from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

There's more good news news this week from Poland. The new Prime Minister has pledged in parliament to keep the country GM-free (EUROPE).

We have some interesting research reports (NEW RESEARCH). One shows that mice developed lung inflammation after being fed GM peas. Predictably, this study has been spun by the CSIRO scientists who conducted it as proving that the safety checks work. But in fact, all it shows is that this particular type of effect was obvious enough and rapid enough to show up in short and cursory experiments.

Another study shows that the industry has consistently lied about the safety of its CaMV promoter, used in most GM crops. And in THE OTHER TERRORISTS, New Scientist reveals that terrorists can easily order bioweapons over the internet. New Scientist also points out that America's laxly regulated food supply is wide open to any kind of GM product, no matter how suspect! (THE AMERICAS)

Sadly, Jose Bove and a French Member of the European Parliament were both jailed this week for uprooting GM crops in what seems a pattern of repression in France (EUROPE).

But it's good to see the Indian government, which has engaged in willful blindness regarding the catastrophe caused by Bt cotton, finally doing something to help its hard-pressed farmers. It has banned Terminator technology and protected farmers' rights to save seeds, in spite of intensive lobbying from industry (ASIA).

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
AFRICA
NEW RESEARCH
LOBBYWATCH 1: US LOBBIES THE VATICAN AGAIN!
ASIA
THE AMERICAS
AUSTRALASIA
THE OTHER TERRORISTS
LOBBYWATCH 2: REUTERS FALLS FOR SPIN OVER AFRICA

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EUROPE
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+ POLAND'S PRIME MINISTER PLEDGES TO KEEP COUNTRY GM-FREE
The new Polish Prime Minister, who is seen as an ally of the U.S. on foreign policy issues, has pledged to the Polish Parliament in a crucial policy speech, seeking parliamentary backing, that he will keep Poland GM-free.

All but 2 of Poland's regions had already declared themselves GM-free zones and more than three quarters of Polish consumers have said they don't want to eat any food containing GM ingredients.

The news follows an earlier study by Russia's largest public opinion research body, showing that 95 per cent of Russians were either opposed to GM ingredients or seriously concerned by them.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5957

+ BOVE AND FRENCH MEP JAILED FOR DESTROYING GM CROPS
France's highest-profile farmer and a Green Party lawmaker were among those sentenced to prison terms for destroying a field of GM corn planted by an Iowa company in southern France.

Jose Bove of the Confédération Paysanne was sentenced to four months in prison. A Green Party lawmaker and a French member of the European Parliament, both received three-month sentences.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5948

+ FRENCH JAILINGS PART OF PATTERN OF REPRESSION
The jailing of Bove and others appears to be part of a brutal attempt to repress anti-GM demonstrators that has included police firing tear gas and stun grenades directly at demonstrators, leading to a number of people being injured. Bove has said that the French government had shown its true face in wanting to impose GM crops and the rule of the multinationals. As a result, anti-GM actions now generally happen under cover of darkness
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4766

+ NEW GERMAN GOVT PLANS ILLEGAL LAW ON GMOs
The new German government is apparently planning to repeal strict liability for GMO contamination but its plans contravene both German and European law, according to the Institute for Nature Protection and Nature Protection Law, Tuebingen.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5940

+ CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER OF IRELAND ACCUSED OF GM COVER-UP
Dr Barry McSweeney, the Chief Scientific Officer of Ireland, who used a fake PhD to obtain his job, attempted to cover-up an official EU study on the risks of GMO crops in 2002, says GM-free Ireland Network.

Before assuming his current post in 2004, Dr McSweeney was CEO of the EU Joint Research Centre. While head of that organisation, McSweeney attempted to suppress the publication of the EC's official "Scenarios for Co-existence" report on the feasibility of introducing GM crops in EU member states.

The study concludes that GM crops inevitably contaminate conventional and organic crops and may cause 40% higher production costs for EU farmers. It states that all farmers would face high additional, in some cases unsustainable costs of production if GM crops were commercially grown in a large scale in Europe.

