GMWATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 87
From Claire Robinson, Monthly Review editor
Website: http//www.gmwatch.org
Profiles: http://bit.ly/12UAI2
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c6OnaX
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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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LATEST NEWS:
* LOBBYWATCH
* BEES
* CORPORATE TAKEOVER
* RESEARCH
* RESISTANCE
* BIOFUELS
* GM FAILURES
* GM CONFERENCE
REST OF THE MONTH'S NEW IN BRIEF:
* LOBBYWATCH - CHANNEL 4 TV'S "WHAT THE GREEN MOVEMENT GOT WRONG"
* OTHER LOBBYWATCH NEWS
* RESISTANCE
* GM INSECTS
* GM ANIMAL FEED
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LATEST NEWS
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ BIOTECH INDUSTRY SPENDS OVER HALF A BILLION LOBBYING
Over the last decade, top food and agriculture biotechnology firms and trade associations spent over half a billion dollars - $572 million - in campaign contributions and lobbying Congress in support of controversial industry projects like GM food animals, according to a new analysis by consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch.
"The public needs to know that despite their concerns with eating genetically engineered (GE) foods, there's a powerful industry spending hundreds of millions to promote products like GE salmon," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. "Over the last few months, our coalition has collected over 350,000 petitions from consumers who oppose FDA approval of genetically engineered salmon. Yet sadly, each of these consumers would have to pay around $1,500 to match the biotech industry's lobbying influence."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12673
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BEES
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+ PESTICIDE INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT IN EU RISK ASSESSMENT PUTS BEES AT RISK
Industry "experts" are undermining an EU review of the regulations of pesticides and putting Europe’s bee population further at risk, according to new research from the European Beekeeping Coordination and Corporate Europe Observatory.
According to the research, proposed new safety tests for pesticides used in the EU fail to take into account the way in which systemic pesticides can build up in bees and their food supplies. Bee numbers have been declining across Europe by up to 30 per cent a year, threatening food supplies because of the vital role played by bee pollination. A number of different factors are thought to be to blame.
The report found that a number of "experts" from pesticide companies are involved in defining which tests are required to verify the safety of new pesticides under the EU pesticides directive. These "experts" have put forward safety tests which would allow pesticides that destroy as many as a third of bees in a hive to be classified as safe a rate of loss that would allow a rapid decline in bee numbers and make beekeeping unviable.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12674
+ PESTICIDES LINKED TO "TOTAL ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE" OF INSECTS AND BIRDS
A new book is blaming the decline of bird and bee numbers across Europe on the use of certain pesticides in agriculture. In The Systemic Insecticides: A Disaster in the Making, toxicologist Dr Henk Tennekes suggests that dangerous insecticides known as neonicotinoids are seriously affecting bird and insect life, and their continued use could result in an "environmental catastrophe".ӬӬNeonicotinoids are often used as seed-dressing for maize, sunflower and rapeseed. However, Tennekes says as well as spreading throughout the entire plant and into the nectar and pollen, they also have a high leaching potential and seep into soils and groundwater. Even low concentrations of the pesticide may be more deadly then previously thought due to their high persistence in soil and water, he adds.ӬӬIn a study published in the journal Toxicology earlier this year, Tennekes had suggested this could be a factor behind declining bee numbers across Europe. He now believes bees are not the only victims.
"Any insect that feeds on the crop dies. Any bee or butterfly that collects pollen or nectar from the crop is poisoned. Neonicotinoids behave like carcinogens, and easily contaminate ground and surface water. There could be dire long-term consequences of environmental pollution with these insecticides, and my fears were confirmed by extensive research," says Tennekes.Ӭ
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id= 12674Ӭ
+ BRITISH BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION TO STOP ENDORSING BEE-KILLING PESTICIDES
The British Beekeepers' Association has announced plans to end its controversial practice of endorsing pesticides in return for cash from leading chemical manufacturers. The endorsement of four products as "bee-friendly" in return for GBP17,500 a year caused outrage among many beekeepers because one of the companies, Bayer Crop Science, makes pesticides that are widely implicated in the deaths of honeybees worldwide.
