GMWatch News Review archive

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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The US government continues its piratical rampage around the world, making the saving of seeds illegal in occupied Iraq. Other nations must wake up now to the fact that this is not a 'one-off'. The US is pursuing the same agenda through bilateral trade deals and doubtless will soon argue, via the World Trade Organisation, that the lack of such a law in any country serves as an illegal trade barrier to US companies' patented seeds, and 'harmonisation' will be demanded. (see LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL: WORLD FOOD DAY)

Meanwhile, Argentina continues to provide a vision of what the GM future holds in store for those countries opting for such a path. In the country where GM soya is king, but which can't even feed itself amidst the destroyed lives and environmental devastation - Monsanto is now helping to draft Argentina's GM seed legislation!! (see THE AMERICAS)

The reality of GM is also all too apparent in India where outraged farmers have gone on the rampage, demanding compensation for the failure of Bt cotton and staging a sit-in and damaging shops, amidst much suffering and even reports of a suicide. (see FOCUS ON ASIA)

From Africa there's encouraging news of African ministers of agriculture stepping up their opposition to GMOs, while Zambia, which rejected GM maize as food aid, is now enjoying big surpluses of uncontaminated maize. A Wired News article notes that 'organizations like GM Watch accuse biotech companies and industry-sponsored groups of trying to browbeat African governments into accepting weak safety regulations, while aggressively mounting slick PR campaigns to force their products on an unsuspecting population'. (see AFRICA and CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK)

Finally, I hope UK subscribers haven't missed the first instalment on BBC TV of Adam Curtis's superb analysis of how our political masters create an illusion of terror to keep us under their control (The Power of Nightmares: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/3755686.stm). Its relevance to matters GM is clear: governments and their corporate financiers conspire to frighten nations with nightmare visions of famine and pestilence - and seduce them with promises of wonder crops - that justify their seizure of the world's food supply.

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

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CONTENTS
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LOBBYWATCH
FOCUS ON ASIA
AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
AUSTRALASIA
FUNGUS 'N' MANURE
LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL: WORLD FOOD DAY
EUROPE
CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK
DONATIONS

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ "BIOTECH CROPS GET A RAVE REVIEW" FROM PRO-GM INDUSTRY BODY
"Biotech crops get a rave review" is the headline in the St Louis Post-Dispatch - Monsanto's hometown business paper. Like other American papers, it's reporting a study showing that US farmers who plant GM crops are "saving more money, reducing environmental damage and producing more per acre". For the farmer, the study says, this all adds up "to a 27 percent improvement in net farm income".

This is not from the first time that the study's authors, the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP), have produced such eye-popping statistics based on US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data.

In the same month that a previous NCFAP report was published, the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its own extensive analysis of the economic performance of GM crops in America, revealing a completely different picture. The USDA report went so far as to conclude, "Perhaps the biggest issue raised by these results is how to explain the rapid adoption of GE crops when farm financial impacts appear to be mixed or even negative."
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/usdagmeconomics.htm

For more on the dubious background and antics of the pro-GM National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy (NCFAP) and its biotech industry backers: http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=94

For the Organic Trade Association's response to the study
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4556

ON THE LOBBYWATCH FRONT SEE ALSO FUNGUS 'N' MANURE, AND OUR LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL.

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FOCUS ON ASIA
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+ INDIA: FARMERS GO ON RAMPAGE AFTER BT COTTON FAILS YET AGAIN
In Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, hundreds of outraged farmers went on the rampage and demanded compensation for the failure of Bt cotton. The farmers staged a sit-in and damaged shops.

The District Collector has asked the company to visit the fields to estimate the losses and make arrangements to pay compensation. The Minister for Agriculture for Andhra Pradesh has convened fifty study teams to look into the failure.

To make an independent assessment, scientists from the Centre from Sustainable Agriculture visited villages in Geesukonda Mandal of Warangal district on 19 October, 2004. The following are their findings.

In Rattiram Tanda, a small hamlet of Kommala village, various Bt cotton hybrids are being grown in more than 100 acres. The villagers purchased the Bt cotton hybrids from Warangal market hoping to tackle the dreaded Bollworm. But shattering their hopes, the Bt hybrids failed.

