Fwd: News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

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" News Update from The Campaign "

John Kerry - Mendocino - Wheat - Bad news from UK - GEAN Conference

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 06:45:23 -0600

 

News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

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Dear News Update Subscribers,

 

This News Update will cover five separate topics:

 

JOHN KERRY

 

Our e-mails, faxes and telephone calls to John Kerry seem to be having an

effect. Kerry is now sending out an e-mail response that seems to indicate

he is hearing our concerns about genetically engineered foods. An excerpt

from his e-mail is posted below.

 

However, Kerry does not specifically say he will require mandatory labeling

of products that contain genetically engineered ingredients. Instead he

states:

 

" A Kerry Administration will also work to implement a product labeling

system for genetically engineered foods, thereby enabling consumers to have

a choice. "

 

Under that criteria, a " product labeling system " could be one that would

only provide voluntary labeling for products that don't contain genetically

engineered foods. We want Kerry to state he will require mandatory labeling

for foods that do contain genetically engineered ingredients.

 

In the next few days, we will modify our ACTION ALERT to John Kerry asking

him to further define what he means by a " product labeling system " to make

sure it would include mandatory labeling of products that do contain

genetically engineered ingredients.

 

MENDOCINO BAN ON GE CROPS

 

The second item posted below is an excellent article from the San Francisco

Chronicle titled " Mendocino sows seeds of dissent. " It does a good job of

reviewing the Mendocino victory on Measure H and the setback it represents

to the biotech industry. And it points out that many other counties are

likely to try to implement such a ban using the initiative process.

 

There is a strong likelihood that the biotech industry will attempt to get a

bill introduced into the California legislature to try to make such county

bans illegal. The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods will be

actively involved in fighting passage of such a bill if it is introduced. We

will launch an ACTION ALERT to provide the means for citizens to oppose such

legislation that would usurp a county's right to set their own policies

regarding genetically engineered crops.

 

BIOTECH WHEAT

 

The third item posted below is an article titled " Japan Key to U.S. Biotech

Wheat Future. " Japan has stated they will not buy any wheat from countries

that allow wheat to be genetically engineered. However, China may want to

buy genetically engineered wheat if it gets approved for commercial growing

in the United States. The article does a good job of explaining the dilemma

facing the wheat industry and individual wheat farmers.

 

UK APPROVES PLANTING OF GE CORN

 

We have some bad news to report from the United Kingdom. On Tuesday, the

British government approved the commercial cultivation of a type of

genetically modified corn called Chardon LL maize.

 

It is quite disturbing that the UK officials would permit genetically

engineered corn to be grown in light of the growing controversy over these

crops. The first commercial Chardon LL maize crops are likely to be planted

in 2005.

 

The final items posted below are two articles on this development. The first

is from the Associated Press and is titled " Britain OKs first genetically

modified commercial crop with limits. " The second article on this topic is from

the BBC News titled " UK's tentative go-ahead for GMs. "

 

GEAN CONFERENCE

 

Any of you reading this who live in the San Francisco area, or if you wish

to travel to that area, may want to consider attending the Genetic

Engineering Action Network (GEAN) conference this weekend.

 

On Friday night there will be a panel discussion open to the general public

in San Francisco. On Saturday and Sunday, the GEAN Conference will be held

at the University of Berkeley. Here is a link to learn more about this

informative conference:

http://www.geaction.org/conference2004.html

 

Craig Winters

Executive Director

The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

 

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

Tel: 425-771-4049

Fax: 603-825-5841

E-mail: label

Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

 

Mission Statement: " To create a national grassroots consumer campaign for

the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass legislation that

will require the labeling of genetically engineered foods in the United

States. "

 

***************************************************************

 

FROM THE E-MAIL RESPONSE OF JOHN KERRY:

 

As president, John Kerry would start by staffing the government agencies

that have oversight with a fair and balanced team of experts - - not the

figureheads from corporate agribusiness that President Bush has chosen.

John Kerry will redouble government efforts to make sure biotechnology is

safe for both human consumption and the environment. He will give

government agencies the power they need to effectively regulate genetically

engineered food products, before and after they enter the market. A Kerry

Administration will also work to implement a product labeling system for

genetically engineered foods, thereby enabling consumers to have a choice.

 

***************************************************************

 

Mendocino sows seeds of dissent

 

Ken Garcia

San Francisco Chronicle

Monday, March 8, 2004

 

THE BIOTECH corporations producing genetically engineered plants have spent

years trying to create seeds that are immune to a variety of pests and

insecticides. But they can't find a formula to stop the rise in

contamination of their public image and tactics.

