GMWatch News Review archive

=====================================================
GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 57
=====================================================
----------------------------------------------------------- 
FROM REVIEW EDITOR, CLAIRE ROBINSON
------------------------------------------------------------ 

Please help GM Watch fight back against the PR onslaught of the biotech industry. We need your help in getting our sites fully operational again after the recent attacks* as well as in sustaining our campaign through the coming year.

You can donate online via http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/2-Support-GMWatch-with-a-donation.html or you can send a check or money order made out to 'NGIN' to GM Watch, 26 Pottergate, Norwich, UK, NR2 1DX.

Never has our survival been more crucial.

Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.lobbywatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org

*for more about the attacks see
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/5-Interview-about-attacks-on-GM-Watch.html

----------------------------------------------------------- 
MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS 
------------------------------------------------------------ 

QUIZ TIME
MONSANTO MOVIE
FOOD CRISIS
QUOTES OF THE MONTH
LOBBYWATCH
CLIMATE CHANGE
CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (COP9)
BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL (MOP4)
AGROFUELS
TERMINATOR
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
GM EXPANSION / APPROVALS
RESISTANCE / BANS ON GM
LABELING
BIOSAFETY
RESEARCH
NON-GM SUCCESSES
CONTAMINATION
CORPORATE CRIMES
NANOTECHNOLOGY
HUMAN GENETICS
GENETIC CROSSROADS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUIZ TIME
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ 10 YEARS OF GM WATCH - QUIZ TIME!
As a fun way to celebrate 10 years of GM Watch, we're planning a series of quizzes and here's the first one. Some questions may require a bit of googling!

PRIZES: The 2 people with the highest score on each of the GM Watch quizes will get a DVD of Marie Robin's brilliant new movie The World According to Monsanto, which plays in English, French or German. If you come in the top two in more than one of the quizes, you'll only get one copy of the DVD - the prize will go to the next highest scoring individual - BUT the person with the highest overall score on all the quizes will receive a copy of the book Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy: Corporate PR and the Assault on Democracy, in addition to the DVD.

CONDITIONS: No squabbling over the answers. Our verdict's final!

QUIZ NUMBER 1: So who's designing your food?

1.Which biotech corporation was involved in research on uranium for the Manhattan Project and operated a nuclear facility for the US government until the late 1980s?

2.Name two biotech corporations that were once part of the German chemical firm at the financial core of the Nazi regime and which supplied Zyklon-B during the extermination phase of the Holocaust?

3.Which biotech firm other than Monsanto was a major supplier of Agent Orange, as well as manufacturing napalm?

4.In relation to which Alabama town, where the undertaker who lived across the street from the Monsanto plant said he always thought he was burying too many children, was the company found guilty of conduct "so outrageous in character and extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency so as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized society"?

5.What happened on October 21 2007 to Valmir Mota de Oliveira, also known as Keno, during a protest at an experimental GMO farm owned by Syngenta?

6.In 2005 the Bollywood star, Nana Patekar toured India's main cotton growing area of Maharashtra promoting Monsanto's Bt cotton to poor farmers. What made him announce the following year that he would no longer support Monsanto or promote its Bollgard Bt cotton?

7.Monsanto says, "Integrity is the foundation for all that we do". How many current and former Indonesian government officials and their family members are known to have received illicit payments on the company's behalf?

8.Who was in overall charge of business operations in Indonesia when the bribes scandal got underway?

9.Which country has a bilateral agreement with the US for the development of its agriculture, including the promotion of GMOs, overseen by a board that includes Monsanto, ADM and Wal-Mart?

10.Which Health Canada scientist told a Canadian Senate committee of being in a meeting where officials from Monsanto made an offer of between $1-2 million to the scientists from Health Canada -- an offer that she told the senators could only have been interpreted as a bribe. Additionally, she also recounted how notes and files critical of scientific data provided by Monsanto were stolen from a locked filing cabinet in her office.

Send your answers to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by June 22 at the latest.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MONSANTO MOVIE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ CANADIAN PRESS COVERAGE OF MONSANTO MOVIE
Marie-Monique Robin, the French director who made the damning documentary 'The World According to Monsanto', is getting a good reception in Canada. She is interviewed for a Canadian newspaper at http://www.montrealmirror.com/2008/052208/film1.html
And reviews of her film are at
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/saturdayextra/story.html?id=589538c4-6d3c-4ef0-a7c1-e99323a91846
http://www.hour.ca/film/film.aspx?iIDArticle=14691
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=3f87922f-20eb-4493-8a29-a60a11dea213

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOD CRISIS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ U.S. SAYS GM KEY TO EASING FOOD CRISIS, DEFENDS AGROFUELS
The US will propose biotechnology as a strategy to boost agricultural production at the UN global food crisis summit in Rome in the first week of June. US agriculture secretary Ed Schafer, who will lead the US delegation to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) world food security conference that opened Tuesday in Rome, said he would deliver a 'straightforward' message. The US will urge other countries to lift restrictions on GM crops and food. Schafer said he would also defend agrofuel production.
http://capital.trend.az/?show=news&newsid=1211339&catid=583&subcatid=540〈=EN http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080529/tsc-us-food-inflation-poverty-biotech-e123fef.html

