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WEEKLY WATCH number 279
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
The big news this past week is Ireland's adoption of a full blooded GM-free zone policy (EUROPE), South Africa's normally gung-ho GM regulator's GM potato rejection (BREAKING NEWS VIA TWITTER) and India's GM regulator's shameful approval of GM (Bt) brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) for commercial cultivation. Indian consumers don't want Bt brinjal, Indian farmers don't seem to want it, and independent scientists warn against it. So why has it been approved? Because the US and Monsanto want it. (BT BRINJAL APPROVAL IN INDIA).
There's a revealing interview with the Argentinian scientist whose research showed the harmful effects of glyphosate on human embryos. Prof Andres Carrasco is refusing to be silenced in the face of a massive campaign of vilification from the industry and its friends (VICTIMISATION OF SCIENTISTS).
A perceptive article in Nature Biotechnology that's worth reading in full shows how industry controls and shuts down research on the health, environmental and agronomic aspects of GM crops (CORPORATE TAKEOVER).
And finally the quote of the week comes from the Winner of World Food Prize 2009, Ethiopian scientist, Gebisa Ejeta, who told Bill Gates, Jeffrey Sachs and all the rest of the assembled multitude of avid GM promoters, "Africa is not hungry because of lack of biotechnology" (BREAKING NEWS VIA TWITTER).
Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
http://www.gmwatch.org
Follow GMwatch on Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
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CONTENTS
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ROYAL SOCIETY ONSLAUGHT BEGINS
INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR ACTION - MEXICAN MAIZE
BREAKING NEWS VIA TWITTER
COMPANY NEWS
CLIMATE CHANGE
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
VICTIMISATION OF SCIENTISTS
EUROPE
BT BRINJAL APPROVAL IN INDIA
AUSTRALASIA
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ROYAL SOCIETY ONSLAUGHT BEGINS
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A row has already broken out about a Royal Society report due out on Wednesday, which is expected to recommend Britain embrace GM crops in order to prevent a catastrophic food crisis by 2050.
+ BRITAIN WILL STARVE WITHOUT GM CROPS
According to the Sunday Telegraph, the Royal Society report says,"Britain will starve without GM crops". The article does note though that, "Many experts and academics regard the argument that GM can solve the world's food crisis as deeply flawed."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11594:britain-will-starve-without-gm-crops-royal-society
http://bit.ly/K9eyt
+ ROYAL SOCIETY CLAIMS: TOO LATE TO SHUT DOORS ON GM
An article in The Guardian expects the RS report to spark an intense new phase in the UK's GM debate. The article suggests the RS report forms part of an effort by the British Government and other GM supporters to win over acceptance of GM crops as inevitable, given the amounts of GM grain going into animal feed and the pressures of rising population and climate change.
But the article notes the concern that the "concentration of corporate power in commercial seed and agrochemical production is unprecedented, as is its crossover with the powerful US-based commodity trading corporations Cargill, ADM and Bunge." And it quotes John Fagan, chief scientist at Cert-ID, as saying that these companies have created a false dilemma:
"His company is the leading US certifier of non-GM soya for import from Brazil to Europe and the idea that GM-free chains of supply are too hard to maintain is 'garbage' he says. Brazil has more than enough GM-free soya to keep the UK going and, despite the fears of the food and farming industry and Whitehall departments, will continue to plant non-GM so long as it gets paid to keep different supplies segregated.
'The big US agricultural commodity traders Cargill, ADM and Bunge have major biotech seed research projects of their own," said Fagan. "They have deep alliances with Monsanto and Syngenta. They want US GM soya to be accepted uncritically in Europe and they would prefer every soya bean on the planet to be equal to every other soya bean because that's what profitable commodity trading is about.'"
The article also notes the growing unease among scientists about agribusiness restrictions on research on GM. An editorial in Scientific American magazine complained recently that it was "impossible to verify that genetically modified crops perform as advertised".
