GMWatch News Review archive

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WEEKLY WATCH number 262
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

The big news this week is the new research, commissioned by the Austrian government, showing that Bt maize impairs the fertility of mice (NEW STUDY SHOWS HEALTH RISKS). Astonishingly, the European Food Safety Authority continues to rubberstamp similar GM Bt maize varieties as safe (BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR 'REGULATOR'). It's time for EU politicians to radically reform the EFSA (CAMPAIGNS).

Meanwhile, the effort to keep the biotech bubble afloat grows ever more transparent, with yet another GM "silver bullet" proving a total dud (GM HYPE), and more fairytales from the industry's paid servants about GM crops reducing carbon emissions (LOBBYWATCH).

There's also new research substantiating the GM contamination problem in Mexico that Monsanto and its supporters went to such extreme lengths to suppress (RESEARCH). And the pro-GM scientist Klaus Ammann, who was heavily involved in that controversy, has been accused of slander and scientific misconduct after he accused a scientific institute of "fraud" (LOBBYWATCH).

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

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CONTENTS
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GM HYPE
NEW STUDY SHOWS HEALTH RISK
CAMPAIGNS
BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR 'REGULATOR'
RESEARCH
THE AMERICAS
GM GENOCIDE?
LOBBYWATCH
EUROPE
AUSTRALASIA
ASIA
COMPANY NEWS
GENETIC CROSSROADS

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GM HYPE
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+ MUCH-HYPED GM LANDMINE-DETECTION TOTALLY FAILS
There's been a huge amount of publicity over the past few years about how GM plants were going to solve the problem of landmine detection. News items around the globe -- from the New York Times to the BBC, TIME Magazine and Reuters -- have trumpeted the life saving potential of plants genetically modified to 'Red Detect': change from green to red when grown near to landmines or unexploded ordinance.

In a Reuters' piece as far back as January 2004 -- Flower-Power Could Help Clear Landmines -- the Danish biotech firm Aresa claimed a Red Detect prototype would be on the market "within a couple of years". By late 2007, TIME Magazine was reporting Aresa as predicting they would have a reliable product available "in about two years".
http://www.time.com/time/globalbusiness/article/0,9171,1565533,00.html
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/23600/story.htm

Now it's emerged that the technology's totally failed. Aresa reports, "As was expected the tests in Serbia did not produce a positive result (none of the plants changed colours to red)". The scientific staff have been fired and Aresa is seeking to transform itself from a biotech firm into a property company something Aresa describes as a "far less risky" investment strategy.
http://www.aresa.dk/uploads/File/aresa-PR-311008-UK.pdf
http://www.aresa.dk/uploads/File/aresa-update-2008-18-09-uk.pdf

GMWatch comment: Googling on "genetically + landmines + Red Detect" produces 14,700 hits, most of them items from the mainstream media. Given the massive amount of hype about the potential of these GM plants to save lives and limbs, it will be interesting to see how much publicity, if any, follows their failure to deliver. Seems a 'BS Detect' technology is urgently needed.

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NEW STUDY SHOWS HEALTH RISKS
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+ GM BT MAIZE THREATENS FERTILITY -- NEW STUDY
In a study commissioned by the Austrian government -- one of the very few long-term feeding studies ever conducted with GM crops, the fertility of mice fed GM Bt maize was found to be severely impaired, with fewer offspring being produced than by mice fed on natural crops. Considering the severity of the potential threat to human health and reproduction, Greenpeace is demanding a recall of all GM food and crops from the market, worldwide.

The study, sponsored by the Austrian Ministries for Agriculture and Health, was presented at a scientific seminar in Vienna. Prof Dr Jürgen Zentek, professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Vienna and lead author of the study, summarised the findings: "Mice fed with GE maize had less offspring in the third and fourth generations, and these difference were statistically significant. Mice fed with non-GE maize reproduced more efficiently. This effect can be attributed to the differences in the food source." Dr Zentek said there was a direct link between the changes seen and the GM diet.

