Guest guest Posted October 3, 2004 Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 GM WEEKLY WATCH 92 " GM WATCH " <info Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:53:02 +0100 --------------------------- WEEKLY WATCH number 92 - and monthly review --------------------------- --------------------------- from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor --------------------------- Watch out for our urgent CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK: LETTER TO LULA. We need you to e-mail the Brazilian President to ask him to stick to his promise not to give permission again for the planting of illegal GM soya. Please also ask Lula to give the Brazilian people proper biosafety protection, GM-free areas, and GM labelling. An example letter is available in Portuguese as well as English. You can do now - it onlytakes a minute - at this link: http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=5 If Lula fails to take a stand on GM soya, he will be making a serious mistake. Just how serious is made clear by mounting evidence of the problems with GM soya and the benefits of non-GM soya. The problems are laid out in a fascinating article which looks at the powerful evidence that GM has caused stagnation in soya yields in the US. Yields have flattened off since 1995 - GM soya was introduced in 1996. The introduction of GM soya has also brought many other problems in its wake. Meanwhile, the benefits of reduced allergies and tastier, more nutritious foods - promised by GM lobbyists as part of the next generation of GM products - are already emerging out of research on non-GM soya (see SOYA! SOYA! SOYA!). Claire claire www.lobbywatch.org / www.gmwatch.org --------------------------- CONTENTS --------------------------- LOBBYWATCH FOCUS ON ASIA SOYA! SOYA! SOYA! EUROPE THE AMERICAS AUSTRALASIA CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK - LETTER TO LULA REST OF THE MONTH'S TOP STORIES DONATIONS --------------------------- LOBBYWATCH --------------------------- + VATICAN URGES FURTHER STUDY OF GM FOOD The Voice of America has uncritically reported the recent US-Vatican conference, " Feeding a Hungry World: The Moral Imperative of Biotechnology " , in Rome. GM lobbyist C S Prakash is quoted as saying, " When you stop using chemicals in the farm [as a result of GM crops] you will have more friendlier insects on the farm, far more weeds and far more birds coming into your farm, and the fact that you can produce more with less land means that you are going to have more of wild lands that are not being cut down. " The trouble is that there is no convincing evidence that GM crops yield more. In some cases the reverse appears to be the case - see SOYA! SOYA SOYA! And the most widely used GM crops are for herbicide tolerance (HT) and such GMHT crops do not lead to " far more weeds " , but exactly the opposite. As the GM farm scale trials in the UK demonstrated, GMHT crops lead to fewer weeds and hence to fewer weed seeds, providing less food for birds and other wildlife, and less seed return to the seed bank. GMHT crops were also found to be generally worse for butterflies and bees. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4431 While there is significant opposition to GM food from within the Church, the Vatican is yet to make up its mind on the issue. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4433 + OPPOSITION TO CONFERENCE FROM CATHOLIC AID AGENCY Caritas International, the Catholic relief agency, has joined many other Catholic bodies in expressing misgivings about the US-Vatican conference, as well as about the whole US-backed drive to push GMOs as a means of combating worldwide hunger. Catholic World News reports how Caritas official Jacques Bertrand managed to raise these concerns at the conference, though only from the floor. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4454 For opposition to the conference from other Catholic groups, see http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4393 + COLUMBAN CONDEMNS CONFERENCE AS " DISGRACE " Renowned Irish environmentalist and priest Fr Sean McDonagh has labelled the US-Vatican conference " a disgrace " and " a sustained exercise in propaganda for GE seeds " . He said, " All the speakers were totally in support of GE foods as the only realistic way to solve hunger. No other point of view was heard and there was no one from the development community to present their perspective. " Far from feeding the world, I believe that GE food will further exacerbate world hunger. I attempted to get the floor on a number of occasions during the conference but with little success... " After the conference I complained to the Bishop in charge of the Pontifical Academy that sponsoring such a one-sided position on such an important topic was [not] good science or an appropriate position for the Church to take since those who are poised to gain most from GE foods are multinational corporations (mostly from the US)... " As I said to the Bishop at the Conference, this is much more important than Humanae Vitae. Sex is a species issue otherwise celibacy would be evil. Food is the basic need of every human being. If we are denied food for a few weeks we die. