WEEKLY WATCH number 219
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
Monsanto is blackmailing South Africa, threatening to withdraw seed supplies unless its farmers cough up more money (AFRICA).
A new British study confirms that so-called buffer zones between GM and conventional or organic crops are far too small to prevent contamination (NEW RESEARCH).
And watch out for some particularly extravagant hype. We have a Monsanto spin doctor telling the world GM provides "near instant solutions for problems like hunger, malnutrition and poverty" (AFRICA); Monsanto's CEO claiming Europe is warming up to GMOs (EUROPE); and a climate change skeptical GM lobby group touting GM crops as a solution to global warming (AUSTRALASIA).
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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G8
NEW RESEARCH
EUROPE
MIDDLE EAST
GM MOZZIES
AFRICA
AUSTRALASIA
THE AMERICAS
ASIA
BIOFUELS
GLYPHOSATE RESISTANCE
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G8
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+ ANTI-G8 PROTEST
At the G8 summit in Rostock, Germany, a day of protest actions on agriculture took place under the banner "Resistance is Fruitful". The 5,000 participants included farmers, peasants, small producers, landless people and agricultural workers from countries around the world, including Canada, Nicaragua, Brazil and Nepal, represented by, among other groups, Via Campesina. Protesters used big puppets to emphasize their opposition to GM crops and the patenting of life forms. The protesters said police were "very aggressive and provocative, using batons, water cannons and tear gas", often indiscriminately.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7967
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NEW RESEARCH
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+ GM AND NON-GM CROPS TOO CLOSE, STUDY SAYS
Field trials could be seriously underestimating the potential for cross-pollination between GM and conventional crops and buffer zone distances may be too small, accoring to new research from the University of Exeter in the UK. The findings showed huge variation in the amount of cross-pollination between GM and non-GM crops of maize, oilseed rape, rice and sugar beet.
One of the researchers, Martin Hoyle, said, "We were struck by the strong influence of wind direction on the amount of cross-pollination. Recommended minimum distances between GM and conventional crops may need to be increased based on our findings."
Friends of the Earth (FoE) called for a moratorium on commercial GM farming until the risks were fully understood. Clare Oxborrow of FoE said: "This new research makes clear that there are still so many gaps in our knowledge about the implications of GM farming... This technology-has been utterly rejected by the public yet ministers continue to try to steamroller ahead. This research makes clear it is time to take a step back and think again."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7959
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7957
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EUROPE
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+ GM PROGRESS BEING MADE IN EUROPE - MONSANTO CHIEF
Europe is edging slowly towards GM acceptance, according to Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant. GM Watch is not convinced - see the next item.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7952
+ MORE EU STATES WARY ON GM MAIZE
Germany and France are discouraging their farmers from growing GM maize MON 810. Germany's government is introducing a de facto ban. The French government number two Alain Juppe said in a newspaper interview that France was likely to follow suit.
Austria banned the Monsanto maize back in June 1999. Hungary, one of the EU's biggest grain producers, became the first eastern European country to ban GMO crops or foods when it outlawed the planting of MON 810 seeds in January 2005. The same year, Greece and Poland put restrictions in place against MON 810. Bulgaria's parliament has also indicated support for national restrictions on growing MON 810 maize.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7971
+ DON'T MENTION THE G WORD
More on the US diplomat who told the EU to steer clear of using the term "GMOs" in order to minimise public opposition to US policies.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7976
+ CYPRUS WANTS TO BE DECLARED GM-FREE
Cyprus wants to declare itself a GM-free zone because it is not big enough to ensure conventional crops will remain unaffected by GM ones, its agriculture minister said. Photis Photiou said Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004, would also support controversial legislation now being drafted by parliament placing GM food on separate supermarket shelves. A previous attempt to introduce such legislation led the US to threaten Cyprus with the WTO.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7974
+ TURKISH GOVERNMENT "POISONING THE PEOPLE"
The Turkish Government has announced it will import 235,000 tons of corn for feed, about half of it from Argentina. Turkish NGOs have warned the Government that the Argentine corn may be GM contaminated and should not enter the country. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7974
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MIDDLE EAST
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+ IRAN RESEARCH CENTRE AGAINST GM IMPORTS
Majlis Research Centrer (the research arm of Iran's legislative body) has warned against official and unofficial entry of GM crops and foodstuffs into the country. "...unfortunately, such foodstuffs still enter Iran from other states - a measure which is against the national interest," the Center's Essential Research Office commented.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7968
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GM MOZZIES
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+ GM MOSQUITOES TO FIGHT MALARIA: AT WHAT PRICE?
