Claire Robinson, editor
Check out the new GM Watch podcasts
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=80&page=1
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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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LOBBYWATCH
CONTAMINATION
PROTESTS AND RESISTANCE
GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD SAFETY
RESEARCH
LABELLING
SETBACKS FOR THE GM INDUSTRY
CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE
PATENTS ON LIFE
BIOFUELS
GM MEDICINES / GENE THERAPY
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
CHURCHES
GOVERNMENT SLEAZE
NANOTECHNOLOGY
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ LEADING RESEARCHER CALLS FOR WITHDRAWAL OF "WORMY" CORN PAPER
New Scientist reports that a leading researcher into scientific ethics is calling for the withdrawal of a paper published in the British Food Journal.
The study, carried out at a farm store in Canada, claimed that sales of GM sweetcorn were 50 per cent higher than those of non-GM corn. The journal later awarded the study a prize as its "most outstanding paper" of 2004.
But New Scientist reports that GM Watch has published a photograph that it says shows a large sign suspended above the non-GM corn during the study asking: "Would you eat wormy sweet corn?" The GM corn, it claims, was labelled as "quality sweet corn". The paper claims that the corn was marked simply as either genetically engineered or regular.
If this is the case, "it is grounds for the journal to retract the article", says Richard Jennings, who studies research conduct at the University of Cambridge. The journal's editor has refused to withdraw the paper, but says he is willing to publish a letter condemning it followed by a response from the lead author, Doug Powell of Kansas State University.
To see the picture and for more on the paper go to:
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=72&page=1
For the full New Scientist piece:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19025533.300&feedId=gm-food_rss20
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CONTAMINATION
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+ THAILAND: GREENPEACE HELPS PLANTER DESTROY GM-CONTAMINATED ORCHARD
A papaya planter in Rayong's Klaeng district sought help from Greenpeace to demolish his orchard to stop the spread of GM papaya. Teerasak Bamrung, the orchard owner, is among 2,669 farmers in 37 provinces who obtained papaya seeds from the Department of Agriculture's Khon Kaen research station in 2003 and 2004. The seeds turned out to be GM.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6550
+ MARKET LOSS AND CONTAMINATION - GM PAPAYA
GM papaya grown in Hawaii has been hyped as a huge success story - but nothing could be further from the truth, says an article in the Bangkok Post. The article says, "The concern over this ... GMO food is so great, that it creates resistance, loss of markets, contamination and more loss of markets."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6493
+ UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PAPAYA SEEDS STILL GM-TAINTED
A group of farmers and community members who oppose GM plants have said that some GM papaya seeds are still mixed in with packets of papaya seeds being sold by the University of Hawaii.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6559
Click here for a 19-page report in pdf format http://www.gmofreemaui.com/press_releases/Contamination_Report.pdf
+ EU NATIONS DIVIDED OVER ORGANIC FOOD RULES
European Union agriculture ministers are divided over plans to set up new EU-wide labelling of organic and GM foods.
Several nations, including Belgium, Austria, Italy and Greece, demanded that any new rules on what constitutes organic should ensure that GM content of the product be near zero, and not the proposed 0.9 percent limit, which EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel argued was needed to account for accidental contamination.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6553
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PROTESTS AND RESISTANCE
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+ BASF ADMITS DEFEAT OF GM POTATO EXPERIMENT
Chemicals company BASF said it will not go ahead with its GM potato experiment in Co. Meath this year, and may cancel it altogether.
BASF said it made the decision because of the conditions imposed in the provisional consent given by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The cancellation may also have been influenced by nationwide opposition from more than 100 farm and food industry groups, resistance by TDs (members of the Irish Parliament) from all parties, two motions passed unanimously by Meath Co. Council, and the threat of further legal action on planning and constitutional grounds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6577
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6563
+ ANTI-GM ACTIVISTS ON TRIAL IN BANGKOK
A biotech scientist and Hawaiian farmers will testify in Bangkok Criminal Court in the historic hearing of a case on GMOs. Two activists face criminal charges for their role in exposing that a government research station in Khon Kaen province illegally sold and distributed GM-contaminated papaya seeds and seedlings to farmers in at least 37 provinces.
