from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
During the past several months, the US has grown into a hotbed of opposition to the genetically engineered and cloned products approved by the supposed regulators at the FDA. This week is no exception, with the FDA being petitioned by prominent organizations and individuals to withdraw approval for Monsanto's GM bovine growth hormone, rBGH.
There's news too of how ice cream supremos Ben & Jerry's joined a march to the Capitol to oppose FDA's approval of cloned livestock and their milk products entering the food supply. The US's largest milk company is also saying "No!" to cloned cows.
And US rice farmers, understandably fearful of losing their export markets, are fiercely opposing field trials of GM rice. (THE AMERICAS)
Meanwhile in Europe, environment ministers have once again foiled the attempts of the pro-GM European Commission to force Hungary to lift its ban on Monsanto's discredited GM maize MON810. And a judge has spelt out the mistakes made by the UK's industry-friendly Food Standards Agency in its handling of GM rice contamination (EUROPE).
In India the ministry of commerce is calling for GM free zones (ASIA); and Africa is being threatened by GM bananas and biofuels (AFRICA).
Some classic GM lobbyists are exposed in LOBBYWATCH.
Finally, watch out for some great QUOTES OF THE WEEK, including a real jaw-dropper from Monsanto.
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
ASIA
EUROPE
AUSTRALASIA
BIOFUELS
LOBBYWATCH
ONLINE RESOURCES
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
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THE AMERICAS
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+ MONSANTO MERGER ANGERS BLACK FARMERS
A national black farmers group in the US says a proposed merger between Monsanto and Delta and Pine Land will create a monopoly and force black farmers out of the business. The National Black Farmers Association represents 80,000 members, predominantly small planters.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7566
+ MONSANTO MERGER THREATENS ORGANIC COTTON
Organic cotton could become more difficult to come by if the Monsanto and Delta and Pine Land merger goes ahead says a new report. With more GM varieties, the risk of contamination of organic and conventional crops will almost certainly increase. The merger could also exacerbate rapidly increasing seed prices. Another concern is that Delta and Pine along with the USDA own patents to the highly controversial Terminator technology.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7570
For the Center for Food Safety study http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFS-CTA%20Monsanto-DPL%20Merger%20Report%20-%20Final.pdf
+ U.S. RICE FARMERS TAKE A HARD LINE
The Rice Producers of California (RPC) have released a market study that documents the powerful opposition to GM rice in key export destinations. RPC want a ban on not just commercial GM rice but any outdoor planting.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7552
The Rice Producers of California (RPC) retained Bryant Christie Inc. to evaluate the potential for market acceptance of GM rice in the four markets which account for about 40% of California's annual rice crop.
EXTRACTS from the report:
[JAPAN] ...efforts to commercialize GM rice in the US could result in the loss of the Japanese market to US rice.
[KOREA]...the majority of Korean rice trade members interviewed for this report opposed the purchase of GM rice. This sentiment is also shared by Korean consumers...
[TAIWAN]...the Taiwanese rice trade members interviewed for this report were reluctant to accept imports of GM rice...
[TURKEY]...it may be possible to locate a Turkish buyer for GM rice, [but] the results also indicate that consumers might reject GM rice...
