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WEEKLY WATCH

nospam@example.com (GMWATCH Admin) — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:57:17 +0200

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WEEKLY WATCH number 253
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

It's embarrassing to watch UK prime minister Gordon Brown and his environment minister Phil Woolas falling into the footsteps of Tony (B-liar) Blair when it comes to GM crops. In claiming that GM crops must be looked at as a solution to the food crisis, they are, as GM Freeze points out, short on both facts and history (PUNCTURING THE HYPE).

And how ironic that on the very day Phil Woolas promoted GMOs as a magical fix for rising food prices, it emerged that a government report had found that the rush by politicians into AGROFUELS as a quick fix for climate change, directly caused the food crisis they're now trying to fix!

Finally, we hope you'll respond to the special message below and help us rebuild our subscription numbers after the dislocation caused by our old lists being driven offline. Please don't let those out to disable GM Watch succeed - HELP US FIGHT BACK!

Many thanks.

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

SPECIAL MESSAGE: PLEASE FORWARD THIS WEEKLY WATCH TO 5 PEOPLE YOU KNOW WITH A LINE TO SAY THEY CAN SUBSCRIBE TO THIS ONCE-A-WEEK BULLETIN SIMPLY BY E-MAILING editor@gmwatch.eu

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CONTENTS
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QUOTES OF THE WEEK
EXPLOITING THE FOOD CRISIS
PUNCTURING THE HYPE
AGROFUELS
AFRICA
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
LOBBYWATCH
HEALTH CONCERNS
CORPORATE CRIMES
GENETIC CROSSROADS

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QUOTES OF THE WEEK
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+ THE PANIC TO GET OUT OF ONE CRISIS RISKS ANOTHER
"Aaargh, PANIC! Quick, force through some new legislation, announce some new initiatives, make it look as if we're doing something, anything! This more or less sums up the [UK] government's current position on the food crisis. Think Jim Hacker from Yes Minister with his eyes rolling round and round in their sockets and you've probably got it. The results, of course, are bad, because decisions taken under stress are so very often rubbish."
-- Bibi Van Der Zee, "GM crops: we mustn't rush decisions: In a panic to claw our way out of one crisis, we're in danger of creating another", The Guardian (blogs), 19 June 2008
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/food/2008/06/solutions_forged_in_panic_are.html

+ BEWARE THE QUICK FIX
"...beware the quick fix. H.L. Mencken famously observed that 'for every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong.'

Once considered the 'green' solution to foreign oil dependence, corn ethanol has morphed into a humanitarian and environmental disaster.

...two decades of costly research has not produced a single marketable GE crop with increased yield, drought-resistance, enhanced nutrition or other attractive traits touted by boosters."
-- Andy Kimbrell, "Corn as fuel has hurt world food supply", Newsday, June 20 2008
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opfritop5733237jun20,0,6299589.story

+ GM: A CROP OF HYPERBOLE
"Let's be clear. As of this year, there are no commercialized GE crops that inherently increase yield. Similarly, there are no GE crops on the market that were engineered to resist drought, reduce fertilizer pollution or save soil. Not one."
-- Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, formerly the EPA's biotech specialist and an advisor on biotech to the FDA, "Genetic engineering - a crop of hyperbole", The San Diego Union Tribune, 18 June 2008
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080618/news_lz1e18gurian.html

+ GM: OVER-HYPED AND UNPROVEN
"While non-GM breeding techniques are making real progress in developing crops that can tolerate heat, floods and drought, claims for GM technology are over-hyped and unproven. Data also consistently show no increase in GM crops yields and often a reduction."
-- Jo Ripley, "GM crops are about making profits, not feeding the world", The Independent (Letters), 20 June 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-gm-crops-850963.html

+ GM: GREAT SALES STRATEGY
"Take Monsanto, the world leader in GM products, busy marketing its herbicide-tolerant maize and soya [80% of the world's GM crops are herbicide-tolerant]. The ultra-powerful weedkiller its crops can live with, glyphosate (trade name Roundup) is made by... Monsanto, of course! And what sort of company is Monsanto, even if it presents itself as an agribusiness firm? Yes, you've guessed it - it's a weedkiller company. Monsanto gave us Agent Orange, the defoliant used by the US to destroy jungles during the Vietnam War. Producing herbicide-tolerant crops is a fantastic way for it to sell vast amounts of its core products."
Michael McCarthy, "So, what benefits do GM crops bring us?", The Independent, 20 June 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brown-pushes-eu-to-allow-more-modified-animal-feeds-851020.html

+ DIVERSIFICATION AND ENDING AGROFUEL SUBSIDIES ARE KEY TO SOLVING FOOD CRISIS
"If the current crisis has taught us one thing, it's that food production needs to become more diversified and dispersed, not concentrated ever more tightly into fewer and fewer hands. Here's my alternative to Monsanto's vision: Let's end the biofuel mandates and subsidies -- currently eating up around $13 billion per year in taxpayer cash -- and invest the savings in grain storage and the infrastructure required to really revive local and regional food production."
-- Tom Philpott, "Our Ruined Harvest", Grist, 13 Jun 2008
http://www.grist.org/comments/food/2008/06/13/

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EXPLOITING THE FOOD CRISIS
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+ "SCEPTICISM IS A COMMODITY THE WORLD CAN'T AFFORD" -- MONSANTO CEO
During the recent UN summit on the food crisis, Monsanto announced that it will double the yield of corn, soy, and cotton by 2030 and help improve the lives of poor farmers by 2020. Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant said that not everyone may believe the company but that given the food problems the world is facing, "scepticism is a commodity the world can't afford right now". Environmental journalist Claire Hope Cummings comments: "Is it common practice in business these days to roll out promises for categorical, but as yet unspecified, products that may or may not come along 12 to 22 years from now? What's really their point? Maybe there should be a 12-step program out there for those of us who just cannot take Monsanto's word for these things anymore..."
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/6/6/82019/26162

+ GM CROPS NEEDED IN BRITAIN, SAYS MINISTER
This week The Independent reported that Labour Ministers were preparing to open the way for GM crops to be grown in Britain on the grounds they could help combat rocketing food prices and food shortages in the world's poorest countries. Leading the charge was the Environment Minister Phil Woolas.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gm-crops-needed-in-britain-says-minister-849991.html

+ MINISTER MET LOBBYISTS FIRST
Shortly prior to promoting the GM agenda, Environment Minister Phil Woolas held preliminary talks with the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, a biotech industry PR group representing the likes of Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, Dow, Pioneer (DuPont), and Syngenta.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gm-crops-needed-in-britain-says-minister-849991.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1028373/Controversy-Minister-met-lobbyists-hours-shift-policy-GM-foods.html
GM Watch comment: This industry lobby group is run by Lexington Communications, a PR agency intimately connected to New Labour.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=139

+ SCOTLAND WILL VETO GM CROPS
Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, has stated unequivocally that Scotland will remain GM free, and his spokesman said the Scottish government would be strongly opposed to any reconsideration of GM crops; it has a veto on them. "We would be very concerned about that. Scotland has an international reputation second to none in terms of the quality of our environment and trust in the quality of our foodstuffs. These could be jeopardised by GM," he said.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2350876.0.UK_must_think_again_on_growing_GM_crops_says_cabinet_minister.php
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/700032/?UserKey=0

