REVIEW number 307

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GMWATCH REVIEW number 307
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from Claire Robinson, REVIEW editor
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Dear all:

The Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice are challenging the USDA's approval of GM alfalfa in the courts. Wikileaks has revealed that the main force behind the passing of biosafety laws set to open the gates to GM crops in Kenya was the US government. And make sure all your friends know how to TAKE ACTION on GM and cloning.

Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org
Profiles: http://bit.ly/12UAI2
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c6OnaX

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CONTENTS
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THE AMERICAS
AFRICA
VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
EUROPE
LOBBYWATCH
GM FAILURES
CORPORATE CRIMES
AUSTRALASIA
ASIA
GM AND CLONED ANIMALS
TAKE ACTION: CLONING AND GMO

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THE AMERICAS
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+ U.S. LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST GM ALFALFA APPROVAL
Attorneys for the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Earthjustice have filed a lawsuit against the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA), arguing that the agency's recent unrestricted approval of GM Roundup Ready alfalfa was unlawful. This is the second case challenging the legality of USDA's handling of GM alfalfa. In 2007, in another case brought by CFS, a federal court ruled that the USDA's approval of the GM crop violated environmental laws by failing to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa, the evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds, and increased use of Roundup.  The case resulted in USDA undertaking a court-ordered four-year study of GM alfalfa's impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  Remarkably, it marked the first time USDA had ever undertaken such a study, known as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), in over 15 years of approving GM crops for commercial production. While USDA worked on the EIS, GM alfalfa remained unlawful to plant or sell, a ban that remained in place despite Monsanto appealing the case all the way to the US Supreme Court. The latest USDA data show that less than 10 percent of alfalfa acres are sprayed with any herbicide, and consequently, GE alfalfa will dramatically increase the use of such chemicals across the country, with all of their attendant hazards to wildlife, plants, groundwater, and people.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12989

+ CANADA: COMMITTEE POSTPONES VOTE ON GM ALFALFA BAN
A Canadian federal agriculture standing committee vote to recommend the government implement a moratorium on commercializing genetically modified alfalfa has been postponed until later this month. Liberal MP Wayne Easter says the committee was to vote on the recommendation, proposed by the Liberal committee members, but "the committee got derailed substantially." Easter blames Conservative MPs for delay, claiming they disrupted the meeting to talk about procedural matters. The proposed moratorium has widespread support from other parties in addition to the Liberals.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12958

+ FREE DINNER FOR LEGISLATORS IN HAWAII
Dozens of Hawaii legislators attended a free dinner organized by producers of GM food but very few lawmakers cleared their attendance ahead of time with the state Ethics Commission. The closed-door event, called "A Taste of Ag," was organized by the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association to promote "locally grown organic, conventional and genetically engineered produce and products." Sponsors included the Council for Biotechnology Information, CropLife America, the state Department of Agriculture, the University of Hawaii, the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, and the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO).
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12963

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AFRICA
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+ U.S. MAIN FORCE BEHIND KENYA'S BIOSAFETY ACT
The US was the main force behind the speedy enactment of a law that allowed the introduction of GM crops and products into Kenya, a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks has revealed. A cable sent to the US Secretary of State in March 2009, by US ambassador Michael Ranneberger, just a few days after President Kibaki had signed the Biosafety Act 2009 into law, tells how the use of US financial and technical support helped to speed up and overcome opposition to the Biosafety Bill. The ambassador's cable tells of how a hesitant Parliament was finally overcome. A USAID-funded programme created linkages among key national institutions which were used to lobby for the support of the Bill among policy makers, parliamentarians and government agencies. An international conference organised in Nairobi, All Africa Congress on Biotechnology in 2008, by African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum, galvanised local proponents.
GMWatch comment: The African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum, whose conference platform for Monsanto and other U.S. backed speakers is credited with galvanising support for the Biosafety Bill in Kenya, was spun off as a Kenyan GM front group by ISAAA. ISAAA is a US-centered, GM promotion and "technology transfer" agency funded by Bayer, Cargill, Dow, Monsanto, Pioneer and Syngenta, in addition to foundations and Western governmental funding agencies, including USAID. ISAAA's Board of Directors has contained leading biotech industry execs from firms such as Monsanto and Syngenta.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12961

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VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
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+ "BENEFITS" OF GM CORN: YOUR SOWS BECOME INFERTILE AND YOU GO BANKRUPT
Jerry Rosman, a pig farmer in Iowa, was cultivating GM corn (Roundup Ready and Bt), which he fed to his pigs. Result: his sows became infertile, and then after one year he went bankrupt. This confirms a study by the Austrian government showing that feeding mice exclusively on GM corn caused infertility.
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/22-gm-and-agriculture/12983

