GMWatch News Review archive

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WEEKLY WATCH number 230
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

An extremely important new study shows genetically engineered Bt corn byproducts that are washing into streams near cornfields could be endangering aquatic life (NEW RESEARCH).

It also raises big questions as to how U.S. and other regulators gave the go ahead to Bt corn without undertaking sufficient testing of their impact on aquatic ecosystems. And it raises a big flag about other Bt crops. Take, for instance, Bt trees which could contribute even more biomass to streams than corn.

On the plant breeding front, there have been two more non-GM breakthroughs: a drought-resistant maize in the Philippines, and a pest-resistant maize in Africa (ASIA, AFRICA). And these are only the latest in an extraordinarily long list of recent non-GM success stories, including salt-tolerant, drought-resistant, allergen-free and biofortified crops - see http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8139

Don''t miss the latest news on pro-GM lobbyist Shane Morris, whose attempts at proving that the controversial ''wormy'' sweetcorn sign wasn''t up at the site of his GM research have spectacularly backfired - yet again (PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - THE LATEST).

Finally, don''t forget to TAKE ACTION! on GM sugar.

Claire
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org

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CONTENTS
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PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - THE LATEST
NEW RESEARCH
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
ASIA
AFRICA
FOOD SAFETY
CODEX
TAKE ACTION!

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PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - LATEST
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Biotech lobbyist Shane Morris is still trying to defend his indefensible scientific paper, which claimed to show that consumers preferred to buy GM rather than non-GM corn but omitted the crucial information that a sign above the non-GM corn described it as ''wormy''!! Because GM Watch pointed this out in an article entitled ''Award for a Fraud'', Morris made legal threats against our internet service provider.

Now Morris has received another blast from Peter Melchett of the Soil Association over his behaviour. In a second open letter Melchett tells him, ''You may underestimate the impact that the threat of legal action by a Government employee has on small, voluntary organisations. I do not.'' He also points out: ''The current edition of the magazine Private Eye quotes a leading expert on research ethics at Cambridge University, Dr Richard Jennings, who describes your research as 'flagrant fraud'. The same article refers to your 'heavy-handed libel threats'.''
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8350
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8352
For the background see ''Award-winning paper ''a flagrant fraud'''':
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8314

+ NEW IMAGE FURTHER DEMOLISHES MORRIS'S CLAIMS
Shane Morris posted two photos on his blog which he said proved that the controversial ''Would you eat wormy sweet corn?'' sign was taken down early on in his and Doug Powell''s research into whether consumers preferred GM or non-GM sweet corn. After carefully studying both photos, Tim Lambert, a computer scientist at the University of New South Wales, previously concluded, ''I think that science would have been better served if Powell and Morris had acknowledged the flaws in their study rather than making untrue statements about the ''wormy corn'' sign being removed.''

Now GM Watch has published a special composite image that Tim Lambert has created that shows more clearly than ever that the ''wormy'' corn sign is present in both the photos that Morris said showed it had been taken down. To see the new photographic evidence go to
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=97&page=1

The composite has been formed from the two images on Morris''s blog plus a third image - a picture of the ''wormy'' corn sign taken by a photographer for the Toronto Star at the start of the research, when even Shane Morris admits the sign was on display.

In the composite, Tim Lambert has lined up signs present in all three images one above the other, and this makes it is easy to see at a glance that they are images of exactly the same sign, even though two come from photographs that Morris has claimed disprove the presence of the ''wormy'' corn sign!!

Tim Lambert told us: ''I've put three versions in this one image. The bottom one is the clear image... The middle one is [from] Morris''s photo of the signs. It's hard to read, but it''s clear that has the same words as the bottom one. The top one is from Morris's [other] photo... I just stretched it horizontally to compensate for the angle of the photo. It's blurry, but you can see that it''s the same sign again and with the same words on it. This photo is dated 9.27.2000, which seems to contradict Morris''s claim that the sign was taken down before he was there.''

The only difference in the sign dated 9.27.2000 is that another much smaller orange sign is covering the bottom right hand part of the wormy corn sign, but other than that, as Tim Lambert notes, it''s the same sign and with the same words on it, including the question: ''Would you eat wormy sweet corn?''

