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WEEKLY WATCH number 266
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
It's been a great week for truth. In Europe, environment ministers have overwhelmingly upheld the rights of member states Austria and Hungary to ban GMOs (IMPORTANT VICTORY IN EUROPE). And as even US farmers move away from GM seeds, more moves are afoot to help secure non-GM food and feed supplies (NON-GM FOOD SUPPLY).
There's more news on how researcher Ignacio Chapela's findings of GM contamination of native Mexican maize have been confirmed (RESEARCH).
And the industry lobby group that calls itself a charity, Sense About Science, is attempting to defend itself from allegations of conflicts of interest over its GM guide for the public.
Finally, look out for an important new report on the Western-led efforts to force GM crops onto Africa (AFRICA).
Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org
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CONTENTS
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IMPORTANT VICTORY IN EUROPE
EUROPE: OTHER NEWS
WWF AND RTRS
LOBBYWATCH
AFRICA
RESEARCH
THE AMERICAS
COMPANY NEWS
NON-GM FOOD SUPPLY
FOOD AND CLIMATE CRISIS
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IMPORTANT VICTORY IN EUROPE
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+ EU UPHOLDS AUSTRIA, HUNGARY RIGHT TO BAN GM CROPS
EU environment ministers have overwhelmingly rejected a European Commission proposal to force member states to accept the cultivation of GM crops on their territories. Over twenty member states voted against the Commission proposal. Hungary can maintain its ban on Monsanto's GM maize MON810, and Austria on MON810 and Bayer's T25.
"This is a victory for the environment, farmers and consumers, and a major embarrassment for the Commission. For the fourth time, EU governments have rejected a Commission proposal to lift national bans on GM crops. What part of 'no' does the Commission not understand?" said Marco Contiero of Greenpeace.
Austrian and Hungarian scientific authorities have recently supplied new evidence supporting their national bans showing that MON810 maize - the only GMO currently cultivated in the EU - is likely to have harmful environmental effects.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKBRU00731420090302
http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/
+ TAKE ACTION: PROTECT A GM-FREE EUROPE
The Council still has to vote on two more national bans in France and Greece. There will also be a vote later this month on whether for the first time since 1998 two new GM maize varieties (bt 11 from Syngenta and 1507 from Pioneer/ DuPont) will be approved. Write to your environment minister asking them to vote against the Commission's attempts to end the bans. The letter is available in different languages:
http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/stop-the-crop-action.html
The text for the UK is here:
http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/stop-the-crop-action/en.html
+ QUOTES ON THE VOTE
"I'm ecstatic I feel as if Austria has become the European Cup winner in soccer" - Austria's environment minister Nikolaus Berlakovich, after the vote.
"I cannot recognise the product from Monsanto as added value for society”¦ the company is forcing dependency on German farmers" - Germany's environment minister Siegmar Gabriel
http://tiny.cc/XJfJu
"I just hope that [the pro-GM head of the EU Commission] Barroso will realise that the commission needs to change its position o[n] GMOs. It's completely unacceptable that essentially they keep trying to bulldoze through their pro-GM agenda in spite of public opposition and we know that a vast majority of citizens in just about all of the member states are not in favour of GMOs." - Caroline Lucas, Green MEP
http://tiny.cc/lswOy
"How many more times must British environment ministers be humiliated in Europe over GM crops? ”¦ Monday was the fourth time that almost all 26 countries except Britain rejected a commission proposal to lift national bans on GM. This time we had only three allies - two of which made it clear they have strong reservations about the proposal. So perhaps now President Bush has gone, you can give it up, guys?" - John Vidal, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/04/eco-soundings
+ UK BETRAYS PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE AS EVER
Only four of the 27 European Union nations -- Britain, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden -- supported the EU Commission's bid to force the two member states to lift their GM ban.
These four rogue states were acting illogically, since EU ministers agreed unanimously on 4 December 2008 that national bans on GM crops would be respected; that GM risk assessment in the EU is not fulfilling legal requirements and must be improved; that long term impacts of GM releases have not been properly assessed; that independent scientific opinion should be taken into account; and that insecticidal GM crops such as MON810 maize should also be assessed under EU pesticide laws because of the toxins they release.