+ CANADIANS WARN AUSTRALIA ABOUT GM CANOLA
Terry Boehm, the Vice President of the Canadian National Farmers Union, and Arnold Taylor, the National President of the Canadian Organic Growers Association, held a press conference in the Parliament of New South Wales to warn Australian farmers to keep their crops free of genetic manipulation. They reported on Canada's 12-year experience of commercially growing GM canola.
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/22-gm-and-agriculture/12915

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EUROPE
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+ ITALIAN FARMER THREATENS TO PLANT ILLEGAL GM CORN
An Italian farmer who last year claimed he had planted GM MON810 corn seeds is threatening to do the same this year. Together with others, he has promised in the next few weeks to plant GM corn in the belief that the Italian law cannot enforce a ban on seeds which have been authorised by the European Union. His threat comes at a time when the Friuli region where he lives is adopting an anti-GM law: the cultivation of GM plants will be possible only for experimental ends and in controlled conditions so as to prevent the spread of GMOs and the contamination of conventional and organic crops.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12969

+ EU COUNTRIES THAT MADE A STAND AGAINST GMOs
Last month, representatives of 19 member states backed a law to allow a trace level of contamination of conventional animal feed with unapproved GMOs. The move was widely seen as a bow to the corporate GM lobby to allow unauthorised GMOs in animal feed imports. Although the vote passed, it was opposed by the representatives of Malta, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia, which put up a joint front against EU pressure to scrap zero tolerance for GM-contaminated animal feed. Luxembourg abstained from the vote.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12957

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ EU URGED TO CARRY OUT "COMPLETE OVERHAUL" OF FOOD SAFETY AGENCY
Transparency campaigners have called for a "complete overhaul" of the rules governing the European food safety authority (EFSA). The demand follows revelations that four members of EFSA's management board have direct links to the food industry, causing a potential conflict of interest. The lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has written to EU health and consumer commissioner John Dalli urging him to investigate. Piet Vanthemsche has financial interests in the GM seed industry. Milan Kovic has links to the food/biotech/chemical industry lobby group, the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). CEO research coordinator Olivier Hoedeman said, "EFSA's independence cannot be guaranteed if members of its management board are employed by private companies or lobby groups with a vested interest in influencing EU food regulation."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12984
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Milan_Kov%C3%A1%C4%8D

+ "ONLY GM CAN SAVE THE BANANA" - AGAIN
"Only GM can save the banana" is the underlying message of a story that first surfaced in 2001, made a comeback in 2003, and has done the rounds in the media ever since. Now it has popped up again, this time in the form of an aspirational article in the Guardian that reports ongoing trials in Uganda on a GM banana designed to resist a virus. The results aren't in yet, and it's unclear how much of the development of the experimental variety was actually due to GM as opposed to the usual process of conventional breeding assisted by marker assisted selection, but those small facts haven't stopped GM proponents from prematurely hyping this story as a triumph for GM. Emma Hockridge of the Soil Association wrote in a response piece, "Uganda's banana crops will not be saved by GM":  "To market GM as a panacea to issues of food security is not borne out by the facts, and to try and dupe farmers in developing countries into accepting this is simply dishonest. The future of feeding a growing world population, in the face of all of the challenges of climate change and resource depletion that face us, is crop variety, soil fertility, and farming systems like organic which don't rely on costly inputs. Not chemical and agribusiness controlling the research and food markets of a GM-inspired future."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12962
GMWatch comment: http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/12990

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GM FAILURES
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+ "GREAT LEAP FORWARD" FOR GM FARMING - 2,4-D AND DICAMBA-TOLERANT CROPS
GM giants Dow, BASF and Monsanto have come up with their answer to glyphosate-resistant weeds - crops tolerant to the herbicides 2,4-D and dicamba.
GMWatch comment: Dow's 2,4-D-tolerant crops will enable massive use of 2,4-D herbicide. 2,4-D was an ingredient of Agent Orange, the defoliant sprayed on Vietnam by the US in the 1960s and 70s. Dow's latest crops are touted in a press report as "a great leap forward in farming productivity". More like a great leap back into the dark ages. Independent scientific studies link 2,4-D with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of cancer; reproductive damage in humans; birth defects; and neurotoxicity. Studies link dicamba exposure with increased incidence of lung and colon cancer. It is a developmental toxin that is suspected of causing birth defects in humans.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12974

+ DECLINE AND DEATH OF GM WITH NO-TILL FARMING
A long but interesting article has appeared in Ag Journal on the decline of GM herbicide-tolerant crop/no-till farming in the US. It's worth reading to the end to see that experts are recommending returning to farming methods that many of us will recognize as agroecological/organic. Weed scientist Neil Harker is quoted as saying, "We've been given the idea that weed control is a dead simple solution: just picking the right herbicide. It has nothing to do with herbicide, it's all about good agronomics."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12979

