MONTHLY REVIEW No. 47

GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 47
REVIEW EDITOR, CLAIRE ROBINSON
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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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ENGINEERING CONSENT
RESISTANCE/BANS/RESTRICTIONS
GM APPLICATIONS/EXPANSION
NON-GM SUCCESSES
GM HYPE
GM FAILURES
FOOD SAFETY
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
GM/CLONED ANIMALS
COMPANY NEWS
CORPORATE CRIMES

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ENGINEERING CONSENT
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+ OZ: GOVT PUSH POLLS ON GM CROPS AND FOODS
"The Australian government push-polled Australians on GM crops and foods to dishonestly inflate support for GM in its latest survey," says Gene Ethics Director, Bob Phelps.

"It was unethical to falsely imply in the questionnaire that GM has solutions to key environmental problems when they do not exist now and are ten years from commercial reality, if ever," he says.

"Gene Ethics saw the draft questionnaire but Biotechnology Australia rejected our proposal that people be asked their opinions on the costs, risks and hazards of GM foods and crops, as well as their claimed benefits," he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8127

To see some of the loaded questions in this absurd push poll ("... what about genetically modifying plants... (i) to make the food healthier; (ii) to make the food last longer" etc.) go to
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8131

+ OZ: GM PUSH VILIFIES ORGANICS
Recent attacks on organic food are about discrediting it to soften up the public to accept GM crops, Dr Maggie Lilith of the Conservation Council of WA and the Say No to GMO campaign said. Some of the attacks emanate from Lord Dick Taverne, a British pro-GM lobbyist with no scientific or other relevant qualifications.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8108

+ U.S.: BIASED QUESTIONNAIRE ON GM FOODS
In the US, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) has been commissioning research into consumer attitudes to GM foods for years. The results of each survey are press released, attracting wide-scale media coverage. In 2002, for example, IFIC reported, "American consumer support for food biotechnology is holding steady, while specific benefits are resonating even more in the latest survey ..."

IFIC survey questions include:
"All things being equal, how likely would you be to buy a variety of produce, like tomatoes or potatoes, if it had been modified by biotechnology to taste better or fresher?"

"Biotechnology has also been used to enhance plants that yield foods like cooking oils. If cooking oil with reduced saturated fat made from these new plants was available, what effect would the use of biotechnology have on your decision to buy this cooking oil?"

The results might be different, said University of California L.A. communications professor Michael Suman, if the survey contained questions biased in the other direction such as: "Some people contend that some foods produced from biotechnology cause higher rates of cancer. If that is so, what effect would that have on your buying decision?"
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8127

+ CANADA: WOULD YOU EAT WORMY CORN?
Perhaps the ultimate example of how to dress up a propaganda exercise as scientific enquiry, is the infamous Canadian study of consumer preferences with GM and non-GM sweet corn. A leading researcher into scientific ethics called for the study to be retracted after GM Watch reproduced a photograph showing a large sign suspended above the non-GM corn during the study that asked shoppers: "Would you eat wormy sweetcorn?" The GM corn, by contrast, was labelled as "quality sweet corn". The researchers had claimed in their paper that the corn was marked simply as either genetically engineered or regular.
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=72&page=1

+ EUROPEAN COMMISSION FUNDING GM PROPAGANDA
The unelected European Commission has wasted nearly half a million euros of taxpayers' money over the past two years trying to persuade the public to accept GM crops through a publication called GM Compass. The publication claims to be neutral (neither pro- nor anti-GM) yet almost entirely features "good news" stories about GM. GMO Compass is primarily the work of a company that goes by the name of 'Genius' which happens to number amongst its customers: American Soybean Association, BASF, Bayer CropScience, EuropaBio [the lobby group for the European biotech industry] and Syngenta.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8123

+ ENGINEERING CONSENT IN SWITZERLAND
In November 2005, the Swiss people voted via a national referendum for a five-year moratorium on the commercial planting of GM plants. But if anyone thinks that this commendable piece of democratic decision-making means that is the end of the matter, think again.