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11592:royal-society-report-heads-for-perfect-storm
http://bit.ly/1VeNT2
+ ROYAL SOCIETY'S BAD RECORD ON GM
During a decade or more of the GM debate, the RS's role has consistently been partisan and dishonourable, involving spin campaigns, threats, lies and smears. The biologist and social scientist, Dr Tom Wakeford has even described the RS as "an organisation that actively promotes the interests of multinational biotech corporations, under the guise of independent science." And when part of the UK's offical Public Debate on GM crops was held at the Royal Society, Dr Les Levidow was among a number of scientists who complained about partisan chairing and bias: "Speakers engaged in selective citation or even misrepresentation of scientific findings, with a consistent bias towards ignoring or downplaying evidence of risk."
Dr Levidow complained that far from being an open debate on the science, "the event became an exercise in policing the scientific debate. 'Scientific' credentials or criteria were invoked to ignore inconvenient issues and findings, as if they lay outside science." He concluded, "If there is to be an open debate on scientific unknowns and difficult issues in risk research, then it will need to be organized elsewhere."
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Royal_Society
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INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR ACTION MEXICAN MAIZE
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CALL FOR ACTION in support of Mexican maize and against Monsanto and GMO maize
*Mexico issues first permits to grow GM corn
http://bit.ly/3p7qPp
Support the protests!
*Support Mexico's Traditional Culture of Maize and Food Sovereignty. Background:
http://bit.ly/4efU0z
ӬӬ*CYBER-ACTION: Embassies of Mexico:
http://bit.ly/3UksFv
Find your nearest embassy and leave a message on their website or e-mail, fax or phone them to stop GM maizeӬ
*Mexican embassy in UK:
http://portal.sre.gob.mx/reinounido/index.php?option=contact&Itemid=6
Type your email address in first box, your subject in second box, and message in third box, then click "enviar" to sendӬ
*Mexican embassy in US: form for comments
http://bit.ly/Xf2no
*Mexican embassy in Germany:
http://bit.ly/2hd8Mp
ӬӬ
*All other embassies of Mexico:
ttp://bit.ly/3UksFvӬӬ
*Possible message: Please ask your government to say no to Monsanto and its transgenic maize. Mexico is the centre of origin and diversity of maize and maize comes from 10,000 years of Mexico's indigenous and peasant farming. Maize is also the basic food source for the Mexican population. So please don't allow Monsanto to contaminate it.
Ӭ
Ӭ*Have you signed the PETITION: NO TO GM MAIZE IN MEXICO? Please sign today!
http://bit.ly/4yrTWi
ӬӬ
*Immoral Maize! Definitive account of Monsanto's dirty tricks campaign over Mexican maize
http://bit.ly/j59LuӬӬ
*How Monsanto made world's worst GMO pollution incident VANISH!
http://bit.ly/46D6d3
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BREAKING NEWS VIA TWITTER
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All items taken from http://twitter.com/gmwatch
# World Food Day (October 16): 1 billion go hungry every day while billions of dollars go to agribiz subsidies and research reinforcing an outdated model of agriculture
# World Food Day: truly innovative approaches to improving agriculture and increasing food production
http://bit.ly/8yXpv
# World Food Day: Small Farmers Worldwide Rise up Against Monsanto, GMOs
http://bit.ly/17Lsjr
# Via Campesina day against Monsanto: In Brazil, farmers take action in the HQs of Monsanto and Syngenta
http://bit.ly/2y2lC8
# International Day of Opposition to Monsanto in Maine
http://bit.ly/2YTRBm
# RT @waronwant: A food fight with global implications
http://bit.ly/41FB07
# Winner of World Food Prize 2009: "Africa is not hungry because of lack of biotechnology"
http://bit.ly/2VKowc
# Argentina: farmers fight GM soy monoculture http://bit.ly/2sJUrN (radio item: 3:21 mins)
# Monsanto Lies, Again (and Again and Again) - a brief history of company's current & past lies
http://bit.ly/3Ge0oP
# Sri Lanka pressured by US on IPR and GMOs
http://bit.ly/3daE9n
US previously bullied Sri Lanka out of GMO ban
http://bit.ly/1dTp5D
# Canadians challenge 'SmartStax' - the Monsanto 8-trait GM corn authorized without safety assessment
http://bit.ly/1SlGI3
# South African Govt rejects GM potato!
http://bit.ly/2MFrkW
SA is the only African Govt gung-ho about GMOs - till now!