+ U.S. USING FOOD CRISIS TO BOOST GM CROPS
The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of GM crops in food-deprived countries. This is in spite of the fact that no evidence links GM crops to higher yields.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-food-crops_14may14,0,7229990.story

+ GM PROMOTED AS ANSWER TO FOOD CRISIS
The claim that GM is the answer to the current food crisis is being made constantly at the moment by GM promoters, even though the biggest study of its kind ever conducted -- the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) -- recently concluded that
(1) GM is not the answer to world hunger, and
(2) small-scale farmers and ecological methods deliver best for the poorest and hungriest.
Articles at the following links from knowledgeable sources confirm IAASTD's analysis and reject GMOs as a solution:
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=369& Itemid=1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/06/food.internationalaidanddeve lopment
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/2115

+ NO EVIDENCE GM INCREASES YIELDS
The idea that GM crops are the answer to the food crisis is ludicrous and the evidence for that comes from the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA):
*'Currently available GM crops do not increase the yield potential... In fact, yield may even decrease if the varieties used to carry the herbicide tolerant or insect-resistant genes are not the highest yielding cultivars' -- Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo and Caswell, 'Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States', USDA/ERS Economic Information Bulletin No. 11, April 2006
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib11/eib11.pdf
*'Perhaps the biggest issue raised by these results is how to explain the rapid adoption of GE crops when farm financial impacts appear to be mixed or even negative' -- Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo and William D. McBride, 'Adoption of Bioengineered Crops', Agricultural Economic Report No. AER810, May 2002
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aer810/

+ AFRICA: HOW THE MEDIA IS PUSHING GM CROPS
African countries are being coaxed and coerced to cultivate and consume GM crops in a campaign bankrolled by biotech multinationals and executed by cash-rich 'scientific' organisations who extol technology as the panacea for hunger, says John Mbaria in The East African. Mbaria points out that media reports on these initiatives rarely cover the social, economic and health consequences of GM foods.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805260186.html

+ FAIRY TALES ABOUT GM CROPS
The current food crisis, for which the Bush administration bears a heavy responsibility, is being used to peddle fairy tales about GM crops. Here's the latest example, from Henrietta H. Fore, director of US foreign assistance and administrator, USAID: 'The United States is uniquely positioned both scientifically and politically to apply agricultural biotechnology as a tool in building global food security. As we have seen with corn and cotton already, biotech crops that are resistant to pest and disease can boost productivity in developing countries.' So where is there a single GM corn or cotton crop that is resistant to disease? And why can't the US improve its own food security - see below.
http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2008/ty080514.html

+ NEW BREED OF AMERICAN EMERGES IN NEED OF FOOD
While the US Government claims to have the answer to improving global food security (see above), the latest US government data show food security is diminishing in the US with a rise to 10.9% of households being 'food insecure'. Average enrolment in the welfare food stamps programme has surpassed the record set in 1994. Causes are said to include soaring food prices.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-18-foodstamps_N.htm

+ WHO REALLY TRIGGERED THE FOOD CRISIS?
More and more analysts are identifying the Bush inspired corn-ethanol boom as the key catalyst in sending food prices skyrocketing. The price increase for other commodities followed that of corn - after it had been rising for months, with corn directly contributing to many of the price hikes by pulling acreage away from other crops such as wheat and soya. Of course, it didn't help that the EU followed suit in cranking up 'biofuel' demand without properly researching the likely consequences.

What has not had sufficient attention is the question of who drove these rushed 'biofuel' policies. In the case of the EU, the biotech industry is known to have been amongst those on whom the Commission relied for guidance in developing its disastrous biofuel targets. The Bush Administration similarly relied on big agribiz interests, including Monsanto, in developing its ethanol policy - a policy that's netted those same interests a fortune while providing the biotech industry and its supporters with a new platform from which to promote GM crops as the solution to the food crisis they helped to create!

As Bruce Babcock, a professor of economics and director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University, said, 'If you didn't have ethanol, you would not have the prices we have today.' And even the World Bank seems to agree with that.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article3867740.ece
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20080504_How_shortages__stockpiles_led_to_a_global_food_crisis.html
http://www.corporateeurope.org/agrofuelfolly.html

+ BLAME AGROFUELS
A switch from fossil fuels to ethanol and its kin diverts resources from food production, leading to hunger and destabilization of farming, says an article for Business Week.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080519_024493_page_2. htm

+ TELL THE EU COMMISSION'S PRESIDENT TO STOP PUTTING FOOD IN CARS!
Vote 'No' in his poll on 'Should the EU stick to its target to reach 10% biofuels by 2020?'
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/focus/cap/index_en.htm

+ GM CROPS ARE NOT THE ANSWER TO WORLD HUNGER
The current industrial agricultural system, which has been in place for around 60 years, is wholly reliant on oil- and gas-intensive inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides, points out Emma Hockridge in an article for China Dialogue. She notes that the recent spate of media attention has given the pro-GM lobby 'an opportunity to hijack the debate and attempt to persuade people that there is some mileage in this outdated debate.' However, she writes, 'Although the GM industry has been promising huge benefits as a result of this technology for many years, the truth is that none of these claimed benefits have come to fruition. GM crops do not produce higher yields, use fewer pesticides, or do anything to assist people in developing countries.'
http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/2026-GM-crops-are-not-the-answer-to-world-hunger-

+ PROFITEERING FROM THE FOOD CRISIS
Hungry people from Bangladesh to Haiti, from Egypt to Somalia to Senegal have been taking to the streets to protest rapidly rising food prices. Meanwhile, here are the profit figures for just the first three months of this year for a couple of the key monopoly or near-monopoly buyers and sellers of agricultural products around the world:
*Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): Gross profit $1.15 billion, up 55% from last year
*Monsanto: Gross profit $2.23 billion, up 54%.