Mr Veeraswamy has grown Bt MECH-12. The plants are small, with few bolls. Insects are eating away the bolls, despite the so-called new technology. More than 30% of the plants in the field have dried up. When split open, wilt symptoms are clearly seen.

The story is repeated with Ms Vankloth Vijaya who grew Bt RCH-2 of Raasi seeds, or Vankloth Balaraju who grew Bt MECH-184.

Till now farmers have spent around 8 thousand rupees on pesticides like Avaunt and Tracer besides Rs 1600 on seeds. When the suffering farmers contacted the dealers, they were told that the dealers were not responsible. The company never visited or advised the farmers.

In Elukurthi Haveli, Mr Yadava Reddy has grown Bt RCH-2. The crop has not performed as expected. The plants suffered wilt. The bolls are infested with bollworms. In Konayamakula Mr. Narasinga Rao has grown Bt MECH-12 with similar results.

The wilt symptoms in Bt cotton started appearing in the initial year. The company and the government had turned a deaf ear to the apprehensions raised by several investigating teams closely following Bt cotton’s performance.

It has been claimed that weather fluctuations caused the damage. It is surprising, then, to see that all other cotton hybrids in the neighboring fields are performing better, given the same weather conditions! What is more striking is that wherever gap filling was done with non-Bt cotton hybrids, the plants are healthy!

...On the other hand, in several villages where farmers adopted non-GM non-pesticidal management of insect pests, the crop is in very good condition and such successful experiences are already appearing in the media.

Punukula in Khammam district is one such village where farmers are growing cotton (including popular hybrids) without resorting to GM cotton or pesticides. This is being done on more than 600 acres.

In Warangal district as well, farmers in Jatok tanda, Gudi tanda, KK tanda etc. in Parvathagiri mandal as well as Nelapogula and Neermala villages in Jangaon, with the help of organisations like MARI and CROPS, are successfully using non-pesticidal options in their cotton cultivation. The cotton crop is in very good condition here too.

It is reported that Bt Cotton farmers in Warangal face losses in the majority of the areas where it is being grown. The same is the case with farmers from others districts like Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Karimnagar, Adilabad and several other districts. Given the extent of the acreage of Bt Cotton reportedly sown in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the losses to the farmers are unimaginable.

In Chinna Nekkonda village of Warangal district, a Bt cotton farmer has committed suicide yesterday and the distress is growing among the farmers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4557
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4546

+ THREAT OF GM RICE LOOMS
The possible commercialisation of GE rice in China next year is a serious threat to the food safety of the world's most populous nation, Greenpeace warned on 15 October, the eve of World Food Day.

A Chinese scientist involved in the approval process for GE crops in China has told Greenpeace that GE rice cultivation is near.

A new report from Greenpeace explains how the commercialisation of GE rice in China threatens the rich biodiversity of local rice varieties. China is the birthplace of rice and still possesses one of the richest genetic resources of rice in the world, with more than 75,000 varieties. If GE rice is grown in the field, it is bound to contaminate local varieties, as seen in Mexico with GE maize. Research by Chinese scientists has found that the pollen of GE rice may spread as far as 110 meters at high wind speeds. Furthermore, if China proceeds with the commercialization of GE rice, it is likely that other Asian countries, notably Thailand and India, will follow shortly.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4530

+ RICE AT RISK - GREENPEACE TOUR
Greenpeace has organized a tour, "The Rice is Life Tour", 16-24 October in Yunnan province, which has the richest diversity of rice in China. Greenpeace representatives are travelling the province with journalists, rice experts and people concerned about GE rice from Denmark, UK, Hong Kong and mainland China. During the tour Greenpeace will be looking for the best ways to ensure the sustainable development of rice and safeguarding cultural traditions in the heart of one of the world's homelands of rice.