Said Dr Jan van Aken of Greenpeace International, "GE food appears to be acting as a birth control agent, potentially leading to infertility - if this is not reason enough to close down the whole biotech industry once and for all, I am not sure what kind of disaster we are waiting for."
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/ge-threat-to-fertility-11112008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1084974/Does-eating-GM-food-lower-fertility.html

+ GM FREE CYMRU COMMENT ON THE STUDY
Speaking for GM Free Cymru, Dr Brian John said: "This work will do huge damage to the GM industry worldwide, since it shows that a crop -- Monsanto's maize line NK603 x MON810 -- which has been approved as safe by EFSA, and given consent for use in food and feed by the EC, is in fact dangerous to health. It demonstrates that the approvals process is at best inadequate and at worst corrupt. This is what NGOs have been saying for years."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_15588.cfm
Monsanto's statement on the study:
http://monsanto.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=658

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CAMPAIGNS
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+ CALL ON EU POLITICIANS TO RADICALLY REFORM EFSA
The mice which produced fewer offspring (see above) were eating Monsanto GMOs considered "safe" by government agencies around the world! Clearly they're not safe, and the way GMOs are checked doesn't work. The European Food Safety Authority runs inadequate safety checks on GMOs and often just rubber stamps what agro-chemical industry experts say. EU Environment Ministers meet on December 4 about GMOs and food in Europe -- this is our opportunity. Call on EU politicians to radically reform the European Food Safety Authority.
TAKE ACTION HERE
http://links.mailing.greenpeace.org/ctt?kn=12&m=30601806&r=MTExMjgxNzgzMwS2&b=0&j=NDMwNDQyNTIS1&mt=1&rt=0

+ 10 REASONS WHY WE DON'T NEED GM FOODS
Article with this title available at
http://www.bangmfood.org/publications
The article is taken from the new banGMfood.org website - part of a project aimed at helping people ensure their voices are heard amidst the current wave of pro-GM propaganda. If you want to print this article as a leaflet for distribution to family, friends, colleagues etc., then you can download a PDF that will enable you to print a double-sided A4 leaflet: http://www.bangmfood.org/images/stories/10reasons.pdf

+ MORE CAMPAIGN ACTIONS FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK
http://www.bangmfood.org/take-action

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BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR 'REGULATOR'
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+ EFSA GIVES POSITIVE OPINION AGAIN ON GM BT MAIZE
For the third time, the EFSA has given a positive opinion on the two GM maize events Bt11 and 1507. In November 2007, Environment Commissioner Dimas had proposed that an approval for cultivation for these Bt maize events should not be given. In May 2008 the Commission sent the two notifications back to the EFSA asking it to review eleven scientific studies that had come out since the EFSA gave its last opinion. On 29 October 2008, the EFSA once more gave an opinion -- once again it is positive.

Netherlands-based campaign group IFRIK asks: "How can it be that over years now the Competent Authorities of several member states as well as the DG Environment sees risks in the cultivation of these Bt maize varieties -- but the EFSA simply maintains its position that everything is fine? Do the members of the GMO Panel have such a completely different view on what makes a risk?"
http://www.ifrik.org/en/blog/efsa-gives-positive-opinion-again
CALL FOR REFORM OF THE EFSA
http://links.mailing.greenpeace.org/ctt?kn=12&m=30601806&r=MTExMjgxNzgzMwS2&b=0&j=NDMwNDQyNTIS1&mt=1&rt=0

+ SHUT DOWN EFSA GM PANEL!
EFSA has also stated that there is no scientific evidence to justify the French ban on Monsanto pesticide-producing maize (MON810). But French government ministers have emphasized that they have no intention of lifting the ban. Greenpeace said EFSA should be shut down because its opinions invariably reject scientific evidence highlighting the negative impact caused by GM crops on biodiversity and the environment.
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/2008/oct.php   

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RESEARCH
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+ GM CONTAMINATION OF MEXICAN MAIZE CONFIRMED
The journal Nature has just published a report on new research confirming that Mexico's ban on GM maize has not stopped transgenes getting into traditional 'landrace' maize crops in the Mexican heartland. The new study was carried out by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City and will be published in the journal Molecular Ecology.
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081112/full/456149a.html

The original research exposing this GM contamination scandal was published by Nature back in 2001, but on publication the researchers David Quist and Ignacio Chapela from the University of California, Berkeley, became the focus of a ferocious campaign of vilification aimed at discrediting them and their research. Read George Monbiot's Guardian article exposing Monsanto's PR firm's covert involvement in this campaign.
http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit4.html.