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TAKE ACTION ON GM TOXIC SOY
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+ TAKE ACTION: TELL SUPERMARKETS "RESPONSIBLE" SOY LABEL IS MISLEADING
Tell supermarkets not to mislead their consumers by committing "label fraud" - sign the petition here and help discredit the new label for "responsible" soy, due to be launched by the Round Table on Responsible Soy this spring. There are separate actions for Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain.
The petition can be found at the following links:
English: http://www.toxicsoy.org/toxicsoy/Action/action.html
German: http://www.regenwald.org/mailalert/681/verantwortungsbewusste-soja-ein-fall-von-verbrauchertauschung
French: http://www.sauvonslaforet.org/mailalert/682/soja-responsable-duperie-pour-les-consommateurs%C2%A0%C2%A0
Spanish: http://www.salvalaselva.org/mailalert/678/soja-responsable-confundiendo-a-los-consumidores
Dutch: http://www.gifsoja.nl/Gifsoja/Actie/actie.html
More information on the RTRS "responsible" soy claim:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12948
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12975

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ IMPORTANT COURT VICTORY UPHOLDS BAN ON ROUNDUP/AGROCHEM SPRAYING IN ARGENTINA
In Argentina, a new court ruling has upheld a 2010 ban on the spraying of glyphosate and other pesticides near homes in Chaco province. While the case concerns rice crops, the ruling will also apply to GM soy. Pesticides named in the case include glyphosate (Roundup), endosulfan, methamidophos, chlopyrifos, and picloram. The court banned spraying with chemicals within 1000 meters of housing if the method is terrestrial and 2000 meters if aerial. The court re-asserted the precautionary principle and stressed that priority should be given to public health over agricultural production. The court also banned spraying near waterways. The previous 2010 court injunction was appealed by rice producers. In September 2010, the measure was relaxed by the same court. The limit was reduced from 1000 to 500 meters and spraying over waterways was allowed again. The main arguments were an environmental impact study provided by the company (not involving independent experts) and a letter from the Epidemiology Dept of Chaco (under the Ministry of Health), which downplayed cases of residents with leukemia. In making the latest ruling, the judge questioned the evidence that allowed the relaxation of the original ruling: "We understand the environmental impact study prepared by one party (the companies) should have been subjected to further evaluation by impartial government agencies," he said.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12985

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ AUSTRALIA: FLOODING CAUSES GM CONTAMINATION
The debate over contamination with GM seeds has reignited in Victoria, with the floods spreading GM canola onto a non GM property. One local farmer claims floodwaters have washed GM canola onto a non-GM field in western Victoria. He's concerned that the GM canola will increase his weed control costs and force him to pay plant breeding rights for something he doesn't want.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12968
The case follows that of Steve Marsh, the organic farmer who lost his organic certification because of GM contamination via wind. Sign petition in support of Marsh:
http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-campaign-ideas/suggestions/1403489-monsanto-versus-steve-marsh-first-gm-legal-battle

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ASIA
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+ INDIA: GOLDEN RICE ALTERNATIVE - "GOOD FOOD"
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will soon receive a unique gift hamper of food rich in Vitamin A, sent to him by scientists and citizens associated with Safe Food Alliance, an NGO. On World Consumers Day, citizens sent the hamper as a sign of protest against a statement by the Prime Minister advocating GM golden rice as a way to give people their quota of vitamin A. Biotechnologists said when many naturally available, cheaper and home grown options for Vitamin A were available, it did not make sense to import rice from other countries for their vitamin A content. "Carrot, spinach, greens and millets available in abundance are a natural source of beta carotene," said professor Sultan Ismail, a biotechnology professor at New College, Chennai. He added that naturally available rice was not a source of beta carotene and vitamin A. "There are so many nutritious foods which a poor man can access every day. Why are these not being promoted?" asked Dr G Sivaraman, from the NGO, Poovalagin Nanbargal.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12973

+ INDIA: GM TRIALS DONE ON THE SLY AND ILLEGALLY
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has accused Monsanto, the environment ministry's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee and Indian Council for Agriculture Research of conniving to begin trials of GM maize in his state even before it had got clearance from the environment ministry and without informing the state government. In a letter written to environment minister Jairam Ramesh, Kumar said the trials by Monsanto on ICAR sites in Bihar began surreptitiously some days before GEAC even accorded it the mandatory clearance to begin testing the Bt maize varieties. Kumar stressed that the state government must be consulted before any private sector agency is allowed to conduct trials for GM crops. Ramesh has ordered a probe into the trials.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12964
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12965

