MONTHLY REVIEW No. 66

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GMWATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 66
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Got a cracker of a Monthly Review for you - an absolute read-to-the-bottom, stuffed with interesting news, commentaries, reports and studies. And watch out too for some important CAMPAIGNS OF THE MONTH.
Claire Robinson
Editor, Monthly Review

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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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CORPORATE CONTROL
LOBBYWATCH
CAMPAIGNS OF THE MONTH
REPORTS
WWF GREENWASHING
CORPORATE CRIMES
CATHOLIC CHURCH
CONTAMINATION
GM RESISTANCE / BANS
GM APPROVALS / EXPANSION
RESEARCH
GM FAILURES
NON-GM SUCCESSES

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CORPORATE CONTROL
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+ BIOTECH COMPANIES THWARTING RESEARCH, SAY CROP SCIENTISTS
The New York Times reports how crop scientists throughout the U.S. have formally complained that biotech companies are keeping them from fully researching the effectiveness and environmental impact of GM crops. "No truly independent research can be legally conducted on many critical questions," the 26 corn insect scientists from 16 different states wrote in a statement submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency. Biotech companies can not only deny permission for seed requests for research, but even review scientific findings before they are published. The scientists chose to make their complaint to the EPA on an anonymous basis for fear of being blacklisted.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/2/20/12417/4918/
http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20090226#1
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/business/20crop.html?_r=3

+ BIG SIX MAY BECOME BIG FIVE
Dow may sell its AgroScience division to DuPont, Syngenta or Bayer, which would lead to a further consolidation of the pesticide and GM transnationals from the "big six" to a "big five": BASF, Bayer, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta.
http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20090226#3

+ MONSANTO PUTS NON-GM SEEDS OUT OF REACH
Monsanto is making it increasingly difficult for farmers to choose non-GM seeds.
http://tinyurl.com/db7fnf

+ GM BATTLE RAGES DOWN ON THE FARM
A report for the BBC World Service looks at the rights of farmers. David Runyan, a farmer from Indiana, is quoted as saying that "when the first-generation of glysophate-tolerant soybeans came out the yields were not there." "My neighbours like them because there's less management. They don't have to walk out to the fields. A lot of them don't even feel the dirt. They plant it; they hire somebody to spray it; hire somebody to fertilise it and they just go and harvest it. They're not farmers like we used to be."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7892328.stm

+ U.S. FARMERS WARN AUSTRALIANS OF GM CONCERNS
Two American farmers touring Australia to warn about their experiences with GM crops, say more than a decade of growing the crops in North America has resulted in increased corporate control of farming and reduced profits for farmers. Parr, a seed cleaner from Indiana, was sued by Monsanto in 2007 for allegedly "encouraging" GM soy farmers to break the patent law by saving seed. He was unable to afford the legal fees to defend himself and was forced to settle out of court. As part of the settlement, Parr says he now not only has to have each lot of seed he cleans tested for GM contamination but has to send the results to Monsanto. "In effect I have become an unpaid enforcement officer for Monsanto," Parr said. "Because of GM contamination and the monopoly control of seeds by bio tech companies, in the United States it is nearly impossible to go back. Farmers in Australia still have a choice about whether they want to go down the GM path or not."
http://tiny.cc/Pkq5J

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ SENSE ABOUT SCIENCE CONCEALS VESTED INTERESTS IN GM GUIDE
Times Higher Education reports how the lobby group Sense About Science has come under fire for failing to disclose the vested interests of experts it enlisted to compile a guide explaining GM to the public. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=405427& c=2
The article with readers' comments, plus GMWatch's rundown on the scientists at
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/52-GM-guide-concealed-vested-interests.html

