from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
We have two extraordinary pieces of news this week. First, Monsanto is attempting to patent pigs - and these are not even GM pigs! (CORPORATE CRIMES). Second, revelations of bribery and corruption in Brazil's government may well explain the country's embrace of GM crops after president Lula claimed it would be "insanity" to release transgenics (THE AMERICAS).
In China, meanwhile, illegal GM rice is showing up in supermarkets, and in India more and more is emerging about the extraordinary tactics used by Monsanto to promote Bt cotton seeds to India's poor farmers at the very time that scientific studies are documenting the failure of Bt cotton. And studies in China and the U.S. show the Bt problem is not confined to India.
Claire This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org
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CONTENTS
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ASIA
THE AMERICAS
AFRICA
EUROPE
CORPORATE CRIMES
CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE
GM CROPS? A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
GM DANGERS
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ASIA
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+ CHINA: CARREFOUR SELLS ILLEGAL GM RICE
Environmental group Greenpeace said it had found GM rice not approved for human consumption on sale at a Carrefour supermarket in central China. The rice was discovered at the French retailer's store in Wuhan city in Hubei province. Since April, Greenpeace China researchers have uncovered illegal GM rice being grown in Hubei. This rice produced allergic reactions when tested on mice.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5564
+ MONSANTO BRINGS ON THE DANCING GIRLS
The biotech industry and its supporters like to present it as a science-based industry whose reputation has suffered only because its scientifically validated claims have been undermined by emotional appeals and disinformation campaigns.
In fact, the reverse is the case. And nowhere can that be seen more clearly than in India, where Monsanto has been using every trick in the book to promote its GM cotton seeds while a series of scientific studies have documented the failure of its Bt cotton. In the most recently published study (see next item), government scientists at India's premier cotton research institute have shown that Bt cotton doesn't have the necessary toxicity to kill the bollworms it targets.
But Monsanto's Indian subsidiary Monsanto-Mahyco, unabashed, has been hyping GM seeds to India's poor farmers as magical, as celebrity-endorsed and now, as sexy!
For its promotional work this spring in the Punjab, where GM cotton varieties have recently been approved for the first time, the company hired Bollywood star Nana Patekar to give glamour to its products. It also made use of Guru Nanak in its sales pitch to the state's Sikh farmers in order to try and give its seeds a miraculous aura. And now it has emerged that the company even resorted to using dancing girls in its promotional tours of Punjabi villages.
There's a striking contrast between the lavish nature of Monsanto's promotional campaigns in India and its flat refusal to pay compensation to the farmers who suffered terrible losses as a result of cultivating its seeds. That refusal to pay compensation for the harm it has done has led the government in Andhra Pradesh to ban Monsanto from the state.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5558
+ BT COTTON FAILURE MEANS HIGHER PESTICIDE COSTS FOR FARMERS
An excellent front-page article from India's Financial Express has details of the Bt cotton research showing that Bt cotton doesn't have the necessary toxicity to kill the bollworms it targets. The study found that the resistant power in cotton plant remains only for 110 days, after which the crop can be exposed to bollworm attacks. The Cry1Ac level declines as the plant grows and is found to drop below its "lethal level" of 1.9 mg within 110 days after sowing.
One of the researchers at the Nagpur-based Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), which carried out the study, commented, "The decline in resistant power means that the farmer has to apply more chemical pesticides to save his crop. Already, the cost of Bt cotton seeds are high and added to this, he incurs additional costs on pesticides. Eventually, he lands up in heavy debts."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5559
+ BT PROBLEM FOUND IN CHINA AND U.S. TOO
The recent research from India's Central Institute of Cotton Research showing the built in failure of the Bt protein in GM cotton to kill insects has been presented in some quarters as a problem that is peculiar to Bt cotton in India.
But in fact, the Indian research on Bt cotton isn't the only one to show these Bt expression problems - it is confirmed by a recent Chinese study and a recent US study.
The US study even suggests a mechanism (poor expression of the Bt toxin in tissue with low levels of chlorophyll) which indicates a systemic problem with Bt cotton. All of which suggests this problem is not just something limited to Indian varieties or to growing conditions in India.
See abstracts of the Chinese and US studies at http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5566
+ SOLUTION TO FAILING GM CROPS - MORE GM!
It would be a mistake to think that in the wake of the latest research showing Bt cotton is ineffective and potentially disastrous for farmers, India's scientific establishment are about to provide the politicians with the wake-up call they so badly need. Far from drawing the obvious lesson that it is time to withdraw from a discredited technology, the research results are being spun as showing the need to go still further and faster along the same path in the hope of finding a way out!
