GMWatch News Review archive

from Claire Robinson, editor
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+ GLOBAL GENETIC POLLUTION ENABLED - THANKS TO BRAZIL AND NEW ZEALAND
Negotiations at the second meeting of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP/MOP2), held in Montreal last week, were wrecked on the key issue of the documentation and identification of GM crops when they're being exported.

The majority of countries (over 100) wanted strong controls but consensus was repeatedly blocked by just two countries: Brazil and New Zealand, who repeatedly refused to agree to any of the many proposed compromises.

The head of the African Group at the negotiations, Dr Tewolde (who finally arrived late at the negotiations, after world-wide outrage at Canada's original denial of his visa) pointed out that this refusal to strengthen controls will allow "global genetic pollution to escape unnoticed and unscathed". Dr Tewolde urged developing countries to develop strict requirements for documentation in their own national legislations.

The GM giant Syngenta was very active in the delegation of Brazil, which was once a GM-Free country but after extensive contamination and industry pressure approved GM soya and so has now become a GM exporter.

New Zealand is widely regarded as having acted simply as a stooge for industry and US interests, particularly as its wrecking tactics in Montreal followed on from its support for Terminator technology, which even Monsanto has backed away from, and for the U.S. WTO case against the EU (over its failure to accept more American GM products).

+ FIRST ON-LINE WORLDWIDE REGISTER OF GM CONTAMINATION
GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace International have launched the first online register of GM contamination incidents.
The searchable register: www.gmcontaminationregister.org
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5309

+ VICTORY FOR THE PUBLIC!
After four years of discussions, the Meeting of the Parties to the UN Treaty called the Aarhus Convention (AC) agreed to grant the public of the Pan-European Region, including Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia the right to participate on decisions related to GMOs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5292

+ U.S. DERAILS GM LABELLING
The international Codex Committee on Food Labelling on 11 May deferred a decision on the mandatory labelling of GM food after the US and four other countries fought to derail global support for an international standard for labelling of GMOs from European, African and Asian countries.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5228
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5232

+ GM CROP USE "LIMITED" IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES - UN REPORT
In contrast with the usual industry hype, the use of GM crops by developing nations is problematic and has been limited, says a recent UN report. The US accounted for a hefty 59 percent of GM agriculture in 2004. Only 16 other countries grew GM crops, led by Argentina (20 percent of the total area), Canada and Brazil (6 percent each), China (5 percent), Paraguay (2 percent), and India and South Africa (1 percent each).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5227

+ BT COTTON IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE SUCCESS STORY THAT NEVER WAS
Despite claims that Bt cotton will catapult African farmers out of poverty, recent reports revealed that the majority of Bt small-scale cotton farmers on the Makhathini Flats in South Africa have stopped planting Bt cotton because they cannot repay their debts.

A five-year study by Biowatch South Africa has shown that small-scale cotton farmers in Northern KwaZulu Natal have not benefited from Bt cotton and that the hype surrounding this case is just that - a media hype created by American biotech companies to convince the rest of Africa to approve GM crops.

Findings include:

*Farmers are in debt and credit institutions have withdrawn from the area because farmers cannot repay their loans and the number of farmers planting cotton has dropped by 80% since 2000. One farmer commented: "Four years ago we were told we would make lots of money but we work harder and make nothing".

*According to a local Land Bank official, farmers in Makhathini owe an average of US$ 1,322 per farmer and around 80% of them have defaulted on their loans.

*There has been no reduction in the use of pesticides. Now stink bugs have emerged as a major problem, as in other parts of the world where Bt cotton is grown.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5287
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5294

+ INDIAN FARMERS WIN BATTLE AGAINST GM CROPS
PV Satheesh, who heads the Coalition in Defence of Diversity in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh gave a presentation in London on how three years of research had helped Indian farmers win a battle against GM crops by establishing that they can be less productive than normal crops. Recently, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee of the Indian government withheld licenses for commercial cultivation on three varieties of GM cotton developed by Monsanto - Mech-12 Bt, Mech-162 Bt and Mech-184 Bt.