The biggest part of Monsanto's seed profit is coming from corn seeds, and corn is the key to why food prices have spiked. In 2005 the Bush administration, under pressure from agribiz interests, suddenly made their corn-ethanol subsidies a lot more generous, which meant a lot more American corn started going to ethanol -- something like a third of the total crop. And that proved the catalyst for the price of corn to rocket, and then later the price of other crops like soya and wheat took off as farmers had cultivated less thanks to the switch to corn. An article for Grist gives a clear account of how ethanol has always been about the interests of big agribiz and has never had anything to do with the mythical environmental benefits of 'biofuels':
http://grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/06/ADM/
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/multinationals-make-billio ns-in-profit-out-of-growing-global-food-crisis-820855.html
http://tinyurl.com/55nced
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/6/monsantos_harvest_of_fear

+ MAKING A KILLING FROM THE FOOD CRISIS
The world food crisis is hurting a lot of people, but global agribusiness firms, traders and speculators are raking in huge profits.
A new report by GRAIN: http://www.grain.org/2/?id=39
and in PDF: http://www.grain.org/2/?id=39&pdf

+ PREDATORY AGRIBUSINESSES
As food prices continue to rise, the big winners in the crisis are also the winners in the promotion of agrofuels: the corporations that dominate grain, seeds and agrochemicals, says Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group in an article called 'Predatory Agribusinesses'. Slvia says Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, ConAgra, Bunge, and Dreyfus 'have profited quite shamelessly from food shortages, the encouragement and subsidy of biofuels and the increase in oil prices (agro-toxins are petro-chemicals)'.
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/17675

+ GM PATENTS EXPLOIT THE POOR
Dr Charles Rue of the Columbans writes that his work colleagues in Eastern Asia and Latin America have witnessed the negative effects of GM crops on the farmers they work with. He says that promises of higher yields from GM crops have proven to be lies, and that GM patented seeds undermine food securitY.
http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=7288

+ CALL TO ACTION ON WORLD FOOD EMERGENCY
ETC Group has joined civil society and social movements from around the world to launch a 'Call to Action on the World Food Emergency'. Governments will meet at the UN FAO Food Summit in Rome 3-5 June and ETC Group says they must accept their responsibility for today's food emergency and the loss of biodiversity. ETC Group is calling for people to sign on to the international Call to Action by social movements and civil society on the World Food Emergency and the underlying loss of biodiversity. Copies of the full Civil Society Statement on the World Food Emergency are available in English, French and Spanish at:
http://www.nyeleni.eu/foodemergency/
To sign the Call to Action statement, please submit your signature at:
http://www.nyeleni.eu/foodemergency/
http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=692

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTES OF THE MONTH
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ POVERTY EXACERBATED BY GM SEEDS - UN COMMITTEE
'The Committee is deeply concerned that the extreme hardship being experienced by farmers has led to an increasing incidence of suicides by farmers over the past decade. The Committee is particularly concerned that the extreme poverty among small-hold farmers caused by the lack of land, access to credit and adequate rural infrastructures, has been exacerbated by the introduction of genetically modified seeds by multinational corporations and the ensuing escalation of prices of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, particularly in the cotton industry... [India is asked to] enable farmers to purchase generic seeds which they are able to re-use, with a view to eliminating their dependency on multinational corporations.' -- The UN committee on economic, social and cultural rights, 40th session, May 2008
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=5156
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/cescrs40.htm

+ IT'S CARS VERSUS PEOPLE
'The stage is now set [by agrofuels] for direct competition for grain between the 800 million people who own automobiles and the world's 2 billion poorest people.' -- Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080519_024493_page_2. htm

+ THE SEED STRUGGLE
'Loic Dewavrin, an organic grain grower in Les Cedres, plants non-GM seeds on the 600-hectare farm he shares with his two brothers. His fear is that seed companies will stop producing conventional seeds, which have gradually been disappearing from seed catalogues. "These companies are all-powerful," he says.' -- Marian Scott, 'The seed struggle: Small farmers fight multinational business for control of the planet's food supply', The Vancouver Sun, 24 May 2008
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a9c45a8b-59a4-41e1-a055-a7 0036cc36af
More on seed: how biochemical industry giants are making seed saving impossible:
http://www.stockhouse.com/News/FinancialNewsDetailFeeds.aspx?n=10837654

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOBBYWATCH
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ BLACK OPS ON GREEN GROUPS
An interview with the journalist who uncovered how a private security firm spied on Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and other environmental organizations, including many anti-GM groups, is at
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/14/black_ops_on_green_groups_private

The security firm was run by former Secret Service officers who infiltrated groups, collected their phone records and confidential internal documents, and even went through their trash. The information was then passed on to public relations firms and corporations involved in environmental controversies. Monsanto was on the firm's client list.

+ NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY SLAMMED OVER IAASTD REPORT
The journal Nature Biotechnology recently sided with the GM industry in criticizing the IAASTD report on the future of food and agriculture for not being upbeat about GM crops. Now Jack A. Heinemann of the Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety has published a letter in the journal pointing out that 'The Report should not be dismissed just because some do not like the answers it provides.'
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v26/n5/index.html [subscription needed]

+ ABARE PRODUCES ANOTHER BOGUS REPORT TO PUSH GM CROPS
The Network of Concerned Farmers (NCF) has slammed ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics) for its latest economic report titled 'Economic Impacts of GM crops in Australia', claiming that it is based on misinformation and driven by the federal government protecting its investments in GM technology. No additional seed costs or user fees were incorporated and it was assumed all farmers would grow GM, which removed the costs of segregation. No market loss or penalties were integrated but a market premium was assumed for GM crops AND a price reduction was claimed for consumers.

+ SHOULD SCOTLAND REMAIN GM-FREE?
The UK's Farmers Weekly has produced some podcasts and interviews on GM in Scotland, including a great interview with Mike Russell, Scotland's environment minister. The interviews with Russell (anti) and Jim McLaren, NFU Scotland (pro) are at:
http://farmersweeklyint.podomatic.com/
And farmers' views for and against, including McLaren's, are at:
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2008/05/23/110596/should-scotland-go-gm-free.html http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2008/05/23/110597/for-should-scotland-go-gm-free.html
Scotland of course already has a declared moratorium on the planting of GM crops:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/15159

+ PEER REVIEW UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
For years, the pro-GM science establishment has operated a double standard regarding peer review, the process by which a scientific paper is sent for comment by other scientists, who then recommend for or against publication of the paper. The pro-GM lobby exploits unpublished and peer-reviewed findings or even unsupported opinions that are in favour of GM. On the other hand, it dismisses findings that raise questions over the safety of GM if they have not been peer-reviewed.

In an article for ISIS, Prof Peter Saunders lays bare this double standard and argues that in times of corporate corruption of science, what matters most is the lack of public scrutiny rather than the lack of peer review. Companies often use commercial confidentiality as an excuse to keep information secret not from competitors, but from the public. An example is the TGN1412 GM drug trial that went disastrously wrong, causing organ failure in previously healthy men. Though it was clear that the drug would never be developed further, the medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency (MHRA) still refused to release details of the test protocol on the grounds of commercial confidentiality.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk:80/peerReviewUnderTheSpotlight.php

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLIMATE CHANGE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ SEED GIANTS SEE GOLD IN CLIMATE CHANGE
After failing to convince the public to accept GM foods, biotech companies see a silver lining in climate change, writes ETC Group's Hope Shand in an article for Asia Times: 'They are now asserting that farmers cannot win the war against climate change without genetic engineering.' Monsanto, BASF, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow are stockpiling hundreds of patents and patent applications on crop genes related to environmental stress tolerance.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JE15Dj02.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (COP9)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ INTRODUCTION TO COP9
For an introduction to the ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn, Germany see:
http://www.iisd.ca/vol09/enb09442e.html

Among the concerns raised at COP9 were the promotion of false 'solutions' such as agrofuels, GM trees, and climate technology 'fixes' such as ocean fertilization.

Organisations like La Via Campesina drew attention to the causes underpinning the current food crisis and calling for the COP to recognize farmers' rights to seeds and to prohibit GM crops and industrial agrofuels.
http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/2008/05/7320.shtml

Find out more about COP9 at Undercover COP
http://www.undercovercop.org/tiki-index.php
For more about mobilisations and actions at COP9
http://biotech.indymedia.org/

+ GROUPS, SCIENTISTS CALL FOR END TO GM TREES
At COP9, organizations and scientists from around the world demanded that governments agree to suspend all releases of GM trees into the environment, due to their extreme ecological and social threats.
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/05/17/02352.html
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/stopgetrees_news.php?ID=132

+ AFRICA: COMPANIES FLOUT RULES
Biochemical companies are either trying to boycott tougher international regulations against GMOs, or ignoring rules on intellectual property rights in order to profit from traditional knowledge in developing countries, according to delegates at COP9.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805140853.html

+ PRRI WINS CAPTAIN HOOK AWARD
At COP9, the PRRI (the Public Research and Regulation Initiative) won the Captain Hook Award for the 'worst smokescreen' for pretending to be public researchers when they are closely tied to industry and invariably lobby for the industry's agenda.
You can watch the PRRI part of the award ceremony here
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=8gDzI45mI34
More about the Captain Hook awards for biopiracy etc. here:
http://www.captainhookawards.org
A peek at PRRI: http://www.undercovercop.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=3

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL (MOP4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The COP9 negotiations in Bonn (see above) were preceded by the 4th Meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety -- MOP 4.