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4454 + RAVEN PONTIFICATES FROM HIS GILDED PERCH One of the main speakers at the US-Vatican conference was Peter Raven, Pontifical Academician and Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden. His address has been circulated via the AgBioView list of Prof CS Prakash, another of the speakers. In it Raven contrasts the rationality and scientific consensus found amongst supporters of GM with the opposition, which he characterises as " ideological " , " unsupported " , " harmful " , " idiosyncratic " , " scientifically unfounded " , " fanciful " , " self-serving " , " murky " , " outrageous " , " politically or economically motivated " , " obscene " and immoral. Yet many of Raven's own claims are, to say the least, open to question. He tells his audience, for instance, that " Cotton is already a global success story, and those who cultivated GM cotton are clearly better off than ever before " . Try telling that to farmers in Indonesia where Monsanto had to pull out, it was so unsuccessful (see ASIA). In India, GM cotton has also been much hyped but has been the subject of a series of critical reports, with one State even declaring it " unfit for cultivation " . Even in China, which is most often quoted as a GM success story, Prof Dayuan Xue has warned that GM crops have brought no " significant benefits " to China's many small farmers. Raven is an expert in biodiversity and so gives much attention to the claimed benefits for biodiversity arising from GM. His principal claim, that GM increases production and so lessens the land required for cultivation, is simply an assumption unsupported by evidence (http://ngin.tripod.com/farming.htm). He also claims that GMOs mean less chemicals and hence more biodiversity. This is clearly a nonsense in terms of GM herbicide tolerant crops - the most widely grown GM crops - a point Raven ignores, although he takes a side-swipe at " the British study of GM crops reported in 2003 " which showed that " biodiversity was lower in the fields where GM crops were grown - because weed control was more effective there! " He seeks to ridicule this inconvenient evidence: " No college of agriculture in the world teaches that it is better for productive agriculture to include more weeds. " Curious then, that media coverage of the US-Vatican conference quoted CS Prakash (see item above) as claiming for GM crops that: " you will have... far more weeds and far more birds coming into your farm " ! Perhaps the least savoury aspect of Raven's address though is not its sophistry or the endless name-calling, but its ludicrous attack on critics of this technology, like the Catholic Institute of International Relations, as paid agents of foreign powers, namely the European Union and its member nations!! Raven studiously avoids mentioning Catholic critics of GM and the Conference he was speaking at, who come from thedeveloping world, such as the Bishops in South Africa and the Philippines, and the priests in Zambia, whose points of view we have featured in GM WATCH. Are we expected to believe that they too are the paid agents of Europe? http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4391 The ultimate absurdity is that the mud-slinger himself, in his role as director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, has benefited to the tune of millions in support from Monsanto! Raven's speech is at http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4452 + SON OF PRAKASH OFFERS FEEDBACK TO GM WATCH The son of pro-GM lobbyist and Vatican conference speaker C S Prakash has written to GM WATCH to express his appreciation of our role in the GM debate. We quote: " Hi, This is rohan. I know you have been writing about my dad in gm watch. I saw your article about me and that was just plain mean. If you want to insult me i'm going to insult you fucking dick ass bith whor. Ya you can never talk about me like that cuz 12 year old rohan that's me and say sorry because universal records gave me a record contract and i can make a rap to get you out of business bitch. DO NOT TALK ABOUT MY DAD BECAUSE BIOTECHNOLOGY IS TIGHT AND YOU DO NOT FUCK WITH ME EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANswer me back you idiots ,YOur worst enemy " In fact, our " article " about Prakash Jr consisted only of *his own* biographical info and some of the lyrics of his rap song in praise of Norman Borlaug, so-called father of the Green Revolution. Here's a flavour: " Norman Borlaug, you may be the greatest man in history. Using science and your brain to stamp out hunger, woe and pain. ....But then some people started to panic, telling the farmers to go organic. Technophobes started making a mess of Norman Borlaug's great success. Green groups thought they found the cure in stinky piles of cow manure " etc. More on Borlaug: http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=24 & page=B More on Prakash Senior: http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=106 & page=P + PRO-GM COLUMNIST SAYS ANTI-GM PEOPLE SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO MEET! Pro-GM ag columnist Harry Cline's latest ravings are at http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4453 Cline seems to think critics of GM should not even be allowed to meet! He writes, " I wonder if the American Legion members looked into the agenda of the group [Californians for GE-Free Agriculture] renting its hall. As for the use of public buildings, opening up to this group for this media circus is tantamount to renting the city council chamber or supervisor offices to the Ku Klux Klan or the neo-Nazi party for a rally. " One Californian commentator said of Harry's previous outpourings in the Western Farm Press: " Harry Cline, an ag. columnist whose brain exploded when confronted with the idea that biotech wasn't necessarily the best thing ever, gets excited - six-pack of Viagra excited - when the OCA calls him a 'biotech bully.' His only response is to call them socialists. And 'out-of-staters.' Agribusiness: it's the new red-baiting! " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4311 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4453 Happily Harry has a kindred spirit in Western Australian agribiz consultant, Bill Crabtree who recently told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that non-GM farmer critics should be made to " disappear off the face of the earth " ! - see AUSTRALASIA. --------------------------- FOCUS ON ASIA http://www.gmwatch.org/asia.asp --------------------------- + GM CAUTIONARY TALE FROM INDONESIA Pennapa Hongthong