GMWatch News Review archive

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GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 59
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Editor's note: Don't forget to check out ACTION / RESISTANCE / BANS for action alerts, including an important one for Africa.

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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS 
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QUIZ-TIME!
FOOD CRISIS
AGROFUELS
RESEARCH
EU's PRO-GM LOBBY
LOBBYWATCH
LM WATCH / 'NAZI' WATCH
CONTAMINATION
HEALTH RISKS
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
GM FAILURES
GM EXPANSION / APPROVALS
ACTION / RESISTANCE / BANS
NON-GM SUCCESSES
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
REGULATORY BREAKDOWN IN INDIA
COMPANY NEWS
GENETIC CROSSROADS

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QUIZ-TIME! 
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Here's the second in our series of quizzes celebrating 10 years of GM Watch. Send your answers to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by August 22.

THE PRIZES!

The 2 people with the highest score will get a DVD of Marie Robin's brilliant new movie The World According to Monsanto (plays in English, French or German).

A HELPING HAND!

As we had a couple of complaints that our first quiz was a bit on the hard side, we're pleased to say this one's a bit easier (even for non-Googlers) - as long as you're prepared to use your imagination!

For many of these questions all you need do is conjure up a biotech version of the Wizard of Oz. Transport yourself to a GM wonderland where nothing is as it seems”¦

QUIZ 2: FARMING IN A GM WONDERLAND

1. Many pro-GM commentators hail the technology as the solution to the current food crisis because of its ability to reduce fertilizer use and help farmers cope with problems like drought, salinity or flooding. After 20 years of GM research, how many GM drought tolerant, or salt tolerant, or flood tolerant, or fertilizer-reducing crops are there on the market worldwide?

2. There have been tens of thousands of articles in the world's media about 'miracle' crops genetically engineered for enhanced appearance, flavour, nutrition, or to be allergen-free, or to combat problems like obesity or to contain edible vaccines that protect against major diseases like cancer. How many of these GM crops are there on the market worldwide?

3. When published in April 2008, which appraisal of global agriculture, sponsored by the World Bank and the U.N., and undertaken on a scale comparable to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, concluded that GM crops have at best variable impacts on yields and would not play a substantial role in addressing climate change, loss of biodiversity, hunger or poverty?

4. More than 50% of the GM crops grown worldwide are farmed in the United States, and by far the most widely grown crop is herbicide-tolerant soyabeans. Based on U.S. Department of Agriculture trend data and numerous field studies, by roughly how much has GM soya increased yield for U.S. farmers compared to conventional (non-GM) varieties?

5. Who said the following about GM crops when promoting them as a solution to the food crisis? "We've been using them for 10 years in the United States and they have a proven effectiveness in increasing yields, in lowering the use of fertilizer, in providing better water and soil management and also increasing taste and appearance. So, you know, those are all good things."

6. What word did Prof. Dennis Murphy - the head of biotechnology at the University of Glamorgan, recently use to describe claims about GM crops solving the problem of drought or feeding the world?

7. Monsanto and its supporters claim that GM crops have been widely adopted in countries like the United States because of their economic benefits for farmers. Which organization in its review of GM crop cultivation in the U.S. commented, "Perhaps the biggest issue raised by these results is how to explain the rapid adoption of [GM] crops when farm financial impacts appear to be mixed or even negative"?

8. The Director of Corporate Affairs for Monsanto India says the increase in GM cotton acres there "bear testimony to the success of this technology and the benefit that farmers derive from it." According to Washington University researcher Glenn Stone's multi-year study of the behaviour of cotton farmers in a key cotton growing area of India, what underlay the rapid spread of GM cotton there?

9. The wife of which South African farmer who has been flown around the world by Monsanto to preach the benefits of GM cotton and detail how it has transformed his family's life, admitted on camera that they made no profit from the crop?

10. What was surprising about the posters that appeared in many places in Madhya Pradesh, India, featuring a man who said he'd gained great benefits from growing GM cotton and urging others to do the same?

11. Why was Gary Rinehart surprised to be publicly harassed over violating Monsanto's patent on GM soybeans, and subsequently to have the company file a federal lawsuit against him? 

12. What is the annual budget that Monsanto devotes to harassing, intimidating, suing - and in some cases bankrupting - American farmers over alleged improper use of its patented seeds?

Conditions:
1. No squabbling over the answers. Our verdict stands!
2. If more than 2 people get the highest score, we'll draw the winners out of a hat.
3. If you won a copy of the film in our earlier quiz, we won't send you another copy but your entry will still be marked to help decide if you are the highest scoring individual across all the quizes. If you are, we'll send you a copy of the book Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy: Corporate PR and the Assault on Democracy.

