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WEEKLY WATCH number 250
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

Activists from all over the world have gathered in Bonn, Germany, for the latest Cartagena Protocol summit and to enjoy the parallel Planet Diversity event - a global festival celebrating natural and agricultural diversity.
http://www.planet-diversity.org/

Meanwhile the biotech industry is trying to position itself to profit out of climate chaos by patenting supposed 'climate genes' that (they think) will enable plants to survive terrible weather conditions. It's also continuing to attempt to convince us that GM has the answer to the food crisis - a crisis that it helped create by pushing agricultural land into agrofuel production.

Finally, Human Genetics Alert has discovered that American scientists have created the world's first GM human embryo, without notifying the public or the media.

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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ATTACKS ON GM WATCH -- PODCAST
CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY
PROFITING FROM CLIMATE CHAOS
FOOD CRISIS
EUROPE
GM HUMANS
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
LOBBYWATCH
THE AMERICAS

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ATTACKS ON GM WATCH -- PODCAST
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In a new GM Watch podcast you can hear GM Watch founder, Jonathan Matthews being interviewed by Peter Brown -- GM Watch's podcast producer -- about the cyber attacks that recently drove the GM Watch website offline.
TRANSCRIPT AND PODCAST DETAILS
http://www.gmwatch.eu/archives/5-Interview-about-attacks-on-GM-Watch.html

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CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY
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The 4th Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Biosecurity (MOP4) and the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, COP9) is taking place in Bonn 12-16 May. Key issues on the agenda include liability for GM contamination, GM trees and the role of GM Terminator technology. The biotech industry has campaigned vigorously to limit the effects of the Cartagena Protocol and will be working hard in Bonn - see:
http://www.corporateeurope.org/cbdcop9.html

+ BRIEFING PAPERS ON KEY ISSUES
The Third World Network has produced a series of briefing papers which can be accessed via TWN's Biosafety Information Centre.
http://www.biosafety-info.net/meetart.php?mid=24

+ BIODIVERSITY TALKS HIJACKED BY CORPORATE INTERESTS?
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is keeping some of the so-called public interest groups at COP/MOP under scrutiny after unveiling the close ties between the Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) lobby groupo and industry. This group, which claims to represent the public research sector, brings together key figures from the world of biotech research, most of whom receive funding from the biotech industry. A CEO investigation highlights just how closely allied to industry this group really is - but also reveals how it has won EU funding to promote its aims and help change public perceptions of the GM industry. Read the report 'How Public are the Public Research Lobbyists of PRRI'
http://www.corporateeurope.org/docs/PRRIbriefing.pdf

+ GM CROP FOES MARCH IN GERMANY AS SUMMIT STARTS
About 5,000 activists marched through the German city of Bonn on Monday to protest against GM food at the start of MOP4. Campaigners, many waving colourful flags and banners with slogans such as 'Biofuel Creates Hunger' and 'Good Food Instead Of GM Food', walked and danced through the western German city.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL1210604320080512

+ PUBLIC IGNORED ON BIOSAFETY - INDIA
India's civil society organisations working on the food security issues expressed concern over what they describe as lack of public participation in policy-making on biosafety in India in the run-up to COP/MOP.
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/04/stories/2008050456560900.htm

+ LA VIA CAMPESINA MOBILIZES IN BONN
An international farmers delegation of La Via Campesina is mobilising in Bonn during the MOP4. Farmers are demanding that governments radically reassess the policies that are wiping out biodiversity and rural communities across the planet. They will also denounce the false solutions, such as GMOs, agrofuels and forest monocultures. For millennia, small-scale farmers have conserved and renewed plant and animal biodiversity. Peasants and small farmers are now asking for their role to be recognised. They are convinced that sustainable family farming and local food production can solve the current food and environmental crisis.
http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/2008/05/7010.shtml

+ AFRICA MUST SAFEGUARD ITS OWN INTERESTS
Africa must safeguard its economic and social interest at the ninth Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Bio-diversity and ensure that industrialised countries in the North do not sideline its concerns on agriculture, food security and agricultural bio-diversity conservation, writes Sifelani Tsiko in the Zimbabwe newspaper The Herald. Prof Carol Thompson, a visiting political economist from the University of Arizona in the US, said African countries should reject the growing push for agro-fuels production arguing that it will lead to loss of land, food security and sovereignty and perpetuate a model of industrial agriculture that is not environmentally sustainable.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805060678.html