+ BROWN CALLS FOR RELAXATION OF RULES ON GM ANIMAL FEED
Gordon Brown has called on the European Union to relax its rules on importing GM animal feed to help cut spiralling prices. Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission, has also warned that European rules are driving up the cost of animal feed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brown-pushes-eu-to-allow-more-modified-animal-feeds-851020.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/06/22/Europe_considers_new_rules_on_crops/UPI-52111214111442/

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PUNCTURING THE HYPE
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+ NEWSNIGHT DEBUNKS GM ANIMAL FEED CLAIMS
In a special report on GM and the food crisis for Newsnight (BBC2, 19 June), Susan Watts, the Science Editor of the BBC's flagship current affairs programme, dismissed the claim that GM could reduce the cost of animal feed. Watts noted that in the 12 months from May 07 to May 08 prices rose as follows on the world market:
Feed barley (100% non-GM) - 43%
Maize gluten (about 25% GM) - 72%
Argentinian soya meal (100% GM) - 110%
Argentinian soya meal has full approval for import to the EU!
See also the analysis in the important new briefing from GM Freeze.
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/89D_yields_briefing%5B1%5D.pdf

+ GORDON "DOES A TONY" -- FALLS FOR GM HYPE
The Soil Association criticised Gordon Brown and his Environment Minister, Phil Woolas, for going against the evidence and in direct opposition to the recommendations of his chief scientist, Prof Bob Watson. It also summarised the strong body of published evidence that shows GM crops do not increase yields and could cause negative health impacts. Worth reading in detail.
http://www.soilassociation.org:80/web/sa/saweb.nsf/848d689047cb466780256a6b00298980/991c5bd24896e8de8025746d00413442!OpenDocument

+ GM CROPS WON'T FEED THE WORLD, ONLY BIG CORPORATIONS
Robin Maynard notes that in the government's 'GM Nation?' debate, 85% of the British public opposed GM crops being grown in the UK, and that all African countries bar South Africa signed a declaration in 1998 condemning GM giant Monsanto's attempts to characterise GM crops as the solution to world hunger. But unlike the people GM is supposedly intended to benefit, Gordon like Tony can't see through the GM gloss.
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/openhouse/2008/06/gm-crops-wont-f.html

+ BROWN AND WOOLAS SHORT ON GM FACTS AND HISTORY
Gordon Brown's and Phil Woolas's calls for a re-think on GM crops in the UK to increase yields are described by GM Freeze as "short on facts and history". They point out that four GM crops were extensively tested in the UK and three were found to threaten long-term harm to farmland wildlife. The fourth was withdrawn by Bayer for "commercial reasons" -- widely accepted to mean that the GM variety did not perform as well as non-GM strains of maize. And the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which published its 2500-page report based on peer reviewed publications, concluded that the yield gains in GM crops "were highly variable" and in some places "yields declined". Asked at a press conference if GM crops were the answer to world hunger, IAASTD director Prof Bob Watson (now Phil Woolas's chief scientist at Defra) said, "The simple answer is, 'No'." The government approved the IAASTD report on 9 June.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_13045.cfm
IMPORTANT NEW BRIEFING: GM Freeze's new analysis examining claims that GM crops will increase yields
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/89D_yields_briefing%5B1%5D.pdf

+ GM WON'T YIELD A HARVEST FOR THE WORLD
The government is keen to reassess GM crops in light of the food crisis - but running to profit-seeking companies is not the answer, writes Mark Lynas in The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/19/gmcrops.food

+ GM DOESN'T DELIVER
Nlpwessex notes that for the last decade or so GM soya, the world's largest GM crop, has been producing lower yields than comparable conventional varieties.
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/elmoresoyastudy.htm
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmnebraskasoycomment.htm

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TAKE ACTION
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+ CONTACT YOUR MP
If you're in the UK, please write to your Member of Parliament and explain why New Labour's heirs to Blair need to finally stop cosying up to the biotech industry and promoting its spin despite the lack of credible evidence that GM is a solution to the global food crisis. Tell your MP not to fall for the GM hype.
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/real_food/press_for_change/mp_gm_hype_11309.html

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AGROFUELS
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+ OFFICIAL REVIEW ADMITS AGROFUELS' ROLE IN FOOD CRISIS
In a front page article The Guardian reported how Britain and Europe will be forced to fundamentally rethink a central part of their environment strategy after a UK government report found that the rush to develop "biofuels" has played a "significant" role in the dramatic rise in global food prices, which has left 100 million more people without enough to eat, and even their environmental benefits are in question.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/19/climatechange.biofuels

+ U.S. AGROFUEL IMPORTS IGNITE EU INQUIRY
The massive increase in "biofuel" imports to Europe from the US will become the subject of formal anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigations by the European Commission.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article4122863.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/13/biofuels.corporatesocialresponsibility

+ CORN AS FUEL HAS HURT WORLD FOOD SUPPLY
In a telling article for Newsday on the "biofuels" debacle, Andy Kimbrell writes, "If you thought corn ethanol was at least lessening our dependence on foreign oil, think again: Ethanol displaces only 3 percent of our oil use. Additionally, the journal 'Science' recently published research suggesting that biofuels are worsening global warming as well as hunger. High demand for energy crops is driving deforestation, which in turn releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases that far exceed minor reductions provided by the energy crops themselves."
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opfritop5733237jun20,0,6299589.story

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AFRICA
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+ AFRICA DOES NOT NEED GM FOR FOOD SECURITY
The need to triple or quadruple the domestic food production in African countries does not call for GM seeds, says United Nations food expert, Mafa Chipeta. He says that the African countries wishing to boost food production should be able to fulfill their needs through simple changes to agricultural practices which will cost them less than GM seeds.
http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?ID=5942

+ UGANDA: GM BANANA FAILS TO DEFEAT DISEASES
A GM banana being trialed in Uganda has failed to defeat the banana disease it was designed to be resistant to. The variety was attacked by Black Sigatoka disease.
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=487&Itemid=1

+ EGYPTIAN CORN PIRATED BY MONSANTO
Following Egypt's recent approval of the cultivation and commercialisation of a GM pest-resistant corn variety that marks the first legal introduction of GM crops into the Arab world, Nagib Nassar, Egyptian professor of genetics and plant breeding at University of Brazil, said, "At the end of the day what was originally an Egyptian variety will become not only registered in Egypt but owned by Monsanto." Tarek Saif, biotechnologist at Egypt's National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, said Egypt's collaboration with Monsanto started with the word "partnership" to pave the way for public acceptance of GM plant and ended with "ownership" for Monsanto. "How did an Egyptian variety become owned by Monsanto just as a result of crossing it with its line?" Saif asked.
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1099

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ASIA
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+ INDIA: NEW REGULATORY AUTHORITY MEANT TO SPEED UP GM APPROVALS
Two years ago, the Supreme Court raised a conflict of interest objection to the power assumed by the department of biotechnology (DBT) to regulate the environmental release of GMOs. In a bid to reclaim that power from the environment ministry, DBT has now come up with a draft law to set up the national biotechnology regulatory authority (NBRA). Proposed as a statutory body that will provide "a single window mechanism for bio-safety clearance" of GM products and processes, NBRA is clearly meant to shift the regulatory power from the environment ministry to DBT, despite its being a body dedicated to promoting biotechnology.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Plan_for_GM_regulatory_authority_may_spark_a_turf_war/rssarticleshow/3143579.cms

+ GM SEED FIRMS RULE INDIA -- JUDGE
Following in the steps of the East India Company, it is now the multinational companies producing GM crops who rule post-independence India, according to Madras High Court judge, Justice Ramasubramanian, speaking at a conference on GM.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE920080615235756&Page=9&Title=features+-+health+%26+science&Topic=0&