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FOOD CRISIS
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+ ARTICLE DEBUNKING GM HYPE
Superb overview of the misleading hype being promoted about GM crops:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080618/news_lz1e18gurian.html

+ FOOD CRISIS REPORTS
*Debunking claims that GM crops are becoming the norm
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/GM_crops_land_area_final.pdf
*Debunking claims of increased yields with GM crops:
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/89D_yields_briefing%5B1%5D.pdf
Debunking claims of GM crops resistant to drought:
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/drought_briefing_final.pdf
*Debunking the claims of cheaper GM animal feed
(GM animal feed has seen the fastest rate of feed price inflation!)
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/animal%20feed/Briefing_animal_feed_GMOs_May_2008.p df
*Debunking claims the EU's "zero-tolerance" policy on non-approved GMOs is no longer workable
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/ZERO_TOLERANCE_Campaigner_briefing_FINAL.pdf http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/zero_tolerance.html
*Briefing on solving the global food crisis:
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/media_briefing/food_crisis.pdf
*Briefing on the main recommendations and findings of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report, which found GM was not the answer to the food crisis
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/special_IAASTD_brieifing.pdf

+ MONSANTO'S SHAMELESS PR REVERSAL
GM Watch comment: For a decade or more, in the face of growing global opposition, Monsanto has proclaimed that GM crops are vital for feeding a hungry world, while critics countered that the food is there and that distribution is the key to tackling hunger. But now that Monsanto wants to defend the agrofuel gravy-train that's sent food prices sky-rocketing, the company's spin has suddenly gone into complete reverse.

The ethanol boom may be pushing millions towards starvation and hundreds of millions deeper into poverty, but hey, says Monsanto's chief technology officer, "From a production perspective, we have abundance [of food]". Rob Fraley now says the "challenges" are -- wait for it! -- in distribution.

Fraley made his pitch at the launch of a new multi-million dollar lobby group for ethanol that Monsanto has helped set up. There could be no clearer demonstration that Monsanto's concern has never been with feeding the hungry. Monsanto's leading role in the ethanol lobby shows that as far as the company's concerned, the hungry can happily starve, which is exactly what they're starting to do in places like East Africa, just so long as it's good for the company's bottom line.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri-adm-monsanto-jul25,0,4202606.story

+ MONSANTO'S MASSIVE PRICE HIKES DURING WORLD FOOD CRISIS
The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) says Monsanto's market power is driving up seed prices and could devastate farmers and their communities. OCM is continuing to encourage several state attorneys general to expand their antitrust investigation into Monsanto's suspected anticompetitive practices in the US seed industry.

"Monsanto's market power has been quietly accruing over several years and has now begun materially impacting price," said Keith Mudd, OCM's board president. "The lack of competition and innovation in the marketplace has reduced farmers' choices and enabled Monsanto to raise prices unencumbered."

Monsanto executives recently said they expect to raise the price of some seed corn varieties to $300. Said Fred Stokes, executive director of OCM, "If and when the ethanol boom subsides, Monsanto will not lower its prices, farmers will be forced into bankruptcy, and the lack of an effective remedy for antitrust in crop seed will be a substantial cause."
http://www.opednews.com/articles/During-a-world-food-crisis-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-0 80723-548.html

+ WANT TO CUT FOOD PRODUCTION? SOW GM SEED!
Research analyzing yields in the US cereal grain belt shows that the productivity of GM crops was less than in the era prior to the introduction of GM seeds -- with soya showing a drop in yield of up to 10%. And GM seeds are dearer than conventional seed, which means the farmer's profit margin is less.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0807/S00266.htm

+ EU FOOD, GRAIN INDUSTRIES WANT GM "FLEXIBILITY"
Leading companies in Europe's food industry have joined forces with key players in much of the EU grain sector to demand tolerance for small amounts of GM material not approved for EU markets. Europe's food safety chief has already promised to draft a new proposal that would undermine "zero tolerance".

Doug Gurian-Sherman, PhD, senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, comments: "Europeans are right to be skeptical about accepting assurances of the safety of GMOs regulated and approved in the US [but not in the EU]. The US review of the food safety of GMOs is considerably weaker than the EU system (which itself suffers from some considerable weaknesses). Our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not actually approve GMO foods as safe, but relies on the assurances of the very companies that produce these foods to decide how to test them. Although FDA performs a review during its voluntary safety assessment, it does not conclude by approving the safety of the food, but reminds the company that it is the company's responsibility to assure that the food is safe. ...Instead of cowering in the face of US pressure, why aren't your weak-kneed regulators publicizing the weakness of the US system and demanding more?"
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSL1226352520080612

+ EUROPE'S STANCE ON GM FEEDS BLAMED FOR RISING COSTS
Europe's zero tolerance of GM varieties is being blamed for restricting the flow of livestock feed and raising prices. The claim is made in a report commissioned by, among others, the European Feed Manufacturers' Federation Fefac and Coceral, which represents European traders in grains and oilseeds. But Gill Rowlands, a farmer and member of GM Free Cymru, says EU policy on GM has nothing to do with the escalating price of livestock feed.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1459059/eus_stance_on_gm_feeds_blamed_for_raising_costs/
FoE Europe has an excellent briefing debunking the claims on this:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/animal%20feed/Briefing_animal_feed_GMOs_May_2008.pdf

+ EXPLOITING THE FOOD CRISIS: STATE OF EXTORTION
Naomi Klein is author of the book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, in which she argues that today's preferred method of reshaping the world in the interests of multinational corporations is to systematically exploit the state of fear and disorientation that accompanies moments of shock and crisis.