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PROFITING FROM CLIMATE CHAOS
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+ PATENTING CLIMATE GENES -- AND CAPTURING THE CLIMATE AGENDA
The world's largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more, reports ETC Group. BASF, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont and biotech partners have filed 532 patent documents on so-called 'climate ready' genes at patent offices around the world. In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the gene giants are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviours.
http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=687

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FOOD CRISIS
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+ GMOs NOT THE ANSWER - JEFFREY SACHS
The EU should provide structural aid to increase yields from peasant farmers in poor countries if it wants to help the global food crisis rather than just throwing emergency food aid at the problem, American economist Jeffrey Sachs told the European Parliament. 'Rather than just shipping expensive food aid, we should be helping the poorest of the poor to grow more food,' he said. Sachs said he would like to see more funding on research into improved seed varieties. However, he stressed that this meant conventional crops, along with increased use of fertilisers and small-scale irrigation, and not GMOs. As Sachs is normally a spokesman of first resort for the GM lobby, this appears to be a significant departure.
http://euobserver.com/9/26084

+ MULTINATIONALS MAKE BILLIONS IN PROFIT OUT OF GROWING FOOD CRISIS
The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world's richest food companies are making record profits, reports the UK Independent on Sunday. Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn. Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030bn over the same three months.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/multinationals-make-billio ns-in-profit-out-of-growing-global-food-crisis-820855.html
http://tinyurl.com/55nced

+ MONSANTO PROFITS FROM FOOD CRISIS
A story on the financial website Kiplinger.com begins with this advice to potential investors: 'Everywhere you look people are grumbling -- and in many cases rioting -- about the high price of food. Before you buy a 20-pound bag of rice at Costco, consider hording shares of Monsanto.'
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/6/monsantos_harvest_of_fear

+ MAKING A KILLING FROM THE FOOD CRISIS
The world food crisis is hurting a lot of people, but global agribusiness firms, traders and speculators are raking in huge profits.
A new report by GRAIN -
http://www.grain.org/2/?id=39
and in PDF
http://www.grain.org/2/?id=39&pdf

+ U.S. USING FOOD CRISIS TO BOOST GM CROPS
The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of GM crops in food-deprived countries. This is in spite of the fact that no evidence links GM crops to higher yields.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-food-crops_14may14,0,7229990. story

+ BUSH BLAMES INDIANS FOR FOOD CRISIS
US President George W Bush is arguing that prosperity in countries like India has triggered increased demand for better nutrition, causing the global rise in food prices. But Vandana Shiva says, 'The myth that Bush is propagating is a "growth myth". While the Indian economy has grown, the majority of Indians have grown poorer because as a result of globalisation, they have lost their land and livelihoods. Most Indians are, in fact, eating less today than a decade ago. The per capita availability of food has declined from 177 kg per person per year in 1991 to 152 kg per person per year.'
http://203.197.197.71/presentation/leftnavigation/opinion/op-ed/why-bush-is-wron g-in-blaming-indians.aspx

+ GM PROMOTED AS ANSWER TO FOOD CRISIS
The claim that GM is the answer to the current food crisis is being made constantly at the moment by GM promoters, even though the biggest study of its kind ever conducted -- the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) -- recently concluded that
(1) GM is not the answer to world hunger, and
(2) small-scale farmers and ecological methods deliver best for the poorest and hungriest.
Articles at the following links from knowledgeable sources confirm IAASTD's analysis and reject GMOs as a solution:
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=369& Itemid=1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/06/food.internationalaidanddeve lopment
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/2115

+ WHO REALLY TRIGGERED THE FOOD CRISIS?
More and more analysts are identifying the Bush inspired corn-ethanol boom as the key catalyst in sending food prices skyrocketing. The price increase for other commodities followed that of corn - after it had been rising for months, with corn directly contributing to many of the price hikes by pulling acreage away from other crops such as wheat and soya. Of course, it didn't help that the EU followed suit in cranking up 'biofuel' demand without properly researching the likely consequences.

What has not had sufficient attention is the question of who drove these rushed 'biofuel' policies. In the case of the EU, the biotech industry is known to have been amongst those on whom the Commission relied for guidance in developing its disastrous biofuel targets. The Bush Administration similarly relied on big agribiz interests in developing its ethanol policy - a policy that's netted those same interests a fortune while providing the biotech industry and its supporters with a new platform from which to promote GM crops as the solution to the food crisis they helped to create!

