Claire Robinson, editor
===============================
Welcome to GM WATCH's latest MONTHLY REVIEW and we hope you like the new format.
We've made this review of what's been happening around the world in the last few weeks much more topic based to try and make it easier for you to pick and choose what really interests you, whether it's farming issues, biosafety, scientific research, lobby groups or whatever.
We've even tried to make this review forward looking! So check out our new 'WHAT'S HAPPENING?' section.
And let us know what you think.
------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
BIOSAFETY
CONTAMINATION
FRONTLINE FARMERS
RESEARCH
LOBBYWATCH
GM HYPE
FOCUS ON INDIA
GM MEDICINES
COMPANY NEWS
------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
------------------------------------------------------------
+ NOW : "FUTURE OF FOOD" ONLINE
It's now possible to watch the film, "The Future of Food," online.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1340395745035582980
FOR BACKGROUND: http://www.thefutureoffood.com
+ NOW : "THE GMO TRILOGY"
A new three-disc DVD and CD set produced by "Seeds of Deception" author, Jeffrey Smith.
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/OrderProducts/TheGMOTrilogy/index.cfm
+ 5 April : MARCH FOR GMO-FREE REGIONS
This march is timed to coincide with the opening day of the EU conference on the co-existence of GM, conventional and organic crops, which will take place in Vienna from April 4-6th. Come to Vienna and make your voices heard!
http://www.gmofree-europe.org/
+ 8 April : JIGMOD!
The Joint International GM Opposition Day is a worldwide event with the twofold aim of informing people and demonstrating the united front of organizations around the world concerned about GMOs.
http://altercampagne.free.fr/
+ 10 April : BIO 2006
The biotech industry's annual international convention and PR extravaganza is happening this year in Chicago. Speakers include Bill Clinton, Mayor Daley and former director of the CIA, James Woolsey. There will be two series of events to challenge and question BIO's agenda: Reclaim the Commons 2006, and BioETHICS 2006. Their events start from April 8.
http://reclaimthecommons.net/
http://www.bioethics2006.org/
LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD
+ 15 August : JEFFREY SMITH'S NEW BOOK
This summer sees the publication of the new book by Jeffrey Smith. You can pre-order copies of "Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods" here:
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/geneticroulette
------------------------------------------------------------
BIOSAFETY
------------------------------------------------------------
+ TERMINATOR SEEDS DEFEATED AT GLOBAL CONFERENCE
The delegates of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8) in Curitiba, Brazil have decided to keep the de facto moratorium of Terminator field trials and commercialization. This announcement was greeted with relief amongst indigenous peoples, local communities and civil society organisations who had been opposing the attempts by Australia, Canada and New Zealand to overturn the moratorium.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6376
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6374
+ AGREEMENT SIGNED IN CURITIBA MANDATES LABELLING OF GMOs
An agreement has been reached on labelling of GMOs at the recent 3rd Meeting of the Parties (MOP-3) to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in Curitiba, Brazil. If treated as the international minimum standard, the agreement will eventually help encourage a global system of identity preservation, segregation, and traceability for GMOs, thus helping importing countries to know exactly what is coming into their countries. For more details and analysis of this complex issue:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6402
+ EAST AFRICAN HUNGRY DEMAND TRUTH ABOUT GM FOOD AID
Hunger-stricken countries in East Africa say they will continue to reject GM food aid until effective labelling is in place.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6367
+ LARGE MAJORITY DEMAND CHANGES TO EU's GM APPROVAL SYSTEM
A large majority of European Union member states have demanded changes in the way decisions are made on the approval of new GM crops within the EU, arguing that decisions to approve eight such products since the EU lifted its moratorium were done without a proper scientific basis. Several nations were particularly critical of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6326
+ GMO PANEL'S FUTURE IN DOUBT AFTER BARRAGE OF CRITICISM
The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has come under sustained attack during recent months, largely because of the actions of its widely criticised GMO Panel. EFSA's critics say it is incapable of conducting objective science.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6342
Read Dr Brian John's coruscating criticisms of the EFSA's conduct of science:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6386
+ HAWAII LAWMAKERS LIMIT GM FIELD TRIALS
Hawaii state senators have advanced two bills putting limits on the genetic modification of taro and coffee, crops that are key to Hawaii's identity.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6300
FOR MORE ON THE PROBLEMS WITH GM IN HAWAII SEE 'GM HYPE'
+ SYNGENTA FINED FOR ILLEGAL FIELD TRIALS
The Brazilian Environment Protection Agency - IBAMA - has fined Syngenta one million reais (386,000 euros) for conducting illegal field trials of GM soy in a buffer zone around the Iguacu Falls World Heritage Site. A judicial order for the destruction of the GM plants is also expected.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6368
FOR MORE ON THIS SEE 'FRONTLINE FARMERS'
------------------------------------------------------------
CONTAMINATION
------------------------------------------------------------
+ REPORT REVEALS WORLDWIDE ILLEGAL SPREAD OF GM
The first report into the extent to which GM organisms have "leaked" into the environment reveals a disturbing picture of widespread contamination, illegal planting and negative agricultural side-effects.