Though costing nearly 400 per cent more to buy, the average yield from the GM cotton was found to be about 150kg per acre, 30 percent less than from other non-GM varieties. The GM seeds also cost 12 percent more to cultivate in their need for manure and irrigation, and the reduction in pesticide use was negligible. ''Non-GM farmers earned 60 percent more than their GM counterparts over the three-year period,'' said the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in a paper.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5277

+ WHY SEEDS BILL IS DISASTER FOR INDIA'S FARMERS
Critics say India's proposed Seeds Bill will destroy farmers' livelihoods. "It is a Bill drafted under pressure from seed manufacturing MNCs like Monsanto. It has the potential to spell doom for Indian agriculture. Most of the seed varieties used in Indian agriculture today are farmer-produced. If farmers are not allowed to save and sell their own seeds, there can't be any agriculture here. The only aim of this Bill is to force the farmer to buy seeds from the market," says Vandana Shiva of Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5214

+ HEALTH CANADA WHISTLEBLOWERS WIN REVIEW
Three Health Canada scientists who say they were fired for raising questions about the way that the agency approves veterinary drugs have won another round in their years-long battle in their campaign for reinstatement.

The Federal Court quietly released a decision on April 29 ordering the public service integrity office (PSIO) to reconsider complaints from Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon, and Gerard Lambert that they, and the late Cris Bassude, had been pressured - and then sacked - for speaking out about the dangers of mad cow disease and about the use of Monsanto's GM growth hormones and antibiotics in the food supply. The PSIO had decided in 2003 that the allegations submitted by the applicants were unfounded.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5213

+ BIOTECH ARROGANCE IS LOSING U.S. EXPORTS - AMERICAN CORN GROWERS
The American Corn Growers Foundation (ACGF) and the American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) are warning US corn farmers that key US corn gluten exports are being lost due to unapproved GMO varieties that are unacceptable in various markets.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5222

+ AG INDUSTRY AIMS TO STRIP LOCAL CONTROL OF FOOD
Legislation aiming to prevent counties, towns and cities from making local decisions about our food supply is being introduced in states across the nation. Fifteen states recently have introduced legislation removing local control of plants and seeds. Eleven of these states have already passed the provisions into law.

These highly orchestrated industry actions are in response to recent local decisions to safeguard sustainable food systems. To date, initiatives in three California counties have restricted the cultivation of GM crops, livestock, and other organisms and nearly 100 New England towns have passed various resolutions in support of limits on GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5293

+ VENTRIA'S GM PHARMING NO CHEAPER THAN CONTAINED PRODUCTION
The lure of GM pharma plants is supposed to be that you can manufacture expensive pharmaceuticals more cheaply in plants. But it seems that the human proteins which the California based bio-pharma firm, Ventria Bioscience, wants to grow in rice, can be produced just as cheaply in contained conditions!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5218

+ PHARMA FIRM GOING SOUTH?
Even Monsanto's home state of Missouri seems to be proving too hot for GM pharma rice firm Ventria - already on the run from California. First, it looked like Ventria might have to move its experimental rice-growing to North Carolina with the option of trying to grow it in Missouri next year.

But now (as GM Watch predicted) with the US food industry breathing down its neck everywhere it tries to go, Ventria has its eyes on the South. "We are evaluating our options and looking at possible locations in Puerto Rico and South America," said Ventria president Scott Deeter.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5268

+ ALASKA: BILL REQUIRES LABELLING OF GM FISH
In an important setback for the biotech industry, GM fish will need to be labelled as such when sold in Alaska. The Alaska House approved the measure unanimously.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5223

+ DEMAND FOR ORGANICS SOARING
In the US, the market for organic foods has soared from $3.57 billion in 1997 to $10.38 billion in 2003.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5223

+ 36 ORGANIC MEGA-COUNTRIES DWARF EVEN ISAAA'S INFLATED FIGURES
Biotech industry lobby group ISAAA's 2005 report indicates that there were 14 biotech mega-countries in 2004 - countries where more than 50,000 hectares or biotech crops are being grown. The figures, however, are dubious.