+ MONSANTO LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE STRATEGY TO COMBAT CRITICS
Monsanto has tried various PR strategies for countering its critics on the web - some of which, like its use of "fake persuaders", have blown up in its face.
http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html
Monsanto’s latest strategy for combatting online critics, and the powerful impact of the film The World According to Monsanto, involves use of social media to personalise the corporation. Its new Monsanto blog is filled with employee contributions from "Kathleen" (aka "Ms. Monsanto", their “Social Media Specialist”), "Brad", "Santiago" and "Kate' ("we are people - we are human").
http://blog.monsantoblog.com/
So while banGMfood.org has produced a downloadable leaflet "10 reasons why we don't need GM foods", "Santiago" (Monsanto's new PR man from Argentina, apparently) has posted "10 Reasons Why We DO Need GM Food, or at least that's what he says he's going to do - "Stay tuned"!!
http://blog.monsantoblog.com/2009/02/18/%e2%80%9c10reasonswhy/
This is all part of the chatty, lively - "check it out!" - world of "Monsanto According to Monsanto". And as well as the friendly new blog, there's Monsanto's twitter feed - "Hey there! MonsantoCo is using Twitter", with messages that can be delivered to "followers" on their mobile phones via the TweetDeck -- such as: "February is heart health month! Check out http://www.vistive.com for more information on heart healthy soybean oil." No mention of the fact the "healthy" oil was the product of conventional breeding.
http://twitter.com/MonsantoCo

+ FAKE FARMERS AT IT AGAIN?
Last month Jonathon Harrington from the biotech-industry backed lobby group CropGen, was challenged by journalist Steve Dube as to whether he was actually a "farmer", as he claimed, or a "faker".
http://blogs.walesonline.co.uk/upcountry/2009/02/farmer-or-faker.html
Now it seems more fake farmers are popping up to support GM - this time in Australia.
http://blogs.walesonline.co.uk/upcountry/2009/02/farmer-or-faker.html
Previously, the biotech industry has given us fake farmers in India claiming great benefits from GM cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5741
And in South Africa they even stage-managed a fake "farmers' march" in support of GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8218

+ BIOTECH INDUSTRY FAKES GROWTH OF GM CROPS IN EUROPE
On the eve of the release of annual industry-sponsored (ISAAA) figures, a new report by Friends of the Earth International revealed the failure of GM crops around the world, and how statistics showing their increase in Europe have been manipulated. The new 'Who Benefits from GM Crops?' 2009 report exposes inconsistencies in how the European biotech lobby group EuropaBio has reported the total area planted to GM crops. The group inflated the figures by almost a quarter in 2008 to mask an actual decline. The misleading numbers are used by companies to make GM farming appear more widespread than it really is. In reality public opposition and safety-conscious European governments mean that planting of GM crops in Europe has decreased every year since 2005 with an overall drop of 35 per cent.
Full report:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/Who_Benefits/full_report_2009.pdf
Executive Summary:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/Who_Benefits/Exec_summary_2009.pdf
EU briefing:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/Who_Benefits/EU_briefing_2009.pdf
US version of the report:
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/WhoBenefitsPR2_11_09.cfm.
GM Freeze Briefing: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) Global Status Reports on GM Crops
http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/ISAAA_Q&A_2009.pdf
Reuters article: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE51A2US20090211

+ EU COMMISSION ADVISORY GROUPS BIASED TOWARDS BUSINESS
Groups set up to advise the European Commission on controversial issues are unbalanced, undemocratic and geared towards the interests of business, says a new report.
http://www.foeeurope.org/corporates/pdf/whose_views_count.pdf

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CAMPAIGNS OF THE MONTH
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+ INTERNATIONAL: TELL WWF TO GET OUT OF BED WITH MONSANTO
Tell the panda to stop greenwashing some of the most destructive corporations on the planet. See also WWF GREENWASHING below.
http://www.meetup.com/portlandpermaculture/boards/thread/6283930/

+ INTERNATIONAL: GM SOY DRIVING DEFORESTATION
Deforestation has accelerated since the introduction of Monsanto's Roundup Ready soy in Argentina 1996. A new wave of destruction is now being unleashed by international agribusiness threatening indigenous communities, who have presented their demand to immediately halt deforestation to the Supreme Court of Argentina.
TAKE ACTION: Please write to the Court in their support here.
http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/protestaktion.php?id=362

