GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 36
Claire Robinson, editor
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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
OTHER CONTAMINATION STORIES
GM FAILURES
GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF GOVERNMENT
TERMINATOR
PHARMING
RESEARCH
CORPORATE CRIMES
LOBBYWATCH
NEW BOOK
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GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
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+ ILLEGAL GM RICE IN U.S. FOOD SUPPLY - FDA/USDA
Late on Friday 18 August it was announced that an unapproved GM rice (LLRice 601) grown only in Bayer field trials had been found contaminating US long-grain rice. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6908
+ JAPAN SUSPENDS U.S. LONG-GRAIN RICE IMPORTS
Japan quickly suspended imports of all US long-grain rice. Japan has a zero-tolerance policy on imports of unapproved GM crops, and importers of crops tainted with unapproved GMOs must destroy them or ship them back to exporting countries.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6910
+ GM CONTAMINATION WIDESPREAD: BAYER KNEW IN MAY
An article in the New York Times shows that:
***Rice marketer Riceland Foods knew in January that there was contamination of rice destined for export and human consumption
***The contaminated rice appears to be widespread across Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas
***There appear to be many positive samples
***Bayer knew about this in May, but apparently did not inform USDA until July
31
***And USDA did not go public until nearly 3 weeks later.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6927
+ U.S. KNOWINGLY SHIPPED BANNED FOOD FOR A YEAR - UK AFFECTED
Britons have unwittingly been eating banned GM rice imported from the US for months, if not years, food safety experts fear.
Imports of the rice were stopped by the European Commission (EC) on 24 August. But investigations in the US show that it has long been "widespread" in grain destined to be shipped overseas.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6936
+ USDA HIDES ANOTHER BIOTECH DISASTER - FOR SAKE OF MONEY
At a press conference, US secretary of agriculture Mike Johanns indicated that an economic motive was behind the government's delay in informing the public about the contamination, as the government anticipated foreign rice importers might reject the product. Johanns said the USDA spent the time preparing tests for rice importers to check the product for contamination.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6953
+ ILLEGAL GM RICE CONFIRMED IN NETHERLANDS
A shipment of LL601 GM rice from the United States arrived in the Netherlands on 26 August, the European Commission said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6962
+ EU STILL WAITING FOR DETAILS ON ILLEGAL RICE
EU food safety authorities are still waiting for Washington to provide more details about the unauthorised biotech rice strain. "We still have no formal information about the extent of the contamination, origin or timeframe for when this happened," one EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But we have heard informally from the rice industry that their preliminary testing indicates that the contamination may be much more widespread than first thought," he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6957
+ "ALMOST ALL THE TESTS ARE POSITIVE"
Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Richard Bell comments on the results of tests for the illegal GM rice: "Almost all the tests are showing up positive... I'm not aware of any milled rice it hasn't shown up in." He added, "The people who will gain the most will be the testing laboratories and attorneys."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6951
+ PROTEST DEREGULATION OF ILLEGAL RICE
On 22 August 2006 Bayer applied for the deregulation of LL601. This would instantly transform it from a contaminant to an administrative oversight. GM Free Cymru has protested to Neil Hoffman at APHIS and has asked for others to do the same. His e-mail address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. GM Free Cymru's letter is at http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6939
+ U.S. GOVT OVERSIGHT OF GM CROPS SEEN LACKING
A superb Reuters commentary says criticism is mounting over the US government's failure to control experimental GM crops in the wake of the GM rice contamination.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6958
+ FARMERS FACE MASSIVE LOSSES AS MARKET CRASHES
Following USDA's announcement about the GM contamination, the market reacted negatively. Dwight Roberts, president of the US Rice Producers' Association (USRPA), said, "There is no good news with this... On (Aug. 21) the futures market fell 28 cents. (On Aug. 22), it fell the limit. Overnight trading was up a few cents but has since fallen. ... This is not what we wanted to hear." For losses on (Aug. 21 and Aug. 22) alone, "we calculate farmers lost about $150 million. We feel farmers shouldn't take the brunt of this." http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6957
+ LAWSUITS FLOURISH AS U.S. RICE FARMERS SUE BAYER OVER GM RICE
Rice farmers in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and California have sued Bayer CropScience, alleging its GM rice has contaminated the crop. Reports have emerged of three separate lawsuits. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6946
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6948
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6949
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6973
+ BAYER TO CUT 1,500 JOBS IN CROPSCIENCE UNIT
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6948
+ HUMAN GENES IN U.S. RICE, TOO
Some other GM rice in the US contains human genes. http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/humangenesrice.htm_http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/ap_060515_rice_gene.html
+ DUBYA SAYS HE'S "ON TOP OF" GM RICE FIASCO
During a visit to Little Rock, Arkansas, George W Bush said he was "on top of" the GM rice issue.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6963
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OTHER CONTAMINATION STORIES
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+ BASF APPLIES FOR GM POTATO TRIALS IN UK
At the moment there are no GM field trials taking place anywhere in the UK. But the German chemicals giant BASF wants to change that. The company has applied to begin UK field trials of GM potatoes in Derbyshire and Cambridge as early as April.
