GMWatch News Review archive

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GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 48
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FROM REVIEW EDITOR, CLAIRE ROBINSON
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Please tell all your non-English speaking friends about our past Monthly Reviews in Portuguese, Dutch and German.
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=93&page=1

Claire
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
*If you like what we do at GM Watch, please help us continue by making a donation online* http://www.gmwatch.org/donate.asp

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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL
RESISTANCE/BANS/RESTRICTIONS ON GM
GM APPLICATIONS/EXPANSION
GM REGULATORY FIASCO IN INDIA
RICE CONTAMINATION
GM FAILURES
GENE THERAPY
TECHNO-UTOPIANISM
BIOFUELS
COMPANY NEWS
CORPORATE CRIMES
DUBIOUS PHILANTHROPY
NON-GM SUCCESSES
GM BIOHAZARDS
REVIEWS

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PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL
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+ PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL
The GM Watch website was recently forced offline for nearly a week as a result of legal threats over this article calling for an award winning scientific paper to be retracted
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8216

Read our response to AgBioView's attack on GM Watch over the issue
PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - PART ONE
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8228

PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - PART TWO
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8240

MORE ABOUT THE CONTROVERSY
Biotech Canada SLAPP Scandal
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BiotechCanadaSLAPPScandal.php

Canada attacks Ireland's policy on GM crops
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/morris/index.php

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RESISTANCE/BANS/RESTRICTIONS ON GM
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+ ISLAMIC SCHOLAR SAYS TRADE IN GM FOODS IS 'CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY'
In Qatar, the prominent Islamic scholar Ali Mohyeedin al-Qurradaghi has called upon dealers and consumers to boycott companies trading in tainted commodities and GM foods, saying that cheating in these goods is a 'crime against humanity' that should be strictly dealt with. He blamed the rise in cancer cases around the world on what he called 'commercial cheating'. 'According to the Holy Qur'an, cheats who aim to ruin the health of others by their harmful practices should be put to death in public,' he said in a sermon.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8237

QUOTE FROM THE QU'RAN: 'Eat and drink of that which Allah has provided and do not act corruptly, making mischief on the earth.' (2:60)

+ U.S. TURNS AGAINST GM GROWTH HORMONE MILK
The recent announcement by Kroger stores to prohibit the GM growth hormone rbST/rBGH from its private label milk brand is part of a nationwide trend among dairy processors, retailers and farmers, says a report for MinutemanMedia.org. Starbucks, Tillamook, Safeway and Chipotle Restaurants have already begun to discontinue the hormone and California Dairies, Inc., which produces nearly 10 percent of the nation's milk, announced it went rbST-free August 1. The companies affirm that the chief impetus for its actions comes from rising consumer demand for hormone-free dairy products.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8219

+ U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION REJECTS MONSANTO'S CLAIM ON MILK ADS
The Federal Trade Commission has rejected Monsanto's claim that milk ads using the terms 'free of artificial growth hormones' or 'rBGH-free' are misleading. The decision was announced in the same week that Starbucks agreed to stop using Monsanto's GM supplement. The ruling means ads like this one from Borden did not make misleading claims about the safety of the growth hormone.

'We work exclusively with farmers that supply 100 percent of our milk from cows that haven't been treated with artificial hormones,' the Borden ad says. 'So, who do you trust when it comes to your family's milk?'

Under FDA policy, food companies are allowed to claim on labels that they do not use rBST, as long they do not 'mislead consumers' to believe milk from cows without rBST is safer or of higher quality.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8232

+ CANADA: ORGANIC FARMERS SEEK SUPREME COURT HEARING
Papers have been filed with the Supreme Court of Canada by the Saskatchewan organic farmers seeking leave to appeal the May 2007 Saskatchewan Appeal Court decision which denied them class action status in their GM liability suit against Monsanto Canada and Bayer CropScience.

