GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 40
Claire Robinson, editor
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PREVIOUS MONTHLY REVIEWS
- IN GERMAN
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=82&page=1
- IN DUTCH
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=81&page=1
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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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GM POTATO TRIALS - UK
CONTAMINATION
NON-GM SUCCESSES
GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
COMPANY NEWS
CORPORATE CRIMES
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
GM APPLICATIONS / EXPANSIONS
TERMINATOR
LOBBYWATCH
RESISTANCE TO GM
GM AND CLONED ANIMALS
NEW BOOK
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GM POTATO TRIALS - UK
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+ SCIENTIST IN GM POTATO WARNING
Dr Arpad Pusztai, the scientist who found that GM potatoes harmed the health of rats, has warned that the decision to approve trials of blight-resistant GM potatoes in the UK could mean preventing cross-contamination was "almost impossible".
"We are dealing with a very unstable genome which will almost certainly be producing some toxic effects and if they get into our human food chain it will cause a huge calamity," he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7355
+ INDUSTRY ADMITS CONTAMINATION A PROBLEM
The biotech industry has admitted GM contamination of potatoes "cannot be excluded". http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7357
+ CHIP MAKERS OPPOSE GM POTATO TRIAL
The UK government's decision to allow trials of a new strain of GM potato has been met with strong opposition by the potato industry and the country's largest maker of chips. The British Potato Council said its refusal to endorse the trials was based on consumers' mistrust of GM technology. Bill Bartlett, corporate affairs director of chip manufacturer McCain Foods (GB), said McCain Foods was also disappointed with the decision.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7355
+ FARMER QUITS GM POTATO EXPERIMENT
A Derbyshire farmer dropped out of the forthcoming GM potato trials because of threats made against him, according to media reports. However, Derbyshire Police said the farmer had made "no specific complaints" about any threat. The farmer's concerns apparently arose from the "intense publicity". That did not stop pro-GM lobbyists denouncing the "intimidation" and calling on the government and police to act robustly to defend reason, freedom and democracy! This is not the first time that such stories have been shown to have no basis except black propaganda.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7400
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7416
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7422
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CONTAMINATION
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+ U.S. AND BIO IN CODEX CONTAMINATION SCAM
The undemocratic WHO organization Codex has approved a US government proposal to develop a food safety risk assessment process for adventitious presence. Industry body BIO has thanked the US government for pushing through the move at Codex. This may take some years but is still a source of concern.
COMMENT from Dr Michael Antoniou:
It is quite obvious that this is NOT the science-based food safety assessment that it is claimed to be but something for purely political and commercial convenience. [Dr Antoniou is Reader in Medical and Molecular Genetics at King's College London, and an expert on GM foods]
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7363
+ GM CORN DESTROYED IN NZ
All but about 50ha of the sweetcorn crops grown with seed contaminated with GM seeds in the Gisborne and Hawke's Bay regions has been destroyed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7413
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7356
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7365
+ NZ GOVT MAY FACE $1 MILLION BILL FOR CORN BOTCHUP
The New Zealand government may face a bill of up to $1 million to clean up the latest GM border bungle.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7372
+ ALERT OVER SECRET GM SEED IN IMPORTS
GM Canadian canola is being imported into Australia. The multinational grain trader Cargill said it had imported canola seed because of a sharp drop in Australian canola production caused by the drought.
GM WATCH COMMENT: Seems Cargill's trying to exploit Australia's recent drought as an excuse to dump otherwise unwanted (and hence massively-discounted) Canadian GM canola (oilseed rape).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7367
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7359
+ FERAL GMOs AROUND JAPANESE PORTS
A study confirms that escaped GM oilseed rape (Canola) is growing around Japanese ports.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7352
+ INDIA: NEW NORMS FOR FIELD TRIALS OF GM CROPS
India's GM regulatory body - the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) - has decided that GM crop field trial approvals will be given only after the locations of the trials are specified.
In other words, until now the regulators themselves have not known where field trials are taking place because the companies didn't have to tell them! And things are only changing now because India's farmers are in revolt.