According to Morris supporter, Andrew Apel in his article, ''Propaganda, Fraud and Libel'', ''the hand-written ''wormy'' sweet corn signs had gone up and come down before Morris was in Canada, before he was employed at the University of Guelph, and before the data were gathered.'' But from the photographic evidence, none of this seems to be true.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8362

The photographic evidence is supported by the testimony of Dr Rod MacRae, an agricultural scientist in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University (Canada), who went to see how the research was being conducted several weeks after the commencement of the study, and who has stated categorically that he saw the ''wormy'' corn sign on display during his visit. More on this, and more background and analysis of the images here
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/09/would_you_eat_wormy_sweet_corn.php

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NEW RESEARCH
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+ GM CORN MAY AFFECT AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS - STUDY
A study by an Indiana University environmental science professor and several colleagues suggests a widely planted variety of GM corn has the potential to harm aquatic ecosystems. The study is being published online this week by the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

Researchers, including Todd V. Royer, an assistant professor in the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs, established that pollen and other plant parts containing toxins from GM Bt corn are washing into streams near cornfields. They also conducted laboratory trials that found consumption of Bt corn byproducts produced increased mortality and reduced growth in caddisflies, aquatic insects that are related to the pests targeted by the toxin in Bt corn. Caddisflies, Royer said, ''are a food resource for higher organisms like fish and amphibians. And, if our goal is to have healthy, functioning ecosystems, we need to protect all the parts. Water resources are something we depend on greatly.'' Royer added, ''I think probably the risks associated with widespread planting of Bt corn were not fully assessed.''
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8358

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THE AMERICAS
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+ U.S. PROBE INTO TAINTED RICE ENDS - USDA CLUELESS
More than 14 months after the US Agriculture Department began an investigation into how the US supply of long-grain rice became tainted with an unapproved GM variety - an event that continues to disrupt US exports - the government has announced that it could not figure out how the contamination happened. Friends of the Earth''s Clare Oxborrow said: ''It''s a scandal that Bayer will get off scot-free when hundreds of rice farmers have suffered severe financial losses and consumers around the world have been exposed to illegal GM ingredients.''
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8351
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8356

+ BUDWEISER USING GM RICE TO BREW ITS BEER
An untested experimental GM rice has been found at a mill in Arkansas, US, which is operated by Anheuser-Busch to brew its beer brand, Budweiser. An independent laboratory, commissioned by Greenpeace, detected the presence of GM rice (Bayer LL601) in three out of four samples taken at the mill. The experimental GM rice is one of three rice varieties that were first found in 2006 to have contaminated rice stocks in the US. Since then, GM contamination has been found in approximately 30 per cent of US rice stocks.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8355

+ WHO''S BEHIND THE PUSH FOR CLONED MEAT IN THE U.S.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a bill on his desk pending his approval that would require food from cloned animals to be labelled. He should sign the bill, says an excellent article by Osagie K. Obasogie and Pete Shanks in the San Francisco Chronicle, as most people don''t want to eat cloned food. In addition, says the article, the food industry is not very interested in cloning as it is both expensive and unreliable.

The article notes: ''The push for producing food from cloned farm animals comes largely from one small sector of the biotech industry, not from meat and dairy producers. Two companies - Cyagra and ViaGen - provided data that fills more than a quarter of the FDA''s 678-page report. These companies are not impartial experts; they are for-profits with a stake in the FDA''s approval. And their track record is less than stellar. Cyagra is a spin-off from Advanced Cell Technology, a struggling biotech company that is infamous for science-by-press-release: causing a splash by exaggerating claims and hoping rebuttals get less attention. ViaGen is part of the Exeter Life Science Group owned by billionaire John Sperling, who also founded the now defunct pet-cloning operation Genetic Savings and Clone.''
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8354