The catalogue of incidents includes:
* Meat from GM pigs being sold to consumers
* Ordinary crops being contaminated with GM crops containing pharmaceuticals
* The international distribution of illegal antibiotic resistant maize seeds
* Planting of outlawed GM crops which have been smuggled into countries
* Mixing of unapproved GM crops in food, including shipments of food aid
* Inadvertent mixing of different GM strains even in high profile scientific field trials.
The report reveals 113 such cases worldwide, involving 39 countries - twice as many countries as are officially allowed to grow GM crops since they were first commercialised in 1996.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6318
+ GM SEEDS GIVEN TO ORGANIC FARMERS
Organic farmers in Hong Kong have learned that papaya seeds provided to them by the government were "very likely" GM.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6399
+ UK: GM SOY IN 10% OF SAMPLES
Low levels of GM material were found in 10% of samples in a survey by Britain's Food Standards Agency of soy-containing ingredients which did not have labels indicating GM material.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6398
+ ORGANIC SOY MILK CONTAMINATED
An investigation by the Korea Food and Drug Administration has revealed GM contamination of organic soybean milk and organic formula manufactured by leading Korean food companies.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6398
+ HEINZ BABY FOOD CONTAMINATED BY ILLEGAL GM RICE
Non-approved GM rice is reported to have been detected in Heinz's Baby Rice Cereal in China.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6339
+ ORGANIC MAIZE CONTAMINATED IN CATALONIA
Over 50 people cut down a contaminated organic maize field, and burned nearly 4 tonnes of maize in protest against the situation organic farmers are enduring in Catalonia, Spain, as a result of the expansion of GM maize fields.
Enric Navarro, the organic farmer, was told that his field of organic maize had been contaminated by GM maize to a level of 12.6%. The crop was declassified by the organic certifying body, which offered to sell it as conventional maize. But Enric refused because he didn't want to introduce contaminated maize into the food chain.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6347
+ HUNGARY'S SUPERMARKETS ACT
Supermarket chains have promised to remove or investigate suspect products after Greenpeace Hungary claimed that food made with GMO soya was being sold unmarked.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6398
+ SILO DOORS WELDED SHUT AT SWEDISH GM SOY SUPPLIER'S
Greenpeace activists blockaded a storage facility for GM soy in Sweden on 23 March, calling for a halt to its use as animal feed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6389
+ SWEDISH CONSUMERS DO NOT WANT TO EAT GM-FED MEAT
In an opinion poll, 93% of Swedish people said that meat products coming from animals fed with GM feed should be labeled. 68% said that they would not buy meat products if they knew GM feed was used.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6398
+ ***TAKE ACTION***
GM animal feed is sneaking into the food chain. Please sign the petition at
http://prefs.greenpeace.org/mail-links/clicks/14304.2304463.72938
+ HUMAN GENES IN YOUR FOOD?
