from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
In a mystery worthy of investigation by Sherlock Holmes, the GM contamination of native Mexican maize varieties found four years ago and confirmed by Mexican government studies since has, er... vanished, according to controversial new research (THE AMERICAS).
But far from vanishing, there's yet more evidence this week of GM contamination of China's rice market (ASIA), while Australia is facing "the most serious genetic contamination event" in its history (AUSTRALASIA).
Don't miss news of a new study on Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, which shows its astonishing efficiency in wiping out frogs and tadpoles (NEW RESEARCH), even at very low concentrations. But it's proving far less effective against weeds! (THE AMERICAS)
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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THE AMERICAS
AFRICA
EUROPE
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
NEW RESEARCH
LOBBYWATCH
FOOD SAFETY
CORPORATE CRIMES
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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THE AMERICAS
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+ GM GENES IN MEXICAN MAIZE JUST DISAPPEAR!
Four years ago, researchers David Quist and Ignacio Chapela found that native Mexican maize in Oaxaca had been contaminated by GM genes. Now, new research has apparently found that the contamination has simply "disappeared".
After analyzing seeds from about 870 plants in Oaxaca in 2003 and 2004, researchers from Mexico and the US say in a paper that appeared online this week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that they found no evidence of transgenes in these indigenous varieties.
The research has been heavily spun with the lead researcher, Allison Snow, a professor at Ohio State University, claiming that findings based on 870 plants from one part of Mexico mean, "Mexican farmers who don't want transgenes in their crops will be relieved to find out that these uninvited genes seem to have disappeared."
+ HOW COME THE DOG DIDN'T BARK?
Allison Snow says the researchers were surprised by their results. And well they might be!
When Quist and Chapela's research was first published, it was attacked for all kinds of reasons but few critics sought to deny that the contamination was a reality. In fact, some of Chapela's critics sought to attack his research as merely a statement of the blindingly obvious.
Nick Kaplinsky who was reckoned Dr Chapela's toughest critic described the claim that there was transgenic corn growing in Mexico as a "no-brainer."
And according to referees for the journal Nature, who looked at the criticisms of scientists like Kaplinsky, "none of the comments has successfully disproven their [Chapela and Quist's] main result that transgenic corn is growing in Mexico and crossing with local varieties".
But now, it seems, as Allison Snow puts it, "these uninvited genes seem to have disappeared."
Ignacio Chapela says, "It's very difficult to believe that contamination has disappeared. Barely two years after we said we found it, they say it's gone. One of those two statements has to be wrong."
And it wasn't only Chapela who said the contamination was there. Two other studies pointed to widespread contamination.
And such contamination is hardly surprising. US GM corn has poured across the border as Allison Snow admits, "There is great potential for transgenes to come across the U.S. border, with millions of tons of GM grain imported each year for processed food and animal feed."
And yet we're asked to believe that Mexican farmers have stopped planting any of the imported seed even though it's so much cheaper (20-30%) for them to use than any local seed.
Allison Snow and her co-researchers have also suggested that perhaps the GM grain found there just wasn't that hardy and so died out. It's hard to take at face value a statement that claims that you can weed-out a "gene" from a population within a single generation or two.
What's also surprising is that among the researchers saying the contamination has simply disappeared are people who only a year ago were publicly saying there was contamination!
Quist and Chapela have pointed out, "three of the authors in this paper have made many categorical public representations prior to this paper which lie in diametrical contradiction to the negative results paper presented in PNAS. Although their statements were never published in a peer-reviewed journal, we must presume that those contradictory categorical statements were based on real samples and analyses."
Abstract of the paper
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5599
Articles and press releases:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5597
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5586
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5589
Quist and Chapela's initial reponse:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5599
+ INDUSTRY SPIN ON NEW MAIZE STUDY
The industry's spin on the latest Mexican maize study was syndicated across America on the day of publication, thanks to an article authored out of Monsanto's home town rag - the St Louis Post Dispatch.
According to the paper, "Barbara Schaal, a Washington University plant biologist, said the study raised doubts as to whether there ever was gene flow in the first place."
So now the contamination hasn't just disappeared into the ether - it never was there!
In the days prior to news of the publication of this study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), we heard on the grapevine that an article along these lines had been "induced into the PNAS by Barbara Schaal".