 

So-called " Franken-food " producers like the Monsanto, DuPont and Dow

companies have spawned a real monster -- a growing movement in agricultural

communities to ban genetically altered crops, the corporations' DNA-modified

bread and butter.

 

Nowhere in the country is this more evident than in Northern California,

where rural Mendocino County last week became the nation's first region to

ban genetically modified organisms from being raised within its borders. It

was of such a serious concern to the multibillion-dollar biotech industry

that it spent nearly $700,000 trying to defeat the measure, nearly $60 for

every man, woman and child in the county.

 

The upshot? It looks as if a number of neighboring counties are prepared to

follow suit -- officials in Humboldt, Sonoma and Marin counties are said to

be contemplating similar ordinances and several states are considering even

more strict initiatives. Indeed, the movement to ban genetically modified

plants and foods is sweeping the country almost faster than same-sex

marriage.

 

" This is the first time people have taken on these corporate giants and

won,'' said Laura Hamburg, a spokeswoman for Mendocino County's Measure H

campaign, which won with nearly 57 percent of the vote. " It's a sign of hope

and inspiration for grassroots movements around the country.''

 

The grass is definitely not greener for the synthetic-life-producing biotech

giants who have been battling skirmishes on fronts from Oregon to France.

Organic food producers -- one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative

segments of U.S. agriculture -- have stepped up their efforts to market

their products as better, healthier alternatives to gene-altered plants and

animals. Recent findings by independent scientists regarding contamination

of conventional crops by mysteriously wandering DNA-manipulated pollen have

heightened fears among farmers about future crop damage.

 

A few weeks ago, the Union of Concerned Scientists, a respected health and

environmental group, released a 70-page report that found that a surprising

amount of the U.S. supply of regular crop seeds had been contaminated with

strands of genetically-altered DNA.

 

The study, " Gone to Seed,'' concluded that more than two-thirds of 36

conventional canola, soy and corn seeds contained traces of DNA from

genetically enhanced crops. The report warned that if the United States

can't do a better job of safeguarding its food supply, it would be nearly

impossible to guarantee any portion of it would be free of

genetically-altered elements.

 

Such a finding for an already leery public is the worst possible news for

the likes of Monsanto, which is facing fever-pitched opposition to

DNA-altered products in European and Asian trade markets. Couple that with

the fact that wine-growing regions such as Mendocino see organic products as

a way to market themselves competitively to foreign buyers and you

understand why the biochemical giants are spending millions trying to stomp

out similar political uprisings.

 

The Mendocino County fight was sown with seeds of desperation from the

start. Rather than deal with science and safety questions, the opponents of

the genetic plant ban focused on phantom issues such as increased taxes. The

slick mailers and radio ads delivered during the stretch run of the campaign

also intimated that farmers would suffer an invasion of privacy from

agricultural inspectors -- a pretty clever ploy in a county where marijuana

is the No. 1 cash crop.

 

Yet it's clear that attempting to stave off similar campaigns in the future

is going to take more than just endless pockets of money. In California,

where organic farming is booming, producing grapes and other crops that have

been certified " uncontaminated'' will certainly be a major marketing pitch

for foreign countries that are nearly rabid about genetically modified

organisms.

 

With major wine producers stretching from Southern California to Washington

state, it's only a matter of time before the debate over engineered seeds

begins to take root.

 

The biotech agricultural companies are in a position similar to where the

tobacco industry was a decade ago, fighting wave after wave of legal, safety

and health challenges from individuals, cities and states. The backlash

won't be easily contained -- it's already blowing in the wind.

 

***************************************************************

 

Japan Key to U.S. Biotech Wheat Future

 

IRA DREYFUSS

Associated Press

Mar. 06, 2004

 

WASHINGTON - Biotech wheat has yet to show whether it will be a blessing or

a curse to U.S. growers, and China's increased interest in biotech is making

the dilemma more intense.

 

If the United States were to sell biotech wheat to buyers in China, it might

lose its wheat market in Japan, which wants nothing to do with genetically

engineered varieties.

 

China signaled more interest in biotech products last month by reducing

paperwork requirements for imports of five Monsanto varieties of genetically

modified corn, soybeans and cotton. Three of the products resist the

company's Roundup herbicide, letting growers kill weeds without also killing

their crops.

 

The approvals raise expectations that China might soon accept Monsanto's

Roundup Ready wheat, said Michael Doane, Monsanto's director of industry

affairs.