As Bruce Babcock, a professor of economics and director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University, said, 'If you didn't have ethanol, you would not have the prices we have today.' A review of the impact of biofuels has been ordered but in the UK, we are going ahead with the renewable transport fuel obligation before we hear the results, which is like going to war and then examining the case for it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article3867740.ece
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20080504_How_shortages__stockpiles_led_t o_a_global_food_crisis.html
http://www.corporateeurope.org/agrofuelfolly.html

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EUROPE
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+ MAYOR OF MILLAU BANS GMOs
The new mayor of Millau, Guy Durand, who has a doctorate in public law, intends to ban GMOs in his town. Already there are no pesticides used in the municipal greenhouses and the school canteens serve organic meals. The city is the headquarters of Roquefort cheese, which prohibits GMOs in sheep's milk.
http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/economie_terre/325611.FR.php

+ FRENCH PARLIAMENT THROWS OUT GM BILL
The French Parliament has thrown out a controversial bill on GM crops. One-third of the ruling UMP party rebelled and joined left-wing lawmakers to vote out the text by just 136 votes to 135. Cheers broke out outside the parliament building where anti-GM campaigners had gathered in protest as the bill, which aimed to bring France into line with a 2001 European Union law, was rejected. Jose Bove, who has been jailed several times for ripping up GM crops, called it a 'historic victory'. Left-wing critics attacked the legislation as lacking strong enough safeguards to protect conventional crops from GM contamination. Before the Parliamentary vote, hundreds of activists marched in Paris in protest against the law.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5dIJWPgTCpDhOmApk4GtcXn3vow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7514736

+ UK: GM POTATO TRIAL APPROVED
Leeds University has been given approval to conduct a research trial this year of GM potatoes. The crop will be grown on a test site near Tadcaster.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/7393772.stm
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/University-given-goahead-for-open.4070514.jp
DEFRA's consent: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/regulation/pdf/07-r31-01.pdf

+ ANTI-GM PROTEST SHUTS DOWN BASF UK HEADQUARTERS
On 6 May, 30 protesters from Earth First! shut down the BASF UK headquarters at Cheadle Hulme near Manchester, to highlight the company's role in pushing GM onto our plates. BASF is planning to run the UK's only trial of GM crops this year in the UK - apart from the Leeds University one, see above .
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/398334.html

+ WALES: CALL FOR ASSEMBLY TO SACK TOP ADVISER
First minister of the Welsh Assembly Rhodri Morgan is being urged to sack the Assembly's chief scientific adviser Prof Chris Pollock because of his 'assault on the Assembly's carefully considered and long-standing commitment to keep GM crops out of Wales'.
http://tinyurl.com/6olbzo

+ EU DELAYS DECISION ON APPROVING MORE GM CROPS
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, delayed a decision on whether farmers may grow more GM crops, saying further scientific analysis was needed before approval could be given. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will be asked for more assessment of the risk of growing two GM maize crops, and a potato modified to produce extra starch. That move is likely to put off EU approval of the crops for several months. The EU has not approved any GM crops for growing since 1998.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL0759943020080507

+ GEORGIA: PATRIARCH SPEAKS OUT AGAINST GM CROPS
In his Easter sermon, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II spoke out against GM crops, which he said would have harmful effects for both the environment and people.
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/1599_may_2_2008/1599_econ_one.html

+ BELGIUM: BIOSAFETY COUNCIL RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF GM POPLARS
Belgium's Biosafety Council is recommending that the government approve a request from the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie in Ghent for the field testing of GM poplar trees to produce less lignin and aid the demand for agrofuels.
http://db.zs-intern.de/uploads/1210076833-GE_Poplars_Belgium.pdf

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GM HUMANS
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+ SCIENTISTS CREATE FIRST GM HUMAN EMBRYO
UK watchdog group Human Genetics Alert has discovered that American scientists have created the world's first GM human embryo, without notifying the public or the media. In response, HGA's director Dr David King called on the British government to halt its plans to legalise GM embryos in the Human Fertilisation and embryology Bill (HFE Bill). Few MPs were even aware of the plans. HGA and an international group of civil society organisations called for an international moratorium on such experiments until there has been a full debate. A team of scientists based at Cornell University and led by Nikica Zaninovic genetically engineered human embryos last year.
http://www.geneticsandsociety.rsvp1.com/s157da5xe1x
http://www.geneticsandsociety.rsvp1.com/article.php?id=4081&mgh=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .geneticsandsociety.org&mgf=1

