GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 38
Claire Robinson, editor
***TAKE ACTION: STOP GM WINE!***
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http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=87&page=1
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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
OTHER CONTAMINATION STORIES
WTO
REGULATION
RESISTANCE
RESEARCH
GM FAILURES
GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
CORPORATE CRIMES
GM APPLICATIONS / EXPANSIONS
ENVIRONMENT
PATENTS
NON-GM SUCCESSES
LOBBYWATCH
BIOFUELS / CLIMATE CHANGE
FAST FOOD
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GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
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+ EU TO TEST ALL US RICE IMPORTS
European Union nations have voted to test all US long-grain rice imports to make sure they don't contain GM varieties that haven't been approved by the EU. All consignments of US long-grain rice will be sampled and tested at EU entry ports before they can be distributed and sold, the European Commission said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7140
+ BIOTECH INSTILS FEAR AND LOATHING IN CALIFORNIA RICE BELT
That was the title of an Associated Press piece about the economic impact on California's farmers of "a biotechnology blunder so disastrous that it prompted the rice industry's biggest export customer - Japan - to prohibit some varieties and threaten to ban all US imports. The European Union is making similar threats because genetically engineered rice continues to turn up on grocery shelves in Europe."
Here are some quotes from the article:
"It has given everybody a new perspective on this technology and it's not positive." - Grant Lundberg, chief executive of Richvale-based Lundberg Family Farms, one of the state's biggest rice growers
"It's pretty much economic suicide to let genetic engineered rice creep into California and pose a contamination threat." - John Hasbrook of SunWest Foods Inc., California's largest rice miller
"If that happens, the California industry will evaporate." - Fourth-generation farmer Greg Massa
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7124
+ USDA SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON DEREGULATION OF ILLEGAL GM RICE
The US Dept of Agriculture is seeking public comment on a petition to "deregulate" (ie approve) GM rice variety - LL601 - at the centre of the current contamination scandal.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7106
+ CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY COMMENTS ON "DEREGULATION"
Useful critique of the current attempt to approve ("deregulate") LL601 in the US:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7119
+ RUSSIA: U.S. RICE IMPORTS SUSPENDED
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7098
+ GERMANY FOUND ILLEGAL GM RICE FROM U.S., CHINA
German consumer protection authorities have said that they detected the presence of banned GM rice from the US and China in various food products.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7106
+ UK: STORES TOLD TO REMOVE GM RICE FROM SHELVES
The British government's food watchdog has changed its advice to retailers about GM rice. Stores must remove any rice known to contain GM strains from their shelves, the Food Standards Agency said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7106
+ GM RICE LEGAL CHALLENGE ISSUED AGAINST FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY
Friends of the Earth has filed a legal challenge against the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) over its failure to prevent consumers being exposed to illegal GM rice.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7147
+ THAIS REAP WINDFALL FROM GM RICE BAN
Thailand has reaped a windfall as orders for non-GM rice have kept rising over the past several months. "We've got more orders from Europe to replace those which would otherwise have gone to the US," said Wanlop Pitchyapongsa of Capital Rice, a major exporter.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7134
+ PROTECT RICE EXPORTS FROM GM CONTAMINATION: INDUSTRY
Leading Indian commodity exporters have urged the Indian government to take lessons from the big losses being suffered by the US rice industry and US farmers on account of GM contamination. They have said that policy measures should be put in place to see that GM rice is not developed in India so as not to imperil Indian exports.
RS Seshadri of Tilda Riceland said, "India exports good quantity of long grain basmati and non-basmati rice to Europe, West Asia and Japan at premium prices. Consumers in these regions do not accept GM rice. The US and Chinese exports of rice have taken a heavy beating as their rice is contaminated with GM grains."
R S Seshadri, a member of the All-India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA) which represents exporters like Satnam Overseas, Sunstar, and Kohinoor, said, "Indian rice is GM-free and we want to keep it that way."