The investigation into this dirty tricks campaign was coordinated by GMWatch.
We eventually exposed the fact that the campaign to discredit the researchers originated with Monsanto itself, and formed part of a much wider smear campaign against the company's critics. For more on this see "Monsanto's web of deceit":
http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html

Disturbingly, evidence in the current Nature article shows that factors other than science are still coming into play in relation to the publication of research that's problematic for the biotech industry. A reviewer of the new paper apparently sought to block publication on the grounds that the research could "gain undue exposure in the press due to a political or other environmental agenda".
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081112/full/456149a.html

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THE AMERICAS
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+ VICTORY IN HAWAII: GM COFFEE AND TARO BANNED ON BIG ISLAND
The Hawaii County Council has voted unanimously to uphold a ban on GM taro and coffee.   
http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/11447/40/

+ MORE ON U.S. BACKLASH AGAINST GM FOOD
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/wdp/news/Bristol-report-backlash-GM-crops/article-460805-detail/article.html
Download the report referred to in the above article here:
http://www.soilassociation.org/Web/SA/saweb.nsf/cfff6730b881e40e80256a6a002a765c/62b3b08dfb6cdaea80256a9500473789/$FILE/Land_of_free_GM_Report.pdf

+ CAMPAIGN MOBILIZES HEALTH-CONSCIOUS SHOPPERS
Non-GMO Education Centers are now appearing in natural food stores nationwide. These six-foot high blue towers feature books, DVDs, CDs, and handouts about GMOs. The sign on top offers two potent messages. The first -- "Healthy Eating Starts with No GMOs" -- is the slogan that The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America wants shoppers to understand. The second is what the Campaign wants shoppers to do: "Ask for Non-GMO Products."
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/2008/oct.php
View the Non-GMO Shopping Guide
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/documentFiles/144.pdf
View the GMO Health Risks Brochure
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/DocumentFiles/140.pdf
Purchase 50 of the Guides and/or Brochures at cost price
http://www.fsicart.com/seeds/

+ LEGAL TUSSLE OVER GM SUGARBEETS
A lawsuit filed by the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds and the Sierra Club is expected to be heard April 3 in US District Court in San Francisco. It seeks to halt the planting, sale and use of Roundup Ready sugar beets until the US Dept of Agriculture conducts an in-depth environmental study of this GM crop.
http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=a0b9b59b4e5828176d6f33875f944c89

+ GM SALMON COMING SOON?
In the US, a company called Aqua Bounty Technologies has created GM salmon that grow quickly. Currently the Food and Drug Administration is taking proposals from Aqua Bounty and other companies that could lead to commercialization of the fish.
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/2008/oct.php

+ PARAGUAY'S GM SOYA CATASTROPHE IN THE NEWS
Unreported World, a documentary series on British prime time TV, did a programme on Paraguay, which has become one of the world's biggest suppliers of GM soya -- much of it destined to feed cattle that ends up on European plates. The programme revealed how our demand for meat is driving the industrial farming of soya to epic proportions. It's a phenomenon that's led to violent clashes between peasants, foreign landowners and the police, and accusations that insecticides sprayed on the GM crops are causing serious birth defects.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/ontv/unreported_world/paraguays+painful+harvest/2729072
Free Catch-Up: Watch Unreported World Again (for the next 60 days)
http://www.channel4.com/watch_online/

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GM GENOCIDE?
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+ GM GENOCIDE
When Prince Charles claimed thousands of Indian farmers were killing themselves after using GM Bt cotton, he was branded a scaremonger. In fact, says a harrowing report in the Daily Mail by Andrew Malone, who traveled to India's cotton belt, "it's even WORSE than he feared". Malone writes: "In one small village I visited, 18 farmers had committed suicide after being sucked into GM debts. In some cases, women have taken over farms from their dead husbands -- only to kill themselves as well... Village after village, families told how they had fallen into debt after being persuaded to buy GM seeds instead of traditional cotton seeds. The price difference is staggering”¦."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html