A whole programme of national research (known as NFP 59) is under way into the "benefits and risks" of the deliberate release of GM plants. This has already sparked controversy due to the exclusion in highly questionable circumstances of a prominent researcher with a track record of genuine investigation into the risks of GM plants.

In that context, a recent job advertisement related to NFP59 is interesting. A psychologist is sought for a post involving the study of the public acceptance of biotechnology (read: GMOs). The implicit assumption is that resistance to GM is not rational but the product of emotions/perceptions that can be "better taken into account" by researchers in order to build public acceptance when publicising the deliberate release of GM plants.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8138

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RESISTANCE/BANS/RESTRICTIONS
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+ KOFI ANNAN - GMOs "NOT THE SOLUTION TO FOOD CRISIS IN AFRICA"
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, who chairs the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra), has ruled out the use of GMOs in the battle against food insecurity and poverty in Africa.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8110

+ INDIA BANS GM RICE IMPORTS
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8101

+ GERMANY: PROTESTERS WRECK 15,000 SQUARE METRES OF GM MAIZE
In a protest against Monsanto's GM maize, demonstrators wrecked about 15,000 square metres of the crop despite being confronted by a police helicopter and nearly 600 officers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8129

+ GERMANY: GM MAIZE AND BARLEY TRASHED
Parts of a GM maize trial in Forchheim, Germany have been destroyed by activists. Parts of a GM barley trial on land belonging to the University of Giessen have also been destroyed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8076

+ UK: PROTESTERS DECONTAMINATE LAST REMAINING GM TRIAL
A group of activists have destroyed the crop of GM potatoes at Girton, near Cambridge, Britain's last remaining GM trial site.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8087

+ SCOTLAND TO MAINTAIN GM MORATORIUM
The new Scottish administration has declared its intention to "maintain a moratorium on the planting of GM crops in Scotland." There are now also parties involved in the new administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland that have long been opposed to GM crops. Meanwhile, the new government in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland has committed itself to a vision of the whole island of Ireland being completely GM-free.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8120

+ EUROPE: NOT HUNGRY FOR GM POTATOES
EU member states have rejected the latest application to grow GMOs in Europe, as the EU Agriculture Council failed to approve the commercial growing of a GM potato. There have now been no new GMOs grown in the EU for ten years. The European Commission is, however, expected to approve the potato by an undemocratic procedure known as comitology, in line with its pro-GM stance.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8075
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8112 http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8137

+ CYPRUS: PARLIAMENT STANDS FIRM ON GM BILL
The Cypriot Parliament has refused to acknowledge a veto by President Tassos Papadopoulos on the stacking of products with GM content on separate supermarket shelves.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8102

+ FRANCE: PUBLIC REGISTER FOR GMOs
France is setting up a national public register of land growing GM food crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8097

+ GM POTATOES EXPELLED FROM ANDES
The government of Cusco, a region in the Peruvian Andes, has banned all GM varieties of potato. The area was the birthplace of many varieties, and is still home to thousands of kinds of potato.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8116 http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8124

+ U.S: GROUP WANTS TO BLOCK PHARMA RICE FARM
The Center for Food Safety has asked the Kansas Department of Agriculture to block a water permit requested by Ventria Biosciences to grow GM pharma rice Junction City, Kansas. CFS says the rice crop could contaminate food supplies.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8135

+ NZ GOVT URGED TO REJECT "DANGEROUS" GM CORN
Two leading scientists are calling for the New Zealand government to reject the new GM corn LY038 which they say could be linked to diseases.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8114

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GM APPLICATIONS/EXPANSION
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+ PLAN TO MAKE KERALA'S RICE BOWL AN EXPERIMENTAL LAB
Palakkad, known as the rice bowl of Kerala, is one of ten places in India being considered for field trials of 6 varieties of GM rice by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). Granting approval for GM crops will be a clear violation of the Supreme Court order of September 2006.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8078

+ SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW GM EXPERIMENTS CAUSE CONCERN
A spate of new applications for GM experiments have been filed with the South African government. They include GM potatoes, mosquitocide, flowers, grapes, and measles vaccine.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8099

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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ ORGANIC FARMING CAN FEED THE WORLD - STUDY
Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food on individual farms in developing countries, as low-intensive methods on the same land - according to new findings which refute the long-standing claim that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population.