Organic farming, on the other hand, whose certification process makes crop hectarage easy to establish, is developing rapidly throughout the world. According to an International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement's study, 36 countries achieved organic mega-country status in 2004, meaning that over 50,000 hectares of certified organic land are being cultivated. In total, over 26 million hectares of land are certified worldwide, generating over $25 billion in revenue in 2003.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5299

+ "FATHER OF GENE THERAPY" STILL FACING SEX ABUSE CHARGES
A judge has dismissed two of six sex abuse charges against William French Anderson, because they fell outside the six-year statute of limitations. Anderson still faces one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 and three counts of committing a lewd act upon a child.

Considered the "father of gene therapy," Anderson has been placed on administrative leave as director of the Gene Therapies Laboratories at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine. He was Time magazine's runner-up for man of the year in 1995.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5219

+ U.S. SCIENTISTS PUSH FOR GO-AHEAD TO GENETICALLY MODIFY SMALLPOX
US scientists are awaiting World Health Assembly approval to begin experiments to genetically modify the smallpox virus, one of the most lethal organisms the planet has known.
Protest: http://www.smallpoxbiosafety.org
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5242

+ MONSANTO DEFEATED IN ATTEMPT TO INVADE BRAZILIAN SCHOOLS
Brazil's ministry of culture has declined to support a "social" project financed by Monsanto, which was directed to students in Brazilian schools. After lobbying from individuals and NGOs, the ministry decided to suspend the distribution of the magazines that contained articles about agriculture, and were sponsored by Monsanto.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5250

+ SECRET DEALS SPLIT BEEKEEPERS
To the dismay of many beekeepers, the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) has agreed to sponsor several pesticides that can be lethal to bees. Firms such as Syngenta, FMC, Bayer and BASF now boast they are endorsed as "bee friendly" by the BBKA. In return, the association has earned tens of thousands of pounds, funding a Syngenta-sponsored beekeeping book for schools, a beekeeping display, and roof repairs to the BBKA's Warwickshire headquarters.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5212

+ CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE
Read a couple of excellent pieces by Dr Milton Wainwright, microbiologist at the University of Sheffield, on 'heresy' in corporate-led science, at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5297

+ ANTI-GM PROTESTS SUPPRESSED WORLDWIDE
It's not exactly hard to spot the pattern.

Students at the University of Lancaster in the UK peacefully protest against a "corporate venturing" conference on campus involving Lord Sainsbury, GM firm Dupont, arms manufacturer BAE Systems and Shell. 5 months later the protesters find themselves facing charges of aggravated trespass carrying a possible jail sentence.

In Denmark, Greenpeace protesters go into a company building to hang up a banner protesting against GM crops and eight months later find the organisation is to be prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws.

In May 2003, protesters in St Louis, who had come to demonstrate at the Monsanto-backed World Agricultural Forum (WAF) taking place in the city, found themselves arrested and held for hours before they even had the chance to protest. They're now bringing a legal case against the mayor and police chief for conspiring to stifle their protests.

In Thailand, GM protesters find themselves facing 5 years of prison for exposing an environmental crime involving illegal contamination of innocent farmers' papaya crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5248
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5247

+ TEWOLDE GETS VISA AFTER DELAY BY CANADIAN GOVT
Dr Tewolde Egziabher, Africa's chief biosafety negotiator, who was denied a visa from the Canadian government to enable him to attend a crucial biosafety meeting in Montreal, finally received the visa on the afternoon of 24 May. The meeting is being held from 25 May to 3 June 2005. The visa was granted after protests flooded in to Canadian government officials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5272

Tewolde tells why he thinks the Canadian government didn't want him to participate in the talks and says we must act now to protect the right of developing countries to participate in future talks:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5280

+ TEWOLDE CALLS ON UN TO MOVE AGENCY FROM CANADA
Cartagena Biosafety Protocol meetings should be moved away from Montreal if delegates continue to have problems getting Canadian visas to attend meetings, says Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, negotiator for the G-77 group of developing countries and China.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5289
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5303

+ FARMERS DENIED VISA FOR CANADA TO TELL STORY OF GM FAILURE
On 23 May two farmers from India were denied visas to attend the same meeting that Tewolde was hoping to attend in Montreal.