A professor at Washington State University and a private Canadian company, SemBioSys, have applied for permits to turn two common food crops - barley and safflower - into virtual factories for synthetic drugs or chemicals. WSU confirms that it plans to grow barley, injected with human genes, to produce artificial proteins with pharmaceutical properties. Where these fields will be is secret; nearby farmers and residents won't be notified.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6293
------------------------------------------------------------
FRONTLINE FARMERS
------------------------------------------------------------
+ BRAZIL'S KEY FARM STATE STANDS FIRM
The governor of Parana in southern Brazil, Roberto Requiao, has vowed to keep his state GM-free.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6369
+ USA: COTTON FARMERS SUE MONSANTO
More than 90 Texas cotton farmers have sued Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land, and Bayer CropScience, claiming they suffered widespread crop losses because Monsanto failed to warn them of a defect in its GM cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6284
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6290
+ AUSTRALIA: GM CROPS DON'T PAY
Farmers in Australia are concerned that the country's GM legislation does not consider economic impacts. Juliet McFarlane of the Network of Concerned Farmers, says, "The crux of the argument for us has always been an economic one. There is absolutely no demonstration in Australia that [GM crops] will give us a better return, increase our market base and give us more market acceptance."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6387
+ FAMILY FARMERS IN SWEDEN OPPOSE GMOS
The body representing Sweden's small family farmers - The Union of Smallholders in Sweden - has issued a powerful letter of concern over GMOs.
"What frightens us most," write the farmers, "is how authorities and governments in Sweden and some other countries, as well as the European Union and WTO, are trying in every possible way to silence the debate, and in that way introduce GMOs against most people's wishes."
The farmers also attack the commercial secrecy surrounding the results of the research on GM, the contamination of food and the environment by GMOs, and they call for strict liability to be imposed on the biotech industry for all the direct and indirect economic consequences of GM products.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6403
+ BRAZIL: ILLEGAL GM PLANTATION INVADED
Several hundred peasant activists have occupied a research farm in Santa Tereza do Oeste, Parana, southern Brazil. The farm is owned by Syngenta. The peasant activists are part of the Landless Movement which is working in alliance with the network of rural workers, Via Campesina.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6347
+ PARAGUAY: GM SOY NIGHTMARE
A new report was presented at the recent Biosafety Protocol meeting in Brazil (see BIOSAFETY), providing detailed accounts of the current violent campaign against rural and indigenous communities in Paraguay, which is strongly related to the expansion of GM soy production.
Soy producers have evicted local farmers from their land, torched houses and crops, and detained and even killed people. Local people have also suffered poisoning and even death due to the massive use of glyphosate on GM soy monocultures.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6337
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6354
+ PERU: FARMERS TELL SYNGENTA TO DISOWN PATENT ON "TERMINATOR"
Indigenous farmers in Peru, the birthplace of the potato, have pleaded with Syngenta to publicly abandon its patent on "terminator" technology to control sprouting potatoes which could put at risk more than 3,000 potato varieties in the region and undermine efforts to reduce poverty.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6364
FOR MORE ON FARMING ISSUES SEE 'GM HYPE' AND 'FOCUS ON INDIA'
------------------------------------------------------------
RESEARCH
------------------------------------------------------------
+ RESEARCHERS LURED TO FIX FINDINGS
In a survey of nearly 3,500 US scientists more than 1 in 3 admit to research wrongdoings. And nearly 1 in 6 say that they have changed the design, methodology or results of a study in response to pressure from a funding source.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6384
+ NEW PAPER ON GENOME SCRAMBLING EFFECTS OF GM
A new peer-reviewed paper on the genome scrambling effects of genetic engineering by scientists including Dr Jonathan Latham of the Bioscience Resource Project is available at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/JBB/index.html
The abstract is at:
http://www.hindawi.com/GetArticle.aspx?pii=S1110724306253762
The paper follows on from the authors' earlier report, based on the peer-reviewed scientific literature and US Dept of Agriculture documents, showing that the genetic engineering of crops already approved and in the food chain, has caused large scale genetic rearrangements of host DNA at transgene insertion sites as well as many hundreds to thousands of individual mutations scattered throughout the genome of each new transgenic plant. The significance of this genetic damage is that food safety of edible crops relies crucially on genetic stability.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4581
+ INTERVIEW WITH DR CHARLES BENBROOK
Here's an excerpt from an excellent interview with the independent agricultural scientist, Dr Charles Benbrook, on the imprecise and unpredictable nature of GM: "[genetic engineers] have no control over where in that cell or where in that plant's genome the new genetic material gets lodged and expressed. Because they don't have control over that, they have absolutely no basis to predict how that trans-gene, the new genetic material, is going to behave in the future as that plant deals with stresses in its environment, whether it's drought, too much water, pest pressures, imbalances in the soil, or any other source of stress. They just don't know how it's going to behave."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6334
+ PUSZTAI REPLIES TO FEDOROFF
There's an interesting commentary by Dr Arpad Pusztai on the claim by Dr Nina Fedoroff in her book, 'Mendel in the Kitchen', that it wasn't GM that was responsible for the adverse effects Dr Pusztai found that rats suffered when fed on GM potatoes.