Looming and ineffectual Bt resistance is the result of gene monoculture, scientists now claim, pointing to a need for stacked genes and a diverse use of genes in GM crops. And, guess what? Here come Monsanto and Syngenta, amongst others, with exactly those kinds of products.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5565
+ SCIENTIST THREATENED FOR REPORTING SCIENCE
P V Satheesh reports on a shocking development in the state of Karnataka, where Monsanto is very strong. A Professor of Agricultural Sciences had reported in a local newspaper the Bt cotton study by the Deccan Development Society, which showed the crop's failure. The University where he works has served him a notice asking him why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for causing "irrefutable damage to the name of the university"!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5570
+ PAKISTAN, INDIA AND U.S. BIOTECH TIES
Pakistan, India and USA are building closer science ties with each other in crop biotechnology. The initial duration of the collaborative research programme will be 5 years, beginning 1 January 2006.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5565
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THE AMERICAS
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+ TAX BREAKS GIVEN TO GM GRAIN DEALER TO MAKE ETHANOL
A so-called "Energy Bill" is being fast-tracked through the US legislature. The bill will give $14.5 billion in tax breaks to such 'progressive' entities as Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, and coal and nuclear power corporations, not to mention the corporate corruption poster child, Archer Daniels Midland, to make ethanol from all that GM corn they grow.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5571
+ BRAZIL'S LEGISLATORS BRIBED TO PASS MONSANTO LAW
In the 2003 elections Brazil's president - Lula - pledged to keep his country GM-free. For those who've been wondering how he moved from saying it would be insanity to release transgenics, to doing exactly that and then gaining sufficient political support to pass Brazil's now notorious "Monsanto law", this article provides an answer.
EXCERPT: [revelations have emerged about] the depth of corruption all parties have been involved in, including the PT [Lula's party]. The rotten smell is still choking all Brazil with anger.
The most despicable revelation was that the mensalao was alive and well. Mensalao is the name given to a weekly bribe the government party pays to opposition parties in order to ensure the government can pass the legislation it wants. Lula apparently used mensalao to pass such anti-worker laws as his superannuation legislation, and allowing genetically modified food to be grown.
With this disclosure, the PT's image as a "clean" party was thrown out the door. Now, growing dissatisfaction with Lula's policies is threatening the government's stability.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5555
+ HELP BRAZIL GET A PROPER BIOSAFETY POLICY
GM-free Brazil are asking for letters to be sent from all over the world to the Brazilian government calling for a proper biosafety policy in Brazil (i.e. for something better than Monsanto law!).
You can help simply by pasting some text in Portuguese into an email and sending it to
Exma. Sra. Dilma Rousseff, Ministra Chefe da Casa Civil
e:mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Portuguese text is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5560
+ HAWAIIANS CHALLENGE ALGAE "BIOPHARMING"
Citizen groups Ohana Pale Ke Ao, Kohanaiki Ohana, GMO Free Hawaii, and Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of the State of Hawaii, against the Board of Agriculture, State of Hawaii, challenging the approval of a permit to allow the production of potentially dangerous GMOs on the Big Island.
The permit allows biotech company Mera Pharmaceutical to import and produce in a state facility in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Island seven novel strains of "biopharmaceutical" algae genetically modified to produce unapproved experimental drugs. The suit seeks to compel the BOA to comply with the Hawaii Environmental Policy Act by reviewing the potential environmental impacts of the project. The suit also seeks to invalidate the BOA's approval and stop the project from proceeding until the mandated review process is complete.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5563
+ OUTLAWING LOCAL GM BANS IN CALIFORNIA
The debate over GMOs just got a lot hotter in California. Last month, Democratic State Senator Dean Florez introduced an amendment that would effectively remove a community's control over its food supply.
Florez's amendment reads, in part, "no ordinance or regulation of any political subdivision may prohibit or in any way attempt to regulate any matter relating to the registration, labeling, sale, storage, transportation, distribution, notification of use, or use of field crops."
This controversial overhaul comes in response to three California counties and two cities that banned the raising of GM crops and livestock. Activist groups are up in arms over the proposed legislation, calling it an affront to local democracy.
It's easy to see why. Since California currently does not have any GMO regulations at the state level, the proposed law will successfully eliminate the only limitations that prevent biotech giants like Monsanto and Syngenta from moving in with their patented GM seeds. Moreover, the bill, known as SB 1056, takes pre-emptive measures to preclude people from raising concerns about GMOs in the future, and in doing so deprives the public of any chance debate on this hot-button issue.
