from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
The GM rice contamination scandal continues to dominate the news this week. Thus far, American rice farmers and consumers are the ones who have paid the price while Bayer and its accomplice in the cover-up, the US government, have got off relatively unscathed. This may not continue, however, as three major lawsuits launched by farmers against Bayer are already in motion with more on the way.
Don't miss the report on the new book on GM by the former editor of the Weekly Watch, Andy Rees (NEW BOOK).
Claire
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org
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CONTENTS
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GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
EUROPE
ASIA
THE AMERICAS
RESEARCH
TERMINATOR
CORPORATE CRIMES
LOBBYWATCH
NEW BOOK
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GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
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+ GM CONTAMINATION WIDESPREAD: BAYER KNEW IN MAY
More news has emerged on the contamination scandal involving an unapproved Bayer GM rice, LL601, that is contaminating US rice supply. An article in the New York Times shows that: ***Rice marketer Riceland Foods knew in January that there was contamination of rice destined for export and human consumption ***The contaminated rice appears to be widespread across Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas ***There appear to be many positive samples ***Bayer knew about this in May, but apprently did not inform USDA until July 31 ***And USDA did not go public until nearly 3 weeks later. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6927
+ U.S. KNOWINGLY SHIPPED BANNED FOOD FOR A YEAR - UK AFFECTED
Britons have unwittingly been eating banned GM rice imported from the US for months, if not years, food safety experts fear.
Imports of the rice were stopped by the European Commission (EC) on 24 August. But investigations in the US show that it has long been "widespread" in grain destined to be shipped overseas.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6936
+ USDA HIDES ANOTHER BIOTECH DISASTER - FOR SAKE OF MONEY
At a press conference, US secretary of agriculture Mike Johanns indicated that an economic motive was behind the government's delay in informing the public about the contamination, as the government anticipated foreign rice importers might reject the product. Johanns said the USDA spent the time preparing tests for rice importers to check the product for contamination. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6953
+ ILLEGAL GM RICE CONFIRMED IN NETHERLANDS
A shipment of LL601 GM rice from the United States arrived in the Netherlands on 26 August, the European Commission said. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6962
+ EU STILL WAITING FOR DETAILS ON ILLEGAL RICE
EU food safety authorities are still waiting for Washington to provide more details about the unauthorised biotech rice strain. "We still have no formal information about the extent of the contamination, origin or timeframe for when this happened," one EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But we have heard informally from the rice industry that their preliminary testing indicates that the contamination may be much more widespread than first thought," he said. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6957
+ "ALMOST ALL THE TESTS ARE POSITIVE"
Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Richard Bell comments on the results of tests for the illegal GM rice: "Almost all the tests are showing up positive... I'm not aware of any milled rice it hasn't shown up in." He added, "The people who will gain the most will be the testing laboratories and attorneys." http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6951
+ TEST TO DETECT ILLEGAL BAYER RICE COULD COST $300 A TIME
USDA has now certified tests from Bayer CropScience to detect when an unapproved GM rice known as LL601 is present in commercial rice. Each test could cost as much as $300, but it is uncertain who will pay for the testing, US Agriculture Department says. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6935
+ ILLEGAL RICE IS PROBABLY IN CALIFORIAN RICE AS WELL
Since most of the development work on LL601 appears to have been done in California, it is highly likely that Californian medium grain rice is now contaminated with LL601 and with various other abandoned GM lines, says Dr Brian John of GM Free Cymru. Nobody knows how extensive this contamination is, because there is no testing.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6930
+ GM RICE SCARE SHOWS VULNERABILITY OF FOOD SUPPLY
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6930
+ EUROPE'S BABY FOOD PUT AT RISK BY INDUSTRY-U.S. GOVT COVER-UP
GM Free Cymru's Dr Brian John said the GM rice contamination was much more serious than the Bt10 incident which made the headlines last year. "American long-grain rice is a primary food consumed in a virtually unprocessed form by millions of consumers across the EU," said Dr John. "It is also widely used in baby food as a cereal, recommended for use early in the weaning process."