Mr McSweeney wrote to the EC recommending that the report should not be made public, stating, "given the sensitivity of the issue, I would suggest that the report be kept for internal use within the Commission only."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5939

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AFRICA
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+ KENYA FREE TO ADOPT OR REJECT GMOs, CLAIMS U.S. EMBASSY
The US government is not imposing GMOS on Kenya, the US Embassy in Nairobi claims. The US embassy's claim was made at a meeting organised by the 'Africa Harvest' lobby group, headed by Florence Wambugu.

Both Wambugu and the US embassy are presenting the introduction of GMOs into Africa as something driven by Africans rather than the US and its agencies or foreign corporations and their PR operatives.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Kenya has been targeted consistently by USAID and the biotech corporations since the days of the corrupt Moi adminstration. Like South Africa, Kenya has also become a centre for aggressive lobbying for GM, spurred on by the biotech industry-backed ISAAA.

Wambugu has worked for ISAAA and has been at the heart of this aggressive biotech push ever since being selected and trained for that role by Monsanto and USAID.

Both the US embassy and Wambugu emphasised that GM increases production. They provide no evidence to support this claim and the experience in Kenya, as elsewhere, has been the exact opposite.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5937

+ U.S. ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF WEST AFRICA COTTON IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
On November 10, US Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and US Trade Representative Rob Portman announced the launch of the West Africa Cotton Improvement Program (WACIP) aimed at the cotton sectors of Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Senegal.

Almost at the very bottom of the the US State Dept press release announcing the program, it mentions that the program aims to "Improve the enabling environment for agricultural biotechnology".

One African commentator called it, "deeply ironic" that the US was "coming into the area to interfere in the agricultural and marketing process around W. African cotton, when it has been shown that the region can produce cotton to a very high quality and at a lower price than the US, making them potentially some of the most competitive producers in the world.

Their problem is that the US subsidises its 30,000 cotton farmers to the tune of more than $3.5 billion a year. This has the effect of suppressing cotton prices worldwide. The World Bank (2002) found that if such protection ended, the largest gains would go to Africa. The African countries that rely on cotton are among the poorest of the world. Cotton revenues constitute from 50-80% of the exports of Mali, Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso, and more than 9 million people in West Africa rely on cotton for their livelihood.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5943

+ COMMENT ON WEST AFRICA COTTON IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
The African Centre for Biosafety asked Devlin Kuyek, author of an important briefing on how the US government uses USAID to actively promote GM agriculture, for his comments on the US's announcement of the launch of its West Africa Cotton Improvement Program.

Devlin writes: "GM cotton is clearly a secondary issue here, a smokescreen. The main objective is to break African solidarity on trade issues and to get these 5 [West African] countries to tone down their demands for the elimination of US ag subsidies in Hong Kong [at the WTO Ministerial conference].

... Last January there was a meeting in Bamako between the US and these same 5 countries in which a US report on the West African cotton sector was presented (the framework for this latest initiative). The report focused on ways to improve productivity and pretty much evaded the question of US subsidies. During the meeting, the US refused to make any commitments on the issue of trade or subsidies and after the meeting, the 5 countries felt obliged to issue their own press release ("The Bamako Declaration") saying that while they appreciate some of the report's recommendations on cotton production, they were firm that the main reason for the on-going cotton crisis in their countries was US cotton dumping.

... My own suspicion is that the US actually wants to destroy much of West African cotton production by pushing onward with the privatization of the national companies and to control what's left by spreading Bt cotton. It fits together nicely with the 15 year timeline that the US has set for the elimination of its domestic subsidies. Surely this is less far-fetched than the National Cotton Council "helping" one of their main global export competitors to increase production!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5946

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NEW RESEARCH
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+ GM CROP SCRAPPED AS MICE MADE ILL
CSIRO scientists have abandoned a decade-long GM crop project in its last stages of research after learning that peas modified to resist insects had caused inflammation in the lung tissues of mice.

Project leader Dr T.J. Higgins claimed the case demonstrated the effectiveness of regulations on research into GM crops, but Greenpeace spokeswoman Helen Oakey is unconvinced. "It's not a system that looks to see if products are safe," she said.

"When these products are tested what they're actually looking for is an absence of harm, so unless these products actually sort of have quick and obvious effects on people's health, it's very rare that they're actually withdrawn from the shelves or not approved for consumption."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5955
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1509512.htm
Abstract of the study:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5959

+ THE 35S CaMV PROMOTER IS ACTIVE IN SOME HUMAN INTESTINAL CELLS
The 35S CaMV promoter, used in most currently available GM crops, is active in some human intestinal cells, according to new research.