Beekeeper Graham White, who resigned from the BBKA more than two years ago in protest at what he called a "secret deal done with the pesticide manufacturers whose products are lethal to bees," said all ties to the pesticide industry should be immediately severed. "All of those who created and directed this policy of pesticide endorsement must be thrown out of the BBKA and replaced by real beekeepers. The BBKA is not fit for purpose and will never recover its moral integrity until it is reconstituted as a pure beekeeping organisation that is willing to campaign against all use of systemic pesticides on British farms."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12674
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ U.S.: AGENCIES REFUSED TO PUBLICISE SPREAD OF GM BENTGRASS
The Oregon Dept of Agriculture and the USDA refused to alert the public that GM bentgrass had spread from a test plot in Western Idaho to irrigation ditches in Eastern Oregon. Carol Mallory-Smith, an Oregon State University weed scientist, made the discovery after she received samples from farmers in Malhuer County. The Roundup-resistant creeping bentgrass, under development by Scott's Co., isn't approved for unrestricted commercial production. She asked ODA and USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the agency responsible for regulating the crop, to make the discovery public. Both declined.
Mallory-Smith believed the information was relevant to a lawsuit being waged in US District Court in San Francisco. In the suit, Judge Jeffrey White is deciding whether to allow the production of GM sugar beet. Mallory-Smith decided to act on her own. "I notified Scotts, I notified the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and I notified the people involved in the sugar beet lawsuit," she said.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12669
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12664
+ BIOWATCH CONCERNED ABOUT MONOPOLISATION OF SOUTH AFRICA SEED INDUSTRY
Biowatch South Africa, an NGO involved in promoting biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods, has raised serious concerns about consolidation and emerging monopolies in the South African seed industry with the Competition Commission of South Africa. The hearings were initiated by the Competition Commission to investigate concerns about a proposed merger between Pannar Seeds, the largest remaining South African seed company, and Pioneer Hi-Bred, a US seed company, part of DuPont.
Pioneer's attempt to purchase Pannar is of concern because farmers would then be dependent on two foreign companies controlling most local seed supplies. Monsanto, the other foreign company, purchased two major South African seed companies - Sensako and Carnia - several years ago and is now the world's largest seed company.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12675
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RESEARCH
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+ PROBLEMS WITH MONSANTO'S "NEW GENERATION" RR2 SOYBEANS
Problems are already emerging with Monsanto's new generation of Roundup Ready soybeans, RR2 Yield. It seems they are turning yellow in the field. A study published earlier this year found that the reason for this is that Roundup/glyphosate herbicide interferes with photosynthesis, the process by which plants use energy from sunlight to produce sugars.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12692
That's on top of all the other problems glyphosate causes to plant and soil health - see breakdown of studies at
http://www.gmwatch.eu/images/pdf/gmsoy_sust_respons_full_eng_v12.pdf
Other studies have found that RR2 yields are disappointing and not living up to Monsanto's claims:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2515475920100625
+ REVEALED: THE GLYPHOSATE RESEARCH THE GM SOY LOBBY DOESN'T WANT YOU TO READ
Article for The Ecologist by GMWatch's Claire Robinson on the glyphosate/GM soy issues in Argentina.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12691
Great article on similar issues from truthout:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12653
Much of the research referred to in the article is available at
http://www.gmwatch.org/component/content/article/12479-reports-reports
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RESISTANCE
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+ INDIA: FARMERS DESTROY DUPONT'S GM RICE TRIALS
A GM rice variety under trial at the University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS) near Bangalore has been destroyed by farmers.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12676
Video:
http://qik.com/video/19140535/i-say-no-to-gm-rice
+ SCRAP "PROJECT GOLDEN DAYS", GOVT PARTNERSHIP WITH MONSANTO
New Delhi/Bhubaneswar, November 16 2010: The pan-Indian Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a nationwide mobilization drawing attention to the continuing agricultural crisis in India and calling for a comprehensive new path for Indian agriculture, reached Bhubaneswar on the 46th day of a 71-day tour covering 20 states of the country.