Dr Pusztai drily concludes, "It is really curious that scientists who may be excellent in their own fields but have no nutritional, toxicological or gastroenterological expertise have an inner (or other?) compulsion to teach the real practitioners with a considerable track record how they should have done their work."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6338
+ JOHN INNES CENTRE WORKING ON NANO-BIOTECH CROSSOVER
Researchers at the UK's John Innes Centre are using a virus of cowpea plants in nanotech-biotech crossover experiments.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6385
+ I DIDN'T CLONE DOLLY THE SHEEP, SAYS PROF
The biotech scientist and lobbyist Prof Ian Wilmut, whose name is synonymous with the cloning of Dolly the sheep, has admitted that he was not responsible for the scientific breakthrough with which he has been widely credited. He said he did not develop the technology or carry out the experiments that led to the first clone of an adult animal from a single cell.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6346
+ WHEN CORPORATIONS COME TO CAMPUS
At a 22 March webcast conference, "When Corporations Come to Campus", students at the University of Lancaster, UK, talked about their appeal against convictions for non-violently protesting against the commercialisation of academic research. Among the speakers was Dr Ignacio Chapela of Berkeley, himself a victim of corporate attempts to censor science.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6360
http://www.free-webspace.biz/GeorgeFox/conference.html#rep
FOR THE LATEST RESEARCH FINDINGS ON BT COTTON IN INDIA SEE 'FOCUS ON INDIA'
------------------------------------------------------------
LOBBYWATCH
------------------------------------------------------------
+ INDUSTRY FUNDED LOBBY GROUP IN CURITIBA
Among the pro-biotech lobby groups active in Curitiba, Brazil, at the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety meeting and the Convention on Biological Diversity, was the Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) - a pro-GM lobby which fielded over 40 representatives, mostly picked from the developing world and trained and scripted by PRRI, to promote identical goals to those of industry. Although PRRI poses as the voice of public sector researchers, its leading lights have close links to the biotech industry which is also among PRRI's financial backers, as is the US Grains Council, which represents the interests of US producers and exporters of GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6336
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6356
+ BLAIR'S BIOTECH BACKERS
In the latest sleaze row involving Tony Blair proposing peerages for undisclosed financial supporters of his Labour Party, some journalists have noted that financially supporting Blair may not just buy you a peerage but even a ministerial position!
And how's this for a coincidence? Of the top three individual donors to Blair's Party, two - Paul Drayson and David Sainsbury - are biotech entrepreneurs. Both have been made peers by Blair in controversial circumstances and both have been given jobs in government.
When Drayson, the former head of the BioIndustry Association, was made a peer, one newspaper commented, "It may be unkind to Lord Drayson to suggest that he effectively purchased a seat in parliament, but if the same thing happened in an African kleptocracy we might find it altogether less amusing."
And there's yet another biotech entrepreneur amongst the businessmen caught up in the latest scandal about concealed loans - Chris Evans. His firm, Merlin Biosciences, is currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
One Member of the Scottish Parliament has commented, "Just these three people show that the Labour Party are deeply indebted to these people and are therefore allowing biotech and GM entrepreneurs to shape the lives of millions of people throughout the UK."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6400
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6366
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6355
+ NO BIOLOGISTS OPPOSE GM - LOBBYIST CLAIMS
Sean Darragh, a representative of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, contended in an interview in a US newspaper that he had never met anyone with a PhD in biology who didn't believe in the safety of biotech food.