It has been claimed that the 35S promoter is plant-specific and would not be active in mammalian cells, and hence would not pose risks linked to the consumption of GM food and feed in the event that plant DNA fragments are taken up from the mammalian gastrointestinal tract.

However, this claim has not been supported by experimental data. Previous research has indicated the potential of the 35S promoter to be active in mammalian systems. The new research provides direct evidence that the 35S promoter is active in mammalian cell cultures.

Ref: Marit R. Myhre, Kristin A. Fenton, Julia Eggert, Kaare M. Nielsen and Terje Traavik, "The 35S CaMV plant virus promoter is active in human enterocyte-like cells", European Food Reseach and Technology (2005)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5945

+ GM COTTON CLAIMS QUESTIONED
New Scientist recently published a news story, based on a study part-funded by Monsanto, which reported that to "the surprise of many researchers, genetically modified cotton plants are continuing to fend off the pink bollworm" when it was "expected that the pest would have evolved resistance to a toxin produced by the GM cotton in as little as three years".

A letter in response to the article, published in the current issue of New Scientist, suggests that any celebrations may be premature. In her letter Liz Wright points out, "The lack of developed resistance in genetically modified Bt cotton crops in Arizona is indeed surprising, especially considering what has been found elsewhere. Australian researchers recently obtained "unequivocal evidence" that a strain of the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera was resistant to the Cry1Ac toxin. Unlike the Monsanto-funded study in Arizona, where the inheritance of resistance was recessive, the resistance mechanism was found to be semi-dominant, raising serious concerns about how such resistance might be managed."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5958

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ U.S. ENVOY URGES VATICAN ON GM CROPS
The new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See has urged the Vatican to promote the potential of biotech crops, saying there was a "moral imperative" to investigate the possible benefits of agricultural technology to feed the world's hungry. Ambassador Francis Rooney told Pope Benedict XVI as he presented his credentials during a Vatican audience that "we cannot let irrational fears stop us". Benedict told Rooney that all political decisions must be based on ethical considerations that promote "the dignity, life and freedom of each human person."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5935

+ REPLY TO ROONEY
Father Sean McDonagh, a Roman Catholic Missionary who has worked in the Philippines, has responded to US lobbying of the Vatican over GMOs. Father McDonagh points out that Francis Rooney is merely continuing the campaign of his predecessor, James Nicholson, to get the Vatican to endorse genetically engineered foods.

Father McDonagh writes, "Nicholson organized a seminar on the same theme in the Gregorian University in conjunction with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in September 2004. All the speakers were avidly pro-biotech agriculture, which if it becomes widespread will make trillions of dollars for U.S. biotech companies.

Speaking from the floor at that seminar I reminded Ambassador Nicholson that the main problem facing agriculture in the next 40 years is global warming. Glaciers like those in the Himalayas and Andes are melting causing major problems for rivers such as the Ganges, the Indus, the Bramaputra, the Mekong and the Yangtze. These rivers help irrigate crops for one third of humanity. I reminded the ambassador that his country had not signed the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the U.S. also refused to sign the United Nations

Convention on Biodiversity. All agriculture depends on robust biodiversity and, finally, the U.S. had not signed the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Given this serious level of irresponsibility by the U.S. government I find their concern for 'feeding the world' spurious. It also overlooks the major

problems that GMOs can cause to human health and the environment."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5947

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ASIA
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+ TERMINATOR BANNED IN INDIA
Farmers have hailed the government's decision to notify the Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers' Rights (PVP&FR) Act, 2001. The Act, apart from protecting farm biodiversity, allows farmers to save and exchange seeds in unbranded form for use in the next crop season. The Act has also banned registration of seeds containing terminator technology.

The executive chairman of India's leading farmers' organisation, Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS), Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary said: "The PVP&FR Act was long withheld from its implementation due to pressure from the interested lobby of seed companies." Dr Chaudhary called for farmers' rights under the Act to be further strengthened.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5944

+ GENE CAMPAIGN DEMANDS LEGAL ACTION AGAINST GEAC
Gene Campaign, based in New Delhi, India, has called for legal action under the Environment Protection Act, against the members of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for criminal negligence and wilful suppression of facts in the Bt cotton case, leading to grave economic losses to the farming community, resulting in several instances of farmer suicides.