Prof Kavulakunpla Ramanna Chowdry, who is a farmer, a retired professor of agricultural economics and an adviser to the Andhra Pradesh state government, and Kaka Ramakrishna, a farmer who suffered huge losses in the recent Bt cotton disaster in his region, were to speak about their experiences with the GM cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5264

+ REVEALED: THE PRIVATE INTERESTS BEHIND THE "PUBLIC" RESEARCH INITIATIVE
In 1997, during the Biosafety Protocol negotiations, the Global Industry Coalition flew in a panel of ''public researchers'' to lend support to the industry's case. The biotech industry's attempt to influence the negotiations, although unsuccessful at the time, seems to have provided the model for the new Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI). PRRI has been actively promoting GM research and opposing strict regulation at the current Cartagena Protocol biosafety meeting in Montreal, while claiming not to be aligned with industry.

Our new GM Watch profile makes clear the dubious backgrounds and behaviour of those driving forward this new initiative, and exposes the truth about their claims to being independent of the biotech industry.
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=316

Another prominent lobby group in Montreal is the International Grain Trade Coalition (IGTC). Like the PRRI, the IGTC claims not to be aligned with the biotech industry. But IGTC consists of 17 members that are said to represent commercial grain, feed and processing interests in major exporting and importing countries and regions.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5314
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5316

+ CHAPELA GETS TENURE AND RETROACTIVE PAY!
UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau has granted tenure and retroactive pay to Prof Ignacio Chapela, who was denied tenure after he became a prominent critic of the biotech industry. The action comes a month after Chapela filed suit against the University of California. Said Chapela, "I'm glad that this small chapter in my story is over. This takes the tenure issue out of centre stage and allows us to concentrate on the questions of the corruption of the university and how decisions are made."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5272

A University spokesman claimed, "This shows the process works," but Chapela responded, "To me, it shows the system doesn't work, unless you fight."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5282

+ TURKISH GM SEED SCIENTIST’S LAB SHUT DOWN
A temporarily anonymous Turkish scientist is suing her university after it reassigned her to another department and shut her lab down, just as she was about to begin testing seed samples from around Turkey for unauthorized GM contamination.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5288

+ HEALTH FEARS OVER SECRET STUDY INTO GM FOOD
GM WATCH readers will have heard over a year ago about the study "revealed" in this story from the UK's Independent newspaper, but it's great that it's made the mainstream at last:

Rats fed on a diet rich in GM corn developed abnormalities to internal organs and changes to their blood, raising fears that human health could be affected by eating GM food. The Independent on Sunday can reveal details of secret research carried out by Monsanto, which shows that rats fed the modified corn had smaller kidneys and variations in the composition of their blood.

According to the confidential 1,139-page report, these health problems were absent from another batch of rodents fed non-GM food as part of the research project.

The disclosures come as European countries, including Britain, prepare to vote on whether the GM corn should go on sale to the public. A vote last week by the European Union failed to secure agreement over whether the product should be sold here, after Britain and nine other countries voted in favour.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5266

+ GOVERNMENTS CONSPIRE WITH MONSANTO TO COVER UP MAIZE DANGERS
Leaks from France, Germany and Belgium suggest that the GM maize variety MON863 may be unsafe for animal or human consumption, and that a major cover-up is under way, designed to protect Monsanto and the regulatory authorities which have prematurely advised that MON863 is safe.

In the UK, GM Free Cymru has been trying for months to obtain sight of the rat feeding study, the "opinions" of various EU governments, and other studies and papers relating to the MON863 application; but access has been consistently refused. NGOs in other countries have had similar experiences.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5270
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5271

+ MONSANTO AGREES TO RELEASE OF FEEDING STUDY EVALUATIONS
In a major new development in the MON863 scandal, Monsanto has agreed that it does not object to the widespread dissemination of the "Pusztai Report" on its controversial 90-day rat feeding studies.