"The future of rice should stay in the hands of those for whom rice is life, not a few GE scientists and officials," said Sze Pang Cheung, Campaign Manager of Greenpeace China. "If we are to promote the sustainable future of rice farming, GE rice is simply not the answer."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4536

+ ARE INDIA AND CHINA BANKING ON GM?
India and China are accelerating investment in biotech research to feed their teeming millions, say scientists and officials at a workshop organized by the biotech industry backed body ISAAA in Patencheru in southern Andhra Pradesh state. ISAAA officials said China and India accounted for more than half the developing world's expenditure on plant biotechnology.

India has a third of the world's hungry. According to an Agence France-Presse article, $25m a year, the majority of it public money, is spent on "agbiotech" research per year. Imagine the impact of that money actually being used to feed the hungy, remembering that India already has a massive food surplus that is not being effectively distributed. Instead, it seems, India's biotech brigade would rather wax lyrical about pie in the sky.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4544

+ INDIA URGED TO ASSESS HAZARDS OF GM
Global consumers and scientists have cautioned India and other developing countries to carefully assess the health and environment risks associated with GM crops. They expressed concern over reported hazards in different parts of the globe. Consumers International and the Thailand-based Foundation for Consumers have launched a global anti-GM campaign.

Former assistant director-general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr S Bala Ravi, who now works with the Chennai-based Swaminathan Research Foundation, said: "Vertical and horizontal gene flow are the major environmental risks from GM crops. Depending on the gene involved, this may create super weeds, diminish biodiversity and harm non-target species. The threat of horizontal gene transfer from GM plant food or feed or its residues to soil bacteria, gut and intestinal or rumen bacteria in humans and animals and spread of antibiotic resistance to pathogenic organisms remain another concern."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4541

+ CROPGEN IN BANGLADESH
USAID recently started a project to introduce GM crops in Bangladesh. Citizens have been writing letters to newspapers to voice their concerns about GM crops. A letter responding to the concerns has been published - written by Professor V. Moses, Chairman of CropGen, based in London!

CropGen is a biotech industry-funded lobby group led by a scientific panel whose aim is to "make a case for GM crops" worldwide. Cropgen describes itself as "An education and information initiative for consumers and the media on the subject of crop biotechnology". Until the end of 2003 CropGen was run by PR company Countrywide Porter Novelli. Since then it has been run by Lexington Communications which also represents the UK biotech industry-funded lobby group the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC), as well as Monsanto, BASF, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, Syngenta, and the Crop Protection Association.

See, Moses' letter - which even claims Europeans aren’t concerned about GM foods! - at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4551

+ PHILIPPINES: FARMERS' GROUP URGES BAN ON BT CORN, SAYS IT COULD BE CAUSE OF ILLNESS
A farmers' group has called for an immediate moratorium on the planting of Bt corn in the country on the grounds that the GM crop could be the cause of the illnesses afflicting residents in at least two farming villages in Mindanao.

Francis Morales, advocacy officer for Mindanao of the Magsasaka at Siyentipiko Para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (Masipag), said they are investigating the "unusual illnesses" that downed residents of Barangay Tuka in Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat and of Barangay Kalapagan in San Mariano, Davao Oriental supposedly after eating and being exposed to Bt corn.

"This is very alarming because these two new cases clearly show that Bt corn is not safe for humans," Morales said.

In San Mariano, he said the Social Action Center (SAC) of the Diocese of Mati reported that several residents of Barangay Kalapagan turned "yellowish" and became weak after allegedly eating grilled Bt corn sometime last month.

In Bagumbayan, Morales said more than a dozen farmers and residents of Barangay Tuka complained they fell ill two weeks ago after being exposed to the flowering Bt corn planted in their village. "Some of them experienced nose bleeding, vomiting, fever and other flu-like symptoms," Morales said.

He said the symptoms were similar to those experienced two years ago by residents of Sitio Kalyong in Barangay Landan, Polomolok, South Cotabato where the first case of alleged harmful effects of the flowering Bt corn was documented.

In April this year, the same illnesses were reported to have hit at least a dozen residents near a Bt corn plantation in Barangay Rotonda in this city.

The incident in Sitio Kalyong gained global attention when Dr Terje Traavik of the Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology claimed a study on the blood samples of 39 B'laan residents from the area yielded positive to exposure to Bt toxin.