+ HARYANA, INDIA: PEST PROBLEMS SPREADING WITH BT COTTON
The cotton crop in Haryana, especially Bt cotton, is under threat from mealy bug, which may cause extensive damage to the crop if not controlled in time, said sources in the Haryana agriculture department.
http://www.expressindia.com:80/latest-news/Mealy-bug-threatens-cotton-crop-in-state/324076/

+ MEALY BUG INTRODUCED INTO VIDARBHA BY BT COTTON
A farmer based in Yavatmal, Maharashtra sent photographs of mealy-bug infested cotton in Vidarbha to Science in Society magazine. All the infested cotton plots were labeled as Bollgard, Monsanto's Bt cotton. He writes, "These mealy bugs have never been in our region on any plants before Bt cotton was introduced."
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/4961144/
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SIS38lettersToTheEditor.php

+ KERALA GOVT STILL OPPOSES GM SEED TRIALS
Kerala agriculture minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran has reiterated the state government's stand against field trials of GM seeds. He said the claims that Bt cotton had led to increase in productivity was debatable, considering the high farmer suicide rates in the cotton belt of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/15/stories/2008061554830500.htm

+ MINISTER CALLS FOR DETAILED STUDY ON GM CROP IMPACT IN INDIA
India's central government's minister for overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi has called for a detailed study on the impact of GM crops on farmers and consumers.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/15/stories/2008061560490300.htm

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ CLAIMS OF GM GAINS NOT OBJECTIVE - PROFESSOR
A recent study by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) argues that Australia would be about $7 billion better off over 10 years, if five types of GM crops were introduced as soon as possible. In claiming big economic benefits from GM crops the ABARE study cites a range of Australian and overseas research, but fails to clarify which was carried out by independent scientific institutions and which by agrichemical companies or the scientists they fund, says Prof Julian Cribb, adjunct professor of science communication at the University of Technology Sydney: "It acknowledges much of the data is corporate in origin. Such a failure can only sow further doubt in the public mind about the objectivity of the claims."
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7485

+ GM WHEAT NO SOLUTION TO DROUGHT
Reacting to the Victorian Premier John Brumby's statement championing GM wheat as a solution to drought, Louise Sales of Greenpeace pointed out, "Genetically engineered wheat is not grown commercially anywhere in the world nor accepted by any market, which is why even major GM crop producers such as the US and Canada have rejected it. Consumers simply do not want GM in their daily bread -- and with good reason -- there is growing evidence that GM crops are harmful to the environment and may be harmful to human health."
http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/news-and-events/media/releases/genetic-engineering/genetically-engineered-wheat-n

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ PRO-GM LOBBYIST MISLEADS PARLIAMENT
A recent Farming Today programme on BBC Radio 4 was supposedly about the 60% decline in UK biodiversity reported by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but Farming Today chose to headline the suggestion that GM crops would "help Nature" given the "significant environmental benefits of the GM field trials". This was based on no more than the pro-GM vice president of the NFU, Paul Temple, telling a parliamentary committee about "the significant environmental benefits" offered in his experience by GM oilseed rape (canola) during the UK's farmscale trials. This was outrageously misleading from someone who claims to be science-led, because the results of the very trials that Temple was referring to showed that it was the GM oilseed rape he was growing that was worse for biodiversity!
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/press/releases/2003/21a-gmo.asp

+ NON-GM CROPS DOMINATE WORLD AGRICULTURE IN SPITE OF FALSE REPORTS
Non-GM crops still provide most of the food and animal feed in the world, covering more than 97% of agricultural land, compared with only 2.4% growing GM crops. The new analysis was carried out by GM Freeze after Giles Oldroyd of the pro-GM John Innes Centre claimed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that 25% of global arable land was under GM crops - a figure obtained from the National Environmental Research Council's website. The GM Freeze analysis shows that in fact over 90% of global arable land is used to cultivate non-GM crops. Even in the USA, where GM crops have been widely adopted, over 85% of agricultural land is growing non-GM crops and two thirds of arable land grew non-GM crops in 2007.
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/GM_crops_land_area_final.pdf

+ GM CROPS RESTRAIN FOOD PRICES, SAYS ECONOMIST
The present food supply crisis would be worse if it were not for commercial cultivation of GM crops over the last 12 years, claims a new report by PG Economics. The report was funded by the biotech industry, but Graham Brookes, the company's director and the report's co-author, said that in order to counter allegations of self-interest, the researchers insisted on publication in a peer-reviewed journal... AgBioForum.
http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=85949-gm-crops-restrain
GM Watch comment: AgBioForum is funded by the Illinois-Missouri Biotechnology Alliance whose purpose has been stated as: "to fund biotechnology research... directed at expanding the volume of profitable businesses in the US food and agricultural sector".
http://www.imba.missouri.edu/
http://www.imba.missouri.edu/index.php?region=3
For more on PG Economics
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=308
QUESTION: What do you do when the take-up of your product depends massively on hype about productivity gains that's not supported by the analysis of the US Dept of Agriculture, etc.?
ANSWER: You order up a report from PG Economics.

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HEALTH CONCERNS
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+ OVER A DOZEN FEEDING TRIALS SHOW REASON FOR CONCERN
A Soil Association press release this week included the following evidence that despite GM industry claims, over a dozen GM feeding trials (12 animal, 1 human) show negative health impacts of GM:

*Russian rat trial of GM soya: high mortality and stunted growth in offspring (Ermakova, 2005)

*Italian mice trial of GM soya: metabolic effects on body organs (Malatesta et al, 2002 and 2003; Vecchio et al, 2004)

*FSA-commissioned human trial of GM soya by Newcastle University: GM DNA transfers out of food into the body's gut bacteria (Netherwood et al, 2004)

*Monsanto rat trial of GM maize: changes in body organs indicating toxic effects (report by Monsanto, 2002; review by Dr Pusztai, 2004; Seralini et al, 2007)

*Aventis chicken trial of GM maize: mortality doubled and significant change in composition of meat (reports for the Chardon LL hearing, 2002; review in Food safety – contaminants and toxins, CABI publishing, 2003)

*Aventis rat trial of the novel protein of GM maize: reduced body weight and metabolic effects (same references as for Aventis chicken trial)

*UK study on sheep: in a few minutes, the genes in the GM maize move into the bacteria in the mouth, changing their characteristics (Duggan et al, 2003)

*Monsanto rat trials of GM oilseed rape: reduction in body weight and increased liver weight (significant as the liver is the organ of detoxification) (US FDA, 2002; Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms, 2004)

*Australian mice trial of GM peas: allergic reactions, including inflammation of lungs (Prescott et al, 2005)
Calgene mice trials of GM tomatoes: gut lesions and 7 of 40 died within two weeks (review in Food safety – contaminants and toxins, CABI publishing, 2003)

*UK Government-commissioned rat trial of GM potatoes by Rowett Research Institute: gut lesions (Ewen and Pusztai, 1999)

NB: These studies were all designed to identify health impacts; the animal trials often referred to by the GM companies as 'showing no negative impacts' are largely irrelevant as proof of safety, because they are mostly studies carried out for commercial purposes on the efficacy of the feed, rather than 'toxicological' studies involving tissue analysis.
http://www.soilassociation.org:80/web/sa/saweb.nsf/848d689047cb466780256a6b00298980/991c5bd24896e8de8025746d00413442!OpenDocument

