WEEKLY WATCH number 226
from WEEKLY WATCH editor, Claire Robinson
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Dear all:
There's good news from the US, where a major aid organization is refusing to play the US aid game. According to the usual practice, huge amounts of unwanted US (often unwanted GM) grains are dumped on poor countries, paid for by the taxpayer to the profit of US-based grain multinationals. The practice often undermines the food markets and agriculture of the recipient country. (THE AMERICAS)
Don't miss the two latest instalments in the extraordinary story of the attacks on GM Watch and GM-free Ireland by the Canadian government bureaucrat Shane Morris. (PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL)
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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PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - LATEST
EUROPE
THE AMERICAS
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
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PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL
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+ PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL
The GM Watch website was recently forced offline for nearly a week as a result of legal threats over this article calling for an award winning scientific paper to be retracted
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8216
Read our response to AgBioView's attack on GM Watch over the issue:
PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - PART ONE
Showing the sheer hypocrisy of the attack
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8228
PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - PART TWO
Showing there was no libel
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8240
**NEW THIS WEEK!** PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - PART THREE
Showing why the research is indefensible
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8244
**NEW THIS WEEK!** PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - PART FOUR
Showing what sort of public servant Shane Morris is
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8251
MORE ABOUT THE CONTROVERSY
Biotech Canada SLAPP Scandal
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BiotechCanadaSLAPPScandal.php
Canada attacks Ireland's policy on GM crops
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/morris/index.php
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EUROPE
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+ GM QUARANTINE IN ROMANIA
In Romania, Greenpeace volunteers quarantined a whole island where GM soya crops are being grown, which is illegal under EU law. Vehicles leaving Braila island were hosed down by people wearing white biohazard suits to prevent genetic contamination spreading to the mainland. Even a donkey and cart were washed and made GM-free!
GM soya, maize and sunflowers are grown there and the harvest has just begun, so the campaigners in Romania wanted to stop any GM crops leaving the island and ending up in the food chain. Drivers were warned that they couldn't leave the island without passing through the decontamination station so there have been no reports of any soya-laden trucks trying to leave.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8252
+ ROMANIA - PLAYGROUND FOR THE GM INDUSTRY
The Romanian government has failed to ensure the control and traceability of GM soya plants produced by Monsanto, reports Greenpeace.
The cultivation of illegal crops (experiments with GM potatoes and plum trees, massive plantations of GM soya), the black market in GM seeds, the contamination of processing plants and the illegal GM food products on the market show that GM soya is out of control, even though its cultivation has been banned since 1 January 2007, when Romania joined the EU.
The 2006 plans of the ministry of agriculture were meant to phase out GM soya cultivation. In actual fact GM soya production reached a massive 130,000 hectares, almost double the amount planted in 2005.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8254
+ BT CORN IS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO APHIDS
A study shows that most of the GM maize lines tested against their conventional equivalents are more susceptible to aphids. The study was carried out by Cristina Faria and others, under the supervision of Ted Turlings, professor in chemical ecology at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland. Bizarrely, the researchers claim that the aphids might be a good thing in some areas, as their sticky secretions provide food for beneficial insects! Try telling that to farmers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8241
+ IRELAND: RESISTANCE TO GM CEREALS SLAMMED BY TEAGASC
A scientist from Teagasc, the Irish Government's Agriculture and Food Authority, has slammed the government's failure to support the use of GM cereals in animal feeds. Prof Jimmy Burke, who is head of the Crops Research Centre at Oak Park, claimed that the government's stance on GM crop varieties was undermining the viability of whole sectors within Irish agriculture.
"This policy is anti-competitive and doomed to failure. Only sourcing non-GM material is an unrealistic approach and we need to sit up and take notice of this," Prof Burke insisted.
Comment from GM-free Ireland:
At the annual National Future of Food Forum on "Re-connecting Farming, Food and Rural Communities" hosted by the leading chefs organisation, Euro-Toques Ireland, last Sunday, GM-free Ireland spokesperson Michael O'Callaghan said Teagasc's abuse of public funds to misinform farmers about GM crops was a disgrace, and called on the minister for food and horticulture Trevor Sargent to hold those responsible to account.
Teagasc cannot be trusted on GMO issues because it has abused millions of euro of Irish taxpayer's funding to misinform farmers about GM crops. Its http://www.gmoinfo.ie website - proclaimed as the government's official "Information Centre for GM crops in Ireland" - appeared to have been designed by Monsanto's spin doctors. The website touted GM crops with no mention whatsoever of the growing scientific evidence of cross-contamination, crop failures, patent infringement lawsuits, GM superweeds, health and environmental risks, and loss of market share. The contents of the website were recently cleaned out after GM-free Ireland exposed the misinformation. The main Teagasc website at http://www.teagasc.ie still features numerous pages containing highly biased information in favour of GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8255
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THE AMERICAS
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+ REJECTION OF U.S. FOOD AID BY NGO SIGNALS CHANGE IN HUNGER POLICY
Advocates of a global overhaul of efforts to meet the needs of the world's 850 million hungry people have received a boost with the decision by CARE, a top US aid organization, to walk away from tens of millions of dollars in annual US federal financing.
In opting out of the mechanism by which donated U.S. food aid is transported overseas and sold in local markets to fund anti-poverty programs - a process known as monetization - CARE joins a growing number of international groups demanding an end to a policy they say can be harmful to the countries being helped.
"There is a host of economic literature that says monetization has unintended and harmful consequences overseas," said David Kauck, a senior technical advisor with CARE USA. CARE has decided to phase out monetization by 2009, foregoing in the process $45 million in federal funding this year.
Despite being the world's largest supplier of food aid, the US has attached a sheaf of conditions to its donations through its development arm USAID and the US Dept of Agriculture that critics contend do more for domestic agriculture markets than for the impoverished countries that are the targets for US food aid.