In an article for Rabble, Klein comments on the move by the US to use the food crisis as an excuse to force other countries to open their markets to its GM crops -- in the case of poor countries, with the added threat that they'll otherwise risk having their aid cut off. Klein calls the move a "stickup". She adds that despite attempts to paint GM crops as a solution to the food crisis, there is no evidence that they increase yields, and some evidence that they decrease them.
http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=73203

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AGROFUELS
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+ SECRET REPORT: AGROFUELS CAUSED FOOD CRISIS
Now even the World Bank is confirming what we all knew -- that the Bush-subsidised ethanol boom (with the EU's agrofuel boom following on in its wake) was by far the single most important factor in creating the food crisis that's driving 100m people worldwide below the poverty line. (And exactly the same people that created this disaster by promoting the rush into agrofuels are now promoting a rush for biotech as the solution!)

The report, which has not been published but was leaked to the UK Guardian, says agrofuels have forced global food prices up by 75%. The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George W. Bush.
http://www.guardian.co.uk:80/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy

+ CARS VS PEOPLE: THE FIGURES [shortened]
*47% of the Mexician' diet is corn
*it takes 2.4 pounds of corn a day to feed a hungry person
*it takes 22 pounds of corn to make one gallon of ethanol
*there are 42 gallons of refined gas in one barrel of oil
To replace one barrel of oil, it takes 42 gallons of ethanol or 924 pounds of corn. That is enough corn to feed one hungry person for 385 days. If you fill up with ethanol, every time you pull that SUV into the gas station and pump 22 gallons, you starve a poor person for six months.
-- Kevin Kersten, "World food shortage and the ethanol bubble", InvestorsObserver.com, 7 July 2008
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/07/07/world-food-shortage-and-the-ethanol-bubble/

+ EU VOTE TO REDUCE AGROFUEL TARGETS
The tide of opinion in Europe is changing against agrofuels, judging from a European Parliament vote and an independent UK government review, says Teresa Anderson of the Gaia Foundation. The African Biodiversity Network was among many organisations that lobbied European MEPs to vote against the proposed 10% agrofuel target in the EU. NGOs called on MEPs to drop targets altogether, pointing out that agrofuel targets drive rising food prices, land grabs and deforestation in Africa. While MEPs did not drop targets altogether, they did agree to lower the targets from 10% to 4% -- a victory of sorts.

An independent UK government review of agrofuels, the Gallagher Report, has found they drive up food prices and do little to combat climate change. In an echo of the EU vote, instead of calling for agrofuel targets to be scrapped, the Gallagher report called for lower and slower introduction of targets, and pinned its hopes on "sustainable" and second-generation agrofuels.

It is clear, says Teresa, that "sustainability" criteria for agrofuels will not work. The land to grow agrofuels must come from somewhere, and Africa's land and resources are most likely to be affected. "Second generation" agrofuels are an even more serious risk, as they are likely to be GMOs, while also requiring huge amounts of land on which to be grown.

+ UPRISING AGAINST ETHANOL MANDATE
The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future, says the New York Times. Gov Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. However, the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) is continuing to lobby to keep the ethanol boom going.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/business/23ethanol.html?em&ex=1216958400&en=6e824834a4b001dd&ei=5087%0A

+ NEW LOBBY GROUP FOR ETHANOL
A multi-million dollar lobby group -- the Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy -- has been launched in Washington DC by Archer Daniels Midland, DuPont, Deere, Monsanto and the Renewable Fuels Association to lobby for agrofuels. The group argues that agricultural innovation -- such as GM crops -- is the best way to address global hunger, not reducing agrofuel production. World food prices rose by 40 percent last year, causing food riots, hoarding and bread lines, something widely attributed to the agrofuel boom.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2429978720080724

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RESEARCH
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+ "FARMERS PRAISE GM CROPS IN EU STUDY"
The UK's Independent newspaper recently broke the story about the renewed support for GM crops in Gordon Brown's government. At the same time it published an editorial that made it clear that -- unlike its sister paper The Independent on Sunday -- it was adopting a pro-GM editorial stance.