+ CHARLES MUST SHUT UP OR GIVE UP THRONE -- TAVERNE
Whenever Prince Charles speaks against GM crops, you can bet that British peer and GM proponent Lord Dick Taverne will pop up in the press with a demand that he give up "meddling" in political matters or give up his claim to the throne. We are tempted to think that the GM lobby is dreading the prospect of a King who continues to threaten their interests. His latest attack is in The Guardian, on the theme, "If Charles wants to lecture us on the plight of the world he must renounce his claim to the throne". One reader commented, "Shouldn't Dick Taverne give up his seat in the House of Lords to be consistent, or does being a GM shill* not cause any conflict of interest?" [*a person who publicizes something for reasons of self-interest.]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/31/prince-charles-gm-crops-monarchy

+ PRINCE SHOULD CONTINUE TO SPEAK OUT -- POLL
A Daily Telegraph poll reveals strong backing from the public for Prince Charles to continue to speak out on issues such as global warming, GM food, and organic farming. Asked if he was right to speak out publicly on such controversial issues, 68 per cent were in favour with only 24 per cent against. More than half those polled thought he was doing a very good or "pretty" good job with 48 per cent regarding him as a force for good in the UK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/3411051/Public-support-falls-for-Queen-Camilla.html

+ STUDY DISPUTES BT COTTON AND FARMER SUICIDE LINK
The link between farmer suicides and Bt cotton is disputed by a report from the (pro-GM) International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington DC. An article in The (UK) Guardian titled "Indian farmer suicides not GM related, says study" proclaimed, "Suicides among Indian farmers have not increased as a result of the introduction of GM crops, according to a large scientific study." The Guardian article quotes the report to the effect that "There is no evidence in available data of a 'resurgence' of farmer suicide in India in the last five years" (Monsanto's Bt cotton was introduced into India in 2002).

However, the full report, for those who take the trouble to read it, tells a different story from the one that was spun to the media. The authors have done no work at all in the field and they admit that the statistical data they have used does not allow conclusions as to the numbers of Bt cotton farmers who have committed suicide: "None of the reported data sources on farmer suicide provide information about the concerned farmers' characteristics."

In fact, there are not even numbers on how many of the Indian farmers who have killed themselves grew cotton, let alone Bt cotton, or on how many farmers committed suicide after their crops failed. And the IFPRI authors also admit, in the words of a New Scientist editorial on the subject, that, "GM varieties failed miserably at first, and some destitute farmers were driven to suicide." The authors also note that their findings do not allow them to "reject the potential role of Bt cotton varieties in the observed discrete increase in farmer suicides in certain states and years".
IFPRI paper available at: http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/ifpridp00808.asp
GMWAtch's detailed critique of the paper at:
http://db.zs-intern.de/uploads/1226402334-BtCottonAndSuicides.pdf

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ GM CROPS REDUCE CO2 EMISSION CLAIM
Graham Brookes of PG Economics (United Kingdom) says the use of GM crops has reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by an estimated 14.76 billion kilos in 2006. He added that the growing impact of GM crops from 1996 to 2006 has resulted in pesticide use reduction by 15.47 percent, covering a total of 27 pesticide active ingredients used by the European Union (EU) on arable crops in one year.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/11/09/08/biotech-expert-says-gm-crops-reduce -co2-emission-0

Brookes is a vociferous GM crop promoter, as a recent article notes: "A presentation by Graham Brookes, director of the England-based PG Economics Limited, showed hard evidence of the overwhelmingly positive economic and environmental impacts of the crops. Mind you, this is a man whose company gets a paycheck from such pro-GM trade associations as CropLife International and Green Biotech Europe, and who summed up his view of the Indian environmental activist Vandana Shiva with the couplet 'bloody idiot.'"
http://www.gourmet.com/foodpolitics/2008/10/basf-plant-science-part1?currentPage=2

Brookes bases his claims on GM crops making reduced ploughing -- low- or no-till agriculture -- possible, and they're requiring less pesticide use, hence vehicle movements to deliver the pesticides. But both claims are highly questionable. Low- or no-till agriculture does not require GM crops. According to the US Dept of Agriculture's own analysis on this: "Using herbicide-tolerant seed did not significantly affect no-till adoption."
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/usdagmeconomics.htm