In addition, no trials will be allowed without the consent of the local authorities of the area where trials are to be conducted.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7412
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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ ECO-FARMING HELPS THE WORLD'S POOR - STUDY
Sustainable farming methods can help the poorest farmers in developing nations out of poverty, research suggests. Scientists found that techniques such as crop rotation and organic farming increased crop yields by an average of 79%, without risking future harvests.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7370
+ AN ORGANIC RECIPE FOR DEVELOPMENT
EXCERPT from article by Inter Press Service:
Organic agriculture is a potent tool to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but also to alleviate poverty and improve food security in developing countries, many experts now believe.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7402
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GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
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+ GM SOY TO BE BANNED IN ROMANIA
Environmentalists in Romania have secured a victory in getting GM soy banned. "Romania was the biggest producer of GM soy in Europe," Greenpeace coordinator Gabriel Paun said. "This is to be stopped by January."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7406
+ EU VOTES TO DEFY WTO RULING ON GM FOODS
EU environment ministers have voted to reject a proposal to force Austria to lift its bans on GM foods and crops. The proposal was tabled by the European Commission in response to a ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) earlier this year, which stated that the bans broke international trade laws. Austrian environment minister Josef Proll said: "This is a very strong signal by the Council [of Ministers] for the Commission to reassess its policy [on GMOs]."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7399
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7401
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7409
+ GEORGIAN SCHOOLS GO GM-FREE
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7414
+ TAMIL NADU GOVT MAY BAN GM CROP TRIALS
"The government may issue a law banning GM crop trials. We hope the Centre [central Government of India] will support us," said Tamil Nadu agriculture minister Veerapandi Arumugam.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7388
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COMPANY NEWS
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+ U.S. EPA FINES SYNGENTA $1.5 MILLION FOR DISTRIBUTING ILLEGAL GM PESTICIDE
Syngenta has agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for selling and distributing seed corn that contained the unregistered GM pesticide Bt10. Late in 2004, Syngenta disclosed to EPA that it had distributed the seed corn to the US, Europe, Japan, and South America.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7413
+ PATENT OFFICE FINDS "SUBSTANTIAL QUESTIONS" RE MONSANTO'S PATENTS
In response to requests filed earlier this year by the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will undertake a review of four patents related to GM crops held by Monsanto that the agricultural giant is using to harass, intimidate, sue - and in some cases bankrupt - American farmers. The USPTO found that PUBPAT had submitted new evidence that raised "substantial questions of patentability" for every single claim of each of the four patents.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7371
+ MONSANTO AFFILIATE'S FORMER DIRECTORS FINED BY FRENCH COURT
The high court of Carcassonne (Aude) has sentenced two ex-directors of Monsanto's former subsidiary Asgrow to pay fines of 15,000 euros each. In April 2006 the General Directorate for Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) discovered illegal traces of GMOs in soya.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7396
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ CANDLELIGHT VIGIL IN WASHINGTON DC ON FARMERS' SUICIDES IN INDIA
A candlelight vigil was held in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington DC on World Human Rights Day to bring attention to the plight of Indian farmers. Suicide has been on the rise among Indian farmers. For example, among cotton farmers in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, the number of suicides has hit an all-time high. Vidarbha follows a pattern seen in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Punjab.
According to an article on the suicides in the Chicago Tribune, "Most farmers say they will lose money on their crops. They blame heavy monsoons, poor prices from the government and a genetically modified type of cotton from U.S.-based Monsanto that resists pests but yields poor crops, according to farmers, activists and even government officials."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7389
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ GM SEED BUCCANEERS VS THE PEOPLE OF INDIA
The Indian government is firmly under the control of "buccaneers of biotech", says an article for The People's Voice.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7374
+ LUNG CANCER PIONEER "WAS ON CHEMICAL FIRMS' PAYROLL"
A renowned British scientist was on the payroll of Monsanto while investigating cancer risks.
Sir Richard Doll was said to have received a consultancy fee of $1,500 a day during the mid 1980s from Monsanto. Doll, an epidemiologist, also received payments from the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the companies Dow Chemicals and ICI. Doll largely cleared the chemical industry of having links with cancer, a conclusion which goes against the World Health Organisation's assessment. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7376
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7378
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7380
+ GM THE ANSWER - SCOTLAND'S NEW CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR
People are being urged by Scotland's new chief scientific adviser, Prof Anne Glover, to embrace GM food as an answer to poverty, hunger and toxic pollution. Glover is a business-savvy genetic engineer whose track record includes setting up the firm Remedios, which was named Scotland's "Best New Biotechnology Company" for Biotech Scotland by its industry peers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7421
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GM APPLICATIONS / EXPANSIONS
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+ EXPERIMENTAL GM WHEAT PLANTING CONTRADICTS GERMAN, EUROPEAN LAW
The experimental release of GM wheat at Gatersleben, Germany, contradicts German, European and International Law, says environmental lawyer Dr Christoph Palme. The federal German Genetic Engineering Authority has given permission to plant GM wheat at a short distance from an important wheat gene-bank near Gatersleben.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7383
+ GM WHEAT TRIALS IN AUSTRALIA?