+ GM CROP FOES MARCH IN GERMANY AS SUMMIT STARTS
About 5,000 activists marched through the German city of Bonn on Monday to protest against GM food at the start of MOP4. Campaigners, many waving colourful flags and banners with slogans such as 'Biofuel Creates Hunger' and 'Good Food Instead Of GM Food', walked and danced through the western German city.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL1210604320080512

+ JAPAN AND BRAZIL BLOCK TALKS
At the United Nations Biosafety Protocol negotiations, more than 140 countries met with the aim of achieving an agreement on who should be liable for damage derived from GMOs. An agreement in principle was reached, but the Japanese and Brazilian governments stand accused of blocking a legally binding agreement.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/205980,un-biosafety-conference-agrees-in-principle-on-liability-deal.html

+ AUSTRALIA PLAYS BIOTECH COWBOY
In the global biotech arena, Australia has once again taken on the cowboy role by refusing to participate in the United Nations Biosafety Protocol negotiations, says an article for Online Opinion. By standing outside the negotiations, Australia has joined the minority group of pro-GM countries, the US, Canada and Argentina. These countries refuse to be bound by the Cartagena Protocol on Biodiversity, yet profit most from the trade. If their products are safe, why not stand behind them?
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7370

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AGROFUELS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ AGROFUELS WILL DEPLETE SOIL
An interesting article on so-called 2nd generation agrofuels notes that the burning of any kind of biomass will destroy nutrients that should be returned to the soil, resulting in further depletion of valuable topsoil.
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5192

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TERMINATOR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ TERMINATOR BAN UNDER THREAT
A global ban on terminator technology struck eight years ago is under threat from a powerful alliance of biotech companies and countries with vested interests, reports the Catholic sustainable development body Progressio. They argue terminator technology should be considered on a case-by-case basis, thereby undermining the blanket moratorium. Biotech companies' claims that terminator technology will prevent contamination between GM and non-GM crops are hotly contested, yet the EU and, by implication, British taxpayers are contributing to the development of the technology through a GBP3.4m EU research project investigating ways that seeds can be brought back to life with chemicals.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/22/food
For Progressio's press release on Terminator see http://www.progressio.org.uk/progressio/internal/96160/ban_on_terminator_technology_under_threat/
Read their full report at
http://www.progressio.org.uk/shared_asp_files/GFSR.asp?NodeID=96159

+ TERMINATOR 'GROSSLY IMMORAL' - THEOLOGIANS
Three widely respected theologians have condemned terminator technology -- which produces GM plants with sterile seeds -- as 'grossly immoral'. Writing in a new publication commissioned by Progressio, Jesuit Priest Roland Lesseps, Father Sean McDonagh and Father Donal Dorr say the controversial GM technology, which is currently restricted by a temporary UN ban, offers 'no benefit for farmers and consumers' and would have 'long-term consequences for the environment'.
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/seeds321.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ PRESS COVERAGE OF DR BHARGAVA'S LETTER ON BT TOXICITY
As we previously reported, the leading Indian scientist P M Bhargava, who was nominated by India's Supreme Court to India's apex GM regulatory body, has found that the regulators ignored evidence of toxicity in Bt cotton.

Dr Bhargava wrote to the director of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) pointing out that the three documents relied upon by the GEAC 'contradict ... unequivocally' the regulators' claim that the mortality of sheep in Andhra Pradesh, which had fed on Bt cotton, might be due to pesticide residues rather than Bt toxin.

The co-chair of the GEAC, incidentally, is also a board member of the biotech-industry backed lobby group ISAAA, which has as its goal the promotion of GM crops in developing countries. In fact, the GEAC is awash with such conflicts of interest.

For press coverage of Dr Bhargava's letter see
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Panel_ignored_Bt_cotton_toxicity_evidence/articleshow/3049910.cms
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/is-india-ready-for-genetically-modified-food/65538-19.html

GEAC's poor record of regulation: http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/aug/agr-geac.htm

+ GROUPS URGE USDA TO REINSTATE PESTICIDE REPORTING PROGRAM
The day before the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) released its scaled-back annual report on 2007 pesticide use, a coalition of 44 environmental, sustainable farming, and health advocacy organizations called on USDA to reverse its plan to eliminate its pesticide reporting program in 2008. USDA claims it lacks funding to continue the program.

'Without USDA's data, we will no longer be able to reliably track trends in pesticide use, such as the substantial spike in the use of herbicides over the past six years,' said Bill Freese, science policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety.

Freese notes that herbicides comprise nearly two-thirds of pesticides applied in the US, and that the use of weed killers has been on the rise -- since 2002 on soybeans and cotton, and since 2003 on corn.

Charles Benbrook, a senior scientist with the Organic Center, is quoted in a newspaper report as saying he finds the USDA's actions curious at a time when herbicide use on Roundup Ready crops has increased: 'The 2007 data would have shown an enormous increase in the pounds of herbicides applied on Roundup Ready crops, especially soybeans. The farm media has been full of stories over the past few years of the problems farmers are facing as weeds become resistant to glyphosate and other herbicides. I find it curious that at the time of peak interest and need for solid information on pesticide use in soybeans that the Department of Agriculture has decided to stop collecting the data. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some quiet lobbying done by Monsanto to let the program lapse.'

