give a sound scientific opinion on long-term effects of GMOs. There are also questions on whether GMO companies are providing the right information to the European Commission," he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6415
+ EU COMMISSION QUESTIONS RELIABILITY OF TEST FOR SYNGENTA'S ROGUE Bt10 MAIZE
A press release sent out by the European Commission would seem to confirm what many have suspected: that the test provided by Syngenta for its rogue Bt10 maize is not reliable and gives false negatives.
The press release says Markos Kyprianou, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, has sent a letter to Syngenta, requesting confirmation of the reliability of the detection method for GM Bt10 maize. The letter has been sent in light of concerns expressed by the Community Reference Laboratory for GMOs for Food and Feed, based at DG Joint Research Centre (JRC), that it could not exclude "false negative" results (i.e. negative results where Bt10 was not really absent) when the detection method in question is used to test for the presence of Bt10.
Bt10 maize is not authorised in the EU, and following the inadvertent export of this GMO from the USA to member states last year, the Commission put in place emergency measures. Syngenta was asked to provide an event-specific method for the detection of Bt10, which was validated by the JRC based on information provided after a long delay by the company, and used to test maize entering the EU. However, the most recent information on the structure of Bt10 received by the JRC from Syngenta was inconsistent with earlier information provided. This has led the JRC to express doubts about the reliability of the detection method.
Background: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6410
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WTO
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+ WTO, GMO AND TOTAL SPECTRUM DOMINANCE
"The WTO today is nothing more than the global policeman for the powerful GMO lobby and the agribusiness firms tied to it," writes William Engdahl, an economist and author of the soon-to-be published 'Seeds of Destruction: the hidden agenda of GMOs'.
+ GM AND THE WTO RULING
Graham Thompson of Greenpeace UK has written a good article for Ethical Corporation magazine on the WTO ruling in favour of the US and other GM exporters, and against the EU's moratorium on GM imports.
Thompson notes that the recent study which found that rats developed allergic reactions when fed GM peas was "not part of the European or US food safety regimes. Furthermore, the peas were 'substantially equivalent' to normal peas - 'substantial equivalence' means containing the same chemicals in the same quantities - and could have been approved on those grounds. The discovery of the allergic reactions, which led to the withdrawal of the GM pea, was pure luck.
The article also points out that:
***the public doesn't want GMOs, but the WTO decides, and the WTO ignores public opinion
***though GM crops are hyped as a cure for world hunger, the existing GM crops have failed in the crucial qualities of yield and disease resistance.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6413
+ INDIAN FARMERS' LEADER CRITICISES WTO
Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary, executive chairman of India's largest farmers' organisation, Bharat Krishak Samaj made a presentation to the WTO DG Pascal Lamy during his April 5 visit to New Delhi. Mr Lamy is on a 2-day visit to India.
Dr Chaudhary attacked the WTO for having a core motivation of promoting the interests of agribiz multinationals and for not doing enough to tackle subsidies in the rich world. He also criticised the WTO for seeking to decide what type of food people should consume regardless of their national and cultural customs or whether such foods and crops may be hazardous to health and the environment.
Dr Chaudhary said the WTO's interim ruling on GM foods amounted "to forcing countries to accept food much against their choice". The "WTO should not dictate what food should be consumed by consumers in different countries," Dr Chaudhary concluded.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6420
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ASIA
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+ INDIA: MAHARASHTRA Bt COTTON FARMERS EARN 68% LOWER INCOMES - STUDY
YUVA (Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action) has released the findings of a scientific study, which compares the performance of Bt cotton along various parameters of cost, pest incidence, yields, other effects etc., with non-Bt cotton grown in similar conditions in the state of Maharashtra.
The study found:
***Non-Bt cotton farmers obtained 68% more net income than Bt cotton farmers.
***While yields of non-Bt cotton are marginally lower than Bt cotton, the cost of cultivation is 23.5% higher in the case of Bt cotton.
***Seed cost of non-Bt cotton was lower than that of Bt cotton, and fertilizer cost was around 21% lower in non-Bt cotton.
***Non-Bt cotton needed fewer applications of fertilizer.
***Non-Bt cotton has also fetched marginally better prices for the farmers than Bt cotton.
Said Datta Patil of YUVA, "The average net income of Bt cotton farmers in the study was lower than Rs. 3000/acre, whereas they were expecting around Rs. 24,000/- to Rs. 23,000/- per acre as per the companies' promises."
YUVA has demanded:
***A ban on Bt cotton in the state of Maharashtra and a halt to permissions for commercial cultivation of any new varieties;
***The companies to be made liable for false marketing;
***Immediate compensation to be paid to all Bt cotton farmers who have incurred losses.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6411
+ MORE GM RICE FOUND IN HEINZ PRODUCTS
Illegal GM rice has been found for the first time in the Hong Kong food market, Greenpeace China announced. The rice was found in Heinz's Baby Rice Cereal, previously exposed in the mainland to be contaminated by Bt rice. The illegal GM rice was also found in ParknShop's own rice brand sold in Guangzhou.
"The finding indicates that the scale of contamination by illegal GM rice might be much larger than we have estimated," comments Steven Ma of Greenpeace China. "The Heinz and ParknShop incidents might be a tip of the iceberg."
The latest round of testing is run by the independent lab, the Hong Kong-based DNA Chips. GM ingredients were detected in 5 Heinz rice cereal products, contrary to the company's previous claims that no GM ingredients were ever found.
Among those 5 products, 2 were sold in the Hong Kong market. The independent testing also confirms that 3 of the 5 Heinz cereal products contain illegal Bt rice, with a protein (Cry1Ac) that has reportedly induced allergenic-like reactions in mice.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6409
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GM MEDICINES
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+ CALAMITOUS GM DRUG TRIAL RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT MODERN SCIENCE
The GM drug TGN1412 given to six men in a clinical trial triggered multiple organ failure. But it wasn't due to a dosing error, product contamination or manufacturing problems and all the proper trial protocols were followd, according to an investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
This suggests the adverse reactions suffered by the trial volunteers were caused by the nature of the drug itself.
An article in the New Statesman considers how "this tragedy provides us with an opportunity to think about the nature of science itself":
EXCERPTS:
The researchers were ignorant of their own ignorance. But ... they also failed to consider the possibility of things going wrong. In other words, ignorance was written out of the equation. This double ignorance, or ignorance-of-ignorance, is rapidly becoming a dominant theme in science.
... this tragedy provides us with an opportunity to think about the nature of science itself. How radically science has changed. How intrinsic uncertainty has become to scientific practice.
The only sensible way to handle risk is by learning to respect uncertainty. The alternative is to stumble along blindly from tragedy to disaster. This time it was a clinical trial that went wrong, with tragic consequences for six volunteers. In the case of nanotechnology, for instance, there could be serious repercussions for us all.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6417
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4863734.stm