In Orissa, it demanded the scrapping of the partnership of the state government with Monsanto under a programme called Project Golden Days for the promotion of hybrid maize to tribal farmers in the state. This would only encourage seed monopolies and environmental unsustainability and would impact the sociocultural and economic lives of tribals of the country, members of ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture, organizing the Kisan Swaraj Yatra) pointed out.
A paper outlining issues and concerns with regard to public private partnerships with companies like Monsanto, called "Monsanto-ising Indian Agriculture", was released on the occasion.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12667
Read the report, "Monsanto-ising Indian Agriculture", at http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12667
Download as pdf: http://www.gmwatch.org/images/pdf/monsanto-ising_indian_agriculture.pdf
+ BRAZIL LAUNCHES GM-FREE SOY PROGRAMME
Brazilian soy producers who have been complaining of the limited availability of non-GM seeds on the Brazilian market are now counting on government help to solve the problem through the recently launched Soja Livre (Free Soya). The programme is the result of a partnership between Embrapa (the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, led by the State), APROSOJA (Association of Soya Producers of Mato Grosso State) and ABRANGE (Brazilian Association of Non Genetically Modified Grain Producers). These crops are expected to be available for farmers in the 2011/2012 harvesting season.
Brazilian media reported earlier this year that seed distributors that had been acquired by biotech corporations like Monsanto had forced farmers into buying 85 percent of their soy seed in GM varieties.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12678
+ GLOBAL ACTION - TELL USDA TO SAY NO TO GM BEETS
In August, a Federal court ruled that USDA's approval of GM Roundup Ready sugar beets was unlawful, concluding that USDA had failed to conduct an adequate analysis of the impacts of this crop on farmers and the environment. The Court made the GM beets illegal to plant or sell until USDA completes a review of the potential impacts of the beets on farmers, the environment and the public.
Now, under pressure from Monsanto and the sugar industry, USDA has proposed to allow the planting of GM beets again beginning next spring, before the agency completes its assessment of the crop's impacts. This USDA proposal would allow commercialization to continue under the guise of field trial permits.
USDA, under the influence of the biotech industry, must not be allowed to circumvent the law or to ignore farmer choice and public opinion. Tell USDA its illegal proposal must not be approved! USDA has a comment period open only until December 6, 2010, so please (THIS APPLIES TO PEOPLE FROM ALL COUNTRIES, NOT JUST THE US) send your comment today: https://secure3.convio.net/cfs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=349
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12680
+ U.S.: GM SALMON HIT BY LARGE COALITION OF CRITICS
A broad-based coalition of consumer, environmental, business and fishing groups is calling on the US Food and Drug Administration to deny approval of a plan to raise genetically engineered salmon. The coalition presented the FDA with more than 360,000 public comments on the issue. At issue is a proposal by the company AquaBounty, which wants to begin raising GM salmon in Maine. While the company claims that the salmon farm will be raised only on land-based facilities, many fish and wildlife experts believe it would be impossible to stop of the GM salmon from escaping, with unknown consequences to the North Atlantic wild salmon fishery.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12677
+ CANADA: WHY THE SECRECY OVER GM SALMON?
Both AquaBounty and Environment Canada refuse to tell the public if an environmental assessment for GE fish eggs has even begun, says Leo Broderick of the Council of Canadians. Broderick called Environment Canada, who refused to say whether they are currently looking at an application from AquaBounty, claiming this information was confidential. Environment Canada will assess the environmental risks of commercial scale GE salmon egg production in a completely secret process.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12683
+ NEW STUDY CLAIMS FDA REVIEW OF GM SALMON INCOMPLETE
The process used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review GM salmon presents "an incomplete picture" of the risks and benefits of what could be the first GM animal food approved for human consumption, according to a Duke University study.