On August 8, 2003, about 100 residents from Sitio Kalyong were documented to have been suffering from headache, dizziness, extreme stomach pain, vomiting and allergies. The documentation was made some three months after local farmers planted Yieldgard 818, a Bt corn variety produced by Monsanto Philippines. But government medical experts claimed Traavik's findings were not based on standard scientific and medical processes.

Morales said they plan to extract blood samples from affected residents in San Mariano and Bagumbayan for further scientific and medical testing.

He said they are considering tapping the services of Traavik who is now reportedly conducting a study on the "cause and effect" of the Kalyong incident in relation to the Bt corn toxin.

Morales said they have also started campaign among farmers in Bagumbayan to stop planting Bt corn in the area.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4552

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AFRICA
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+ AFRICAN AG MINISTERS STEP UP OPPOSITION TO GM FOODS
African ministers of agriculture have stepped up opposition to the use of the GM foods. The ministers said there is an urgent need to develop a continental capacity to determine the safety of GM foods.

"I am afraid of GMOs. Let's not be in a situation where the whole of Africa will depend on one company producing the seeds," said Kenyan Vice President Moody Awori during the meeting of agriculture ministers.

The ministers said history has proved that agricultural productivity could be enhanced without the use of the GM seeds.

Zambia weathered strong international opposition in the face of hunger and suffering of its people to reject the World Food Programme's GM maize donations.

"There were riotous moments when we took back the GM foods and we were confronted by the UN and the US. We took away the food and told our people to go to work, now we can boast of huge maize surplus," Zambian Agriculture Minister Mundia Sikatana noted.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4549

+ AFRICA MUST STEER CLEAR OF GM CROPS
Excerpt from a good article on GM in Africa:
... Over-supply and public mistrust of GM technology means a shrinking market, a scramble for new markets by the agrobiotech corporations and hence their new-found empathy for Africa.

...African scientists need to diffuse the biotech crisis of confidence. They must therefore continue to seek local solutions, involving and demanded by farmers rather than those imposed by the corporations whose interests have nothing to do with African wellbeing.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4554

+ PHARMS TAKE ROOT IN SOUTH AFRICA
In the laboratories of the Council for Science and Industrial Research, or CSIR, South African researchers are honing techniques for turning GM tobacco and other crops into factories for producing drugs for HIV and tuberculosis. With a bit of genetic engineering, says Dr Blessed Okole, plants' cellular machinery can be tweaked to produce antibodies on a large scale and far more cheaply than conventional drug-manufacturing methods allow.

"We feel it is going to be cheaper to produce the drugs in plants, and also easier for local communities in Africa to have access to them," says Okole, who is business area manager of the CSIR's plant biotechnology group.

It is claimed that this practice, called "pharming," could dramatically boost the availability of drugs in the developing world, Okole says. This is the stated aim of the Pharma-Planta Consortium, a European research group and CSIR partner. Launched in July with 12 million euros in funding from the European Union, the project hopes to produce plant-derived drugs ready for clinical trial within five years. But the technology is still highly experimental.

The first field trials are still several years away, Okole says. Nevertheless, proponents of pharming are touting the technology as the latest genetically modified form of salvation for Africa.

The article notes that organizations like GM Watch accuse biotech companies and industry-sponsored groups of browbeating African governments into accepting weak safety regulations, while aggressively mounting slick PR campaigns to force their products on an unsuspecting population. Despite its noble-sounding intentions, the Pharma-Planta project is merely the next step in industry's GM conquest of Africa, they say.

"We have an appallingly weak and opaque regulatory regime, that is devised more to facilitate the introduction of GMOs than to regulate them," says Glenn Ashton, co-coordinator of South Africa's SafeAge
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4553

+ THEFT OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
An article in Kenyan newspaper The Nation about the dispute between US biotech firm Genencor and the Kenya Wildlife Service over alleged illegal extraction of organisms known as extremophiles, says that traditional knowledge can legally be patented.

The article cites the case of drug company Pfizer's launch of the anti-obesity drug P57. South African authorities threatened legal action on the grounds that the active ingredient in the drug known as the Hoodia Cactus had been used by the San people to stave off hunger for thousands of years.