Here's just one of the published responses to Darragh: "I have a PhD, worked for five years as a reviewer of the safety of genetically engineered crops with the Environmental Protection Agency, was a science adviser to the Food and Drug Administration for three years on GE food safety. I have plenty of objections. So do many other scientists..." - Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist for the Center for Food Safety, Washington, DC
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6286
STATEMENTS OF CONCERN BY LEADING SCIENTISTS
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=3&page=1
+ FAO PUSHES GM IN AFRICA WITH BIOTECH FRONT GROUP
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF), is in the process of establishing an "agricultural biotechnology network for professionals and stakeholders" - the "Agricultural Biotechnology Network in Africa" (ABNETA).
GM WATCH comment:
This really stinks. ABSF is a Kenya-based front group spun off by the biotech industry-backed ISAAA. ABSF was established when Florence Wambugu was in charge of ISAAA's "Afri-centre" and ABSF even has Wambugu as its Vice President. Wambugu won GM Watch's PANTS ON FIRE award for the extraordinary dishonesty of her promotion of GM in Africa.
There are people starving in Kenya. Meanwhile Wambugu and her Monsanto and USAID backers have helped funnel millions of dollars and significant local resources into an unsuccessful and risky technology when inexpensive alternatives for improving crop production have been readily available.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6308
+ IRELAND: GM ATTACK DOG UNLEASHED
Amidst the escalating row over the prospect of GM potato trials in Ireland, an Irish scientist has intervened to offer a "commentary based on facts and not the spin of either the Pro-GMOers or Anti-GMOers..." But Shane Morris is very far from the neutral expert on GM that he pretends.
Morris, a Canadian bureaucrat, is a former research assistant to Douglas Powell at the University of Guelph in Canada. Morris has also published papers and press pieces on GM with Powell. One paper was so biased in favour of GM that it constituted little more than corporate propaganda while one of Morris and Powell's press pieces, attacking Canada's Royal Society over GM, was characterised in Canada's agricultural press as "offensive propaganda".
Doug Powell and Shane Morris both operated under the umbrella of Guelph's "Food Safety Network", which has enjoyed the financial backing of the likes of Monsanto, DuPont, Eli Lilly, Syngenta, Pioneer Hi-Bred, ConAgra, McCain, McDonald's, Nestle, Ag-West Biotech, Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., Southern Crop Protection Association, Pharmacia, AgCare and the (biotech industry funded) Council for Biotechnology Information.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6317
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6359
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6363
------------------------------------------------------------
GM HYPE
------------------------------------------------------------
+ GM PAPAYA HYPE TAKES A TUMBLE
GM papayas are often hyped as having saved the Hawaiian papaya industry. Only GM papayas, the story goes, can withstand a devastating papaya disease and so allow successful commercial production in Hawai'i to continue.
But the Hawai'ian papaya industry has not been thriving. It has reached a more than 25-year low. One problem, according to the Hawaiian Advertsier, is, "Many Hawai'i papaya growers are raising a genetically engineered product that has yet to generate the market acceptance and higher sales prices that non-genetically modified papayas command. Japan, for example, does not accept genetically modified papaya."
Although GM proponents claim that without GM papaya there would be no papaya at all in Hawai'i, the article notes that non-GM papaya are also being grown commercially, showing that the disease can be managed by other means. But Hawai'i's non-GM papaya growers find themselves shut out of markets because of the GM papaya grown in Hawai'i.
Tests on nearly 20,000 papaya seeds from across Hawai'i's Big Island, 80% of which came from organic farms, have shown a GM contamination level of 50%!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6395
+ LARGE-SCALE CULTIVATION OF GMOs NOT TAKING PLACE IN IRAN
Claims by pro-GM lobbyists that GM rice has already been given the commercial go-ahead in Iran seem to have been wildly overstated. Iran's new minister of agriculture says his country will only pursue large-scale cultivation, which Iran's Dept of the Environment opposes, if relevant international organisations and Iran's National Biosafety Committee give their approval.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6372
+ SPINNING FARMERS' CAUTION INTO PRO-GM FERVOUR
Julie Newman of the Network of Concerned Farmers in Australia says the cautious policies on GM of the main farm lobby group in Western Australia have been spun to the media by lobbyists as demands for GM trials and for an end to Western Australia's GM crops moratorium.
For instance, a policy that calls for an end to the moratorium only "when markets clearly indicate their preparedness to accept GM produce" has been twisted into a demand for an immediate end to the moratorium and an assertion that markets are ready to accept GM produce!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6296
+ GM OMEGA-3 PIG FAT!