Dr John said the contamination was "hushed up" by Bayer and by the American government and long-grain rice from the southern US continued to be shipped to the EU at a rate of more than 20,000 tonnes a month. "That adds up to 140,000 tonnes and it is absolutely certain that rice containing LL601 is already in the food supply chain," he said. "In our book that amounts to criminal negligence by Bayer and the US administration."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6947
+ REQUEST TO SUPERMARKET CHIEFS TO PULL U.S. RICE OFF SHELVES
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6936
+ PROTEST DEREGULATION OF ILLEGAL RICE
On 22 August 2006 Bayer applied for the deregulation of LLRICE601. This would instantly transform it from a contaminant to an administrative oversight. GM Free Cymru has protested to Neil Hoffman at APHIS and has asked for others to do the same. His e-mail address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. GM Free Cymru's letter is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6939
+ STAR TRIBUNE ON DEREGULATION OF ILLEGAL RICE
Regarding Bayer's attempt to get retroactive USDA approval to sell LL601 rice, the Star Tribune makes the following scathing comment: "That may be of some help to American rice producers, who have seen prices plummet since Johanns' announcement. But it won't do much to boost their credibility, or the USDA's, with foreign customers. That will require a regulatory system that can be trusted to do what it claims -- under leadership that treats its customers' concerns with respect and candor, and discloses screwups without rationalization and delay."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6941
+ U.S. GOVT OVERSIGHT OF GM CROPS SEEN LACKING
A superb Reuters commentary says criticism is mounting over the US government's failure to control experimental GM crops in the wake of the GM rice contamination.
EXCERPT:
Farmers, food and beverage makers and exporters all are positioning themselves for a long, and likely costly, ordeal...
Meanwhile, with much of the US rice industry in turmoil because the extent of the contamination is unknown, an official with the USDA's Animal Health and Plant Health Inspection Service said it would likely take two to three months before the agency had many answers.
"This is real money that farmers are losing," said Arkansas Rice Growers Association executive director Greg Yielding, who said he has fielded dozens of calls from frantic rice farmers. "It is a big deal. We do not feel that USDA and APHIS have adequate funds or staff to do this job. They can't tell you where anything is even though they get permits for it."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6958
+ FARMERS FACE MASSIVE LOSSES AS MARKET CRASHES
Following USDA's announcement about the GM contamination, the market reacted negatively.
Dwight Roberts, president of the US Rice Producers' Association (USRPA), said, "There is no good news with this. The mere mention of this last Friday launched a negative perception. And, in the rice markets, perception is everything.
"On (Aug. 21) the futures market fell 28 cents. (On Aug. 22), it fell the limit. Overnight trading was up a few cents but has since fallen. As of 15 minutes ago (on Aug. 23), November rice was down 7 cents, January was down 3 cents, November 2007 was down 9 cents and May 2007 was down 1 cent. This is not what we wanted to hear." For losses on (Aug. 21 and Aug. 22) alone, "we calculate farmers lost about $150 million. We feel farmers shouldn't take the brunt of this."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6957
+ LAWSUITS FLOURISH AS U.S. RICE FARMERS SUE BAYER OVER GM RICE
Rice farmers in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and California have sued Bayer CropScience, alleging its GM rice has contaminated the crop. Japan and the European Union have placed strict limits on US rice imports and US rice prices have dropped dramatically.
The farmers will be represented by Cohen, Milstein, a Washington, DC based firm which previously successfully represented corn farmers in a class action against Aventis for contaminating the corn market with StarLink GM corn.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6946
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6948
In addition to the above lawsuit, Bayer CropScience has been hit with two more.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6949
+ RICE FARMERS LEADER SAYS LACK OF OVERSIGHT "SCARY"
According to a Delta Farm Press interview with the president of the Arkansas Rice Growers Association (ARGA), John Alter, researchers have identified 2 non-GM rice varities - Cocodrie and Cheniere - as harbouring Bayer's LibertyLink GM trait. And "the various research universities in the six rice-producing states have been asked to submit samples of their seed stock for testing."
Alter also says in the interview that this is an accident that's been waiting to happen because of the lack of regulatory control in the US, and that it's fortunate in many ways that the contamination didn't involve pharmaceutical rice.
And when asked if his organisation is in contact with the USDA - the US Dept of Agriculture - and APHIS, he replies:
"Yes. But let's put this in perspective. APHIS is the department within the USDA responsible for monitoring test plots and outdoor development, growing and transportation of GMOs. I have a copy of a GAO [Government Accountability Office] audit (of APHIS) from last year that wasn't very flattering about APHIS' ability to monitor (GMOs).
"It's scary to read the audit and understand the lack of real oversight in place. We all assume someone is watching (GMO research) and protecting us. But this audit says APHIS doesn't have sufficient resources to do so."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6963
+ BAYER TO CUT 1,500 JOBS IN CROPSCIENCE UNIT
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6948
+ HUMAN GENES IN U.S. RICE, TOO
Some other GM rice in the US has human genes in it: http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/humangenesrice.htm_http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/ap_060515_rice_gene.html
+ DUBYA SAYS HE'S "ON TOP OF" GM RICE FIASCO
During a visit to Little Rock Arkansas, Geoerge W Bush said he was "on top of" the GM rice issue.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6963
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EUROPE
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+ GM POTATOES IN UK - SOIL ASSOCIATION
The Soil Association has issued a briefing on BASF's proposed UK GM potato trials next year. Main points include:
***There can be no market for GM potatoes in the UK. They were rejected by major food companies in the US in 2002, including McDonalds McCain's, Burger King and Pringles. The British Retail Consortium said UK supermarkets won't be stocking them.