Amira Foods India's managing director Karan Chanana echoed similar sentiments. "GM basmati could spell the death knell for the industry... We are not prepared for its consequences. Hence India should not allow GM rice on its soil."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7203
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7210
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7205
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7211
+ WEBSITE DOCUMENTS ALL GM RICE CONTAMINATION INCIDENTS
Friends of the Earth have set up a website documenting all the GM rice contamination incidents (US and Chinese) in Europe:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/rice contamination.htm
+ GM RICE "PERFECTLY SAFE"
At a recent international rice conference in India, GM rice was repeatedly promoted without any reference to the "fear and loathing" GM rice has been causing in the US rice belt (see item above).
Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), was busy punting GM rice on the sidelines of the conference. Ziegler claimed China has already developed a GM rice variety that "is perfectly safe to consume". But the rice in question contains a gene which has not been approved for human consumption in any food crop, according to leading international scientific experts, and which produces a toxin with significant potential allergenicity.
That Ziegler should punt an unapproved GM rice variety with such concerns surrounding it as "perfectly safe to consume" speaks volumes about his agenda and the nature of IRRI's commitment to GM rice. IRRI has benefited for decades from the financial backing of a whole array of agrochemical and biotech corporations.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7118
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OTHER CONTAMINATION STORIES
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+ GM CONTAMINATION PRESSURES SPAIN'S ORGANIC FARMERS
Organic farmers in Spain are abandoning maize after finding traces of GM strains in their crops. In 2004 farmers planted 120 hectares of organic maize in Aragon in Spain. All of the crop was later found to have been contaminated by GMOs and the following year Aragon logged only 37 hectares of organic grain.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7207
+ GM TRIAL CONDITIONS VIOLATED IN INDIA
GM crops, being grown in field trials in India have repeatedly been illegally harvested and then sold off into the regular supply chain, research shows.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7150
+ GENEWATCH COMMENT ON CONTAMINATION
According to Dr Sue Mayer of Genewatch, which keeps a global GM contamination register, "There are now 132 incidents on the register and they show GM contamination can arise at every stage of development - from the laboratory, to the field, to the plate. It shows that the controls in place are prone to failure and human error is increasingly being shown to take place - people seem unable or unwilling to take the precautions required by the law or commercial demands."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7088
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WTO
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+ U.S. SOYBEAN PRODUCERS EXPLORE 2nd WTO CASE AGAINST EU
The American Soybean Association (ASA) has met U.S. administration officials to explore a possible second World Trade Organization case against the European Union's traceability and labeling requirements for GMOs.
GM Watch comment: It's hardly surprising the American Soybean Association is desperate to break back into the European market. According to a recent report by Iowa State University grain market analyst Bob Wisner, US soybean exports to the EU have now "dropped to almost economically insignificant levels. Historically, the EU has been the largest overseas customer for US soybeans and often has been its largest foreign buyer of soybean meal."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7191
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REGULATION
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+ INDIA'S REGULATION "SCANDALOUSLY LAX"
The Times of India describes India's regulatory body - the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) - as "a mere rubber stamp", pointing out that it cleared as many as 142 proposals for GM field trials in just 4 meetings, until the Supreme Court stepped in to call a halt. And the newspaper describes India's field testing as "scandalously lax".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7100
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7109
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RESISTANCE
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+ INDIA: FARMERS UNION DESTROYS GM RICE TRIAL
Farmers from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), which represents hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers, torched a field in Haryana where tests for a GM rice variety were being carried out. The incident took place at Rampura in Karnal district where GM rice was at the harvest stage.