"My hope is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can't produce enough food through organic agriculture," said Ivette Perfecto, professor at University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment, and one of the study's principal investigators.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8107

+ ORGANIC FARMING COMBATS GLOBAL WARMING... Big time, according to data from the Rodale Institute's long-running comparison of organic and conventional cropping systems. Converting the US's corn and soybean acres to organic production would sequester enough carbon to satisfy 73 percent of the Kyoto targets for CO2 reduction in the US.
http://www.newfarm.org/depts/NFfield_trials/1003/carbonsequest.shtml

+ IT'S OFFICIAL: ORGANIC REALLY IS BETTER FOR YOU
A 10-year study comparing organic and non-organic tomatoes has found that the organic ones have almost twice the quantity of antioxidants (called flavonoids) that help to prevent high blood pressure, thus reducing the likelihood of heart disease and strokes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wine/main.jhtml?xml=/wine/2007/07/14/edorganic114.xml

+ ORGANIC FARMING BEATS NO-TILL
Organic farming can build up soil organic matter better than conventional no-till farming, according to a long-term study by US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. Organic farming, despite its emphasis on building organic matter, was previously thought by some to endanger soil because it relies on tillage and cultivation - instead of herbicides - to kill weeds. But Teasdale's study showed that organic farming's addition of organic matter in manure and cover crops more than offset losses from tillage.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8094

+ GROWERS CAN MAKE MORE MONEY BY GOING ORGANIC
Minnesota grain farmers could make more money by switching from conventional to organic grain crops, shows a four-year study announced at the American Agricultural Economics Association's annual meeting in Long Beach, Calif. The study, by David W. Archer, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) economist, and Hillarius Kludze, an ARS soil scientist, analyzed both economic risks and transition effects of switching to organic farming.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8094

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GM HYPE
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+ INDONESIAN GOVT PRESSURED TO PROMOTE GM CROPS
"Experts" have called on the Indoneisan government to urgently start promoting biotechnology "in order to ensure food security and improve the living standards of farmers".

Speaking during a seminar organized by the Indonesian Biotechnology Information Center (IndoBic), economist Bustanul Arifin said that biotech had the potential to greatly increase the production of important food crops, such as rice, corn, soybean and sugar.

These claims bear no relation to the reality of Indonesia's own experience. Six years ago Indonesia became the first Asian country to give commercial approval to a GM crop - Monsanto's GM cotton. By December 2003, however, Monsanto had pulled its GM cotton out of the country.

The introduction of Bt cotton had been a disaster. In the first year of planting, the Bt cotton succumbed to drought and hundreds of hectares were attacked by pests. Also, it did not produce the yields Monsanto had boasted about. The poor yields trapped Indonesian farmers in a debt cycle.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8122

+ OZ GM BULLDUST EXTRAVAGANZA
A spectacular volume of extravagant BS is being pumped out by the pro-GM lobby in Australia. Here Louise Sales takes apart some choice examples from an article about South Australia's "GM future":

***"If GM technology was already in place in Australia, the pain of last year's drought would not have been as great."

[SALES] Perhaps he'd like to explain why - since there are no commercially available drought resistant GE crops anywhere in the world.

***"If you ask people whether they will eat GM food that is proven to be of benefit to the environment, through the use of less fertiliser, I believe the answer will probably be 'yes'," Mr Lush said.

[SALES] There are no GE crops anywhere in the world that use less fertiliser. In fact the majority of GE crops are herbicide tolerant which has only served to increase chemical use on farms.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8121

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GM FAILURES
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+ GM CROPS DON'T INCREASE YIELD - BIOTECH SCIENTIST
In India, scientists have said that immediate concerns over ensuring food security through increased yields can be easily met through use of available conventional seeds and hybrids.