The South African Council for Science and Industrial Research had originally patented this knowledge in the interests of the San people. SACSIR argued that there was no novelty in P57 to warrant exclusive licensing to Pfizer to manufacture the drug since the San bush people had what is known as 'prior art'. Pfizer agreed to share the profits with the San people.

The story's author believes that this story illustrates progress towards an equitable arrangement whereby "international law is moving to respond to the need to protect indigenous knowledge and to ensure that local communities benefit from the use of it".

But he also admits that "The problem with 'prior art', however, is that it is not usually documented. It only exists in the oral traditions of the people and is passed on from generation to generation." Meaning that in most cases, the holders of indigenous knowledge will continue to be fleeced by multinationals.

The article does not question whether life forms should be patented at all. And it fails to mention that patenting is such an expensive process that few bodies other than multinationals can afford to do it. In the race to patents between multinationals and indigenous peoples, it's obvious that the multinationals - and, of course, lawyers - will be the winners.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4543

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THE AMERICAS
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+ BRAZIL OK'S PLANTING OF GM SOY
Brazil's president has broken his promise and approved yet another controversial executive order allowing the planting of GM soybeans.

President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's measure was a victory for cash-strapped Monsanto, which needed the order to collect royalties from those Brazilian farmers who are using smuggled versions of itys Roundup Ready seeds.

Greenpeace criticized Lula's government for again finding a way to legalize a crop banned in 2000. "It is a sign of disrespect to Brazilian society to allow a variety of GM to continue being cultivated that hasn't passed an adequate environmental review,'' Greenpeace said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4534
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4533

+ MONSANTO TO HELP DRAFT ARGENTINA'S GM LEGISLATION!
Monsanto recently said in newspaper advertorials it would resort to collecting royalties on Argentinian-grown soybeans at ports of destiny, a threat the Agriculture Secretariat deemed extortion. Following meetings with the authorities, Monsanto has agreed to take part in drafting new legislation to regulate the trade of GM seeds in the country.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4555

+ BUSH SUPPRESSES GM CROP WARNINGS
Monsanto and the US government have been telling the world that GM crops pose no contamination threat to natural indigenous species. But Greenpeace has learned from a leaked report that NAFTA disagrees and is recommending steps to avoid a genetic threat to natural maize in Mexico. Surprise, surprise: the Bush Administration is attempting to suppress the report.

The report, written by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of the North American Free Trade Agreement (US, Canada and Mexico) recommends that all GE maize imports be labelled as such and that all US maize entering Mexico should be milled upon entry, to prevent living seeds from being planted intentionally or accidentally. The Bush Administration has intervened several times to delay the publication of the report - completed three months ago - and there is still no official date for its publication.

There are at least two reasons why the US might want to delay publication of a report that highlights the environmental, human health and socio-cultural risks of GE maize. First, inside sources have alluded to the potential implications of the report on the WTO case being brought by the US and Canada against the European Union.

The report will also clearly have an effect on the current US efforts to send GE maize as food aid. A number of African countries have rejected whole US maize as a potential threat to their environment, and requested only milled maize. The report backs up these demands as it concludes that there is insufficient data on which to conclude safety of transgenic maize for the Mexican environment and recommends milling of maize to reduce these risks.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4547

What Bush doesn't want you to see:
Conclusions from the CEC Mexican Maize report (unoffical English translation)
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/multimedia/download/1/618472/0/final_cec.pdf
The CEC report on GE maize contamination in Mexico (Spanish)
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/multimedia/download/1/618468/0/cec_maize_report_sp.pdf
Confidential comments from US and Canadian governments on the CEC report
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/multimedia/download/1/618471/0/Comentarios_USA_24_jul_2004-1.pdf
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/multimedia/download/1/618470/0/EC_Canada_opiniones.pdf

+ MONSANTO FACING ANOTHER SCHMEISER SUIT
Monsanto is facing a second legal rendezvous with a Saskatchewan farm family that took a battle over GM canola to the Supreme Court of Canada. Louise Schmeiser has filed papers with a small claims court in Humboldt, Sask., seeking USD140 in damages from Monsanto. Schmeiser says that is what it cost her to remove a number of Monsanto's Roundup Ready Canola plants from her organic garden and a grove of trees on the family's property.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4550

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ CORNGATE FINDINGS BACK MY STANCE, SAYS HAGER
The man whose book sparked "Corngate" believes the findings of a parliamentary inquiry into the release of GE sweetcorn vindicates his stance.