The Agriculture Department, which ran a field trial of the GM papaya, sued the two activists for theft, trespassing and destruction of its GM papaya orchard.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6560
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6568
+ GM ISSUE COULD TOPPLE EU CONSTITUTION
Kathy Sinnott, an Irish Member of the European Parliament, has said that if the European Commission persists in its misguided policy to force GM seeds and crops on Ireland, the people of Ireland will vote against adopting the European Constitution and against any further EU integration.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6529
More resistance from Ireland's politicians:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6529
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6529
Chairman of the Soil Association Craig Sams comments on how the elected EU member states got into the position whereby they are dictated to by the unelected European Commission:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6529
+ GREENPEACE STOPS AMAZON SOYA ENTERING EUROPE
Sixty Greenpeace activists have prevented commodities giant Cargill from unloading a shipment of Amazon soya in Amsterdam port, to protest against the destruction of huge tracts of the Amazon rainforest to grow soya to feed farm animals in Europe.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6497
+ MORE GERMAN FARMERS AND POLITICIANS TURN AGAINST GM
The Bavarian Farmers Union (BBV) has changed its hitherto lenient position on GM and is urging members to "avoid planting transgenic corn". According to an assessment by the BBV, transgenic technology currently offers "no benefits" to farmers.
According to the BBV, it now appears that the CSU (Christian Democratic) party is also changing its policy. CSU general secretary Markus Soeder recently emphasized his opposition to outdoor experiments with GM plants.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6571
+ GREEKS DO NOT WANT GM
All 54 Greek prefectures have passed local bans on GMOs. Theodore Koliopanos, a legislator and former deputy environment minister, said, "All political parties are opposed to GMOs, which is odd because we disagree on everything else."
Koliopanos commented on US pressure to accept GMOs: "The first visit any new minister in Greece gets is from the US ambassador saying you need to have GMOs. The pressure is incredible."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6566
+ GM FOODS TO BE BANNED FROM MOSCOW SCHOOLS
Foods containing GM products will be banned from Moscow schools and pre-school childcare centres.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6538
+ INDIAN FARMERS BURN BT COTTON
Concerned over the adverse impact of Bt cotton cultivation in the country, Indian farmers burnt stacks of the harvest produced in Amravati region in Maharashtra.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6536
+ VERMONT GOVERNOR VETOES GM SEED LIABILITY BILL
Vermont Governor Jim Douglas has vetoed a bill that would have made seed manufacturers liable for damages caused by GM seeds that drift into the fields of farms that do not want to use them. Douglas said the measure was unnecessary and divisive and would have caused manufacturers to raise prices or restrict the seed sales in Vermont.
Supporters of the bill accused the administration of bowing to pressure from manufacturers. "Gov. Douglas has chosen hypocrisy over democracy in siding with the chemical giants and not listening to the farmers," said Rep. Dexter Randall, P-Troy, the primary sponsor of the bill and a dairy farmer. "This is a huge insult for the farm community of Vermont, only widening the gap between conventional and organic farmers."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6542
It's Douglas's veto that's divisive, not the bill, says a letter published in a Vermont newspaper:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6564
+ SOY STOCKS RUN OUT AT BRAZIL CRUSHER DUE TO FARMER PROTESTS
All is far from well in the GM paradise of Brazil. Soybean stocks have run out during the peak soy export season at a soy crusher in Mato Grosso, because protesting farmers have successfully closed grain silos. Farmers are protesting low local commodity prices. In most of the soy belt, soy prices paid by industry do not come close to covering production costs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6544
+ BRAZIL: GREENPEACE SHUTS DOWN SOYA EXPORT TERMINAL OF AMAZON DESTROYER
A Greenpeace protest aimed at shutting down Cargill's soya export facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil has resulted in one activist being thrown in the river, and eight people being arrested.