***a plot-scale study found a very high rate of cross-pollination, with 31% of plants being hybrids 1km from a GM variety. Normal farm-scale fields would pose a much higher risk of cross-fertilisation.
***there are major health concerns with GM potatoes. Two animal feeding trials, one funded by the UK Government, have found that GM potatoes cause lesions in the gut of animals
***GM potatoes are unnecessary. With conventional breeding of existing potato varieties, non-GM blight resistant varieties are currently being developed and trialled by the organic sector.
Many more points at: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6928
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ASIA
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+ INDIA ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF ASIA BIOTECH MEET
Noting that the biotech industry in Asia is still at a nascent stage, India has announced the launch of an annual "Asia Biotech" meet. Minister of science and technology Kapil Sibal said, "Most of Asia is largely an agricultural community so agricultural biotechnology is necessary for food security." [!!! How secure are the Bt cotton farmers?]
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6961
+ MONSANTO GOES TO SUPREME COURT TO DEFEND ITS PRICES
Monsanto and Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB), the Indian joint venture, has moved the Supreme Court against the directions of the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka state governments not to charge more than Rs 750 per 450 gram of Bt cotton seeds.
Following the suit from Andhra Pradesh state government, both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had directed the MMB and its licencees not to charge more than Rs 750 per pack of 450 gram of Bt cotton seeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6961
+ U.S. OPPOSES INDIA'S PLAN FOR LABELLING GM FOODS
The US has raised concerns over India's plans to formulate labelling norms for GM foods at the WTO committee on technical barriers to trade.
GM Watch comment:
Given that major trading partners of the US have GM labelling, e.g. all the countries of the European Union, Japan, Australia and New Zealand (and even GM-producing Canada allows labelling on a voluntary basis), this US move sounds like an attack on the perceived political weakness of India. Certainly the Indian government seems desperate to curry favour with the US, with whom it recently entered a nukes and ag deal which includes the promotion of GMOs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6944
+ ONE SUICIDE EVERY 8 HOURS
In Vidarbha, Maharashtra, India's cotton growing belt, farmers are committing suicide at a rate of one every eight hours, says an article in the Indian press. The majority of the cotton farmers taking their lives have been Bt cotton growers.
This is hardly surprising given that input costs are recognised as being a critical factor in exacerbating the debt burden that's driving the suicides. Bt cotton seed is very expensive, costing 3 times mores than non-Bt cotton seed.
As even GM-enthusiast MS Swaminathan has recognised, "In Vidharbha, it is too risky to adopt expensive technologies. Small farmers who take loans for cultivation have no capacity to meet the calamity of crop failure."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6937
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6961
+ REPORT ON REASONS FOR FARMER SUICIDES
The fact that the majority of suicides in Vidarbha are attributable to farms using Bt cotton seeds confirms the failure of Bt technology to deliver the much hyped results, says a detailed report from the NGO Prakruti and other NGOs. The report suggests that farmer self-sufficiency through use of traditional crops and minimum external inputs are the way out of the mess.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6943
+ LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK
A Bloomberg article on the farmer suicides juxtaposes some startling points:
*More than 18,000 farmers may kill themselves this year, the most ever recorded
*Rising input costs are a major factor
*Expensive genetically modified seeds are pushing costs beyond farmers' means
*Monsanto's fiscal third-quarter net income soared sevenfold to $334 million
*Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, cotton farmer Chandrabhan Gurnule burned himself to death over a 105,000-rupee debt. [1 rupee is 0.0215378 US$]
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6961
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THE AMERICAS
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+ GM CROP BILL PASSED BY ASSEMBLY BUT THEN BLOCKED?
As Californian rice farmers look for ways of protecting the marketability of their crop in the wake of the GM contamination scandal, any hope of keeping their localities free of GMOs was being taken away from them. A bill that would prevent local governments from banning GM crops was approved in the Californian Assembly.