Dr Suman Sahai said that GEAC's silence and refusal to take action in the Bt cotton case, where fresh evidence of failures is coming in everyday, indicates that influences are at work which favour the continued sale of Bt cotton seed even if it means devastating losses to farmers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5941
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5953

+ BAN MONSANTO CALL BY INDIAN FARMERS
GM (Bt) cotton crops in Nirmar region in western Madhya Pradesh have suffered partial or complete wilting causing a major financial loss, the affected farmers report.

500 farmers, who held a public hearing, demanded compensation and urged the state government to ban Monsanto and other companies which sold Bt cotton seeds in the state. Several varieties, which had been banned in Andhra Pradesh for similar reasons, had been allowed to be marketed in Madhya Pradesh.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5942

+ TAMIL NADU BT COTTON SEEDS FAIL TO GERMINATE
Up to 75 per cent of the Bt cotton seeds in over a third of the area sown in two districts of Tamil Nadu failed to germinate, according to the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee comprising 20 civil society groups led by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.

The MEC, which is monitoring Bt cotton in five States, (to make up for the lack of monitoring by India's regulators - the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) found that the situation was remarkably similar to the failure of Bt cotton hybrids in Andhra Pradesh. However, whereas in Andhra Pradesh, farmers agitated for compensation and obtained it in some places, the story of germination failure in Tamil Nadu has not received much public attention except for some local media reports, the MEC said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5949

+ MORE REPORTS ON BT COTTON PROBLEMS
Two reports by fact-finding teams give more disturbing detail on the extent and the peculiarity of the problems affecting Bt cotton, and of the serious consequences for many of India's poor cotton farmers. The reports focus on Nanded district, Maharashtra, and Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh.

EXCERPTS:
For many Bt Cotton farmers, yields are much lower than what was promised by the company's propaganda.

...the extent of loss is such that the companies cannot ever hope to compensate the farmers for their losses... Because of this, the pressure not to give in and pay compensation to even a few farmers is very high...

Farmers have repeatedly observed that Bt Cotton is very stress-intolerant, unable to withstand conditions of lack of rains or excessive rains.

Farmers are beginning to realize that Bt Cotton hybrids are presenting peculiar problems in terms of diseases and sucking pests year after year and many are beginning to question the way the government permitted the commercial release of the technology.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5952

+ INDIAN FARM RESEARCH SECTOR OPENED TO U.S. COMPANIES
India has opened its public sector agriculture research sector to US private companies, enabling the private sector to "help identify research areas" that have the potential for "rapid commercialisation" with a view to developing new and commercially viable technologies for agricultural advancement in both countries.

The agreement said the Initiative might consider areas for joint research using biotechnology for harnessing genetic potential of agriculturally important plant and animal species.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5960

+ PRIVATE-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP TO MAKE GM CROPS AFFORDABLE
A public private partnership between Mahyco, academic institutions and private sector seed companies in India, Bangladesh and Philippines aims to make transgenic crops affordable to more farmers in the region. The project is supported by USAID.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5960

+ GM CONTAMINATION MAY AFFECT ORGANIC EXPORTS
Speaking in Bangalore, India, Dr Arpad Pusztai has cautioned that the country's organic exports might be rejected due to GM contamination, if India permits commercial cultivation of GM food crops.

As the average land-holding size of farmers in India is just around 1.50 hectares, it is simply impossible to prevent genetic contamination due to GM crops, the scientist argues. "Organic agriculture and Bt cannot co-exist, especially in India due to small land-holdings."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5933

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THE AMERICAS
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+ US "SHOCKINGLY UNPREPARED" FOR GM IMPORTS
Successive U.S. administrations have been so keen to produce a lax regulatory system that suits the need of U.S. biotech corporations that absolutely any GM product can be brought into the U.S. and sold for human or animal consumption without any mandatory checks at all, New Scientist points in an editorial.

As things stand, anyone wishing to bring a GM product into the country will need to notify the authorities only if it is intended for planting on US soil. Anything else can sail though without any mandatory scrutiny or health safeguards. And what if GM seeds intended for consumption rather than planting spill onto US soil? Nobody, until a recent seminar in Washington held by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, even seems to have considered that possibility.