Greenpeace's Paulo Adario said: "American corporations like Cargill are eating up the Amazon to grow soya. Meat fed on this soya ends up on supermarket shelves and fast food counters, like Tesco and Kentucky Fried Chicken, across Europe."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6549
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GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
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+ WTO CONFIRMS RULING AGAINST EU GM MORATORIUM
The World Trade Organization (WTO) confirmed in a final ruling that the European Union broke trade rules with its six-year moratorium on approving GM foods. The verdict, which had been widely expected, also condemned six member states - Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg - for applying individual bans on a number of GM products previously approved by the European Commission.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6530
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6533
+ POLAND BANS SALE OF GM SEEDS
Poland's parliament has passed a law which removes GM seeds from a national register, effectively banning their sale. Around 76 percent of Polish consumers are against GMOs.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6495
+ EU AUTHORIZES POLISH BAN ON GM MAIZE SEEDS
European Union officials have authorized a Polish ban on the use of around 700 types of maize seed, including 16 GM varieties, which had been cleared for sale throughout the EU. The European Commission said the Polish ban was justified because the maize varieties had a long growing cycle that would prevent the crop ripening in the Polish climate.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6519
+ MONSANTO CONTINUES FRENCH GM TESTS DESPITE RULING
France's top court, the Council of State, has cancelled two authorisations granted to Monsanto to grow test fields of its GM Roundup Ready maize. The court said Monsanto had not given precise enough details of where the field trials would take place.
But Monsanto said it would not prevent them carrying out their tests. "We'll continue our experiments but we might have to change a bit the way we ask for licences in the future," Yann Fichet, Monsanto France's director of external relations said.
Half of Monsanto's experiments in France are destroyed each year.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6510
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6522
+ ITALY: ONE TOWN IN FOUR IS GMO-FREE
In a campaign targeting small towns in Italy, one town in four has declared itself "GMO-free".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6577
+ ITALIAN FARMERS' ASSOCIATION: WE DON'T NEED GMOs
Italy's agriculture doesn't need GMOs, says Italian farmers' association president, Giuseppe Politi.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6540
+ ECUADOR BANS GMOs IN FOOD AID
Ecuador's Parliament has passed a law which bans the presence of GMOs in food aid sent to that country.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6565
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ENVIRONMENT
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+ GM TREES ARE BEING GROWN SECRETLY IN UK
GM elm trees resistant to Dutch elm disease are being grown in Dundee, Scotland. But the scientists involved will not say precisely where they are, or even exactly how many are being grown.
The government was forced to admit that GM poplar, apple and eucalyptus trees have been cultivated outdoors in Berkshire, Derbyshire and Kent.
The admission came after warnings about such trees from ministers from over 100 countries at a UN conference in Curitiba, Brazil. They urged a "precautionary approach" towards them after hearing that they could "wreak ecological havoc throughout the world's forests".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6496
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FOOD SAFETY
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+ INDIA: 1600 SHEEP DIE AFTER GRAZING IN BT COTTON FIELD
Sixteen hundred sheep died in the Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh after grazing in fields from which Bt cotton had been harvested. A survey conducted by a fact-finding team found that the sheep started dying after continuously grazing on the leaves and pods of Bt cotton plant residues in the fields for seven days.
The symptoms did not correlate to any of the diseases occurring during the season, the study said. The team urged the government to carry out an exhaustive study of the impact of Bt toxin on livestock.
As usual, the Indian government has done nothing about this scandal, and the fact-finding team was organized by AP Shepherds Union. The team included a veterinary scientist and two scientists from the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6499
Read the fact-finding team's report:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6494
+ GM FOOD ALERT AS MORE ILLNESSES LINKED TO BT CROPS
New data on illnesses caused by GM crops (see above) are a warning that applications for GM foods must be rejected by Foods Standards Australia/New Zealand Authority (FSANZ), says campaign group GE Free NZ.