Speaking about UK environment minister Hilary Benn's betrayal of this agreement, Dr Brian John of GM Free Cymru said: "It beggars belief that Mr Benn should sign up for the unanimous statement by the EU's Environment Ministers on 4 December, and then vote with the Commission today. This is the second time this year that he has voted with the Commission for GMO releases, demonstrating either a lack of good faith or a very short memory. When are we going to get some joined-up thinking in DEFRA?"
Benn's vote also failed to reflect the views os the national assemblies/parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
http://www.greenpartyni.org/
+ ALL THE NEWS ABOUT THE VOTE
Links to multiple articles.
http://hejdagmo.se/2009/03/03/grattis-gmo-fria-osterrike-och-ungern/
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EUROPE: OTHER NEWS
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+ MOVE FOR WALES TO BE HARDEST PLACE IN WORLD TO GROW GM CROPS
Plans to make Wales the most difficult place on the planet to grow GM crops have been outlined by rural affairs minister Elin Jones. But even as the minister outlined her proposals, the man who claimed he grew GM maize in secret last year told a public meeting he planned to do it again.
Jonathan Harrington claimed he and up to 30 other "farmers" were preparing to defy both the Welsh government's policy and EU rules on growing GM crops. Harrington is part of the GM industry lobby group CropGen.
http://tiny.cc/0XsVo
+ PRESSURE ON EU TO ALLOW GM CONTAMINATION OF SEEDS
The European Seed Association is lobbying the European Commission to come up with a "long-awaited" proposal for thresholds to label the accidental presence of GMOs in conventional seeds, arguing that their presence is "unavoidable".
http://www.euroseeds.org/home
In its lobbying for thresholds, ESA uses carefully chosen wording to suggest GM crops are on the increase in the EU, whereas in fact they've been in substantial retreat for the past 5 years!
http://www.euroseeds.org/related/ESA_09.0190.pdf
ESA's members and associate members include: Advanta, Bayer CropScience, BASF, De Ruiter Seeds [Monsanto], Groupe Limagrain [big GM interests], Monsanto Europe, Pioneer Overseas Corporation [Dupont], Seminis [Monsanto], Syngenta Seeds
http://tiny.cc/pL2im
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WWF AND RTRS
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+ KEY POINTS ON WWF AND RTRS
We recently circulated detailed comments on the misleading nature of the new "WWF Statement" defending its continued involvement in the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) in tandem with Monsanto and Syngenta. Here is a summary providing the key points of both WWF's statement and our rebuttal:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/55-Key-points-on-WWF-and-RTRS.html
For WWF's full statement see: -
WWF's Involvement in the RTRS due to its Connection to the GM Soy Industry
http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/policy/news/?156602
For the full commentary on their statement see:
http://tiny.cc/8882o
An article for Third World Resurgence provides yet more proof that throughout its entire history the RTRS has never been welcomed by those most directly affected by GM soy's devastating environmental and social impacts.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=265
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ SENSE ABOUT SCIENCE DEFENDS GM GUIDE
Tracey Brown, managing director of the GM lobby group Sense About Science, has published an aggressive letter in the Times Higher Education (THE) defending SAS's GM guide from allegations of conflicts of interest in the guide's authors. The allegations were originally put forward by GMWatch and were reported in an article in the previous issue of THE.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comments.asp?storycode=405427
Brown claims in her letter: "The description of the John Innes Centre (JIC) as receiving funding from biotech companies was mischievous."
But a letter from GMWatch's Jonathan Matthews, also published in the THE, points out that "The JIC not only receives such funding but also in the past has entered into major deals with both Syngenta and Dupont - worth about GBP60 million in total and celebrated at the time as exciting precedents. The fact that the Syngenta deal eventually came unstuck, almost certainly in part because of all the opposition to GM, hardly provides a rationale for not wanting to secure a more favourable climate for this technology."
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=405683& c=2
Dr David Miller points out in a second letter that while THE refers to Sense About Science simply as a "charity", "a quick glance at the last accounts it lodged with the Charity Commission shows all the substantial sums from its named donors came from life science, pharma, big oil and mobile phone companies - funnily enough, the very industries whose interests it defends against their critics."
Miller adds, "Sense About Science complains that some of these links make no difference to its views. Is this a scientific view? It is certainly contrary to a rash of recent research published in the British Medical Journal and Nature, among other places, which found that the corporate funding of scientific research can skew the results."