+ UK: HIDDEN GM IN YOUR TROLLEY
Please tell all your friends to help stop stealth GMOs - GM animal feed, the hidden GM in all our trollies.
TAKE ACTION: Tell the supermarkets to get GM out of our food chain once and for all.
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?ID=375&iType=1083

+ UK: GM CHOCOLATE IN TESCO
A chocolate bar containing at least three GM ingredients has been spotted on sale in Tesco stores across Britain. Tesco are also stocking GM cooking oil.
TEKE ACTION: Please email Tesco - details here.
http://www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?id=357&iType=1083

+ INDIA: JOIN THE PROTEST IN DELHI
As part of the "I am No Lab Rat" campaign, all concerned citizens are invited to come to Delhi on or after March 20 2009 (Jantar Mantar), and on April 7 (World Health Day), for sustained direct action to persuade the government to stop GM (Bt) Brinjal (eggplant/aubergine).
http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com/
Check out the brilliant campaigning "I am No Lab Rat" website, and sign the petition.
http://www.iamnolabrat.com/

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REPORTS
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+ WHO OWNS NATURE: WORLD'S TOP 10 SEED AND PESTICIDE COMPANIES
The leading GM corporations together control nearly 75% of the global pesticide market. Syngenta, for instance, is not only the world's third largest seed company, it's also the world's second largest agrochemical manufacturer. Monsanto, the world's biggest seed company, is the world's fifth largest agrochemical company.
http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=707

+ WHO BENEFITS FROM GM CROPS
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/Who_Benefits/full_report_2009.pdf
Executive Summary:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/Who_Benefits/Exec_summary_2009.pdf

+ CRITICAL LOOK AT GOLDEN RICE
http://www.foodwatch.de/english/golden_rice/index_ger.html

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WWF GREENWASHING
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+ NEW WWF STATEMENT ON “RESPONSIBLE SOY”
All of you who wrote to WWF to plead with it to quit the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS), in the light of Monsanto and Syngenta being welcomed onto the RTRS board, may be surprised to know that a week before you had the courtesy of a proper reply from WWF, it quietly put up a statement on its site indicating it has no intention of changing its position.
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/top_5_environmental_questions/top_5_questions_ab out_forests/?156602/Involvement-in-the-RTRS-Connection-to-the-GM-Soy-Industry
It's hard to know whether this statement should be seen as naive, or worse. For example, WWF claims it "has a history of promoting GMO-free soy, as evidenced by its development and promotion of the Basel Criteria for Responsible Soy", but the Basel Criteria were set to one side when it initiated the RTRS, so its actual history is one of retreat! It also talks about encouraging "companies to pursue GMO-free production", but this is meaningless when the companies involved in the RTRS are the likes of Monsanto, Syngenta, ADM, Cargill, etc. WWF needs to work in harmony with the rest of the environmental movement to stop the devastation being caused by GM soy. It needs to directly support the small farmers, local communities and indigenous people fighting to stop the GM soy onslaught, and to support (a) consumer resistance to GM soy in animal feed and (b) the use of more local and sustainable sources of animal feed. Nothing else will work. More comment on WWF's latest statement:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/53-Comment-on-latest-weasel-words-from-WWF.html

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ SCIENTISTS CONDEMN USING CHILDREN IN GM RICE TRIALS
Children have been used as "lab rats" in GM Golden Rice trials that were carried out in breach of ethics rules drawn up in response to the medical crimes of Nazi Germany, it is claimed. Critics are furious that the GM rice was not put through animal feeding trials to ensure it was safe before being given to children. The decision to use the children has been condemned as “completely unacceptable" by a group of 22 scientists from Britain and around the world.
http://tiny.cc/YsvkZ
Critical look at Golden Rice after 10 years of development: http://www.foodwatch.de/english/golden_rice/index_ger.html

+ LARGEST WAVE OF SUICIDES IN HISTORY
In India, the number of farmers who have committed suicide in India between 1997 and 2007 now stands at a staggering 182,936, says an article by the award winning development journalist, P. Sainath. Farmer suicides between 2002-07 were worse than for the years 1997-2001. Bt cotton was introduced in 2002. Water stress has been a common feature, and gets worse with the use of technologies such as Bt seed, points out Sainath.
http://www.counterpunch.org/sainath02122009.html