is currently in Indonesia to complete her research on the impact of GM crops on farmers, funded by the Nippon Foundation. She reports on her findings, which are not favourable to GM, in an interesting article at http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4456 Excerpt: [indonesian farmer] Hasdi decided to grow Bt cotton himself because he believed the promises that came with the seeds. The high seed price was not an obstacle, because of the credit scheme. After the first harvest in 2001, Hasdi found that the Bt cotton was not so high yielding; he could harvest only less than a tonne from his single hectare of land. He could not repay Rp1.06 million of his credit. Not just Hasdi, but all of the 49 farmers in the same village whom he convinced to join the scheme found themselves in the same boat. About 100 farmers burned their Bt cotton that first year in symbolic protest against the company and the government. Research conducted by the Team for the Monitoring and Control of Bt-Cotton Development in Indonesia confirmed Hasdi's story. The team found that among 4,160 farmers surveyed in the first year, 3,649 harvested less than 2 tonnes per hectare of Bt cotton. Only 167 farmers could harvest more than 3 tonnes per hectare as the company had promised. A local South Sulawesi newspaper, Fajar, reported on March 3, 2002, that 76 per cent of farmers who joined the credit scheme could not repay their debt. + INDONESIA: LOCAL NON-GM COTTON PRODUCES THE RESULTS WITHOUT THE HYPE The Indonesian cotton industry made headlines in 2000 when a number of NGOs demanded the government cancel its deal with Monsanto to provide farmers with GM cotton seeds. Besides raising concerns over the potential hazard to the ecosystem, the NGOs highlighted that the government preferred US GM seeds over locally-produced variety Kanesia 7, which was produced through natural cross-breeding. Four years later, however, the government started a similar project to boost the local cotton industry. And this time, it used Kanesia 7 and its " brother " Kanesia 8. The Ministry of Agriculture's Research and Development Agency head Achmad Suryana said that the project, which started in January, was showing favorable results but that while Monsanto was very aggressive in promoting its goods, the producer of Kanesia has maintained a low profile. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4430 + INDIA: GREENPEACE IN BAYER PROTEST Six Greenpeace activists chained themselves overnight to the Mumbai headquarters of Bayer Crop Science, with banners proclaiming " Bayer poisons our food " . The activists are exposing the high-risk genetic experiments conducted by the company on popular food crops including cabbage and cauliflower. They were also protesting the company's silence on the use of the Cry9C gene in field trials of GM cabbage and cauliflower in India. Senior police officials were unable to persuade the protestors to leave the premises. They were also not successful in getting senior Bayer officials to come down and talk to the protestors. Police officials, who earlier threatened to use force against the activists, said they would now send in ambulances in case of an emergency. " For more than a year we have been seeking answers from Bayer on the use of Cry9C gene in field trials in India, " said Divya Raghunandan, Greenpeace campaigner on GM issues. She said Bayer officials stonewalled queries. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4464 http://news.newkerala.com/india-news/?action=fullnews & id=34115 + LAUGHING AT LOBBYISTS IN NEW DELHI Greenpeace carried out an unusual protest in New Delhi recently - protesters laughed out loud at a pro-GM FICCI conference. Greenpeace explained their reason for not taking the conference seriously, " The protest was intended to reveal how this exclusive conference, a thinly-disguised attempt to promote flawed and unpredictable technology like genetic engineering, was attempting to label it as a solution to the current crisis in Indian agriculture. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4390 + THAI GM CONTAMINATION: AG MINISTER URGED TO QUIT BioThai has called on Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Somsak Thepsuthin to quit his post in 30 days if he fails to curb the spread of GMOs. BioThai director Withoon Lianchamroon said Somsak covered up information about the spread of GM papayas. " Since news about the GMO contamination broke out three months ago, Somsak failed to curb the spread of the contamination and he covered up information. If he cannot solve the problem, he should consider resigning, " he said. Withoon revealed the results of tests carried out at the agency's laboratory on GM papaya samples which showed the GM contamination problem was showing up in more than one area. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4457 + THAI FARMERS RISK VIOLATING US PATENTS Thai farmers risk being held liable for patent violations under patent application rights for GM papaya being considered by American biotechnologists working with Thai scientists, experts said. " If Thai farmers export GM papayas without knowing whether they are patented, they could risk violating intellectual [property] rights,'' intellectual property law expert Jade Donavanik said. Mr Jade is a member of a special panel recently assigned by Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsuthin to examine US patent applications. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4457 + THE DARKER TRUTH BEHIND FARMER SUICIDES The toll of farmer suicides in India continues apace, reports an article from the Indo-Asian News Service based on the research of Devinder Sharma. The Green Revolution was responsible, says the article, for bringing farmer indebtedness and ecological devastation. The disasters will be repeated but intensified by the Gene Revolution. Excerpt: While the serial death dance continues, policy makers and agricultural scientists are busy laying the foundations for India's second " Green Revolution " . Sensing the uneasiness being felt by agricultural scientists, support has already flown in from the expected quarters - the biotechnology industry. The US-based International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Application (ISAAA) - which promoted genetically engineered crops and transfer of technology with multimillion-dollar funding from Cargill, Dow, Monsanto and Novartis in addition to foundations and Western governmental funding agencies - is busy collaborating with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), besotted with the vision of India as one vast genomic valley. This is happening at a time when high chemical input based technology has already mined the soils and ultimately led to lands gasping for breath, with water-guzzling hybrid and Bt cotton crops sucking the groundwater aquifers dry. This has happened at a time when the markets have failed to rescue farmers from a collapse of farming systems. In Punjab, for instance, of the 138 development blocks, 84 have already been declared dark zones -- the level of groundwater exploitation in these blocks has been in excess of 98 percent against the critical limit of 80 percent. The National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning estimates that nearly 120 million hectares of the total cultivable land of 142 million hectares in the country is degraded. The Green Revolution was projected to have saved the country some 58 million hectares of additional land to be brought under the plough, whereas almost twice that land mass has been rendered degraded and ecologically devastated. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4432 ------- SOYA! SOYA! SOYA! - NON-GM IS BEST ------- + RESEARCHERS FIND NON-GM ALLERGY-FREE SOYBEAN Plant geneticist Ted Hymowitz and fellow University of Illinois researcher Leina Mary Joseph believe they have found a naturally occurring soybean that lacks the protein, known as P34, responsible for most allergic reactions. Genetic engineering had previously been proclaimed as the way to silence the gene that creates P34 in most soybeans. But it likely will be much easier to market soybeans that naturally lack the protein, said Eliot Herman, the USDA researcher who developed the GM bean. About 11 million Americans have some type of food allergy, and several studies indicate 6 to 8 percent of children and 1 to 2 percent of adults are allergic to soy. The allergen-free soybean comes from a plant that normally grows wild and can be crossbred into varieties that farmers grow. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4463 + GM FLATTENING YIELDS - COSTING US FARMERS $1.28 BILLION Excerpts from an excellent article well worth reading in full: A presentation at 2004 Midwest Soybean Conference explores flattening soy yields in the US and the potential causes. The presentation says soybean yields since the mid '90s, followed by a drastic drop in 2003, have many farmers wringing their hands and some agronomists searching for answers. The flat yields since 1995 [GM soy was introduced in the US in 1996] have cost conventional US soybean farmers an estimated $1.28 billion, according to a report entitled " Stagnating National Bean Yields " . The report - presented at the 2004 Midwest Soybean Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, last August - first described historical yield trends, then went on to explore potential causes for the downward spiral, including erratic weather patterns, increased marginal acreage under production, and genetic changes. From 1972 to 1993, according to the report, soybean yields increased ..45 percent each year. Those yields peaked in 1994, then went flat until 2003, when they dropped by 5.88 bu./acre. [weather discounted as a cause] The report went on to speculate that conventional soybeans may have performed better in 2003 than some GM hybrids. " There are some things that happened since 1995 that would lead you to look into that area, " Eliason told New Farm during a telephone interview. " I don't want to get into that controversy but anytime you get into genetically engineering a plant, that takes energy. " The promises of Roundup Ready soybeans - for which farmers are required to sign elaborate contracts, pay licensing fees and a premium for the technology, and face stiff penalties for saving seed - included better weed control with lower pesticide use, less labour in the fields, and improved yields. Those claims have fallen short. While weed control has been improved with less labour, new glyphosate-resistant 'super weeds' are now developing as a result of overuse of the herbicide (studies have shown that farmers growing Roundup Ready soy use 2 to 5 times more herbicide than farmers growing other varieties). Perhaps most critical to farmers, yields have gone down. .... The report at the Midwest Soybean Conference also considered as possible causes for crop losses a new aphid problem... [research director at the Rodale Institute, Paul] Hepperly pointed out that when a Roundup Ready soybean plant is sprayed with glyphosate it turns yellow, then gains back its green color as the plant recovers. Aphids are typically attracted to yellow plants, he said. " Aphids never before used to be a problem on soybeans, " Hepperly said. " Are these aphids to some extent a consequence of the changes that affected the metabolism of the plants? " " Roundup inhibits the pathway that produces 35 percent of the metabolites. When they're blocking the normal interaction of that pathway, they're playing with things that affect the immune system of that plant. " And that could make those plants less resistant to pest and disease problems, Hepperly said. Technologies such as Roundup Ready are typically developed in best-case-scenario environments that bolster performance but seldom reflect real-farm pressures, he said, pointing out that the problems now developing with Roundup Ready soy are mostly related to stress factors in an uncontrolled environment. .... Representatives at Monsanto did not return phone calls for this report. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4462 + SOUTHERN US FARMERS POISED TO BENEFIT FROM NON-GM BEAN A tastier soybean could introduce a new era in soybean agribusiness to the southern US, says the American Soy and Tofu Corporation (ASTC). Top industry, research and nutrition experts are meeting to discuss the benefits and applications of the new L-Star Soybean, a hybrid that retains the healthy benefits of soy without the traditional " beany " taste and odor. The L-Star soybean is high in protein and Vitamin E and because it is not genetically modified, it is suitable for use throughout the US and for export to Europe, ASTC says. http://www.agriculture.com/default.sph/AgNews.class?FNC=goDetail__ANewsindex_htm\ l___52606___1 ------- EUROPE ------- + GM PROTESTORS INJURED IN CLASH WITH FRENCH POLICE About 15 people were injured in clashes between French police and non-violent protesters voicing their opposition to GM crops. Police fired large numbers of tear gas grenades at the protesters, who were trying to stage a protest in a field of GM corn near Valdivienne in central France. Among the injured was a freelance photographer working for Reuters, Georges Bartoli, who received injuries to his legs from the grenades. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4425 Pictures at http://mdh.limoges.free.fr/support/valdiv/index.htm There is also an excellent though disturbing video at http://eric.dif.free.fr/ + ANGRY GM STALEMATE IN GERMANY AS RESEARCHERS LOBBY AGAINST PUBLIC CONTROL An alliance of German research organizations, including the Max Planck Society, the Fraunhofer Society, the German Research Foundation, and the Conference of University Rectors, are opposing a proposed law that would assign strict liability for GM contamination. While the EU guidelines recognize GM contamination only when it exceeds a threshold level of 0.9%, the draft of the German law also acknowledges economic damage to an organic farmer if the contamination exceeds a threshold that he or she has arranged individually with his customers. Secondly, the law currently allows for all neighbouring GM farmers to be held liable for the damage collectively, even if they have personally followed good agricultural practice. The German Farmers Association therefore discourages its members from planting GM crops because of incalculable economic risks. The researchers said that the bill would prevent experiments with GM plants, making internationally competitive research impossible. They were also unhappy that cultivation areas for GM plants would have to be disclosed in a public registry, as experimental fields have been destroyed by environmental activists in the past. The bill, the alliance writes, therefore " jeopardizes the future of the major branches of innovation in Germany " . The unelected European Commission has also criticized the German bill for undermining EU regulations. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4386 + UK: SAINSBURY'S STILL USING GM FEED - NEW PROTEST Anti-GM demonstrators again blockaded a Sainsbury distribution centre this week in protest over its cattle feed. The protesters stopped delivery lorries leaving the Merseyside depot in Haydock. They said they took action because Sainsbury continues to feed dairy cattle foodstuffs which they cannot guarantee do not contain GM products. Protester Claire Middleton said: " Three years ago Sainsbury said it would stop GM feed for its cattle but they are still using it. That is why we are here tonight. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4460 --------------------------- THE AMERICAS --------------------------- + MONSANTO PULLS OUT OF COSTA RICA Monsanto has decided to withdraw its request to release GM corn in Costa Rica and to pull out of the country. Environmentalists in Costa Rica are still working to strengthen the campaign for an GMO-free country. Members of the National Commission on Biosafety say that Monsanto's withdrawal is a success for groups that have been leading a campaign against the expansion of transgenic crops in Costa Rica. Staff of the Biotechnology Department of the State Plant Health Service believe the government can no longer stand up for companies, when faced with the persistent claims and demands of the public that opposes GM. They say it would be good if the companies responded to the many invitations for an open debate made by numerous social groups. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4436 + LULA'S " HORRIFIC MISTAKES " OVER GM CONTINUE The Brazilian government has made " horrific mistakes " regarding the issue of transgenic crops and is about to make another, according to 14 organisations that have sent an open letter to President Luiz Inàcio Lula de Silva. Once again, Lula, a former trade unionist, has found himself in the difficult position of having to adopt a supposedly " one-time " emergency measure - although this is the third time since last year - to authorise the planting of transgenic soybeans. GM crops are banned in Brazil. Recently, however, Lula announced that he will sign a new emergency measure, subject to approval by the senate, to authorise the planting of GM soybeans in the coming weeks. The 14 environmental, campesino and consumer protection organisations that signed the letter say they are " deeply troubled " by the president's willingness to adopt an emergency measure that contravenes the biosafety bill that Lula himself introduced in Congress. The bill has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies, but still needs to be passed by the Senate. PLEASE TAKE ACTION! SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE FARMERS, CONSUMERS, AND CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS OF BRAZIL - see CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK - or register your protest with Lula at: http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=5 + MONSANTO PRODS S. AMERICAN NATIONS ON SOY Monsanto is pushing hard to recover millions of dollars in lost revenue in three South American countries where farmers have sown its seeds without paying royalties. But, despite determined lobbying in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay - the three top soybean exporters after the US - these nations are unlikely to act quickly enough to satisfy the company, which would like reforms in place now, with the 2004/2005 planting season just beginning. A bill that could legalize biotech crops in Brazil, one of the only remaining holdouts among major soy-producing countries, has stalled in Congress, delaying the day when Monsanto could counter widespread sales of its seeds on the black market. In Argentina, the government won't finalize a royalties fund proposal until December -- and then the bill will go to Congress. Meanwhile, in neighboring Paraguay, peasant protests may delay an accord on such fees in that country. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4429 + BUSH TRYING TO BURY CORN REPORT? Even before its release, a report addressing the potential impact of GM US corn exports to Mexico has stirred up a dust devil of controversy, including fears that the Bush administration is trying to bury it. The report, by a group of distinguished scientists and policy experts, urges caution in trade policies that send millions of tons of corn to Mexico from Illinois and other states, including a recommendation to grind it up first. The report also could influence a global debate over the safety of modified food. Originally scheduled to be made public in June, the report has not been released. Last week, the agency managing the report, the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, handed it privately to the US, Mexican and Canadian governments, which have 60 days to decide whether it should be published at all. The delay has angered the study's authors and environmentalists, some of whom allege that US officials have pressured the CEC, a watchdog agency associated with the North American Free Trade Agreement, to keep the report under wraps. The critics note that the 60-day period could postpone the report's release until after the November presidential election, when votes from corn-farming states such as Iowa will be crucial. Critics of the delay suggest the reason is that the report could hurt US efforts to overcome concerns that have blocked GM crop exports to Europe and Africa. Zambia and other countries have refused US corn as food aid unless it is milled. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4458 --------------------------- AUSTRALASIA --------------------------- + VICTORIAN SECRET TRIAL SITES FOUND The Network of Concerned Farmers has been looking for trial sites in Victoria that could be the secret GM canola sites. The group has taken photos from the air that identify sites that could be the GM sites concerned. see photos here: http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=1661 high resolution photos here: http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=1654 As contamination will extend beyond the 400 metre notification zone, neighbours are at risk of having crops contaminated without their knowledge and this could lead to economic risk in the future. NCF's purpose is to ensure that the neighbours in the area of these sites write to Bayer Cropscience requesting them to collect any of their unwanted GM plants that may be trespassing on their property. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4461 + CONCERNED FARMERS SHOULD BE MADE TO " DISAPPEAR " The Network of Concerned Farmers has been accused of spreading fear about GM crops, for its push to make trial sites public in Victoria. Western Australian agribiz consultant Bill Crabtree says, " They're just not a rational group and they're not speaking on behalf of farmers; and I believe that normal people, sensible people, ought to stand up and speak up, and make these people disappear off the face of the earth, because they're destroying and damaging our industry. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4461 ------- BIOTECH INVESTMENT ------- + MATERIAL RISKS OF GM UNDISCLOSED BY FOOD COMPANIES A survey of the 35 largest food processors finds only two mentioning GM risks in their annual reports, and none analyzing these risks. " The Failure of Food Companies to Disclose Risks of Genetically Engineered Crops to Shareholders " allots a mere two-and-a-half of its 38 pages to actual food company disclosure on GE. This dearth of discussion is not for lack of research, but for lack of information: only two of the 35 companies surveyed (those topping a list of the largest 100 food processors) mention GE or related terms in their annual reports. Of the company annual reports surveyed, only Kraft and Interstate Bakeries mention GE-related risks. However, even these companies fail to elaborate on or analyze these risks. Kraft, Nestle, ConAgra, Farmland Industries, and Hormel mention agricultural biotechnology on their websites, but the scant discussion inadequately addresses GE-related risks, according to the report. The report then establishes that Sarbanes-Oxley and US Securities and Exchange Commission regulations require companies to disclose financially material risks. Those who doubt whether GE-related risks would qualify as financially material would have trouble maintaining their skepticism after reading the litany of examples listed in the report. The clearest example is the StarLink debacle, when GE corn not approved for human consumption was discovered in foods marketed to humans. The resulting recall of more than 300 products caused