Author Nicky Hager's 2002 book Seeds of Distrust alleged that thousands of GE sweetcorn plants had been grown in New Zealand from a contaminated consignment from the US. The book caused a political storm because Hager alleged that at the time the government was told of the contamination, in November 2000, officials considered setting a tolerance level for contamination rather than adhering to its "zero tolerance" policy.

Hager's allegations that the GE-contaminated corn was allowed to remain in the ground and that the government subsequently tried to cover up the issue led to Corngate becoming a key election issue and drove a wedge between the anti-GE Green Party and Labour.

Prime Minister Helen Clark denied any cover-up and Parliament's local government and environment committee conducted an inquiry. Its report shows the committee split 50-50 on two key issues - whether the corn was contaminated and whether a "tolerance level" was sought by government officials.

Despite the split, Hager said he was pleased with the findings. "It was inevitable. There was no chance that the government members were going to contradict the ministers, so they were always going to say 'no, nothing, don't believe it'," he said. "But I was really pleased that the other side of the report, the opposition side, set down evidence which confirmed most of the important things which I said in my book."

A key to his vindication was that officials told the committee they had been told by the main seed-testing company it believed there was contamination. "The only reason they couldn't reach their own definitive conclusion as a select committee was because they had information being withheld by Syngenta, the United States seed company," Hager said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4548

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FUNGUS 'N' MANURE
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+ INDIA: ICRISAT SEEKS ANTI-FUNGAL GENES
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) is planning to set up testing centres across the globe to check for aflatoxins, toxic by-products of moulds that reproduce on some crops. Currently, the testing centres are available in East and West Africa and Hyderabad.

The institute is also working on two anti-fungal genes, Chitinease, a gene isolated from rice and Gluconase from maize, which can control production of toxins. It has also advised agronomic control to reduce aflatoxins at farm level by use of calcium, cereal crop residues and bio-control agents like Trichoderma and bacteria in the compost. These agronomic controls reduce the levels of aflatoxins to a considerable extent.

This appears to be yet another GM 'solution' to a problem which is exacerbated by chemical farming and is much less evident in organic farming. Here's some data on mycotoxins from the food industry website FoodMarketExchange.com (full references are there):

Mycotoxins
http://www.foodmarketexchange.com/datacenter/product/organic/details/dc_pi_organic_03.htm
Mycotoxins are toxic by-products of Aspergillus molds that can grow on a wide variety of foods and animal feed. When eaten by dairy cattle, some of these toxins can be metabolized and their metabolites transferred into milk. Aflatoxins are the most toxic of these compounds and can induce liver cancer in humans at very low concentrations if ingested over a long time.

Although fungicides are not allowed in organic farming, many studies have shown that organic farming does not increase the risk of mycotoxin contamination.[28] In fact, three studies have found that aflatoxin M1 levels in organic milk are lower than in conventional milk.[29], [30] A study by the FSA showed that whereas 3 percent of conventionally-produced milk samples contained aflatoxin M1, no samples of organic milk were contaminated.[30]

As organically raised livestock are fed greater proportions of hay, grass and silage, rather than corn, there is reduced opportunity for mycotoxin-contaminated feed to lead to contaminated milk. Good practices in animal feeding also mean that ingredients are checked to ensure quality standards are maintained and that feed is stored in such a way as to avoid contamination.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4537

+ FOLLOW THE MONEY BEHIND CRITICS OF ORGANIC FOODS
Letter to the editor in the Grand Forks Herald, Oct. 17, 2004:

Your recent "Breakfast Blend" story, "Behind the organic label," would be laughable if the "smell test" were applied to those critical of organic food.

For example, a scratch-and-sniff test applied to the Hudson Institute, a dogged critic of organic farming, reveals crucial backing from chemical giants such as Monsanto, Dow and DuPont. These firms stand to lose a bundle should growing legions of Americans continue to choose food produced without toxic pesticides and herbicides.