"Instead of focusing on the safety of a food taken one portion at a time, or whether it was produced through genetic modifications or through classic breeding, a more useful approach would be to evaluate whether society is better off overall with the new product on the market than without it," said Jonathan B. Wiener, one of the study's co-authors.
The FDA is reviewing the salmon, which have extra genes that cause the fish to grow larger and faster, as a "new animal drug."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12690
+ EUROPEANS WARY OF GM FOODS
A Eurobarometer poll has found that 95 percent of European respondents rate GM foods as potentially unsafe and lacking real benefits. The European Commission survey used to determine consumer attitudes toward GMOs has seen a downward trend in GM popularity over the last 15 years. Even Spain, which has in the past been more in favor of GMOs, saw a drop in support by 20 percent in the last five years. The study found that 70 percent of Europeans believe GMOs are fundamentally unnatural, while nearly 60 percent believe GMOs are a threat to the health of themselves and their families. Fifty-eight percent believe GMOs are not safe for future generations.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12679
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12660
+ NORWAY'S MINISTER OF AG SAYS GM NOT NEEDED
Norway's minister of agriculture and food Lars Peder Brekk said at a seminar: "I do not believe at the time being that genetically modified foods will be needed to secure the food supply. With the urgent need to solve the emerging food crisis, we should focus on the methods that we know are working, and that we know are safe."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12682
+ GERMAN COURT APPROVES GM CROP RESTRICTIONS
Germany's top court has approved some of the world's most rigorous restrictions on GM crops, ruling they were in accordance with the country's constitution. One of Germany's 16 states, Saxony-Anhalt, had challenged a federal law that obliges a farmer to pay damages if bees and wild insects carry pollen from a GM crop to a neighbour's non-GM crop. But the court approved legislation that forces farmers to publicly disclose what seed they used. The court also approved a no-fault-liability rule which obliges a farmer to compensate his neighbours for any loss in market value of their crops if the natural and GM variants become mixed.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12686
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BIOFUELS
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+ WORLD BANK-FUNDED BIOFUELS CORP MASSACRES SIX HONDURANS
On November 15, six farmers in the Honduras were massacred in their fields by armed security forces employed by the biofuel company, Dinant. Two more farmers were seriously injured. Six months ago, the farmers were awarded the provisional title to the farm, as part of a long standing negotiation with Dinant, which had tried to claim the land. Since that time, the farmers worked the land. In recent weeks they had noticed incursions into their land by Dinant's security forces. In November 2009, the World Bank extended a loan of $30 million to Dinant for its biofuel production in the Honduras, despite a documented history of violence and corruption by the company.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12685
+ CORPORATE LAND-GRABBING FOR BIOFUELS
The world's biggest corporations are rushing to grab and convert living plant matter - called "biomass" - into fuel, chemicals, and other profitable products. That involves a massive programme of land-grabbing in the global South, as detailed in a new report by ETC Group:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12685
+ THE BIOFUELS DELUSION
In recent years, biofuels have come under increasing scrutiny and overall prospects are not looking good, says an incisive article for News 24. Since most biofuels are currently made from food crops including maize and vegetable oils, it is now widely acknowledged that they have contributed significantly to worldwide increases in food prices.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, huge new palm oil plantations established for biodiesel production have led to deforestation and the draining of peatlands, destroying valuable ecosystems and biodiversity and releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases. Experiments with Jatropha, a promising non-food tree crop, have resulted in low yields and crop failures.
Studies have shown that there simply isn't enough arable land to quench our fuel-thirst on biofuels. If current US and EU biofuel targets were to be met domestically, almost all of the soy and maize grown in North America would have to be used and Europe would be left with only about a third of its farmland to grow food on.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12689
+ U.S.: BIG OIL FUNDS BIOFUELS RESEARCH
The Energy Biosciences Institute is funded by a record $500 million, 10-year grant from British oil giant BP and opened on the UC Berkeley campus in 2007. It focuses on creating patentable products in the form of biofuels. Said Lawrence Busch, a sociologist from Michigan State University, "I've got nothing against patentable objects." But, he asked, does the existence of a large, industry-funded research institution "overshadow any other alternatives" to biofuels for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, such as energy conservation or improved transportation and urban planning?