 

Chinese acceptance would be a powerful inducement for Americans to grow the

wheat.

 

China is the largest wheat consumer in the world and seems very open to

biotech products, said Alan Tracy, president of U.S. Wheat Associates, a

wheat export trade group. Although China grows 93.5 million tons a year, it

consumes 16.5 million tons more.

 

It is now No. 36 among U.S. wheat buyers, but the Agriculture Department

expects China will be wanting more food imports as it industrializes. In the

1990s, before it increased its wheat production, China ranked among the top

5 U.S. markets.

 

Japan presents a powerful inducement not to grow the wheat.

 

In the last marketing year, which began in June of 2002, Japan was America's

top wheat importer, taking more than 3 million tons of America's

approximately 70.5 million ton harvest.

 

Japanese wheat buyers have said they will accept no wheat - biotech or

conventional - from any nation that grows biotech wheat. The Japanese are

afraid that biotech varieties will contaminate conventional wheat shipped

overseas.

 

So, there's the dilemma: If U.S. wheat farmers were to switch to biotech

wheat, they would alienate a crucial customer. " That's the trade-off we are

weighing at the moment, " said Daren Coppock, chief executive officer of the

National Association of Wheat Growers.

 

It has left American farmers split on whether to support Monsanto's

application for federal approvals needed to grow and sell the wheat.

 

The Agriculture Department's main interest is whether scientific data show

the new variety would pose a risk to the environment. Supporters of biotech

say the government should stick to decision-making based on the science.

 

Critics of genetically engineered crops, however, have asked the department

to reject Monsanto's application until it has examined the risk of losing

export markets. On their side are chapters of the National Farmers Union in

wheat-producing Minnesota and Nebraska.

 

The wheat growers association's Coppock said Roundup Ready's promised

ability to reduce weeds would let U.S. farmers harvest more wheat per acre

and compete better against less-developed nations with lower production

costs.

 

Tracy, of the wheat exporters trade group, predicted biotech eventually

would conquer the world, if growers were to pump a lot of it into the

market. Once biotech is everywhere, even anti-biotech buyers would have to

accept that some will slip into the products they take, he said.

 

" Eventually, buyers are going to have to back off a zero-tolerance stance, "

Tracy said. " It's just not practical. "

 

Monsanto, for its part, is treating its wheat like Paul Masson promoted its

wine, with a promise to sell none before its time. The company has said it

won't market biotech wheat unless the product can be kept separate from

conventional wheat and Japanese regulators clear biotech harvests for sale.

 

Such approval is not impossible, Coppock said. " Japan has a scientifically

rigorous process, " he said. " We have confidence science will prevail. "

 

***************************************************************

 

Britain OKs first genetically modified commercial crop with limits

 

Associated Press

Mar. 09, 2004

 

LONDON (AP) - The British government on Tuesday approved the commercial

cultivation of a type of genetically modified corn, but said the planting

would be under strict rules and the first crop would be at least a year

away.

 

The use of genetically engineered crops is increasing worldwide and is

already widespread in the United States, but many European countries have

balked at the technology amid public fears about the potential long-term

environmental and health effects of biotechnology.

 

British Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett acknowledged public concern

about seeds that are genetically manipulated to withstand certain weeds and

pests, but insisted the government made its decision based on science and

that ``safety, human health and the environment'' were a priority.

 

Britain's first genetically modified commercial crop will be Chardon LL

maize, a type of corn crop used for cattle feed that is manufactured by

Cropscience, a unit of Germany's Bayer. The crop will not be planted until

spring 2005 at the earliest, Beckett told the House of Commons.

 

Chardon LL is not grown in any European Union countries, but similar

varieties have been grown in the United States for several years.

 

Spain is the only European Union country to plant significant amounts of

biotech crops, with 79,000 acres of genetically modified corn in 2003, up a

third from 2002.

 

The European Union approved T25 maize, of which Chardon LL is a strain, in

April 1998, a few months before introducing a de facto moratorium on new

biotech foods. No commercial biotech crops have been allowed yet in Britain,

but the government has conducted trials, scientific reviews and cost-benefit

studies.

 

British scientists concluded in October that the corn, which is engineered

to thrive in the presence of certain herbicides, had no adverse impact on

surrounding plants and wildlife when grown under trial conditions.

 

Environmental groups at the time criticized the trials and said the use of

the highly toxic weed-killer Atrazine on conventional crops biased the

results in favor of the genetically modified corn, on which a gentler

herbicide was used.

 

Beckett on Tuesday set important conditions for the commercial cultivation

of the crop.

