GMW:_Monsanto_Phasing_Out_GM_Cattle_Drug?/more_GM_'cow'_protests

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GMW:_Monsanto_Phasing_Out_GM_Cattle_Drug?/more_GM_'cow'_protests

> " GM_WATCH " <info

> Sun, 11 Jul 2004 20:58:50 +0100

 

>

> GM WATCH daily

> http://www.gmwatch.org

> ------

> 1.Monsanto Likely Phasing Out GM cattle drug

> 2.No respite for Sainsbury's over GM milk

> 3.GM 'cow' protest at supermarket - BBC

> ------

> 1.Monsanto Likely Phasing Out Controversial Bovine

> Growth Hormone

> From Milkweed, Issue #299, June 2004

>

http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbgh/phaseout062904.cfm

>

> Are Rats Jumping Off Posilac Ship?

>

> While Monsanto remains quiet about the fate of its

> genetically engineered cow hormone, Posilac, signs

> are that more rats are jumping off the ship.

>

> In late January 2004, Monsanto announced a 50%

> reduction in sales of Posilac to regular customers.

> That followed a December 19, 2003 announcement of a

> 15% cutback.

>

> The Milkweed reported of a Posilac sales force

> meeting in March, at which numerous sales persons

> were terminated by Monsanto. Other Posilac

> sales personnel are rumored to be aggressively

> seeking their next employment opportunity.

>

> In early May, Brian Robert Lowry, Monsanto's dairy

> mouthpiece, departed dairy responsibilities at the

> company. Lowry had issued a typographical

> error-ridden media statement, on April 28, claiming

> that the March 29, 2004 FDA warning letter to

> Mosanto's Austrian-based Posilac supplier was merely

> business as usual. That warning letter blistered the

> Austrian manufacturer for many bad manufacturing

> practices and failed quality control oversight.

>

> The latest " rat " to jump Monsanto's ship is the

> " Milk is Milk " website maintained by the Hudson

> Institute, a bunch of corporate s. " Milk is

> Milk " was hatched in recent years to attack critics

> of milk from Posilac-injected dairy cows. The Hudson

> Institute uses Dennis Avery and his son Alex as a

> " hit squad " attacking persons opposing food

> biotechnology.

>

> Monsanto has been both a member and a major

> contributor to the Hudson Institute. Since Monsanto

> is the only corporation selling recombinant

> bovine growth hormone (Posilac), it's presumed

> Monsanto has been the source of money for the " milk

> is milk " website. No More.

>

> Perhaps the single biggest measure of Monsanto's

> future intentions for Posilac would be activity

> around and employment in Monsanto's U.S. plant

> near Augusta, Georgia, which was built to produce

> Posilac. But zero production of the drug for

> commercial sale is currently taking place in

> Georgia.

>

> The Milkweed contends that Monsanto is engaged in

> conduct that looks like intentionally sinking the

> ship. Is the company trying to finesse its way

> around potential liabilities for either human or

> animal health?

>

> Posilac was the first major biotech food production

> product approved by the Federal Food and Drug

> Administration. FDA's approval for recombinant

> bovine growth hormone remains as the most

> controversial issue in the agency's history. Posilac

> was views as a " must succeed " deal, because so

> much investment in food biotechnology was riding on

> that cow drug's gaining FDA approval. In the

> analysis of The Milkweed, FDA's review of human and

> animal safety for Posilac were criminally flawed.

>

> So 10 years after Posilac was approved for

> commercial sale, sales are scaled back...and the

> rats are jumping ship. Dairy farmers must ask

> themselves if, over the past 10 years, they and

> their cows have fared better or worse during the

> " Posilac decade. "

> ------

> 2.No respite for Sainsbury's

>

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/westcountry/2004/07/294670.html

>

> Supermarket Actions in Sherborne, Plymouth & Swansea

> hammered the " no gm in the food chain " & " fair price

> for farmers " messages home ahead of Sainsbury's AGM

> in London, on Monday.

>

> In Sherborne, Dorset 14 Cows & 5 Milkmen grazed down

> the high street, but were stopped entering

> Sainsbury's, except for a couple of calves.

>

> In Swansea, Greenpeace activists dressed as

> pantomime cows today chained themselves to the dairy

> aisle of a Welsh supermarket in their latest protest

> against imports of GM crops, following their

> blockade of a ship outside Bristol(those who were

> arrested are in court in Barry, South Wales on

> Monday).

>

> In Plymouth, farmers joined other activists making

> sure that the " fair price for farmers " message gets

> across to Sainsbury's and consumers.

> ------

> 3.GM 'cow' protest at supermarket

> BBC, 10 July

>

> [Greenpeace protesters in Swansea are captured on

> the activists' video]

>

> Environmental campaigners dressed up as cows and

> chained themselves to the dairy aisle of a Swansea

> supermarket in a protest over GM milk.

>

> Greenpeace had targeted the Sainsbury's store,

> claiming that its own-brand milk comes from cows fed

> on imported GM animal feed.

>

> Sainsbury's said it was " disappointed " by the action

> and denied that its milk contains GM materials.

>

> Last month Greenpeace activists boarded a ship

> carrying GM maize off the south Wales coast.

>

> South Wales Police say there were no arrests in the

> protest which ended later on Saturday at the store

> in Quay parade.

>

> More than a dozen costume cows had been " released "

> in the store, while other protesters chained

> themselves to the dairy aisle.

>

> A spokesman for Greenpeace said the supermarket

> chain's own-brand milk comes from cows fed on

> imported GM animal feed.

>

> But this claim was denied by the supermarket.

>

> " We are disappointed that Greenpeace has chosen to

> target Sainsbury's when this is clearly an issue for

> the whole food industry, " said a company statement.

>

> " Customers can be assured that our milk does not

> contain GM materials and is sourced from the same

> farms that supply other supermarkets, like Tesco and

> Asda, as well as hotels, schools and hospitals.

>

> " To offer our customers choice we have launched a

> milk from cows fed on animal feed guaranteed to be

> free from GM. "

>

> Remanded

>

> The statement added that Sainsbury's have met with

> Greenpeace but said the group did " not seem to

> appreciate that this issue cannot be tackled by a

> single retailer in isolation " .

>

> It went on that the action " serves only to confuse

> consumers rather than inform them. "

>

> It also said its " selected farm semi skimmed fresh

> pasteurised milk " is not available in the Swansea

> store.

>

> The milk is being trialled in 105 stores in London,

> the south east and south west of England.

>

> Greenpeace said around 500 customers signed letters

> of protest which were handed to the store manager.

>

> Last month, 13 Greenpeace protesters were remanded

> after illegally boarding a ship carrying GM crops in

> the Bristol Channel.

>

> They denied causing a public nuisance and conduct

> endangering a ship's structures or individuals

> before magistrates in Barry.

>

> The freighter the MV Etoile was boarded last month

> in the Bristol Channel to prevent it unloading GM

> animal feed.

>

>