Victoria's first crop of GM wheat could be in the ground as early as next year, despite a state moratorium on commercial crops of GM canola. The government has applied for a permit for trials of drought-resistant wheat near Horsham and Mildura.
In order to soften up public opinion, a panel of three senior Victorian bureaucrats has recommended state and federal government funding of a major advertising campaign!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7410
+ "GM GRAPES UNCORK FEARS OF FRANKENWINE"
Plans to field test GM grapes in South Africa are reported to have led buyers in the UK, one of South Africa's top export markets, and in Germany to cancel orders for South African wine.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7390
Send an email to protest against GM vines - it's easy:
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=87&page=1
+ WEST AFRICA - GM COMPANIES MOVING IN
Cotton growing in West Africa is booming, but land is running out and the GM companies are moving in.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7366
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TERMINATOR
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+ INDIA: SUPREME COURT CONCERNED OVER USE OF TERMINATOR IN GM MUSTARD
The Supreme Court of India has expressed concern over the possibility of the deployment of genetic use restrictive technologies (GURTs) by Delhi University in the development of its GM mustard crop.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7394
+ GM MUSTARD COULD RELEASE TOXIC CHEMICALS
The Supreme Court has asked a committee to examine the impact of the GM mustard field trials, following expert opinion that the trials could result in the release of toxic elements in the environment.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7395
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ CAN BIOTECH FROM ST LOUIS SOLVE HUNGER IN AFRICA?
Monsanto's home-town paper - the St Louis Post-Dispatch - has run a series of articles that claim to explore "hunger in Africa and the role that biotech has in stemming it". The articles appear designed to promote the work of Monsanto's "non-profit" partner in St Louis, the Danforth Center.
According to the Post-Dispatch, "The center is trying to give away a genetically engineered cassava, one of the most important foods in Africa. A spreading virus is wiping out the crop. The St Louis scientists think they have the cure."
The virus is the African cassava mosaic virus (CMVD). Only a few months ago, however, the Danforth Center quietly admitted that its GM cassava varieties had lost their resistance to CMVD.
The cassava has now been re-engineered. What the Post-Dispatch doesn't mention, though, is that the failure of the previous GM varieties took 7 years to show up, making it a little early to be talking up a cure for the virus! The Post-Dispatch also underplays the fact that non-GM virus resistant varieties are already available.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7381
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7384
+ NEW JENNIFER THOMSON BOOK ON GM FOR CSIRO
GM lobbyist Jennifer Thomson has a new book out called GM Crops: The Impact and the Potential. Its publisher - CSIRO - is advertising the book as, "A balanced, scientific perspective on the issues surrounding genetically modified crops." And they describe Thomson as an "international author who has much credibility" and who is "internationally respected".
These statements are all seriously open to question. Thomson is a board member of AfricaBio, a biotech industry-backed body which an article in the science journal Nature describes as, "fighting tooth and nail, often by somewhat controversial methods, to spread the word about GM crops". The article also says that, "the group's methods would be considered in some countries to be blatant media manipulation."
