WEEKLY WATCH number 243
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
It seems GMOs can't succeed on their own merits; governments are subsidizing farmers to grow them in the US and the Philippines (see THE AMERICAS, ASIA).
And contrary to the recent biased survey of a handful of pro-GM farmers in the UK that (surprise!) claimed to show that farmers wanted GMOs, a massive survey of French farmers shows the exact opposite (EUROPE).
And don't forget about that explosive new documentary on Monsanto hitting TV screens next week, and then available on DVD in English, French and Spanish. From what we're hearing, it's not just a must-watch film but one to spread far and wide (MONSANTO MOVIES).
Claire This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://www.gmwatch.org / http://www.lobbywatch.org
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CONTENTS
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MONSANTO MOVIES
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
LOBBYWATCH
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
AFRICA
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
INTERNATIONAL RESISTANCE TO GMOs
RESEARCH
CLONING
GENETIC CROSSROADS
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MONSANTO MOVIES
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+ MONSANTO MOVIE - BROADCAST, BOOK AND DVD
A new movie deals yet another powerful blow to the credibility of Monsanto. 'The world according to Monsanto' reveals the grim truth about the company's long track record of devastating environmental crimes and human and animal health scandals. It will be broadcast in French and German on the TV channel ARTE - available also via satellite - on 11 March at 2100 hrs, Central European Time (CET). Following the broadcast, the dvd will be available in English, French and Spanish. The book of the film has just been published in French. We're hearing great reports about both. More details at
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto_movie080307
http://www.arte-boutique.fr/detailProduct.action?fromMenu=true&aToZ=M&product.id=245754
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8811
+ EXCELLENT YOUTUBE FILM ON THE FOX NEWS WHISTLEBLOWERS
Short film about what happened when two investigative journalists tried to broadcast a programme about the real impact of Monsanto's GM hormone rBGH.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trWcqxrQgcc&feature=related
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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'As far as genetic engineering for food, that is the great experiment that has failed. They literally have the entire world market against them. All those dreams... the blind will see, the lame will walk... has turned out to be science fiction. They are basically chemical companies selling more chemicals. They've been able to spread these herbicide-promoting plants around because it is more convenient for farmers who can just mass-spray their crops. But they've given absolutely nothing to the consumer while causing more chemical pollution and contamination.' - Lawyer, Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety (USA)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8854
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ HENRY MILLER'S LIES
On the (UK) Guardian's website, free-market lobbyist Henry Miller has published a bunch of barefaced lies and spin in favour of GM. The subtitle of Miller's piece says it all: 'When sloppy research and unsubstantiated claims go unchallenged by fellow scientists, the gold standard of accuracy is tarnished.' But Miller's own standards of accuracy are non-existent. He claims, for instance, that the editor of the Lancet published Pusztai's GM potato paper despite admitting its 'poor methodology' and in the teeth of the 'strenuous objections of the papers referees'. But, in reality, five out of the paper's six referees SUPPORTED its publication and, far from criticising its methodology, the editor stated unequivocally that the paper was published on grounds of 'scientific merit'! Miller's account of other research raising concerns over GM is equally misleading and false.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8849
For more on Miller
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=84
+ AFRICA'S 'ORGANIC' FARMS
To mark the publication of his new book on GM in Africa, Robert Paarlberg has written an article berating people for wanting organic, free range, and family farm-produced food. Paarlberg calls this an 'idealized' farm system. He equates 'organic' farms with the 'poor and non-productive' farms of Africa. From there he argues that what's needed for greater productivity in Africa is the exact opposite, i.e. industrial ag with GMOs! In fact, research shows that projects using modern organic and low-input approaches with poor farmers in Africa and elsewhere can be phenomenally successful. Paarlberg is a member of the Biotechnology Advisory Council to the CEO of Monsanto, and a consultant to the National Intelligence Council ('the centre for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the United States Intelligence Community'), USAID, IFPRI, and the World Bank.