Becky Tarbotton of Californians for GE-Free Agriculture, says, "If SB 1056 or a bill with similar pre-emptive language passes in California, it will effectively override the ability of local communities, including farmers, to make decisions about whether or not they want to grow genetically engineered crops."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5568
+ BIOPHARM BILL PASSES OREGON SENATE
Late Saturday afternoon, the Oregon Senate passed SB 570, the biopharm bill, by a 17-13 count.
The passage marked the end of a seven-month effort in the legislature to put a 4-year moratorium on biopharm and industrial crops, limiting growing to non-food crops grown indoors.
Although, with the session expected to end this week, there will be no chance to introduce the bill in the House, this is still the furthest that any legislative attempt to restrict biopharm crops has ever gone in the U.S. It adds to the growing concerns with current USDA regulations, which numerous scientific, agricultural, medical, environmental, business and consumer protection groups have criticized as inadequate to prevent contamination.
The bill was supported by 17 out of 18 Democrats. Unfortunately, none of the 12 Republicans supported the bill, although several were very much on the fence. This is too bad, since the bill is non-partisan - everybody eats and no one wants drugs in their food.
Oregonians for Food and Shelter, a pro-industry group that includes Monsanto, Dow and Dupont on its board, and the Oregon Farm Bureau opposed the bill.
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AFRICA
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+ GHANA STOPS IMPORT OF GM FOODS
Ghana's food and agriculture minister, Ernest Debrah, said the country would reject without hesitation the importation of any GM foods, crops and materials into the country.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5553
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EUROPE
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+ CYPRUS BUCKLING UNDER U.S. PRESSURE
You may remember the recent Reuters article about how the US sent a note to the Cypriot parliament warning against any move to pass a bill requiring the display of GM food in shops on separate shelves. The note warned that such a move would damage bilateral relations and urged parliamentarians to oppose the passage of the bill.
The note also issued the following warning: "Do you really want to take this step which will only hurt US-Cypriot relations while doing nothing to protect the health and welfare of your citizens?" It then told the Speaker of the Cypriot parliament to "do what you can to keep the bill from coming to the floor" and that if he could not do this to "at least postpone further consideration of this bill until after the summer recess".
Not long afterwards the local press reported that, "A vote on the controversial bill to separate genetically modified foods on supermarket shelves will likely be put off until after the summer break." It also reported that the bill's sponsor blamed "the potential delay on the intervention of the US Embassy". He pointed out that before the US circulated its note to parliament, all parties were ready to vote through the bill on GM products. "We had three meetings about this before and all the parties had agreed, now after the US Embassy intervention, they're not sure any more."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5561
+ GM CORN PROTEST IN GERMANY
On 31 July, up to 400 campaigners from western Europe flocked to a small village some 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside of Berlin to join forces for a protest action which they called "voluntary field liberation." Their plan was to symbolically destroy some GM corn in a field near the village of Hohenstein.
One organizer, Michael Grolm, said the large number of police officers needed to protect the relatively small parcel of land meant the protest was a success. He said farmers and companies who want to propagate GM grains will have a "difficult time" if so many police officers are needed to protect farmland where GM crops are supposed to be grown.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5556
+ HUNGARY: SCIENCE SPLIT ON GM ISSUES
Hungary's minister of economic affairs, Janos Koka, has been visiting the US seeking investment for its biotech programme, at the same time as the country is trying to maintain its GM-free status for the sake of its export markets. Environmentalists believe that the biotech companies and the US Embassy are pressuring Koka to campaign for the lifting of GMO restrictions.
In Hungary, there is significant scientific opposition to GM. Professor Bela Darvas of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Plant Protection Institute, Ecotoxicology Department, Budapest has conducted tests of DK-440-BTY (Yieldgard) Bt maize and found that it endangered Hungary's protected species of butterflies. Also, he reported that the seed "has a substantial impact on soil biology. The effect of the toxin on the soil organisms is assumed to be responsible for the decline of biological activity."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5552
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ MONSANTO'S NEW INVENTION: THE PIG!
Monsanto has filed several patents on breeding herds of pigs! The patent applications were published in February 2005 at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. Greenpeace researcher Christoph Then uncovered the fact that Monsanto is seeking patents not only on methods of breeding, but on herds of pigs kept for breeding, as well as the offspring that result.