[CONCLUSION] ...it would appear that the rice trade in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and to a lesser extent Turkey has little interest in importing GM rice at this time, even in situations involving cost advantages and full regulatory approval of GM rice.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7564
The full report
http://www.calriceproducers.org/RPC_GM_Rice_Report_2.pdf
Executive summary
http://www.calriceproducers.org/BCI_executive_summary.pdf
+ COALITION WANTS TO STOP GM ALFALFA
A coalition of farmers, environmentalists and food safety organizations plans to ask a federal judge in California to halt the sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa seed. The request follows a decision released two weeks ago in which U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to follow environmental law before approving the GM forage crop.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7568
+ FDA PETITIONED TO WITHDRAW APPROVAL FOR rBGH
27 nations, including the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, have already banned rBGH milk. Now US advocacy organizations representing consumers, family farmers, and cancer prevention specialists have filed a citizen's petition to the FDA, seeking the withdrawal of Approval for Monsanto's GM cattle drug 'Posilac' - recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) - or the labelling with a cancer risk warning of any milk or other dairy products produced with its use.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7562
+ BEN & JERRY'S JOINS MARCH TO CAPITOL AGAINST CLONING
A herd of more than 100 cow-costumed marchers rallied on Capitol Hill to raise awareness of cloning. In the wake of the FDA's December announcement claiming that cloned animals and products from cloned animals are safe to eat, Ben & Jerry's has joined forces with the Consumer Federation of America, the National Farmers Union and other organizations to raise awareness of the issue. Bart Chilton of the National Farmer's Union said, "The economic implications of introducing cloned products into the marketplace could be potentially devastating for family farmers and ranchers when no consumer demand exists for such products."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7562
+ US's LARGEST MILK COMPANY SAYS NO TO CLONED COWS
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/NEWS01/702240351/1002/NEWS01
+ HERBICIDE RESISTANCE OMINOUS THREAT TO COTTON
As genetically modified Roundup resistant crop varieties have been adopted in North America, the problem of glyphosate-resistant weeds has exploded. And it has included weeds that could be potentially devastating, like Palmer amaranth or pigweed. University of Georgia Extension weed scientist, Stanley Culpepper, says "It's a tough competitor that makes a big plant with the means to propagate and survive. A lone female Palmer amaranth plant can produce 400,000 to 600,000 seed per plant."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7548
+ ECO-INJUSTICE IN PARAGUAY
Good article in The Nation on the ongoing case of Silvino Talavera, the boy fatally poisoned by agrochemicals sprayed on GM soya, at http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7560
+ MONSANTO DESTROYING RURAL CANADA - FARMER
GMOs are destroying human health, the environment and the social fabric of rural Canada, says Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer campaigning for farmers' rights. Monsanto's "gene police" visit Saskatchewan farmers suspected of growing GM seeds - on tips from neighbours forced by the contract to squeal - and threaten them with court action. The farmers are left wondering which neighbour betrayed them, leading to a "breakdown of the rural social fabric." Says Schmeiser, "I'm not talking about a Third World country. I'm talking about what happens on the Northern Plain and on the Prairies of Western Canada."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7550
FOR MORE ON GM IN CANADA - see QUOTES OF THE WEEK
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AFRICA
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+ UGANDA TO INTRODUCE GM BANANAS?
"Uganda could soon introduce genetically modified bananas after a successful genetically engineered sweet banana variety proved resistant to pests and diseases," according to an article in The East African. Geoffrey Arinaitwe, the Ugandan scientist who developed the GM banana featured in the article, is part of a group based in Belgium who've been responsible for a series of attempts to massively hype GM bananas. Arinaitwe is quoted, for example, in a San Francisco Chronicle article, "Without a genetic fix, the banana may be history". These "only GM can save the banana" stories get expertly debunked each time they arise. GM is not the only way to conserve bananas or make them disease resistant - and there's absolutely no evidence that consumers want them. And research shows the hyping of biotech bananas fits into a pattern of deceptive biotech promotion in Africa by GM scientists and corporations. See multiple links at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7558
FOR MORE ON GM IN AFRICA - see BIOFUELS
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ASIA
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+ INDIA'S COMMERCE MINISTRY CALLS FOR GM FREE ZONES
India's commerce ministry has decided to ask India's apex GM regulatory body - the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) - not to approve field trials of GM crops in Basmati rice growing states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh. The GEAC will also be asked not to approve field trials of GM crops in all India's 60 agri export zones (AEZs).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7569