After an extended campaign from NGOs to achieve the publication of Dr Pusztai's evaluation, Monsanto's UK head of Corporate Affairs, Tony Combes, has written to GM Free Cymru to say that the company has not been responsible for the suppression of this Report, and claiming that the refusal to release it into the public domain was down to the German Regulatory Authorities. Some of the findings of the rat feeding study were exposed in the "Independent on Sunday" newspaper, and repercussions from the story have gone around the world.

Dr Arpad Pusztai, one of the few independent scientists specializing in plant genetics and animal feeding studies, was asked by the German authorities in autumn 2004 to examine Monsanto's 1,139-page report on the feeding of MON863 to laboratory rats over a 90-day period. The study found "statistically significant" differences to kidney weights and certain blood parameters in the rats fed on the GM maize as compared with the control groups.

Dr Pusztai was forced by the German authorities to sign a "declaration of secrecy" before he was allowed to see the rat feeding study, on the grounds that the document is classified as "CBI" or "confidential business interest". However, he assumed that this would not prevent the publication of his findings by the Germans themselves, should his evaluation highlight any health and safety concerns. In the event, his evaluation was critical of the methodology of the study, and he also expressed concerns about what the researchers had found. The German government refused to publish his evaluation and insisted that Dr Pusztai respect his "gagging order." So he has been unable to circulate his written material or speak about what he found.

You can read Dr Pusztai's reports at:
http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~brianj/mon86355.html
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=66&page=1

All we need now is Monsanto to release its actual 1,139-page study on the feeding of MON863 to lab rats, to allow proper scientific discussion.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5306
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5308

+ LEAKED MONSANTO REPORT HITS SHARE PRICES
The leaks about the Monsanto rat feeding study (see above items) have hit the company hard. Shares were down 34 cents at $57.66 on the New York Stock Exchange on 23 May.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5276

+ CONTAMINATED MAIZE IMPOUNDED AT IRISH PORT
A US consignment of GM corn gluten feed tainted with Syngenta's illegal strain Bt10 has been impounded upon arrival at an Irish port. Curiously, although it has been claimed that only about 1,000 tons of animal feed containing the Bt10 corn have entered the EU since 2001, in this one impounded consignment there is some 2,500 tonnes sitting in an Irish port!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5279
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5296

+ ILLEGAL U.S. GM MAIZE FOUND IN JAPANESE IMPORTS
Japanese officials said that a shipment of corn from the US was found to be contaminated by Syngenta's illegal GM maize, Bt10.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5313

+ ARE Bt10 AND Bt11 THE SAME?
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has released documents that purport to support its view that Bt10 (the illegal Syngenta maize that is contaminating US exports) is virtually identical to the approved variety Bt11. Because of this, FSANZ has argued that it is justified in taking no steps to remove Bt10 products from Australian supermarket shelves or to prevent imports of Bt10 products.

But it is fast becoming clear that the two maize varieties are not the same. Dr Jack Heinemann, Institute of Gene Ecology, University of Canterbury, says, "The Syngenta documents you have provided indicate that there are additional and possibly substantial differences between Bt10 and Bt11."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5286

+ SCIENTIST WARNS OF SEVERE IMPACTS OF GM MAIZE
European countries should not grow insect-resistant GM maize because of its potential threat to the environment, Prof Bela Darvas of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences argued at a press conference organised by Greenpeace.

Prof Darvas's research on behalf of the Hungarian government into the effects of a Monsanto maize (MON 810) led Hungary in January 2005 to impose a national ban on the crop, which is authorised for growing in the EU. His preliminary findings show that protected butterfly species and other organisms are sensitive to the Bt toxin produced by the crop, and raised other questions regarding secondary effects. "Bt maize can have a severe unintended impact on a variety of species," he said.

Prof Darvas added, "We asked Monsanto several times to provide us with material necessary to conduct further research on behalf of the Hungarian government, but the company said that it did not wish to provide more modified seeds for research purposes. This is absolutely unacceptable from a scientific standpoint. We cannot suspend studies into the safety of GM crops just because the findings upset the biotech industry. If this is a reflection of how little they care about the impact of their products on the environment, we have cause to be very concerned."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5278