from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
Some great news this week: it seems likely that BASF's GM potatoes won't be coming to Ireland following the County Council of Meath's unanimous resolve to declare the county a GM-free zone. Also, a court in France has decided the GM companies can't hide the locations of their trial sites (EUROPE).
Finally, scientists believe they have identified some non-allergenic non-GM soy lines, which they plan to give away to researchers - watch out Monsanto don't take them specifically to make a GM version (RESEARCH)!
Claire This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org
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CONTENTS
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EUROPE
LOBBYWATCH
ASIA
RESEARCH
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EUROPE
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+ IRISH GM CROP EXPERIMENT CANCELED!
Meath Co. Council unanimously passed two motions on 8 May, that are widely expected to force BASF to abandon an experiment with GM potatoes which it hoped to launch this week at Summerhill, Co. Meath.
The Council's first motion declares Meath a GMO-free zone. This makes Meath the sixth county on the island to prohibit GMO seeds and crops, along with Cavan, Clare, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Roscommon, and the towns of Galway, Navan, Newry and Clonakilty. The Council's second motion calls on the EPA to not allow the experimental growing of any GMO seeds or crops in Ireland. Councillors said the EPA's decision would produce experimental transgenic potatoes that could not be placed on the market either as animal feed or food, and that the EPA and BASF failed to apply for the planning permission that is consequently required by law for re-zoning the farmland from agricultural to development use.
They also said the legal requirement imposed by the EPA for BASF to protect the site with a high-security electrical fence does not conform with normal agricultural practice under Section 5 of the Planning Act. Frank Corcoran, Chairman of An Taisce (the National Trust for Ireland), said the Meath Co. Council decisions will trigger a lengthy legal procedure that will effectively prevent the release of GMO crops in Meath for the foreseeable future.
Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent said, "Irish farmers join with Irish consumers in saying we will not stand idly by and watch the green clean GM-free image which helps sell Irish food be destroyed by the commercial colonisation of BASF."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6523
+ GM ISSUE COULD TOPPLE EU CONSTITUTION
Kathy Sinnott, an Irish Member of the European Parliament, has said that if the European Commission persists in its misguided policy to force GM seeds and crops on Ireland, the people of Ireland will vote against adopting the European Constitution and against any further EU integration.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6529
+ IRISH LABOUR PARTY JOINS GM-FREE IRELAND CAMPAIGN
The Labour Party spokesperson for agriculture and food, Mary Upton, announced that the Labour Party supports the campaign to conserve Ireland's GMO-free status. Mary Upton said the Labour Party considers the European Commisson's refusal to recognise the right of its member states and regions to ban GMO seeds and crops if they want to do so as undemocratic and completely unacceptable.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6529
+ IRELAND'S GREEN PARTY LEADER TELLS EU: WE DON'T WANT GM SEED AND CROPS
In the Dail (Irish Parliament), Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent took the EU to task for trying to impose GM seeds and crops on Ireland, saying, "The people I represent are angry with the EU for colluding with the World Trade Organisation to indulge the commercial colonisation tactics of GM biotech companies."
"The people and farmers of Ireland are not asking, they are telling the European Commission that they will determine the future of our GM free status which up to now has been taken for granted. The words of Herr Rudi Anschober, Minister for the Environment in Austria are a call to action in Ireland too when he says that 'it is a basic principle that we can decide on our own what will grow in our fields! We demand the right of self-determination for the region'."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6529
+ EU AUTHORIZES POLISH BAN ON GM MAIZE SEEDS
European Union officials have authorized a Polish ban on the use of around 700 types of maize seed, including 16 GM varieties, which had been cleared for sale throughout the EU. The European Commission said the Polish ban was justified because the maize varieties had a long growing cycle that would prevent the crop ripening in the Polish climate.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6519
+ TRIALS OF 2 GM MAIZES CANCELLED BY FRENCH COUNCIL OF STATE
On April 28, the French Council of State ruled in favour of a suit brought by the Federation of Farmers Trade Unions (Modef) which alleged that authorizations of Monsanto GM maize trials granted by the French biosafety commission (CGB) on 1 June 2004 followed an irregular process.
Modef said that the CGB and the minister of agriculture made their decision based on incomplete information as regards to the location of the proposed trials. Now, the highest French administrative court has validated Modef's argument.