RELATED QUOTE from Food First:
The US food aid system appears to disregard the rights and concerns of recipient citizens in order to assure profits for US agribusiness giants. It is a system that allows for the misspending of public funds in ways that benefit the private sector; a system that takes advantage of the lack of regulation concerning the genetic engineering of food; and a system that undermines democratic decision making about food consumption.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8250
+ RICE FARMERS CLAIMS RESEARCH CONTAMINATED CROP
Rice farmer Kenneth Habetz is suing the board of supervisors of Louisiana State University and Bayer CropScience, the developer of GM rice, for allegedly contaminating the US rice crop and causing harm to his farm. The suit alleges that during field-testing from 1998 to 2001, LSU and Bayer failed to take action to prevent the contamination of conventional rice with "LLRICE" through cross-pollination or commingling during planting, harvesting, handling, storage, transportation and disposal, resulting in the contamination of the entire US supply.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8239
+ STARBUCKS TO BE 100% GM HORMONE-FREE BY END OF YEAR
Starbucks has committed to making 100 percent of the milk supply for its more than 5,600 American locations free of the GM bovine growth hormone rbST/rBGH by the end of the year. Grocery retailer Krogers has also said it would only sell rbST-free milk by early 2008.
"This is a very clear message to the dairy industry that consumers don't like having their cows treated with bovine growth hormone," said Marion Nestle, a professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University and author of the book "What To Eat".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8246
+ HEALTHY EATING MEANS NO GMOs
Health-conscious retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and growers are participating in The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America, which will eliminate GMOs from thousands of products, reports Jeffrey Smith. Says Smith, "This industry-wide rejection of GMOs can be achieved by a 'tipping point', in which a sufficient number of shoppers in the US avoiding GM ingredients force the major food companies to stop using them."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8242
+ PROTEST AGAINST GMOs IN COLOMBIA
Over 130 participants of the Latin American Agroecological Scientific Congress held on August 13 and 15 in Colombia published an open letter opposing the Colombian government's authorization allowing Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta to plant "controlled" GM maize and cotton in the Colombian Alto Magdalena and Valle del Cauca regions. The congress's participants said that the GM crops will cause irreversible environmental, social, cultural and economic consequences in the medium and long term and act against the human rights of the majority of the population.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8249
+ UNLABELLED GM SOYA CONFISCATED IN BRAZIL
Inspectors from the Secretary of Health discovered that soya protein made by the Rio Grande do Sul company Solae Brasil was being sold in a natural products shop without a GM label. The product was confiscated.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8249
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ASIA
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+ PUNJAB, INDIA: BT COTTON CROP SET BACK 25% DUE TO PEST ATTACK
The Bt cotton crop in Punjab has suffered a setback following attacks by mealy bug, reports the Wall Street Journal._"According to the (Punjab) agriculture department, even though more area is under the cotton crop this year, production will be approximately 20-25% less," says a government official who did not wish to be identified.
After a bumper cotton crop last year, this year has come has a shock to Punjab farmers, especially since 80% of the cotton acreage in Punjab falls under Bt crop. Bt cotton is genetically modified to repel bollworms. Many of the farmers who didn't plant Bt crop this year, and organic farmers, appear to be unaffected.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8241
+ PUNJAB: ECONOMY DOWN, PESTICIDES UP WITH BT COTTON
Countercurrents.org comment:
There is a huge economic drain from Punjab due to cultivation of Bt cotton ... Mealy bug attack on Bt cotton in Punjab is responsible for increased sales in pesticides.... [A pesticide dealer said,] "Our earnings have dramatically increased. But excessive use of pesticide may damage the soil in Punjab." That would hurt his long-term business, but he's not sure if the government is paying attention.
The Economic Times comment:
The magic of Bt cotton in southern Punjab has vanished.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8247
+ BT COTTON MELTDOWN IN PUNJAB
EXCERPT from excellent article for InfoChange News & Feature:
According to the state agriculture department, over 2,000 acres of cotton crop were destroyed by the mealy bug by July 10. This appears to be a conservative estimate. During my trip to the region in mid-July, every village reported having uprooted at least five acres of Bt cotton crop every day. In the village of Raike-Kalan, in Bathinda, over 100 acres of mealy bug-infested Bt cotton had already been uprooted when I visited the area. It's the same story across hundreds of neighbouring villages.
That pesticides are not working against this pest is evident from the farmers' accounts. Balwant Singh, a farmer in Mehtawali village in Bathinda, consulted scientists at both the PAU and the state agriculture department. He was advised to rotate sprays of the carbamate and organophosphate pesticide groups. Balwant understands how this is done, for he is the insecticide retailer in the village. Four rounds of sprays later, he has given up. ...
While the state agriculture department and PAU are groping in the dark for a solution, the response from the Centre [central government] is a not-so-surprising dead silence.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8253
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ GM COMPANIES REFUSE TO SUPPLY SEED FOR TRIALS
Western Australia's first broad-scale field trial of GM canola has been placed on hold after becoming entangled in a political battle between the state government and the seed companies which own the technology. State agriculture minister Kim Chance said the GM trials, scheduled for Esperance next year, are now in danger of not going ahead.
Mr Chance confirmed that the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association (SEPWA), which he approved to conduct the trials, has hit a brick wall in its attempts to source GM seed from Monsanto and Bayer.
Network of Concerned Farmers WA spokesperson Julie Newman claimed the lack of seed availability was an admission from GM crop supporters that the trials would reveal GM canola offered nothing better than the varieties already used by growers.
Several researchers are on record as saying that they were denied access to GM seed for food safety, environmental and agronomic performance research.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8238