More info and links at: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7385
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RESISTANCE TO GM
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+ INDIAN FARMERS, TRADERS, CONSUMERS UNITE TO OPPOSE GM CROPS
Representatives of different farmers' organisations, trade unions, consumer groups, self-help groups and other NGOs belonging to South India issued a declaration on National Farmers' Day opposing GM crops as a serious threat to the environment, the farm economy, food sovereignty and health.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7419
+ AMERICANS STILL WARY OF GM FOOD - STUDY
Ten years after GM crops were first planted commercially in the US, Americans remain poorly-informed about and uncomfortable with GM food, according to the fifth annual survey on the topic. The poll also confirmed that most Americans do not like the idea of eating meat or milk from cloned animals.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7373
+ ALBERT FERRE ACQUITTED
A Judge in Lleida in the west of Catalonia, Spain, has acquitted Albert Ferre, who was facing a fine of around 500,000 euros over the destruction in 2004 of a GM wheat trial in Gimenells (Lleida, Catalonia).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7354
+ BRAZILIAN GOVERNOR MOVES TO EXPROPRIATE LAND FROM SYNGENTA - UPDATE
Roberto Requiao, Governor of the state of Parana, has signed a decree to expropriate an experimental test site owned by Syngenta. The decree was made in the public interest because Syngenta illegally planted 12 hectares of GM soybeans at the site. The action is said to be representative of the growing desire among Latin American politicians to resist the increasing power of agribusiness corporations, as well as evidence of the increasing organization and power of civil society in the region.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7379
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7358
+ U.S. FOOD SECTOR WARY OF GM WHEAT
The US food industry is not ready to embrace GM wheat. Said Ron Olson, General Mills' vice president of grain operations, "The food market is not ready for that. Our stock would get killed."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7362
+ CHINA FAILS TO GIVE COMMERCIAL APPROVAL TO GM RICE
China, the world's biggest rice producer and consumer, has yet again put off any commercial introduction of GM rice amid growing concerns about biosafety and potential loss of markets.
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=72601-nutrogen-gm-rice-biosafety
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7369
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GM AND CLONED ANIMALS
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+ WHY THE OMEGA-3 PIGGY SHOULD NOT GO TO MARKET
A cloned GM pig with raised levels of omega-3 fatty acids should not be allowed onto the market and is a waste of precious research resources, says Dr Autumn Fiester in a letter published in Nature Biotechnology.
EXCERPT:
... there is something profoundly amiss in our stampede down the biotech path for every trivial application. The level of the change now possible, the speed at which we can make these dramatic alterations and the potential consequences for animals, the environment and ourselves - for the world as we know it - ought to give us great pause. It is naive to think that this research, unbridled, will have only a trivial impact. This latest work already says a great deal about us, and it isn't flattering. One scientist commented about the potential of the omega-3 pig: "People can continue to eat their junk food. You won't have to change your diet, but you will be getting what you need". We are altering the genome of an animal to enable consumers to continue with their self-destructive eating habits. What does this say about us if that is reason enough to manipulate sentient life?
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7418
+ CLONED MILK AND MEAT WITHIN MONTHS
The sale of milk and meat from cloned animals has moved a step closer after the US Government ruled that the products were safe to eat and could be sold in supermarkets without labelling. The landmark draft decision, taken by the US Food and Drugs Administration, was condemned by consumer groups and food safety experts, who gave warning of the implications for food consumption throughout the world.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7426
+ CLONED COWS MAY BE SOLD FOR MEAT
A US farmer in financial difficulties says he may sell his cloned cows for hamburgers, even while a voluntary ban on food from cloned livestock is still in place.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7417
GM WATCH COMMENT ON CLONED MILK AND MEAT
The Biotechnology Industry Organization claims, "We clone an animal because we want a genetic twin of that animal. It's not a genetically engineered animal; no genes have been changed or moved or deleted." But we know clones are far from perfect copies and that all clones are, in one way or another, defective with multiple flaws embedded in their genomes. Rudolf Jaenisch, a geneticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, estimates that something like 4-5% of the genes in a cloned animal's genome are expressed incorrectly.
And these genetic defects can have tangible results - some subtle and hard to reckon but others all too clear. Clones have been born with incomplete body walls or with abnormalities in their hearts, kidneys or brain function, or have suffered problems like premature ageing and "adult clone sudden death syndrome".
Quite apart from the uncertainties, and any health concerns, the defects of clones may pose for consumers, people might well wish to avoid the products of a process that is so disastrous for animal welfare. But, as with GM, they won't be given the choice if food from clones goes unlabelled.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7424
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NEW BOOK
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+ HOW MUCH RISK CAN WE RISK?
Intervention: Confronting The Real Risks of Genetic Engineering And Life On A Biotech Planet, a new book by former NY Times business columnist Denise Caruso, highlights how vulnerable we are making ourselves as a species, hurtling forward at breakneck speed with biotech creations and mutations.
Using genetic engineering and emerging biotechnologies as its model, the book paints a vivid picture of the scientific uncertainties that biotech risk evaluations dismiss or ignore, and lays bare the power and money conflicts between academia, industry and regulators that have sped these risky innovations to the market.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7420