GM mosquitoes are once again being hyped in the press as a means of fighting malaria. However, a paper by the evolutionary biologist Dr Christophe Boete of the Institute of Research for Development (IRD, Montpellier, France) explains that the success of such a plan is only hypothetical and many questions remain unanswered.
Boete points out that research so far has only managed to produce a GM mosquito that is resistant to a malaria strain carried by rodents that cannot be transmitted to humans. Also, no one knows what will happen if GM mosquitoes are released, as the research has ignored ecological, evolutionary and epidemiological issues.
Finally, the paper says, such hypothetical solutions must not be pursued at the expense of preventative methods and treatments that already exist and that have proven effective in fighting malaria. The only real problem with these methods is that vulnerable populations largely lack access to them. The favoring of research on GM mosquitoes could actually work to the detriment of financing and effectively deploying the currently available means of fighting malaria.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7972
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AFRICA
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+ GM CAN BRING "NEAR INSTANT SOLUTIONS" TO HUNGER AND POVERTY!
According to Monsanto's biotechnology regulatory manager for South Africa, Wally Green, as quoted in the Ugandan newspaper The Monitor, "In Africa, biotechnology has the capacity to bring about near instant solutions for problems like hunger, malnutrition and poverty"!
Compare and contrast: "If anyone tells you that GM is going to feed the world, tell them that it is not." - the former head of Syngenta in the UK, Steve Smith. "Nobody has ever claimed that GM is the answer to world hunger." - Monsanto UK's director of corporate affairs, Tony Combes.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7975
+ MONSANTO'S FAILED GM SWEET POTATO PROJECT RIDES AGAIN
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has announced a grant of more than $3 million to fund research to enhance resistance to viral infection and increase the nutritional content of the sweet potato for Africa. The grant will fund research that uses technology donated by Monsanto and the Danforth Center.
GM Watch comment: This is an attempt to give new legs to Monsanto's failed GM sweet potato project. This showcase project was hyped around the world for years as a massive success before the results of three years of field trials in Kenya were finally made public. These showed that the GM sweet potatoes despite supposedly being virus resistant were no less vulnerable than ordinary varieties, and their yield was no better or in some cases even less. In Uganda, by contrast, conventional breeding produced a high-yielding variety much more quickly and cheaply.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7973
+ MONSANTO'S GM DROUGHT TOLERANT MAIZE IN SOUTH AFRICA
During March 2007, the South African GM authorities gave Monsanto permission to conduct GM drought tolerant maize field trials in South Africa. The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has now released a report on the issue.
The report says that drought tolerance is at least 8-10 years away from commercialisation, and involves a large set of genes in the expression of a complex trait. Nevertheless, GM drought tolerant crops are being used as powerful PR tools by biotech lobbyists to promote acceptance of GM crops, expand existing markets and develop new markets. Finally, the report points out that traditional breeding, marker assisted selection, and building up organic content of the soil are far better proven methods of dealing with drought.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7969
+ S. AFRICA: MONSANTO THREATENS TO WITHDRAW FROM WHEAT SEED MARKET
The South African Government has been the most compliant in the whole of Africa on the GM issue, but that apparently counts for nothing when it comes to the ruthless pursuit of commercial interests at the expense of the country's farmers.
Wheat seeds sold to SA farmers are not hybrids and they are not GM, which means that, because of the nature of open pollination, seed saved from one year's crop and sowed again will deliver the same benefits. Monsanto says this practice, which enjoys statutory protection in SA, erodes its revenue. Monsanto's product manager for wheat and oil seed, Patrick Graham, said the company was sounding a warning to the wheat industry that it wants farmers to pay extra to meet the cost of its wheat seed research. If conditions did not change, he said, Monsanto might have to withdraw from the wheat seed market.