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EUROPE
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+ POLISH AG MINISTER STILL OPPOSES GMOs
Polish minister of agriculture and rural development Wojciech Mojzesowicz met with the Food Industry Council and was presented with samples of GM corn supposedly resistant to diseases, but still remains a GM opponent. Mojzesowicz said: ''This corn looks nice but is it healthy? Somebody brought it here and just because somebody brought it to this meeting, I can''t just believe it''s good.'' The Polish government is not going to embrace GMOs and supports the project to ban all GM feed by August 2008.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8366

+ EURO COMMISSION PUNISHES SWEDEN FOR TRANSPARENCY
The European Commission has taken the first step of legal action against Sweden for having given public access to a confidential document - a move that could ultimately see Stockholm defending its traditional policy of transparency in EU courts. Late last month the commission sent a formal letter to the Swedish authorities asking for explanation as to why environment group Greenpeace in 2005 got access to a document about a new type of GM corn feed to be launched by Monsanto.

Greenpeace had been refused access to the report in the Netherlands and therefore turned to Sweden where - after taking the issue to the highest court - the NGO finally got the report from the Swedish Board of Agriculture - the government''s expert authority in the field of agricultural and food policy.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8366

+ EU FAILS TO AGREE ON GM POTATO
EU states have failed to reach agreement on whether to authorise Bayer''s new GM potato. The decision must now go up to EU ministerial level and if there is still no agreement within three months then the matter will fall back into the lap of the European Commission, the EU''s executive arm.

A dozen EU member states voted against authorising the GMO potato - Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovenia - thereby ruling out the qualified majority required. Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and Portugal abstained in the vote. The minority of countries in favour of authorising the potato were Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8366

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ASIA
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+ PHILIPPINES: RELIGIOUS LEADERS HAIL COURT BLOCK ON GM RICE
In the Philippines, religious leaders have hailed the recent decision of a Philippine court in issuing a temporary restraining order against the GM rice produced by Bayer Crop Science. Oblates of Notre Dame Sister Pat Babiera, justice and peace coordinator of the Diocese of Marbel, assailed Bayer for trying to introduce GM rice Liberty Link 62 (LL62) in the country. ''Consistent with our advocacy stance for preserving the integrity of creation - we laud the temporary restraining order issued by a court stopping the Dept of Agriculture and the Bureau of Plant Industry from approving the application of the genetically modified rice Bayer LL62,'' she said.

Last month, Judge Evangeline Castillo Marigomen favored the injunction sought by environmental group Greenpeace. ''With the unfavorable publications and debates these genetically modified organisms have spawned, it is but prudent that the approval of the application of [Bayer] be restrained in the meantime considering that rice is a staple on the dining table of the Filipinos,'' her decision reads.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8360

+ PHILIPPINES NEW NON-GM DROUGHT-RESISTANT CORN
Philippines scientist Dr Antonio Mercado has developed a new non-GM corn variety that was able to survive a drought for 29 days.

GM Watch comment: While not wanting to detract from the great advances that can be made through traditional plant breeding, selecting for a single or narrow range of traits is a dangerous path to tread, even when GM is not involved. This was shown even in the UK this year, when farmers and growers were expecting yet another drought year and planted varieties that like dry conditions. Unfortunately, we were rained out all summer, and there was massive crop failure as a result.

The answer to the increasingly extreme weather conditions in many parts of the globe is not planting specialist crops for a certain predicted condition, as that condition may well not occur. It''s (i) building up the soil with plenty of organic matter through organic/natural methods so that the soil holds water during drought and absorbs it during wet conditions; and (ii) planting a good variety of crops, so that if part of your crop succumbs to the particular stress of the season, another part will thrive. It''s obvious that for (ii) to be possible, we need to focus on preserving biodiversity in the form of the thousands of different varieties developed by farmers over the centuries.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8361

+ INDIGENOUS RICE BETTER THAN GM FOR DEALING WITH STRESS
Navadanaya, a New Delhi-based NGO, has together with farmers from nine Indian states developed a register documenting over 2,000 indigenous rice varieties. According to Navadanya, the GM rice strains are not only costly to cultivate but also are a poor match to the native strains in fighting pests, diseases and environmental fluctuations. Several indigenous rice strains adopted by the Indian farmers can withstand extremes of climatic conditions, survive submergence for a fortnight and even withstand salinity with a high degree of success.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8359

