Science in Society #26, Summer 2005

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24 May 2005 13:26:04 -0000

 

Subject:Announcing Science in Society #26, Summer 2005

press-release

 

 

The Institute of Science in Society Science Society Sustainability

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Website/Mailing List press-release ISIS Director

m.w.ho

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ISIS Press Release 24/05/05 Announcing Science in Society #26, Summer

2005

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The only radical science magazine on earth This issue is now being

printed in the UK. We are offering the final pdf at a very reasonable

price to any foreign publisher wishing to print, distribute, and sell

the magazine. Please contact printpdf with your detailed

credentials. If you want to purchase any article in this issue with

sources or references, please contact papers From the

Editor When corporations rule the world The Black Hills of South

Dakota in the United States are famous for two gigantic monuments,

each sculpted out of a mountain. One, still to be completed, is in

honour of Crazy Horse, Indian leader belonging to the Lakota tribe,

who led his peoples in fierce battles for their right to land and

livelihood against the intruding European settlers. A short distance

away, on land stolen from Crazy Horse and his peoples, is Mount

Rushmore, the " shrine of democracy " , complete with the towering faces

of four US presidents – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore

Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln - gazing serenely into the distance.

Today, American farmers are fighting for both democracy and their

livelihood against the corporate overlords. Feudalism has returned to

farming in the US and Canada, according to a report published by the

Center for Food Safety. Farmers buying GM seeds are required to sign

technology agreements that relinquish to Monsanto their right to

plant, harvest and sell the GM seeds and also leave them vulnerable to

harassment from the company, such as having their property

investigated, litigations and out of court settlements. Farmers not

buying GM seeds are not spared, as Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser

learned when he found his fields contaminated by Monsanto's GM canola,

and has had to spend years locked in a harrowing battle with the

company accusing him of infringing its patent rights in a legal system

that's on the side of the corporation. He was not alone in being

persecuted by Monsanto, although he was unique in not giving up the

fight to the very end. To-date, Monsanto has filed 90 lawsuits against

American farmers involving 147 farmers and 39 small businesses, with

an estimated $15m gained from judgments granted in its favour. Since

1999, some 500 farmers have been investigated and harassed by Monsanto

every year. The Center for Food Safety has set up a hotline for

farmers (p.48). The fight against corporate feudalism is not

restricted to North America. Farmers across the globe have been

battling for their livelihood and their traditional democratic right

to plant, harvest, and sell the seeds of their choice against Monsanto

and its subsidiaries pushing GM crops through hype, half-truths, lies,

and even bribery, uncovered recently in Indonesia (see SiS25). Indian

farmers have been driven into debt and suicide after three successive

years of failed harvests from planting GM cotton since three varieties

were approved for commercial growing in 2002. Independent researchers

and film-makers have documented the failures, and exposed Monsanto's

trail of propaganda, including a doctored report attempting to

exaggerate the yields of its GM cotton, thereby substantially reducing

the compensation it owes to farmers for crop failures in Andhra

Pradesh. A coalition of ngos called on the Indian Prime Minister to

withdraw Bt cotton, referring to its imposition on farmers as a

" scientific fraud " . Since March 2005, however, the country's Genetic

Engineering Advisory Committee (GEAC) has approved 22 new varieties of

Monsanto-derived Bt cotton seed for commercial growing, twelve in the

central states, four in the south, six for the first time in the

fertile northern state; and eleven new varieties for large-scale

trials in the fertile northern states. In May 2005, the ngos and

farmers' organisations in Andhra Pradesh claimed a significant

victory. The GEAC discontinued the commercial cultivation of all three

Monsanto varieties approved in 2002 in the state. This victory in

Andhra Pradesh may spur opposition in other parts of India where the

GM cotton has still to be withdrawn. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the United

States has put in place a new legislation under " Order 81 " , which

gives protection to " new and improved plant varieties " , paving the way

for patenting plant varieties, and for introducing GM crops into the

country. It will effectively bring the country's agricultural sector

under the control of corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta; and at a

time when Iraq is experiencing a food crisis. Iraq, once

self-sufficient in agriculture, has seen its food production collapse

since the first Gulf War; and more than half of the population is now

affected by food insecurity. The United States Agency for

International Development (USAID) is ostensibly helping rebuild Iraq's

farming sector under the Agriculture Reconstruction and Development

Program for Iraq, but critics say it is really to help corporations

capitalize on market opportunities. Science and democracy Scientists,

like farmers, have fallen prey to corporate feudalism; and there is a

disturbing trend within the scientific establishment against

democracy. The latest high profile victim Ignacio Chapela is fighting

for tenure at the University of California at Berkeley - once the

hotbed of radicalism and independence now beholden to Novartis –

simply because he and his graduate student had published scientific

findings uncomfortable for the biotech industry. Please help his

campaign (http://www.tenurejustice.org/pages/donations.html). (Note:

Chapela has just been granted tenure, to the delight of all his

supporters. This is a most significant victory against corporate

feudalism. We thank him for all the hard work and the hardships he has

endured on our behalf.) Behind the persecution of scientists who dare

to tell the truth are the many scientists who have given up the fight,

or have willingly chosen to serve the corporate agenda. As Michael

Meacher, ex-environment minister and UK Member of Parliament points

out (p.5), " companies have learned that small investments in endowing

chairs, sponsoring research programmes or hiring professors for

out-of-hours projects can produce disproportionate payoffs in

generating reports, articles, reviews and books, which may not be in

the public interest, but certainly benefit corporate bottom lines. " A

recent study found that of the five scientific committees advising the

UK government on food and safety, 40 percent of the committee members

had links with the biotech industry, and at least 20 percent were

linked to one of the Big Three: Monsanto, AstraZeneca, or Novartis.

Meacher told a public conference on science, medicine and the law that

we need independent science and scientists who take the precautionary

principle seriously, and called for sweeping changes in science

funding and scientific advice to the government that will ensure the

protection of independent science, and hence, the public. Science for

a sustainable world As Europe is finalising its Framework Programme 7

for the next round of public research funding, the Independent Science

Panel (ISP) has submitted a comment to the European Commission,

demanding maximum transparency and democratic input in deciding

funding and research priorities, support for independent science and

scientists and explicit funding criteria that includes ethical and

safety considerations. The ISP also wants a redistribution of research

budget away from industry- and technology-driven areas like genomics

and information technologies towards sustainable agriculture, ecology

and energy use in sustainable systems, and holistic health. This is

particularly relevant as the " gene gold " predicted for the human

genome project is rapidly turning to dust (this issue) and the safety

of mobile phones and newer generations of telecommunication

technologies are increasingly called into question (SiS25). At the

same time, evidence is mounting that the most environmentally

destructive and energy intensive aspects of our food production system

can all be addressed by sustainable alternatives (see especially the

multiple uses of forests featured in this issue). More than 200

organisations and individuals from 32 countries have endorsed the ISP

comment so far, including many university professors and researchers

that some of you will recognize. Add your name here

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/ISPF7.php The relentless march towards

corporate feudalism across the globe is another major reason why no

one can afford to do nothing. Please support the Sustainable World

Global Initiative to make our food production system sustainable, to

ameliorate climate change, to guarantee food security and food

sovereignty for everyone, and most of all, to dismantle the corporate

empire: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SustainableWorldInitiativeF.php All

SiS issues and articles can be accessed on ISIS members website:

http://www-I-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php Science under the Spotlight Which

Science or Scientists Can You Trust? Science versus Democracy? Support

Independent Science! ISP News Sustainable World Global Initiative

Letters to the Editor Toxic Watch Death Domains in New Bio-pesticides

Glyphosate Toxic & Roundup Worse Roundup Kills Frogs Save Our Forests

GM Forest Trees – The Ultimate Threat Terminator Trees Multiple Uses

of Forests Sustainable Multi- cultures for Asia & Europe View from

MADS House GM Trees Lost in China's Forests GM-Free Syngenta's GM

Maize Scandals Europe Acts Swiftly to Keep Out Unapproved GM Maize

India's GM Cotton Fraud Ban GM Probiotics Iraqi Government Urged to

Revoke " Cynical and Wicked " Patent Law GM Crop Fails Final Test

Monsanto versus Farmers Gene gold turning to dust? No Biotech

Revolution in Sight Biotech Wonder Tool in Disarray Gene Therapy Woes

Controversy over Gene Therapy `Breakthrough' Why Genomics Won't

Deliver Rethinking Health Health-promoting Germs Knotty but Nice:

Spectacular Anti-Cancer Agents in Tree Knots Biological agents No

Biosecurity without Biosafety No to GM Smallpox!

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