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/experts/934/robert_paarlberg.html
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8830
+ SHANE AND APEL
Andrew Apel - the 'Guest Editor' of AgBioView - has editorialised in defence of Shane Morris of 'wormy corn' fame: 'Shane has drawn the hatred of those who call themselves 'environmentalists' for only one reason. He refused to cower behind the barricades, where vandalism, firebombings, shabby journalism and threats of violence have thrust all too many of his colleagues.' Quite why this would lead so many scientists, including experts in research ethics and science policy, to condemn Shane Morris's research as grossly misleading or even fraudulent isn't made clear, although Apel implies it has something to do with 'money laundering'!!!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8844
+ BE BRAVE - EAT GM FOOD
Pro-GM anti-organic lobbyist Prof Anthony Trewavas has replied to a letter about the health risks of GM food in the Irish Medical News by equating embracing GM foods with 'bravery' and 'progress'!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8834
For more on the bizarre and unfounded claims of Tony Trewavas http://ngin.tripod.com/trewavas.htm
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THE AMERICAS
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+ BRAZILIAN PROTESTERS DESTROY GM CROPS
Hundreds of Brazilian women raided a Monsanto research unit and destroyed a plant nursery and crops containing GM corn. Meanwhile in Brasilia, a protest by another 400 women from Via Campesina (the Rural Way), was held in front of the Swiss embassy against Syngenta, calling attention to the October 2007 incident in which guards working for the company killed a protester taking part in an occupation of land owned by Syngenta.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8853
+ GM SUGAR BEET SPURS INVESTOR REVOLT
A group of socially concerned US investors has launched a public campaign calling on food companies not to use Monsanto's GM sugar beet that is to be planted for the first time this spring. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) has launched a website, www.dontplantGMObeets.org, that calls on consumers to send letters to the management of companies including Heinz, Campbell's Soup, General Mills and Kraft. Surveys show that 50% of US consumers would prefer not to buy GM products.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8842
+ BLOCKING OF GM COFFEE BAN CAUSES OUTRAGE
There was outrage among coffee farmers after the Chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs in the Hawaiian State Legislature, decided not to support, or even provide a committee hearing for a bill which would place a moratorium on field trials of GM coffee. A spokesperson for the Kona Coffee Farmers Association (KCFA) said, 'This Bill was backed by the entire Hawaii coffee industry, who came together in a unique consolidation, yet our representatives ignore us. What do we need to do to get effective Agricultural legislation to protect what we are doing right now, in the fields?' The President of the KCFA said the back room move has been intended to prevent 'testimony from Big Island farmers in the open and democratic forum provided by committee hearings.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8855
+ NFU OPPOSES GM CROP INSURANCE BREAK
Congress should hold oversight hearings into the federal government's crop-insurance yield endorsement of certain GM corn seeds, delegates for the National Farmers Union voted.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8847
+ WHO DRANK THE MILK FROM THE DOWNER COWS?
The 'downer' cows which led to the biggest beef recall in US history were a product of the US dairy industry. Monsanto's genetically engineered cattle drug rBGH or rBST, an article for News Blaze points out, 'leads to a mode of production in which the animals get burnt out very quickly. It's a brutal way to treat animals and to do business.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8840
+ BULLY MONSANTO RUNS SCARED FROM LABELING
Monsanto is teaming up with AFACT, American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology, which shares the same public relations firm as Monsanto, to make it illegal to label milk produced with Monsanto's rBGH.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8851
An open letter to Monsanto - 'It's tough to be the class behemoth' - and check out the great Simpsons cartoon http://www.ethicurean.com/2008/02/20/open-letter-to-monsanto/
+ TAKE ACTION ON BANS ON rBGH LABELING
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/food-alerts/rbgh-dairy-labeling
+ MORE ON rBGH
Rick North, director of the Campaign for Safe Food from Physicians for Social Responsibility's Oregon chapter, says of rBGH: 'This is a drug that revs up cow metabolism so high that they're typically burned out after two lactation cycles and slaughtered. Non-rBGH cows typically live four, seven, ten or more years.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8846
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EUROPE
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+ FRENCH FARMERS DON'T LIKE GMOs - SURVEY
A majority of farmers who responded to a survey by the leading French co-operative Terrena are hostile to the use of GMOs, but want research to continue. Over 3,000 members responded to the questionnaire; 66% of them say that GMOs are not the answer to the growing demand for agricultural products.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8845
+ FRANCE PROPOSES TOUGHER EU RULES FOR GM CROPS
France has proposed scrapping the EU's present system for authorising GM crops for tougher standards which take into account a wide range of environmental and safety factors.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8837
+ WE HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHERE GM CROPS ARE PLANTED