On 30 June, an article, "Farmers praise GM crops in EU study", was published. The article claims, "European farmers who grow genetically modified crops enjoy higher yields and revenues than conventional growers, according to a new study". But reading further down the article it becomes clear that the study only looked at one GM crop -- a GM maize grown in Spain -- and although the article repeats the claim that farmers "found they produced higher yields and earned up to 122 euros more per hectare (GBP50 per acre) than conventional maize farmers", the study, in fact, found that nearly 90% of farmers growing the GM crop did NOT increase their yield!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/farmers-praise-gm-crops-in-eu-study-856907.html
http://www.gmo-safety.eu/en/news/630.docu.html
The full paper is available to subscribers at
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v26/n4/full/nbt0408-384.html

+ COEXISTENCE IMPOSSIBLE
The cultivation of GM maize has caused a drastic reduction in organic cultivation of this grain and is making their coexistence practically impossible, according to a study that analyses the situation in Catalonia and Aragon, Europe's main producing areas of GM foods.
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/studien/bericht-113314.html

+ ALLERGEN-FREE GM FOODS FACE PROBLEMS
Genetic modification of plants and crops has long been touted as a means of producing hypoallergenic foods, but scientists from the University of Melbourne found that attempts to create an allergen-free GM tomato failed. They said, "The transgenic plants exhibited severe growth retardation along with yield reduction ... and some transgenic lines did not bear any fruit. These results highlight the obstacles in removing certain plant allergenic proteins that perform essential cellular housekeeping functions."
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=86624-allergens-tomatoes-peanuts

+ TESTING TIME FOR SUBSTANTIAL EQUIVALENCE
Survival and fitness was reduced in the freshwater crustacean Daphnia magna when fed MON810 maize, compared with a non-GM control maize, according to a new study. This is yet another sign that substantial equivalence, the concept that GM plants are the same as their non-GM counterparts and do not require special safety tests, is nonsense, says an article from the Bioscience Resource Project.
http://www.bioscienceresource.org/news/news19.php

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EU's PRO-GM LOBBY
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GM Watch comment: At the heart of the EU's pro-GM lobby is the Commission President, Jose Manel Barroso, who is behind a high level group on GMOs currently looking at the EU's GMO authorisation process.

Barroso would like to get member states to agree on GMOs *behind closed doors* so that there are no more unqualified majorities. These are majorities where although most countries oppose the GM approval in question, it is not by sufficient numbers to finally block the approval.

Instead, the decision on approval ends up coming back to the Commission, which can then adopt its own decision and authorise the new GMO even though a majority of countries were against approval!

Barroso and his supporters in the Commission hate people seeing how undemocratic the EU's decision making process on GMOs is, and that it is the Commission and not member states that is ultimately driving approvals.

Barroso therefore wants to bring the member states into line so that they authorise GMOs without creating any difficulties as soon as the highly pro-GM EFSA -- European Food Safety Authority -- gives a positive opinion on a GMO.

Barroso is strongly supported in this by the Commissioners for trade, agriculture, industry and internal markets in particular, who would like to sideline Environment Commissioner Dimas, who takes a precautionary approach on GMOs.

Barroso & co. are lapping up the current hyperbole that the industry's heavily promoting about GM being a solution to the food-feed crisis. This is seen as a great opportunity to force the EU to open up to GMOs.

They are now also pressurising the Commissioner for Health on dropping "zero tolerance". Friends of the Earth Europe have produced a briefing on this issue: http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/zero_tolerance.html

The setting up of the Barroso group could be a way to effectively bypass the health and environment departments and make sure that Barroso controls the GM issue at the Commission.

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ THE EU'S INVISIBLE LOBBYISTS
Monica Frassoni, a Member of the European Parliament from Italy and the Greens Party, said at least 30 staff members at the European Commission are getting paid by big companies to do their bidding and be their moles. The EU has set up a registration system for lobbyists, but because it is voluntary, it is dismissed in a report for New Europe as "spineless".
http://www.neurope.eu:80/articles/88486.php

+ MEPs TOO CLOSE TO BUSINESS
Europe's leaders are sleepwalking into the issue of MEPs' links with commercial interests, including biotech interests, warns a new report by SpinWatch.
http://www.spinwatch.org/images/too%20close%20for%20comfort.pdf

+ CALL FOR IRISH GOVERNMENT'S CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER TO RESIGN
The Irish government's chief scientific adviser, Prof Paddy Cunningham, says the acceptance of GM food in the EU is "inevitable". Prof Cunningham is a member of the biotech lobby group European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES), a task force of the European Federation of Biotechnology whose members comprise biotech and pharmaceutical industry groups, including Monsanto Europe, the Association of German Biotech Companies, the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (USA).

Having a biotech industry lobbyist occupy the post of chief scientific officer of Ireland is a conflict of interest, says the GM-free Ireland Network: "Prof Cunningham should be removed."
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/press/GMFI40.pdf

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LM WATCH / 'NAZI' WATCH
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+ DISTORTIONS, FALSEHOODS, FABRICATION
For the second time, the UK's Channel 4 has been fiercely criticised by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom for a TV programme attacking environmental science, reports George Monbiot in the Guardian. For the second time, the director was Martin Durkin. Ten years ago, his series Against Nature was found to have misled his interviewees about "the content and purpose of the programmes" and distorted their views "through selective editing". Now Ofcom has ruled that the programme he made last year -- The Great Global Warming Swindle -- treated two scientists and an organisation (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) unfairly. For the second time, Channel 4 has had to make an embarrassing prime-time statement.
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/07/21/distortions-falsehoods-fabrications/

+ DURKIN, GM & LM
Durkin has directed a series of controversial films for Channel 4 which deride environmental concerns. These include the notorious Against Nature, which promoted extreme genetic technologies and human cloning, and Modified Truth: The Rise and Fall of GM, which presented GM food as safe and much needed to feed the starving in the Third World.

