WEEKLY WATCH number 288
from Jonathan Matthews, WEEKLY WATCH guest editor
Dear all:
Standing in for Claire this week and it's been quite a week - not least for Monsanto. Everything here's drawn from the news and comment we provide on Twitter.
Jonathan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Website: http//www.gmwatch.org
Profiles: http://bit.ly/12UAI2
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c6OnaX
-----------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
-----------------------------------------------------------
TAKE ACTION
GM FAILURES
MONSANTO MELTDOWN
AFRICA
ASIA
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
AUSTRALASIA
"BIOFUELS"
-----------------------------------------------------------
TAKE ACTION
-----------------------------------------------------------
*UK: Advice on how to tackle candidates and the media on the GM issue during the General Election
http://bit.ly/cm2b5x
*USA: Tell your Senator to oppose the Global Food Security Act until the GM clause is removed!
http://bit.ly/a7c93x
*CANADA: Act NOW to Stop GM Wheat and Alfalfa
http://bit.ly/bOiq2r
*USA: Act now for GM labeling in the US
http://bit.ly/d7f23w
*INDIA: Over 25,000 people have already signed this petition against pro-GM Minister Chavan's GM food bill. Have you?
http://ow.ly/1vqXj
*EUROPE: Help Avaaz collect 1 million votes against GM food in Europe
http://bit.ly/cnR7aw
*EUROPE: Free banner (animated) promoting Avaaz GM ban petition for websites, facebook etc. available from GMWatch, view it here
http://bit.ly/19B2Kh
UK: Tell supermarkets to get out of GMO soy greenwashing exercise
http://bit.ly/c7v2jb
*USA: Biofuels are NOT green but Congress keeps subsidizing them. Tell your Rep to vote NO on more tax credits
http://bit.ly/agKM4z
-----------------------------------------------------------
GM FAILURES
-----------------------------------------------------------
*USA: Genetically Modified Means Higher Yield? Not For This Soya
http://bit.ly/cVmQdm Report: http://bit.ly/aaBpyO
*USA: Genetically Modified Foods Not Good Economically Either?
http://bit.ly/bVyWNs
*USA: Glyphosate Weed Resistance Rapidly Spreading: now in the majority of Midwest US corn, soy fields
http://bit.ly/9385je
*USA: Bugs love vacuum created by Bt cotton. Result: steady 5-year increase in pesticide costs
http://bit.ly/dnCViC
*USA: First came superweeds; now come the superbugs!
http://bit.ly/cP0FiX
*USA: Herbicide resistance becomes big issue
http://bit.ly/bunEGd
*USA: Monsanto now offering farmers money back for resistant pigweed BUT for full rebate to apply farmers have to apply 5 extra herbicides on top of Roundup!
http://bit.ly/bgO2XW
*CANADA: GM seeds creating barriers to exports for farmers
http://bit.ly/amMEYR
*USA: Concern over GM-contaminated flax from Canada
http://bit.ly/czlIWV
*USA: Arkansas GM contamination trial: Bayer vs rice farmers (again!)
http://bit.ly/duSR8Z
*USA: Organic Farmers Report Increasing GM Contamination with Corn
http://bit.ly/9BgLQ8
-----------------------------------------------------------
MONSANTO MELTDOWN
-----------------------------------------------------------
*QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Monsanto is in so much trouble”¦ feels like a falling knife, it does not seem to want to stop." - Jim Cramer, financial analyst, commenting on Monsanto's latest financial results, Wednesday April 7
http://bit.ly/cLJR13
*Monsanto Profit Falls 19%. For 1st time Monsanto admits it won't double its profits by 2012. Shares fall further. Monsanto's fundamental strategy, now it's losing huge Roundup profits, very much open to question: http://bit.ly/agFLuI
http://bit.ly/aPPaIm
http://bit.ly/b5CuUw
*Farmers may force Monsanto price cut
http://bit.ly/cXNwON
*New York Times: Rapid Rise in Seed Prices Draws U.S. Scrutiny
http://ow.ly/1wWCv
*Justice Dept Investigates Monsanto
http://bit.ly/avygOb (Includes Chuck Benbrook interview)
*Monsanto leads in GM Agriculture, Trails in Ethics
http://bit.ly/9JfpzV
*POLL FOR INVESTORS: Do the various controversies surrounding Monsanto affect your investment decisions regarding the company in any way?