GE Free NZ is concerned that new GM food applications keep flooding in whilst the evidence of harm is being ignored. Applications are being made for GM lucerne and high-lysine soy for introduction as animal and human health foods.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6499
+ ALARM BELLS OVER GM FOOD APPROVAL: PART ONE
In two excellent articles, two Canterbury University (New Zealand) scientists outline their concerns about GM foods.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6514
+ NEW REPORT - BIOTECH CROPS AND FOODS: THE RISKS AND ALTERNATIVES
A superb report on the above topic for the Oakland Institute from Carmelo Ruiz, based on his forthcoming book, is at
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/?q=node/view/336
It can also be downloaded as a PDF
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/RTC2006/BIOTECH_CROPS_AND_FOODS.pdf
It provides an excellent summary of:
***worrying food safety research findings on GM foods to date
***contamination problems thus far
***field trial fiascos
***harassment by Monsanto of farmers whose crops have become GM-contaminated
- and much more.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6516
+ WHAT'S MAKING AMERICANS SO SICK?
Associated Press report from the nation that eats more GM food than any other (EXCERPT):
Middle-aged, white Americans are much sicker than their counterparts in England, startling new research shows, despite US health care spending per person that's more than double what England spends. A higher rate of Americans tested positive for diabetes and heart disease than the English.
Americans also self-reported more diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, lung disease and cancer.
The gap between the countries holds true for educated and uneducated, rich and poor.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6501
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RESEARCH
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+ GM COWS FOR GM DRUGS
Mastitis is a nasty disease of the udder to which cows in industrial agriculture are prone. Mastitis is said to cost the US dairy industry $2 billion annually - and the problem is made considerably worse by Monsanto's GM cattle drug, aimed at boosting milk production, rBGH (also known as BST and commercially "Posilac"). For this reason Monsanto's GM drug is banned in Europe not only on human health grounds but also on animal welfare grounds.
The GM cattle drug is also banned on animal welfare grounds in Canada.
But never fear, a US Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-led team is developing transgenic dairy cows that are engineered to have a built-in defence against mastitis. This, of course, means it will be easier to give these cows a GM hormone to give more milk ...
We've published several items relating to this technological breakthrough, including comment from the geneticist Prof Joe Cummins who thinks kids who drink the resulting milk may suffer injury or death from allergy, at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6579
+ SCIENTISTS ACHIEVE ALLERGEN-FREE SOY BREAKTHROUGH - WITHOUT GM
Researchers have isolated two non-GM Chinese soybean lines that can grow without the primary protein linked to soy allergies. The scientists say that the two lines will be given away to breeders seeking to produce new varieties of allergy-free soybeans without genetic engineering.
The researchers are based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service's Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre in St Louis.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6526
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LABELLING
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+ NEW WTO CHALLENGE CALLED FOR AGAINST EU LABELLING AND TRACEABILITY
Fulfilling a long-standing GM Watch prediction, American agribiz appears to be promoting a US attack EU labelling and traceability laws for GMOs. On behalf of its 25,000 US soybean producer-members, the American Soybean Association (ASA) says it is outraged by the conclusions adopted by the European Commission on the impact of EU traceability and labelling laws for GMOs on US exports.
"The EU's biotech labelling and tracing rules have had a significant negative effect on US exports of food and agricultural products to the EU," said ASA President Bob Metz.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6541
For more on the ASA and its close relationship with Monsanto and other biotechs: http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=10
+ U.S. FAILS TO DUMP INTERNATIONAL GM LABELLING GUIDELINE
The US tried and failed to dump an international guideline for labelling GM food at a UN food standards committee held May 1-5 in Ottawa, Canada. The labelling guideline suggests a minimum standard of GM labelling for countries to adopt.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6576
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SETBACKS FOR THE GM INDUSTRY
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+ MONOPOLIES COMMISSION COMES DOWN HARD ON MONSANTO
In a major setback to Monsanto, India's Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission held that the company was indulging in restrictive trade practices and asked it to revise its huge charges.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6536
+ UK: BIOTECH QUITS CAMBRIDGE BECAUSE OF GM OPPOSITION
Around 25 scientists will lose their jobs following the closure of one of Cambridge's longest established biotechs - Biogemma. Entrenched opposition to GM crops is understood to be at least partly to blame for the decision, which will also see one of the company's three French labs closed down.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6548
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CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE
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+ CAUTION URGED OVER "SCIENCE ERRORS" BY ROYAL SOCIETY
The Royal Society has come out with one of its periodical attacks on research which harms corporate interests. The RS wants scientists who make such "mistakes in science research" as suggesting the MMR vaccine harms people and that GM potatoes harmed lab rats to keep quiet lest public opinion should be "distorted"!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6532
+ AUSTRALIAN GM STUDIES ARE CASH COW FOR GM INTERESTS
Commonwealth Government grants of $851,890 for planned gene technology studies are designed to justify the fast tracking of GM crops and foods into Australia, critics say. The money is from the $3.8 million Biotechnology Strategy for Agriculture, Food and Fibre, part of the National Biotechnology Strategy.