# BIO loves WWF! SweTree Technologies is creating GM trees. SweTree's director? Bjorn Hagglun, head of WWF Sweden
http://bit.ly/3YsSsP
# EU farmers in Brussels: "GMOs are not a solution"
http://bit.ly/14Suuk
# "Agribiz gets plenty of opportunities to preach point of view at agricultural schools where likes of Monsanto fund research" - LA Times
http://bit.ly/3f5LcJ
# India's Environment Minister to hold public consultations on Bt brinjal
http://bit.ly/4prbcP
# Kerala's Chief Min. condemns Bt brinjal approval
http://bit.ly/2wOXk0
# Important New Report: GMOs Not the Answer - Straight from the Farmer's Mouth
http://bit.ly/TAChE
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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO FOUND GUILTY IN FALSE AD ROW
France's highest court has ruled that Monsanto had not told the truth about the safety of its best-selling weed-killer, Roundup. The court confirmed an earlier judgment that Monsanto had falsely advertised its herbicide as "biodegradable" and claimed it "left the soil clean". The company was fined 15,000 euros (GBP13,800; $22,400). Earlier this month, Monsanto reported a fourth quarter loss of $233m (GBP147m), driven mostly by a drop in sales of its Roundup brand.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11584:monsanto-guilty-in-qfalse-adq-row
http://bit.ly/1gTZoj
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CLIMATE CHANGE
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+ ORGANIC FARMING COULD STOP CLIMATE CHANGE
How organic farming can massively sequester carbon.
http://bit.ly/3iqILc
+ EXPLOITING THE CLIMATE CRISIS
Stop the patenting of climate genes in Africa by the biotech industry
http://bit.ly/2M08AF
+ NO FALSE SOLUTIONS ON CLIMATE
GMOs are being pushed for carbon credit profits
http://bit.ly/3eTHWW
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ GM INDUSTRY'S STRONG-ARM TACTICS WITH RESEARCHERS
The GM crop industry's strong-arm tactics and close-fisted attitude to sharing seeds is holding back independent research on GM crops, says an informative article for Nature Biotechnology. In a letter to the EPA, 26 public sector scientists complained that crop developers are curbing their rights to study commercial biotech crops. "No truly independent research can be legally conducted on many critical questions involving these crops [because of company-imposed restrictions]," they wrote.
In 2002, Paul Gepts, a plant geneticist at the University of California, Davis, wanted to check for the presence of transgenic maize in Mexican households after reports that DNA from GM maize had transferred to local varieties. He requested seed samples from three companies, explaining that he wanted to compare them to the seeds from the Mexican households to see if they contained the same genetic material. "I thought naively that that would be a courtesy and I could get a small sample. But they didn’t really want to do it," Gepts says.
Even when research is done, companies have control over its publication. In 2001, Pioneer was developing a transgenic corn variety that contained a toxin, Cry34Ab1/Cry35Ab1, to fend off rootworms. The company asked some university laboratories to test for unintended effects on a lady beetle. The laboratories found that nearly 100% of lady beetles that had been fed the crop died after the eighth day in the life cycle. When the researchers presented their results to Pioneer, the company forbade them from publicizing the data. "The company came back and said ‘you are under no circumstances able to publicize this data in any way’," says a scientist associated with the project who asked to remain anonymous. Because the product had not yet been commercialized, the research agreement gave Pioneer the right to prevent publication of their results.