A USDA official said consumers can find similar data from private sources -- but prominent among these would be the enormously deceptive reports from biotech-pesticide industry front groups like National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy (NCFAP).
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/USDA_NASS_PR5_20_08.cfm
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/pesticide-data-program-cut-44052 108

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GM EXPANSION / APPROVALS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ UK: GM POTATO TRIAL APPROVED
Leeds University has been given approval to conduct a research trial this year of GM potatoes. The crop will be grown on a test site near Tadcaster.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/7393772.stm
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/University-given-goahead-for-open.4070514.jp
DEFRA's consent: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/regulation/pdf/07-r31-01.pdf

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RESISTANCE / BANS ON GM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ INDIA: FARMERS DEMAND BAN ON GM CROPS
Nearly a thousand people, including hundreds of farmers, gathered in New Delhi on 6 May under the banner of 'Coalition for a GM-Free India' to demand a total ban on GM crops and food. They urged the political parties to take a categorical stand on GM technology in the run-up to the general elections. 'It is an unwanted, irretrievable, undesirable technology,' they said. Several members of Parliament addressed the rally.

Angry farmers demanded why the government had forced Bt cotton upon them without being aware of the consequences. They told how:
***Yields started falling after three years, and now the crop was not worth harvesting.
***Existing pests developed resistance, new pests appeared. They now spend more on pesticides than they did on hybrids.
***Soil quality has deteriorated so much that nothing grows after Bt cotton is cultivated and harvested.
***All those who came into contact with the cotton suffered allergies.
***Cattle died in large numbers and fell sick after being fed Bt cotton straw. In Andhra Pradesh, post mortem revealed the role of the Bt toxin.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Murli Manohar Joshi commented, 'Bt variety of crops will act as TB (tuberculosis) for the Indian farming industry if continued to be used.'
http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/06/stories/2008050654831000.htm
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/07/stories/2008050758540300.htm

+ EU DELAYS DECISION ON APPROVING MORE GM CROPS
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, delayed a decision on whether farmers may grow more GM crops, saying further scientific analysis was needed before approval could be given. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will be asked for more assessment of the risk of growing two GM maize crops, and a potato modified to produce extra starch. That move is likely to put off EU approval of the crops for several months. The EU has not approved any GM crops for growing since 1998.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL0759943020080507

+ GM CROPS BANNED IN SWITZERLAND UNTIL 2012
The Swiss government has voted to extend the country's moratorium on GM plants for a further three years beyond the current expiry date of November 2010, Dow Jones reports. The extension is to allow time for a national research programme into the benefits and risks of GM crops to be completed. According to the Swiss government, the moratorium has not caused any obvious problems, either for the farming industry, researchers, or international relations. In fact, it claimed, Swiss farmers have benefited from being able to market their produce on international markets as GM-free.
http://www.allaboutfeed.net/news/id102-50901/gm_crops_banned_in_switzerland_until_2012.html

+ MAIZE PLOTS DESTROYED IN GERMANY
On the night of 19 May, numerous maize plots were destroyed on the site of the DLG Field Days exhibition near Weimar. As well as maize varieties from German and foreign plant breeders, a small plot had been designated for the exhibition of MON810 Bt maize.
http://www.gmo-safety.eu:80/en/news/643.docu.html

+ GERMAN UNIVERSITIES BOW TO PUBLIC PRESSURE OVER GM CROPS
Two German universities have pulled the plug on field trials of GM crops. The science journal Nature quotes CropGen's Vivian Moses as saying that the decision is a 'disgraceful' interference with scientists' freedom to research.

Stefan Hormuth, president of the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Hesse, said, 'Unfortunately, we were no longer able to deal with the massive opposition from politicians and the general public. The university has a reputation in the region that we cannot risk losing.'

Andreas Schier of NŸrtigen-Geislingen University had to stop his field trials of GM maize. Last month, the university announced that it would stop its planned cultivation of GM maize in Gross-Gerau after activists occupied the field. Another local field trial of GM maize was also stopped because of massive protests from the public and local politicians.

Nature cites Heinz Saedler, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, as saying, 'The incidents reveal a new level of public hostility to plant genetic engineering in Germany.' The Max Planck Institute is also not cultivating GM crops this year.
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080514/full/453263a.html

+ AUSTRALIA'S TOP CHEFS UNITE AGAINST GM CROPS
More reports have emerged on the story that over 50 of Australia's top chefs have united to protest against the introduction of GM food crops to Australia. Last month, GM canola crops were planted for the first time in NSW and Victoria.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23777751-661,00.html
http://news.theage.com.au/national/top-chefs-say-no-to-gm-foods-20080529-2jcp.html

+ HOW TO BE A LOBBYIST
Good article for anyone who wants to do something about an issue (like GM crops) but isn't sure where to start:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/28/3
And here are some videos from SpinWatch about how the other side does PR/lobbying:
http://www.spinwatch.org/content/category/13/286/67/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LABELING
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ GM LABELING IN CANADA DEFEATED BY IGNORANCE
Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has supported labels defining food as Canadian-produced but recently advised his party to vote against the recent Private Member's Bill C-517, which would have made labeling mandatory for GM foods, says a letter in newspaper Barry's Bay This Week.