+ MONSANTO'S GREATEST HITS
Grim record of Monsanto’s crimes (bar the last decade):
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/05.11.00/cover/gen-food2-0019.html

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CATHOLIC CHURCH
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+ PONTIFICAL ACADEMY CONTINUES FOOLHARDY BIOTECH PROMOTION
A highly informative article by David Andrew, former Executive Director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and the Peace and Justice Coordinator for the Congregation of Holy Cross, expains how the pro-GM conference to be held at Vatican City in May is at odds with the official Vatican policy of caution on GMOs. It is also against the views of many Catholic priests and aid workers based in developing countries. Speakers at the conference are all pro-GM and include Peter Raven - an influential figure within the Academy who, as the director of the Botanical Garden of Saint Louis, has been the recipient of significant amounts of funds from Monsanto.
http://tiny.cc/jmVmM

+ POTRYKUS CHALLENGED
One of the speakers at the pro-biotech conference at Vatican City in May will be Ingo Potrykus, who developed GM Golden Rice. Father Sean McDonagh comments on the risks of Golden Rice and denounces the corporate control of food in two excellent articles at:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/54-Potrykus-challenged-on-Golden-Rice-and-corpora te-control.html

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CONTAMINATION
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+ "GMO CONTAMINATION HAPPENS" - USDA
The US government’s General Accounting Office (GAO) recently called for more oversight and coordination among federal agencies to prevent unapproved GMOs from getting into the food supply. But unbelievably, US department of agriculture's (USDA) response has been to propose less oversight, wanting to "lessen the regulatory burden" on biotechnology companies, to quote APHIS spokeswoman, Rachel Ladicicco.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_16974.cfm

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GM RESISTANCE / BANS
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+ EU STATES CANNOT COVER UP GM TRIAL SITES - COURT
EU member states cannot cover up the location of sites where GMOs have been released, even if they fear that the information could provoke public disorder, the EU's highest court - the European Court of Justice has decided.
http://tiny.cc/7xXNI

+ FRANCE TO MAINTAIN GM BAN
France's food watchdog Afssa said it had concluded that GM corn MON810 does not pose a health risk. However, France's environment ministry says it will not lift France’s ban on the corn as it was imposed on the basis of environmental risks.
http://www.france24.com/en/20090212-corn-genetically-modified-france-food-safety
http://tiny.cc/tPJ2t
http://tiny.cc/833Uc

+ HUNGARY DEFIES COMMISSION TO KEEP BAN ON GMOs
Hungary has announced that it will keep its ban on GM maize imports and the planting of GM seeds. The European Commission recently called on Hungary to lift its GM ban.
http://tiny.cc/0oAC7

+ GERMANY MAY BAN MONSANTO CORN AG MINISTER
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government may revoke a license for the cultivation of Monsanto's GM corn because neither consumers nor farmers want it, agriculture minister Ilse Aignertold said. Genetic engineering "has so far not yielded tangible benefits for the people," the newspaper quoted Aigner as saying. Germany has granted a license for the cultivation of MON810 while France and Italy haven't yet, due to environmental concerns.
http://tiny.cc/fTsb9

+ ITALY: NO QUALITY BRAND FOR GMOs
A bill recently filed in the Italian Senate's Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agro-Food Production meand no quality brand can be put on products employing GMOs.
http://tiny.cc/nZiVk

+ TIGHTER GM RULES FOR WALES EXPECTED
Plans for strict new rules on the planting of GM crops in Wales are expected to be announced. Rural affairs minister Elin Jones is due to tell Assembly Members that "co-existence" regulations between GM, organic and conventional crops should be toughened. Welsh ministers have consistently sought the most restrictive policy possible on GM crops, within EU law.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/wales_politics/7906439.stm

+ GEORGIA BANS GMOs
Georgia will be declared a GM-free country, Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili has announced.
http://tiny.cc/3jfXT