Applicants Larry Hoffman and Dale Beaudoin are seeking compensation for the loss of canola as a certified organic crop due to the contamination of canola seed by GM varieties belonging to Monsanto and Bayer. If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the appeal, and it is successful, the case will be certified as a Class Action under Saskatchewan's Class Actions Act, allowing the farmers to go to trial on these issues.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8236

+ AUSTRALIA: BAN ON GM CANOLA MUST STAY
The Biological Farmers Australia group has lodged a submission requesting the continuation of the moratoria on GM crops. Their submission has gone to the SA, NSW & Victorian governments which are reviewing the moratoria prohibiting the planting of GM canola. A summary of the submission is at:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8214

Greenpeace Australia Pacific's submission to the NSW government over the review of the moratorium draws on statistics from countries that have introduced GM crops, with disastrous consequences to their economies. The submission is at:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8226

+ GM SEEDS TO BE PROHIBITED IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
GM seed will be prohibited for cultivation, sale or import in Western Australia under new laws introduced this week by agriculture minister Kim Chance. 'WA's GM-free status is providing benefits to WA farmers in terms of price premiums for food grade non-GM canola and continued market access to discerning markets in Europe, Japan, India and China,' Mr Chance said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8235

+ FARMERS' GROUP SLAMS PRO-GM REPORT
The Network of Concerned Farmers has hit out at a new grains industry report which endorses the production of GM canola in Australia. The report, by Single Vision Australia, says GM and conventional canola crops could be segregated and that pollination contamination would not lock growers out of conventional markets. It also says Canada is receiving better prices for GM canola than Australia is for non-GM varieties.

But network member Arthur Bowman refutes the findings. 'Canada tried to segregate for the sake of their markets and they couldn't do it,' he said. 'Right now we can sell anywhere throughout the world. As was quoted by Kim Chance, last year we were selling at a premium to Canadian prices in 2006 and we have also had another report from Mark Martin from Market Ag saying that canola prices this year will again produce a premium because of the fact that we have a GM-free product.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8185

+ AUSTRALIA: GOVERNMENTS DUPED OVER GM CROPS
A 'GM mafia' has captured the Federal political scene and is pressuring the states' reviews of their GM moratoria, says Dr Charles Rue, a Sydney-based priest of the Columban Missionary Society. Dr Rue writes, 'Australian State governments been caught up in a religious type rapture over biotech promises of silver bullets. They have become naive investors seemingly unaware of biotech economic strategies.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8223

+ TRANS-TASMAN RIFT OVER GM CORN
A split has emerged between New Zealand and Australia over the approval of a Monsanto GM corn. The New Zealand food safety minister has overridden the joint food authority's approval of the corn for human consumption.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8169

+ THAI MINISTER RETREATS FROM GM TRIALS
The Thai agriculture and cooperatives ministry has retreated from its plan to seek cabinet approval for the lifting of the ban on field trials of GM crops. Agriculture minister Thira Sutabutra said the decision followed the fierce protests since he announced the plan earlier this month. 'It's hard to press ahead with this, but I will not give up because lifting the ban would benefit the country[!],' he said. The retreat came after activist network Biothai threatened legal action against the government if it approves open-field trials of GM crops. ''GM field trials will definitely pose a risk and burden to farmers as they will not be able to sell their GM-tainted produce,'' said Witoon Lianchamroon of Biothai.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8233
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8204

+ THAILAND: NGOs PROTEST AGAINST GMOs
In an anti-GM protest led by Greenpeace Southeast Asia, nine tonnes of papaya were dumped at the gates of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in protest of the ministry's plan to promote GM fruit. Much of Thailand's papaya crop has been GM-contaminated by government trials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8230

+ THE PHILIPPINES: HELP ENFORCE GM BAN, URGES PROVINCE
The Province of Negros Occidental, together with the Negros Island Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Foundation, is urging Negrenses to take part in the enforcement of the ban on GMOs in the province, a policy vital to its goal to make the island the 'Organic Food Basket of Asia'.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8230

+ KERALA, INDIA: DRAFT ORGANIC FARMING POLICY IN A MONTH
With an aim to declare the Indian state of Kerala as organic, the draft organic farming policy of Kerala is expected to be finalised by the state government in a month. Irrespective of party affiliations, all the Assembly members will stand united on the decision. The move is a bid to save the state from the entry of GM crops and the use of chemical pesticides.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8236

+ DECLARING IRELAND A GM-FREE ZONE
The Irish government has formed a policy to declare Ireland a GM-free zone. There is no plan to prohibit GM animal feed but the government is encouraging farmers to phase out its use on a voluntary basis in response to EU market demand.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8141

+ NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON GM-FREE AGRICULTURE IN ITALY
In a democratic experiment organized by ITALIAEUROPA - LIBERI DA OGM (GM-free) Coalition, thousands of events and initiatives will take place across Italy 15 September-15 November with the aim of allowing citizens to learn about food and health. Citizens will have the chance to vote for authentic, good quality food that excludes GMOs. The initiative aims to collect 3 million votes in a referendum-like ballot._
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8159

+ GM CONTROVERSY EXPLODES IN PORTUGAL
On 17 August, 65 mowers entered a field of GM corn and were able to mow a hectare in less than 20 minutes. The action received support from 60 onlookers. This year the first GM field was planted in the Algarve region in Portugal. The Algarve was the first GM-free zone in Portugal, as declared by the Junta Metropolitana do Algarve in 2004. Despite strong opposition to GMOs from civil society and local authorities, the policies of the Portuguese government and the European Commission disrespect the moral and democratic right of the people to ban GMOs from their fields and plates.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8227

+ MONSANTO SUES 'X' FOR CORN ATTACKS
Monsanto has sued unidentified people for destroying corn seeds in two incidents this week in France. Monsanto France filed a criminal complaint against 'X'' for destroying four types of corn the company was testing. In 2004, 45 percent of all Monsanto's field trials on GMO seeds suffered damage from activists. In 2005, 55 percent suffered such damage and in 2006, 65 percent did.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8231

+ FINLAND: WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION TO GM FEED
According to a survey commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat, half of the population completely disapprove of GM fed, and more than 90 per cent feel that meat raised with such feed should have a label that informs the consumer of its use.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8222

+ WHY EUROPEANS OPPOSE GM FEED
A good letter to the Irish Farmers Journal by the Chairman of the Apple Growers Committee of the Irish Farmers Association is at:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8222

+ MOST ROMANIANS REJECT GM FOOD
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8230

+ SOUTH AFRICA REJECTS THIRD GM APPLICATION
The South African GM authority has refused the first ever application for experimentation of GM bulbs and flowers outside a laboratory. This is the third 'contained use' application turned down by the EC in the past year. Earlier applications involving GM sorghum and GM cassava were turned down.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8201

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GM APPLICATIONS/EXPANSION
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+ GM FISHY ICE-CREAM GETS GO-AHEAD IN UK
Wall's has been given the go-ahead to use GM technology to make low-fat ice cream. The company will use an artificial version of a protein found in a deep-sea fish. The company believes that the appeal of low-fat ice cream outweighs any doubts the public has about GM technology.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8160

+ MEXICO UNDER PRESSURE TO GROW GM PLANTS
Mexico is being pressured by Monsanto and Cargill to grow GM plants in its fertile land, said Miguel Luna, president of the Coalition of Urban and Farmer Democratic Organizations.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8215

+ CONTROVERSY OVER GM APPROVAL IN BRAZIL
Brazil's biosafety committee CTNBio has approved two sets of guidelines for monitoring of GM corn and its coexistence with non-GM crops, despite criticism from within its ranks. The creation of the plans was a condition for the commercial release of GM corn.

The decision has drawn criticism from 7 of the 27 members of CTNBio, who abandoned the meeting in protest over both the approval of the plans and the way voting was performed. According to them, their requests to assess the issue more carefully were not considered. They say the discussion was led in a 'fast and superficial way'. Discussions concentrated on addressing the commercial release of GM corn, they say, rather than biosafety.

In a letter to the press, the 7 said, 'Biosecurity must not be confused with the explicit flag of 'adopting transgenics' in the country. We cannot vote without considering the precaution principle and the interests of Brazilian society.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8229

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GM REGULATORY FIASCO IN INDIA
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+ SUPREME COURT SUCCESS OVER GM TRIALS
There's been a further victory for Aruna Rodrigues and her co-petitioners in their legal challenge (Public Interest Litigation - PIL) to the lax (some would say corrupt) regulation of GM field trials in India. No field trials should now be conducted until these and other issues are addressed:
***environmental, toxicity and allergenicity data relating to all crops being field tested must be made public_
***contamination testing must be done for each trial
***there must be zero contamination from the tests, with testing protocols to be made public._
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8162

+ REGULATORS WANT NO TEST FOR CONTAMINATION
Indian GM regulator GEAC is trying to change the Supreme Court order that those carrying out GM trials must observe a set separation distance from non-GM crops, institute tests to detect at least 0.01% genetic contamination, and confirm that there has been no contamination. GEAC wants to cut the separation distances and remove the tests for contamination.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8211

+ REGULATORS' CONTEMPT FOR SUPREME COURT
Aruna Rodrigues, chief petitioner in the case before the Supreme Court, has sent a legal notice to GEAC advising it that its actions in approving Bt brinjal trials are in contempt of the Court's order.