There is a precedent for such blackmail. In 1997 in a joint letter from Monsanto and Novartis, Novartis threatened that if Ireland did not permit the deliberate release of GM products, then "it may well become uneconomic for Novartis to continue to supply traditional seed to the Irish market. Given the importance of Novartis on the Irish market, this would have serious implications for the Irish sugar beet industry."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7980
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ NZ: ACTOR SPEAKS OUT ABOUT GM CROP TRIALS
Hollywood actor Sam Neill has criticised a decision to allow field trials of GM crops near Christchurch. A 10-year trial growing GM foods was recently approved by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma). Neill said the decision was "potentially disastrous for New Zealand farmers, primary producers, exporters and indeed the country". Read Sam Neill's letter at http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7966
+ GM CONTENT A THREAT TO MARKET - FARMER
Network of Concerned Farmers spokesman Geoffrey Carracher says the future of Australia's dairy industry depends on rejecting GM cattle feed. "The world is our market for Australia at the moment. With the introduction of GMs into Australia, our opportunities throughout the world will be reduced. New Zealand will pick up our milk market if we do it."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7979
+ GM MILK ANGER
Milk is being produced on south-west Victorian dairy farms using GM feeds without the public's knowledge, reveals an article in the Australian newspaper The Standard. The paper says a range of feeds with a GM content have been used on the region's farms, including cottonseed meal, soybean and canola meal. Director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research, Dr Judy Carman, said there had been no long-term testing on livestock fed GM feeds, or on consumers eating GM foods or meat produced with GM feeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7979
+ OZ FREE MARKET LOBBYIST TOUTS GM CROPS AS ANSWER TO GLOBAL WARMING
As the Victorian government approaches a decision on whether to renew its moratorium on GM crops, Max Rheese, executive director of the Australian Environment Foundation, has published an article touting GM crops as a solution to global warming. Rheese claims "the reduction in greenhouse gases emitted through minimum tillage by growing GM crops is equal to removing four million cars from the road".
Rheese's supposed greenhouse gas reductions are based on "the results of the Brooks Barfoot ten-year study" of GM crops, which attribute major reductions in tillage (so-called "no-till") to herbicide resistant GM crops. Unfortunately for Rheese, according to USDA, "Using herbicide-tolerant seed did not significantly affect no-till adoption"!
Brookes and Barfoot's GM reports are almost invariably commissioned by biotech interests.
The organization that Rheese represents, the AEF, describes itself as "a different kind of environment group" and that is certainly the case - it's a front group of Australia's ultra-free market lobby group, the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). And yes, Monsanto is to be found amongst the IPA's funders, and yes, the IPA's normally highly skeptical about the contribution of greenhouse gases to climate change!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7978
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THE AMERICAS
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+ MONSANTO MOVES TO TIGHTEN GRIP OVER LATIN AMERICA
Monsanto has launched a fresh offensive on Latin American countries. The corporation appears intent on completing the invasion of GM crops throughout the continent and crushing resistance, warns the international non-governmental organisation GRAIN.