Companies have been known to take the confidentiality of data on their GM crops to even greater extremes. Bruce Tabashnik, an entomologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, says a Dow AgroSciences employee once threatened him with legal action if he published information he received from the EPA. The information concerned an insect-resistant variety of maize known as TC1507, made by Dow and Pioneer. The companies suspended sales of TC1507 in Puerto Rico after discovering in 2006 that an armyworm had developed resistance to it. Tabashnik was able to review the report the companies filed with the EPA by submitting a Freedom of Information Act request. "I encouraged an employee of the company [Dow] to publish the data and mentioned that, alternatively, I could cite the data," says Tabashnik. "He told me that if I cited the information...I would be subject to legal action by the company," he says. "These kinds of statements are chilling."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11573:gm-industrys-strong-arm-tactics-with-researchers-nature-biotechnology-
http://bit.ly/1ORbXy
+ HUMANS ARE GUINEA PIGS FOR NEW GMOs
French research body CRIIGEN has denounced the possible approval next week of a new GM maize variety in Europe named 59122xNK603. Governments and industry have promised a "second generation" of GM crops in the service of humanity - for example, crops tolerant to harsh environmental conditions to combat hunger. But instead these supposedly new second generation crops are simply more sophisticated versions of the old ones producing several insecticides and absorbing several herbicides. The 59122xNK603 maize is a GM crop powerhouse of four pesticides (two insecticides and two herbicides) with cumulative health and environmental risks, as is the case with the new Canadian GM maize SmartStax, which can contain up to eight different pesticides. ӬӬFurthermore, to avoid calls for transparency and availability of results from previous investigations addressing the health consequences of eating GM crops and foods, governments and GM firms have decided to dispense altogether with animal
feeding studies.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11585:humans-are-guinea-pigs-for-new-gm-crops
http://bit.ly/8rerj
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VICTIMISATION OF SCIENTISTS
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+ GLYPHOSATE WHISTLE-BLOWER COMES UNDER SUSTAINED ATTACK
A revealing interview (originally in Spanish) with Prof Andres Carrasco has been published following his research that showed the devastating effects of the herbicide Roundup on human embryos. Carrasco is having to cope with a vicious campaign of vilification in Argentina, involving Monsanto and its cohorts inside and outside of government. There are echoes of what happened in 1999 with Arpad Pusztai.
Expecting a reaction, "but not so violent", the researcher was threatened, and had to defend himself against a smear campaign. It was even claimed that his research did not exist. Carrasco contests these charges and renews his own charges against the multinational chemical industry.
ӬA group of concerned scientists has circulated a statement of protest on the internet which in a short period of time has received more then 600 signatures from Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, the US and Europe.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11576:glyphosate-whistle-blower-comes-under-sustained-attack
http://bit.ly/2aLj
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EUROPE
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Ӭ+ IRELAND ADOPTS GM-FREE ZONE POLICYӬ
The Irish Government will ban the cultivation of all GM crops and introduce a voluntary GM-free label for food including meat, poultry, eggs, fish, crustaceans, and dairy produce made without the use of GM animal feed.”¨”¨The policy was adopted as part of the Renewed Programme for Government agreed between the two coalition partners, the centre-right Fianna FaÃl and the Green Party. ”¨”¨The policy states, "To optimise Ireland's competitive advantage as a GM-Free country, we will introduce a voluntary GM-Free logo for use in all relevant product labelling and advertising, similar to a scheme recently introduced in Germany." In London, the Irish Michelin-starred celebrity chef and TV host Richard Corrigan laughed out loud when he heard the news at his Bentley's Mayfair restaurant, adding that "the eyes of Europe will now gaze with envy on Ireland!"