Some 400 or more BKU farmers, including local farmers and the farmer on whose land Mahyco were conducting the trial, set fire to the crop, saying it would contaminate existing rice. After the incident, BKU said it planned to burn all such fields in India where trials are underway.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7195
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7203
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7205
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7210
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7205
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RESEARCH
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+ NEW CONTROLS NEEDED TO MAINTAIN INDEPENDENCE OF SCIENCE
Research conducted by GeneWatch UK, and published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, shows that scientists are failing to disclose their financial interests in the form of patents. The study of research papers on molecular biology and genetics, published in the leading science journal, Nature, between January and June 2005, showed that two thirds of authors did not reveal that they had made related patent applications or that they had connections to the biotech industry.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7221
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GM FAILURES
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+ CAN THE POOR HELP GM CROPS? IMPORTANT NEW STUDY
A paper critical of South Africa's experiment with growing GM cotton in the Makhatini Flats has been published in the Review of African Political Economy.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7111
+ IMPORTANT TV DOCUMENTARY
A TV documentary looking at the GM controversy in India, Zambia, and Argentina was broadcast last year by BBC World. The programme discusses the appalling effects of Bt cotton on Indian farmers and the economic and environmental devastation caused by GM soy in Argentina, as well as worrying food safety research.
Programme summary: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7093
+ BT COTTON CAUSING MASSIVE FINANCIAL LOSSES IN ANDHRA PRADESH
Bt cotton crops are wilting on over 250,000 acres of Bt cotton in Warangal District, translating into a loss of over US $12 million for farmers. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7115
+ MOST FARMER SUICIDES RELATE TO GM COTTON - TIMES OF INDIA
The Times of India reports that the introduction of Bt cotton in Vidarbha has led to a spurt of farmer suicides. Most suicide cases relate to those farming families which have run up huge debts because of the high cost in using the expensive GM cotton seeds, which have to be bought every year.
GM Watch comment: This report comes in the same week as Indo-Swiss research showing India's organic cotton producers benefit from 40% lower input costs, up to 20% lower production costs, almost comparable labour costs, and higher cotton yields - all of which makes them far less vulnerable to loan sharks.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7077
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7087
+ INDIA'S AG MINISTER PUNTS GM, IGNORES VICTIMS
Despite the carnage that Bt cotton has caused, India's agriculture minister Sharad Pawar continues to promote it and other GM crops, despite the often devastating impact of growing Bt cotton in Pawar's home state anmd power base of Maharashtra, where farmer suicides have sky-rocketed since Bt cotton was introduced. It is alleged that one of the brands of Bt seeds on sale - "Ajit Bt" - is actually owned by Pawar's nephew, Ajit Pawar. And Pawar's political associates in the State government in Maharashtra have, like Sharad Pawar, had a big hand in pushing Bt cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7091
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GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
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+ KEEP BIRTHPLACE OF THE POTATO GM FREE
Environmentalists are demanding that Chilean authorities declare the southern Chilean archipelago of Chiloe a transgenic-free zone, and recognise it as a birthplace of the potato, alongside Bolivia and Peru.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7149
+ MEXICO REJECTS GM MAIZE
Mexico has banned biotech companies from planting GM corn. Mexico is the birthplace of corn and still a storehouse of genetically valuable native species.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7139 http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7196
+ GREENPEACE TAKES LEGAL ACTION TO END GM FIELD TRIALS IN THAILAND
Greenpeace Southeast Asia has petitioned Thailand's Administrative Court to revoke the agriculture department's order allowing the open-field trials of GM papaya. The group also filed a petition with the court against the department and its director Adisak Sreesunpagit for negligence in preventing GM contamination of papaya spreading.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7152
+ NO GO AHEAD FOR GM RICE IN IRAN
The director of the Iran's department of environment, Fatemeh Javadi, announced that a go-ahead for cultivation of GM rice would not be issued due to lack of compelling documents that could support the move.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7197
+ VERMONT AG SECRETARY BACKS GM HORMONE BAN
Vermont agriculture secretary Steve Kerr has added his voice to the growing chorus urging Vermont farmers to stop giving their dairy cows Monsanto's GM hormone rBGH. Kerr, speaking to the Vermont Dairy Industry Association's annual meeting, said it makes sense for Vermont's dairy farmers to stop using rBGH, especially after the two largest milk processors in New England no longer accept milk from cows given the hormone.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7104
+ "GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE" TO rBGH
Stephen Taylor, New Hampshire commissioner of agriculture and a dairy farmer, may be the first government official at any level to speak out against Monsanto's rBGH. He recently said, "It's like steroids for athletes." He said he had tried the hormone but it put stress on his cows and made them thinner. "A lot of people in the dairy industry say goodbye and good riddance to BST," he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7116
+ OREGON DOESN'T WANT PHARM DRUGS IN FOOD
An Oregon state committee on biopharming has made final recommendations on how to regulate crops designed to make drugs. The committee recommends that:
*State directors of agriculture and public health should have veto rights over applications.