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ BAYER PESTICIDES ARE MOST DAMAGING -- GREENPEACE
Pesticides manufactured by Bayer pose the biggest threat to human health and the environment, Greenpeace says in a new report, "The Dirty Portfolios of the Pesticides Industry". Syngenta, Monsanto, BASF and Dow Chemical are the next to follow on the company blacklist. Monsanto has the portfolio with the highest proportion (60 per cent) of pesticides that are particularly toxic to humans and the environment, but loses out in the rankings due to lower quantities sold worldwide than Bayer.
http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/press-centre/press-releases2/greenpeace-publishes-pesticide

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GENETIC CROSSROADS
News and Views from the Center for Genetics and Society
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+ KIWIS CONSIDER SEX SELECTION
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
The New Zealand Bioethics Council recommended allowing prospective parents to use sex selection through PGD for family balancing.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4140

+ GENE OF THE WEEK: AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
Conservative pundit Michael Medved recently offered a genetic antidote to white guilt.
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4139

+ AUSTRALIA EXPANDS STEM CELL RESEARCH TO CLONING AND REPROGRAMMING
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
Scientists in Australia may become the next to try obtaining stem cells from clonal human embryos. The big question remains vague: How will the researchers obtain the human eggs?
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=4126

+ KLEINER PERKINS MAKES BET ON ADULT STEM CELLS
The veteran Silicon Valley venture capital firm that helped found the biotechnology industry is now laying a bet on a breakthrough technology surrounding stem cells derived from adult humans through "reprogramming."
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4133

+ IVF 30 YEARS ON
When the first test-tube baby was born, it wasn't just the beginning of a new life but of a whole new approach to infertility. But what few women realise is that IVF treatment has become increasingly aggressive: so much so that there are very real risks involved.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4132

+ LOOPHOLE IN EMBRYOLOGY BILL COULD ALLOW CLONING WITHOUT NEW LEGISLATION
A loophole in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill could permit some reproductive cloning without the need for fresh primary legislation, the Government has admitted.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4128

+ CALIFORNIA CRACKS DOWN ON GENETIC TESTING STARTUPS
California health regulators have demanded that 13 direct-to-consumer genetic testing startups halt sales in the state until they prove they meet state standards
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=4135

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WEEKLY WATCH number 250
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

Activists from all over the world have gathered in Bonn, Germany, for the latest Cartagena Protocol summit and to enjoy the parallel Planet Diversity event - a global festival celebrating natural and agricultural diversity.
http://www.planet-diversity.org/

Meanwhile the biotech industry is trying to position itself to profit out of climate chaos by patenting supposed 'climate genes' that (they think) will enable plants to survive terrible weather conditions. It's also continuing to attempt to convince us that GM has the answer to the food crisis - a crisis that it helped create by pushing agricultural land into agrofuel production.

Finally, Human Genetics Alert has discovered that American scientists have created the world's first GM human embryo, without notifying the public or the media.

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

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CONTENTS
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ATTACKS ON GM WATCH -- PODCAST
CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY
PROFITING FROM CLIMATE CHAOS
FOOD CRISIS
EUROPE
GM HUMANS
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
LOBBYWATCH
THE AMERICAS

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ATTACKS ON GM WATCH -- PODCAST
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We've produced a new GM Watch podcast in which you can hear GM Watch founder, Jonathan Matthews, being interviewed by Peter Brown -- GM Watch's podcast producer -- about the cyber attacks that recently drove the GM Watch website offline.

READ THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW HERE
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/5-Interview-about-attacks-on-GM-Watch.html

Our podcasts are available for free by subscribing via iTunes. If you don't already have iTunes installed, it's best to do this first. iTunes is available for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes and it will work on a PC or a Mac. When iTunes is installed, click on the following URL: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=158600210

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CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY
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The 4th Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Biosecurity (MOP4) and the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, COP9) is taking place in Bonn 12-16 May. Key issues on the agenda include liability for GM contamination, GM trees and the role of GM Terminator technology. The biotech industry has campaigned vigorously to limit the effects of the Cartagena Protocol and will be working hard in Bonn - see:
http://www.corporateeurope.org/cbdcop9.html

+ BRIEFING PAPERS ON KEY ISSUES
The Third World Network has produced a series of briefing papers which can be accessed via TWN's Biosafety Information Centre.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/meetart.php?mid=24

+ BIODIVERSITY TALKS HIJACKED BY CORPORATE INTERESTS?
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is keeping some of the so-called public interest groups at COP/MOP under scrutiny after unveiling the close ties between the Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) lobby groupo and industry. This group, which claims to represent the public research sector, brings together key figures from the world of biotech research, most of whom receive funding from the biotech industry. A CEO investigation highlights just how closely allied to industry this group really is - but also reveals how it has won EU funding to promote its aims and help change public perceptions of the GM industry. Read the report 'How Public are the Public Research Lobbyists of PRRI'
http://www.corporateeurope.org/docs/PRRIbriefing.pdf

+ GM CROP FOES MARCH IN GERMANY AS SUMMIT STARTS
About 5,000 activists marched through the German city of Bonn on Monday to protest against GM food at the start of MOP4. Campaigners, many waving colourful flags and banners with slogans such as 'Biofuel Creates Hunger' and 'Good Food Instead Of GM Food', walked and danced through the western German city.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL1210604320080512

+ PUBLIC IGNORED ON BIOSAFETY - INDIA
India's civil society organisations working on the food security issues expressed concern over what they describe as lack of public participation in policy-making on biosafety in India in the run-up to COP/MOP.
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/04/stories/2008050456560900.htm

+ LA VIA CAMPESINA MOBILIZES IN BONN
An international farmers delegation of La Via Campesina is mobilising in Bonn during the MOP4. Farmers are demanding that governments radically reassess the policies that are wiping out biodiversity and rural communities across the planet. They will also denounce the false solutions, such as GMOs, agrofuels and forest monocultures. For millennia, small-scale farmers have conserved and renewed plant and animal biodiversity. Peasants and small farmers are now asking for their role to be recognised. They are convinced that sustainable family farming and local food production can solve the current food and environmental crisis.
http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/2008/05/7010.shtml

+ AFRICA MUST SAFEGUARD ITS OWN INTERESTS
Africa must safeguard its economic and social interest at the ninth Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Bio-diversity and ensure that industrialised countries in the North do not sideline its concerns on agriculture, food security and agricultural bio-diversity conservation, writes Sifelani Tsiko in the Zimbabwe newspaper The Herald. Prof Carol Thompson, a visiting political economist from the University of Arizona in the US, said African countries should reject the growing push for agro-fuels production arguing that it will lead to loss of land, food security and sovereignty and perpetuate a model of industrial agriculture that is not environmentally sustainable.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805060678.html

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PROFITING FROM CLIMATE CHAOS
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+ PATENTING CLIMATE GENES -- AND CAPTURING THE CLIMATE AGENDA
The world's largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more, reports ETC Group. BASF, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont and biotech partners have filed 532 patent documents on so-called 'climate ready' genes at patent offices around the world. In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the gene giants are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviours.
http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=687

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FOOD CRISIS
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+ GMOs NOT THE ANSWER - JEFFREY SACHS
The EU should provide structural aid to increase yields from peasant farmers in poor countries if it wants to help the global food crisis rather than just throwing emergency food aid at the problem, American economist Jeffrey Sachs told the European Parliament. 'Rather than just shipping expensive food aid, we should be helping the poorest of the poor to grow more food,' he said. Sachs said he would like to see more funding on research into improved seed varieties. However, he stressed that this meant conventional crops, along with increased use of fertilisers and small-scale irrigation, and not GMOs. As Sachs is normally a spokesman of first resort for the GM lobby, this appears to be a significant departure.
http://euobserver.com/9/26084

