WEEKLY WATCH number 238
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
The fallout from the descent of previously respectable science journals into mouthpieces for industry lobbyists continues. In the wake of the Nature editorial attacking EU environment commissioner Dimas for suggesting a ban on GM maize types, and the appalling treatment of Dr Irina Ermakova by Nature Biotechnology, two scientists have told us of their disillusionment and disapproval. Still others are going public with their views (LOBBYWATCH). Please take action to show your support for Dimas (EUROPE).
This will be our final Weekly Watch before Christmas, so we'd like to wish our readers and supporters a very happy Christmas. We'll be back at the end of the month with the Monthly Review.
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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AUSTRALASIA
EUROPE
ASIA
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
LOBBYWATCH
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
GENETIC CROSSROADS
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ JAPANESE PROTEST LIFTING OF MORATORIA
Japanese consumers have protested to the state governments of Victoria and New South Wales in Australia over their decision to allow GM canola cultivation. In October, the 'No! GMO Campaign' asked the two states to keep their GM moratoria in place. Their request was signed by 155 different organizations, representing nearly 3,000,000 consumers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8601
+ GM WILL TAINT NATURAL CANOLA CROP
GM canola is certain to contaminate Australia's canola crops, according to a new report which examines the experience of farmers in Canada, where segregation of GM and non-GM canola crops failed after a few years, causing the collapse of both industries. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8612
+ AUSTRALIAN FARMERS LOSE 'BIG ADVANTAGE'
Terry Boehm, vice-president of Canada's National Farmers Union, says he was puzzled by last month's decision by the Victorian and NSW governments to lift their bans on the commercial production of the controversial crops. 'To lose GM-free canola status is to lose a very big advantage,' he said. Boehm said GM canola varieties had not produced significantly increased yields and cases of contamination had led to lengthy court battles. The country's canola growers had also lost customers in key export markets: China, Europe and Japan.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8617
+ GM FOODS CAN BE DANGEROUS
There's a good article in The Age by scientist Mitchell Harper about the folly of two of lifting the GM moratoria. Harper details some of the risks of GM crops, including:
***Roundup, used with GM Roundup Ready crops encourages the fungal disease fusarium, and research should be carried out to see if it also encourages other fungal diseases;
***Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, can prevent plants from using beneficial trace metals. If plants lack these nutrients, anything that consumes them will also receive less. Nutritional deficiencies are already impacting livestock farming.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8605
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EUROPE
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+ SHOWDOWN FOR EUROPE
Last month, the European Commission's environment commissioner Stavros Dimas said that he plans to reject applications from Syngenta and Pioneer Hi-Bred International for approval to grow two strains of GM maize, on the grounds that the crops could adversely affect the environment. But the commissioners who are respectively responsible for trade, industry and agriculture - Peter Mandelson, Gunter Verheugen and Mariann Fischer Boel - are trying to overturn Dimas's decision.