So much for homeland security. New Scientist concludes, "The US is shockingly unprepared".

+ CALIFORNIA: BACKERS OF GM BAN REGROUP
Supporters of the defeated ballot initiative to ban GM crops in Sonoma County have vowed to pursue additional strategies to block biotechnology's advances into farming. But the initiative's chief author, Dave Henson, said he has no plans to pursue another ballot measure to ban GM crops.

"The Farm Bureau and biotech companies will spend whatever it takes and say whatever it takes to defeat these initiatives ... to make sure that these 'GE-free zones' don't spread," Henson said. Henson said future campaigns may focus on securing labels for GMOs in food products and lobbying to defeat state legislation that would pre-empt counties from outlawing such crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5932

+ MACADAM'S GM SUPPORT ANGERS HEALTH COALITION
Kevin MacAdam, the Agriculture Minister of Prince Edward Island (Canada) sabotaged public hearings regarding GMOs when he appeared to throw his full support behind GMOs, charges a spokesman for the Canadian Health Coalition.

"It was inappropriate of the minister to appear without any evidence and speak on behalf of industry," said Michael McBane, the coalition's executive director. He said MacAdam tried to sway the committee members who wrapped up lengthy hearings on GMOs. The committee is expected to report to the legislature during this fall session.

Without proof on GMO safety, McBane said there should be an immediate moratorium. "The law says demonstrate safety first, but Health Canada is saying first demonstrate it's not safe. They've shifted the burden onto the public."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5938

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ GM FIND SPARKS CALL TO DESTROY TAINTED CROPS
The Tasmanian Greens have called for the destruction of canola crops found to contain GM material after preliminary tests showed traces of GM material in the Grace canola line.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5950

+ NZ: NEW REPORT SOUNDS WARNING ON GMOs FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES
Regional and local authorities will have to protect their local economies from negative impacts of GE organisms or risk major costs falling to ratepayers under the government's current system for regulating GE organisms, warns a new report.

The "Risk Evaluation and Options Report", as commissioned by Waitakere City Council, Rodney, Kaipara, Whangarei and Far North District Councils, is a timely warning for local government and conservation bodies throughout New Zealand.

The report warns that under existing legislation in New Zealand, an approval by ERMA effectively acts as a a publicly-funded subsidy for GM companies when things go wrong and contamination of land or loss of markets results. Without strict liability on the users and promoters of GMOs, the downstream costs are set to fall to taxpayers and ratepayers through central and local government.

The report proposes changing councils' district plans to allow extra safeguards to be set at the local level - ones that would act in addition to those set by the national regulator, ERMA.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5951

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THE OTHER TERRORISTS
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+ THE BIOWEAPON IS IN THE POST
From New Scientist:
You might think it would be difficult for a terrorist to obtain genes from the smallpox virus, or a similarly vicious pathogen. Well, it's not. Armed with a fake email address, a would-be bioterrorist could probably order the building blocks of a deadly biological weapon online, and receive them by post within weeks.

That's the sobering reality uncovered by a New Scientist investigation into the bioterror risks posed by the booming business of gene synthesis. Dozens of biotech firms now offer to synthesise complete genes from the chemical components of DNA. Yet some are carrying out next to no checks on what they are being asked to make, or by whom. It raises the frightening prospect of terrorists mail-ordering genes for key bioweapon agents such as smallpox, and using them to engineer new and deadly pathogens.

... New Scientist approached 16 such firms... to ask whether they screened orders for DNA sequences that might pose a bioterror threat. Of the 12 companies that replied, just five said they screen every sequence received. Four said they screen some sequences, and three admitted not screening sequences at all...

... terrorists could order genes that confer virulence to dangerous pathogens such as the Ebola virus, and engineer them into another virus or bacterium.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5934

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REUTERS FALLS FOR BIOTECH SPIN OVER AFRICA
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This week Prof David Miller of Spinwatch - www.spinwatch.org - wrote to Reuters to complain about an article which seems to have been the result of a successful biotech industry spin operation. Here's his letter.

Dear Reuters

I would like to raise a concern I have about the Reuters article, 'Africa seen accepting GMO crops more in future', which was published in October out of Johannesburg. My concern is with the superficial coverage the article provides and what I would see as clear PR manipulation of your journalist(s).