*Only crops not designed for human or animal consumption should be used.
*If food crops are used, they should be grown indoors unless the applicant can demonstrate why outdoor plantings are "desirable and safe."
*Applicants should carry insurance to cover potential damages their crops could cause, such as humans being accidentally exposed to allergens.
The report to Gov. Ted Kulongoski and the Legislature is designed to provide guidance on a bill expected to be introduced during the next several months.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7215
Analysis of the committee's recommendations: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7226
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ PARAGUAY: SAY NO TO IMPUNITY FOR THE KILLERS OF SILVINO TALAVERA
In 2003, 11-year-old Silvino Talavera was sprayed with a toxic chemical cocktail used to fumigate "RoundUp Ready" soy fields.
The Talavera Villasboa family is one among many Paraguayans who live surrounded by monocultures of Monsanto's Roundup Ready GM soy, the aggressive marketing and consequent use of which caused an exponential increase in glyphosate spraying over the Paraguayan countryside and its people.
Silvino didn't survive a second attack. Phenol, carbamatol and glysophate were found in the blood of children in the family, which has been fighting for justice ever since. The family has received incredible pressure to drop its court case, including death threats.
SEND A LETTER OF SOLIDARITY: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7199
+ BIOWATCH GETS COURT DATE TO APPEAL MONSANTO COSTS ORDER
Biowatch South Africa has got a court date (23 April 2007) for its appeal against the costs order made against it - and in favour of Monsanto - when it won its case in the Pretoria High Court for access to information about how decisions are made in the permitting of GM crops in South Africa.
In the High Court the judge granted access to almost all the information Biowatch had requested. He confirmed that they had a constitutional right to the information; that their access to the information was in the public interest; and that they had been forced to apply to the court to establish their right to access to the information. Yet the NGO's reward for winning their case and successfully upholding the public interest, was an order that they should pay Monsanto's hefty legal costs. Monsanto had been the only respondent to insist, to the end, that Biowatch should bear its legal costs.
If this absurd order is not now overturned, the message to other public interest litigants could not be clearer: even if you win, you're the ones who'll be penalised!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7136
To read more, go to www.biowatch.org.za and look under DOCUMENTS.
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GM APPLICATIONS / EXPANSIONS
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+ US TARGETING AFRICA, IRAQ AND INDIA
US agriculture secretary Mike Johanns in a recent speech spelled his department's principal overseas targets for GM crops: India, Iraq and Africa.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7177
+ FDA READY TO APPROVE CLONED FOOD
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is said to be ready to approve milk and meat from cloned animals. Polls show that more than 60% of Americans think animal cloning is immoral, and that most people wouldn't knowingly eat the products even if the FDA approved them. But because the FDA would allow cloned meat and milk to be sold without identifying labels, consumers wouldn't be able to avoid them.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7178
+ GOLDEN RICE TRIALS IN INDIA "SOON"
The director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Mangla Rai recently claimed, "We would possibly go for large-scale field trials of our Golden Rice within a year."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7157 http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7137
+ INDEPENDENT EXPERT COMMITTEE REPORTS ON BT BRINJAL - GOVT'S GUIDELINES VIOLATED
The Independent Expert Committee set up on Bt brinjal (aubergine/eggplant) has released its full report. The committee has found that Indian government guidelines relating to the biosafety assessment of GM crops have not been adhered to by the developers of Bt brinjal. Further, the committee notes that from existing data, it is not possible to arrive at any conclusions regarding the safety or efficacy of the product.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7212
+ GM BRASSICA TRIALS IN NZ
In Lincoln, New Zealand, Crop and Food Research has applied to field-test GM Bt brassicas - a class of vegetable including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and forage kale - for 10 years. Dr Elvira Dommisse, a former Crop and Research GM researcher, said the tests were unnecessary - "there isn't a need for it."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7213
+ UK: DEFRA AIRBRUSHES GARDENERS IN GM PROPOSALS
Gardeners and beekeepers will not be told if GM crops are to be grown near by their land or hives, if the UK agriculture and environment ministry Defra's proposals for growing GM crops in England are accepted.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7108
+ SOUTH AFRICA: SAY NO TO GM WINE!