According to one report, "Barry Stickings of BASF said he did not expect too much opposition to the application".
What planet's he on?
BASF is proposing to grow potatoes that have been genetically modified to give them resistance to late blight, a fungal disease. No account seems to have been taken of the fact that there are plenty of non-GM potato strains that are naturally resistant to blight.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6923
+ PROTEST AGAINST GM POTATO TRIALS
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6926
+ GM POTATOES IN UK - SOIL ASSOCIATION
The Soil Association has issued a briefing on BASF's proposed UK GM potato trials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6928
+ ENGLAND: GM CONTAMINATION - MATERIALS TO TAKE ACTION AND EVENT
Friends of the Earth has set up a new website: www.stopgmcontamination.org to help people have their say in the government's GM "coexistence" consultation for England.
They've made available more materials to help campaigners work on this locally - available at http://community.foe.co.uk/contamination
On Thursday 19 October they're holding an action in London to mark the end of the consultation, to give campaigners a chance to get together to publicly reject the government's GM contamination plans and insist they listen to demands for tough action to keep our food and farming GM-free. If you can go, please contact Richard Hines This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 0113 242 8153.
+ PLANNED RELEASE OF GM WHEAT IN GERMANY
For the first time since 2004, there is an application for open-air field trials of GM wheat in Germany. The location of the field trial is close to fields used by the Gatersleben gene bank in Sachsen-Anhalt. There, hundreds of old wheat varieties are stored, which for preservation must be replanted again and again in the open.
Protest: http://www.umweltinstitut.org/genweizen
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6887
+ UNAPPROVED GM MAIZE CONTAMINATES SEED LOTS IN EUROPE
Non-GM maize seed lots in Slovenia have been contaminated by two GMOs, Syngenta's Bt11 and Monsanto's MON810. Bt11 does not have approval to be grown in Slovenia or anywhere else in the EU.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6852
+ GOLF COURSE GM GRASS ESCAPES IN OREGON
A glyphosate-resistant GM grass designed for golf-courses has escaped into the wild in Oregon, USA. The manufacturer is the Scotts Company, Marysville, Ohio. Lawn and grass seed is exported from Oregon all over the world, including to the UK.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6872
+ INDIA: SHEEP DEATHS UNRESOLVED
The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) is yet to resolve the issue of the reported cases of sheep mortality following grazing over Bt cotton fields in Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh.
A GEAC official said, "We could not resolve the issue as factual reports and post-mortem studies from the state government are awaited. We have also asked the department of biotechnology to conduct animal toxicity study for Bt cotton leaves and seeds."
The shepherds and the shepherds' union leaders have recorded their testimony which shows that sheep mortality was due to grazing over Bt cotton fields. The local veterinary surgeon found that 11 out of 45 mortality cases between January and April were linked to grazing over Bt cotton fields and Bt poisoning. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6909
+ PROTEST IN BANGLADESH AGAINST GOLDEN RICE
A protest was organized August 6 in front of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) against the introduction of Golden Rice. The meeting was attended by 100 farmers' representatives.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6861
+ CONTAMINATING AFRICA - THAT'S THE GAME PLAN
Phil Bereano, professor emeritus of the department of technical communication, University of Washington, writes: "During the Jo-berg Earth Summit, I debated a very high-level USAID official on SA TV about such matters. It was very contentious. The arguments continued after the cameras went off and she said to me, 'In a few years we will have planted enough GE in Africa so that the whole continent will be "contaminated".'"
"That's the gameplan, and we should always keep it in mind, in my opinion. It's intentional, not 'adventitious'. It is a way of destroying the [Cartagena] Protocol (which has always been the US objective)." http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6882
+ BIOTECH FIRM SEEKS APPROVAL TO CONTAMINATE FOOD CROPS
Concern is mounting that Food Standards Australia New Zealand is being pressured by biotech companies to officially approve contamination of food with GM crops designed for industrial and pharmaceutical production.
