from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:
We're delighted to report that our GM Watch and LobbyWatch websites are back online with the bulk of the material on the sites restored. For a comment on the attack, see http://aw2w.blogspot.com/2007/02/gm-is-now-global-battlefield.html.
Don't miss a landmark decision by a US federal court requiring more rigorous environmental assessments prior to GM field trials, and watch out too for a great opinion piece by Altieri and Holt-Gimenez on the recent BP-Berkeley tie up (THE AMERICAS). And we've got some very telling QUOTES OF THE WEEK, including one by the head of the ISAAA branding critics of GM crops selfish and fanatical.
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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EUROPE
GM RICE CONTAMINATION FALLOUT
THE AMERICAS
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
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EUROPE
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+ ONE MILLION EU CITIZENS CALL FOR FULL LABELLING OF GM FOODS
A Greenpeace petition signed by 1 million EU citizens is calling on the European Commission to legislate that food products such as eggs, meat and milk where the animal has been fed with GM crops should be labelled as such. The petition was handed over to EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou on 5 February after the 1,000,000 signatures had been displayed outside the EU executive building in Brussels.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7511
+ HUNGARY CONFIDENT OF RETAINING GMO BAN
http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=74079-monsanto-hungary-gmo-ban
+ TORIES BACK ORGANIC INDUSTRY IN GM ROW
The Conservatives, Britain's main opposition Party are backing organic firms in their criticism of GM labelling plans. The Government wants labels to show only produce with more than a 0.9% GM element, but critics say the threshold should be nearer 0.1%. The Tories back that call, saying customers need to have "clear information" to ensure trust in food.
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2006372,00.html
+ MONSANTO DUMPED TOXIC WASTE IN UK
Evidence has emerged that Monsanto dumped thousands of tonnes of highly toxic waste in British landfill sites, knowing that their chemicals were liable to contaminate wildlife and people. An inquiry has been launched after the chemicals were found to be polluting underground water supplies and the atmosphere. A previously unseen government report shows that chemicals including Agent Orange derivatives, dioxins and PCBs which could have been made only by Monsanto, are leaking from a site not authorised to take chemical wastes.
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,2011024,00.html
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GM RICE CONTAMINATION FALLOUT
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+ GM RICE INDUSTRY FACES MELTDOWN AS GLOBAL REJECTION GROWS
Forty-one of the world's biggest rice exporters, processors and retailers have issued written commitments to stay GM-free. The worldwide tide of opposition is contained in the new Greenpeace rice markets report.
The report, "Rice Industry in Crisis", carries company statements covering Asia, Europe, Australia, and North and South America. It includes a commitment from the world's largest rice processor, Ebro Puleva, to stop buying US rice. This follows a major contamination incident in 2006, when the world's rice supply was contaminated with an experimental and illegal variety of GM rice produced by Bayer.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7516
Greenpeace report at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/rice-industry-in-crisis/
+ BAYER DEFENDS GM CONTAMINATION AS "ACT OF GOD" (GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE)
You might blame the dog for eating your homework, or a traffic jam for being late to work. But if you ever find yourself facing a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit for contaminating the world's number one food crop with an unapproved GM variety, just do what biotech company Bayer does. Blame God!
According to documents submitted to a US court by Bayer, last year's massive contamination of US rice with an unapproved, experimental variety of rice called LL601 was due to "acts of God" or the rice farmers themselves.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7516
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THE AMERICAS
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+ FEDERAL COURT ORDERS HALT TO NEW GM FIELD TRIALS
A US federal district judge has ruled that the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) must halt approval of all new field trials until more rigorous environmental reviews are conducted. Citing potential threats to the environment, Judge Harold Kennedy found in favor of the Center for Food Safety's contention that USDA's past approvals of field trials of herbicide tolerant GM bentgrass were illegal.
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/GTBC_DecisionPR_2_7_07.cfm
+ UC'S BIOTECH BENEFACTORS: THE POWER OF BIG FINANCE AND BAD IDEAS
EXCERPTS from article by Miguel A. Altieri, professor at UC Berkeley and Eric Holt-Gimenez, executive director of Oakland's Food First:
With royal fanfare, British Petroleum just donated $500 million in research funds for UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois to develop new sources of energy - primarily biotechnology to produce biofuel crops. This comes on the anniversary of Berkeley's hapless research deal with seed giant Novartis ten years ago. However, at half a billion dollars, the BP grant dwarfs Novartis' investment by a factor of 10.