And contrary to Brookes' claim of decreased chemical use on GM crops, official USDA data shows that in the US, GM crops have produced an overall average increase, not decrease, in pesticide use when compared to conventional crops.
http://www.bangmfood.org/publications

+ GM PROPONENT ACCUSED OF SLANDER
GenØk, a Norwegian government research centre that studies the health risks of GM foods and vaccines says that GM proponent Dr Klaus Ammann made completely unsubstantiated public accusations of scientific fraud and misconduct against it. Ammann made the accusations at the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) in Cork, Ireland during August 24-27, 2008. The power point file of the talk is available on-line at: http://www.botanischergarten.ch/ABIC/Ammann-ABIC-Cork-20080826.ppt 

GenØk states in a press release, "Since we became aware of Dr Amman's accusations against us, we have subsequently learned that he has engaged in similar irresponsible behavior directed at individuals and organizations that do not share his political or scientific views." GenØk is calling for a public apology and retraction.
Read full story at:
http://english.genok.org/news_cms/2008/november/gen_k_defends_its_scientific_integrity_from_falsehoods_of_swiss_scientist._demands_public_apology_and_retraction./66
More on Ammann here:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=8&page=A
GM Free Ireland's comments on the notorious ABIC Conference:
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php

+ REINING IN THE INFLUENCE INDUSTRY
Around GBP1.9bn is spent on lobbying Europe's politicians in Brussels, writes David Miller in The Guardian, and registration and transparency is now required. What is more, the system governing the behaviour of officials allows for widespread conflicts of interest. An example is Scottish Conservative MEP John Purvis, who has a financial stake in a firm that invests in the biotechnology sector. At the same time he has been seen as a leading advocate for biotech in the European parliament.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/31/eu

+ EUROPE: A PHONE BOOK WITHOUT NUMBERS
A new EU initiative officially aimed at improving transparency is providing only scant details about the influence that corporate lobbyists wield over the decision-making process, according to environmental and consumer rights advocates.
http://www.ipsnews.net:80/news.asp?idnews=44516

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EUROPE
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+ EU DEBATES GMOs
Two high-level working groups have been set up in Europe to discuss GMOs. Friends of the Earth Europe has produced an excellent guide to what is going on complete with links to further background information and reports.
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/GMOs_highlevel_discussion.html

+ EXTRA-NUTRITOUS GM FOODS STILL YEARS AWAY
As part of its attempt to force GM foods into Europe and get round the objection that they offer no consumer benefits, the biotech industry and its friends are hyping GM foods engineered for extra nutrition. We've had the media reports of the "cancer-fighting" GM tomato, engineered to contain the same nutrients already found in a host of natural foods like berries, aubergines, red cabbage, red onions, etc. Now there is news of "a GM soyabean that can help to prevent heart attacks". The soyabean is engineered to contain Omega 3 fatty acids, the same nutrients that are already found in natural foods like oily fish, flaxseed oil and walnuts. The GM soyabean will be available in four years' time ... maybe.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/02/AR2008110201939.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5068437.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5068449.ece
Prof Ian Crute is one of those hyping the GM soyabean in The Times. The Times describes him as "director of Rothamsted Research [RR], a publicly funded agricultural science institute" but omits the fact that RR partners with GM firms and has a long history of propagandising for the technology: http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=188

+ GREEN MP ON GM TOMATO
Green Party deputy leader Adrian Ramsay comments in a perceptive interview on the GM tomato: "The Labour Government has already spent tens of millions of taxpayers' pounds funding GM research, with little to show for it. If only that money could be re-directed to improving school meals and health education for our children, or bringing affordable fruit and vegetable schemes to deprived areas - then we might see some real health benefits for ordinary people."
http://jimjay.blogspot.com/