Aruna Rodrigues said: 'Such is the conflict of interest amongst the Regulators - and hence their great, all-out drive to pursue the introduction now of hazardous GM crops - that they have sought fit to 'add' to the Orders of the Supreme Court.... It is especially distressing to see the GEAC giving approval for [Largescale Trials] of Bt brinjal, which represents an unprecedented violation of the SC's Orders and therefore 'contempt of court'.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8221

+ ACTIVISTS CRY FOUL OVER BT BRINJAL TRIALS
In allowing large-scale trials of Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine), GEAC may have violated its own rule that states that such trials will be allowed only after complete biosafety data has been generated. 'It is unfortunate that the GEAC has allowed large-scale trials of Bt Brinjal without biosafety having been cleared and without making the data public. In the process, it is breaking its own rules which were reiterated in its June 2007 meeting,' said Centre for Sustainable Agriculture executive director G V Ramanjaneyulu.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8213

+ TRAVESTY OF GM REGULATION
India's GM regulator GEAC does not adhere to the law of the land and is also unable to protect the interest of farmers and the consumer. As such, GEAC itself needs to be regulated, says Bhaskar Goswami of the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security.

Some of the abuses identified are:
***GEAC members have conflicts of interest, as they are developers of GM crops or members of bodies sponsored by the biotech industry.
***In response to a Supreme Court order, the Indian government must release all data related to biosafety assessment of GM crops. It said GEAC would put the information on its website. It has not done so.
***GEAC has failed to observe the Indian government's own regulations regarding GM trials.
***GEAC has failed to investigate reports of allergies, sickness and deaths resulting from exposure of people and animals to Bt cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8209

+ ILLEGAL FIELD TRIALS IN INDIA - SCIENTIST
Prof T K Bose, a member of West Bengal's state agriculture commission, has alleged that Mayco (Monsanto's subsidiary) has conducted illegal field trials on Bt brinjal and Bt tomato without following biosafety measures.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8161_
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8163

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RICE CONTAMINATION
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+ INDUSTRY STILL TRYING TO PURGE GM RICE STRAINS
The US rice industry is still trying to clear illegal GM varieties from the rice supply a year after the US Department of Agriculture announced that an unapproved GM rice had been discovered in long-grain rice supplies.

'I wish that day would never have happened,' said Keith Glover, president and chief executive officer of Producers Rice Mill Inc. in Stuttgart. 'It really created a lot of hardship for a lot of people: farmers, mills, exporters, seed dealers... everybody in the industry was impacted.'

GM Watch comment: There was never any GM rice commercialisation. All it took to bring about this catastrophe for the US rice industry was GM field trials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8208

+ GERMAN COMPANY SUES U.S. RICE MILLERS OVER GM RICE
A German food producer has sued two Arkansas rice millers, alleging that shipments to the company contained unapproved GM rice.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8220

+ PHILIPPINES: GREENPEACE SEEKS INJUNCTION VS GM RICE
Greenpeace and the Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (Searice) has filed a petition for injunction with the Quezon City trial court against the use of Bayer's GM rice LL62 that is pending approval by the government.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8220

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GM FAILURES
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+ INDIA: COTTON FARMERS' DREAMS HAVE TURNED INTO NIGHTMARE
A heavy attack of mealy bug in Malwa region, Punjab has made farmers turn to intensive pesticide sprays. Most of the farmers have lost their crop. The farmers purchased costly Bollgard Bt seeds and after the mealy bug attack they have had to buy pesticides.

According to a report in Punjab News Online, 'While the governments and the Bt cotton manufacturing and distribution companies were claiming panacea for the farmers in the introduction of Bt cotton, claiming there will be no attack of pest on Bt ... the mealy bug has broken the hype and illusion.'