The legislation, backed by the likes of Monsanto, came in response to moves by Marin, Mendocino, Santa Cruz and Trinity counties to ban GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6934
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6932
However, there are claims that the bill will be blocked this week in the Senate, ending its chances this year.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6964
+ MORE ON GM GRASS ESCAPE IN OREGON
In an article typical of the blistering tone being adopted by US newspapers after two high-profile GM contamination cases (GM rice and grass), the newspaper The Register-Guard takes Monsanto and Scotts Miracle-Gro Co to task for letting their GM Roundup Ready grass escape in Oregon.
EXCERPT:
Life is tenacious, biological processes are hard to control, the risk of the unforeseen is ever-present and hubris has the power to make people blind.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6931
+ PEASANT FAMILY IN PARAGUAY CONDEMNED BY AGROTOXINS
Article from Upside Down World about the devastating impact of GM soy and the accompanying agrotoxins on rural people in Paraguay begins thus (EXCERPT):
In 2003, in the department of Itapua, Paraguay, Silvino Talavera, then 11 years old, was fumigated with a cocktail of agrotoxins which are being used to crop Roundup Ready soybeans. The children of Petrona; Silvino, Sofia (then 13 years) and Patricia (2 years), had to be hospitalised the following days due to extreme exposure to the agrotoxins. When their condition stabilised they were able to return home, where they were then exposed to yet another fumigation from another neighbouring soy farmer. Silvino died a few days after. Traces of phenol, carbamate and glyphosate were found in his sister's blood. With the support of CONAMURI, a Paraguayan organisation of peasant and indigenous women, Petrona started a court case in 2003 to try to get justice for the murder of her son and the poisoning of her entire family.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6959
+ SOY EXPANSION IN PARAGUAY - IRRESPONSIBLE, UNSUSTAINABLE, UNDEMOCRATIC
"The Irresponsible, Unsustainable and Antidemocratic Development Model in present day Paraguay" is the title of a Declaration launched by Paraguayan and international NGOs to express their opposition to large scale-soy production.
The Declaration asks, "Who will take responsibility for the environmental pollution caused by approximately 20 million litres of chemicals dumped on Paraguay this year?, The destruction of streams, rivers, springs and wetlands? The eviction of almost a hundred thousand small farmers from their homes and fields? The assassination of more than one hundred peasant leaders? The forced relocation and ethnocide of Indigenous Peoples and communities, the charges pressed against more than 2,000 small farmers for their legitimate resistance to this predatory system?"
The Declaration concludes, "Large scale soy monocultures are NOT possible without this litany of adverse impacts."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6959
+ ROUNDUP-RESISTANT GLYPHOSATE CONFIRMED IN ARGENTINA
Monsanto has confirmed that a variety of Johnsongrass weed has been found in north-east Argentina with resistance to glyphosate-based herbicide. Subscriber Glenn Ashton comments, "this is hardly surprising seeing that the use of glyphosate has increased from around 13.5 million litres in 1997 to over 150 million litres in 2005. So much for good agricultural practice and pesticide reduction!"
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6954
+ ARGENTINA-MONSANTO WAR GROWS, YET EACH NEEDS THE OTHER
Despite Monsanto's failure to collect royalties on GM soybeans in Argentina, the company and the country have developed a complex relationship involving codependence and antagonism, says an article for Dow Jones. Argentina plays a key role in the development and promotion of GM in the world, and enabled the entry of Roundup-Ready technology into Brazil, the world's second largest producer of soybeans:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6954
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RESEARCH
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+ BT FAILS IN CHINA
Pro-GM scientists are rowing among themselves over the failure of GM cotton in China, revealed in the recent Cornell study, which showed secondary pests to be a big problem. Monsanto blames the large circulation of illegal Bt seeds; one of the researchers blames cool wet weather for outbreaks of pests; and study co-author Per Pinstrup-Andersen's answer is (you guessed it) yet more GM cottonseeds, this time with multiple resistance, focusing on the secondary pests in a particular country.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6933
+ HORMONAL MILK POSES GREATER RISKS THAN TWINNING
A recent article by Dr. Gary Steinman in The Journal of Reproductive Medicine reported that women drinking milk and eating dairy products from cows injected with Monsanto's GM growth hormone drug are up to five times more likely to risk giving birth to fraternal twins than non-dairy-eating vegans.
This news is hardly surprising, says Dr Samuel Epstein, M.D., professor emeritus of environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition.
EXCERPT from Dr Epstein's article:
Hormonal milk contains up to ten-fold increased levels of the natural Insulin-like Growth Factor, known as IGF, long known to increase ovulation and twinning rates in cows. The hormone also makes cows sick. Monsanto has been forced to admit to 20 toxic veterinary effects on its drug label...