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12684
+ U.S. CORN ETHANOL "WAS NOT A GOOD POLICY" - GORE
Former US vice president Al Gore has reversed his 1990s-era support for corn ethanol. According to a Reuters article, Gore said, "It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for [US] first-generation ethanol. First-generation ethanol, I think, was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small. It's hard once such a program is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going."
He linked his own support for the original program to his presidential ambitions. "One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12684
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GM FAILURES
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+ RAJ PATEL ON T.J. BUTHELEZI AND MONSANTO'S BT COTTON PROJECT IN SOUTH AFRICA
South African farmer T.J. Buthelezi has a long established relationship with Monsanto and the biotech industry. With their assistance, in 2002-3 he was flown around the world to promote GM foods. He recounted his positive experiences with Monsanto's Bt cotton in Monsanto's showcase project, supposedly showing how GM crops could benefit small farmers in the ddeveloping world, in the Makhatini Flats, South Africa.
We've often wondered what happened to Buthelezi, especially in the light of the failure of Monsanto's Bt cotton project in the Makhatini Flats. We got a clue from a 2007 film made by a group of women farmers from India, in which Buthelezi's wife says that her family makes no profit from the crop. Buthelezi himself is low-key on Bt cotton, saying the crop is only suitable for large holdings and that farmers need other options.
Raj Patel's book about the corporatisation of the food supply, Stuffed and Starved, fills in the gaps in Buthelezi's story. Reading Patel's account, it's hard to feel anything but compassion for Buthelezi and his family, who must be counted among the long list of victims of GM industry greed. Read an extract at:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12693
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GM CONFERENCE
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+ PODCAST OF INTERVIEWS WITH SPEAKERS AT UK GM CONFERENCE
A podcast of interviews with speakers at a recent conference on GM in the UK has been put online. It has an interesting interview with Michael Hart, UK farmer who's made a film about American farmers' disillusionment with GM crops. Hart says, "Every farmer I spoke to said, 'Don't take up this technology.'"
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12672
Direct download of podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biobees/GM_podcast_Oct_2010.mp3
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REST OF THE MONTH'S NEWS IN BRIEF
For those who do not receive GMWatch's Weekly Watch
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LOBBYWATCH - CHANNEL 4 TV'S "WHAT THE GREEN MOVEMENT GOT WRONG"
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+ GLOBAL SOUTH PROTEST AGAINST CHANNEL 4 DOCUMENTARY
There has been massive protest against the bias of Channel 4 TV's latest anti-environmentalist polemic, What the Green Movement Got Wrong, which aired in the UK on November 4. Presented by two people who still consider themselves greens, Stewart Brand and Mark Lynas, and with support from Patrick Moore, the programme aired blatant falsehoods about environmentalists that fit snugly into the corporate agenda. Chief among these was the charge that greens are obstructing environmental and social progress by obstructing nuclear power and GM crops. In particular, the programme made out that but for Northern NGOs, GM crops could help solve hunger in the developing world. The journalist George Monbiot commented that Brand's "account is infused with magical thinking, in which technology is expected to solve all political and economic problems."