Syngenta has applied to FSANZ to allow a biofuel GM corn into the human food chain because of expectations that it will contaminate food anyway. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6855
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GM FAILURES
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+ ONE SUICIDE EVERY 8 HOURS
In Vidarbha, Maharashtra, India's cotton growing belt, farmers are committing suicide at a rate of one every eight hours, says an article in the Indian press. The majority of the cotton farmers taking their lives have been Bt cotton growers. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6937
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6961
+ REPORT ON REASONS FOR FARMER SUICIDES
The fact that the majority of suicides in Vidarbha are attributable involve farmers using Bt cotton seeds confirms the failure of Bt technology to deliver the much hyped results, says a detailed report from the NGO Prakruti and other NGOs. The report suggests that farmer self-sufficiency through use of traditional crops and minimum external inputs are the way out of the mess. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6943
+ LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK
A Bloomberg article on the farmer suicides juxtaposes some startling facts: ***More than 18,000 farmers may kill themselves this year, the most ever recorded
***Rising input costs are a major factor
***Expensive GM seeds are pushing costs beyond farmers' means ***Monsanto's fiscal third-quarter net income soared sevenfold to $334 million
***Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, cotton farmer Chandrabhan Gurnule burned himself to death over a 105,000-rupee debt. [1 rupee is 0.0215378 US$]
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6961
+ 1,864 SUICIDES AND RISING
A revealing article for Counterpunch reports on the 1,864 farmer suicides in the Vidharba cotton belt of India, often prompted by the failure of Bt cotton:
EXCERPT:
Input costs ... have not been trifling... Bt cotton ... costs much more than non-Bt seed. And despite all the claims made for it, input dealers here have seen no decline in pesticide sales as a result of its use. Some claim higher sales than before. If there is any fall now, it might be due to excess rain crippling farm operations. And many farms have reported failure with Bt anyway, long before the downpour.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6890
More on Bt cotton failure: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6895
GM Watch podcast on Bt cotton failure: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6904
+ "NOTHING UNSCIENTIFIC" ABOUT LOW-INPUT, LOW-RISK ORGANIC FARMING
An article for India Together says low-external input organic farming is the solution to farmer indebtedness and suicides, though it is largely ignored by the media and scorned by many scientists as "unscientific".
Dr Tarak Kate, from Dharamitra, an NGO in Wardha, has done a study on small and marginal farmers using organic methods to negate the charge that this alternative is "unscientific" and "unproven". Dharamitra has organised farmers' study groups to demonstrate how profitable organic farming can prove.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6896
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GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
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+ U.S. FEDERAL COURT RULES BIOPHARM PERMITS ILLEGAL
Citing possible harm to Hawaii's 329 endangered and threatened species, a federal district judge has ruled that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in permitting the cultivation of drug-producing GM crops throughout Hawaii.
US District Judge Michael Seabright said the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service flouted both the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act by not conducting preliminary environmental reviews before issuing the planting permits.
"APHIS's utter disregard for this simple investigation requirement, especially given the extraordinary number of endangered and threatened plants and animals in Hawaii, constitutes an unequivocal violation of a clear congressional mandate," the judge said in the order.
The corn and sugar cane plants, already harvested because the experiments involving them were completed before the case was decided, had been modified to produce human hormones, drugs and ingredients for vaccines against AIDS and hepatitis B.
The ruling may make it harder to win permits to grow GM crops across the country. Said Honolulu Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff, "The days of rubber-stamping these (genetically engineered crop permits) are over. Whenever (the USDA) proposes to issue permits, they're going to have to examine their impact." http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6888
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6891
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6894
+ MONSANTO BACKED GM BILL DIES IN LEGISLATURE
Supporters of precautions for genetically engineered crops declared victory in their battle to defend the rights of counties and cities to enact local restrictions on genetically engineered organisms. SB1056, a bill that would have pre-empted such local laws, failed to make it out of committee in the California Senate and died with the close of the legislative year.
The Monsanto-backed bill was introduced last year after the passage of four county and two city bans on GM crops. It was opposed by associations of cities and counties, environmentalists, organic and family farmers, and thousands of citizens concerned that it would have pre-empted democratically established local rules. California currently has no state regulations to protect farmers, consumers or the environment from the risks of GE crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6970
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF GOVERNMENT
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+ BUSH NOMINATES ANTI-REGULATION ZEALOT TO HEAD REGULATORY POLICY
The White House has nominated Susan Dudley, an anti-regulatory extremist from the industry-funded Mercatus Center, to an obscure but powerful office where she would have the power to gut the federal government's ability to protect the public.