*TAKE ACTION! Help keep the heat on the European Commission. Write your own, personalised (and polite!) comment on the blog of key commissioners who will decide about the authorisation of GM maize and whose positions are not yet clear - details here http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8599
+ BOVE ESCAPES JAIL, PLANS HUNGER STRIKE
French farmer-activist Jose Bove said he had been spared four months in prison on charges of ripping up GM crops, after a judge converted his sentence to a fine. With 10-15 other activists, Bove plans to go on a hunger strike beginning 3 January in order to win a one-year ban on GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8594
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8613
+ CONFERENCE DEMANDS ZERO TOLERANCE
Interesting report on a European conference in December organised by the IFOAM organics body in Brussels, which discussed the future strategy for implementing organic agriculture in Europe and demanded zero tolerance of GM.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8616
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ASIA
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+ GM FOODS IN INDIA - LABEL AND TELL
In September, India's ministry of environment gave up its responsibility of regulating the import of GM foods under the Environment Protection Act 1986 by notifying the exemption of such foods from the regulatory approval processes. Now, consumers have no knowledge at all about what they are eating.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8615
+ THAILAND: LIFTING GM BAN - DEADLY BLOW TO ENVIRONMENT, AGRICULTURE
In Thailand, Greenpeace activists acted out the plight of a dying farmer in front of Government House to symbolize the dangers posed by GMOs and to warn the military-installed cabinet that lifting the ban on open field trials of GMOs could trigger a deadly blow to Thailand's agriculture and environment. Recently, demonstrators marched to Government House to deliver a petition against GMOs signed by more than 10,000 Thai consumers and farmers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8620
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ MNC's GAINING TOTAL CONTROL OVER FARMING
Farmers are becoming dependent on large multinational corporations (MNCs) for seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and other inputs while also becoming more vulnerable to pressures to produce GM crops, according to the Pesticide Action Network (PAN). Participants at a PAN conference warned that DuPont and Monsanto are seeking to dominate the global seed market.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8604
+ JUST 10 CORPORATIONS CONTROL NEARLY HALF THE WORLD SEED MARKET
Monsanto recently became the world's biggest seed company, trailed closely by DuPont. In the mid 1970's there were around 7,000 seed companies and not one of them had even 0.5% of the world market. Nowadays just 10 corporations control 49% of the world seed market.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8595
+ ONTARIO GROWER ORDERED TO PAY MONSANTO $160 PER ACRE
Monsanto continues to aggressively pursue farmers for infringing its patents. The latest victim is Paul Beneteau of Ontario in Canada who has been found guilty of growing, harvesting and selling 55 acres of soybeans which he 'knew contained genes and cells as claimed in the said claims of the patent'. The Court ordered Beneteau to pay damages of $160 per acre. This judgment follows an earlier successful court judgment against Eddie Wouters of Northspruce Farms Ltd in which the Court awarded Monsanto over $107,000 or $274 per acre on the 392 acres of Roundup Ready soybeans planted by Wouters without Monsanto's permission.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8604
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AFRICA
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+ KENYA: WAMBUGU MYTH-MAKING EXPOSED AGAIN
The practice of small-scale farming does not suit tissue culture bananas, says Dr Benjamin Chege, an expert at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.
The project is another over-hyped failure of the pro-GM scientist Dr Florence Wambugu. Although tissue culture is a relatively unsophisticated, and largely uncontroversial, biotechnological technique that does not involve genetic engineering, Wambugu has been keen to draw the widest possible conclusions from the project. In 2003 Wambugu told the Committee on Agriculture of the US House of Representatives: 'programs such as the tissue culture banana project in some East African countries have demonstrated that biotechnology can have a positive impact on hunger, malnutrition and poverty. In some cases, rural farm incomes have tripled as a result of biotech techniques.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8597
+ DENNIS AVERY ON HOW GM CROPS ARE TRANSFORMING THE LIVES OF THE WORLD'S POOR
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8596
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THE AMERICAS
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+ U.S.: FDA APPROVAL OF MILK AND MEAT FROM CLONED ANIMALS STALLED
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8619
+ CANADA: SUPREME COURT WON'T HEAR MONSANTO CASE
A six-year battle by a group of Saskatchewan organic farmers to sue Monsanto Canada and Bayer Crop Science has been snuffed out by the Supreme Court of Canada. The farmers were seeking compensation for losing canola as a crop due to genetic contamination. But the country's top court has announced it will not hear the case.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8612
+ RICE ON CANADIAN STORE SHELVES CONTAMINATED
Greenpeace is demanding that all long grain rice imported from the US be removed from store shelves in Canada after independent testing confirmed that rice purchased at two supermarkets in Vancouver and Montreal was contaminated with a variety of GM rice not approved for human consumption by Health Canada.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8621
+ INDIGENOUS GROUPS DEFEND MEXICAN CORN
The introduction of GM corn has become a hot issue in northern Mexican border states. Opponents fear that GM products will contaminate native corn species, as has already happened in different parts of Mexico, and with unpredictable, long-term environmental consequences. Representatives of more than 20 indigenous Raramuri and Tepehuan communities have vowed to take measures to defend their traditional corn.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8603
+ GM SOY IN BRAZIL WILL KILL THE AMAZON AND BOOST GLOBAL WARMING BY 50%
Large-scale soy monocultures in Brazil have caused deforestation, soil degradation, and pesticide and genetic contamination, says Carmelo Ruiz-Marreroan in an article published by Brazzil magazine. GRAIN, the NGO, warns, 'Unless the Brazilian government takes decisive action to prevent it, soy is likely to take over most of the Amazon basin over the next decade. Within just a few years the relentless advance of the agricultural frontier into the Amazon basin is likely to push the tropical forest over the critical tipping point so that it starts to dry out and turn into savannah.' The article includes scientific findings on the damage caused to the environment and human health by Roundup.