A coalition of over 50 organisations and individuals based in the developing world wrote a letter of complaint to Channel 4's head of news and current affairs, Dorothy Byrne. The coalition accused the filmmakers of using only two Southern-based commentators, Florence Wambugu and Shanthu Shantharam, both of whom are funded by major GMO companies. The letter said: "We are tired of the corporate campaigns which claim to speak for the global South."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12628
+ AFRICAN BIODIVERSITY NETWORK CONDEMNS CHANNEL 4 PROGRAMME
One of the signatory organisations of the above letter to Channel 4, the African Biodiversity Network (ABN), issued a strong statement condemning the programme's claims on GM. It quoted Dr Tewolde Berhan Egzhiaber, Head of the Dept of the Environment in Ethiopia and a co-founder of ABN, as saying, "Once a GM crop is grown, it will inevitably cross-pollinate with neighbouring related crops and wild plants. Africa's vast genepool of indigenous seed varieties is far too precious to contemplate losing to careless contamination. Researchers have barely bothered to investigate the real potential of these indigenous and locally-adapted varieties to meet diverse nutritional and climate needs. There is no evidence, especially in small-holder farmer conditions, that GM crops increase production."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12649
+ CHANNEL 4'S LIES OVER ZAMBIA AND DDT
ZAMBIA: What the Green Movement Got Wrong regurgitated a discredited lie that hundreds Northern NGOs like Greenpeace persuaded the Zambian government not to accept US GM food aid, thus inflicting harm on hungry Zambians in 2002. In fact, Zambia made its own decision about the GM food aid, and no Zambians died of hunger in the famine.
DDT: The programme also wrongly claimed that environmental organizations like Greenpeace got the insecticide DDT banned internationally, leading to millions of third world deaths from malaria. In fact, there has never been a global ban on DDT for disease control purposes.
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12646
+ MORE ANALYSIS AND COMMENTS ON THE PROGRAMME
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12629
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12632
http://bit.ly/bmWSZQ
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12636
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12638
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12647
+ CONTRIBUTOR TO PROGRAMME TAKES ACTION AGAINST CHANNEL 4
Adam Werbach, one of the environmentalist contributors to the Channel 4 programme, is taking action against Channel 4 and the producers of the programme for misleading him about its content.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12635
+ CHANNEL 4 PROGRAMME FRONTED BY CORPORATE LOBBYISTS POSING AS ENVIRONMENTALISTS
PATRICK MOORE was presented in the programme as a leading environmentalist. But despite having a prominent early role in Greenpeace, Moore is a paid spokesperson for the nuclear and logging industries in Canada and the United States.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12635
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Patrick_Moore
http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=5641
STEWART BRAND: George Monbiot wrote to Brand, "Like Patrick Moore, you trade on your credentials as a founder of the early environment movement. Like Patrick Moore, you now work as a corporate consultant. By the way, who does your company now represent? The list of corporations Sourcewatch gives as its clients - including ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, Cargill, Dow Chemical, Shell and BP - makes my hair stand on end."
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/11/10/a-charming-falsehood/
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12635
http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11843
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-13-stewart-brands-nuclear-enthusiasm-falls- short-on-facts-and-logic/
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12665
Profile of Brand: http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Stewart_Brand
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OTHER LOBBYWATCH NEWS
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+ ECONOMIST DEBATE - IS GM COMPATIBLE WITH SUSTAINABLE AG?
The Economist ran a debate on whether "biotechnology" is compatible with sustainable agriculture. The wording of the motion seemed to be an attempt to sneak GM into public acceptance via the soft term "biotechnology", which in fact does not mean GM but refers to a range of technologies, including marker assisted breeding, that are supported by the public and most environmental groups. For the motion was genetic engineer Pamela Ronald, whose marriage to an organic farmer has made her the poster woman of the GM industry in its campaign to marry GM crops with organic and sustainable farming. Against the motion was Chuck Benbrook, chief scientist at the Organic Center. Readers were invited to vote for Ronald (marriage of GM with sustainable ag) or Benbrook (in support of the non-compatibility of GM and sustainable ag). GM opponents won the vote, with 62% voting for Benbrook, against 38% voting for GM and Ronald.