+ MONSANTO CEO A DISGRACE, NOT A ROLE MODEL FOR SCOTLAND
Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant was in Glasgow this week, in his role as advisor to the Scottish Enterprise Agency. However, civil society group Common Action Scotland demanded that Scottish Enterprise bosses dismiss the Monsanto CEO from its advisory board and challenged Grant to attend a public meeting to answer for the damage caused by his company and its business practices. Common Action Scotland's Lindsay Keenan said, "If he is not willing to attend a public discussion despite the global importance of his company to the health and food security of so many people, then this should provide further evidence of his unsuitability to be an advisor to a Scottish tax payer funded public body. What does Hugh Grant/Monsanto have to hide?"
http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/article.php?artid=555

+ UK FARMERS HEAR CASE AGAINST GM
Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser has completed a speaking tour of the UK to talk to farmers about the effects GM crops could have on the future of the industry. In his talks, Schmeiser emphasised the fact that GMOs cannot be contained and said that the results of the engineered seed spread naturally - even over hundreds of miles -- as well as through human transportation. He said this would take away everyone's right to choose GM-free food. "You will say goodbye to your organic farms", he said. When quizzed over claims that GM foods could help feed the world, Schmeiser said, "GM is not the answer to the world food crisis. In fact the 14 years of Canadian experience show that GM yields are lower than conventional methods and GM necessitates the use of more and more toxic chemicals."
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/2008/oct.php

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ WESTERN AUSTRALIANS MARCH AGAINST GM
In Perth, a crowd of 1000 people marched to Parliament House on October 30 to tell the Western Australian government to keep the state GM-free.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/773/39890

+ AUSTRALIA: GM HARVEST RENEWS CALLS FOR LABELLING
Food safety chiefs are under renewed pressure to toughen labelling standards as farmers in the Eastern States prepare to harvest their first crop of GM canola. The Conservation Council of WA has warned that the NSW and Victorian GM canola could be processed and put on supermarket shelves across Australia within months, but shoppers would not be aware they are buying GM food because of inadequate labelling laws.
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=105862

+ GM CROSS-BREEDING PROMPTS LAB'S CLOSURE
A university research facility in Adelaide has been closed temporarily after a researcher cross-bred GM mice without approval. The research project, which could not be described by the university due to ongoing investigations, was also indefinitely put on hold.
http://news.smh.com.au/national/genetic-crossbreeding-prompts-labs-end-20081109-5kt4.html

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ASIA
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+ IRRI CHIEF VOLUNTEERS TO BE HUMAN GUINEA PIG FOR GM RICE
In a stunt reminiscent of the pro-nuclear scientists who ate chunks of radioactive material in public in the 1950s to "prove" that radiation was safe, International Rice Research Institute chief Dr Robert Zeigler has said he will be the first to eat GM "golden" rice when the IRRI introduces it in the Philippines in 2012 to show Filipinos it is both safe for human consumption and nutritious.
http://beta.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=413555

Needless to say, Zeigler's stunt is meaningless as a guarantee of safety. Unless the GM rice turns out to be acutely toxic - like a fast acting poison - any health impact from such a GM food would be bound to go unnoticed. Just as no one drops dead as a result of smoking their first cigarette, no one's likely to drop dead immediately after eating a GM food. But that would not mean the GM food is harmless, any more than cigarettes are harmless.

To detect more subtle effects on health, or effects that take time to show up (chronic effects), long-term controlled studies on larger populations are required. No such studies have been done. Meanwhile, viable, and often already available, non-GM alternatives for improving nutrition continue to be ignored by Ziegler and his fellow GM promoters.
http://www.bangmfood.org/feed-the-world

+ OPPOSITION TO GM CROPS GROWS IN INDIA
Medical practitioners, biotechnologists, farmers and traders raised concerns at a Greenpeace press conference over GM vegetables making their way into the Indian food supply. Jai Krishna of Greenpeace said GM brinjal was in the final leg of field trial. "If there is no government intervention now, the variety may hit the market quietly within three months," he said.
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Opposition+to+Genetically+Modified+crop+grows&artid=5ZNndDRJZNg=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=Dr+C+N+Deivanayagam;+Genetically+Modified+vegetabl&SectionName=rSY%7C 6QYp3kQ=
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Gene-altered+brinjal+may+sneak+in:+Greenpeace&artid=3/ORkDal7Co=