Dudley would become the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, an office with enormous authority over environmental, health, and safety regulations.
You may have thought the largely voluntary US system for the regulation of GMOs somewhat lax, but here's what Dudley thinks: "Unscientific fears, fanned by activists and short-sighted government policies, have led to a regulatory framework that singles out genetically modified crops for greater scrutiny and even prohibition."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6869
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TERMINATOR
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+ MONSANTO TO BUY TERMINATOR COMPANY FOR USD 1.5 BILLION
Monsanto has agreed to buy cotton seed maker Delta and Pine Land Co. for $1.5 billion. According to the Ban Terminator Campaign, Delta & Pine Land:
***is the 11th largest seed company in the world
***is the largest cotton seed company in the world
***produces and sells conventional and GM soy and cotton seed.
Delta & Pine has publicly declared its intention to commercialize Terminator.
Delta & Pine holds three patents jointly with the United States Department of Agriculture. These were the first patents on Terminator. Delta & Pine is conducting greenhouse tests of Terminator in the US and has new glossy promotional material on Terminator.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6892
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6898
+ WHAT TERMINATOR IS REALLY ABOUT
An excellent article by F. William Engdahl on Terminator spells out what it's really about.
EXCERPT:
Relations between Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land and the USDA, on closer scrutiny, show the deep and dark side of the much-heralded genetic revolution in agriculture. It proves deep-held suspicions that the Gene Revolution is not about "solving the world hunger problem" as its advocates claim. It's about handing over control of the seeds for mankind's basic food supply - rice, corn, soybeans, wheat, even fruit, vegetables and cotton - to privately owned corporations. Once the seeds and their use are patented and controlled by one or several private agribusiness multinationals, it will be they who can decide whether or not a particular customer - let's say for argument, China or Brazil or India or Japan - whether they will or won't get the patented seeds from Monsanto, or from one of its licensee GMO partners like Bayer Crop Sciences, Syngenta or DuPont's Pioneer Hi-Bred International...
As Kissinger said back in the 1970's, "Control the oil and you can control entire Continents. Control food and you control people..."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6940
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PHARMING
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+ PLAN TO GROW AIDS CREAM IN TOBACCO PLANTS IN EAST AFRICA
A team of scientists led by Dr Julian Ma of the University of London is using GM tobacco plants to make Cyanovarin-N for microbicidal vaginal creams aimed at preventing HIV transmission. The plan is to grow the product on tobacco farms in Kenya. "This is a very logical area for Africa to move into," says Dr Calestous Juma, a fervent GM supporter at Harvard University.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6866
+ PHARMA CROPS IN GERMANY
One hundred and fifty square meters of GM maize were apparently destroyed in Germany by GM opponents recently. The pro-GM lobby group InnoPlanta says it's confronting a "Reign of Terror"!
Some might think a more reasonable cause for concern were the over 2000 square meters of pharma crops due to be grown in Germany in the coming year. The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) authorized an application by the University of Rostock on June 14. In the trial, three different GM potato lines will be used, which contain genes for different pharmaceutical or industrial compounds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6863
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RESEARCH
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+ GM COTTON FAILS TO IMPROVE BIODIVERSITY OR YIELD
Another hammer blow for the hyping of GM cotton as a miracle crop has been struck by a large-scale study showing no benefits for biodiversity, no yield increases, no reductions in herbicide use, and increasing problems with secondary pests. The research was carried out in the US by ecologist Yves Carriere of the University of Arizona and published in Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6857
MORE ON THIS: New studies highlight the failures of GM cotton - GM Watch podcast and transcript.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6904
+ BT FAILS IN CHINA
Pro-GM scientists are rowing among themselves over the failure of GM cotton in China, revealed in the recent Cornell study, which showed secondary pests to be a big problem. Monsanto blames the large circulation of illegal Bt seeds; one of the researchers blames cool wet weather for outbreaks of pests; and study co-author Per Pinstrup-Andersen's answer is (you guessed it) yet more GM cottonseeds, this time with multiple resistance, focusing on the secondary pests in a particular country.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6933
MORE ON THIS: New studies highlight the failures of GM cotton - GM Watch podcast and transcript.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6904
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ THE PENTAGON AND GM SOYA
A shocking article details the carnage wrought with the support of the US military in Paraguay, where the countryside is being forcibly cleared to plant GM soya.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6850