The latter led Dr Tewolde Gebre Egziaber, head of the Ethiopian government's Environmental Protection Authority, to issue a joint letter attacking the programme as a propaganda vehicle that exploited the Third World's rural poverty to support the monopoly control and global use of GM crops by transnational corporations and emotionally blackmail the UK public into using GM.
http://www.biotech-info.net/joint_letter.html

Durkin has links to the network centered on the publication LM, formerly known as Living Marxism -- the house magazine of a bizarre and cultish right-wing libertarian group known as the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).
Find out more at http://www.lobbywatch.org/lm_watch.html
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/07/0321climate_swindle_the.php
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6115
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=151
George Monbiot interview about the LM network:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/lm_george_monbiot.html

+ "SECURITY MAIN COST IN GM CROP TRIALS"
Security has become by far the largest cost for field trials of GM crops in Britain as researchers seek to protect sites against vandalism, according to Prof Howard Atkinson of Leeds University, who claimed a "six figure" bill for security around his GM potato trial.

Atkinson is due to meet with Phil Woolas, the UK minister responsible for GMO crops, in September. He said he would ask Woolas for either the government to no longer give the location of small-scale trials or pay a share of security costs.

GM Watch comment: Although press reports do not say so, all the articles about this originated in a briefing organised by the Science Media Centre in London at which the 3 scientists quoted were brought together by the SMC with selected journalists.

This tactic of trying to polarise the debate into scientists versus "eco-extremists" exactly mirrors the approach of the SMC's sister lobby group Sense About Science. During the public debate in 2002, SAS generated similar articles by press releasing surveys of GM scientists on vandalism, and encouraging claims of threats and intimidation which were entirely unsubstantiated.

Both the Science Media Centre and Sense About Science have directors who have been at the very heart of the LM network.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL866497820080728
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7761
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7748
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL866497820080728

+ GM PROTESTORS COMPARED TO NAZI BOOK BURNERS
GM Watch comment: At the Science Media Centre briefing (see above) and on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today, Prof Atkinson compared GM crop pullers to Nazi book burners!

Nazi book burners, of course, had not just the might of the Nazi Party behind them, but the power of the state. GM crop pulling, by contrast, is occurring in a context of extreme democratic deficit. New Labour has determinedly ignored public feeling on this matter throughout and even the results of its own official Public Debate!

It's no wonder that whenever GM crop pullers have been subjected to trial by jury, they have been wholly exonerated. In the famous case of the Lyng crop pullers, the jury even waited behind outside the court after the end of the trial to congratulate the 28 protesters.

Claims that environmental protesters are equivalent to Nazis surfaced for the first time in the UK 10 years ago with Martin Durkin's documentary series Against Nature (see above). 10 years later the same claim is made at the SMC whose director is part of the same ideological network behind Against Nature.

+ GM TEST SITES SHOULD REMAIN PUBLIC -- GM FREEZE
Calls for the location of test sites for GM crops to be made secret should be rejected, says GM Freeze. To illustrate why local involvement is needed, the group point to last year's an application to grow a test site of GM potatoes was made by the German biotech corporation BASF near Hedon in East Yorkshire. On this occasion, the site owner withdrew the site after it was announced because of the concerns of local borage growers and beekeepers who were worried about contamination of high value borage honey. If the test had gone ahead in secret, the presence of GM pollen from the test site in honey may have been the first indication of a problem and impacted upon sales of honey.

GM Freeze also points out that the last major set of GM trials covering over 150 sites were completed on time and the results published despite the location being openly available. Several sites were voluntarily withdrawn because of concerns about possible GM contamination after local referendums or public meetings.

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CONTAMINATION
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+ AUSTRALIA: GM CONTAMINATION OF HONEY A PROBLEM FOR BEEKEEPERS
In February the state government allowed GM canola into Victoria. But beekeeper Graham Connell, with 40 bee hives, said because there is no state registry on farms using GM, he has no way of knowing which canola farms were GM-free. Thus he cannot guarantee that his honey is GM-free. He said honey sellers asked beekeepers to sign statutory declarations declaring them GM-free, so a legal challenge is inevitable if this situation is allowed to continue. He said bees are in decline worldwide and blamed GM contaminated crops for the decline.
http://www.macedonrangesleader.com.au/article/2008/07/07/38558_mrv_news.html

+ GERMANY: GM HONEY BANNED, BUT NO PROTECTION FOR BEEKEEPER
A court in Germany has ruled that honey containing pollen from MON810 GM corn is not tradable. Although the judge recognizes that the plaintiff, beekeeper Karl-Heinz Bablok, is adversely affected by this ruling because he is not allowed to sell such honey, it is the court's opinion that he has no claim to protection against the growing of GM corn.
http://www.biofach.de/en/newsletter/archive/