A report for Environment News Service notes that two years ago, 'Government advertisements made tall claims about the advantages of Bt cotton... But this season, the third year after the introduction of Bt cotton in Punjab, things are going the opposite way.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8217
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8225

+ BT COTTON FAILS TO REDUCE FARMERS' PESTICIDES EXPENSE
A study that has been hyped as showing the great success of Bt cotton, which has a built-in pesticide, actually reveals that the overall amount of pesticides sprayed by Bt cotton farmers has NOT decreased.

An article in Commodity Online reports, 'The reduction in the number of sprays [for Bt cotton farmers] has been accompanied by an increased quantity of pesticides being injected in each round. As a result, the total quantum sprayed per hectare has not fallen much and the farmers continue to spend the maximum on pesticides than on any other input.' So we have seeds that are much more expensive to buy because of their supposed pest-resistance, but farmers are still spending as much as before on pesticides. This phenomenon has also shown up in China and elsewhere.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8234

+ 'ASIA'S NOBEL PRIZE' GOES TO JOURNALIST WHO HELPED EXPOSE BT COTTON SCANDAL
The Indian journalist Palagummi Sainath has been awarded the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay award (often considered Asia's Nobel Prize) for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts. Among the many stories about the plight of the rural poor that P Sainath brought to light is the 'devastating' (his word) impact of multinationals like Monsanto on debt-burdened farmers in states like Maharashtra, where not just Monsanto but the state government has worked flat-out to promote Bt cotton. You can read his article on this topic, which GM Watch chose as 'Best article of 2006', at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8171

+ FOURTEEN FARMERS COMMIT SUICIDE IN VIDARBHA IN 48 HOURS
As many as 14 farmers have committed suicide in Vidarbha in last 48 hours. Kishore Tiwari of peasant organization Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti said farmers in western Vidarbha have been severely hit by the recent spell of heavy rain. According to Tiwari, the rural Vidarbha economy collapsed due to the introduction of costly Bt cotton in the region last year. In the last few years, the number of documented suicides in India's rural areas has skyrocketed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8210

+ GM COTTON CULTIVATION STARTS IN BENGAL
West Bengal has started Bt cotton field trials even thoug the cultivation of Monsanto's Bt cotton in Vidarbha resulted in disaster. Over 550 farmers committed suicide due to failure of the Bt cotton crop and resulting debts.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8168

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GENE THERAPY
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+ GENE THERAPY SAFETY IN QUESTION AGAIN
A research group led by scientists from Washington University and St Louis University has released a study showing that a GM virus used in human gene therapy trials causes liver cancer in mice. The findings follow an announcement that a patient in Seattle died after being treated with the same virus.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8152
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8192

+ STEM CELL BREAKTHROUGHS ALWAYS AROUND THE NEXT CORNER
Geron, the private firm trying to commercialize human embryonic stem cell products, has stated that clinical trials will occur 'next year' - for the fourth year in a row. An article for the Biopolitical Times points out that in the field of stem cell research, the great breakthrough is always 'just around the bend' - thus whipping up a constant supply of research funds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8192

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TECHNO-UTOPIANISM
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+ WALL STREET JOURNAL ON IRRI AND RICE
An article in the Wall Street Journal admits that the first Green Revolution was 'a boom that now is at risk of going bust:

Rice yields are flat-lining. Overproduction has exhausted the soil that once supported the larger crops. Water shortages abound. And the price of the world's most eaten food [rice] is rising steeply, up about 70% since 2001 ...' Nevertheless, some believe that the so-called second Green Revolution, led by GM firms and the IRRI, is going to save us from the effects of the first by means of techno-fixes like flood-tolerant rice.

GM Watch comment: This is a vicious spiral involving the adoption of ever more costly, complex and risky quasi-solutions to the (increasingly challenging) problems generated by our earlier misplaced interventions.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8156

+ FREEMAN DYSON'S TECHNO-MEGALOMANIA
From an article in Biopolitical Times:
Not to be missed - Physicist Freeman Dyson's musings, in the July 19 issue of New York Review of Books, about an orgy of genetic manipulation to remake the natural world. Plants with black silicon leaves that absorb extra sunlight will provide energy too cheap to meter. Genetically engineered earthworms will imbibe the silicon trash, and in their off hours extract gold from seawater and put an end to rural poverty. ... etc. ad nauseam.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8154

+ TECHNO-UPOOPIA!
In the interests of nutritional science, Mr Jack Tolley, a chemist in the department of civil engineering at Liverpool University, yesterday began to eat his own excreta. ... 'The direct use of human excreta in the human diet could play a major role in solving the world's food problems,' he said. ...