Hormonal milk is often contaminated with pus cells, resulting from mastitis in cows due to hyperstimulation of milk production, and also with antibiotics used to treat the mastitis... More serious are major risks of breast, colon, and prostate cancers due to increased IGF levels in hormonal milk...
A less well-recognized risk is evidence that IGF blocks natural, self-destructive, defense mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers, technically known as apoptosis.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6950
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TERMINATOR
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+ MONSANTO BUYS TERMINATOR SEEDS COMPANY
An excellent article by F. William Engdahl on Terminator spells out what it's really about.
EXCERPT:
Relations between Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land and the USDA, on closer scrutiny, show the deep and dark side of the much-heralded genetic revolution in agriculture. It proves deep-held suspicions that the Gene Revolution is not about "solving the world hunger problem" as its advocates claim. It's about handing over control of the seeds for mankind's basic food supply - rice, corn, soybeans, wheat, even fruit, vegetables and cotton - to privately owned corporations. Once the seeds and their use are patented and controlled by one or several private agribusiness multinationals, it will be they who can decide whether or not a particular customer - let's say for argument, China or Brazil or India or Japan - whether they will or won't get the patented seeds from Monsanto, or from one of its licensee GMO partners like Bayer Crop Sciences, Syngenta or DuPont's Pioneer Hi-Bred International...
As Kissinger said back in the 1970's, "Control the oil and you can control entire Continents. Control food and you control people..."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6940
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ MONSANTO WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS GM CROPS MAY CAUSE DISEASE
Monsanto's former facilitator for GM cotton sales in California and Arizona has blown the whistle on the ignorance and apathy within the company about the possible health risks of GM crops.
Kirk Azevedo, who has a degree in biochemistry, told Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, about his concerns that the GM process can produce dangerous new proteins in the host plant.
EXCERPT:
The [Monsanto] scientist dismissed these newly created proteins in the cotton plant as unimportant background noise, but Kirk wasn't convinced. Proteins can have allergenic or toxic properties, but no one at Monsanto had done a safety assessment on them...
Kirk said, "These Monsanto scientists are very knowledge about traditional products, like chemicals, herbicides and pesticides, but they don't understand the possible harmful outcomes of genetic engineering..."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6942
+ AGENT ORANGE VICTIMS STILL FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE
An estimated 4 million Vietnamese were exposed to Monsanto and Dow's toxic defoliant sprayed by the US, Agent Orange, but none have received compensation.
In March 2005, the Vietnamese Government lost a lawsuit against 37 chemical companies that provided the US government with Agent Orange. The judge ruled that it had not been proved that the chemical caused birth defects and illness.
Now Vietnam has filed an appeal, expected to go before the US Court of Appeals in November, promising new research on genetic deformity and 26 new plaintiffs to add to the original three.
The latest research from the Military Medical Institute on 50,000 people shows people who live in AO/dioxin-affected areas will have up to 2.95 per cent and 2.69 per cent of their children and grandchildren respectively deformed.
"It is impossible to ignore Agent Orange in Vietnam. Its casualties are everywhere... In January, a South Korean court ordered Monsanto and Dow Chemicals to pay US$62 million... in compensation to about 6800 people. Yet nothing has been given to the people most exposed and whose lives continue to be affected by the toxic chemical."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6938
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ NEW AG JOURNAL FUNDED BY MONSANTO
A recent David Richardson column in the UK's Farmers Weekly magazine referred to a new agricultural journal called "Inside Agriculture".
Upcoming articles include "The fallacy of organic agriculture", "Genetically modified crops; public perceptions in Europe, risk and reality", and "New chemicals and genes for agriculture, food, fuel and healthcare".
According to Richardson, "This first edition appears to have been funded by Monsanto if the advertisments on the front and back covers are any guide. I understand other advertisers will be sought to fund future editions thereby helping to preserve scientific independence". A scientific journal funded by advertisers?
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6950
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NEW BOOK
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The former editor of GM Watch's Weekly Watch has a new book coming out. "Genetically Modified Food: A Short Guide for the Confused" by_Andy Rees is published 9 October 2006. Cost is GBP12.99. It's extremely readable and accessible and would be great for sending to friends, family, and decision-makers. At the same time, it's meticulously researched and referenced, so we also highly recommend it for use in schools and colleges.
"Rees unmasks the biotech industry's horrific tactics in their race to take over our food supply and the devastation that their GM crops will inflict if we don't act quickly." Jeffrey M. Smith, best-selling author Seeds of Deception
"Gives a great boost to all public-spirited citizens who want to get their facts straight. ... Highly recommended!" Dr Arpad Pusztai, the world's leading expert on plant lectins
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6952