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AFRICA
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+ BODY BLOW TO GRAIN BORER
The larger grain borer is taking a beating from CIMMYT breeders in Kenya as a new non-GM African maize withstands the onslaught of one of the most damaging pests. Scientists from CIMMYT, working with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), have developed maize with significantly increased resistance to attack in storage bins from a pest called the larger grain borer.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8361

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FOOD SAFETY
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+ FDA-CREATED HEALTH CRISIS CIRCLES THE GLOBE
In an article, ''An FDA-Created Health Crisis Circles the Globe'', Jeffrey Smith reminds us how corporations engineered the non-regulation of dangerous GM foods. Though FDA scientists warned about unintended toxic and allergic side-effects of GM foods, ''The FDA scientists'' concerns were not only ignored, their very existence was denied. Consider the private memo summarizing opinions at the FDA, which stated, ''The processes of genetic engineering and traditional breeding are different and according to the technical experts in the agency, they lead to different risks.'' Contrast that with the official policy statement: ''The agency is not aware of any information showing that foods derived by these new methods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way.'' On the basis of this manufactured and false notion of no meaningful differences, the FDA does not require GM food safety testing.'' ...

''A review of approved GM crops in Canada by professor E. Ann Clark ... reveals that 70% (28 of 40) ''of the currently available GM crops . . . have not been subjected to any actual lab or animal toxicity testing, either as refined oils for direct human consumption or indirectly as feedstuffs for livestock. The same finding pertains to all three GM tomato Decisions, the only GM flax, and to five GM corn crops.'' In the remaining 30% (12) of the other crops tested, animals were not fed the whole GM feed. They were given just the isolated GM protein that the plant was engineered to produce. But even this protein was not extracted from the actual GM plant. Rather, it was manufactured in genetically engineered bacteria. This method of testing would never identify problems associated with collateral damage to GM plant DNA, unpredicted changes in the GM protein, transfer of genes to bacteria or human cells, excessive herbicide residues, or accumulation of toxins in the food chain, among others. Clark asks, ''Where are the trials showing lack of harm to fed livestock, or that meat and milk from livestock fed on GM feedstuffs are safe?''''
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8365

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CODEX
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+ CODEX PLAN TO AUTHORISE CONTAMINATION BY UNAPPROVED GMOs
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, which establishes food standards on behalf of the UN''s Food and Agriculture Organisation, has decided to advance a proposal that would allow low-level contamination by GMOs that have not been authorized in the importing country.

Phil Bereano, Prof Emeritus at University of Washington, who has been closely involved with the Codex process, has written a useful analysis of Codex''s proposal. Among other points, he writes, ''No country is under any obligation whatsoever to adopt any Codex document - they are all voluntary. In addition, countries are free to adopt regulations at variance with Codex positions.''
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8345
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8353

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TAKE ACTION! STOP GM SUGAR BEETS
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+ GM SUGAR TO HIT STORES IN 2008 - TAKE ACTION!
Background: American Crystal, a large Wyoming-based sugar company, who ironically have launched an ''organic'' line of their sugar,and several other leading U.S. sugar providers have announced they will be sourcing their sugar from genetically engineered sugar beets beginning this year and arriving in stores in 2008. Like GM corn and GM soy, U.S. products containing GM sugar will not be labelled as such. Since half of the granulated sugar in the U.S. comes from sugar beets, a move towards biotech beets marks a dramatic alteration of the U.S. food supply.

The GM sugar beet is designed to withstand strong doses of Monsanto''s controversial broad spectrum Roundup herbicide. Studies indicate farmers planting ''Roundup Ready'' corn and soy spray large amounts of the herbicide, contaminating both soil and water. Farmers planting GM sugar beets are told they may be able to apply the herbicide up to five times per year. Sugar beets are grown on 1.4 million acres by 12,000 farmers in the U.S. from Oregon to Minnesota.

Meanwhile candy companies like Hershey''s are urging farmers not to plant GM sugar beets, noting that consumer surveys suggest resistance to the product. In addition the European Union has not approved GM sugar beets for human consumption.

TAKE ACTION AT http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=12700