The bill was debated on May 5, and on May 7 was defeated by a vote of 156-101. However, wrote Jon Steinman in The Tyee newspaper, 'there's one problem; some MPs opposing the bill and joining in the debate on May 5 clearly had very little idea what genetically engineered foods are. Some information in particular, which was shared with the expressed purpose of assuring other MPs and Canadians that GE-foods are safe, was, quite simply, untrue.'
http://www.barrysbaythisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1047707

+ SECRET INGREDIENTS IN THE U.S.
In the wake of Don Barlett and Jim Steele's superb expose of Monsanto and GM foods in Vanity Fair, calls for GM labeling in the US continue. An article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer says that shopping would be an easier and safer chore if all foods, including GM foods, were properly labeled.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/secretingredients/archives/139981.asp

+ MOST AMERICANS DON'T WANT TO BUY GM FOOD - BUT THEY HAVE NO CHOICE
According to a CBS News/New York Times poll, 53 percent of Americans say they won't buy GM food. But it's not labeled, so they have no choice. Nutritionist Marion Nestle, a former FDA advisor, said,
'They [the industry] didn't want it labeled because they were terrified that if it were labeled, nobody would buy it.'
http://cbs4.com/national/CBS.News.New.2.721469.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIOSAFETY
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ INDIA NOT ENFORCING SAFETY RULES FOR GM CROPS -- U.N. STUDY
India faces a huge risk because safety rules on GM crops are not being enforced, says a UN study, adding that it also makes the country vulnerable to bioterrorism attacks. The study's Melbourne-based lead author Sam Johnston said: 'India still has a huge problem of biosafety enforcement. Many farmers are using genetically modified crops without government approval. For example, it was recently reported in The Hindu Business Line that 28 percent of area in Gujarat was planted with illegal GM crops.'
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/india-not-enforcing-safety-norms-for-gm-crops-un-study_10053615.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RESEARCH
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ BUFFER ZONES CANNOT PREVENT GM CONTAMINATION
A research study conducted in Hokkaido, Japan shows that even generous buffer zones between GM and non-GM crops fail to prevent GM contamination.

In Hokkaido, a special ordinance stipulates large buffer zone distances of at least twice those set in MAFF (ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries of Japan) guidelines. For rice, for example, the MAFF guideline buffer zone distance is 30m, but under Hokkaido's ordinance it is 300m.

In the case of rice, cross-fertilization had occurred during a 2006 trial at the maximum distance stipulated in the ordinance, 300 m. So the 2007 study was carried out using the distances of 450m and 600m. Cross-fertilization occurred even at 600m. Cross-fertilization was also found to occur for maize at the maximum distance of 1200m, and at 990m for sugar beet.
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~cbic/english/2008/journal0805.html

+ NEW STUDY SHOWS BT COTTON PROBLEMS IN ANDHRA PRADESH
The huge hype of Bt cotton has once again trapped cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh. A 2007-2008 study by the Deccan Development Society and the AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity shows that Bt cotton farmers suffered 10% less profits than the farmers who cultivated non-Bt and practised non-pesticidal (NPM) methods on their farms. The study found:
***Bt farmers suffered 10% less returns than the non-Bt farmers practicing NPM methods
***Bt farmers had to invest 18% more on pest management than the NPM farmers
***Bt farmers had to invest 9% more for cultivating cotton as against the NPM farmers.
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/11/stories/2008051157920200.htm

+ BIG YIELD PENALTY FROM MONSANTO'S NEW GM COTTON -- STUDY
Because of concerns over the effectiveness of Monsanto's single Bt gene (Bollgard) cotton, Monsanto is phasing it out in the US. But the stacked gene GM cotton that is replacing it carries a very significant yield penalty. A study conducted by the University of Georgia Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development predicts that the introduction of Monsanto's new GM cotton will lead to substantial losses to both the state's cotton industry and its wider rural economy.

The total economic output loss to the Georgia economy due to changing seed technology could be $128.32 million, say the economists who conducted the study, with changes in the Georgia cotton industry having economic impacts throughout the state's economy.
http://southeastfarmpress.com/cotton/cottonseed-technology-0520/

+ ORGANICALLY REARED COWS PRODUCE HEALTHIER MILK -- STUDY
Milk from organic cattle that eat a fresh grass diet is likely to be better for your health, according to a new study by the University of Newcastle.

This organic milk contained more good fatty acids such as omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid known as CLA9 than milk produced at intensive commercial dairy farms. The difference was even more marked during the summer with levels of CLA9 about 60 per cent higher in milk from cattle that graze in fields.