+ GERMANY: BEEKEEPERS SET UP HIVES IN FRONT OF BAVARIAN PARLIAMENT
The Bavarian government is growing MON810 Bt corn as part of a research project. A German court has ruled (see above) that any contamination of bee products with MON810 will render these unfit to be marketed, because MON810 only has approval as feed but not as food. Recently, the MON810 corn was about to flower. So beekeepers evacuated over 50 hives from the region and took them to the Bavarian capital Munich, which has declared itself GM-free. Here, they set up the hives in refugee camps throughout the city and especially in front of the Bavarian parliament and the governor's office.
http://www.moraybeekeepers.co.uk:80/N&Views/German_BK.htm

+ UK: CHINESE RICE PRODUCTS CONTAIN ILLEGAL GM RICE
The UK Food Standards Agency has provided a list of Chinese rice products found to contain illegal Bt63 rice. In April, the European Commission adopted an emergency measure requiring imports of specified products from China to be certified free of Bt63.
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/jul/bt63update

+ GM CROP REAPERS DETECT ILLEGAL GM MAIZE IN FRANCE
Confederation Paysanne and others found Monsanto's GM corn MON810, banned since February, growing in a farmer's field. MON810 was approved for planting in 2007 but banned in 2008. When the farmer planted in 2008 he had seed left over from the previous year and said he could not afford to throw it away.
Article in French: http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences-et-environnement/article/2008/07/11/les-faucheurs-d-ogm-detectent-du-mais-transgenique-interdit-chez-un-petit-agriculteur_1072372_3244.html#ens_id=1072373

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HEALTH RISKS
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+ TOO MANY UNKNOWNS ABOUT GM FOODS
Occasionally, GM Watch gets the odd email asking, "What's wrong with eating GM foods, anyway?" An article by Judy Carman, director of Australia's Institute of Health and Environmental Research, summarizes the many problems.
http://afr.com/home/viewer.aspx?ATL://20080728000030079924&title=Too+many+unknowns+in+the+manufacture+and+use+of+GM+foods [subscribers only]

+ SAFETY OF CLONED ANIMAL PRODUCTS UNCERTAIN -- EU AGENCY
The European Union's food safety agency said cloned animal products may not be safe and further study was needed. "It is clear there are significant animal health and welfare issues for surrogate mothers and clones that can be more frequent and severe than for conventionally bred animals," Vittorio Silano, chair of EFSA's scientific committee, said.
http://in.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idINL2310023020080724?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
http://www.dailymail.co.uk:80/news/worldnews/article-1038170/EU-food-safety-experts-say-NO-cloned-meat.html

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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ MONSANTO HARRASSES THE DEAD
Monsanto's private investigators have tried to serve legal papers to 11 people who are deceased, says an article for OCM. The papers were served as part of Monsanto's investigation of the Pilot Grove Cooperative in Missouri. Another farmer spent $400,000 defending his family from frivolous litigation by Monsanto even though the fields Monsanto alleged were sown to its patented soybeans were, the farmer says, sown to popcorn.
http://www.competitivemarkets.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=202&Itemid=20
http://www.competitivemarkets.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=198&Itemid=20

+ OBAMA'S UNIQUELY AWFUL VICE-PRESIDENTIAL PROSPECT
Barack Obama's vice presidential search team has begun floating the name of former secretary of agriculture Ann Veneman as a possible running-mate on the 2008 Democratic ticket.

The Nation comments, "Veneman has rarely missed an opportunity to advance the interests of food-production and -processing conglomerates, to encourage policies that lead to the displacement of family farms by huge factory farms, to open public lands for mineral extraction and timbering, to support genetic modification of food and to defend biotech experimentation with agriculture. Indeed, Veneman served on the board of Calgene, the corporation that in 1994 launched the first genetically engineered food, and she declared last year that 'we simply will not be able to feed the world without biotechnology'."
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/339563

+ BASF TAKES GM POTATO CASE TO EU COURT
BASF has taken legal action against the European Commission for failure to act on its GM Amflora potato. BASF said in a statement it filed the action because the Commission unjustifiably delayed the approval of Amflora after a 12-year process.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSWEA3123200 80724

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GM FAILURES
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+ SOUTH AFRICA: SMALL FARMERS PUSHED TO USE GM SEED
Rural farmers are often lured into planting GM seeds by the department of agriculture by promises of substantial bank loans and the prospect of huge earnings, says Lesley Liddell, director of Biowatch. "But in the end, most farmers end up in huge debt, because they can't save seeds and are obliged to buy the matching GM fertilisers and pesticides."
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=43256

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GM EXPANSION / APPROVALS
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+ SOUTH AFRICA: POTATO BOARD PROTESTS AGAINST GM POTATO RELEASE
Potatoes South Africa (PSA) has indicated it will appeal against the application by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in which the council asks for permission to release a GMO potato, SpuntaG2, onto the market on a commercial scale. PSA fears consumer resistance and a possible negative impact on exports that might result from a GM cultivar in South Africa.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/file_dir/19032597747cf9fe70bd79.pdf?PHPSESSID=9bc4dbf43f7851ff6bfc6facc5ec5701
SEE THE ACTION ALERT - NEXT SECTION