+ U.S.: MORE rBGH VICTORIES
Yoplait, the 19th largest dairy processor in the US, is going rBGH-free in response to customer demand. And the New England dairy industry will be rBGH-free by the end of summer 2009. Customers for rBGH farm milk in New York have decreased sharply, with only a handful of manufacturing plants left willing to receive product from producers employing the GM hormone.
http://lancasterfarming.com/node/1700

+ US GOVT WANTS TO BLOCK GM IMPORTS
The US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) wants to block imports of GMOs into the US -- after a decade of exporting its own GM crops all over the world. It gives three reasons: the foreign GMOs would threaten agriculture in the US; they may affect the health of US citizens; and they may affect the environment. Interestingly, these are similar to objections raised against the US's own GM products.
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php

+ INDIA: GOVT DELAYS MARKETING OF BT BRINJAL
With new scientific studies now finding GM foods not safe for human consumption, the government has put a "temporary halt" on the commercialisation of Bt brinjal, a move prompted by the Supreme Court's special representative at the Centre's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, Dr Pushpa Bhargava. Dr Bhargava said, "I have fears that there are vested interests. Any study that does not suit them [is] just dismissed."
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/govt-halts-marketing-of-genetically-modified-food-cro p/84083-11.html

+ INDIA: DOCTORS CAUTION AGAINST GM FOOD
http://newshopper.sulekha.com/newsitem/2009/02/doctors-caution-against-genetical ly-modified-food.htm

+ PROTEST IN DELHI, INDIA
A sustained direct action is planned to persuade the government to stop Bt Brinjal (eggplant/aubergine).
http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com/
Candlelight vigil against Bt brinjal
http://tiny.cc/xrS7Q

+ I AM NO LAB RAT - WEBSITE
India's brilliant campaigning website - sign the petition.
http://www.iamnolabrat.com/

+ SOUTH KOREA WON'T IMPORT GM CORN
Corn processors in South Korea will not import GM corn for food use this year after grain prices fell and as consumers shun GM foods.
http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/south_korea_not_use_gm_corn
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/02/117_38830.html

+ EU COMMISSION FAILS TO GET EU COUNTRIES' SUPPORT TO LIFT GM BANS
Experts from Europe's 27 member states have failed to agree whether France and Greece should be forced to drop national bans on the growing of GM crops. Both countries have banned the only GM crop authorised for cultivation in the European Union - Monsanto's GM maize, MON 810. Last month the European Commission issued a proposal for the bans to be overturned but in December 2008, all twenty seven EU Environment Ministers unanimously concluded that there are weaknesses in the GMO approval process, and that risk assessment requirements are not being met.
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php
Good article on the decision:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/19/gm

+ NZ: GM BRASSICA TRIALS ABANDONED AFTER SAFETY BREACH
Soil & Health and GE Free NZ are celebrating the commitment by Crown Research Institute (CRI) Plant & Food Research to discontinue the GM brassica field trial at Lincoln in Canterbury less than 2 years into its 10 year consent, but say the CRI's GM alliums (onion family) field trial approval must also be revoked. The move comes after activists discovered a biosecurity breach in the trials, in which brassicas were allowed to flower against the terms of the permit. Initially the government denied the breach, but was forced to admit it when the activists showed photographic evidence.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0902/S00019.htm

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GM APPROVALS / EXPANSION
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+ INDIA PLANS TO DEVELOP 12 GM CROPS
India is planning to develop 12 GM crops to improve their resistance to diseases and pests, biotic stresses and extend shelf life. The proposed research project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will cover maize, pigeonpea, chickpea, soybean, cotton, brassica, tomato, brinjal, banana, papaya, potato and cassava.
http://tiny.cc/5iHsc

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RESEARCH
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+ NEW STUDY CONFIRMS GM CONTAMINATION OF MEXICAN MAIZE
Genes from GM corn have escaped into wild varieties in rural Mexico, a new study says. The study confirms the findings of David Quist and Ignacio Chapela, who in 2001 reported finding transgenes from GM corn in traditional varieties in Oaxaca, Mexico.