+ TAMIL NADU BANS SALE OF MONSANTO-MAHYCO SEEDS
After its Bt Cotton failed in Tamil Nadu, the sale of Monsanto-Mahyco seeds has been banned by the Tamil Nadu government. Bt Cotton varieties made by Monsanto-Mahyco have previously been blacklisted by Andhra Pradesh following crop failures there. In Tamil Nadu thousands of farmers are in distress as a result of the failure of Monsanto's Bt cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7569
+ BT COTTON INVESTIGATED FOR TOXICITY
India's National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) has decided to investigate whether the cause of death of over 1,500 sheep in Andhra Pradesh was the consumption of Bt cotton plant material.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7569
+ BT COTTON HAS FAILED IN VIDARBHA - STUDY
A new study on the introduction of Bt cotton in Vidarbha, India, reveals that it has failed in the region. Suman Sahai, Director of Gene Campaign, said that despite specific knowledge that Bt cotton would not work in rainfed areas, the government had introduced it in Vidarbha. The result was that in an area with a history of indebtedness, the high input costs of Bt cotton had increased indebtedness. The study had shown that 70 per cent of small farmers had already lost their landholdings as collateral for loans that they could never repay.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7540
+ LOW-COST CULTIVATION CAN SAVE MAHARASHTRA'S FARMERS
Low-cost farming can be a way out of misery for farmers who are driven to desperation and suicides, says a senior Maharashtra official. Sudhir Kumar Goyal, a divisional commissioner, blames the indiscriminate promotion of cost-intensive farming, including Bt cotton, for the poor condition of farmers in the state. Five districts of western Vidarbha have reported close to 1,500 suicides in the last 20 months.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7540
+ FARMERS' LEADER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT BT COTTON FAILURE
A speech given at a big farmers' rally in Tamil Nadu by Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7556
+ FARMERS CALL FOR IMMEDIATE GM BAN
The 35th National Convention of the big Indian farmers' group Bharat Krishak Samaj has called for an immediate ban on all GM crops. BKS passed a resolution calling the failure of Bt cotton, and its devastating financial impact on thousands of cotton growers, "a national shame".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7569
+ PATENT REPORT PLAGIARISED
A high level official committee in India has had to withdraw its report on patents after key portions of the committee's report were found to have been lifted from a document produced by a lobby group funded by multinational pharmaceutical companies.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7569
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EUROPE
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+ EU COMMISSION DEFEATED FOR THIRD TIME ON GMOs
For the third time, EU governments have blocked a European Commission proposal to force a European country to accept the cultivation of GMOs on its soil. EU environment ministers voted in support of Hungary's right to protect its nature and population from GM crops, in this case Monsanto maize MON810, engineered to contain a toxin and kill pests. Only the UK, Netherlands, Finland and Sweden among the 27 members voted for Hungary to allow in GM maize. Environment ministers also failed to give the green light for the marketing of a GM flower. However, the final decision, under EU rules, will now revert back to the European Commission.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7553
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7563
+ SCANDAL: TAXPAYERS' MONEY SQUANDERED ON PHARMA PEAS
The German Federal Ministry of Research and the State of Saxonia-Anhalt promoted the development of ineffective pharma peas by the Eastern German biotech company Novoplant with more than 1 million euros of taxpayers' money. This is the conclusion of investigations by the Munich Environmental Institute. The GM plants are to be cultivated this year in Gatersleben.
The manipulated peas contain mouse genes and are designed to produce a medicine against bacterially caused diarrhoea in pigs. Mixed in the feed, they are meant as a replacement for the currently forbidden preventive feeding of antibiotics. However, a feeding study done at the German University of Hanover states that "not a single positive effect on the infection process was seen" when feeding artificially infected animals with the GM peas. But this result was suppressed by Novoplant when the company filed the application for deliberate release at the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety last September.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7557
+ SUPPRESSED GM POTATO REPORT HITS THE HEADLINES
From the (UK) Independent newspaper: Campaigners against genetically modified crops in Britain are calling for trials of GM potatoes this spring to be halted after releasing more evidence of links with cancers in laboratory rats. UK Greenpeace activists said the findings, obtained from Russian trials after an eight-year court battle with the biotech industry, vindicated research by Dr Arpad Pusztai... The disclosure last night of the Russian study on the GM Watch website led to calls for David Miliband, the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, to withdraw permission for new trials on GM potatoes to go ahead at secret sites in the UK this spring. Alan Simpson, a Labour MP, said: "These trials should be stopped. The research backs up the work of Arpad Pusztai and it shows that he was the victim of a smear campaign by the biotech industry. There has been a cover-up over these findings and the government should not be a party to that."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7544