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=405427& c=2
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AFRICA
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+ VOICES FROM AFRICA - NEW REPORT
A new report from the Oakland Institute, "Voices from Africa: African Farmers & Environmentalists Speak Out Against a New Green Revolution in Africa", issues a challenge to Western-led plans for a GM revolution in African agriculture, particularly the recent misguided philanthropic efforts of the Gates Foundation's Alliance for a New Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and presents African resistance and solutions rooted in first-hand knowledge of what Africans need.
The report finds a lack of accountability, transparency, and stakeholder involvement in philanthropic efforts such as AGRA. "Despite the Gates Foundation's rhetoric of inclusion and the claim that their investment in agricultural development benefits the growing majority of the world's poor who rely on agriculture, a leaked Gates Foundation confidential report on their Agricultural Development Strategy for 2008-2011 actually emphasizes moving people out of the agricultural sector," said Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute and the editor of the report. "Their intention is to reduce dependency on agriculture, but their strategy report does not specify where or how this new 'land mobile' population is to be reemployed," she continued.
AGRA claims to be an "African-led Green Revolution," and features Kofi Annan at the helm as its chairman; however, African civil society has rejected the idea that one man can speak on behalf of over 50 countries and 680 million people. It is also not apparent from the foundation's Agricultural Development Strategy report whether--or how--the Gates Foundation consulted with African farmers before launching their multi-million dollar development strategy for the continent. Some of the foundation's key employees and external advisors have strong connections with biotech companies and GM advocacy.
Download a copy of the report athttp://www.oaklandinstitute.org/voicesfromafrica/pdfs/voicesfromafrica_full.pdf
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RESEARCH
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+ CHAPELA VINDICATED: GM CONTAMINATION OF MEXICAN MAIZE CONFIRMED
A study has been published that confirms that GM material did contaminate native corn in the crop's birthplace in southern Mexico, confirming the findings of researchers David Quist and Ignacio Chapela. Quist and Capela published an article in the journal Nature in 2001, stating that GM material had been detected in native Mexican corn in the southern state of Oaxaca, where the crop was first developed thousands of years ago.
Chapela was subjected to virulent attacks, which were disseminated via C. S. Prakash's AgBioView listserv. GMWatch exposed the attacks as originating from the PR firm Bivings, which numbered Monsanto among its clients, and eventually tracked the attacks back directly to Monsanto itself.
The author of the new study, Alvarez Buylla, says she had to struggle to get the paper published. She said she submitted it to the PNAS but editors declined to publish it, arguing it could draw attention to political aspects of the debate, rather than the science.
http://tiny.cc/tXtZE
Andy Rowell's article on the Bivings scandal: http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit3.html
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THE AMERICAS
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+ GM SOY CATASTROPHE IN ARGENTINA
Once a serene refuge from urban pollution and chaos, the Argentine countryside has now become a place fraught with risks for many local residents. The massive use of pesticides on fields of soy, the country's top export, is creating a "health catastrophe" in the rural sector, environmentalists warn.
A report by the Rural Reflection Group (GRR), a local environmental organisation, points to an increase in health problems in the countryside, such as cases of cancer at early ages, birth defects, lupus, kidney problems, respiratory ailments and dermatitis, based on the accounts of rural doctors, experts and the residents of dozens of farming towns.
The GRR has been carrying out a campaign since 2006 to identify towns affected by the spraying of glyphosate, the herbicide tolerated by the GM soybeans planted in Argentina, which kills all plants other than the crop itself.
When glyphosate is sprayed from planes, the most efficient means of application, it drifts onto nearby populated areas, says the report, "Stop the Spraying".