When Nature published the original Quist and Chapela paper in 2001, they came under an immediate firestorm of abuse from pro-GM scientists as the result of a campaign of incitement on CS Prakash's AgBioView listserv. GMWatch subsequently showed this campaign to have been directly orchestrated by Monsanto and its internet PR firm Bivings.
http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html

At one point Prakash's list members were even encouraged to contact UC Berkeley to demand that Chapela either hand over his maize samples for independent verification or be sacked. The implication was one of fraud, with Fellow of the Royal Society, Tony Trewavas demanding to know whether researchers like Chapela were "free to fiddle any data they like in the 'greater' cause”.
http://ngin.tripod.com/220202f.htm

But now, Elena Alvarez-Buylla of the National Autonomous University in Mexico City and her team have backed Quist and Chapela's claim. They found transgenes in about 1 per cent of nearly 2000 samples they took from the region (Molecular Ecology, Vol 18, No. 4, pp. 750-761).
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121577870/abstract
http://tiny.cc/DE01p

+ BT COTTON KILLS SOIL AS WELL AS FARMERS
A scientific study suggests that Bt cotton, as well as allegedly causing thousands of farmer suicides, also kills soil. A study carried out by Navdanya compared the soil of fields where Bt cotton had been planted for 3 years with adjoining fields with non-GM cotton or other crops. In 3 years, Bt cotton has reduced the population of Actinomycetes by 17%. Actinomycetes are vital for breaking down cellulose and creating humus.

Bacteria were reduced by 14%. The total microbial biomass was reduced by 8.9%. Vital soil beneficial enzymes which make nutrients available to plants have also been drastically reduced. Acid Phosphatase which contributes to uptake of phosphates was reduced by 26.6%. Nitrogenase enzymes which help fix nitrogen were reduced by 22.6%.

At this rate, in a decade of planting with GM cotton, or any GM crop with Bt genes in it, could lead to total destruction of soil organisms, leaving dead soil unable to produce food.
http://tiny.cc/nYBHm

+ THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF ROUNDUP
Natural News has a good article with scientific references on the dangers of Roundup. Included is the recent French research, which showed that Roundup is toxic to human cells and causes cellular death "at lower concentration levels than would be normally found in plants and in animal feed". Amazingly, Monsanto continues to advertise Roundup as "safe" and "biodegradable" in some countries.
http://www.naturalnews.com/025534.html
The recent French research: http://www.criigen.org/images/stories/nosdossiers/roundup/pressrelease_rup_0109. pdf
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx800218n

+ INTERVIEWS WITH GM RESEARCHERS CARMAN AND SERALINI
Well worth reading.
http://blogs.walesonline.co.uk/upcountry/2009/02/farmer-or-faker.html

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GM FAILURES
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+ GM COTTON - HUNGRY INSECTS, RESISTANT WEEDS AND SHRINKING ACREAGE
Gus Lorenz, University of Arkansas entomologist, noted that GM cotton producers are learning to deal with "extremely high numbers of pests" and Roundup resistant weeds: "The spread of resistance was almost overnight". Lorenz said, "Resistant Palmer pigweed is part of the driving force for our cotton acres decreasing in my part of the Mid-South."
http://deltafarmpress.com/cotton/beltwide-insects-0202/

+ INDIA: SCIENTISTS INSPECT (ANOTHER) FAILED BT COTTON CROP
A team of scientists have visited Gobi and Perundurai areas to inspect the damaged Bt cotton crop. The visit was made after a complaint by the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association that the Bt cotton crop withered in many areas across the district. "The crop grow[s] abnormally, and the leaves turn red and wither leading to great loss. As against 16 quintals from an acre, we get only six quintals," Nichampalayam farmers told the team.
http://tinyurl.com/bxhar3

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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ NEW NON-GM FLOOD TOLERANT RICE
A new flood-tolerant rice developed at the University of California-Davis is being touted on pro-GM websites and listservs as a triumph for GM. In a pattern that's becoming all too familiar, the rice actually was not developed through GM - despite efforts to do so - but through marker assisted breeding.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/01/29/waterproof.rice/index.html?eref=i b_topstories
'Non-GM biotechnology is the future' - quotes from scientists:
http://www.bangmfood.org/quotes/24-quotes/32-non-gm-biotechnology-is-the-future