Confronted to a major refusal of its technology by consumers and a large majority of farmers, Monsanto has been trying to adapt the French legislation to its needs by not releasing to the public the exact location of its trials as the law obliged it to do.
In France, activists have destroyed several of Monsanto's trial sites. Farmers who want to plant GM maize are forced to do it in secret while Monsanto tries to hide the exact location of its trials with the complicity of the government. This non-transparency has now been judged unlawful.
Past authorizations given by the CGB that followed a similar process could well be cancelled.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6522
+ ANTI-GM GROUPS ENTER FRENCH MONSANTO FACTORY
Around 100 environmental activists entered a factory belonging to US biotech giant Monsanto in southwest France aiming to destroy any GM seeds, officials said.
The protest ended after a few hours with no damage caused. The activists were members of Greenpeace, Confederation Paysanne and anti-GM group Faucheurs Volontaires.
"We know Monsanto produces genetically modified seeds that are likely to be sown this year. We wanted to find them and make them unusable," Arnaud Apoteker of Greenpeace said. He said no GMO seeds had been found.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6518
+ WTO CONFIRMS RULING AGAINST EU GM MORATORIUM
The World Trade Organization (WTO) confirmed in a final ruling that the European Union broke trade rules with its six-year moratorium on approving GM foods. The verdict, which had been widely expected, also condemned six member states - Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg - for applying individual bans on a number of GM products previously approved by the European Commission.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6530
+ U.S. DID NOT WIN WTO DISPUTE
Friends of the Earth commented that the US has failed in its bid to prevent the European Union from using strict regulations to control GM foods and crops (see above).
Adrian Bebb of FoE said: "This is no victory for the United States or the biotech companies. Countries still have the right to ban or suspend genetically modified foods and crops. Europe's only failure was the way they did it and not why they did it. Public opposition around the world is solid, and neither the United States or the WTO will stop countries from protecting their citizens and the environment from the risks of genetically modified crops".
The final ruling is substantially the same as the "draft ruling", which was leaked to FoE Europe in February.
The WTO's draft ruling rejected most of the US-led coalition's complaints:
* It refused to rule against strict EU regulations to control the use of GM food and crops;
* It refused to rule on whether GM foods are safe or different to conventional foods;
* It rejected US claims that moratoria are illegal and did not question the right of countries to ban GM foods or crops.
However, the WTO did rule - on technicalities - that Europe's four-year GM moratorium, which ended in 2004, broke trade rules by causing "undue delays". However, the WTO did not recommend any action against the EU and stated that moratoria were acceptable under certain circumstances. The WTO said national GM bans also broke trade rules, but only because the risk assessments did not comply with the WTO requirements.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6533
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ CAUTION URGED OVER "SCIENCE ERRORS" BY ROYAL SOCIETY
The Royal Society has come out with one of its periodical attacks on research which harms corporate interests. They want scientists who make such "mistakes in science research" as suggesting the MMR vaccine harms people and that GM potatoes harmed lab rats to keep quiet lest public opinion should be "distorted"!
The story, inspired by the Royal Society's ever-loyal reporter, Pallab Ghosh, begins: "Mistakes in science research have distorted the public perception of such scientific issues as the MMR vaccine and GM crops, senior UK scientists say. The Royal Society called for scientists to consider the public interest when deciding whether to talk about their research results.
"The society said errors were not confined to misreporting by the media. It said experts should consider public interest, not just whether the research would be interesting to the public."
The story continues: "Professor Sir Patrick Bateson, from the society, said scientists sometimes did not consider the impact of their words.
"We're also concerned about people sometimes producing work which is damaging."
Speaking of errors in science, perhaps Ghosh might like to correct some of his many erroneous claims in this and his other GM-related stories.
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=203
Note that Patrick Bateson of the Royal Society - quoted above - has been caught out lying about the Pusztai case in the past. He told readers of the journal Science and Public Affairs that The Lancet had only published Pusztai's research "in the face of objections by its statistically-competent referees". In fact, Pusztai's Lancet paper successfully came through a peer review process that was far more stringent than that applying to most published papers!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6532
For the RS's whole sorry history of lies on GM and its attempts to stifle the reporting of awkward research findings, see: http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=113
+ PUNDIT FOR HIRE: STEVEN MILLOY
An excellent article in the New Republic reveals details of the corporate finance that flows to FoxNews.com science columnist Steven Milloy. Milloy uses his journalistic position to cast doubt on global warming and tobacco dangers, which is not surprising considering that oil company ExxonMobil and tobacco giant Philip Morris have sponsored him. His end-of-year report, "the top 10 junk science claims of 2005", calls GM "one of the most thoroughly tested and regulated technologies ever developed".