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11575:ireland-adopts-gm-free-zone-policy
http://bit.ly/1uJKkS
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BT BRINJAL APPROVAL IN INDIA
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+ INDIA: BT BRINJAL APPROVAL A SHAME FOR INDIA DECISION BY GEAC CONDEMNED, TERMED "UNACCEPTABLE"”¨The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of India has approved Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine), India’s first GM vegetable, for commercial cultivation. The move was condemned as “unacceptable” by Coalition for a GM-Free India, who said regulators have put the interests of corporations over the interests of ordinary citizens.”¨ ”¨The Coalition said: "We are yet to see the Expert Committee report. But ”¦ it appears that the Expert Committee has not responded to all the issues raised about the safety of Bt brinjal adequately. More importantly, it appears that no satisfactory answers have been yet proffered about the very need for this Bt brinjal when safer, sustainable and affordable alternatives exist. For us, this is not the last word on Bt brinjal and the government has to heed to democratic voices asking for a scientific and sustainable vision for Indian farming
and food systems”. ”¨”¨Farmers' organizations and other civil society groups from across the country sought to remind Mr Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment and Forests, about his assurance to them against the entry of GM foods into India. "We want him to keep his promise to us, keeping in view the best interests of farmers and consumers in this country and keeping sustainable development objectives at the fore," they said. ”¨”¨The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had circulated the “voluminous” Expert Committee’s report only two nights before and today, the GEAC members were supposed to have taken a decision on this this is just not acceptable, said anti-GM activists. "The least that the regulators could have done is to bring the Expert Committee members and the international scientists who had reviewed Mahyco's biosafety data face-to-face, finalise the report properly, put it out in the public domain and obtain feedback before taking a decision.
This undue haste is indeed unholy."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11578:bt-brinjal-approval-condemned
http://bit.ly/Eo1SD
TAKE ACTION: Write to India's Environment Minister:Ӭhttp://greatindiansale.blogspot.com/2009/10/write-letter-to-our-environment.htmlӬӬ
BACKGROUND: Center for Science and Environment report
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090415&filename=news&sec_id=9&sid=42
+ PROTEST FAST ON WORLD FOOD DAY
In protest against this approval by GEAC of this toxic, unneeded brinjal, which will take away choice from farmers and consumers in irreversible ways, many farners and activists took part in a fast on World Food Day, 16 October. ӬӬTheir message iwa simple: "WE WOULD RATHER FAST THAN EAT YOUR POISON".
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11581:protest-fast-on-world-food-day
http://bit.ly/JliEC
+ CITIZENS URGED TO REJECT GM FOODS LIKE BT BRINJAL
ӬOn the eve of World Food Day on 16 October and a day after GEAC gave its clearance for Bt brinjal as India's first GM food crop, consumer rights groups and Resident Welfare Associations put out a message urging Delhi citizens to reject GM foods, citing health hazards. They reminded citizens that their right to safe food and informed choice would be jeopardized with GM foods like Bt brinjal and asked citizens to assert their rights by writing to the Prime Minister of India. ӬӬThey also asked people to boycott foods being imported from a handful of GM-food-producing nations which are coming in illegally and unlabelled into India. The consumer mobilisation campaign "I AM NO LAB RAT" released a list of food products to be boycotted if consumers want to avoid GM foods.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11587:gm-boycott-launched-in-india
http://bit.ly/1zvTkg
+ CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN BT BRINJAL APPROVALS PANEL
Civil society groups have questioned the credentials of the panel of experts that looked into the biosafety of Bt brinjal. The committee was set up by the India’s GM regulator GEAC to look into the findings of independent experts who raised concerns at the safety of Bt brinjal from health and environmental perspectives.”¨ At least three of its members had "conflicting interests," the civil society groups alleged. For, two members were involved in an earlier research commissioned by Mahyco, the seed company that has developed Bt brinjal. The third, himself involved in GM crop development, also has a stake in Bt brinjal.”¨”¨Undue haste was being shown. The report was not put up in the public domain, and "there is total lack of transparency," the groups said.
Commented Jai Krishna of Greenpeace,"The expert committee members like Dr. Mathura Rai, director of the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, and Dr. Dilip Kumar of the Central Institute of Fisheries Education are either in partnership agreements with the Mahyco to develop Bt Brinjal or have done the safety tests for it. How can anyone trust a decision from a committee which seems to have an interest in to ensure Bt Brinjal gets the requisite approvals?"