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ASIA
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+ NEW STUDY SHOWS BT COTTON PROBLEMS IN ANDHRA PRADESH
The huge hype of Bt cotton has once again trapped cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh. A 2007-2008 study by the Deccan Development Society and the AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity shows that Bt cotton farmers suffered 10% less profits than the farmers who cultivated non-Bt and practised non-pesticidal (NPM) methods on their farms. The study found:
***Bt farmers suffered 10% less returns than the non-Bt farmers practicing NPM methods
***Bt farmers had to invest 18% more on pest management than the NPM farmers
***Bt farmers had to invest 9% more for cultivating cotton as against the NPM farmers.

The two groups that led the study have demanded that the state and central governments order comprehensive scientific research into the adverse impact of Bt cotton cultivation on human, animal and soil health. They advised the government against depending on the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for information as it relied on a handful of scientists whose loyalty to the farming community was questionable. In fact, a senior member of the GEAC was the president of ISAAA, a global GM promotional body backed by the biotech industry.
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/11/stories/2008051157920200.htm

+ ORGANIC COTTON PROJECT SAVES FARMERS FROM SUICIDE
An organic cotton project initiated by the textile manufacturer Arvind Ltd in 33 villages in Maharashtra seems to have saved farmers in those villages from suicide in an area where suicides have skyrocketed since the introduction of Bt cotton.
http://tinyurl.com/6jhtwy

+ SENIOR SCIENTIST CONDEMNS INDIA'S GM CROP TRIAL REGULATION
Scientist P. Bhargava, appointed by order of the Supreme Court to monitor the activities of the GEAC, India's apex regulatory body on GM crops, says Mahyco's field trial data on biosafety is 'shocking' (Mahyco is Monsanto's Indian subsidiary). Bhargava has raised strong objections to the quality of data provided by Mahyco in the final trials for Bt brinjal before its commercial release. He also asked for a review of data on Bt cotton approved in 2002. He has asked for independent tests to determine safety rather than just the data that the company provided.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/306823.html

+ ASIA UNENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT GM CROPS
Asian countries are less than enthusiastic about GM crops, says an article for AFP. Japan does not grow GM crops and South Korea has not put any GM crops into commercial cultivation. In Bangkok the regional headquarters for the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said it had not seen any signs that governments in Asia were pushing for GM seeds. 'With modern agricultural technology countries should be able to produce enough food without genetically-modified seeds,' said He Changchui, the FAO's regional representative for Asia. 'You don't need them. Just try to supply good fertilizer and good water,' he said.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jzRFfHArAzLglfsxLyBg-kyc5s6A

+ FARMERS DEMAND BAN ON GM CROPS
Nearly a thousand people, including hundreds of farmers, gathered in New Delhi on 6 May under the banner of 'Coalition for a GM-Free India' to demand a total ban on GM crops and food. They urged the political parties to take a categorical stand on GM technology in the run-up to the general elections. 'It is an unwanted, irretrievable, undesirable technology,' they said. Several members of Parliament addressed the rally.

Angry farmers demanded why the government had forced Bt cotton upon them without being aware of the consequences. They told how:
***Yields started falling after three years, and now the crop was not worth harvesting.
***Existing pests developed resistance, new pests appeared. They now spend more on pesticides than they did on hybrids.
***Soil quality has deteriorated so much that nothing grows after Bt cotton is cultivated and harvested.
***All those who came into contact with the cotton suffered allergies.
***Cattle died in large numbers and fell sick after being fed Bt cotton straw. In Andhra Pradesh, post mortem revealed the role of the Bt toxin.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Murli Manohar Joshi commented, 'Bt variety of crops will act as TB (tuberculosis) for the Indian farming industry if continued to be used.'
http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/06/stories/2008050654831000.htm
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/07/stories/2008050758540300.htm

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ ABARE PRODUCES ANOTHER BOGUS REPORT TO PUSH GM CROPS
The Network of Concerned Farmers (NCF) has slammed ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics) for its latest economic report titled 'Economic Impacts of GM crops in Australia', claiming that it is based on misinformation and driven by the federal government protecting its investments in GM technology. No additional seed costs or user fees were incorporated and it was assumed all farmers would grow GM, which removed the costs of segregation. No market loss or penalties were integrated but a market premium was assumed for GM crops AND a price reduction was claimed for consumers. The funding for this project was provided by the Rural policy division under the National Biotechnology Strategy (NBS) introduced in 2000.