+ INDIA: PLAYING WITH FIRE IN ORISSA
The Orissa University for Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) is set to start testing a GM food crop, the controversial Bt eggplant or brinjal. This has provoked widespread protests across Orissa because the state's rich biodiversity boasts close to 200 varieties of eggplants. Contamination is almost certain to occur.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=340002

+ INDIA: MEDICINAL HERBS BEING GENETICALLY MODIFIED
Research institutes are trying to genetically modify some high-value medicinal herbs that are an integral part of traditional ayurvedic medicine.
http://business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=339241

+ CHINA AND GM RICE
In an interesting comment on a recent news article in the journal Nature about whether China will adopt GM rice, an Australian academic notes that China's production of food has been rising rapidly without any use of GM. He also notes, "China pioneered the world's first commercial GM crop, tobacco, but production was quickly abandoned due to a consumer backlash... In the light of the recent melamine-enhancement of milk, consumers can be expected to be increasingly wary of techno-replicated food."
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081015/full/455850a.html

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COMPANY NEWS
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+ FEED A COMPANY, STARVE A COUNTRY
Excellent article for Grist on Monsanto's corporate strategy: "Monsanto is not solving our food crisis, and it's not helping our environment”¦ what seems increasingly clear is that the only real priority Monsanto has is to increase profits."
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/11/10/102649/05

+ MONSANTO MOVES INTO SUGARCANE
Monsanto has agreed to acquire Brazil-based Aly Participacoes Ltda for $290 million. The move will broaden the company's interests into the breeding of sugarcane for food and biofuels. The Grist article above comments on this.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/tnBasicIndustries-SP/idUKN0331022420081103?feedType=RSS&feedName=tnBasicIndustries-SP
GMWatch comment: This continues Monsanto's strategy of investing in crops that go into agrofuels or into food only in a highly processed form or via animal feed, making them less vulnerable to consumer or retailer boycotts.
http://www.bangmfood.org/stealth-gmos

+ LAWYER: MONSANTO'S GM CONTRACTS ONE-SIDED
An international environmental lawyer has accused Monsanto of not going far enough to protect its growers against crop failures or possible legal disputes.
Duncan Currie says the company's contractual agreements are very one-sided. He says GM farmers need more protection in case, for example, a non-GM farmer sues because of cross-contamination. Under the contract, "the farmer that plants the seed is actually indemnifying Monsanto."
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200811/s2416757.htm

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GENETIC CROSSROADS
News and Views from the Center for Genetics and Society
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+ OBAMA AND THE NEW BIOPOLITICAL CHALLENGE
President-elect Obama's broadly expressed values and beliefs augur well for efforts to ensure responsible oversight of the new human biotechnologies. But challenges remain.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4372

+ AN EMERGING CONSENSUS: HUMAN BIOTECHNOLOGY POLICIES AROUND THE WORLD
by Richard Hayes, Science Progress
The international community is developing policies that support embryonic stem cell research and embryo screening for medical purposes, but oppose human reproductive cloning, embryo screening for non-medical purposes, and genetic "enhancement."
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4358

+ THE SPITTERATI AND TRICKLE-DOWN GENOMICS
by Marcy Darnovsky, Mother Jones blog
Media reports have focused on 23andMe's celebrity customers and glitzy "spit parties." But the Google-backed direct-to-consumer genetic testing company is after something beyond selling spit kits: It hopes to compile huge amounts of genetic and other data that it can re-sell to biotech and drug company researchers.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4360

+ KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE STEM CELL BALL, PART 2
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
Instead of steps towards cellular therapy, stem cells are being used to test drugs.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4357

+ NOW: THE REST OF THE GENOME
Only 1 percent of the genome is made up of classic genes. Scientists are exploring the other 99 percent and uncovering new secrets and new questions.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4373

+ ALL THE PRESIDENT'S GENES?
by Pete Shanks, Biopolitical Times
Some are proposing that we begin to judge candidates by genotype instead of superficial aspects of phenotype
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4354

+ DOCTOR: POTENTIAL EGG DONORS FACE RISKS
The advertisements are enticing, particularly in a flagging economy: Young women may earn thousands of dollars by selling their eggs.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4356