Schaal - as the Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences - might be thought to be in a perfect position to wave this paper through. Schaal is also on the Scientific Organization Committee of the Danforth Plant Science Center launched with a $70-million pledge from Monsanto, which also donated the Center's 40-acre tract of land, valued at $11.4 million. Also on the Scientific Organization Committee with Schaal is Willy Gruissem - a hugely controversial figure in the Quist and Chapela affair.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5588
Quist and Chapela in their initial response to the PNAS paper note, "We have noticed troubling methodological and technical problems in the PNAS paper which would have deserved close attention before publication, and certainly before any conclusions could be drawn from it. We are writing a first rebuttal of the paper dealing with these questions, and will make this rebuttal public as soon as it is carefully reviewed and considered by our colleagues."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5599
+ ATTACK OF THE 12-FOOT HORSEWEED!
Scientists in California have found clusters of the horseweed that are resistant to scores of herbicides, leaving farmers to fight an increasingly formidable and costly foe. Pete Christensen said he watched his costs soar as the most popular herbicide became increasingly powerless to stop the weeds from choking the grapes on his 75-acre vineyard near Selma.
Bob Prys, a manager for the 13,000-acre Borba Farms, said the weed became a problem just three or four years after they started growing Roundup-Ready cotton on the 500-acre ranch. They sprayed the field, killing everything but the cotton plants, and saving money by having to till their fields less frequently.
Now Prys said they're relying on weeding again and adding other chemicals to their herbicide mix adding unexpected costs to the higher price they pay for Roundup-Ready seed. "It's caused us to re-evaluate our Roundup-Ready cotton," Prys said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5591
+ ROUNDUP READY ALFALFA WORRIES GROWERS
Alfalfa growers in Mid-Columbia, Washington say they aren't ready to grow Roundup Ready alfalfa because they're worried that if they do their export markets in Japan could ban Washington hay.
Monsanto and Forage Genetics International, which produce the product, received US Dept of Agriculture approval for the hay in July and have started selling the seed in every state but Washington. The companies are poised to release the seed in the state as early as spring 2006. But those in Washington who export high-value hay say customers in Japan don't want the alfalfa in their dairy feed troughs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5578
+ NUN IS PUBLIC FACE OF ANTI-GM INVESTOR GROUP
A Dominican nun, Sister Patricia Daly, has become the public face of faith-based investor organizations that press for social responsibility at shareholder meetings. At Chicago-based Kraft Foods Inc., for example, company officials have met several times with Daly, of the Interfaith Center, to discuss the company's use of GM ingredients.
"There are no feed studies proving the safety" of bioengineered foodstuffs, said Daly, noting that regulation and liability could hurt the company's bottom line. "The reality is that Kraft Foods is not protected."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5579
+ FIRST U.S. GM LABELING LAW PASSED IN ALASKA
Alaska has signed into law the nation's first labeling legislation for GM food. Senate Bill 25 requires that GM fish be "conspicuously labeled to identify the fish or fish product as a genetically modified fish or fish product".
Tracie Letterman, Fish Program Director for Center for Food Safety, said, "Alaska has become the first state to give its citizens what 90 percent of Americans want-labels for genetically engineered foods. We anticipate that this legislation will be a bellwether for other state efforts to label biotech foods. It's only a matter of time before all states move to fill in the regulatory gap left by the federal government's failure to require mandatory labeling."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5575
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AFRICA
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+ PLEASE THANK THE AG MINISTER OF GHANA
Ecoterra International asks: how long has it been since you had a chance to send a THANK YOU email to a political leader or government?
Please send your THANK YOU to Hon. Ernest Debrah, the Food and Agriculture Minister of the sovereign state of Ghana, who stated clearly that his country would reject, without hesitation, the import of GMOs into the country, although it might solve the famine problems being experienced:
Hon. Minister Ernest Debrah, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Accra, P.O Box M37 Ministries, Accra. Tel: (+233-21) 663036/6171360. Fax: (+233-21) 668245. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A sample letter from Friends of the Earth's Bill Freese is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5580
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EUROPE
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+ EU AUTHORIZES GM MAIZE BY LEGAL RUBBER STAMP
The EU has authorized imports of GM maize MON863, the third GM product to win approval since the EU ended its unofficial ban last year. The maize, known as MON 863, is engineered by Monsanto to resist the corn rootworm. The maize may now be sold across EU for processing into animal feed - not for growing - but will have to receive a second EU approval for use in food before shipments can start. This might take another month.
A feeding study of MON863 maize on rats showed significant differences regarding kidney structures and levels of white blood cells between rats fed on the GMO maize and those that were not.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5584
+ GM MAIZE FIGHT GOES TO COURT
American biotech firms want to use legal action to force Germany to approve their GM maize for cultivation. Monsanto and Pioneer are trying to get provisional approval to cultivate their pest-resistant maize, Mon810, in Germany, according to German consumer protection authorities.