+ MULTINATIONALS MAKE BILLIONS IN PROFIT OUT OF GROWING FOOD CRISIS
The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world's richest food companies are making record profits, reports the UK Independent on Sunday. Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn. Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030bn over the same three months.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/multinationals-make-billions-in-profit-out-of-growing-global-food-crisis-820855.html
http://tinyurl.com/55nced

+ MONSANTO PROFITS FROM FOOD CRISIS
A story on the financial website Kiplinger.com begins with this advice to potential investors: 'Everywhere you look people are grumbling -- and in many cases rioting -- about the high price of food. Before you buy a 20-pound bag of rice at Costco, consider hording shares of Monsanto.'
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/6/monsantos_harvest_of_fear

+ MAKING A KILLING FROM THE FOOD CRISIS
The world food crisis is hurting a lot of people, but global agribusiness firms, traders and speculators are raking in huge profits.
A new report by GRAIN -
http://www.grain.org/2/?id=39
and in PDF
http://www.grain.org/2/?id=39&pdf

+ U.S. USING FOOD CRISIS TO BOOST GM CROPS
The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of GM crops in food-deprived countries. This is in spite of the fact that no evidence links GM crops to higher yields.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-food-crops_14may14,0,7229990.story

+ BUSH BLAMES INDIANS FOR FOOD CRISIS
US President George W Bush is arguing that prosperity in countries like India has triggered increased demand for better nutrition, causing the global rise in food prices. But Vandana Shiva says, 'The myth that Bush is propagating is a "growth myth". While the Indian economy has grown, the majority of Indians have grown poorer because as a result of globalisation, they have lost their land and livelihoods. Most Indians are, in fact, eating less today than a decade ago. The per capita availability of food has declined from 177 kg per person per year in 1991 to 152 kg per person per year.'
http://203.197.197.71/presentation/leftnavigation/opinion/op-ed/why-bush-is-wrong-in-blaming-indians.aspx

+ GM PROMOTED AS ANSWER TO FOOD CRISIS
The claim that GM is the answer to the current food crisis is being made constantly at the moment by GM promoters, even though the biggest study of its kind ever conducted -- the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) -- recently concluded that
(1) GM is not the answer to world hunger, and
(2) small-scale farmers and ecological methods deliver best for the poorest and hungriest.
Articles at the following links from knowledgeable sources confirm IAASTD's analysis and reject GMOs as a solution:
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=369&Itemid=1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/06/food.internationalaidanddevelopment
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/2115

+ WHO REALLY TRIGGERED THE FOOD CRISIS?
More and more analysts are identifying the Bush inspired corn-ethanol boom as the key catalyst in sending food prices skyrocketing. The price increase for other commodities followed that of corn - after it had been rising for months, with corn directly contributing to many of the price hikes by pulling acreage away from other crops such as wheat and soya. Of course, it didn't help that the EU followed suit in cranking up 'biofuel' demand without properly researching the likely consequences.

What has not had sufficient attention is the question of who drove these rushed 'biofuel' policies. In the case of the EU, the biotech industry is known to have been amongst those on whom the Commission relied for guidance in developing its disastrous biofuel targets. The Bush Administration similarly relied on big agribiz interests in developing its ethanol policy - a policy that's netted those same interests a fortune while providing the biotech industry and its supporters with a new platform from which to promote GM crops as the solution to the food crisis they helped to create!

As Bruce Babcock, a professor of economics and director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University, said, 'If you didn't have ethanol, you would not have the prices we have today.' A review of the impact of biofuels has been ordered but in the UK, we are going ahead with the renewable transport fuel obligation before we hear the results, which is like going to war and then examining the case for it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article3867740.ece
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20080504_How_shortages__stockpiles_led_to_a_global_food_crisis.html
http://www.corporateeurope.org/agrofuelfolly.html

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EUROPE
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+ MAYOR OF MILLAU BANS GMOs
The new mayor of Millau, Guy Durand, who has a doctorate in public law, intends to ban GMOs in his town. Already there are no pesticides used in the municipal greenhouses and the school canteens serve organic meals. The city is the headquarters of Roquefort cheese, which prohibits GMOs in sheep's milk.
http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/economie_terre/325611.FR.php

+ FRENCH PARLIAMENT THROWS OUT GM BILL
The French Parliament has thrown out a controversial bill on GM crops. One-third of the ruling UMP party rebelled and joined left-wing lawmakers to vote out the text by just 136 votes to 135. Cheers broke out outside the parliament building where anti-GM campaigners had gathered in protest as the bill, which aimed to bring France into line with a 2001 European Union law, was rejected. Jose Bove, who has been jailed several times for ripping up GM crops, called it a 'historic victory'. Left-wing critics attacked the legislation as lacking strong enough safeguards to protect conventional crops from GM contamination. Before the Parliamentary vote, hundreds of activists marched in Paris in protest against the law.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5dIJWPgTCpDhOmApk4GtcXn3vow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7514736

+ UK: GM POTATO TRIAL APPROVED
Leeds University has been given approval to conduct a research trial this year of GM potatoes. The crop will be grown on a test site near Tadcaster.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/7393772.stm
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/University-given-goahead-for-open.4070514.jp
DEFRA's consent: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/regulation/pdf/07-r31-01.pdf

+ ANTI-GM PROTEST SHUTS DOWN BASF UK HEADQUARTERS
On 6 May, 30 protesters from Earth First! shut down the BASF UK headquarters at Cheadle Hulme near Manchester, to highlight the company's role in pushing GM onto our plates. BASF is planning to run the UK's only trial of GM crops this year in the UK - apart from the Leeds University one, see above .
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/398334.html

+ WALES: CALL FOR ASSEMBLY TO SACK TOP ADVISER
First minister of the Welsh Assembly Rhodri Morgan is being urged to sack the Assembly's chief scientific adviser Prof Chris Pollock because of his 'assault on the Assembly's carefully considered and long-standing commitment to keep GM crops out of Wales'.
http://tinyurl.com/6olbzo

+ EU DELAYS DECISION ON APPROVING MORE GM CROPS
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, delayed a decision on whether farmers may grow more GM crops, saying further scientific analysis was needed before approval could be given. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will be asked for more assessment of the risk of growing two GM maize crops, and a potato modified to produce extra starch. That move is likely to put off EU approval of the crops for several months. The EU has not approved any GM crops for growing since 1998.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL0759943020080507

+ GEORGIA: PATRIARCH SPEAKS OUT AGAINST GM CROPS
In his Easter sermon, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II spoke out against GM crops, which he said would have harmful effects for both the environment and people.
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/1599_may_2_2008/1599_econ_one.html

+ BELGIUM: BIOSAFETY COUNCIL RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF GM POPLARS
Belgium's Biosafety Council is recommending that the government approve a request from the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie in Ghent for the field testing of GM poplar trees to produce less lignin and aid the demand for agrofuels.
http://db.zs-intern.de/uploads/1210076833-GE_Poplars_Belgium.pdf

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GM HUMANS
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+ SCIENTISTS CREATE FIRST GM HUMAN EMBRYO
UK watchdog group Human Genetics Alert has discovered that American scientists have created the world's first GM human embryo, without notifying the public or the media. In response, HGA's director Dr David King called on the British government to halt its plans to legalise GM embryos in the Human Fertilisation and embryology Bill (HFE Bill). Few MPs were even aware of the plans. HGA and an international group of civil society organisations called for an international moratorium on such experiments until there has been a full debate. A team of scientists based at Cornell University and led by Nikica Zaninovic genetically engineered human embryos last year.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.rsvp1.com/s157da5xe1x
http://www.geneticsandsociety.rsvp1.com/article.php?id=4081&mgh=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geneticsandsociety.org&mgf=1

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ASIA
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+ NEW STUDY SHOWS BT COTTON PROBLEMS IN ANDHRA PRADESH
The huge hype of Bt cotton has once again trapped cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh. A 2007-2008 study by the Deccan Development Society and the AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity shows that Bt cotton farmers suffered 10% less profits than the farmers who cultivated non-Bt and practised non-pesticidal (NPM) methods on their farms. The study found:
***Bt farmers suffered 10% less returns than the non-Bt farmers practicing NPM methods
***Bt farmers had to invest 18% more on pest management than the NPM farmers
***Bt farmers had to invest 9% more for cultivating cotton as against the NPM farmers.