+ PEASANT FAMILY IN PARAGUAY CONDEMNED BY AGROTOXINS
An article from Upside Down World about the devastating impact of GM soya and the accompanying agrotoxins on rural people in Paraguay begins thus (EXCERPT):
In 2003, in the department of Itapua, Paraguay, Silvino Talavera, then 11 years old, was fumigated with a cocktail of agrotoxins which are being used to crop Roundup Ready soybeans. The children of Petrona; Silvino, Sofia (then 13 years) and Patricia (2 years), had to be hospitalised the following days due to extreme exposure to the agrotoxins. When their condition stabilised they were able to return home, where they were then exposed to yet another fumigation from another neighbouring soy farmer. Silvino died a few days after. Traces of phenol, carbamate and glyphosate were found in his sister's blood. With the support of CONAMURI, a Paraguayan organisation of peasant and indigenous women, Petrona started a court case in 2003 to try to get justice for the murder of her son and the poisoning of her entire family.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6959
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6959
+ MONSANTO WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS GM CROPS MAY CAUSE DISEASE
Monsanto's former facilitator for GM cotton sales in California and Arizona has blown the whistle on the ignorance and apathy within the company about the possible health risks of GM crops. Kirk Azevedo, who has a degree in biochemistry, told Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, about his concerns that the GM process can produce dangerous new proteins in the host plant.
EXCERPT:
The [Monsanto] scientist dismissed these newly created proteins in the cotton plant as unimportant background noise, but Kirk wasn't convinced. Proteins can have allergenic or toxic properties, but no one at Monsanto had done a safety assessment on them...
Kirk said, "These Monsanto scientists are very knowledge about traditional products, like chemicals, herbicides and pesticides, but they don't understand the possible harmful outcomes of genetic engineering..."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6942
+ AGENT ORANGE VICTIMS STILL FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE
An estimated 4 million Vietnamese were exposed to Monsanto and Dow's toxic defoliant sprayed by the US, Agent Orange, but none have received compensation.
In March 2005, the Vietnamese Government lost a lawsuit against 37 chemical companies that provided the US government with Agent Orange. The judge ruled that it had not been proved that the chemical caused birth defects and illness.
Now Vietnam has filed an appeal, expected to go before the US Court of Appeals in November, promising new research on genetic deformity and 26 new plaintiffs to add to the original three. The latest research from the Military Medical Institute on 50,000 people shows people who live in AO/dioxin-affected areas will have up to 2.95 per cent and 2.69 per cent of their children and grandchildren respectively deformed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6938
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ JENNIFER THOMSON LYING DOWN UNDER
The South African GM lobbyist Jennifer Thompson told the Australian press, "As European governments sit and contemplate the possible danger of GM foods, they commit Africans and those in other developing countries to years even decades of starvation."
"The European countries are not in favour of it [GM] and they're trying to sway the opinion of the people in African countries, saying if you eat GM foods you will be sterilised and totally appalling things like that. It's very inconsiderate and actually very cruel, to the extent that the Zambian Government will not even accept food aid, not even if it's milk."
Before the Zambian government made its decision not to accept GM maize (not milk!) as food aid, it ordered a careful assessment by its own team of experts. They travelled to South Africa, the US and Europe to meet GM regulators and scientific supporters and critics of GM.
Thompson is on the board of the biotech industry backed lobby group AfricaBio. She is also an advisor to the biotech-industry funded Council for Biotechnology Information in the US, a Board Member of the biotech-industry backed ISAAA and Chair of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, which receives backing from the industry and USAID to introduce GM crops into Africa. Yet despite all this backing from wealthy and powerful Northern promoters of biotech, she likes to present GM as something craved in the South and obstructed from the North!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6859
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6860
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NEW BOOK
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The former editor of GM Watch's Weekly Watch has a new book coming out. "Genetically Modified Food: A Short Guide for the Confused" by Andy Rees is published 9 October 2006. Cost is GBP12.99. It's extremely readable and accessible and would be great for sending to friends, family, and decision-makers. At the same time, it's meticulously researched and referenced, so we also highly recommend it for use in schools and colleges.
"Rees unmasks the biotech industry's horrific tactics in their race to take over our food supply and the devastation that their GM crops will inflict if we don't act quickly." Jeffrey M. Smith, best-selling author of Seeds of Deception
"Gives a great boost to all public-spirited citizens who want to get their facts straight. ... Highly recommended!" Dr Arpad Pusztai, the world's leading expert on plant lectins
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6952