But Alexander Muller of the consumer protection office says he doesn't believe that Mon810 can be legally approved as seed. "It is not allowed under European law," he said. For the past seven years, Mon810 has been approved in the EU only as feed and as food. Cultivation of the crop was excluded.
But the EU Commission, in contrast, says that Mon810, also as seed, is legal and must be allowed to be used in Germany. The maize has been included in the EU catalogue of allowable imports since 2004, authorizing its use.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5595
+ GROWERS CAN EXPLOIT GM LOOPHOLE
Mon810 can be grown in the UK without farmers having to notify the authorities or their neighbours, the UK Guardian has discovered after testing a loophole which allows enthusiasts to grow their own GM maize.
While in germany the consumer protection office says Mon810 "is not allowed under European law," in Britain Defra takes exactly the opposite view. Supporters of GM crops can get them by applying to the biotech company Monsanto for a sample pack of GM maize to test on a British farm. When the Guardian put this to the test, Monsanto offered to send a small quantity free provided the farmer sent the test results and undertook to protect the company's interest by not breaching patents, for example, by selling the seed to a third party.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5582
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ASIA
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+ CHINA RICE CONTAMINATION CONFIRMED
GeneScan, a global tester of GMOs, said GM rice is being sold in parts of China, even though Beijing has not approved its commercialisation. A spokesman in China's agriculture ministry said the government was not aware of any such cases!
Chuk Ng, general manger of GeneScan's operation in China, said it had found GM Bt rice in samples collected from the Chinese city of Wuhan as well as the southern province of Guangdong, threatening to contaminate the Chinese rice market.
"I believe this GMO rice is widely spread at least in the middle or southern parts of China," Ng said. "Once contamination has spread out, it's there. You cannot put it back." [Dr Chapela would agree!]
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5598
+ DID INDIAN GOVT KNOW BT COTTON INADEQUATE PRIOR TO RELEASE?
On 3 August Suman Sahai of Gene Campaign wrote to the secretary of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests demanding an enquiry into whether the government released more Bt cotton hybrids for commercial cultivation despite knowing the early trends of CICR findings that the varieties were inadequate in protecting against bollworm.
Already in 2003, the CICR filed a report to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, a body of the environment ministry, indicating that the levels of toxin in Indian Bt cotton might be insufficient to control the pest.
In her letter to the ministry, Sahai says the approval committee violated India's 1986 Environment Protection Act by not making CICR's early findings public.
Sahai commented, "Despite all this evidence being available with the GEAC, it has continued to release more and more Bt cotton varieties, causing grave financial losses and suffering to several thousand farmers, leading to enormous hardships and even suicide by many of them... we believe the losses and deaths of farmers due to GEAC's sins of commission was about as grave as it can get."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5577
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5573
+ PLEASE TAKE ACTION ON BT COTTON
The Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Greenpeace India are asking us to please take a few minutes to send a mail and/or fax to the Chairperson, GEAC demanding that they revoke their approvals of Bt cotton and that they revamp their decision-making processes drastically. A model letter that you could use or adapt, along with more information, is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5581
Letters should be sent to:
Shri Suresh Chandra, GEAC Chairperson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or faxed to 011-24363967.
+ JAPAN FINDS SEVENTH SHIPMENT WITH BT10 MAIZE
Japan has discovered a seventh shipment of grains for feed from the US with Syngenta's unapproved Bt10 GM maize, and requested the importer to destroy the grain or to order the ship to return to the country of origin.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5578
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ AUSTRALIAN CROPS FACE SERIOUS GM CONTAMINATION
Environmentalists say Australia is facing "the most serious genetic contamination event" in its history, after the West Australian government confirmed low levels of Bayer's Topas 19/2 GM canola had been found in non-GM canola. Julie Newman, NCF National Spokesperson and West Australian farmer, has demanded a recall of the canola.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5585
+ WESTERN AUSTRALIA SEEKS NATIONAL GM LIABILITY LAWS
Western Australia's Minister for Agriculture says he would like to see national legislation governing liability for GM contamination. The call comes after preliminary test results in WA identified a small amount of GM canola in non-GM canola. Kim Chance says while he believes his state's GM-free status is not under threat, liability laws are something the grain industry should consider.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5587
+ FARMER THREATENED WITH LEGAL ACTION ON "GM SLUR"
The Grains Council of Australia is seeking legal advice in relation to allegations about its policy on ag biotech raised by Julie Newman of the Network of Concerned Farmers in Western Australia.