The two groups that led the study have demanded that the state and central governments order comprehensive scientific research into the adverse impact of Bt cotton cultivation on human, animal and soil health. They advised the government against depending on the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for information as it relied on a handful of scientists whose loyalty to the farming community was questionable. In fact, a senior member of the GEAC was the president of ISAAA, a global GM promotional body backed by the biotech industry.
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/11/stories/2008051157920200.htm

+ ORGANIC COTTON PROJECT SAVES FARMERS FROM SUICIDE
An organic cotton project initiated by the textile manufacturer Arvind Ltd in 33 villages in Maharashtra seems to have saved farmers in those villages from suicide in an area where suicides have skyrocketed since the introduction of Bt cotton.
http://tinyurl.com/6jhtwy

+ SENIOR SCIENTIST CONDEMNS INDIA'S GM CROP TRIAL REGULATION
Scientist P. Bhargava, appointed by order of the Supreme Court to monitor the activities of the GEAC, India's apex regulatory body on GM crops, says Mahyco's field trial data on biosafety is 'shocking' (Mahyco is Monsanto's Indian subsidiary). Bhargava has raised strong objections to the quality of data provided by Mahyco in the final trials for Bt brinjal before its commercial release. He also asked for a review of data on Bt cotton approved in 2002. He has asked for independent tests to determine safety rather than just the data that the company provided.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/306823.html

+ ASIA UNENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT GM CROPS
Asian countries are less than enthusiastic about GM crops, says an article for AFP. Japan does not grow GM crops and South Korea has not put any GM crops into commercial cultivation. In Bangkok the regional headquarters for the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said it had not seen any signs that governments in Asia were pushing for GM seeds. 'With modern agricultural technology countries should be able to produce enough food without genetically-modified seeds,' said He Changchui, the FAO's regional representative for Asia. 'You don't need them. Just try to supply good fertilizer and good water,' he said.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jzRFfHArAzLglfsxLyBg-kyc5s6A

+ FARMERS DEMAND BAN ON GM CROPS
Nearly a thousand people, including hundreds of farmers, gathered in New Delhi on 6 May under the banner of 'Coalition for a GM-Free India' to demand a total ban on GM crops and food. They urged the political parties to take a categorical stand on GM technology in the run-up to the general elections. 'It is an unwanted, irretrievable, undesirable technology,' they said. Several members of Parliament addressed the rally.

Angry farmers demanded why the government had forced Bt cotton upon them without being aware of the consequences. They told how:
***Yields started falling after three years, and now the crop was not worth harvesting.
***Existing pests developed resistance, new pests appeared. They now spend more on pesticides than they did on hybrids.
***Soil quality has deteriorated so much that nothing grows after Bt cotton is cultivated and harvested.
***All those who came into contact with the cotton suffered allergies.
***Cattle died in large numbers and fell sick after being fed Bt cotton straw. In Andhra Pradesh, post mortem revealed the role of the Bt toxin.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Murli Manohar Joshi commented, 'Bt variety of crops will act as TB (tuberculosis) for the Indian farming industry if continued to be used.'
http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/06/stories/2008050654831000.htm
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/07/stories/2008050758540300.htm

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ ABARE PRODUCES ANOTHER BOGUS REPORT TO PUSH GM CROPS
The Network of Concerned Farmers (NCF) has slammed ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics) for its latest economic report titled 'Economic Impacts of GM crops in Australia', claiming that it is based on misinformation and driven by the federal government protecting its investments in GM technology. No additional seed costs or user fees were incorporated and it was assumed all farmers would grow GM, which removed the costs of segregation. No market loss or penalties were integrated but a market premium was assumed for GM crops AND a price reduction was claimed for consumers. The funding for this project was provided by the Rural policy division under the National Biotechnology Strategy (NBS) introduced in 2000.

+ CONSUMERS AND FARMERS MARCH AGAINST GMOs
Consumers and farmers are marching in Melbourne, Australia against GM food and crops, on 21 May beginning at the State Library at 1pm and proceeding to Parliament House. For details contact info@madge.org.au

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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+ MONSANTO'S HARVEST OF FEAR
From interview by democracynow.org with James Steele, who recently published an excellent article in Vanity Fair on Monsanto's corporate practices:

'Pilot Grove is in the midst of one of [the] great soybean growing areas. And Monsanto has been targeting farmers and a seed co-op in that area over the last few years, accusing them of patent infringements. ... They've targeted many farmers there, and upwards of two dozen, the last time I looked at things, had settled with the company, had not gone to court, had just reached some confidential agreement.

'But the co-op, the seed co-op that is sort of the pivotal unit in that county, did not agree to a settlement. They felt, how in the world can we agree to this? We -- farmers bring us seeds. We don't know whether these are traditional seeds or whether these are genetically modified seeds. They're basically saying, 'You want us to be a policeman of our customers.' So they resisted, and they're in court over this.

'But as a result of this, Monsanto has unleashed the full weight of its investigative forces in this little county. No less than seventeen surveillance videos by private investigators have been made of farmers in and around this town. I mean, this was eye-opening to us, the idea that a company is out there videotaping farmers, apparently, in their fields, coming out of stores. I'm not exactly sure where some of these videos were taken, but the court record refers to those. And these are part of the evidence that they gather to then confront farmers and say, "Look, you need to settle. You need to come clean. You're infringing on our patent. It's time to really make an agreement with us."'
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/6/monsantos_harvest_of_fear

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ BLACK OPS ON GREEN GROUPS
Here an interview with the journalist who uncovered how a private security firm spied on Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and other environmental organizations, including many anti-GM groups. The security firm was run by former Secret Service officers who infiltrated groups, collected their phone records and confidential internal documents, and even went through their trash. The information was then passed on to public relations firms and corporations involved in environmental controversies. Monsanto was on the firm's client list.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/14/black_ops_on_green_groups_private

+ NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY SLAMMED OVER IAASTD REPORT
The journal Nature Biotechnology recently sided with the GM industry in criticizing the IAASTD report on the future of food and agriculture for not being upbeat about GM crops. Now Jack A. Heinemann of the Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety has published a letter in the journal pointing out that 'The Report should not be dismissed just because some do not like the answers it provides.'
GM Watch comment: Heinemann's letter gives an interesting account of how IAASTD bent over backwards to accommodate industry's views, but was foiled by what was either extraordinary inefficiency on the industry's part (missing extended deadlines, etc.) or a deliberate withdrawal from the discussions. Perhaps, since IAASTD report was evidence-based, it simply couldn't find enough facts to support its case.
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v26/n5/index.html [subscription needed]