http://bit.ly/bsB62m
-----------------------------------------------------------
AFRICA
-----------------------------------------------------------
*ZAMBIA: In 2002 the US told Zambia: "Eat GM or starve!" But they're finding a better way (inspiring article)
http://bit.ly/9G2ZGG
*KENYA: South Africa's GM maize exports frozen. South Africa "a springboard to contaminate rest of Africa"
http://bit.ly/bfCuy2
http://bit.ly/a6XKdJ
http://bit.ly/aVvVVi
*KENYA: Press release by Kenyan NGOs on illegal GM imports
http://bit.ly/b94ksW
*AFRICA: Farmers can feed the world without hitech fixes: Kumi Naidoo & Nnimmo Bassey
http://bit.ly/9Y6Rwb
*USA: Monsanto advisor Ron Paarlberg "says others shouldn't speak on behalf of Africans but nominates himself as spokesperson"
http://bit.ly/dgOuVi
*USA: Calestous Juma of Gates Foundation GMO-promoting in the Christian Science Monitor
http://bit.ly/c88diH
-----------------------------------------------------------
ASIA
-----------------------------------------------------------
*INDIA: Study indicates farmers not keen on GM crops - 80% wouldn't cultivate GM food crops
http://bit.ly/bNmzsQ
*INDIA: Ignoring the resounding "No"
http://bit.ly/aSMNiE
*INDIA: Claude Alvares on GM crops
http://bit.ly/aeArLF
*ASIA: Bt brinjal row in India catches S-E Asian farmers' attention
http://bit.ly/de1bY4
*PAKISTAN: Government to sign MoU with Monsanto for Bt seeds
http://bit.ly/9AKQrW
*INDIA: Drought and debt drives more Bt cotton farmers to suicide
http://bit.ly/bF0NYD
*CHINA: Illegal GM Rice Widely Available in Hubei
http://bit.ly/aoJbpJ
*CHINA: Web users unite against GM soybean oil
http://bit.ly/95W3Iz
-----------------------------------------------------------
EUROPE
-----------------------------------------------------------
*UK: Trial of GMO potatoes (Leeds) accepted by Defra
http://bit.ly/dugHFR
* EUROPE/LATIN AMERICA: Greenwashing 'Round Table on Responsible Soy' suffers setbacks, soy industry steps up lobbying
http://bit.ly/9I9mym
*UKRAINE: Parliament refuses to soften GM labeling laws
http://bit.ly/cetp8V
*GERMANY: Industry & NGOs welcome 'GMO-free' seal while German Liberals sulk
http://is.gd/bjTfx
*FRANCE: Disputed EU laws on GMO crop growing adopted
http://shar.es/mqq0o
*LITHUANIA: GMOs meet resistance
http://bit.ly/95XuJF
-----------------------------------------------------------
THE AMERICAS
-----------------------------------------------------------
*USA: NAS report on GM crop impacts on farms out Tuesday 13th
http://bit.ly/9UZ261
Authors include Monsanto pal Peter Raven
http://bit.ly/bpfBpB
*MEXICO: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center climbs into bed with Syngenta to develop GM wheat
http://bit.ly/a5dNkL
*USA: The Atlantic: How Obama Sold the Farm
http://bit.ly/aVOAQy
*PERU: Study Suggests Use of GM Seeds May Be Increasing
http://bit.ly/bQnUU8
*PERU: Consumer bill proposes all food labels must list any GM ingredients
http://bit.ly/9ALbso
*PERU: President Supports GM Labeling
http://bit.ly/apDk09
*USA: A Victory for Democracy - Another Blow to Monsanto
http://huff.to/dhHP8L
*USA: Sierra Club Chair on Monsanto's bad seed, revisited
http://huff.to/bxAf8F
USA: Nonsanto - the difficulty of living without Monsanto in the USA even for a month
http://bit.ly/b3NLxK
USA: New research shows danger of GM trees: Pine pollen can germinate after drifting 25 miles
http://bit.ly/cuvlzd
*USA: Pfizer ordered to pay whistleblower over genetically engineered 'AIDS-like' virus infections
http://bit.ly/aMLvKx
*USA; Super Weeds, Bees, and Diabetes: Dr Chuck Benbrook's 7 Food Safety Predictions
http://bit.ly/cESntE
*USA: AgChat (on Twitter) has new highly polished "Foundation." Ag peeps on Board + Monsanto, but no ProFood advocates. No surprise.
USA: AgChat and "chipper PR hacks" who "stir up a shitstorm of misinformation"
http://bit.ly/2dPzr
-----------------------------------------------------------
AUSTRALASIA
-----------------------------------------------------------
*GM wheat and barley to be trialled in Western Australia
http://bit.ly/cfAdwi
*Alarm at plan to allow three more GM foods
http://bit.ly/dad3lx
-----------------------------------------------------------
"BIOFUELS"
-----------------------------------------------------------
*ACTIONAID: Great video spelling out the problems with biofuels
http://bit.ly/bQqPEW
*The New Biomassters: Grab for the planet's plants as the feedstock of the global economy
http://bit.ly/codY3A
*USA: Biofuels are NOT green but Congress keeps subsidizing them. Tell your Rep to vote NO on more tax credits
http://bit.ly/agKM4z
*USA: Congressman Peterson Wins Biofool of the Year Award - for giving billions to dirty inefficient biofuels companies
http://bit.ly/9PUkQz
*EUROPE: Of Biofuels, Land Grabs and Food Prices
http://nyti.ms/9TgGmJ
*USA: Biofuels Boost Food Prices NPR on World Bank report
http://tinyurl.com/4u5uxr
*USA: Obama urges military to go "green" with biofuels!
http://bit.ly/97ALwT
Fueling hunger, environmental devastation and war!
*EUROPE: Biofuels could create food shortages, higher prices for the world's poorest consumers, draft EU reports show
http://ow.ly/1vx9g
*FRANCE: Study says land use may cancel out any benefits of biofuels
http://bit.ly/bBsSX0