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11579:bt-brinjal-decision-expected
http://bit.ly/1RNDua
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11580:geac-fails-the-nation-farmers-protest
http://bit.ly/lPQlX
+ EXPERTS FAIL TO AGREE ON BT BRINJAL
Internal sources say that GEAC approved the environmental release of Bt brinjal although there were three voices of dissent within the committee, including that of Supreme Court observer and noted molecular biologist Dr P.M Bhargava. It is further believed that committee's recommendations have been sent for the final government approval for commercial release.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11580:geac-fails-the-nation-farmers-protest
http://bit.ly/lPQlX
+ FARMERS DON'T WANT BT BRINJAL
Farmers' union, the All India Kisan Sabha commented on the Bt brinjal approval: "There are many unresolved issues surrounding the environmental release of the transgenic vegetable as well as genuine concerns expressed over its safety for human consumption. There is also the added threat of all future seeds and therefore Indian agriculture coming under the control of global MNCs and the charging of extortionate prices from Indian farmers."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11580:geac-fails-the-nation-farmers-protest
http://bit.ly/lPQlX
+ CONSUMERS DON'T WANT GM FOODS
In the past month, around 13 major processed food companies in India have stated that they will not use GM ingredients in their products. Over 41,000 consumers have so far written to companies demanding companies to become GM-free.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11580:geac-fails-the-nation-farmers-protest
http://bit.ly/lPQlX
+ ORISSA OPPOSES BT BRINJAL
The Orissa government stated that it opposes the introduction and commercial farming of GM crops, including brinjal, in the state. "Commercialisation of BT brinjal is not in the best interest of the farmers of the state," Orissa Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout said.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11587:gm-boycott-launched-in-india
http://bit.ly/1zvTkg
+ WHO WANTS BT BRINJAL IN INDIA? AMERICA AND MONSANTO
The introduction of the GM brinjal is part of an USAID programme called Agri-Biotechnology Support Programme (ABSP) under which the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore are working with Monsanto and Mahyco.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11580:geac-fails-the-nation-farmers-protest
http://bit.ly/lPQlX
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ AUSTRALIA: MAJOR GRAIN BUYERS SNUB GM CANOLA
Major canola purchasers CBH and Elders will not be buying GM canola this season, in a nod to the market sensibilities of major customers in Europe and Japan. Europe has only just relaxed moratoria on buying GM canola seed and is unlikely to buy any GM this season due to a big harvest, while Japan prefers non-GM from Australia, even though most of its imports come from Canada, the largest GM canola producing nation in the world. GM lines are selling at a discount.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11583:major-grain-buyers-snub-gm-canola
http://bit.ly/IOjYs
+ AUSTRALIA: GM CANOLA HITS THE SHELVES
For the first time in Australia, locally produced GM canola is entering the food chain, according to a press report. From oils to margarine, baby food to snacks, muesli to dairy products, GM canola oil can be found in many processed foods, but consumers are oblivious to what food it is in.ӬӬA public forum held at the Sydney International Food Festival on 14 October explained concerns about GM foods. The forum, called "Out of the Frying Pan", featured talks by the food writer and activist John Newton, the author Dr Carole Hungerford, the Greenpeace campaigner Rochelle Porteous and the chef Alex Herbert.ӬӬMs Porteous said the risk of locally grown GM canola becoming part of Australia's oil supplies was a critical issue. She said there were concerns about health problems, sustainability and biodiversity, apart from agricultural contamination. "There hasn't been any long-term tests on the impact on human health," she said. "There have been a number of studies that have shown GE
food to have serious health impacts on the immune system.”
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11583:major-grain-buyers-snub-gm-canola
http://bit.ly/IOjYs
NOTE: Check out Madge for regular Oz GM updates: http://www.madge.org.au/ or follow Madge on Twitter; twitter.com/MADGEAustralia