Could this be a "win-win" agenda for the university, the public, the environment and industry? Hardly. In addition to overwhelming the university's research agenda, what scientists behind this blatantly private business venture fail to mention is that the apparent free lunch of crop-based fuel can't satisfy our energy appetite, and it will not be free or environmentally sound.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7503
+ CALIFORNIA DAIRIES GOING rBGH FREE
The largest dairy cooperative in California is telling its members to stop using Monsanto's genetically engineered cattle drug rBGH. California Dairies has about 660 members who ship more than 17 billion pounds of milk annually.
http://www.agbios.com/main.php?action=ShowNewsItem&id=8200
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ASIA
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+ 64 VILLAGES IN UTTAR PRADESH PLEDGE TO REMAIN GM-FREE
Sixty-four villages of Chitrakoot and Banda districts in Uttar Pradesh have declared themselves GM-free. About 2,000 farmers and farm workers pledged never to cultivate GM crops. Instead, they will opt for organic farming and prepare their own seeds and fertilizers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7506
http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?leftnm=3&subLeft=1&chklogin=N&autono=274124&tab=r
+ INDIA: PLEA TO HALT CULTIVATION OF BT COTTON
The Deccan Development Society (DDS) has asked the Government to declare a moratorium on the cultivation of Bt hybrids until a comprehensive study is undertaken on their possible impact on environment, livestock and human health.
M. Abdul Qayuum and S. Kiran, DDS scientists, said the deleterious affects of Bt cotton on livestock have surfaced yet again in the Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh. The unusual symptoms showing up in animals that have grazed in Bt cotton fields have included bloating of the stomach, mucous flow from the nostrils, and reddish urination.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/04/stories/2007020417070300.htm
+ NEW STUDY ON GM CROPS IN INDIA
The Canada-based International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in collaboration with the Gene Campaign has launched a research study on attitudes and perceptions towards GM crops and foods in India. IDRC has undertaken a similar study in China. The IDRC regional director for Asia, Stephen Megurk said, "Ten years of experience of Bt cotton cultivation in China has brought to the fore [a] new generation of technical problems, including pest-ecology problems. There has been a significant increase in use of pesticides in some areas. We feel that the problems will be similar in India."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7505
+ BIOTECH ASSOCIATION CLAIMS FARMERS SATISFIED WITH BT COTTON
A study commissioned across five cotton-growing states by the All-India Crop Biotechnology Association has claimed that farmers are satisfied with Bt cotton because it gives higher returns.
Distress among Bt cotton farmers, it is claimed, is due to other reasons. "The reasons for distress include financial imprudence of the farmer, sudden floods and improper irrigation facilities," said Vivek Khattar, associate vice president of IMRB, which conducted the study.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7505
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ GM CORN APPROVAL OPPOSED
The Green Party is calling on Food Safety Minister Annette King to veto a recommendation from Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to approve a genetically engineered corn for animal and human use, given the evidence that the corn could pose a significant health risk to New Zealanders.
http://www.greens.org.nz/searchdocs/PR10533.html
http://www.sustainabilitynz.org/news_item.asp?sID=170
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QUOTES OF THE WEEK
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+ MOST NAUSEATING QUOTE OF THE WEEK
GM WATCH comment: US rice farmers have had to face their worst ever crisis thanks to the biotech industry, which has shown no willingness to accept any responsibility for the major financial damage its GM rice trials have wreaked.
None of this has been lost on Indian farmers, who have sought to protect their rice industry from similar devastation by putting a stop to GM rice trials in India, in some cases by setting fire to the crop.
But in an interview this week with an Indian newspaper, Clive James, chairman of the industry backed ISAAA, dismissed critics of GM crops as "selfish people". And when the interviewer referred to the destruction of the GM trials, the man the paper describes as "the voice of the global biotech crop industry", dismissed their actions as those of "people that seem to be on the fanatic side. They are violent in their thoughts."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7505
Exactly the same could, of course, have been said about America's founding fathers dumping tea into Boston Harbor to protest unfair trade and unjust governance, or about Gandhi's burning of British made clothing because it had brought about the decimation of the Indian textile industry.
Indian farmers taking non-violent direct action to protect *their* agriculture and environment from devastation is neither "selfish" nor fanatical - just plain common sense. And for a fat cat paid to punt GM crops by the likes of Monsanto to say otherwise is truly nauseating.
+ GM NOTHING TO DO WITH SOLVING INDIA'S HUNGER PROBLEM
From an article on the BBC News website: [Devinder] Sharma insists that the drive for biotechnology has absolutely nothing to do with a desire to solve India's hunger problems: "About 320 million people go to bed hungry in India each night; not because there is no food, but because they cannot buy that food. Between 2001 and 2003, India had a record grain surplus of wheat and rice amounting to 65 million tonnes. If you could have stacked the bags of grain one on top of another there would be enough bags to walk to the Moon and back; that was the quantity of food lying in India, and yet 320 million people went hungry. So let's be very clear; no-one is interested in eradicating hunger."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6338377.stm
+ BEWARE THE AMBASSADORS OF BIOTECH
From an article by Damien Morris: "The techniques used by the GM lobby... have been neatly documented in the book Genetically Modified Language by Guy Cook, a Professor in Language and Education at the Open University. Essentially Cook demonstrates that the GM lobby consistently paints a picture of a hapless, ignorant and emotional public, prone to manipulation through a media hijacked by NGOs who are extremists, terrorists or even unscrupulous sensationalists trying to increase their funding and membership. The wise and benevolent proponents of GM can then "educate" the simpleton public, and the truth will set them free into the brave new scientific future."
(Beware The Ambassadors of Science)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7520