GM Watch comment: Heady claims for novel unproven technologies are nothing new. In the 18th century, following a visit to the Royal Society in London, Jonathan Swift satirized the RS in the section of Gulliver's Travels where Gulliver reports on his visit to the grand academy of Lagado on the flying island of Laputa. Gulliver describes 'The arts wherein the professors employ themselves' in the academy. The projects include one aimed at extracting sunbeams from cucumbers, one for making spiders spin naturally coloured silk for stockings, and another to convert human excrement into food.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8149

+ GM ORGANOPHOSPHATE-RESISTANT GOATS
Scientists have genetically modified goats to make a drug in their milk that protects against deadly nerve agents. Dr Solomon Langermann of PharmAthene, which makes the drug, said it was more effective than the drugs atropine and 2-PAM currently carried by soldiers for protection against nerve agents. 'Those (older) drugs get cleared from the blood very rapidly. Even if the soldier were to survive, they would have very severe neurological damage,' he said. 'With Protexia, you would survive and be able to go back on the battlefield.' Great!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8150

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BIOFUELS
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+ REVOLVING DOOR AND BIOFUELS
Some of those advising the UK government to adopt biofuels as a 'sustainable' way of tackling climate change have a vested interest:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8188

+ AGROFUEL MORATORIUM CALL - URGENT
Organisations and individuals around the world are concerned about the way the European Union (EU) is rushing into agrofuels. The impacts are already serious worldwide. Millions of hectares are being designated for agrofuel production and export in Africa, Asia and South America. Indigenous peoples and local communities are being expelled from their land or forced into agrofuel production, and forests and biodiversity are being destroyed. Please sign up to the call for an immediate moratorium on EU incentives for agrofuels, EU imports of agrofuels and EU agroenergy monocultures:
http://www.econexus.info/agrofuel_moratorium_call.html
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8158

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COMPANY NEWS
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+ SIXTY-TWO PER CENT REVENUE DECLINE FOR MAHYCO-MONSANTO
In India, Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech reported a revenue decline of 62 percent in 2006/07. Monsanto India has seen revenues erode since 2004/05.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8182

+ BIOTECH FOOD LACKS INVESTORS
Firms that genetically engineer animals to produce (supposedly) non-polluting manure and essential fatty acid-filled bacon can't get investment. This is partly because the US FDA hasn't spelt out the rules for approving the products of such animals. But there's another problem that the FDA can't solve: 'some experts caution that ... consumers would shun foods from transgenic animals ...'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8155

+ MONSANTO'S LATEST ACQUISITION SETTLES BRIBERY CHARGES
In 2005 Monsanto was forced to pay $1.5 million in fines after spending more than $700,000 on bribes in Indonesia to get its Bt cotton accepted. Now Monsanto's recent acquisition, Delta & Pine, and a subsidiary have agreed to pay $300,000 to settle charges of bribing Turkish officials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8143

+ MORE ABOUT MONSANTO'S DEFEATED PATENTS
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8146

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ MONSANTO'S SMALL SPILL NOW A BIG PROBLEM
A University of West Florida (UWF) study has found potentially unsafe levels of PCBs in mullet and other fish in the Pensacola Bay System. The PCB 'hotspot' is in upper Escambia Bay and the lower Escambia River. According the study, an industrial plant on the river - at the time owned by Monsanto - discharged one to three gallons a day of PCBs during the late 1960s.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8177

+ SPILLED GM CANOLA IN JAPAN - NEW SURVEY
NO! GMO Campaign has published a survey of spilled GM canola found growing in Japan. The findings demonstrate how a GM crop can have a significant environmental impact even on a country where its cultivation is banned.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8179