+ INDIA: MINISTERS BACK OPPOSITION TO SEED BILL
A section of Congress is set to back the demand of chief ministers of BJP and other Opposition-ruled states to reject the Seeds Bill, 2010, in its present form. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, spearheading the campaign against the bill, has told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that the bill, whose avowed purpose is to facilitate production and supply of seeds of quality, will put the peasantry at the "mercy of agri-businesses."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12973

+ INDIA: MPs BRIBED TO SUPPORT INDO-U.S. DEAL ON NUCLEAR, BIOTECH TOO?
Five days before the Manmohan Singh government faced a crucial vote of confidence on the US-India Knowledge Initiative in 2008, a political aide to Congress leader Satish Sharma showed a US Embassy employee "two chests containing cash" he said was part of a bigger fund of Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 60 crore that the party had assembled to purchase the support of MPs. Manmohan Singh and George Bush announced the US-India Knowledge Initiative in 2005. The agreement was ostensibly aimed at ushering in a second Green Revolution in India, but what it brought into the frame was the overwhelming presence of American corporations: giant traders, seed companies and retailers. The ultimate goal, critics of the initiative warned, is to spread farm biotechnology and tighten the grip of intellectual property rights over Indian agriculture. Monsanto, Wal-Mart and ADM are on the board of the US-India Knowledge Initiative.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12976

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GM AND CLONED ANIMALS
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+ EU IS CENTRE STAGE IN CLONING DRAMA
The US wants to push products of cloned animals into Europe, but Europe doesn't want them.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12970

+ FARM COMMUNITY DIVIDED ON ENVIROPIG
Enviropig is currently working its way through the regulatory agencies in Canada and the US, with the aim of gaining approval for human consumption. Enviropig is genetically engineered to digest more of the phosphorus in the grain it's fed. In theory, this would free farmers from the cost of adding phosphorus to feed, something pigs need. And because more phosphorus is absorbed by the Enviropig, less ends up in the manure where it can leach into waterways encouraging algae to bloom, killing fish and impairing water quality. Sean McGivern, regional co-ordinator with the National Farmers Union, which recently urged Ontario Pork to pull the plug on the Enviropig, said it wasn't needed. McGivern said good farm management can already reduce the risks of phosphorus from pig manure getting into streams and rivers. Also, farmers will have to spend more money on commercial phosphorus fertilizer if there's less of it in the pig manure they spread on their fields.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12977

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TAKE ACTION: CLONING AND GMO
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+  UK: NO FOOD FROM OFFSPRING OF CLONES
The EU talks on the Novel Foods Regulation are nearing their climax and there is a significant risk that the UK will allow food from the offspring of cloned animals to be sold in the UK. Cloning inflicts great suffering. Help convince the UK’s Agriculture Minister to reconsider & support the ban!
http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=9647
http://bit.ly/i2AdZ7

+ MAKE SURE YOUR MEPS HAVE THE FACTS ON CLONING
If you're in the EU, help convince your Members of the European Parliament to make good decisions on cloning.
http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=9341
http://bit.ly/emuGrt

+ EUROPE: TELL FOOD COMPANIES, DON'T BUY THE LIE OF "RESPONSIBLE" SOY
Please tell the supermarkets you don't accept the label fraud. Rainforest Rescue has set up a quick and easy system you can use to send a letter to supermarkets all over Europe:
http://www.rainforest-rescue.org/mailalert/679/responsible-soy-misleading-consumers
GMWatch/Friends of the Earth press release about the "Don't buy the lie" campaign:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12948
Backgrounder on what's wrong with the RTRS:
http://www.gmwatch.org/images/pdf/rtrsbackgrounderfinal.pdf
More about the terrible human cost of GM soy production in South America:
http://www.gmwatch.org/component/content/article/12479-reports-reports

+ UK: TAKE ACTION ON GM COOKING OIL - WHAT'S IN YOUR CHIPS?
GM cooking oil is used by takeaways, caterers and increasingly sold in supermarkets. We know because there are GM labels on the cans. If you want to help get GM oil and other GM ingredients out of the food chain, visit GM Freeze's 'one-stop shop' info and action pages.
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?ID=482

+ RALLY FOR THE RIGHT TO KNOW - GMO labeling
U.S. national locations and details
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=150163591710461&topic=152
http://ow.ly/4iblH

+ TELL U.S. DAIRIES YOU DON'T WANT GM ALFALFA
Ask them to pledge to use only non-GMO alfalfa
https://secure3.convio.net/cfs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=357

+ TELL U.S. FOOD COMPANIES TO STOP THE INTRODUCTION OF GM ALFALFA INTO SUPPLY CHAIN
http://action.responsibletechnology.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5838

+ URGE CONGRESS TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST GM FISH
https://secure3.convio.net/cfs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=365