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45974
+ GM MAIZE STARTS TO FLOOD THE MARKET IN BRAZIL
GM maize, released by the CTNBio (National Technical Biosafety Committee / Ministry of Science and Technology) in 2008, is due to arrive big time in this year's crop. Of the 261 new varieties registered since 2008, 146 are transgenic - in other words, already in the first year since the release of GM technology for maize, 56% of the seeds set to enter the market are transgenic. The GM-Free Brazil Campaign comments: “In a short time Brazilian farmers will have an extremely limited range of non-GM seeds from which to select. This has been the pattern in other countries. Indeed this is the way in which this disastrous technology has spread across the world."
http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com/2009/02/update-from-gm-free-brazil-campaign.htm l
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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO UNVEILS GENUITY BRANDING
Monsanto has decided to create a new brand, called Genuity (disinGenuity, more like) that will serve as the umbrella for crops containing its various GM traits.
http://southeastfarmpress.com/soybeans/monsanto-technology-0302/
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NON-GM FOOD SUPPLY
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+ MORE US FARMERS PLANTING NON-GM SOYBEANS THIS YEAR
For the first time since 1996, acres of Roundup Ready GM soybeans could drop as more farmers decide to plant non-GM. Low commodity soybean prices, attractive premiums, and rising prices for GM soybean seed are leading American farmers to plant more acres of non-GM soybeans this year. Representatives with soybean associations, universities, and grain buyers all say that demand for non-GM soybeans is growing, leading to more non-GM acres.
http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/mar09/farmers_planting_non-gmo_soybeans.ph p
+ INDUSTRY LEADERS WANT NON-GM FOOD SUPPLY
According to Michael Funk, Board Chair and Founder of trade body United Natural Foods (UNFI), "There is no greater threat to the natural and organic industry than GMOs." The primary solution suggested is participation in the Non-GMO Project(www.nongmoproject.org), which brings together stakeholders across North America in a collaborative effort to ensure the sustained availability of non-GM options.
http://www.npicenter.com/anm/templates/newsATemp.aspx?articleid=23435&zoneid=2
+ EUROPE'S LARGEST DAIRY PRODUCER LAUNCHES GM-FREE AD CAMPAIGN
Europe's largest dairy producer, Campina, is the first food manufacturer to use Germany's recent law to make a "GM-free" claim on a major brand. All its drinking milk on retailer shelves already carries this claim.
http://db.zs-intern.de/uploads/1236184161-CampinaGEfree.pdf
+ SUPERMARKET CAMPAIGN: TAKE ACTION
Please ask supermarkets in your country to ensure that their suppliers of meat, eggs and dairy products feed their livestock only non-GM animal feed. And tell them to label such ranges as "GM Free". For model letter and UK supermarket addresses:
http://www.bangmfood.org/take-action
+ ***IMPORTANT UPDATE ON SUPERMARKET CAMPAIGN***
If you've written to supermarkets on the GM feed issue, have received a reply and are wondering how to take the matter forward, GM Freeze has compiled an important update on how to press them to go further. There are general points and also points specific to each supermarket based on the relative strength or weakness of its GM policy:
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?ID=375&iType=1083
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FOOD AND CLIMATE CRISIS
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+ CLIMATE DEBATE TRANSFIXED BY MAGIC BULLETS
The debate on tackling climate change has become transfixed by seemingly magic bullet but actually ineffectual technologies like nuclear power and GM crops, says Andrew Simms in an excellent article for The Guardian about the dangerous promotion of technologies that "shine the brightest and shout the loudest" at the expense of real solutions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/27/climate-change
+ ORGANIC FARMING CAN FEED THE WORLD AG EXPERTS
Organic and eco-friendly farming can feed the world, contrary to the common belief that biotechnology and chemical-intensive farming are indispensable, modern strategies to increase production, agricultural experts said during the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Governing Council in Rome, Italy, in late February.
"It is not necessarily about producing more food, but about producing more quality nutrition through less energy use and pollution," declared Hans Herren, president of the Washington DC-based Millennium Institute, a non-profit organisation. "We have to invest heavily into research on how to increase eco-agricultural production."
The best way to mitigate climate change and gain food security is to support small-scale, ecological farming, scientists and economists said. This would be a turnaround from international agricultural strategies of the past two decades that heavily promote monocropping and the use of biotechnologies.
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=45905
+ UN DIRECTOR CALLS FOR ORGANIC FARMING TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE AND PROVIDE FOOD SECURITY
"A new report by UNEP and the UN Conference on Trade and the Environment recently assessed 114 projects in 24 African countries. It found that yields had more than doubled where organic, or near-organic practices had been used. That increase in yield jumped to 128 per cent in east Africa."