Rice breeder EA Siddiq, professor in biotechnology in Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University, Hyderabad, said, "We can mange with our conventional varieties and hybrids to ensure food security. Transgenic crops developed so far do not increase the potential yield."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8130

+ BT COTTON DISASTER CONTINUES
Bt cotton crops in at least four districts of the Punjab have been destroyed by the mealy bug. In Vidarbha, growers have turned their back on cotton: barely 30 per cent of cotton seeds were sold this season. The suicides have not stopped. About 50 were reported this month. The reason is said to be the Nabard bank's decision to halve the credit this year in Vidarbha.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8125

+ BT CORN SUSCEPTIBLE TO ROOTWORM
Bt corn fails to protect against rootworms despite farmers paying Monsanto big bucks for that protection, according to research carried out at the University of Illinois. Rootworms were found to have done significant early damage to GM varieties.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8126

+ BT CORN SUSCEPTIBLE TO APHIDS
Bt corn has been found to be significantly more susceptible to aphids than their non-GM equivalents in a new study. Bizarrely, the study is being spun to claim that the Bt corn is better for the environment, as the higher aphid populations attract more parasitic wasps that feed on aphid honeydew! That will be a comfort to the farmers as they battle with the aphids.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8126

+ COMPANIES KNOW BEANS ABOUT MOVING GENES
The transnational seed, pesticide, and drug corporations have known for five or 10 years that the scientific foundation on which genetic engineering is built is false, but with billions of dollars riding on it they, with the support of our governments, continue to mislead us, says an interesting article at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8136

+ INTELLECTUAL BASIS FOR GM BUSINESS FLAWED
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8073
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8083

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FOOD SAFETY
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+ SICK LAB RATS PROMPT SOUTH AFRICAN PROBE INTO GM MAIZE
The South African government is assessing the safety of GM maize (NK603) after concern over its effect on laboratory rats that ate NK603 during a 90-day trial. A shocking report based on Monsanto's own data shows that rats fed the GM maize suffered liver and kidney toxicity and differences in weight gain between the sexes. NK603 is licensed in South Africa and is eaten in maize products such as mealie pap.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8084

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CORPORATE TAKEOVER
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+ KENYA ACCUSED OF SECRECY ON GM BILL
The process of preparing a bill to regulate GM technology in Kenya is shrouded in secrecy, a leading environmental lawyer warns.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8091

+ GMOs BEING FORCED DOWN KENYA'S THROAT
A campaign to persuade Kenyan farmers to grow GM maize, cotton and other crops is bankrolled by biotech multinationals, Kenya's daily paper The East African revealed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8090

+ OZ FEDERAL BILL THREATENS GM MORATORIUMS
A bill recently pushed through Australia's federal parliament has the potential to threaten state moratoriums on GMOs by granting new powers to the federal agriculture minister.

Say No to GMO campaigner Janet Grogan said, "Under the bill's new emergency provisions, the federal agriculture minister could use drought or pest problems to justify the release of GM crops, with no requirement for a safety assessment or approval from the states."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8108

+ MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE FOR SPANISH FARMER JOSEP PAMIES
A year after taking part in a totally protest against GM crops, Josep Pamies, the leader of the Slow Food Convivium in Balaguer, Catalonia, was accused by an agent of the Spanish Guardia of attempted and actual bodily harm to persons in authority. Pamies' defence proved the charges to be unfounded since a medical examination showed that the physical harm reported by the agent had been inflicted prior to 2003.

Pamies was fully absolved after a trial two years ago, while the verdict of the second trial found him innocent of the charge of attempted harm to persons in authority but ruled a payment of 22,000 euros in damages for bodily harm to the agent as well as legal expenses. Pamies' defence counsel believes this sentence aims to criminalize and reduce financial and social support for the anti-GM movement.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8077

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GM/CLONED ANIMALS
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+ UK: GM ANIMALS BOOST ANIMAL TESTING
GM experiments have pushed the number of licensed animal testing procedures in the UK beyond three million for the first time since 1991. Experts confirmed that most of the increase reported by the Home Office was due to GM.