GeneEthics Network Director, Bob Phelps says, "This cash cow for corporate interests is the opening salvo in another wasteful taxpayer-funded government/industry PR campaign to trash the GM-free values held by most Australian family farmers and shoppers.
"These in-house studies, by the Bureau of Rural Sciences, the Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the private sector, exclude the public and independent experts."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6507
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PATENTS ON LIFE
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+ NATIVE HAWAIIANS PROTEST PATENT ON SACRED PLANT
Hawaiian activists and farmers are demanding that the University of Hawaii (UH) give up its patents on three lines of taro (a tropical plant with a starchy edible tuber) whose lineage extends back to Polynesian taro first brought to the Islands centuries ago.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6551
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BIOFUELS
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+ SOUTH AFRICA, BIOFUELS AND GMOs
In the wake of worldwide rejection of GM food crops, the GM industry hopes that the biofuels movement will save it. Biofuels are being pushed as a solution to global warming; South Africa is being put forward as a place where vast amounts of land can be devoted to growing GM crops for biofuels.
Politicans, keen to be seen to do something about climate change, are swallowing the industry spin uncritically. Now Mariam Mayet of the African Centre for Biosafety has written an excellent report, "South Africa, bioethanol and GMOs: A heady mixture", exposing the biofuels scam.
EXCERPT:
Once maize is harvested, three energy expenditures in ethanol production raise the total costs. These include energy to the transport of maize grain to the ethanol plant, energy expended to provide the capital equipment requirements for the plant, and energy expanded in the plant operations for the fermentation and distillation processes. The effective energy balance of ethanol as a biofuels is therefore in doubt.
A study by Pimental and Patzek shows that turning plants such as maize, soyabeans and sunflowers into fuel uses more energy than the resulting ethanol or biodiesel generate. The researchers demonstrated that sunflower oil requires 118% more fossil energy to refine it than the fuel obtained from it. Likewise, soya requires 27%, and maize 29% more fossil fuels than that obtained from the crops themselves. According to the researchers, it takes six units of energy in corn farming, distillation, and transportation to yield one unit of energy produced by ethanol in an automobile.
Read full report at http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6570#_ftnref30
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GM MEDICINES / GENE THERAPY
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+ CANCER-PROMOTING GM THERAPIES RAISE ALARM
New animal studies conducted at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California show that the only human gene therapy treatment to date considered to be largely successful, is, in fact, riskier than realized.
The Salk researchers, led by Inder Verma, Ph.D., a professor in the Laboratory of Genetics, discovered that the healthy copy, which replaces the defective gene can itself promote cancer development. Their findings appear in the journal Nature.
Niels-Bjarne R. Woods, PhD, a post-doctoral researcher in Verma's team, says that the study could explain why one of three children in the French trial developed T-cell leukemia. Two developed the disease because IL2RG inserted itself into the cellular genome next to a known cancer-causing gene and activated it, but the cause of the third cancer case had not been solved.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6561
+ STUDY SHOWS GM FOODS SHOULD BE TESTED FOR HARM
Commenting on the new study, GE Free NZ points out that the damaging effects of transgenes did not show up in trials with mice lasting several months - a significant part of their life span as mice only live about 18 months. It took long-term studies allowing the mice to live through their natural life span, to show up the cancer- promoting effects.