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have created GM pigs that produce omega-3 fats that are touted as cutting the risk of heart disease, although this link has recently been challenged.
But omega-3 can already be found in non-GM plant sources, as well as in oily fish and Prof Keith Kendrick of the University of Cambridge, says he is not sure that the GM pigs are "going to be a source of omega-3 for human consumption when there are other non-GM sources."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6382
------------------------------------------------------------
FOCUS ON INDIA
------------------------------------------------------------
+ SEEDS OF DEATH
"More than 40,000 farmers have committed suicide over the past decade in India - although the more accurate term would be homicide, or genocide. More than 90 percent of farmers who committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh and Vidharbha in the 2005 cotton season had planted Bt cotton." - Dr Vandana Shiva
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6326
+ VIDHARBHA: HUNDREDS OF SUICIDES AND RISING
In the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra 33 farmers recently commited suicide in just 10 days. And over 300 of those who have so far committed suicide in the cotton-growing heartland are farmers who opted for Bt cotton, which failed. Monsanto and government officials have been pushing expensive Bt cotton and in Vidharba's killing fields endebted farmers have been paying a terrible price for their hype.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6388
See charts of suicide locations since June 2005.
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=71&page=1
http://www.ibnlive.com/features/farmers/vidarbha_map.html
+ BUSH ANNOUNCES INDO-U.S. FARM PACT
Promising a second "green revolution", US President George W. Bush has announced a pact called the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agricultural Research and Education, which aims to boost Indian agriculture and biotechnology.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6303
+ INDIA: FARMERS PROTEST AGAINST INDO-U.S. PACT ON AGRICULTURE
Thousands of farmers from across North India gathered in Delhi to protest against the government's new pact with the US on agriculture, as well as its decision to import wheat. The protest rally was addressed by former Prime minister Sri VP Singh and farm group leaders.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6361
+ FARM PACT BOARD DOMINATED BY MULTINATIONALS
Devinder Sharma, agricultural scientist and food policy analyst, says the Initiative's board is dominated by multinationals like Walmart and Monsanto, who are all set to determine the Indian agricultural research agenda.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6303
+ INDIA OPENS AG TO U.S. AT HUGE COST
An informative article on the recent Indo-US pact, which has been described as America's pay-off for its nukes deal with India, is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6315
This article makes clear the full extent of that pay-off to US corporate interests. For instance, an official within India's ministry of agriculture says "the Indo-US initiative will cost India over 1000 crores with the US not spending a single penny." (1000 crores is around $2 billion!)
More on the pact: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6305
+ IN GEORGE'S CLUB
Journalist Andy Rowell puts the Indo-U.S. farm pact into a wider political context - one where if you're not in Bush's club you risk political isolation, market exclusion and even possible military assault. But if you are in George's club, you face the opening up of your markets to the likes of Monsanto!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6383
+ INDIA: GM CROP TRIALS SHROUDED IN SECRECY
The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) and state governments have admitted that they are not told by companies where exactly GM crop trials are happening. This was revealed at a meeting convened by the GEAC to look into irregularities in GM field trials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6289
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6309
+ NEW STUDY ON BT COTTON SHOWS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN LOSSES
A new study has found that the collective loss incurred by Bt cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh was a massive 400 crores of rupees - over 80 million US dollars. Interestingly, the government's own assessment of Bt cotton backs up several of this study's findings.