+ BURKINA FASO COMMERCIALIZES GM COTTON
Burkina Faso has commercialized Bt cotton, making it the third African country after South Africa and Egypt to join the ranks of GM crop countries.
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=546&Itemid=1
Articles on the failures of Bt cotton in South Africa, China and India:
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/2007/jun.php
http://www.grain.org/research_files/SWang_tarnished.pdf
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/agrar_forstwissenschaften/bericht -77674.html
http://www.indiagminfo.org/Independent%20studies%20&%20papers%20on%20GM%20crops%20in%20India/STUDIES%20ON%20PERFORMANCE%20OF%20BT%20COTTON/Maharashtra-Bt%20Cotton%20Vs.%20Non%20Bt%20Cotton%20-%20MEC%20study%20report-2005-06.pdf

+ U.S. FORCES KOREA'S HAND OVER GMOs
In March 2007, South Korea signed a secret bilateral agreement with the US that weakens its scope to regulate the inflow of GMOs from the US.
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18076

+ PAKISTAN TO INTRODUCE BT COTTON -- BASED ON A MISAPPREHENSION
Pakistan is to sign an agreement with Monsanto to introduce Bt cotton in the country. Abdul Qadir Baloch, federal crop commissioner, seems to be under the misapprehension that Monsanto's Bt cotton is resistant to the cotton leaf curl virus, a big problem in Pakistan. In fact, Bt cotton varieties have proven just as vulnerable to the virus -- indeed, some argue that they are more vulnerable than local varieties that have resistance.
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?202545
http://www.countercurrents.org/en-sharma28403.htm

+ GM BANANA TRIALS TO BEGIN IN NORTH QUEENSLAND
Planting for Australia's first trial of GM bananas will begin later this year in north Queensland.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/24/2313593.htm?site=idx-qld

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ACTION / RESISTANCE / BANS
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+ STOP GM POTATOES IN SOUTH AFRICA: ACTION ALERT
GM potatoes have reached their last regulatory hurdle in South Africa (SEE SECTION ABOVE). If they get through this one, South Africa will be the first country in the world to allow GM potatoes onto the market -- they have already been rejected in other countries. **Please** read the petition against the GM potatoes and sign it: http://www.activist.co.za/campaigns/2008/gmpotato.php
Further information: www.biosafetyafrica.net

+ TAKE ACTION: KELLOGG BOYCOTT
In the US, a boycott against Kellogg is being called because of its readiness to use GM sugar beet in its products. Kellogg doesn't currently use sugar from GM sugar beets, but Kellogg spokeswoman Kris Charles said the company likely will use it once it enters the nation's sugar supply this year.
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/07/saying_no_to_fruit_loops_fli nt.html
http://www.organicconsumers.org

+ ACTIVISTS DESTROY THREE GM FIELDS IN FRANCE
Three fields of GM maize have been destroyed in southwest France. The attacks came only days after the promulgation of a new law governing the growth of GM organisms in France, which promises a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine of 150,000 euros when an experimental GM field is destroyed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7622576

+ AUSTRIA BANS MONSANTO'S GM MAIZE
Austria has banned the import of Monsanto's GM maize MON 863. The announcement was made by minister of health and family, Dr Andrea Kdolsky, on health safety grounds. MON 863 is genetically engineered to produce a toxin against the corn borer, an insect that can cause damage in maize. Tests carried out on rats fed with MON 863 maize revealed they suffered liver and kidney damage. In 2005, a team of experts headed by Prof Gilles Eric Seralini, a French governmental advisor on GM, found "it cannot be concluded that GE corn MON863 is a safe product".
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/austria-bans-monsanto-maize250708

+ "NEGATIVE" ATTITUDES HINDERING CHINA GM COMMERCIALISATION
European nations should take a more positive attitude towards GM food because their negative stance is seriously affecting developing world policies regarding commercialisation of GM crops, says Chinese scientist Yang Huanming in an article for SciDev.Net.

GM Watch comment: For all of us engaged in the global struggle to prevent the imposition of GMOs, this article is a direct encouragement to campaign harder and raise our voices louder as a counterbalance to the vested interests promoting this technology.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/negative-attitudes-hindering-china-gm-commercialis.html

+ NEW FILM SEEKS TO END USE OF rBGH IN U.S.
A new documentary exposing the health dangers of dairy products from cows treated with Monsanto's bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST), and the FDA conflicts of interest surrounding its approval, may finally close the book on America's use of this internationally unpopular drug.
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/Newsletter/June2008-NewrBGHFilm-PressReleas/index.cfm

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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ NON-GM BRED SOYBEANS PRODUCE 10% YIELD ADVANTAGE
Pioneer Hi-Bred has launched "a new generation" of soybean varieties designed to increase yields by 40 percent during the next 10 years.