- Extract from speech by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.Print.asp?DocumentID=560&Arti cleID=6039&l=en
See also the UNEP report: 'Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa'
http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ditcted200715_en.pdf
WEEKLY WATCH number 266
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
It's been a great week for truth. In Europe, environment ministers have overwhelmingly upheld the rights of member states Austria and Hungary to ban GMOs (IMPORTANT VICTORY IN EUROPE). And as even US farmers move away from GM seeds, more moves are afoot to help secure non-GM food and feed supplies (NON-GM FOOD SUPPLY).
There's more news on how researcher Ignacio Chapela's findings of GM contamination of native Mexican maize have been confirmed (RESEARCH).
And the industry lobby group that calls itself a charity, Sense About Science, is attempting to defend itself from allegations of conflicts of interest over its GM guide for the public.
Finally, look out for an important new report on the Western-led efforts to force GM crops onto Africa (AFRICA).
Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org
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CONTENTS
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IMPORTANT VICTORY IN EUROPE
EUROPE: OTHER NEWS
WWF AND RTRS
LOBBYWATCH
AFRICA
RESEARCH
THE AMERICAS
COMPANY NEWS
NON-GM FOOD SUPPLY
FOOD AND CLIMATE CRISIS
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IMPORTANT VICTORY IN EUROPE
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+ EU UPHOLDS AUSTRIA, HUNGARY RIGHT TO BAN GM CROPS
EU environment ministers have overwhelmingly rejected a European Commission proposal to force member states to accept the cultivation of GM crops on their territories. Over twenty member states voted against the Commission proposal. Hungary can maintain its ban on Monsanto's GM maize MON810, and Austria on MON810 and Bayer's T25.
"This is a victory for the environment, farmers and consumers, and a major embarrassment for the Commission. For the fourth time, EU governments have rejected a Commission proposal to lift national bans on GM crops. What part of 'no' does the Commission not understand?" said Marco Contiero of Greenpeace.
Austrian and Hungarian scientific authorities have recently supplied new evidence supporting their national bans showing that MON810 maize - the only GMO currently cultivated in the EU - is likely to have harmful environmental effects.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKBRU00731420090302
http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/
+ TAKE ACTION: PROTECT A GM-FREE EUROPE
The Council still has to vote on two more national bans in France and Greece. There will also be a vote later this month on whether for the first time since 1998 two new GM maize varieties (bt 11 from Syngenta and 1507 from Pioneer/ DuPont) will be approved. Write to your environment minister asking them to vote against the Commission's attempts to end the bans. The letter is available in different languages:
http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/stop-the-crop-action.html
The text for the UK is here:
http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/stop-the-crop-action/en.html
+ QUOTES ON THE VOTE
"I'm ecstatic I feel as if Austria has become the European Cup winner in soccer" - Austria's environment minister Nikolaus Berlakovich, after the vote.
"I cannot recognise the product from Monsanto as added value for society”¦ the company is forcing dependency on German farmers" - Germany's environment minister Siegmar Gabriel
http://tiny.cc/XJfJu
"I just hope that [the pro-GM head of the EU Commission] Barroso will realise that the commission needs to change its position o[n] GMOs. It's completely unacceptable that essentially they keep trying to bulldoze through their pro-GM agenda in spite of public opposition and we know that a vast majority of citizens in just about all of the member states are not in favour of GMOs." - Caroline Lucas, Green MEP
http://tiny.cc/lswOy
"How many more times must British environment ministers be humiliated in Europe over GM crops? ”¦ Monday was the fourth time that almost all 26 countries except Britain rejected a commission proposal to lift national bans on GM. This time we had only three allies - two of which made it clear they have strong reservations about the proposal. So perhaps now President Bush has gone, you can give it up, guys?" - John Vidal, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/04/eco-soundings
+ UK BETRAYS PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE AS EVER
Only four of the 27 European Union nations -- Britain, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden -- supported the EU Commission's bid to force the two member states to lift their GM ban.
These four rogue states were acting illogically, since EU ministers agreed unanimously on 4 December 2008 that national bans on GM crops would be respected; that GM risk assessment in the EU is not fulfilling legal requirements and must be improved; that long term impacts of GM releases have not been properly assessed; that independent scientific opinion should be taken into account; and that insecticidal GM crops such as MON810 maize should also be assessed under EU pesticide laws because of the toxins they release.