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THE AMERICAS
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+ MOST AMERICANS DON'T WANT TO BUY GM FOOD - BUT THEY HAVE NO CHOICE
According to a CBS News/New York Times poll, 53 percent of Americans say they won't buy GM food. But it's not labeled, so they have no choice. Nutritionist Marion Nestle, a former FDA advisor, said,
'They [the industry] didn't want it labeled because they were terrified that if it were labeled, nobody would buy it.'
http://cbs4.com/national/CBS.News.New.2.721469.html

+ CANADA: POLITICIAN WANTS LABELS ON GM AND TOXIC FOOD
Member of the legislative assembly Gregor Robertson (who is bidding to become Vancouver's next mayor) plans to introduce a private member's bill in the legislature making it mandatory to label GM food. The Right to Know Act would require producers and suppliers to warn consumers if products contain toxic chemicals or GM ingredients. Greenpeace members protested outside the British Columbia legislature on 8 May and handed in a petition with 20,000 signatures asking for mandatory labeling of all GM foods.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=8c10deca-2005-455f-ad29-2381ec8cb3c9

Interview about attacks on GM Watch

nospam@example.com (GMWATCH Admin) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:22:00 +0200

Here is a transcript of a new GM Watch podcast in which you can hear GM Watch founder, Jonathan Matthews, being interviewed by Peter Brown - GM Watch's podcast producer, about the cyber attacks that recently drove the GM Watch website offline.

We had a few problems with phone line quality when recording this so if Jonathan sounds like he's got a heavy cold and is less than fully audible at any point, please refer to the transcript.

Our podcasts are available for free by subscribing via iTunes. If you don't already have iTunes installed, it's best to do this first. iTunes is available for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes and it will work on a PC or a Mac. When iTunes is installed, click on the following URL: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=158600210

This will open iTunes, where you can subscribe to our podcasts, and this podcast should then automatically download. When you've downloaded the podcast, you can use iTunes to play it on your computer or you can transfer the file onto a portable media player (an mp3 player or iPod).

Once you've subscribed to the GM Watch channel, any future GM Watch podcasts will automatically become available.
---
Transcript

Peter Brown: This is the first in a series of GM Watch podcasts in which we're going to look at the PR war that continues to rage over GM crops.

With me to discuss this is Jonathan Matthews, the founder of GM Watch, which for a number of years has been in the front line of those trying to challenge and expose the often bogus PR claims and dubious tactics employed by the biotech industry.

Jonathan, I want to begin this series by asking you about the recent attacks on GM Watch that forced your website and all your lists offline. What's the current state of play on this?

Jonathan Matthews: Well, we're back online again, so that's the good news. We've got a temporary website and we've also re-established our lists and we've been contacting all our subscribers, so they have got the opportunity to resubscribe with us. So we're gradually picking up the pieces but it's been a very damaging attack.

Peter: But, just to be clear about this, now, the GM Watch site has profiles on the PR players in the promotion of GM crops, and George Monbiot has called it the world's most comprehensive database on the impact and politics of GM crops - is that still offline?

Jonathan: Yes, obviously we hope to make the same information available again in the not too distant future - but the GM Watch site as was is gone.

Peter: And that's because of this recent attack?

Jonathan: Yes, following the most recent attack our web host decided to take the GM Watch site offline - and to keep it offline, unfortunately, until we found someone else to host the GM Watch and LobbyWatch sites.

Peter: But surely that's a bit short sighted. Aren't these attacks on websites getting really common these days? I saw a recent headline from Computer World that said that something like half a million web pages had been infected by hack attacks. How does it help to discontinue the relationship with GM Watch?

Jonathan: Well, yes it's certainly true that there have been a lot more websites getting hacked recently, and we're talking about websites that people might expect to be pretty secure, so that includes government websites, in the U.K. for instance, and United Nations websites have been hacked and even, I understand, the Dept. of Homeland Security apparently! So it's certainly not just GM Watch.

Peter: So if these attacks are going on, doesn't that mean that the attack on your website might be just indiscriminate. In other words it might not have been an attack personally against the GM Watch organisation? Surely, you're just one amongst many who are suffering from this?

Jonathan: Well, it's certainly possible that we're talking about something random, but that's not the view of our web host - for a number of reasons. The first one is that this most recent attack wasn't a one-off. In fact, he's actually been at the sharp end of about 14 months of this, so…

Peter: So that's been a really sustained attack - for over a year, you mean?

Jonathan: Yes, though the form of the attacks has varied quite a bit in that time. It originally started in February of last year when the server was hacked into and a lot of material was deleted off both our sites at that time, and they also got at the back up for the sites on the server and attacked that, so that caused us a lot of problems.

That's where it started, but after that they stopped hacking for a while and it moved over to what are called Denial of Service attacks, you know, which are attacks where they try and make it hard for people to access your site.

Peter: So how does that work? How do they do that?

Jonathan: Well, initially they were exploiting the fact that the pages on our sites were generated from a database type system and this enabled them to inject into that in a way that completely slows down the site and makes it difficult to access.

And that went on and on and on. They just kept that up - it's something that can be automated, apparently. And in the end we agreed with our web host that the site should be changed over from dynamic to static pages, so it moved off that database system.

And that was effective in bringing those attacks to a halt, but the interesting thing is as soon as we made it impossible for them to launch that form of attack, then they hacked back in again and they defaced the site again. But that time we were ready for them - you know, we had new measures in place and it was easy to restore the sites (and) get back online.

And then they shifted over to a new form of Denial of Service attack where they pounded the sites with huge numbers of hits. Again that's a type of attack that can be automated, but actually the site stood up to it pretty well. So then they hacked back in again and really attacked the site big time.

Peter: So now you're talking about the most recent attack? What did they exactly do?

Jonathan: Well, the attack itself was pretty devastating. They hacked into the server and attached over 20 different viruses plus spyware to the GM Watch site. And they may also have put in some malicious code, as well. A network engineer who our web host brought in to advise on what damage had been done said that he'd actually never seen anything like it in his 20 years in the industry. They also deleted some of the site content, as well.

Peter: Some of the site content? So what did they delete?

Jonathan: Well, the home page off the LobbyWatch site went. The interesting thing actually was that in this last attack, unlike the earlier attacks when they hacked in and defaced the sites - on those occasions what they'd done, it was clear, was just try to delete everything they could - but this time they seemed to just target certain specific pages.

So we lost, as I said, the home page on the LobbyWatch site. We had some pages linking through to GM Watch material that had been translated into different languages - pages with those links on were deleted for some reason. And then we had an interview I'd done with Marina Littek of Green Planet which went into a lot of detail about the dirty tricks campaign Monsanto and its Internet PR agency Bivings had been involved in that we'd uncovered. So that interview went, and the main page on the 'wormy corn' scandal, that was deleted as well.

Peter: So that 'wormy corn' scandal… that was what lead to calls for the retraction of a pro-GM paper in a science journal, wasn't it?

Jonathan: Yes, and to legal threats against our web host by one of the researchers, and that lead to the GM Watch site being shut down for… only about a week last August. Those were the only pages we've been able to identify as having been deleted in this last attack.

Peter: But don't you think this is just another example of the current attempts to target certain types of servers on the Internet?