+ ILLEGAL GM RICE IN THE UK - JUDGE LISTS FSA's MISTAKES
Friends of the Earth's judicial review of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for its failure to act over illegal GM rice that entered the UK food chain last year was heard in the High Court on 20 and 21 February. While the judge did not rule that the FSA had failed in its legal obligations to check for contaminated rice on the market in the UK, he did identify a series of mistakes in the way the FSA had dealt with the contamination incident. These were:
*failure to issue any Food Alerts to local authorities
*failure to notify the public of which batches of rice were contaminated
*failure to provide legal guidance to local authorities at the start of the incident
The FSA have agreed to hold an internal review on how it handled the GM rice contamination incident. Commenting on the outcome of the case Pete Riley, Campaign Director of GM Freeze, said: "the judge's critcisms of their handling the GM rice case are fully justified. The next contamination incident could involve crops genetically modified to produce drugs or vaccines. The FSA's review of their handling of this case must include a substantial input from outside and the outcome and evidence must be published in full. In our view, Parliament needs to take a more active role in overseeing the performance of the FSA to ensure that they become a true consumer watchdog and that they break their cosy relationship with industry".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7567
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ NEW ZEALAND: GM CORN RETHINK REQUESTED
A decision approving a GM corn has been sent back to the drawing board by food safety minister Annette King. Food Standards Australia New Zealand gave its approval for the corn but has been waiting for the minister to confirm it. Critics say the corn - which has high levels of the amino acid lysine - can cause diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7559
+ CALL FOR CATHOLIC STAND AGAINST GM FOOD
The use of GM in the production of food crops poses unknown health risks, Columban Father Charles Rue says, in a call for an informed Catholic voice on GM foods in the lead up to the New South Wales election in Australia. In a statement, the Columban Missionary Society says it is concerned that a future NSW government will lift its moratorium on the commercial growing of GM food crops in the state. The legislation is up for review in 2008.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7554
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BIOFUELS
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+ BIOFUELS - FACTS AND FICTION
George W. Bush used his seventh annual State of the Union Address to announce ethanol is the answer to oil dependency. The biotech industry is in ecstasy at the soaring demand for corn to meet the US thirst for ethanol. But as NFU Director of Research Darrin Qualman points out in a brilliant article, "Biodiesel and ethanol can't fuel this civilization":
http://www.cjly.net/deconstructingdinner/uf_january_2007.pdf
And in an article for The Ecologist, Mark Anslow expertly takes apart the claims for biofuels.
EXCERPT:
Claim 1: You get more out than you put in For more than 15 years, David Pimentel, Professor of Ecology and Agriculture at Cornell University in New York, and his colleague, Professor Tad Patzek at Berkeley, have published peer-reviewed research showing that biofuels give out less energy when burnt than was used in their manufacture.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7561
+ GMOs AND SOUTH AFRICA'S BIOFUELS STRATEGY
A highly informative report on South Africa's biofuels strategy is at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7565
EXCERPT:
We are of the opinion that stockpiles of maize will fluctuate, depending on maize prices (for food and fuel), weather conditions such as droughts, surpluses of available grain production and so forth. Indeed, it is highly likely that a parallel market for maize will be created; one for food and the other for fuel, with the market for fuel fetching higher prices and thereby diverting maize intended for food away to feed new fuel demands. ...
The Biofuels Strategy will provide impetus for more varieties of GM maize and soybean to be pushed through South Africa's lax regulatory regime and in so doing, present unacceptable risks to human health and the environment.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7565
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ GREENPEACE ATTACKER IS WAR CRIMES APOLOGIST
An article by Thomas Deichmann attacking Greenpeace's charitable status in Germany has been doing the rounds on the pro-GM listservs. Greenpeace's campaigning on GM is the main focus of Deichmann's lengthy complaint. Deichmann takes Greenpeace to task for its "illegal activities", claiming that in campaigning against GM it has repeatedly broken the law by trespassing on farmland and putting stickers on items in supermarkets. Deichmann argues such misbehaviour is at odds with Greenpeace's "charitable status". Deichmann's own record though suggests his concern over trespassing in barns and guerilla labelling does not extend as far as major crimes like torture, rape, mutilation and murder.