GE Free NZ said, "This indicates that tests evaluating the impact of GM techniques on people are essential. The latest findings show that scientists do not yet understand the full complexities of gene function and regulation and that GM foods as well as medicines may cause unexpected harm."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6561
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SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
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+ GLOBAL COALITION SOUNDS THE ALARM ON SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
A coalition of 38 international organizations, including scientists, environmentalists, trade unionists, biowarfare experts and social justice advocates, called for public debate, regulation and oversight of the rapidly advancing field of synthetic biology - the construction of unique and novel artificial life forms to perform specific tasks.
"Biotech has already ignited worldwide protests, but synthetic biology is like genetic engineering on steroids," says Dr Doreen Stabinsky of Greenpeace International. "Tinkering with living organisms that could be released in the environment poses a grave biosafety threat to people and the planet."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6556
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CHURCHES
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+ CHURCHES OPPOSE TERMINATOR
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, called upon churches to take action to stop "terminator technology".
"Applying technology to design sterile seeds turns life, which is a gift from God, into a commodity. Preventing farmers from re-planting saved seed will increase economic injustice all over the world and add to the burdens of those already living in hardship," stated Kobia.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6543
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GOVERNMENT SLEAZE
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+ CORRUPT GM POLITICS IN INDIA
The Andhra Pradesh government has taken robust action against Bt cotton companies like Monsanto, including seeking compensation for farmers, due to the poor quality of the companies' products and their fraudulent claims. But the Maharashtra government, instead of seeking compensation from Monsanto, has paid out compensation itself in order to try and protect Monsanto.
Why, when there have been suicides and destitution among many Bt cotton farmers in Maharashtra?
According to farmer pressure group Vidarbha Janadolan Samiti (VJS), it's to give cover to India's agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, who personally promoted Bt cotton in Maharashtra, where he was formerly chief minister and where he has his power base.
VJS also notes that one brand of Bt seeds that have been on sale - "Ajit Bt" - is owned by Pawar's nephew, Ajit Pawar.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6545
+ MORE GM MISERY INFLICTED ON INDIA
Despite all the suffering and suicides it has already inflicted via GM crops, India's GM regulatory body - the GEAC - has just approved the commercial release of 36 more varieties of transgenic Bt cotton and is also considering approving Br brinjals!
Details of all GEAC's decisions are at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6580
+ UN FOOD AGENCY DEPUTY RESIGNS OVER LEADER'S "CULTURE OF SILENCE"
The United Nations body which combats world hunger is in turmoil after one of its most senior officials resigned, claiming that her boss ruled through "silence, rumour and fear".
Louise Fresco, assistant director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has handed in her notice, angered at the way the agency was being run by its Senegalese director-general, Dr Jacques Diouf. In a scathing letter of resignation, she criticises him for the direction of the agency and its inability to offer the poorest countries proper advice on agriculture.
One UN insider, who asked not to be named, said: "[Diouf] seems keener to spend time with the US guys running multinational companies than he does to sort out problems on the ground."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6554
+ COMMENT FROM GAIANET ON FAO RESIGNATION
Teresa Anderson of Gaianet comments that many NGOs would support Fresco's beliefs, particularly over the report that FAO produced in 2004 called "Agricultural Biotechnology: meeting the needs of the poor?", which failed to include basic facts about the way that patented GM crops would harm the rural poor and allow companies like Monsanto to create monopolies.
The report failed to consult with any NGO groups working directly with farmers on the issue, ignored a wealth of evidence about the problems that GM has brought to farmers around the world, and used controversial data to prove its point. Unsurprisingly, it concluded that GM had the potential to feed the hungry.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6569
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NANOTECHNOLOGY
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+ TOXIC WARNING FOR NANO INDUSTRY
A senior UK researcher warns the nanotechnology industry of the potential toxic effects of some of their products:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4968346.stm