Less than funny was an urban legend inserted into the story's body alleging that organic crops were "five times likelier to show fecal [manure] contamination" than conventional crops, hence causing more disease. What your readers and apparently the story's author don't know is the source of this baloney.

Earlier this year, we called Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, the lead University of Minnesota researcher involved with the farm manure study. He told us the report actually concluded there was "no statistically different" risk in the pathogenic contamination of certified organic and conventional produce.

In the "Breakfast Blend" story, Rutgers University scientist Joseph Rosen says there's "not sufficient science" to support the claims of organic supporters, including the reputable public-interest watchdog Consumer's Union. Contacting Consumer's Union, we learned that their article in Consumer Reports that was attacked by Rosen on the risks posed by pesticides on fruit and vegetables was subject to the customary peer review of other respected scientists.

As the "Breakfast Blend" story duly noted, Rosen's anti-organic conference was part of a national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

The bottom line is, who should reporters and the public trust - agrichemical interests and their mouthpieces who smear organic food? Or Consumers Union, a not-for-profit institution dedicated to protecting the interests of food buyers?
Will Fantle (Fantle is the research director for the Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based non-profit organization working on farm and food policy issues)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4539

FOR MORE ON THE ORCHESTRATED ATTACKS ON ORGANIC AGRICULTURE: http://www.gmwatch.org/p2temp2.asp?aid=7&page=1&op=1

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LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL: WORLD FOOD DAY
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+ US DECLARES WAR ON IRAQI FARMERS
When the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) celebrates biodiversity on World Food Day on October 16, Iraqi farmers will be mourning its loss.

A new report by GRAIN and Focus on the Global South has found that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations. This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security. While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by these new regulations.

"The US has been imposing patents on life around the world through trade deals. In this case, they invaded the country first, then imposed their patents. This is both immoral and unacceptable", said Shalini Bhutani, one of the report's authors.

The new law in question heralds the entry into Iraqi law of patents on life forms - this first one affecting plants and seeds. This law fits in neatly into the US vision of Iraqi agriculture in the future - that of an industrial agricultural system dependent on large corporations providing inputs and seeds.

In 2002, FAO estimated that 97 percent of Iraqi farmers used saved seed from their own stocks from last year's harvest or purchased from local markets. When the new law - on plant variety protection (PVP) - is put into effect, seed saving will be illegal and the market will only offer proprietary "PVP-protected" planting material "invented" by transnational agribusiness corporations. The new law totally ignores all the contributions Iraqi farmers have made to development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and pulses. Its consequences are the loss of farmers' freedoms and a grave threat to food sovereignty in Iraq. In this way, the US has declared a new war against the Iraqi farmer.

"If the FAO is celebrating 'Biodiversity for Food Security' this year, it needs to demonstrate some real commitment", says Henk Hobbelink of GRAIN, pointing out that the FAO has recently been cosying up with industry and offering support for genetic engineering. "Most importantly, the FAO must recognise that biodiversity-rich farming and industry-led agriculture are worlds apart, and that industrial agriculture is one of the leading causes of the catastrophic decline in agricultural biodiversity that we have witnessed in recent decades. The FAO cannot hope to embrace biodiversity while holding industry's hand", he added.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4538

FROM THE GMWATCH ARCHIVES:
"GMWatch predicts that very soon, saving and planting our own seeds for food crops will be painted by GM seed companies and their government flunkeys as a subversive act on a par with terrorism. Governments that permit it may be recommended for 'regime change'. You read it here first!" GMWATCH monthly review number 2, 5 October 2002
http://ngin.tripod.com/051002c.htm

+ POPE SPEAKS UP FOR BIODIVERSITY AND AGAINST MONOPOLY CONTROL
In a message for Saturday's World Food Day, Pope John Paul II stressed the need for biodiversity, suggesting reservations about the production of genetically modified foods.

The US Embassy to the Holy See has recently been lobbying the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to secure Vatican endorsement for GM foods. Church experts, including Irish Columban environmentalist Fr Sean McDonagh have cried foul, accusing the US Government of profiteering under the guise of fatuous claims that GM food is the solution to world hunger.