The South African campaign group SAFeAGE is calling for everyone to make South Africa's wine industry aware of the dangers from planned field trials of GM grapes in the Western Cape - the first application for a release of GM vines on the African continent.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Wines of South Africa, which inexplicably seems to favour GM grapes, your opinion of the GM trials - just click the link below to automatically send an e-mail. It only takes a minute.
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=87&page=1
+ GM GRAPES EARN WRATH OF GROWERS
The planned planting of GM grapes GM grapes in the Western Cape has South Africa's top wine exporters seeing red.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7181
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ENVIRONMENT
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+ GLYPHOSATE RESISTANCE GROWING
The over-reliance on Monsanto's herbicide Roundup (active ingredient: glyphosate), massively encouraged by the growing of Roundup Ready crops, has triggered an explosion in glyphosate-resistant weeds on US farmland that could have a major impact on the entire US farming system in the longer term, say experts. There are no new herbicides in the pipeline to deal with the resistant weeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7190 http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7132
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PATENTS
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+ MONSANTO PATENTS BEING USED TO BANKRUPT FARMERS
The Public Patent Foundation filed formal requests with the US Patent and Trademark Office to reexamine four of Monsanto's patents related to GM crops that the agricultural giant is using to sue - and in some cases bankrupt - American farmers. In its filings, PUBPAT submitted prior art showing the patents were obvious in light of earlier work by other inventors and, as such, should have never been granted.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7081
+ RICE IN A PRIVATE GRIP
Devinder Sharma describes how Syngenta has tightened its monopoly control over rice. (EXCERPT):
Seeking global patents over thousands of genes in rice (a single grain of rice contains 37, 544 genes, roughly one-fourth more than the genes in a human body), the multinational giant is all set to "own" rice, the world's most important staple food crop...
It is in Asia still that more than 97 per cent of the world's rice is grown ... [but the] biological inheritance of the world's major food crop is now in the hands of a Swiss multinational. If Syngenta's application for global patents is accepted, the Asian countries will lose all control... of the staple grain.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7095
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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ ISLAND OF PRESPERITY IN INDIA'S SUICIDE BELT
A village in the farmer suicide heartland of Andhra Pradesh has no indebtedness, no suicide and no migration. Farmers here have shown that without pesticides, chemical fertilisers and GM crops, there is prosperity and hope in agriculture. It is the first village in the country to declare itself GM-free and chemical-free.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7142
+ HAS THE BT COTTON BUBBLE BURST?