Speaking about UK environment minister Hilary Benn's betrayal of this agreement, Dr Brian John of GM Free Cymru said: "It beggars belief that Mr Benn should sign up for the unanimous statement by the EU's Environment Ministers on 4 December, and then vote with the Commission today. This is the second time this year that he has voted with the Commission for GMO releases, demonstrating either a lack of good faith or a very short memory. When are we going to get some joined-up thinking in DEFRA?"
Benn's vote also failed to reflect the views os the national assemblies/parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
http://www.greenpartyni.org/
+ ALL THE NEWS ABOUT THE VOTE
Links to multiple articles.
http://hejdagmo.se/2009/03/03/grattis-gmo-fria-osterrike-och-ungern/
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EUROPE: OTHER NEWS
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+ MOVE FOR WALES TO BE HARDEST PLACE IN WORLD TO GROW GM CROPS
Plans to make Wales the most difficult place on the planet to grow GM crops have been outlined by rural affairs minister Elin Jones. But even as the minister outlined her proposals, the man who claimed he grew GM maize in secret last year told a public meeting he planned to do it again.
Jonathan Harrington claimed he and up to 30 other "farmers" were preparing to defy both the Welsh government's policy and EU rules on growing GM crops. Harrington is part of the GM industry lobby group CropGen.
http://tiny.cc/0XsVo
+ PRESSURE ON EU TO ALLOW GM CONTAMINATION OF SEEDS
The European Seed Association is lobbying the European Commission to come up with a "long-awaited" proposal for thresholds to label the accidental presence of GMOs in conventional seeds, arguing that their presence is "unavoidable".
http://www.euroseeds.org/home
In its lobbying for thresholds, ESA uses carefully chosen wording to suggest GM crops are on the increase in the EU, whereas in fact they've been in substantial retreat for the past 5 years!
http://www.euroseeds.org/related/ESA_09.0190.pdf
ESA's members and associate members include: Advanta, Bayer CropScience, BASF, De Ruiter Seeds [Monsanto], Groupe Limagrain [big GM interests], Monsanto Europe, Pioneer Overseas Corporation [Dupont], Seminis [Monsanto], Syngenta Seeds
http://tiny.cc/pL2im
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WWF AND RTRS
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+ KEY POINTS ON WWF AND RTRS
We recently circulated detailed comments on the misleading nature of the new "WWF Statement" defending its continued involvement in the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) in tandem with Monsanto and Syngenta. Here is a summary providing the key points of both WWF's statement and our rebuttal:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/55-Key-points-on-WWF-and-RTRS.html
For WWF's full statement see: -
WWF's Involvement in the RTRS due to its Connection to the GM Soy Industry
http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/policy/news/?156602
For the full commentary on their statement see:
http://tiny.cc/8882o
An article for Third World Resurgence provides yet more proof that throughout its entire history the RTRS has never been welcomed by those most directly affected by GM soy's devastating environmental and social impacts.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=265
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ SENSE ABOUT SCIENCE DEFENDS GM GUIDE
Tracey Brown, managing director of the GM lobby group Sense About Science, has published an aggressive letter in the Times Higher Education (THE) defending SAS's GM guide from allegations of conflicts of interest in the guide's authors. The allegations were originally put forward by GMWatch and were reported in an article in the previous issue of THE.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comments.asp?storycode=405427
Brown claims in her letter: "The description of the John Innes Centre (JIC) as receiving funding from biotech companies was mischievous."
But a letter from GMWatch's Jonathan Matthews, also published in the THE, points out that "The JIC not only receives such funding but also in the past has entered into major deals with both Syngenta and Dupont - worth about GBP60 million in total and celebrated at the time as exciting precedents. The fact that the Syngenta deal eventually came unstuck, almost certainly in part because of all the opposition to GM, hardly provides a rationale for not wanting to secure a more favourable climate for this technology."
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=405683& c=2
Dr David Miller points out in a second letter that while THE refers to Sense About Science simply as a "charity", "a quick glance at the last accounts it lodged with the Charity Commission shows all the substantial sums from its named donors came from life science, pharma, big oil and mobile phone companies - funnily enough, the very industries whose interests it defends against their critics."
Miller adds, "Sense About Science complains that some of these links make no difference to its views. Is this a scientific view? It is certainly contrary to a rash of recent research published in the British Medical Journal and Nature, among other places, which found that the corporate funding of scientific research can skew the results."