Jonathan: Well, our web host thinks not. His point is that if these attacks had simply been coming about because hackers had spotted certain vulnerabilities in his server - you know, certain things they could exploit, like versions of code or software products they knew they could target, then why over that 14 month period did they always target our websites and not any of the 300 or so other websites he's also got on that server. I mean, it was just always us and I think that persuaded him that there was something personal about this!

Because those other websites are operating off exactly the same kind of platforms as us - and in fact over time because of the attacks, obviously, he was making changes to our sites, like moving us off a dynamic system onto static pages and doing other things to make it hard to attack us, so in a way other sites on his server became relatively easier to attack than us, but they didn't ever attack those, even though they still had those loopholes and we'd closed them on our sites. They kept coming after our sites each time, changing tactics and the form of attack.

Peter: Yes, it does seem rather strange. So none of these other websites have suffered any defacement - any deletion of pages - or viruses - or spyware-attachments, or any Denial of Service attacks, or anything like that, then?

Jonathan: No, that's right. All the attacks have been focused exclusively on us, so he feels that when you're looking at multiple attacks, and attacks sustained over a period of more than a year, that that's got to be beyond any sort of coincidence.

Peter: So that's why your web host doesn't want to continue to host GM Watch?

Jonathan: Well, in fairness, it's not that he doesn't want to continue to host us. He's very uncomfortable with the sort of freedom of speech issues that this brings up. It's just a commercial decision that he can't actually afford it. He's had to make that decision because of the costs it's involving him in - the work and the time, as well as money from bringing in other people's expertise. He's just been spending time trying to make his server more secure, trying to make it impossible to go on attacking our sites, but the tactics keep changing and the attacks keep coming. And, funnily enough, since he shut down our site nearly 3 weeks ago, it's all stopped.

Peter: He's had no more attacks?

Jonathan: No. Our web host has not failed to inform us that in the 3 weeks since our site's been down, he's had no problems at all. So peace reigns after 14 months of attacks. And… you know, perhaps I shouldn't mention this, because perhaps they'll now attack his server just to prove they weren't chasing after us!

Peter: And do you have any idea who's behind these attacks? Is there any technical way of identifying that?

Jonathan: Well, to an extent there is. There are logs - web logs - for the site, which can give some information about what's going on and where any attack has apparently come from. So that should be able to tell you what machine, which country, etc. But, in fact, the information from our site logs has been pretty limited because when our web host came to examine it, he discovered a lot of the logs had been corrupted.

Now, he assumes that this has come about as the result of the most recent attack, because he didn't have a problem with web logs before that, and he hasn't got a problem with the logs on any of his other sites. They all seem to be OK. It's just ours where there's a problem, so his assumption is that our logs have been targeted in some way.

Peter: So the information is pretty limited that he's gleaned?

Jonathan: Yes, it is limited, though one thing that is clear is that not all the attacks have come from the same place.

Peter: But doesn't that mean if it isn't the same people that are targeting you, doesn't that support the idea that these attacks are not really connected?

Jonathan: Well, in the view of our web host, then because the focus has been exclusive to our sites and because of the continuity of the attacks, then he feels that even though different attackers have been involved, then it means the attacks are being deliberately directed at us as an organisation.

So, what he thinks has been happening is that someone - you know, some individual or some organization - has actually been commissioning the attacks - probably commissioning them from well-known hacking and defacing communities that have expertise in this sort of thing.

Something that might support that is the timing of some of these attacks. From our point of view, being on the receiving end of these attacks, there have been some remarkable coincidences.

Just to give a couple of examples, after the first attack we got the site back online and we launched a financial appeal and 24 hours later the Denial of Service attack was up and running for the first time. Now what was interesting about that was that our financial appeal was heavily dependent on people going to a page on the site and linking from there to make a donation online, and that's the way that most people would donate. And, of course, the effect of the Denial of Service attack was that we were getting loads of e-mails from people saying, 'Look, we want to donate, we want to support you, but we can't actually get onto your site, we can’t get onto this page to make the donation'. So, if you were going to design an attack and time an attack, it couldn't have been timed better.

There was another remarkable coincidence, which was at the end of this sequence of attacks, so in terms of the latest attack. And what was interesting about that was that about a week before that attack we actually commented on the attacks, which we hadn't really done for about a year. And we put out a statement on our lists saying how these attacks had been going on - giving some idea of what had happened, but basically saying that we seemed to have weathered the storm. And actually, you know, we were feeling fairly complacent in a way because of the changes that had been made. We didn't feel that their most recent attacks had really been very successful, so we were feeling a little bit smug almost. And then in comes this huge attack that drives us off line and makes our web host decide that we need to go and find someone else to host us.

Peter: I suppose the other question is why would anybody want to drive you off line. There are lots of effective anti-GM campaigns out there, in some cases involving big hitting organisations, so why pick on GM Watch?

Jonathan: Well, I suppose I could use the well known mosquito analogy: you don't always have to be big to get under people's skin or to make them want to swat you. And it's also the case that we've published some quite hard hitting material - you know, sometimes exposing dubious claims, and sort of underhand tactics - dirty tricks campaigns and so on, and that definitely hasn't been welcomed. Our sites, as you mentioned, have also included extensive personal profiles on biotech PR players, and these have sometimes contained material that we know that people would prefer not to have disclosed. So there is probably no shortage of people who 'owe us a grudge', you might say.

And, I think, the other thing that our investigative work has taught us is that there are people out there engaged in promoting GM who are willing to engage in pretty dubious tactics to achieve their ends. And we're not the only ones, you know, who have uncovered that. There's been an extensive article that came out in the US recently which looked at what they call 'black ops' against environmental groups, and this involved surveillance, infiltration, stealing stuff like laptops and confidential documents, people's personal financial details, and quite a bit of this was targeted against anti-GM groups.

So we know there are some pretty unscrupulous people out there. And some of the PR people are quite clear that they're encouraging their corporate clients to play hard ball. They seem quite clear about that.

The boss of one of the PR firms mentioned in the recent article explains his philosophy by quoting Al Capone who apparently said: 'You can get more with a smile, a kind word, and a gun than with a smile and a kind word. ' So there are definitely people out there who think that playing hard ball is a good idea.

Monsanto's former head of Internet PR also had a favourite quote that he'd tell to PR audiences, which was about the Internet being a weapon. He said, 'Think of the Internet as a weapon on the table. Either you pick it up or your opponent does - but somebody's going to get killed.'

So, we're a campaign group whose impact has absolutely been centered on our lists, our websites. What we're doing - our work - lives or dies by the Internet, and our impression is that there are some people out there who are determined to try and make sure that it dies.

Peter: Yeah, so what are you doing to make sure that they don't succeed in killing GM Watch off?

Jonathan: Well, we've got the lists up and running again - I mean, that's a major step forward. And we're having to get people resubscribed but that is steadily happening. We've got a temporary website in place, and now everything we are doing is centered on security.

And happily we've got some excellent technical support and advice coming in, and so we're looking to re-establish the sites but to re-establish them on a very secure basis so that we can weather whatever other targeting occurs.

Peter: So, thanks Jonathan for explaining all that's been happening with GM Watch.

As Jonathan mentions, GM Watch has a temporary website for the moment which you can find at www.gmwatch.org and you can find the latest news there on what's happening.

And if you would like to subscribe - or resubscribe - to any of the GM Watch lists please send an e-mail to the following e-mail address editor@gmwatch.eu, saying whether you would like to subscribe to their weekly, monthly or their busy daily list. They also now have a list for German speakers. The e-mail address once again is editor@gmwatch.eu.

And thank you for listening to this GM Watch podcast.