+ LAWSUIT RAISES LID ON MONSANTO SCANDALS
A lawsuit filed by equity holders of Solutia, Monsanto's spun-off chemicals division that went bankrupt some years ago, objects to Solutia's motion for approval of the Monsanto retiree settlement. The lawsuit, which details some of the pollution scandals that Monsanto has caused, charges that:
**Monsanto created Solutia as a vehicle to dump massive environmental liabilities generated decades before the spinoff; and that
**at the spinoff, Monsanto knew it was transferring billions in remediation costs and toxic tort liabilities to an undercapitalized Solutia
**Monsanto used the businesses that became Solutia as an ATM [cash machine], churning out dollars for biotech R&D.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8189

+ CHILD LABOUR IN BT COTTON FIELDS
The problem of child labour in Bt cotton fields may be continuing, says an article for Times Now. In 2003 more than 11,000 children were found to be working under unacceptable conditions for Syngenta, Advanta, and Proagro (owned by Bayer).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8193

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DUBIOUS PHILANTHROPY
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+ BIOTECH AND THE FACADE OF U.S. ALTRUISM
Recent years have seen the rise of the bourgeois romantic, the type of person who thinks that the problems of poverty and hunger can be solved by the free market, says a good article by Jessica Long for Information Clearing House. 'A bourgeois romantic,' she writes, 'is a hypocritical capitalist: one whose intentions are socialist but whose priorities are capitalist. They are the 'good intentioned' proponents of free trade.' However, 'What they refuse to acknowledge is that free trade is anything but free. Although it allows the global North free market range, it leaves the global South in shackles.' Read on at http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8170

+ PHILANTHROPY GATES-STYLE
The world's biggest philanthropic foundation is reaping huge profits investing in companies responsible for causing the problems it tries to solve. Its grant-giving is also doing more harm than good in undermining health and agricultural systems, distorting national and global priorities, and preventing the necessary paradigm change that could help secure the future of the planet, says an article for ISIS at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/PhilanthropyGatesStyle.php

The Los Angeles Times reports: '... the Gates Foundation has holdings in many companies that have failed tests of social responsibility because of environmental lapses, employment discrimination, disregard for worker rights, or unethical practices.' The Gates Foundation has spent at least US$75 million on biotech projects so far, many of which appear to involve genetic engineering. These include not only GM crops but GM mosquitoes, which are supposedly designed to fight malaria and dengue fever but which are an unproven approach.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8157

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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ NON-GM DROUGHT-RESISTANT RICE IN PIPELINE
Japanese researchers have made progress in breeding non-GM drought-resistant rice, intended for planting in Africa and other dry regions.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8165

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GM BIOHAZARDS
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+ UK: LAB LIKELY SOURCE OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH
Scientists suspect that the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK came from Pirbright government animal laboratory near the infected farm. The strain of foot-and-mouth disease found on the farm is identical to one used at a research laboratory a few miles away.

NLPWessex comments: 'a paper submitted to the Journal of General Virology 31 October 2000 by UK government scientists from the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright indicates that they had been working on a genetically engineered recombinant DNA vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease. The paper states: 'A particularly serious problem is that several outbreaks in Europe have been attributed to incomplete inactivation of the virus or to the escape of live virus from vaccine production laboratories.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8174
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8181

+ INSIDER REVEALS LAX SECURITY AT BIO-LAB
A worker has raised concerns about bio-security at Pirbright, the state-owned lab complex where the foot and mouth outbreak is believed to have originated, the Sunday Times reports. The site is also home to Merial, a manufacturer of foot-and-mouth vaccine.

Percy Ravate was struck down with life-threatening Legionnaires' disease, which he believes he caught while repairing pipework at the Pirbright complex. He said basic health and safety procedures were flouted, he was allowed to roam around laboratories and security measures such as checking visitors were not enforced.

A reader commented on the Sunday Times website: 'What a disastrous scenario, first spread the disease by allowing it to escape, and then sell everyone the vaccine to combat it.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8196

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REVIEWS
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+ THINKER, FAKER, SPINNER, SPY - BOOK
A GM Watch review of the book, Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy: Corporate PR and the Assault on Democracy, edited by William Dinan and David Miller, is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8218

The book contains a chapter, 'Biotech's Fake Persuaders', by GM Watch's Jonathan Matthews.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8218

+ HIDDEN DANGERS IN KIDS' MEALS - DVD
A GM Watch review of Jeffrey Smith's DVD, 'Hidden Dangers in Kids' Meals', is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8186