The study used a comparative design to compare the results from Bt cotton fields with those of NPM (Non Pesticidal Management)/organic cotton farmers from four districts. The findings showed that the cost of cultivation per acre on Bt cotton was around 67% higher than NPM/organic cotton, while the net incomes were lower in Bt cotton by at least 37% compared to NPM/organic cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6393
+ MONSANTO'S BT COTTON HAS FAILED IN INDIA
Gene Campaign has also conducted a field study to analyse the performance of Bt cotton and non-Bt cotton in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The study found:
* Lower than average yield per acre in the case of Bt cotton
* Much shorter duration of crop, with the plants showing less vigorous growth
* Premature dropping of bolls in Bt cotton that were smaller in size than non-Bt cotton bolls
* Fewer bolls and shorter fibre length in Bt cotton. Non-Bt cotton was graded as A and B quality whereas Bt cotton was graded as B and C, fetching significantly less on the market
* No protection against pink bollworm from Bt cotton varieties.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6287
+ PEOPLE'S INITIATIVE TO DEFEND INDIA'S FOOD SECURITY
At a meeting in New Delhi, farmers' organisations, environmental groups, scientists and health and nutrition experts launched an action plan to defend the country's food security. Director of Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology Vandana Shiva and farmers' representative Krishnavir Chaudhary said the plan intended to defend India's food and farming from the threat of GMOs, processed and junk foods, the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture and the proposed Integrated Food Law. A movement for GMO-free, patent-free villages is also to be launched.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6378
------------------------------------------------------------
GM MEDICINES
------------------------------------------------------------
+ GM DRUG IN CATASTROPHIC TRIAL
Investigators have begun an urgent inquiry into the clinical trial that left six healthy volunteers in intensive care. The girlfriend of one of the men, Myfanwy Marshall, said her 28-year-old boyfriend had swollen beyond recognition. She said his doctors had told her: "He needs a miracle."
The trial drug is not a chemical but a biological product, a genetically engineered "humanised" protein. Unlike the old chemical entities, these monoclonal antibodies are designed to be accepted by the human body, which experts say makes it difficult to work out by animal testing what dose would be toxic to humans.
Within hours of taking the drug, the volunteers were critically ill with a massive inflammatory reaction.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6349
Medicine is derived from human/mouse hybrid gene:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6365
Leading drug safety expert warns on hazards of modern biotech drugs:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6353
Prominent scientist calls for tests on GM foods in wake of GM drug disaster:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6370
"Life is only going to get better and better. That is the sweet promise of biotechnology... Not too deep into the 21st century, we can expect more drugs to be smart-fighting only the rogue viruses or bacteria or cells operating in our bodies. That will mean fewer side effects and higher cure rates." - Council for Biotechnology Information (director: Sean Darragh) ad in the Harvard Business Review
http://www.whybiotech.com/index.asp?id=2092
Deaths, illness, unexplained side-effects of GM insulin:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5225
"The promises of good tolerability of biotechnology substances have not been met - most are no less toxic than conventional drugs." - Roberta Joppi, Vittorio Bertele', Silvio Garattini, "Disappointing, biotech", BMJ, 2005;331;895-897
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5923
------------------------------------------------------------
COMPANY NEWS
------------------------------------------------------------
+ CAPTAIN HOOK AWARDS FOR BIOPIRACY 2006
The Coalition Against Biopiracy has announced its Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2006. Among the honoured are Syngenta (Worst Threat to Food Sovereignty), for its Terminator-like patent designed to prevent potatoes from sprouting, despite the company's pledge not to commercialize technologies involving sterile seed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6379
+ CHALLENGE TO BAYER AT STOCKHOLDERS' MEETING
The Coalition against Bayer-dangers, based in Duesseldorf, Germany, has introduced countermotions to Bayer's annual stockholders' meeting on April 28. Among the issues to be raised by the Coalition is the continuing use of child labour in Indian cotton growing by Bayer, Monsanto, Syngenta and others. Around 500 children were still working for Bayer's suppliers in the 2005 planting season. Such children work long hours, receive no education, are exposed to toxic pesticides and all for a daily wage of less than one euro!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6371
+ DUPONT MUST ACKNOWLEDGE GM RISKS - SHAREHOLDERS
Concerned that DuPont may be going down the same road that led to its current woes surrounding Teflon, Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (CBIS) is urging DuPont investors to vote next month in favour of a shareholder resolution calling on the company to meet its obligations to disclose any potentially material risk or "off-balance sheet liability" that could be posed by its manufacturing and distribution of food-related GMOs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6391
+ MONSANTO TO PAY $100m. IN PATENT CASE
Monsanto has agreed to pay the University of California more than $100 million to settle a patent infringement claim related to a GM hormone (rBST) that makes cows produce more milk.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6290
+ CROPDEATH INTERNATIONAL
"Please be advised that the international trade association for the Plant Science Industry, formerly known as CropLife, has now adopted an updated corporate identity in line with industry priorities."
http://www.cropdeath.com