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=405427& c=2
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AFRICA
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+ VOICES FROM AFRICA - NEW REPORT
A new report from the Oakland Institute, "Voices from Africa: African Farmers & Environmentalists Speak Out Against a New Green Revolution in Africa", issues a challenge to Western-led plans for a GM revolution in African agriculture, particularly the recent misguided philanthropic efforts of the Gates Foundation's Alliance for a New Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and presents African resistance and solutions rooted in first-hand knowledge of what Africans need.
The report finds a lack of accountability, transparency, and stakeholder involvement in philanthropic efforts such as AGRA. "Despite the Gates Foundation's rhetoric of inclusion and the claim that their investment in agricultural development benefits the growing majority of the world's poor who rely on agriculture, a leaked Gates Foundation confidential report on their Agricultural Development Strategy for 2008-2011 actually emphasizes moving people out of the agricultural sector," said Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute and the editor of the report. "Their intention is to reduce dependency on agriculture, but their strategy report does not specify where or how this new 'land mobile' population is to be reemployed," she continued.
AGRA claims to be an "African-led Green Revolution," and features Kofi Annan at the helm as its chairman; however, African civil society has rejected the idea that one man can speak on behalf of over 50 countries and 680 million people. It is also not apparent from the foundation's Agricultural Development Strategy report whether--or how--the Gates Foundation consulted with African farmers before launching their multi-million dollar development strategy for the continent. Some of the foundation's key employees and external advisors have strong connections with biotech companies and GM advocacy.
Download a copy of the report athttp://www.oaklandinstitute.org/voicesfromafrica/pdfs/voicesfromafrica_full.pdf
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RESEARCH
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+ CHAPELA VINDICATED: GM CONTAMINATION OF MEXICAN MAIZE CONFIRMED
A study has been published that confirms that GM material did contaminate native corn in the crop's birthplace in southern Mexico, confirming the findings of researchers David Quist and Ignacio Chapela. Quist and Capela published an article in the journal Nature in 2001, stating that GM material had been detected in native Mexican corn in the southern state of Oaxaca, where the crop was first developed thousands of years ago.
Chapela was subjected to virulent attacks, which were disseminated via C. S. Prakash's AgBioView listserv. GMWatch exposed the attacks as originating from the PR firm Bivings, which numbered Monsanto among its clients, and eventually tracked the attacks back directly to Monsanto itself.
The author of the new study, Alvarez Buylla, says she had to struggle to get the paper published. She said she submitted it to the PNAS but editors declined to publish it, arguing it could draw attention to political aspects of the debate, rather than the science.
http://tiny.cc/tXtZE
Andy Rowell's article on the Bivings scandal: http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit3.html
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THE AMERICAS
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+ GM SOY CATASTROPHE IN ARGENTINA
Once a serene refuge from urban pollution and chaos, the Argentine countryside has now become a place fraught with risks for many local residents. The massive use of pesticides on fields of soy, the country's top export, is creating a "health catastrophe" in the rural sector, environmentalists warn.
A report by the Rural Reflection Group (GRR), a local environmental organisation, points to an increase in health problems in the countryside, such as cases of cancer at early ages, birth defects, lupus, kidney problems, respiratory ailments and dermatitis, based on the accounts of rural doctors, experts and the residents of dozens of farming towns.
The GRR has been carrying out a campaign since 2006 to identify towns affected by the spraying of glyphosate, the herbicide tolerated by the GM soybeans planted in Argentina, which kills all plants other than the crop itself.
When glyphosate is sprayed from planes, the most efficient means of application, it drifts onto nearby populated areas, says the report, "Stop the Spraying".