Deichmann has written articles accusing journalists of inventing war crimes in Bosnia - crimes which were later found by courts to have really taken place. The war crimes took place at Trnopolje, a camp where Muslims were imprisoned, beaten, tortured, raped and killed by Serb guards. Now Deichmann has been transformed from an expert exposer of "myths" about Serb nationalist atrocities into an expert apologist for biotech. The platforms that have made this repackaging possible are all part of the same network that previously published his war crime denials.
Deichmann's anti-Greenpeace article comes courtesy of Spiked. Deichmann has spoken on GM crops and the Third World for Spiked's sister organisation, the Institute of Ideas (IoI). Both IoI and Spiked are the successors to LM, the magazine which published the Trnopolje claims and which as a result was sued out of existence. Deichmann is editor in chief of Novo, LM's sister magazine in Germany. Deichmann's book on GM was published by Novo's publishing house.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7546
+ "GM FOODS COULD SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES"
Temba Nolutshungu has written an article that has appeared in both the South African and British press claiming that "consumer panic and EU regulations about genetically modified foods threaten millions of starving Africans who need cheap and reliable crops". Nolutshungu also suggests that objections to GM crops are grounded in short-sighted "myths" that arise from "ignorance, pseudo-science or plain propaganda". But GM Watch's analysis shows that to be a perfect description of Nolutshungu's own article. Analysis at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7547
So who is Nolutshungu? He's the director of South Africa's Free Market Foundation, a libertarian think-tank that forms part of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation network. Atlas is a Virginia-based organization whose funding comes from sources such as ExxonMobil and Big Tobacco, and which acts as a seed fund in order to "litter the world with free-market think-tanks." And to help the offspring of the Johnny Appleseed of corporate libertariansim, Atlas has recruited the co-founder of PR firm Wirthlin Worldwide, which represents Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont amongst others.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7549
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ONLINE RESOURCES
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+ THE MONSANTO FILES
An excellent online resource on the monster with lots of useful info and links: http://www.voteyeson27.com/monsanto.htm
+ PETITIONS, EMAIL ACTIONS, CAMPAIGNS, GM VIDEOS, WEBSITES ETC.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7551
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QUOTES OF THE WEEK
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+ QUOTE 1: IGNACIO CHAPELA ON GM
"Genetic engineering is not precise, is not controlled, cannot be contained, is not predictable once released in the environment, has not been properly tested in animal models or real environmental conditions, and has defeated multiple times the gold-standard of the US regulatory system formed by USDA, FDA and EPA. In short, the biological foundation of this mid-twentieth century obsession is already past its 'best-by' date."
- Dr Ignacio Chapela, in a letter to California weekly The Point Reyes Light
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7555
+ QUOTE 2: MONSANTO ON COEXISTENCE
"The coexistence of Roundup Ready plants and organic is well-known. Roundup Ready soybeans, corn and canola all co-exist." - Andrew Burchett, public affairs manager for Monsanto in St. Louis
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7568
GM WATCH comment: That will be why organic farmers in Canada had to take Monsanto to court to try and get compensation for losing the ability to grow organic canola as a crop due to GM contamination.
http://www.saskorganic.com/oapf/farm.html
And it's not just organic farmers who've been suffering. The problems of conventional non-GM farmers like Percy Schmeiser are legendary. According to the Canadian agricultural scientist E. Ann Clark, "it's doubtful whether there's a farm anywhere in western Canada that does not have Monsanto Roundup Ready canola seed in its soil."
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/farmingtotalitarianism.htm
GM canola - thanks to spillage of Canadian grain during transportion - has even been found growing wild around ports in Japan - a country where there's no GM canola cultivation at all!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7568
+ QUOTE 3: CATHOLIC MISSIONARY ON GM
"Pope John Paul II wrote about social sin which is the sin of introducing an unjust system into society so as to exploit people. Using international agreements and US-style patenting laws, biotech companies are systematically gaining control of the human food chain. Under new copyright law, companies claim ownership of God given life forms from the level of the gene up. By law, biotech companies can rob indigenous peoples and farmers of ownership over seeds they have bred and tested, often over millennia. Research is also hindered as biotech companies patent scientific advances."
- Columban Father Charles Rue
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7554