Gillian Butler, livestock project manager for the university's Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, who led the research, said: 'Our work has not looked at the impact on human health, but I would say organic milk should be better for health from what we know of the benefits of these good fatty acids. They are effective in combating cancer, coronary heart disease and type II diabetes.'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk:80/tol/life_and_style/health/article4016428.ece

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NON-GM SUCCESSES
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ INDIA TO GROW NON-GM FLOOD-TOLERANT RICE
Farmers in India and Bangladesh will likely start commercial production of non-GM flood-tolerant rice next year giving them protection against crop losses from typhoons and heavy monsoon rains.
http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7876&Itemid=5822

GM Watch comment: While GM 'miracle' stories win vast amounts of column inches, actual delivery of drought-resistant crops, etc. to farmers' fields remains non-existent.

When the journalist Rikki Stancich asked Monsanto and Bayer to provide documentation to support their claims to drought-resistant crop strains, they failed to provide any supporting documentation.
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=5684

As Prof Tim Flowers of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex has noted, 'Biotechnologists have reasons for exaggerating their abilities to manipulate plants.' And the reality of GM 'tolerant' crops may, in his view and that of many other experts, 'still be decades from commercial availability'. http://www.field.org.uk/PDF/IDS%20biotech%20conference%20summary.pdf

Even a spokesman for Monsanto has admitted that drought-resistant seeds won't be available for developing countries any time soon -- for at least eight to 10 years. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6190

Meanwhile non-GM breakthroughs in this area continue apace and are already heading into farmers' fields.

+ ORGANIC COTTON PROJECT SAVES FARMERS FROM SUICIDE
An organic cotton project initiated by the textile manufacturer Arvind Ltd in 33 villages in Maharashtra seems to have saved farmers in those villages from suicide in an area where suicides have skyrocketed since the introduction of Bt cotton.
http://tinyurl.com/6jhtwy

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTAMINATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ FRANCE: ORGANIC MAIZE CONTAMINATED FROM 35 KM AWAY
Organic maize grown near Deux-Sevres, France has been contaminated with genes from GM maize, though the closest plots of GM maize are over 35 km distant from the fields.
Article in French:
http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2008/05/12/dans-les-deux-sevres-du-ma

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORPORATE CRIMES
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ MASS DEATH OF BEES IN GERMANY: PESTICIDE APPROVALS SUSPENDED
The German office for consumer protection and food safety (BVL) has ordered the immediate suspension of approval for eight seed treatment products due to the mass death of bees in Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state. The suspended products are the following nicotinoid pesticides: Antarc, Chinook, Elado, Mesuro, Poncho, and Faibel, all made by Bayer; and Cruiser, made by Syngenta. According to the German Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, 29 out of 30 dead bees it had examined had been killed by contact with clothianidin, a nicotinoid pesticide. Also wild bees and other insects are suffering from a significant loss of population.
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/2517.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NANOTECHNOLOGY
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ NANOTECHNOLOGY IN OUR FOOD
Untested nanotechnology is being used in more than 100 food products, food packaging and contact materials currently on the shelf, without warning or new FDA testing, according to a report by Friends of the Earth.

Existing regulations require no new testing or labeling for nanomaterials when they are created from existing approved chemicals, despite major differences in potential toxicity. The report reveals toxicity risks of nanomaterials such as organ damage and decreased immune system response.
http://action.foe.org/pressRelease.jsp?press_release_KEY=343

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
HUMAN GENETICS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ SCIENTISTS CREATE FIRST GM HUMAN EMBRYO
UK watchdog group Human Genetics Alert has discovered that American scientists based at Cornell University have created the world's first GM human embryo, without notifying the public or the media. Few MPs were even aware of the plans.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.rsvp1.com/s157da5xe1x
http://www.geneticsandsociety.rsvp1.com/article.php?id=4081&mgh=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geneticsandsociety.org&mgf=1

+ ANIMAL-HUMAN HYBRIDS AND 'SAVIOUR SIBLINGS'
British MPs have backed controversial reforms which will allow the use of animal-human hybrid embryos for stem cell research and the selection of 'saviour siblings' through preimplantation genetic diagnosis.

Both measures have been sold to MPs as being of vital importance to saving lives but this is not the view of Dr David King, a former geneticist and founder of Human Genetics Alert. Dr King told a UK newspaper: 'The potential of hybrid embryos has been massively overhyped. I think they are very poor science, and I have put my case to three Nobel winning scientists and not one of them has disagreed with my scientific arguments.

'There will be so many biodefects in these embryos it's very unlikely they will develop very far at all. And if they did, they would be so abnormal they would be more likely to mislead scientists than provide the solutions we're being promised.'
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org:80/article.php?id=4072
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/article1186393.ece

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENETIC CROSSROADS
Center for Genetics and Society
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ UK'S PRIME MINISTER BROWN VS. SCIENTISTS
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
Like so many writings advocating cloning-based stem cell research, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's recent op ed drifts to distortion and hyperbole.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4094

+ MAYBE NEXT YEAR?
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
It looks as if the CEO of Geron will assure us once again that embryonic stem cell therapy trials will begin 'next year' - just as he's done since at least 2004.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4084

+ BUSH SIGNS ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BILL
by Ben Feller, Associated Press
President Bush has signed legislation to protect people from losing their jobs or health insurance when genetic testing reveals they are susceptible to costly diseases.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4096