http://econ.st/b0V5lc
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12626
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12655
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12656
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RESISTANCE
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+ INDIA: FARM WIDOWS BURN U.S. PRESIDENT'S EFFIGY
A group of farm widows burnt an effigy of US President Barack Obama to protest against America's agriculture policies and GM seed promotion in India. The protest took place at a time when the US President was in Delhi as part of his visit to India. The farm widows claimed the US attempt to globalise India's agriculture sector was aimed at benefiting American multinational companies (MNCs). American MNCs have caused crisis in Vidarbha, where thousands of debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide over the last few years. The protesters demanded a ban on Bt cottonseed and the withdrawal of huge subsidies to American cotton farmers.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12650
+ PHILIPPINES TO TEST GM "GOLDEN RICE"
The Philippines government plans to start field testing its own type of GM beta carotene-enhanced "Golden Rice" rice in December this year.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12659
+ ARGENTINA: A LAW TO MAINTAIN RURAL LIFE
Stopping the evictions of farmers and declaring the social function of land are the two main pillars of a bill being promoted by Argentina's farmers' associations. This would be the first important legislative barrier to the expansion of the agricultural frontier by agribusiness (in particular involving GM soy), which has led to the eviction of over 300,000 farmer and native families.
Article in Spanish:
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/sociedad/3-156535-2010-11-09.html
+ ARGENTINA: HUNGER STRIKE TO STOP AGROCHEMICALS SPRAYING ON GM SOY
Argentine forest engineer Claudio Lowy began a hunger strike on November 9 in the entrance of the Ombudsman's office, Buenos Aires, in protest against official inaction over the spraying of agrochemicals on GM soy in the country. Three days later, Lowy ended his hunger strike as the Ombudsman agreed to ask the ministry of agriculture to re-classify certain chemicals. The proposed new system would take account of the whole range of health effects of agrochemicals, including chronic and sublethal effects - not just acute and lethal toxic effects, as is currently the case.
Article in Spanish:
http://www.prensadefrente.org/pdfb2/index.php/anuncios/2010/11/09/p6099?printme= 1&skin=print
+ APPEAL FROM GMWATCH - NEWS NEEDED FROM SOUTH AMERICA
South America is home to a rising resistance movement against agribusiness power, GM soy expansion, and glyphosate/agrochemicals spraying. Much of what goes on there passes unreported in Europe and the English-speaking world. We at GMWatch want to report the major items of GM and glyphosate/agrochemicals news from S America but are hampered by the language barrier. If any Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking GMWatch subscribers can forward any short summaries (in English) of important news stories, including a weblink to the original article/other documented evidence, we will report them. If you can help, please contact claire [AT] gmwatch.org. Many thanks.
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GM INSECTS
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+ EXPERTS CONCERNED BY GM MOSQUITO RELEASE
Experts in the safety of GM organisms have expressed concern over the release of GM mosquitoes into the wild on the Cayman Islands, which was publicised internationally only last month ”” a year after their initial release.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12661
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GM ANIMAL FEED
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+ UK SUPERMARKETS URGED TO LABEL NON-GM-FED ANIMAL PRODUCTS
British supermarkets are being told to label the 70 per cent of their meat and milk that comes from animals reared on GM feed. The call comes as French supermarket giant Carrefour launched a new logo to mark out such products. The chain now labels foods derived from animals fed a non-GM diet as "Reared without GM". Carrefour took the decision after research revealed that 96 per cent of consumers backed honest labelling and 63 per cent would stop eating products from animals reared on GM feed. Now the policy director of the Soil Association, Peter Melchett, has written to the chief executives of Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, urging them to follow Carrefour's lead. See Peter Melchett's letter at http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12663
+ STUDIES SHOWING GM DNA TURNS UP IN MILK AND MEAT FROM ANIMALS FED GM CROPS
According to a man from the British Retail Consortium, "scientific advice" says there's no need for products from GM-fed animals to carry a GM label because "GM material is not transmitted through animal feed to meat or milk". But the BRC's "scientific advice" is years out of date. Studies show that GM DNA in feed is taken up by animals' organs and has been detected in the milk, fish, and meat that people eat:
http://gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12427