Julie's crime seems to have been questioning why the Grains Council of Australia seemed to be promoting the interests of the biotech industry rather than that of farmers when it came to the issue of liability - the GCA has been actively opposing the industry having legal liability for the impact of their crops. Julie said, "I welcome legal action as it will allow me to give information to support my statements."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5596
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NEW RESEARCH
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+ ROUNDUP KILLS FROGS AS WELL AS TADPOLES EVEN AT LOW CONCENTRATIONS
As amphibians continue to disappear worldwide, a University of Pittsburgh researcher may have found more pieces of the puzzle. Pitt assistant professor of biological sciences Rick Relyea has discovered that Roundup, the most commonly used herbicide in the world, is deadly to tadpoles at lower concentrations than previously tested; that the presence of soil does not mitigate the chemical's effects; and that the product kills frogs in addition to tadpoles.
In two articles published in the August 1 issue of the journal Ecological Applications, Relyea and his team found that even when applied at concentrations that are one-third of the maximum concentrations expected in nature, Roundup still killed up to 71 percent of tadpoles raised in outdoor tanks.
Relyea also examined whether adding soil to the tanks would absorb the Roundup and make it less deadly to tadpoles. The soil made no difference: After exposure to the maximum concentration expected in nature, nearly all of the tadpoles from three species died.
Studying how Roundup affected frogs after metamorphosis, Relyea found that the recommended application of Roundup Weed and Grass Killer, a formulation marketed to homeowners and gardeners, killed up to 86 percent of terrestrial frogs after only one day.
"The most striking result from the experiments was that a chemical designed to kill plants killed 98 percent of all tadpoles within three weeks and 79 percent of all frogs within one day," Relyea wrote.
GM WATCH comment: Local authorities worldwide spray Roundup liberally in public places and when challenged, invariably come up with the answer, "It's inactivated in the presence of soil." While research has always suggested that this is not the case, the new study (we hope) spells it out clearly enough even for local government officials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5574
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ UK GOVT LAUNCHES "CHARM OFFENSIVE" ON GM CROPS
A cabinet minister has revealed that the government is launching a "charm offensive" to stop the media reporting "scare stories" about GM crops.
The campaign led by John Hutton, the Cabinet Office Minister, led environmental pressure groups to warn against the Government "softening up" the media for controversial scientific developments. Tony Blair dispatched Mr Hutton to talk to media chiefs because he fears Britain could miss out on economic and social benefits amid public hostility to GM.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5583
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FOOD SAFETY
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+ SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF GM FOOD SAFETY SCANDAL
Seven years ago on 10 August 1998, Dr Arpad Pusztai appeared on BBC TV's World in Action to speak about his research findings that GM foods damaged the health of rats. An orchestrated campaign of vilification by the scientific establishment, led by the Royal Society, followed. Dr Pusztai was fired and his research terminated.
Andy Rowell, author of a book that deals extensively with the Royal Society's role in the Pusztai affair, writes, "the fundamental flaw in the scientific establishment's response is not that they try and damn Pusztai with unpublished data, nor is it that they have overlooked published studies [supporting Pusztai's concerns], but that in 1999, everyone agreed that more work was needed."
Seven years later, that work has never been done.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5592
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CORPORATE CRIMES
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+ LATEST ON MONSANTO'S PIGS
Monsanto is shaking up the swine industry with plans to patent pig-breeding techniques and lay claim to the animals born as a result. Agricultural experts are scrambling to assess how these patents might affect the market, while consumer activists warn that if the company is granted pig-related patents, on top of its tight rein on key feed and food crops, its control over agriculture could be unprecedented.
Some fear that Monsanto one day could be filing patent infringement lawsuits against pig farmers. Monsanto already has a track record of suing farmers whose crops contain some of the company's patented genetic plant technology.
Critics also say it is not apparent that Monsanto has actually invented anything new in swine reproduction. They say the company is simply trying to lay claim to a combination of practices already used along with genetic selection that occurs in nature.
"The claims are very broadly sculpted; the question is whether there is anything new here," said Max Rothschild, US Pig Genome Coordinator from Iowa State University, who holds several patents in this area.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5594
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QUOTES OF THE WEEK
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"Once contamination has spread out, it's there. You cannot put it back."
- Chuk Ng, GeneScan's general manager in China (see ASIA)
"Public relations and democratic empowerment are not the same. In fact, they are totally different but in the United Kingdom at least, science communication is dominated by public relations and marketing departments.... Ironically, the extent to which the public trusts science has suffered as a result."
- Dr Adam Nieman on the "popularisation of science"
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5590