The article is based overwhelmingly around the views and comments of Florence Wambugu who is described in the article simply as "a Kenyan biotech expert". The article reports her view that "homegrown projects" will win acceptance for GM crops in Africa where she says "resistance has been against foreign companies". The example given of a "homegrown" project is that of a consortium headed by Wambugu's 'Africa Harvest' group, which is developing "a GMO strain of sorghum with higher nutritional content."

My concern is that the article fails to place any of Wambugu's claims in context. For instance, the following press release (July 1, 2005) from Pioneer Hibred, a subsidiary of DuPont headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, makes it clear that it is a major player in Wambugu's consortium.
(http://www.seedquest.com/News/releases/2005/july/12684.htm )

An article published in the Des Moines Register, 'Scientists work to improve sorghum for humans' provides even more detail. It reports that the DuPont-owned subsidary is providing "crop seed expertise and vast plant genetic resources". Pioneer is, it seems, providing sorghum germ plasm, intellectual property rights "and the expertise to make sorghum more nutritional - a contribution valued at $4.8 million".It's also apparent from this article that Pioneer is training, "Africans at its worldwide research headquarters in Johnston as part of the effort". http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051029/BUSINESS04/510290309/1029/BUSINESS

While the Reuters article does make reference to "two U.S. groups" being involved in the project, it does not mention that one of these "groups" is the seed division of a major GM corporation. This information seems important in the context of claims made in the Reuters article that this is "absolutely an African driven project" and that it is not driven by foreign companies.

Florence Wambugu's own background is also relevant to this issue of the role of foriegn companies in promoting GM in Africa. Wambugu was previously a Post-Doctoral fellow in Monsanto. (http://www.ahbfi.org/collab_potato.htm ). She has also partnered with DuPont on a previous biotechnology project which is still ongoing. (http://www.ahbfi.org/chura_1.htm ) She is also a DuPont Biotech Advisory Panelist.

In addition, her group Africa Harvest's communication activities have been supported by CropLife International which is led by companies like BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont , Monsanto and Syngenta. Whether Florence Wambugu's current communication activities are similarly supported is hard to say as I could not find funding information on Africa Harvest's website. However, the site's previous funding information page is still accessible via an Internet archive and this confirms the funding by CropLife International.
(http://web.archive.org/web/20041010205547/www.ahbfi.org/funding.asp )

A page relating to Africa Harvest's communications activities is also accessible. Its references to "extensive and sustained" media work and "a state-of-the-art biotechnology communication network", suggests both a well-resourced and highly professional lobbying operation.
(http://web.archive.org/web/20041019001210/www.ahbfi.org/communicationprog.asp )

It is also worth noting that Florence Wambugu's projects have come in for considerable critisism for the way in which they have been promoted. It is not only "anti-GM activists" who have noted the inaccuracy of many of her claims and of their coverage in the media, but academic researchers. For instance Aaron deGrassi of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex takes apart Wambugu's claims for the GM sweet potato project she worked on with Monsanto, concluding her claims have more to do with PR than science. (Genetically Modified Crops and Sustainable Poverty Alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa http://allafrica.com/sustainable/resources/00010161.html )

Two other recent reports have taken apart her claims for the biotech banana project Africa Harvest has run with the help of DuPont. These researchers found her claims to be largely unsupported by the available data or by peer reviewed study, and in some cases they found the available evidence directly contradicted her claims. (see 'The Anti-politics Gene - Biotechnology, Ideology and Innovation Systems in Kenya', http://assets.innogen.ac.uk/assets_innogen/dynamic/1127824457271/Innogen-Working-Paper-36-Final.doc )

I appreciate that your journalists will be generalists dealing with a whole range of topics, but this is an important global issue with potentially major implications for the future of agriculture in many parts of the world. I am sure that your journalists will therefore want to provide coverage that is balanced and informative.

To help deal with the issue of manipulation by lobbyists, SpinWatch - the organisation I helped to found - is developing a database that may be of interest to your journalists and may help them to pose pertinent questions - http://www.spinwatch.org. The US-based Center for Media and Democracy operates a similar database: SouceWatch - http://www.sourcewatch.org

Yours
Prof David Miller
Professor of Sociology
Dept of Geography and Sociology
Strathclyde University
Scotland