"If these patents are granted, Monsanto can legally prevent breeders and farmers from breeding pigs whose characteristics are described in the patent claims, or force them to pay royalties," says Then. "It's a first step toward the same kind of corporate control of an animal line that Monsanto is aggressively pursuing with various grain and vegetable lines."
The patents are based on simple procedures, but are incredibly broad in their claims.
In one application (WO 2005/015989 to be precise) Monsanto is describing very general methods of crossbreeding and selection, using artificial insemination and other breeding methods which are already in use. The main "invention" is nothing more than a particular combination of these elements designed to speed up the breeding cycle for selected traits, in order to make the animals more commercially profitable.
TELL MONSANTO TO STOP PATENTING LIFE.
Let Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant (no relation to the actor who plays a sleazy corporate executive in Bridget Jones' Diary) and the board of Monsanto know you don't want them patenting your food.
http://www.greenpeace.org/no-pig-patent
Click below to send a link to a delightful pig image + this message as an E-card to your friends and associates: "The Earth is flat, pigs were invented by Monsanto, and genetically modified organisms are safe. Right."
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/photosvideos/photos/the-earth-is-flat-pigs-were-i
Click below to send a link to an image of Monsanto's President + this message as an E-card: "MONSANTO: NO FOOD SHALL BE GROWN THAT WE DON'T OWN"
http://act.greenpeace.org/ecs/s2?i=1835&sk=std&la=en
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5567
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE
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+ A SUMMER OF CORRUPT SCIENCE
Links to numerous articles on the corruption of science
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5569 :
EXAMPLE: Honest Science Under Siege
"In some areas of scientific endeavor, there are almost no independent researchers left because nearly every scientist in the field is funded by corporations with an axe to grind."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5521
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GM CROPS? A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
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+ GM CROPS? A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
EXCERPTS from updated report, 'GM Crops? A Christian Response', published by Christian Ecology Link (CEL):
* Intrinsic value. We challenge the utilitarian assumption that the only worthwhile living species are those which can be used by humans and that other flora and fauna are expendable. Other species have intrinsic value and are not merely collections of genes and chemicals or resources for human use (Gen. 1.24-25).
* Human 'dominion'. Humans have responsibility for a 'garden' Earth which belongs to God. We have a duty of care for our fellow creatures which includes showing respect for the distinct nature of each. The commission to till and keep the garden is often given too managerial, manipulative a spin (Gen. 2.15).
* Reticence. Humans are clever but wisdom is found in respect for God's constraints (Job 28).
* Christian social teaching encourages a preferential option for the poor. Christian Aid, Cafod (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development ) and the CIIR (Catholic Institute for International Relations) are among development agencies questioning GM crops. Far from ending starvation, applying GM technology could place too much power over food into too few hands and leave the poor more vulnerable. Fair distribution of food and land would have more effect.
* Christian ethical concerns include environmental sustainability and dietary choice as well as the relief of poverty. People who take a principled precautionary stance against GM technology are entitled to products wholly free from GM ingredients.
* The Christian 'good neighbour' principle requires an evaluation of the potential indirect long-term effects of GM crops on the health, environment and society of others.
Single copies of CEL's 8-page leaflet can be obtained free by sending an A5 stamped addressed envelope to CEL Publications, 40 The Avenue, Roundhay, Leeds, LS8 1JG,uk. It is also available as a pdf at www.christian-ecology.org.uk/gmo.htm
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5554
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GM DANGERS
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+ SCRAMBLING AND GAMBLING WITH THE GENOME
"With genetic engineering, transferring genes from one species' DNA to another is just like taking a page out of one book and putting it between the pages of another book." This popular analogy is used often by advocates of GM food. The words on the page are made up of the four letters, or molecules, of the genetic code, which line up in "base pairs" along the DNA. The inserted page represents a gene, whose code produces one or more proteins. The book is made up of chapters, which represent chromosomes - large sections of DNA.
The analogy makes the process of genetic engineering appear to be as simple and precise as inserting a new page. A groundbreaking report, however, shreds the book analogy. Genome Scrambling - Myth or Reality?, written by three scientists at the UK-based Econexus, reveals that the process of genetic engineering results in widespread mutations within the inserted gene, near its insertion, and in hundreds or thousands of locations throughout the genome and that these are overlooked by many scientists and regulators.
The report is an extensive review of research that overturns the central arguments by biotech advocates that the technology is precise, predictable, and safe, and that current studies are adequate. On the contrary, it demonstrates that GM crops represent a significant gamble to public health and the environment (see http://www.econexus.info/ ).
- Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, Spilling the Beans, July 2005
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5562