For analysis of the strategy and how it's impacting on different countries
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7977
+ FLICKERING FLAME UNDER GM WHEAT
The wheat industry's April Wheat Summit has failed to come up with an agreement that would smooth the path for the introduction of GM wheat. This is in spite of the fact that Monsanto sponsors a programme with the National Association of Wheat Growers to provide "leadership training for a whole new group of wheat leaders". Its focus: biotechnology and the environment.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7960
+ USDA MUST REJECT PERMIT FOR GM EUCALYPTUS TREES
The STOP GE Trees Campaign is demanding that USDA reject a request by ArborGen to allow a field trial of GM eucalyptus to flower and produce seeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7970
+ MONSANTO - DELTA & PINE MERGER CONDEMNED
The Center for Food Safety has blasted the Dept of Justice's (DoJ) approval of Monsanto's $1.5 billion buyout of cotton seed giant Delta and Pine Land (DPL). Monsanto holds a virtual monopoly in biotech traits in GM cotton and soybeans, and is also the world's largest seed firm. DPL sells over half of US cotton seed, and in 2004 was the world's eleventh largest seed firm. The National Black Farmers Association and the Center for Food Safety had urged DoJ to block the merger. "This merger will strengthen Monsanto's monopoly, meaning increased seed prices and reduced seed choices for American farmers," said Bill Freese of the Center for Food Safety.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7964
+ IN GOD WE TRUST; ALL OTHERS NEED MORE SCRUTINY
Good article from the Catoosa County News (Georgia, USA) about the contaminated pet food scandal in the U.S. that has killed hundreds of dogs and cats (EXCERPT):
You might ask where the minds of the FDA and USDA were during this mind-numbing debacle - up the proverbial rectums of the powers that be. This should have proved to the American voters that something is very wrong in Washington. We are going to have to hold someone's feet to the fire in order for our world as we once knew it to continue.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7965
+ CANADA: PROTECTING FARMS FROM GMOs
Despite the denial of class-action certification by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, Saskatchewan organic farmers maintain there remains a compelling legal and moral claim for damages resulting from contamination of food, field and crops by GM canola (oilseed rape). As a result of the introduction of GM canola in Canada, organic canola farmers say they've suffered:
*loss of market access
*loss of income, and
*loss of choice
as well as loss of control over:
*what they produce
*how they produce it
*what value it has, and
*who will buy it.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7982
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ASIA
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+ CHINESE ARE WARY OF GM FOOD / EXPORTS LOST
Among consumers surveyed in China's three big cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, 65 percent would not choose GM food and 77 percent would not buy GM rice. A series of unauthorized exports of GM rice protein for use in animal feed, as well as GM rice in noodles and powder sent to Europe and Japan have been found in tests, causing losses for Chinese exporters.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7981
+ INDIA: ORCHESTRATED DISSENT BY GM PANELISTS
Three members of an official taskforce on GMOs have dissociated themselves from the report the taskforce produced. The report had castigated existing GM regulatory authorities. But, by an odd coincidence, the three only went public with their concerns some two months after the report was made public, and on the very same day that they and other taskforce members received an e-mail asking them to show their dissent from a pro-GM lobby group - the Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education. The FBAE is a Bangalore-based industry front group. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7961
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BIOFUELS
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+ EU'S BIOFUEL FOLLY: POLICY CAPTURE BY CORPORATE INTERESTS
A superb new report from the Corporate Europe Observatory uncovers how the EU's promotion of biofuels has been heavily influenced by corporate interests, including car manufacturers, biotech companies and the oil industry. On the invitation of the European Commission, these industries have steered EU policy on biofuels through industry-dominated advisory bodies such as the Advisory Research Council for Biofuels (BIOFRAC) and the European Biofuels Technology Platform (EBFTP).
EXCERPT: According to Berkeley professor Miguel Altieri and Food First executive director Eric Holt-Gimenez, the agrofuel [biofuel] agenda offers biotech companies like Monsanto "the opportunity to irreversibly convert agriculture to genetically engineered crops. Presently 52% of corn, 89% of soy and 50% of canola in the US is genetically modified (GM)." The authors argue that "the expansion of corn genetically tailored for special ethanol processing plants will remove all practical barriers to the permanent contamination of all non-GMO crops."
Read the full report at: http://www.corporateeurope.org/agrofuelfolly.html
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7958
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GLYPHOSATE RESISTANCE
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+ NEW CROP OF GM CROPS PROMISES YET MORE (AND DIFFERENT) HERBICIDES
According to a story in Science, 24 percent of farmers in the northern Midwest USA and 29 percent in the South USA say they have glyphosate-resistant (GR) weeds. Crop scientists in Argentina, Brazil, and Australia report GR grasses popping up too. "The selective pressure for weeds to develop resistance has been huge," Stephen Duke, a plant physiologist at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, said.
So scientists at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, have engineered a new category of GM crops. The new plants - which include broad-leafed greens such as soybeans, tomatoes, and tobacco - are resistant to a herbicide called dicamba. But the researchers themselves don't seem so confident that Mother Nature won't soon outsmart even this manoeuvre. Monsanto, which has licensed the dicamba technology, is hard at work on "gene stacking" - combining genes for multiple herbicide resistance into one plant.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7955