+ CONSUMERS AND FARMERS MARCH AGAINST GMOs
Consumers and farmers are marching in Melbourne, Australia against GM food and crops, on 21 May beginning at the State Library at 1pm and proceeding to Parliament House. For details contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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+ MONSANTO'S HARVEST OF FEAR
From interview by democracynow.org with James Steele, who recently published an excellent article in Vanity Fair on Monsanto's corporate practices:

'Pilot Grove is in the midst of one of [the] great soybean growing areas. And Monsanto has been targeting farmers and a seed co-op in that area over the last few years, accusing them of patent infringements. ... They've targeted many farmers there, and upwards of two dozen, the last time I looked at things, had settled with the company, had not gone to court, had just reached some confidential agreement.

'But the co-op, the seed co-op that is sort of the pivotal unit in that county, did not agree to a settlement. They felt, how in the world can we agree to this? We -- farmers bring us seeds. We don't know whether these are traditional seeds or whether these are genetically modified seeds. They're basically saying, 'You want us to be a policeman of our customers.' So they resisted, and they're in court over this.

'But as a result of this, Monsanto has unleashed the full weight of its investigative forces in this little county. No less than seventeen surveillance videos by private investigators have been made of farmers in and around this town. I mean, this was eye-opening to us, the idea that a company is out there videotaping farmers, apparently, in their fields, coming out of stores. I'm not exactly sure where some of these videos were taken, but the court record refers to those. And these are part of the evidence that they gather to then confront farmers and say, "Look, you need to settle. You need to come clean. You're infringing on our patent. It's time to really make an agreement with us."'
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/6/monsantos_harvest_of_fear

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ BLACK OPS ON GREEN GROUPS
Here an interview with the journalist who uncovered how a private security firm spied on Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and other environmental organizations, including many anti-GM groups. The security firm was run by former Secret Service officers who infiltrated groups, collected their phone records and confidential internal documents, and even went through their trash. The information was then passed on to public relations firms and corporations involved in environmental controversies. Monsanto was on the firm's client list.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/14/black_ops_on_green_groups_private

+ NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY SLAMMED OVER IAASTD REPORT
The journal Nature Biotechnology recently sided with the GM industry in criticizing the IAASTD report on the future of food and agriculture for not being upbeat about GM crops. Now Jack A. Heinemann of the Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety has published a letter in the journal pointing out that 'The Report should not be dismissed just because some do not like the answers it provides.'
GM Watch comment: Heinemann's letter gives an interesting account of how IAASTD bent over backwards to accommodate industry's views, but was foiled by what was either extraordinary inefficiency on the industry's part (missing extended deadlines, etc.) or a deliberate withdrawal from the discussions. Perhaps, since IAASTD report was evidence-based, it simply couldn't find enough facts to support its case.
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v26/n5/index.html [subscription needed]

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THE AMERICAS
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+ MOST AMERICANS DON'T WANT TO BUY GM FOOD - BUT THEY HAVE NO CHOICE
According to a CBS News/New York Times poll, 53 percent of Americans say they won't buy GM food. But it's not labeled, so they have no choice. Nutritionist Marion Nestle, a former FDA advisor, said,
'They [the industry] didn't want it labeled because they were terrified that if it were labeled, nobody would buy it.'
http://cbs4.com/national/CBS.News.New.2.721469.html

+ CANADA: POLITICIAN WANTS LABELS ON GM AND TOXIC FOOD
Member of the legislative assembly Gregor Robertson (who is bidding to become Vancouver's next mayor) plans to introduce a private member's bill in the legislature making it mandatory to label GM food. The Right to Know Act would require producers and suppliers to warn consumers if products contain toxic chemicals or GM ingredients. Greenpeace members protested outside the British Columbia legislature on 8 May and handed in a petition with 20,000 signatures asking for mandatory labeling of all GM foods.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=8c10deca-200 5-455f-ad29-2381ec8cb3c9