EXCERPT from New Republic article:
Milloy has a long history of taking payment from industries that have a stake in the science stories he writes.
The ethical standards are clear. "Not disclosing this is wrong," says Tom Rosenstiel, the director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The real question, then, is why Fox News continues to employ Milloy. Or, in the words of James Hansen, a climate scientist and the head of nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, "The question is, 'Why does a major news organization employ such a hack?'"
... a January 2001 Philip Morris budget report lists Milloy as a consultant and shows that he was budgeted for $92,500 in fees and expenses in both 2000 and 2001. Asked about Milloy's tobacco ties, Paul Schur, director of media relations for Fox News, said, "Fox News was unaware of Milloy's connection with Philip Morris. Any affiliation he had should have been disclosed." Milloy could not be reached for comment. ...
It has become increasingly hard to defend tobacco or attack smoking studies, which is probably why Milloy's more recent targets have included climate scientists ... "Tobacco has lost most of these battles, but there is still opportunity to spread doubt about global warming," says David Michaels, the chair of the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy at George Washington University. ...
... as far as Milloy [is concerned], Fox News should be judged the same way tobacco companies were during their trials: What did they know, and when did they know it? Fox News has certainly known since last spring that money from ExxonMobil was going to Milloy's home-based charities. Perhaps the real reason the news organization tolerates Milloy is that his pro-industry, anti-environmentalist views dovetail nicely with those of its political commentators. Still, this misses an important distinction. Objective viewers long ago realized that Fox News has a political agenda. But, when a pundit promotes this agenda while on the take from corporations that benefit from it, then Fox News has gone one disturbing step further.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6525
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ASIA
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+ FARMERS' LEADERS WANT STRICT GM LABELING IN INDIA
Bharat Krishak Samaj, India's leading farmers' organisation with some 5 million farmers as members, is calling for strict GM labeling in India. The organization opposes Indian government moves to allow a "soft" provision to state "May Contain GM Traces". It also opposes the government's plan to allow pre-shipment test certificates from accredited agencies in lieu of test reports.
BKS's call follows new changes in India's Foreign Trade Policy which say that all imported GM products should be labeled.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6521
+ FARMER GROUPS LASH OUT AT GM GENOCIDES AND GOVT POLICIES
Farmers' and civil society organisations have lashed out at unilateral liberalisation policy of government aimed at greater involvement of corporations.
The leader of the country's largest farmers' organisation, Bharat Krishak Samaj, with Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary and Dr Vandana Shiva of the Delhi-based Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, said that the government policies are no longer based on ensuring food security and farmers' livelihood, but are dictated by WTO, World Bank, IMF and USDA, and are best suited to serve the interests of multinationals.
Ms Shiva released an updated version of Navadanya's study estimating more than 40,000 cases of farmers' suicides. She said, "Suicides are noticed in belts where farmers grow hybrid seeds and genetically modified seeds and cannot save these seeds for the next season. These suicides are nothing but genocides... The suicide belt is the GM cotton belt."
Mr Chaudhary and Ms Shiva announced that they would undertake Bija Yatra-Asha Yatra (march to save seeds) in the suicide belts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka from May 10, this year.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6524
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6527
+ JOHN VIDAL OF THE GUARDIAN ON BT COTTON DEATHS IN SHEEP
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6528
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RESEARCH
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+ SCIENTISTS ACHIEVE ALLERGEN-FREE SOY BREAKTHROUGH - WITHOUT GM
Researchers have isolated two non-GM Chinese soybean lines that can grow without the primary protein linked to soy allergies. The scientists say that the two lines will be given away to breeders seeking to produce new varieties of allergy-free soybeans without genetic engineering.
Crop scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service's Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre in St. Louis screened more than 16,000 soybean lines kept in the USDA's National Soybean Germplasm Collection.
It was discovered that two soybean lines (PI 567476 and PI 603570A) contained virtually identical genetic mutations that do not contain the leading allergy-causing P34 protein, which consists of 379 amino acids.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6526