EXCERPT: Research shows that glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient, caused retarded development of the fetal skeleton in laboratory rats; it also inhibits the synthesis of steroids, and is genotoxic in mammals, fish, and frogs. Field dose exposure of earthworms caused at least 50% mortality and significant intestinal damage among surviving worms. As for human health effects, Roundup has been found to cause dysfunctional cell division that may be linked to cancers, and children born to users of glyphosate had elevated neurobehavioral defects. In Ontario, Canada, epidemiological research found that glyphosate exposure almost doubles the risk of miscarriages in advanced pregnancies. And a French team... discovered that human placental cells are very sensitive to Roundup, and that even in very low doses glyphosate can disrupt the endocrine system....
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8595
+ OHIO CONSIDERS BANNING rBGH-FREE MILK LABELS
Regulators in the state of Ohio are considering banning 'rBGH-free' labeling on dairy products produced without the GM growth hormone rBGH. US subscribers are encouraged to *TAKE ACTION* on this even if you live outside Ohio - DETAILS HERE
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8609
+ 'CONSUMER' ADVOCATE LINKED TO GM HORMONE INDUSTRY
A woman representing consumers on an Ohio state committee developing new rules for labels that appear on dairy products formerly worked for Monsanto, which markets the gm growth hormones at the centre of the labeling debate. Steiner's husband also is a dairy farmer, and he uses the gm hormones in his herd.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8610
+ DIOXIN LAWSUITS STILL POSSIBLE AGAINST MONSANTO
Residents who lived near more than 40 U.S. chemical plants where Monsanto produced dioxins can still sue the company for personal and property damages. In December 2003, Solutia, a successor to most of Monsanto's chemical plants and assets, filed for bankruptcy to reorganize its debts, including potential claims alleging dioxin and chemical poisoning. After hearings held by a US Bankruptcy Judge, the parties reached an agreement which permits lawsuits to be pursued and makes 'new Monsanto', a company created in 2002, responsible for potential costs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8623
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ UK: CHIEF SCIENTIST UNDER ATTACK
From an article in The Independent about the outgoing UK chief scientist (EXCERPT):
For weeks Professor Sir David King, the chief scientist who leaves his job at the end of the month, has been giving his views on controversial issues... Now critics are accusing him of being 'demob-happy' and of 'totalitarian paranoia'.
The editors of two of Britain's top scientific journals have both taken him to task, as have the environmental spokesmen of both main opposition parties. And an environmental group has written to the prime minister demanding Professor King issues a public apology.
Much the most colourful attack so far has come from Dr Richard Horton, the editor of medical journal The Lancet, who accuses the chief scientist of 'letting off blasts of hot and sometimes rancid air to relieve the dyspeptic frustrations of seven years in the most uncomfortable job in science'.