In a letter to the UK's Guardian on behalf of the biotech industry, Julian Little defends recent industry demands that trial locations be kept secret. But Clare Oxborrow of Friends of the Earth replies: 'The right to know where GM crops are planted is crucial to allow neighbouring farmers whose crops risk contamination to take action to protect them. Communities also deserve to know if GM crops are being grown in their areas, especially as, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, land values could be affected.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8839
+ BIOTECH INDUSTRY DODGES LIABILITY IN ENGLAND, NOT WALES
If GMOs cause damage to UK wildlife, neither the state nor the biotech companies will have to clean up such damage under proposed new legislation to transpose the EU Environmental Liability Directive. But in the draft legislation for Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government says biotech companies will be liable should protected habitats be damaged.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8836
+ RE UK 'FARMERS ARE UPBEAT ABOUT GM CROPS'
The Canadian agricultural scientist E. Ann Clark has carefully picked apart the perceptions of the large-scale commodity farmers featured in the controversial Open University study of attitudes to GM crops, which was spun to claim that UK farmers were in favour of GM crops. In the process, she makes a series of very telling points about the poor performance of GM crops in terms of productivity, profitability and envioronmental impact, particularly in Canada.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8843
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AFRICA
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+ SOUTH AFRICA: STATE CAN BEAR BLAME FOR SEED ROW
The South Africa government has been implicated in an international row over the export of seed maize to Kenya which has been contaminated with GM variety Mon810 banned in every African country except SA.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8838
+ INDUSTRY FAILS TO PROVE ITS CASE ON GMOs HELPING POOR FARMERS
A pro-GM news conference in Johannesburg failed to provide verifiable statistics proving the GM industry's claims that the technology has provided relief for poorer farmers in South Africa. The panel did, however, produce one reklatively small-scale black farmer, Motlatsi Musi, to testify about his success with GMOs. Musi is the same black farmer the panel presented last year. He admitted when pressed that he was 'helped with seed' by the industry. After fuel and labour, seed is the costliest input for a farmer.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8838
+ IS AFRICA REJECTING GM?
A useful summary of a recent publication by the African Centre for Biosafety:
***African countries such as Sudan, Angola and Zambia have fiercely resisted receiving GM food aid, precipitating reforms in food aid policies internationally
***the GM push in Africa has recorded several significant setbacks and failures, with Florence Wambugu's GM sweet potato in Kenya and the Gates Foundation's GM sorghum in South Africa being the most prominent
***in South Africa in 2007 the first ever GM cassava field trials also faced the thumbs down from the South African regulatory authorities
***while the GM lobby has waged a heavily resourced battle for acceptance of GMOs, public reaction has in many instances been hostile. The media has been extremely critical of GMOs in countries such as Kenya, Zambia and South Africa.
http://agricbiotech.blogspot.com/2008/03/is-africa-rejecting-genetic-engineering.html
+ PLAN BY TNCs TO CONTROL SEEDS BOUND TO FAIL
Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, director-general of Ethiopia's Environment Protection Agency, says the attempt by a handful of developed countries and transnational corporations (TNCs) to monopolise and control the world's seeds is doomed to failure: 'First of all the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which made the control over seeds by TNCs possible through its Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) mechanism is slowly getting paralysed - especially after Doha. As WTO weakens, the controls that have been creeping in will automatically disappear.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8835
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ASIA
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+ LIES ABOUT IMPORTING GMOs IN S. KOREA
The main Korean starch sugar industry group announced it will start importing corn starch entirely in GM form. An article by Kim Eun-jin, Law professor of Wonkwang University, asks if Korea's lack of food self-sufficiency really means that it has to import GMOs grown in the US. He challenges the lies put out to justify the imports.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8848
+ GM TAG FOR THAI JASMINE RICE 'UNWISE'
An article by geneticist Dr. Suman Sahai in the Bangkok Post warns of the dangers of a National Biotechnology Committee plan to use GM to 'improve' Thai rice. Dr. Sahai says this could damage markets for Thai rice while 'flood and drought tolerance can be more easily achieved by conventional breeding than by genetic engineering'.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8855
+ PHILIPPINES FARMERS ASSAIL GOVT SUBSIDY TO BT CORN
Organic farmers in Mindanao, Philippines have protested the Dept of Agriculture's policy of providing financial support to those who will plant varieties of GM Bt corn.Francis Morales, of the Upliftment of the Moral, Economic, Technological, Socio-spiritual Aspirations of Persons or Metsa Foundation, said the government subsidy to Bt corn farmers benefits agricultural companies which have high stakes in the Bt corn business. 'Apparently, the agriculture department is again serving as sales agent of the companies producing Bt corn varieties like Monsanto and Syngenta,' he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8847
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ BRUMBY UNPOPULAR OVER GM
Victorian Premier John Brumby's 'decisive' approach to ending the GM moratorium in the state of Victoria is proving divisive with the electorate, and is said to have contributed to a 10-point jump in Mr Brumby's dissatisfaction rating.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8850
