Guest guest Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 WEEKLY WATCH 128 " GM WATCH " <info Thu, 16 Jun 2005 22:28:49 +0100 --------------------------- WEEKLY WATCH number 128 --------------------------- --------------------------- from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor --------------------------- Dear all: The slide of the " money-losing niche industry " (not our words!) that is biotech continues (BAD-IDEA VIRUS LATEST). The share prices won't be helped by a German court's ruling that Monsanto must make public its secret feeding study on its GM maize MON863 (FOOD SAFETY). Claire claire www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org ------- CONTENTS ------- BAD-IDEA VIRUS LATEST ASIA THE AMERICAS AFRICA MIDDLE EAST EUROPE AUSTRALASIA FOOD SAFETY CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE GM WATCH INTERVIEWED CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK ------- BAD-IDEA VIRUS LATEST ------- ** " This notion that you lure biotech to your community to save its economy is laughable. " - Joseph Cortright, Portland, Oregon economist ** + BIOTECH INDUSTRY LOSES BILLIONS PER YEAR From an Associated Press article: .... the [biotech] industry's losses continued to mount in 2004. The biotechnology industry lost a combined $6.4 billion last year, according to a new report from Ernst & Young. The industry's total accrued loss since its birth in Silicon Valley in the mid-1970s is more than $45 billion. Biotechnology remains a money-losing niche industry of 1,400 companies employing about 183,000 workers nationwide. By contrast, Wal-Mart employs 1.7 million workers, and its annual revenue rivals the entire biotech industry's annual sales. Cortright [Joseph Cortright, a Portland, Ore. economist], who co-wrote a report critical of biotechnology's ability to drive a region's economic growth, says local government officials who promise companies all sorts of incentives to relocate are ignoring the industry's financials. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5353 --------------------------- ASIA --------------------------- + JAPANESE RETHINK GM CANOLA A country that regularly buys half of Canada's canola seed exports is contemplating whether it will continue to accept shipments containing GM product. Japan is re-evaluating the regulatory approval of GM canola through a new law intended to ensure the smooth implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, an international agreement governing the movement of GMOs. Greenpeace's Eric Darier said that review could spell disaster for Canada's canola growers. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5360 + CANADA EXPORTING GM CONTAMINATION TO JAPAN In February the Japanese Institute for Environmental Studies published the findings of its investigation that found herbicide-resistant canola 'volunteers' growing around five of the six Japanese ports where samples were collected. Barb Isman, president of the Canola Council of Canada, said the volunteer problem is easily managed by cutting the plants down, pulling them out or spraying chemicals on them (see THE AMERICAS for a farmer's view of how 'easy' a process this is). But Akiko Frid of NO! GMO campaign commented, " You know who is pulling them out? It is done by worried citizens in Japan. They spend their own energy and time, as well as their own pocket money to go out and pull them up. Because they are extremely worried, whatever the government's 'safety assessment' says. Polluter must pay, and Canada should stop exporting GMO contamination to Japan! " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5360 + ILLEGAL GM RICE MAY BE IN CHINA'S EXPORTS Greenpeace is warning illegal GM rice might contaminate China's exports to the rest of the world. The warning came as Greenpeace said it had found illegal GM rice, which produced allergic reactions when tested on mice, in the huge Chinese city of Guangzhou, north of Hong Kong. The rice is popular with some Hubei farmers as it has an inbuilt pesticide, but most of them would not dream of eating it themselves, according to Greenpeace. " Most of the farmers we met don't eat this rice. They would explain that it is because they are afraid that this rice will harm their health, " said Sze Pang Cheung of Greenpeace. " We are now facing the contamination of the most important staple crop in the whole world, " Sze said. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5359 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5363 + MONSANTO MAY DITCH GM CORN INVESTMENT IN THAILAND Monsanto has threatened (!) to scrap its plans to invest in GM corn production in Thailand unless the government lifts its ban on open field trials and the commercialisation of GM crops. " Over the past four years, we have tried to convince the public and the government to embrace GMOs, but to no avail. So we can't think about expanding our business here, " said Poomin Trakoontiwakorn, director of Monsanto's Southeast Asia technology development division. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5358 + FILIPINO FARMER DEBUNKS MYTHS OF GM HIGHER YIELDS Greenpeace called for Filipino farmers to shun the controversial Bt corn, after a farmer debunked " myths " that it results in higher yields and uses less fertilizers and chemicals. A Greenpeace-Southeast Asia statement quoted Tomas Datinguinoo, of Naujan in Oriental Mindoro, as saying that he failed to earn substantially from planting Monsanto's Bt corn variety DK818YG. " After hearing that Bt corn will mean higher yields and will not be attacked by the corn borer I decided to try my luck with Bt corn. However, after planting three hectares of Bt corn, I decided to go back to conventional varieties because I did not earn more than I used to due to the high cost of seeds and inputs, " Datinguinoo said. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5364 + HYPE AND DOUBLETHINK IN INDIAN PRESS An article in India's The Hindu newspaper shows the doublethink around GM yields. Titled " Higher yields draw ryots [peasant farmers] to genetically modified cotton, " the article begins by telling us, " the Maharashtra government is hoping that the Bt cotton's higher yield would rescue the cotton cultivator from the lower returns. " So GM yields are higher? Well, no. Here's 'the science bit', buried in the middle of the article: " This hope [of higher yields] persists despite a report by the State's Agriculture Commissioner, who evaluated genetically modified cotton's performance in khariff 2002-03, saying ... 'as per the feedback of field officers, the performance of Bt cotton as compared with other popular hybrid varieties like NCS-145, etc., is not satisfactory. That is, non-Bt was better than Bt.' " So non-GM yields are higher? The reporter clearly doesn't want us to go away with that message, because once again, science gives way to hype: " The government is banking on this enlarged shift to Bt cotton, as it would help the farmer bridge the price gap by improved yields. " With its own Agriculture Commissioner and field officers telling it Bt cotton's performance was unsatisfactory in Maharashtra, the Maharashtra government should be protecting its impoverished farmers from Bt cotton - like Andhra Pradesh, which has banned Monsanto from the State following its refusal to compensate farmers for the poor performance of GM cotton. But, as a wise blogger once said, when something doesn't make sense, it is because of money. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5362 + NO PESTICIDES, HIGHER YIELDS EXCERPT from excellent article by Devinder Sharma in The Hindu: It was in 1999 that a tiny village in Andhra Pradesh's Khammam district successfully began experimenting with non-pesticidal management practices. In the next few years it charted an easy escape route from the multiple rings of harmful pesticides. The contaminated environment began to change. Soil and plant health looked revitalised, and the pests began to disappear. Restoring the ecological balance brought back the natural pest control systems. The crop yields were still higher. Punukula is not the only village to have escaped from the vicious cycle of poison. Thousands of villages in the country have clearly demonstrated that pesticides are not only harmful but also unnecessary. In Bangladesh, 2,000 poor rice farmers with average farm incomes of Rs 4,000 a year have proved mainline agricultural scientists completely wrong. Gary John, senior scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, was completely stumped by the change they brought about in just two years. " To my surprise when people stopped spraying, yields didn't drop - and this was across 600 fields in two different districts over four seasons. I'm convinced that the vast majority of insecticides that rice farmers use are a complete waste of time and money. " Read on at http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5367 ------- THE AMERICAS ------- + U.S. GRAIN EXPORTERS TEST FOR ILLEGAL GM CORN Some US grain exporters have begun testing their corn shipments to top market Japan for unapproved biotech variety Bt10 that was detected in two cargoes and has slowed the pace of sales. The tests are being done voluntarily by the companies to ensure valuable Japanese importers stay on their clients' list, even as industry officials continue to discuss who should bear the costs eventually. One exporter said Japanese demand for US corn has dropped after two consignments were found to contain the unapproved variety in May: " We didn't sell them a pound last week. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5375 + CANADIAN FARMER'S ROUNDUP READY CANOLA PROBLEMS Read farmer Chris Dzisiak's disastrous experiences with RR canola 'volunteers' at http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5366 EXCERPT: In 2000, volunteer canola appeared in the 156 acre field where Roundup Ready canola had been planted the year before. The field was planted to wheat in 2000. Dzisiak controlled the volunteers with 2,4-D. But he said his problems with the volunteer canola became more acute this year when he planted the same field to flax. A preseed burnoff failed to control the herbicide-tolerant plants. That prompted Dzisiak to apply a Buctril M/Select mix to the flax crop soon after it had emerged. The Buctril M was applied at full rate. Dzisiak killed the volunteer canola, but his flax crop suffered because of the high rate of herbicide... The stunted flax grew slowly over the next two weeks, allowing wild oats and volunteer wheat to flourish. The result, according to Dzisiak, was a yield loss of three bushels an acre in his flax crop. He estimates he lost $4,500 this year because of the yield loss, the extra herbicide costs to control the volunteer canola, and the excess dockage in his flax due to the wheat volunteers and wild oats... " I certainly didn't save myself any money and I certainly didn't save myself any time. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5366 + CANADIANS CALL FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO FIRINGS Canadians are calling on the federal government to convene an independent investigation into the firing of Health Canada whistle-blowers Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon and Gerard Lambert. Petitions signed by thousands of Canadians were introduced in the House of Commons by members of all three opposition parties. The scientists assert that they were pressured, harassed and finally dismissed for speaking out about the dangers of mad cow disease and about the use of hormones and antibiotics in the food supply, particularly the use of [Monsanto's GM] bovine growth hormones. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5374 + GM OPPONENTS TO GATHER IN PHILADELPHIA From June 17-21 people from across the country and overseas will converge on Philadelphia to show their opposition to health care profiteering, bio-weapons proliferation, and poorly tested, unlabeled GM food. This gathering, Biodemocracy 2005, will coincide with the annual meeting of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Email: biodemocracy Web links: www.biodev.org, www.reclaimthecommons.net Full teach-in schedule at http://www.biodev.org/archives/001229.php Actions schedule at http://www.reclaimthecommons.net/article.php?id=191 + MONSANTO SPONSORS U.S. TV FARM PROGRAMME A California-based TV programme on farming, " America's Heartland " , will go national with sponsorship from Monsanto. The programme is known for its " typically cheerful tone and general avoidance of controversies underlying the state's food supply " . We bet. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5372 + GROWERS OPPOSE GM PHARMA FLAX A North Dakota flax marketing group is opposing a plant-based pharmaceutical company, Agragen, moving to Grand Forks, citing potential contamination of traditional flax fields by GM crops. " Are we going to risk our new and emerging markets for the flax on something that hasn't even been licensed yet? " said Ernie Hoffert, a Carrington farmer and secretary-treasurer of AmeriFlax, a branch of the North Dakota Oilseed Council. " This is absurd. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5371 + GM COFFEE TRIAL TRASHED A Bt coffee trial has been trashed in French Guiana by smallholders defending their livelihoods. ActionAid, a major development charity in the UK has estimated that GM coffee beans could potentially push 60 million people further into poverty. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5361 ------- AFRICA ------- + BIOTECH BULLSH*T IN KENYA The writer of a New York Times article about how profit-free and public-spirited biotech will save Kenya's corn farmers from the stem borer pest has swallowed industry propaganda, hook, line and sinker. The article claims: " Monsanto and Syngenta find no profit in recyclable seeds. They also have no incentive to create hardier versions of subsistence crops, like cassava and sweet potatoes, that agribusiness doesn't grow. " Kenya's corn project will move slowly. The research will take six more years and will cost $10 million, which will come from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, which is separate from the biotech company. Researchers must also persuade biotech companies, which hold the patents, to free up the technology. " The claim that this project is separate from industry and that the project and the industry have opposing aims, is garbage. The project originated with the Syngenta Foundation - but as with Monsanto and its sweet potato project in Kenya, they have tried to disappear into the background as the project has developed. In case anyone is in any doubt, the Syngenta Foundation is funded by Syngenta; Syngenta directors occupy 3 of the 5 seats on the Syngenta Foundation's board; and Heinz Imhof, the chairman of the board of directors of Syngenta, is the Foundation's President! This project is, and always has been, a showcase project for the biotech industry. And another thing. The article claims, " Last year at least 125 Kenyans, most of them children, died from eating corn with toxins created by the stem borer. " Hmm. I've researched this and can't find any evidence of toxins, deadly or otherwise, " created " by the pest. The most that could be said is that the stem borer makes holes in which, maybe, bacteria can breed - and the only source that mentions this theoretical threat is Syngenta's website. Could it be that the killer of the children is not Mother Nature but Big Agribiz? As the article tells us, " Farmers who can afford it douse their corn repeatedly with pesticides, which poison the environment. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5376 + SOUTH AFRICAN GROUPS CALL FOR GM FOOD BAN More than 20 environmental, faith-based and food security groups have called on government to ban GM food. The call for the ban stems from fears that GM maize might be contaminated with Syngenta's Bt 10 - a maize which contains genes from antibiotics and ampicillin. Glenn Ashton, spokesperson for the lobby groups, said: " South Africa has extremely weak biosafety regulations and no inspection of grain imports takes place, leading to a significant risk that our food supply has been similarly contaminated. Maize contaminated by Bt 10 increases the risk of antibiotic resistance, particularly for vulnerable populations and those being treated for HIV and Aids. " http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5373 ------- MIDDLE EAST ------- + EXPERT CALLS FOR GM LABELLING IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES A consumer protection expert has said that the United Arab Emirates must amend the law to force food producers to state whether the products they offered for sale were GM. " A wide selection of genetically modified crops are available in the markets such as potatoes, tomatoes, corn, rice and some other crops. People are aggressively buying them without knowing that scientists are still studying their effects on human health and have not yet proven whether these cause some harmful effects to their health, " said Engineer Hassan Al Katheiri, Chairman of Emirates Consumer Protection Society (ECPS). http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5373 ------- EUROPE ------- + GERMAN GM RAPE OFF TO CANADA An article in the German press reports that a GM oilseed rape (canola) developed in Germany is being sent to Canada because of a new German law, the Genetic Engineering Act, that makes GM producers liable for losses from contamination. The article wails over the supposed loss to Germany's economy and blames Germany's Consumer Protection Minister, Renate Kuenast, for driving the biotech industry out through her support for the Act. This article has clearly been got up by the GM lobby in Germany to attack Kuenast for her willingness to defend consumers and conventional and organic growers - but its argument is nonsensical. The article says that since the Genetic Engineering Act makes outdoor testing of GM crops too financially risky for companies, much of the research and development from Germany " will go at a loss. Germany's loss is Canada's gain. Canada is the world's leading rapeseed producer and has positioned itself to profit nicely from the research and development that Germany started. " Oh, really? Is that why we recently heard about the anxiety amongst Canada's oilseed rape growers that they may lose the principal market for their rapeseed because of the contamination GM rape has caused in Japan, which takes half Canada's exports? (See ASIA) Kuenast has pointed out that in financial terms and as an employer the organic sector is worth many times more to Germany than the biotech sector. Why damage that sector and conventional farming just to keep the biotech industry happy? http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5366 + GREENPEACE CONVICTED UNDER ANTI-TERROR LAWS Greenpeace has been fined by a Copenhagen court as the first organization charged under new Danish anti-terror laws introduced after the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. Greenpeace was charged under the new legislation last month following a protest by a group of activists in October 2003 at the Copenhagen headquarters of the Danish Agriculture association against GMOs used in the pork industry. They hung a banner reading " No to GMO swine " from a window, and have been separately accused of violating domestic peace. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5351 + EXPOSING SAINSBURY'S Five years ago Sainsbury's promised to phase out GM feed from the diets of the herds that produce their dairy products. So far they have failed to do so. During the week 13-17 June, Sainsbury's staff at the company's London headquarters were greeted by a series of anti-GM demonstrations as part of a Europe-wide action against GM. The " week-long extravaganza of street theatre and protests against GM animal feed " included a naked demo in which eight protesters stripped to expose the GM scandal. Groups involved in the demos include Five Year Freeze, Friends of the Earth and the Women's Institute. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5368 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5370 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5373 ------- AUSTRALASIA ------- + ENOUGH OF THE GM BULLDUST! The Network of Concerned Farmers (NCF) has released a presentation titled " Beyond the Bulldust of Genetically Modified Crops - the Case for Strict Liability " in both DVD and video format. The presentation details the specific GM benefit, alternatives, risks and the risk management needed to manage this controversial crop. " We have given specific referenced detail why agronomically and economically GM canola will fail to benefit Australian farmers, " said Mrs Newman, the author of the presentation and spokesperson for the NCF. " We have also explained how and why GM crops are being rammed down the throats of farmers and reluctant consumers. " http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=2209 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5369 ------- FOOD SAFETY ------- + COURT ORDERS MONSANTO TO MAKE REPORT PUBLIC A law court in Cologne, Germany on 10 June ordered Monsanto to make one of its confidential reports public after the company tried to prevent its dissemination. The 1000-page document is in the centre of international attention after results showing that MON863 GM maize harmed the health of rats were exposed by the British newspaper Independent On Sunday. Greenpeace asked for access to the document in Germany under an EU law which states that the public has the right to see documents related to risk assessment of GM plants. After the German state authorities endorsed access, Monsanto filed a court case against the government of Germany to try to stymie the publishing of the document. Greenpeace joined sides with the German government in the case and with the latest ruling, the study should be open to public scrutiny. On 24 June the Council of EU ministers will decide whether to approve MON863 for import and use in food. It is almost impossible to evaluate Monsanto's over 1000-page study on the health effects before that date, in particular because Monsanto is expected to appeal against the recent decision, which could result in further delay in the publication of the documents. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5356 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5357 ------- CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE ------- + SCIENTISTS ADMIT CHANGING STUDIES TO SUIT BACKERS In a survey of scientists in the USA published in Nature, 15.5% said they had changed the design, methodology or results of a study in response to pressure from a funding source, and 12.5% admitted overlooking others' use of flawed data. A study of scientists working for UK government quangos or newly privatised laboratories in 2000 found that one in three had been asked to adjust their conclusions to suit a sponsor. The figure included 17 per cent who had been asked to change their conclusions to suit the customer's preferred outcome, 10 per cent who said they had been asked to do so to obtain further contracts and three per cent who claimed they had been asked to make changes to discourage publication. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5354 --------------------------- GM WATCH INTERVIEW --------------------------- + AGRICULTURE TODAY INTERVIEW WITH GM WATCH The New Delhi based publication, Agriculture Today, has just published a dialogue between Jonathan Matthews of GM WATCH and Agriculture Today's editor, Dr Robin Stevens. EXCERPT: Dr Stevens: The industry feels that you reflect only one side of the story and there is another side of theirs which you have totally ignored? Is it true? Jonathan: ... In fact, we pay a great deal of attention to their side of the story and where we discover that they're actually misleading people, we set out to publicise the fact; and when we discover that they are attacking and seeking to discredit scientists or other critics unfairly, we set out to publicise that too. And, that's what they don't like. So, in a sense it's very simple - they provide the momentum for what we do, and if they really want to take the wind out of our sails, all they have to do is stop trying to deceive people, and stop trying to force this technology down people's throats. And then we'll be left with no reason to publicise their behaviour. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5365 ------- CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK ------- + JUSTICE FOR BOY KILLED BY MONSANTO'S ROUNDUP AND CIPERMETRINE The women of the CONAMURI indigenous/rural people's group in Paraguay need our support. They are fighting bravely against the consequences of soya production, mainly RR soya, introduced illegally into Paraguay, as it was in Brazil. RR soya killed an 11-year-old Paraguayan boy, Silvino Talavera, who died in hospital after being poisoned by agrochemicals (Monsanto's Roundup and cipermetrine) - and every day is poisoning thousands of peasants in Paraguay. It is forcing the eviction and repression of peasants who resist agribusiness' takeover of seeds and food production. Please help stop this outrage against Paraguayan peasants and indigenous people. More details: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5355 ------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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