Animals with altered genes are widely used as models for human diseases or to investigate biological mechanisms. They accounted for around a third of all the procedures conducted in 2006.

Jan Creamer, chief executive of the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) said: "These increases are happening as results from animal research are increasingly shown to be unreliable, as well as being unethical and unnecessary."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8133

+ LAW FAILING ANIMALS - SCIENTIST
Government legislation aimed at minimising the use and suffering of animals in medical research has been branded a failure by Michael Balls, emeritus professor at Nottingham University. Prof Balls called for an urgent review of the way animal experiments are licensed, and criticised the government for granting scientists permission to conduct animal research even when the benefits were in doubt.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8133

+ DOLLY MAN WANTS CLONED FOOD
The creator of Dolly the sheep, Prof Keith Campbell, has called for farmers to take up cloning as a way of producing cheap food.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8096

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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO ANTI-FARMER PATENTS REJECTED AS INVALID
The US Patent and Trademark Office has rejected four key Monsanto patents related to GM crops that the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) challenged because the agricultural giant is using them to harass, intimidate, sue - and in some cases bankrupt - American farmers. USPTO held that evidence submitted by PUBPAT, in addition to other prior art located by the Patent Office's Examiners, showed that Monsanto was not entitled to any of the patents. "Monsanto is the only company I know of that is suing individual farmers and putting them out of business," said Daniel Ravicher, executive director of PUBPAT.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8132
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8134

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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ DEBT-RIDDEN FARMERS FORCED TO OPT FOR GM COTTON
As the fresh sowing season starts, beleaguered cotton farmers, already steeped in debt, are being forced to opt for expensive Bt cotton. Dealers in Vidarbha say that there is hardly any non-Bt hybrid variety available in the market this year. Bt cotton has repeatedly been linked to farmer suicides.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8109

+ WRIT OVER BT COTTON FARMER SUICIDES
A public interest lawsuit brought in India aims to make the Maharashtra state government recognize the plight of the families of poor farmers compelled to commit suicide by the state's policies. In this context, it also wants the High Court to order a probe into the role of state officers in promoting Bt cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8106

+ INDIAN COTTON MEADOWS TURN INTO KILLING FIELDS
An Indian cotton farmer kills himself every eight hours - either unable to overcome grinding poverty or repay his debts. "It's a mass genocide here," said Kishore Tiwari, president of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a farmers lobby group, adding that some two million farmers were now in dire need of financial aid because the only cash crop they relied on, Bt cotton, failed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8115

+ BT COTTON HAS LOST ITS CHARM IN PUNJAB
Bt cotton, introduced into Punjab as a solution to the American Bollworm problem, has lost its charm for farmers, thanks to mealy bug attacks.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8111

+ SHANTHARAM AND PRAKASH DEFEND BT COTTON_
Former Syngenta man Dr Shanthu Shantharam and Monsanto cypher Dr CS Prakash have published an article proclaiming Bt cotton in India a complete success... apart from the bogus claims of the "anti-GM lobby".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8106

+ MONSANTO MISLEADS OVER rBGH
Monsanto man Brian Robert Lowry has written to the US Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission complaining that consumers are being misled by the labeling of dairy companies that refrain from the use of its GM hormone rBGH. Monsanto says there is no difference between rBGH and rBGH-free milk. Now, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility has written to the same bodies pointing out why this scientifically untrue. Read on at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8118

+ NEW VIDEO ON EFFECTS OF AGENT ORANGE IN VIETNAM
http://www.friction.tv/debate.php?debateno=672

Plus articles and quotes on Monsanto's legacy there:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8113

+ MONSANTO'S DUMPING OF PCBs IN UK
The story of Monsanto's dumping of PCBs and other toxic waste at Brofiscin in Wales has been covered by the BBC's leading current affairs TV programme Newsnight. Other reports:
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,2011024,00.html
http://www.theecologist.org/news_detail.asp?content_id=820