Catholic World News reports on the Pope's message, titled Biodiversity at the Service of Food Security, was addressed to Jacques Diouf, the director of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation.

Biological diversity, wrote the Holy Father, is needed to ensure the supply of a wide variety of foods, and also to preserve the rights of farmers engaged in widely different types of agricultural progress. He also said that that mankind has a "God-given duty of stewardship over creation", and our respect for the created world should forbid "challenges to the natural order".

"Unfortunately there are today many obstacles that are placed in the part of international action undertaken to safeguard biodiversity," the Pope writes. He calls for a proper balance between the rights of developers and those of societies, arguing that control of "the resources present in different ecosystems cannot be exclusive nor can it become a cause for conflict."

The Pope's emphasis on preserving diverse crops, and his argument against monopoly control of different food products, is being interpreted as a thumbs down for GMOs for agricultural purposes.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4535
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4542

+ BIOTECH COMPANIES WORRY COLUMBANS ON WORLD FOOD DAY
The Columban Centre for Peace Ecology & Justice has issued a statement for World Food Day highlighting the concern that hunger and malnutrition will claim at least 50,000 lives over the weekend.

October 16 is World Food Day, while October 17 is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Anne Lanyon of the Sydney-based Columban Centre says hunger and poverty are "inextricably linked".

She is hopeful that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences will not forget that link while the international biotech industry and the US Government continues to lobby it for Vatican endorsement of GM foods. The lobbyists claim that GM food can solve the problem of hunger, but Ms Lanyon and the Columban Centre believe that the root cause of the hunger problem is not food production techniques but global poverty.

The Columban Centre statement says, "We are particularly concerned that poor countries as in Africa do not have the financial resources to fight the well-funded public relations campaign of the biotech industry.

"On World Food Day and the International Day for Eradication of Poverty we call on people of good will to challenge the strong influence of the large Biotech companies. We call for the diversion of the large amount of resources currently being put into GE agriculture products to be put into sustainable human development programs in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4528

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EUROPE
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+ UK: GM PROTESTORS WIN 3-YEAR COURT BATTLE
Four GM crop protesters convicted of aggravated trespass for their part in a protest at Munlochy on the Black Isle in August 2001 have won their appeal at the High Court in Edinburgh.

"GM Martyr" Donnie MacLeod from Ardersier, Catriona Spink from Gorthleck, Dan Puplett from Findhorn, and James Grigg from Auldearn, had their convictions quashed.

In April last year they were found guilty by Sheriff Alexander Pollock at Dingwall Sheriff Court of aggravated trespass at Tullich Farm, near Munlochy, and fined GBP100 each.

Mr MacLeod (56), an organic farmer, of Kylerona Farm, Ardersier - who in the course of the GM dispute was jailed for 21 days for refusing to give evidence against fellow protesters - said: "The verdict of the appeal judges vindicates the stance taken at Munlochy and sends a message to the multinational GM companies that the people of the Highlands do not want or need their bully-boy tactics on GM crops."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4531

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CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK: Support Mauritius
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+ The Southern African island of Mauritius is on the brink of passing a law that threatens biodiversity and opens the way to corporate control. The Mauritian evironmentalist, Selva Appasawmy, is urgently appealing to individuals and organisations in Africa and around the world to e-mail the Prime Minister of Mauritius to ask him to reconsider.
You can e-mail him from here: http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=6

This is why you should.

Instead of introducing the African Union Model Law, to which Mauritius is already a signatory and which provides a good model to ensure the long-term preservation of biodiversity and related livelihoods and knowledge, the Mauritian PM is on the brink of passing a law that uses the UPOV model supported by industrialised countries.

The proposed Plant Breeders Rights Law will usher in corporate control of biological resources, benefiting just a few, while preventing the Mauritian people from having the access to plants and seeds that their ancestors had.

The difference between the two models is stark, and it is important that African countries realise that they are under no obligation to implement UPOV. The Mauritian PM should realise his obligation to the rest of Africa and the long-term security of its communities, farmers and biodiversity.

Send that e-mail! http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=6

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