 

She said it could ``only be grown and managed as in the trials, or under

such conditions as will not result in adverse effect on the environment.''

 

She also said Cropscience must ``carry out further scientific analysis'' and

monitor whether the phasing out of Atrazine across the European Union would

make conventional crops more desirable.

 

The announcement came as the British Medical Association said genetically

modified foods were unlikely to damage human health.

 

``Our assessment of all the available research is that there is very little

potential for GM foods to cause harmful health effects,'' said David Carter,

chairman of the BMA's science board.

 

However, he said more research and surveillance were needed to allay public

concerns.

 

Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, called on the government to

change its mind.

 

" Tony Blair must not ignore the threat GM poses to our food, farming and the

environment,'' he said.

 

***************************************************************

 

UK's tentative go-ahead for GMs

 

By Alex Kirby

9 March, 2004

BBC News Online

 

Five bitter years after the start of a national debate, UK ministers say GM

crops can - on certain conditions - now be grown commercially in Britain.

The Environment Secretary, Margaret Beckett, told Parliament ministers had

agreed in principle to the growing of a single variety of GM maize in

England.

 

Anti-GM campaign groups are vehement in denouncing the decision, while from

the biotechnology industry there is relief.

 

But legal challenges, qualifications and scientific questions still remain.

 

Mrs Beckett told MPs the government would oppose the growing anywhere in the

European Union of the two other GM crops involved in the recent tests, known

as the farm-scale evaluations, beet and oilseed rape.

 

She said the GM maize licences would expire in October 2006, and any consent

holders wishing to renew them would have to carry out scientific analysis

during cultivation.

 

Replicating the test conditions

 

She said her approach was " precautionary " and " evidence-based " . There was

" no scientific case for a blanket approval for all uses of GM... and no

scientific case for a blanket ban on the use of GM. "

 

Any commercial crops would have to be grown and managed as in the tests, or

under conditions which would not harm the environment.

 

And Mrs Beckett said: " I do not in fact anticipate any commercial

cultivation of GM maize before spring 2005 at the earliest. "

 

But she acknowledged there were many " legitimate concerns about gene

stacking, cross-pollination and much else " .

 

Recognising the worries of organic farmers who say their crops will be

damaged by GM contamination, she said: " I am also consulting stakeholders on

options for providing compensation to non-GM farmers who suffer financial

loss through no fault of their own.

 

" But I must make clear that any such compensation scheme would need to be

funded by the GM sector itself, rather than by government or producers of

non-GM crops.

 

" The Government will also provide guidance to farmers interested in

establishing voluntary GM-free zones in their areas, consistent with EU

legislation. "

 

Reluctant guarantors

 

The biotechnology industry strenuously opposes the idea that it should be

responsible for paying compensation if something goes wrong.

 

The next step now is for the variety concerned, Chardon LL, to be placed on

the UK Seed List (the national list of varieties).

It is a type of fodder maize which appeared to outperform conventional maize

in the tests by allowing more wildlife to survive, although the result is

contested.

 

The pesticide used on the conventional maize which was compared with the GM

variety, atrazine, will be banned across the EU in 2006.

 

Anti-GM groups believe its replacement will cancel the apparent benefit of

the GM variety in allowing more weeds to flourish.

 

Underlying concerns

 

Before any variety can be placed on the list, the devolved authorities in

Scotland and Wales must give their agreement.

 

The Welsh Assembly voted unanimously in 2000 to keep Wales GM-free, and its

environment minister says he will not approve the maize for the time being.

 

He said approval would have to wait until the issue of co-existence had been

agreed.

 

But the Scottish Executive says GM maize can be grown there after the

crop-growing regulations are amended. Scotland's deputy environment minister

said there was " no green light for GM crops " .

 

The government must also seek the approval of the Pesticides Safetyate for the chemical - glufosinate ammonium, marketed as Liberty -

to be sprayed on the GM maize.

 

The government will in any case have to advertise its intention to place

Chardon LL on the seed list, allowing objectors to appeal.

 

None of this addresses the serious concerns many people feel about the farm

tests themselves.

 

Four days ago the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee said

approving GM commercialisation on the basis of the tests would be

" irresponsible " .

 

The Conservative agriculture spokesman, John Whittingdale MP, said: " It is

an outrage that the government had decided to approve the growing of GM

maize, before the committee unanimously recommended that this should not

happen.

 

" The government has chosen to ignore its own consultation process which

demonstrated that 90% of public opinion was against the growth of GM

produce. Many people will want to know why. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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