'King takes his faith in science into the realms of totalitarian paranoia. If he lost the debate on GM, it was because his arguments failed to convince people... King seems biased and even anti-democratic. It seems he would prefer the media not to exist at all. That is a troubling position for the government's chief scientist to adopt.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8611
+ CHIEF SCIENTIST'S MISLEADING GM CLAIMS: PUBLIC APOLOGY DEMANDED
GM Freeze has written to Prof David King calling upon him to make a public apology after making a 'grossly misleading' comment about GM crops on the BBC's Today Programme. King put forward an intercrop planting project in Africa as an example of the benefits of GM crops on grain yields: 'the crop yield goes up 40-50%. Very big advantage.' GM Freeze has pointed out to King that the 'push pull' project he described does not involve GM crops at all but is an excellent example of how scientists have found solutions to a major weed and a significant pest of maize in Kenya without the use of pesticides or GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8618
+ UK'S NEW CHIEF SCIENTIST CRITICISED
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8607
+ NATURE EDITORIAL ATTACKS DIMAS
An editorial in the journal Nature criticizes the European Commission's environment commissioner Stavros Dimas over his plans to reject applications from Syngenta and Pioneer Hi-Bred International for approval to grow two strains of GM maize (see EUROPE). The editorial insists EU Commissioners simply follow the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in their decision-making on GMOs. But the editorial sidesteps the vital question of regulatory capture and the concern among EU member states about EFSA - both about the assumptions it uses in its assessments of GMOs, and about its failure to insist on accurate declarations of interest from members of its GMO Panel. Nature's editor has, of course, been heavily criticised himself for succumbing to pressure from vested interests over the Quist and Chapela paper on Mexican maize contamination, and since then he seems to have lost any pretence of objectivity, as is all too apparent from the language of the editorial.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8602
+ SCIENTISTS RESPOND TO EDITOR OF NATURE
After seeing the Nature editorial attacking Dimas and the treatment of Dr Irina Ermakova by Nature Biotechnology, one scientist contacted us to say his dream had always been to have a paper published in Nature, but no longer. Another, whose research has been published in Nature, told GM Watch, 'Nature is now doing as much harm to science as Science or the Proceedings of the Natl Academy, who have done nothing but become political outlets for the new owners of our societies, the corporations.' Dr Brian John's response to Philip Campbell, the editor of Nature, is at:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8614
+ AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY ENDORSES GM CROPS
According to the Australian Academy of Science, GM crops will play a critical role in alleviating malnutrition, combating climate change and removing allergens from food - and the technology must be embraced in Australia. But the statement has been branded a 'bunch of lies' compiled by scientists who are neither independent nor objective but simply self-interested.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8617
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SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
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+ SYNTHETIC DNA ON BRINK OF YIELDING NEW LIFE FORMS
Researchers are poised to create new life forms driven by completely artificial DNA, says the Washington Post. ETC Group is one of dozens of advocacy groups that want a ban on releasing synthetic organisms pending wider societal debate and regulation. One of the group's recent reports commented, 'Ultimately synthetic biology means cheaper and widely accessible tools to build bioweapons, virulent pathogens and artificial organisms that could pose grave threats to people and the planet.... The danger is not just bio-terror but bio-error.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8622
+ SYNTHIA GETS A SHOTGUN...
A suite of recently uncovered patent applications lodged by the former human genome project head J. Craig Venter and colleagues reveal not only an attempt to grab ownership over much of synthetic biology but also a business plan for producing millions of new synthetic organisms per day. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8598
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GENETIC CROSSROADS
Center for Genetics and Society
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+ TAKING YOUR GENES IN HAND
The Economist on personal genetic testing -advancing rapidly but beware of overselling.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3827
+ SCIENTISTS CURE MICE OF SICKLE CELL USING STEM CELL TECHNIQUE
The Washington Post reports that using a recently developed technique for turning skin cells into stem cells, scientists have cured mice of sickle cell anemia -- the first direct proof that the easily obtained cells can reverse an inherited, potentially fatal disease.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3826
+ BIOTECH STEM CELL SPIN
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
Like politicians, pundits, and advocates, biotech entrepreneurs are also contemplating how to react to the recent advances in deriving stem cells from ordinary skin cells - particularly if the developments make their products less appealing.
http://biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=3830
+ EDITORIAL: STEM CELL HOUSECLEANING
The Los Angeles Times says grants are great, but the California institute created to fund research needs to put its business in order.
http://biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=3828