Cotton farmers around the country are following Andhra Pradesh's lead in skipping both pesticides and Bt seeds. And there are no pests. Why? There are 28 predators of the American bollworm, cotton's main enemy. If you stop spraying pesticides, these beneficial insects devour the bollworm, writes Devinder Sharma.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7103
+ FIRMS BOLSTER CROPS WITHOUT GM - WALL ST JOURNAL
An article in the Wall Street Journal about "agriculture's second biotechnology revolution" says seed firm are bolstering crops without GM, using marker assisted breeding. George Kotch, research director of Syngenta AG's North American vegetable seeds business, was quoted as saying, "The public is lukewarm [!!] on GMO products. Now we have a technology that doesn't have an image problem."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7209
+ AUSTRALIAN SCIENTISTS DEVELOP NON-GM DROUGHT TOLERANT CANOLA
Scientists have developed a new species of non-GM drought tolerant canola that could make up to 1.5 million hectares of drought prone farmland in Australia more productive and profitable, the Victorian minister for innovation, John Brumby, announced. Commercial quality seed could be released to farmers as early as next year.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7105
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ GM CROPS SAVING AMERICA'S FARMERS FROM DROUGHT?
An article which topped the pro-GM AgBioView list claims GM crops are drought resistant and that without them the Midwestern farm economy would have been devastated this year:
"An August 11 federal government crop report shows biotechnology is saving the Midwestern farm economy from devastation in the wake of this summer's prolonged drought."
In fact, the federal government report shows no such thing. So where did AgBioView get this article about a government report showing biotech was saving US crop production? The answer is the Heartland Institute. Who they? A rightwing lobby group with Big Tobacco and Big Oil funding that campaigns for smokers' rights and free market solutions to social and environmental problems (i.e. pro-GM, anti-Kyoto, etc.) and which likes to quote Greg Conko the Monsanto-backed lobbyist and co-founder of, er... AgBioView.
More: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7094
Organic better than GM in saving farmers from drought, says former EPA scientist:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7094
+ OZ LOBBYISTS EXPLOIT DROUGHT TO PUNT GM
Australian pro-GM lobbyists are trying to exploit the drought in that country by demanding that the states lift their GM moratoria to plant GM drought-resistant crops. The former head of the South Australian Farmers Federation, John Lush, recently claimed, "drought-resistant GM crops could save farmers millions of dollars." The only problem is that such crops do not exist. All the evidence is that they are many years, possibly even decades, away from being commercially available.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7105
But, ironically, Australian scientists have already developed a new species of non-GM drought tolerant canola that could be released to farmers next year.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7105
+ AUSTRALIAN STATE AG MINISTER SLAMS GM CALL
Western Australia's agriculture minister Kim Chance has slammed Australia's pro-GM federal agriculture minister, Peter McGauran's call for an end to the states' GM moratorium. Chance said, "Mr McGauran obviously has not read about the Canadian experience, and I would like to know which countries he believes are enjoying financial and environmental benefits for GM crops, particularly GM canola. I do not want to see a situation where our state and federal governments have to spend millions of dollars to help our farmers because they cannot sell their GM crops." http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7126
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BIOFUELS / CLIMATE CHANGE
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+ RUNNING ON HYPE: BIOFUELS
An excellent Brian Tokar article on biofuels and how they compete with food production.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7218
+ UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE - AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GM?
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Nairobi, Kenya 6-17 November. Teresa Anderson at the Gaia Foundation warns that the GM industry may try to turn the Nairobi UNFCCC into an opportunity to promote GM technology as the next big solution to climate change.
The GM industry may push for the UNFCCC to endorse GM in a number of areas, such as biofuels, GM trees, and drought tolerant GM crops. It is therefore vitally important that NGOs and country delegates attending the UNFCCC know the true story behind the hype, and the risks that GM technology can bring. Read on: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7128
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FAST FOOD
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+ KFC: OUT OF TRANS FATS INTO TRANSGENICS?
KFC has added its name to the list of restaurants stripping trans fats out of its menu items. The fast-food company has said that its signature fried foods will no longer include the unhealthy fats. By April 2007, the fried menu items in all 5,500 of its restaurants will be prepared with low-linolenic soybean oil, which contains zero trans fats.
The company that provides the Vistive brand of low-linolenic soybeans is Monsanto. Monsanto says that Vistive soybeans are grown through conventional breeding techniques, but critics say that's misleading because they still contain the Roundup Ready trait.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7208
MORE COMMENT ON KFC MOVE
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7214