+ MACDONALD UNDER FIRE
With debate raging in New South Wales about exactly who will benefit from the legalisation of GM food crops, Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, stands accused of dodging questions on potential conflicts of interest relating to advice on GM.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8850
+ GM CROPS A NEW FORM OF FEUDALISM - CANADIAN FARMER
More on the recent speaking tour of Australia by Terry Boehm, vice-president of Canada's National Farmers Union, and Arnold Taylor, president of the Canadian Organic Growers association. Warning Australian farmers against adopting GM crops, Boehm said he sees GM crops as introducing a crippling new form of 'feudalism', where farmers are tied to biotech companies such as Monsanto through expensive licence fees, royalties for seeds and commitment to buying the company's seeds. When asked if there was any research data on GM canola contamination, Boehm replied: 'Yes, there is a working experiment, and it is called Canada.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8831
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INTERNATIONAL RESISTANCE TO GMOs
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+ GLOBAL RESISTANCE TO GMOs - INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION
PAN AP and its network partners in 13 countries in Asia will be celebrating the Week of Rice Action 2008 from 2-8 April 2008. A grand regional culmination will be held in Indonesia on 8 April 2008, promoting it as International No GE Day. On the same day, a trial of 58 GMO Voluntary Reapers will take place in Chartres, France; a festival is planned there, that would show the international dimension of the protest. An international exhibition of resistance is planned for April 8. How to take part:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8837
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RESEARCH
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+ GM BT CORN MON810 HAS UNEXPECTED GENETIC CHARACTERISTICS
Prof Buiatti Marcello and his team from the University of Florence have just published surprising results that call into question the genetic characterisation of GM Bt corn MON 810. The article reveals that the added gene characteristic of the GMO, coding for the insecticide Bt toxin MON 810, inserted itself into another maize gene, with unknown consequences for biosafety. See the original French press release
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8852
+ GM CONTAMINATION REPORT
'GM Contamination Register Report 2007' is the third annual report from the online GM Contamination Register, which reviews reported cases of contamination and illegal plantings and releases of GMOs.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=503
+ PUSH-PULL STRATEGY CONTROLS PESTS, WEEDS
Research published online recently demonstrates the benefits of using 'push-pull' approaches for controlling insect pests and weeds.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=498
+ SUSTAINABLE AG'S CLIMATE MITIGATION POTENTIAL
A new report written for Greenpeace by Prof Pete Smith from the University of Aberdeen, a lead author on the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, examines the impacts of agriculture on climate change. The solutions call for a shift to sustainable farming practices.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/article.php?aid=504
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CLONING
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+ THE CLONES ARE COMING
Following the biggest beef recall in American history, after 'downer' dairy cows found their way into the food supply, an article in Biopolitical Times asks, 'if we're so concerned about the health risks associated with eating sick or abnormal animals, why on earth has the FDA approved meat produced by cloning - a method known for producing significant abnormalities - for human consumption?' The article notes, 'Most cloned animals born on a farm, outside a veterinary hospital, have little chance of surviving. Those animals that manage to survive until birth are likely to suffer a wide range of health defects and deformities including: enlarged tongues; squashed faces; intestinal blockages; immune deficiencies; diabetes; high rates of heart and lung damage; kidney failure; and brain abnormalities.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8833
+ CATTLE BORN TO CLONE IN BRITAIN PUT UP FOR SALE
The first cattle born to a cloned cow in Britain are being put up for sale. They are expected to be bought by breeders in the first step towards the creation of new generations of cattle in Britain.
http://www.politics.co.uk/press-releases/rspca-buyers-beware-meat-from-cloned-animals-could-end-up-on-your-plates-$1209458.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7279010.stm
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GENETIC CROSSROADS
Center for Genetics and Society
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+ GENE MAP BECOMES A LUXURY ITEM
by Amy Harmon, New York Times
As the cost of genome sequencing goes from stratospheric to merely very expensive, it is piquing the interest of a new clientele.
http://geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3954
+ GENOMES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
by Jesse Reynolds, Biopolitical Times
Genomics' growing convergence with information technology may lead to the genetic 'exploitation' of society's elite.
http://biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=3951
+ MPs DISMAYED BY HYBRID EGG DECISION
by Jonathan Petre, The Telegraph (UK)
The body which regulates embryo research is to come under fire for allowing scientists to create part-human, part-animal hybrids.
http://geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3948
by John Lauerman, Bloomberg
A Harvard University scientist backed by Google Inc. and OrbiMed Advisors LLC says he plans to unlock the secrets of common diseases by decoding the DNA of 100,000 people in the world's biggest gene sequencing project.
http://geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3953