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45974
+ GM MAIZE STARTS TO FLOOD THE MARKET IN BRAZIL
GM maize, released by the CTNBio (National Technical Biosafety Committee / Ministry of Science and Technology) in 2008, is due to arrive big time in this year's crop. Of the 261 new varieties registered since 2008, 146 are transgenic - in other words, already in the first year since the release of GM technology for maize, 56% of the seeds set to enter the market are transgenic. The GM-Free Brazil Campaign comments: “In a short time Brazilian farmers will have an extremely limited range of non-GM seeds from which to select. This has been the pattern in other countries. Indeed this is the way in which this disastrous technology has spread across the world."
http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com/2009/02/update-from-gm-free-brazil-campaign.htm l
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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO UNVEILS GENUITY BRANDING
Monsanto has decided to create a new brand, called Genuity (disinGenuity, more like) that will serve as the umbrella for crops containing its various GM traits.
http://southeastfarmpress.com/soybeans/monsanto-technology-0302/
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NON-GM FOOD SUPPLY
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+ MORE US FARMERS PLANTING NON-GM SOYBEANS THIS YEAR
For the first time since 1996, acres of Roundup Ready GM soybeans could drop as more farmers decide to plant non-GM. Low commodity soybean prices, attractive premiums, and rising prices for GM soybean seed are leading American farmers to plant more acres of non-GM soybeans this year. Representatives with soybean associations, universities, and grain buyers all say that demand for non-GM soybeans is growing, leading to more non-GM acres.
http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/mar09/farmers_planting_non-gmo_soybeans.ph p
+ INDUSTRY LEADERS WANT NON-GM FOOD SUPPLY
According to Michael Funk, Board Chair and Founder of trade body United Natural Foods (UNFI), "There is no greater threat to the natural and organic industry than GMOs." The primary solution suggested is participation in the Non-GMO Project(www.nongmoproject.org), which brings together stakeholders across North America in a collaborative effort to ensure the sustained availability of non-GM options.
http://www.npicenter.com/anm/templates/newsATemp.aspx?articleid=23435&zoneid=2
+ EUROPE'S LARGEST DAIRY PRODUCER LAUNCHES GM-FREE AD CAMPAIGN
Europe's largest dairy producer, Campina, is the first food manufacturer to use Germany's recent law to make a "GM-free" claim on a major brand. All its drinking milk on retailer shelves already carries this claim.
http://db.zs-intern.de/uploads/1236184161-CampinaGEfree.pdf
+ SUPERMARKET CAMPAIGN: TAKE ACTION
Please ask supermarkets in your country to ensure that their suppliers of meat, eggs and dairy products feed their livestock only non-GM animal feed. And tell them to label such ranges as "GM Free". For model letter and UK supermarket addresses:
http://www.bangmfood.org/take-action
+ ***IMPORTANT UPDATE ON SUPERMARKET CAMPAIGN***
If you've written to supermarkets on the GM feed issue, have received a reply and are wondering how to take the matter forward, GM Freeze has compiled an important update on how to press them to go further. There are general points and also points specific to each supermarket based on the relative strength or weakness of its GM policy:
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?ID=375&iType=1083
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FOOD AND CLIMATE CRISIS
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+ CLIMATE DEBATE TRANSFIXED BY MAGIC BULLETS
The debate on tackling climate change has become transfixed by seemingly magic bullet but actually ineffectual technologies like nuclear power and GM crops, says Andrew Simms in an excellent article for The Guardian about the dangerous promotion of technologies that "shine the brightest and shout the loudest" at the expense of real solutions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/27/climate-change
+ ORGANIC FARMING CAN FEED THE WORLD AG EXPERTS
Organic and eco-friendly farming can feed the world, contrary to the common belief that biotechnology and chemical-intensive farming are indispensable, modern strategies to increase production, agricultural experts said during the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Governing Council in Rome, Italy, in late February.
"It is not necessarily about producing more food, but about producing more quality nutrition through less energy use and pollution," declared Hans Herren, president of the Washington DC-based Millennium Institute, a non-profit organisation. "We have to invest heavily into research on how to increase eco-agricultural production."
The best way to mitigate climate change and gain food security is to support small-scale, ecological farming, scientists and economists said. This would be a turnaround from international agricultural strategies of the past two decades that heavily promote monocropping and the use of biotechnologies.
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=45905
+ UN DIRECTOR CALLS FOR ORGANIC FARMING TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE AND PROVIDE FOOD SECURITY
"A new report by UNEP and the UN Conference on Trade and the Environment recently assessed 114 projects in 24 African countries. It found that yields had more than doubled where organic, or near-organic practices had been used. That increase in yield jumped to 128 per cent in east Africa."
- Extract from speech by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.Print.asp?DocumentID=560&Arti cleID=6039&l=en
See also the UNEP report: 'Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa'
http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ditcted200715_en.pdf