GM Watch comment: It's not GM that delivered the yield advantage that's being trumpeted. Instead it was down to molecular marker technology -- a biotechnology approach involving no GM.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080711/BUSINESS/807110363/1029/business

+ GM AND DROUGHT -- NEW BRIEFING
Even if GM could engineer more drought-tolerant plants, which is far from clear, it will take years and come at a considerable cost. Meanwhile cheap, or even free, non-GM techniques and technologies are available now. A new briefing from GM Freeze explores these issues and suggests that rather than pouring yet more money into a technology with no assurance of delivery, we should instead expand the use of non-GM, sustainable approaches today.
www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/drought_briefing_final.pdf

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
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+ CLAIMS ABOUT GM "BULLSHIT" -- EXPERT
Prof Denis Murphy, head of biotechnology at the University of Glamorgan in Wales, was among those who, after the British public decisively rejected GM crops in the UK's official public debate, wrote to the then prime minister, Tony Blair, urging him to push ahead with GM. But it seems the current "GM can solve the food crisis" hyperbole is just too much to stomach.

Prof Murphy told Rob Lyons of the ferociously pro-GM Spiked-online website: "The cynic in me thinks that they're just using the current food crisis and the fuel crisis as a springboard to push GM crops back on to the public agenda. I understand why they're doing it, but the danger is that if they're making these claims about GM crops solving the problem of drought or feeding the world, that's bullshit."
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5438/

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REGULATORY BREAKDOWN IN INDIA
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+ GEAC TRIES TO MUZZLE SUPREME COURT'S OBSERVER
Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava is one of two eminent Indian scientists appointed as observers to the meetings of the country's apex GM regulatory body, the GEAC, on the basis of an order of India's Supreme Court, as a consequence of the Public Interest Litigation brought by Aruna Rodrigues and others.

As soon as Bhargava saw at first hand what was going on in the GEAC and how little scientific and regulatory credibility it had, he began to comment publicly on the committee's shortcomings, which is what members of the GEAC are so annoyed about. He added to their embarrassment by revealing that the minutes of the GEAC did not tally with his actual comments to the committee. GEAC has now taken advantage of his absence from a meeting to attack him in what is clearly an attempt to stop any further public comment on their activities.

The committee, stacked with government officials and industry representatives, noted Bhargava should be mindful of "confidentiality in the functioning and deliberations of the Statutory Committees of the government...(what) the public is entitled to know is the combined wisdom and decisions of the committee and not the individual views expressed in the meetings."

In a letter to the committee, Bhargava has hit back, saying: "This is surely an authoritarian (and not a democratic) view of a meeting. The public, I strongly believe, has a right to know about unresolved dissensions in a meeting."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Developmental_Issues/GM_panel_SC_observer_spar_over_making_findings_public/articleshow/3254534.cms

+ SCIENTIST CALLS FOR MORATORIUM ON BT COTTON"
Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, special appointee to the GM regulator GEAC, has demanded a 5-year moratorium on Bt cotton. He cites factors that have not been properly considered by GEAC, including deaths of sheep that grazed Bt cotton, damage done by Bt cotton to other crops, and Bt allergy in humans.
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=328397

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COMPANY NEWS
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+ THE WORM TURNS ... MONSANTO STOCKS SUFFER
Shares of chemical companies faltered in July. Monsanto stocks lost nearly all their second-quarter gains in a matter of days. Investment specialists blamed "bubblelike conditions" and "pent-up speculation" in some of the stocks.
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2008/07/08/the-worm-turns-and-fertilizer-stocks- suffer/trackback/

+ UK: DOW'S HERBICIDE POISONS UK GARDENS AND ALLOTMENTS
Gardeners have been warned not to eat home-grown vegetables contaminated by a powerful new herbicide that is destroying gardens and allotments across the UK. Vegetables have withered or become grossly deformed. The affected gardens and allotments have been contaminated by manure originating from farms where the hormone-based herbicide aminopyralid, manufactured by GM and chemical company Dow, has been sprayed on fields.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/29/food.agriculture
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/food/2008/06/mutant_vegetables_whos_to_blam.html

+ THE GLOBAL SEED POLICE
Monsanto's seed police continue to employ bribery, threats and biopiracy to preserve their agribusiness fiefdom, all with "your best interests at heart", says a review of Marie-Monique Robin's expose film, The World According to Monsanto.
http://www.counterpunch.org/kampmark07012008.html

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GENETIC CROSSROADS
News and Views from the Center for Genetics and Society
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+ US CONGRESSIONAL SUBCOMMITTEE HOLDS HEARINGS ON REGULATION OF HUMAN BIOTECHNOLOGIES
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4142

+ PUTTING MAKEUP ON A PIG
It seems that advocates of using emerging technologies to create a new type of human have realized that "transhuman" doesn't go over well.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4157

+ FAME-COURTING BIOTECH RUNNING SHORT OF CASH
For the past decade, Advanced Cell Technology Inc. has claimed one spectacular success after another. Now, ACT could be on the verge of shutting down.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4180