billions of dollars of losses for food companies http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4455 ------- CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK ------- IF YOU HAVE TIME FOR ONLY ONE ACTION, USE THIS LINK: http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=5 It takes you to a form that's easy to use to send your protest to the Brazilian President. Got Italian friends? Send them here: http://www.greenplanet.net/Articolo5048.html Please send URGENT letters of protest (to the addresses below) asking the Brazilian President to keep his promise not to give permission for GM crops to be grown in Brazil, and asking him to make sure that Brazil has effective biosafety legislation. Example letter at http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4445 TIME IS VERY, VERY SHORT - Lula is expected to give permission at any time. CONTACT DETAILS - please also consider sending faxes where possible. President Lula da Silva Fax: 55 61 322 2314 E-mail: pr You can also send messages to the President via this online form: http://www.planalto.gov.br/falepr/exec/index.cfm?acao=email.formulario Or e-mail Lula's advisors: Casa Civil - Jos_ Dirceu. E-mail: casacivil Secretaria Geral - Luiz Soares Dulci. E-mail: sg http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4445 ------- REST OF THE MONTH'S TOP STORIES ------- + LOBBYWATCH AT THE VATICAN A US-Vatican conference, " Feeding a Hungry World: The Moral Imperative of Biotechnology " , took place in Rome on Friday 24 September. It attracted worldwide condemnation, including from priests, bishops and other leading Catholics, in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the US: PRIESTS IN ZAMBIA CRITICISE US-VATICAN CONFERENCE http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4371 SOUTH AFRICAN BISHOPS STATEMENT OF CONCERN http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4391 LEADING US CATHOLIC CONDEMNS CONFERENCE AS TOOL OF US http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4359 BISHOP GUTIERREZ OF THE PHILIPPINES LETTER OF CONCERN http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4378 MISSIONARY & AUTHOR, FR SEAN MCDONAGH http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4334 COLUMBAN CENTRE FOR PEACE, ECOLOGY AND JUSTICE (AUSTRALIA) http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4323 GENERAL COUNCIL OF MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST COLUMBAN (IRELAND) http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4382 The conference took place at the Pontifical Gregorian University under the aegis of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences with a line up of speakers who were all to a man known supporters of GM. They included the notorious US-industry lobbyist, CS Prakash. http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=106 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4393 + WIND CARRIES POLLEN RECORD DISTANCES New Scientist reports a new study showing that GM grass has pollinated other grasses up to 21 kilometres away. This distance is " much further than previously measured " , say the authors, and is thought to be a record for any GM pollen. Interestingly, previous estimates of the pollination distance based on smaller scale studies suggested far smaller pollination distances, a fact that has huge relevance for other GM crops. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4376 + MORE GLYPHOSATE-RESISTANT WEEDS IN US An article from Delta Farm Press reports on the latest crop of glyphosate resistant weeds to emerge in the US. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4297 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4263 + FEAR OF PHARMING An article at ScientificAmerican.com states some obvious but welcome truths about the dangers of biopharm crops (e.g. " The problem is that containing genes from GM plants seems to be harder than scientists expected " , etc.). It is mainly worth reading for Norman Ellstrand's trenchant comments: EXCERPT: Corn accounts for about two thirds of pharmaceutical crops being tested [and] has a strong tendency to cross-pollinate. " Corn is the world's worst organism for this, " says Norman Ellstrand, a plant geneticist at the University of California at Riverdale and director of the Biology Impacts Center. " When I heard about this, my first thoughts were, 'What were they thinking?' " ...the problem, Ellstrand observes, is that there is little actual data on how far genes can travel. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4360 + WUERTHELE ON PHARMA CORN EPA toxicologist, Dr Suzanne Wuerthele, writing in a personal capacity, comments on pharma corn at http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4380 Excerpt: " How quickly the discussion of GE pharmcrops has turned to tolerances - allowable amounts of drugs in our food. What we are talking about here is countenancing a new class of food contaminant. While it is true that there are certainly levels of drugs which are not pharmacologically active and therefore " safe " , that does not mean that setting tolerances for drugs in food will prevent toxicity to humans and wildlife or contamination of the environment. " + FRIO WON'T SEE GM PHARMA CORN ProdiGene has abandoned its efforts to plant GM pharmaceutical corn in Frio County, Texas. The company was seeking permits to plant several hundred acres of corn that have been altered to produce animal proteins used in medicine. The US Dept of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website has listed the two Frio County permit applications as withdrawn, and a third that was approved will not be executed. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4313 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4296 + GM EDIBLE VACCINES PROBLEMATICAL, SAY SCIENTISTS An interesting article in Nature Medicine says that in spite of the EU's promise of 12 million Euros to European and South African scientists developing GM plant-based vaccines against HIV/AIDS, rabies and tuberculosis, this technology faces massive scientific and regulatory hurdles. Problems include weak immune responses generated by GM edible plant-based vaccines and variable expression of GM traits in plants. Perhaps the most worrying possibility, according to vaccinologist Stanley Plotkin, is that " Instead of being immunized, patients could end up being 'tolerized,' meaning an immune response against future invaders would be weakened, not intensified. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4320 + CANADA'S FEDS SECRETLY WORKING ON GM WHEAT Darrin Qualman of Canada's National Farmers Union says, " Our customers have been very clear that there will be tremendous market loss " if GM contamination of wheat occurs but scientists and officials at Agriculture Canada are still working on genetically modified wheat at three secret locations in Western Canada this year. Qualman says rather than conducting field trials into GM wheat, federal researchers should look at developing a disease-resistant wheat through more conventional breeding methods. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4354 + EUROPE HALTS GM MAIZE European member states on 20 September failed to support a proposal by the European Commission to import a GM maize. The maize, made by US biotech giant Monsanto, failed to get the required qualified majority from representatives of the member states in an indicative vote. This vote by a European regulatory committee is the eighth failed attempt by the Commission to win support for a GM product. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4363 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4358 + EU: GM MAIZE MOVE " DESPICABLE " A decision by the EU Commission to allow European farmers to grow 17 varieties of GM maize has been condemned as illogical and despicable. The watchdog group GM Free Cymru reacted angrily to the move and is calling on the National Assembly and Defra to lodge a formal objection on the grounds that the MON810 range poses unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. The varieties have been developed by Monsanto. Six are already listed in France and 11 in Spain, and the retiring EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection David Byrne has now ruled that they must also go on the European register. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4343 + NEW EU RULES FAIL TO HALT FALL IN GM RESEARCH GM crop research has continued to suffer in Europe despite agreement of revised rules on " deliberate release " of GMOs, according to a European Commission report. Reviewing early experience with the directive, the report notes that in most EU-15 countries there was " steep decline " in notifications of GM crop field trials even after its entry into force in 2001. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4319 + THAILAND: GM PAPAYA CONTAMINATION CONFIRMED The Agriculture Ministry admitted it had found GM papaya on a farm in Khon Kaen and vowed to destroy the produce of any farm where GMO contaminated fruit is discovered. The contamination came from field trials at a government research station. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4341 + NINE THAI FARMS CONTAMINATED BY GM CROPS Nine farms in Thailand have been found to be contaminated by GM papaya crops. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4373 + GM CONTAMINATION COSTS THAILAND A BILLION BAHT European importers cancelled orders of Thai papaya products after news that field trials of GM papaya had contaminated nearby farms. The move followed independent labs in Hong Kong confirming papaya on the Thai market were the Kaek Dam Tha Phra strain that are officially only grown at Government research stations. A Director of a Thai organic exporter affected said the European reaction has been " faster than the bird flu impact " , while an executive of a leading fruit exporter said the move had already cost the Thai industry one billion baht (NZ$37 million). http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4316 + OUTRAGED FARMERS DUMP GM-CONTAMINATED PAPAYAS AT UNIV OF HAWAII Independent lab tests reveal widespread contamination from the world's first commercially planted GM tree, the papaya, on Oahu, the Big Island, and Kauai. Contamination was also found in the stock of non-GM seeds being sold commercially by the University of Hawaii. Farmers, health professionals, concerned citizens, and University of Hawaii scientists joined GMO-Free Hawaii in announcing the shocking results of their research at the University of Hawaii, which created and released the GM papaya. Dozens of outraged farmers, consumers and backyard growers brought their contaminated papayas back to the university to underscore their demand that UH provide a plan for cleaning up papaya contamination. The campaign also called for liability protection for local growers and the prevention of GM contamination of other Hawaiian commodity crops. Nearly 20,000 papaya seeds from across the Big Island, 80% of which came from organic farms and the rest from backyard gardens or wild trees, showed a GM contamination level of 50%. A spokesperson from GMO-Free Hawaii said, " Papaya contamination is a case study in the threat that GMO contamination presents to local agriculture. It is now obvious that coexistence of traditional and GMO crops is impossible. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4315 ------- DONATIONS ------- Our thanks to all of you who have donated to GM WATCH. You can donate online in any one of five currencies via PayPal, at http://www.gmwatch.org/donate.asp OR by cheque or postal order payable to 'NGIN', to be sent to: NGIN, 26 Pottergate, Norwich, NR2 1DX, UK. We appreciate your support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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