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GMWATCH REVIEW number 308
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from Claire Robinson, REVIEW editor
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Dear all:
Two new studies show fresh dangers of GM crops: Bt toxin, the pesticide engineered into Bt crops, has been found in pregnant women and their foetuses. And mothers in the soy-producing state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, which mostly grows GM soy, have six different agrochemicals in their milk.
Meanwhile, in Iowa, nearly half of the soy crop is infested with a disease called sudden death syndrome.
The GM companies have brought us poisoned mothers and babies and diseased and dying crops. If Fukushima teaches us anything, it's that it's high time to move on from old, toxic technologies and embrace clean methods of energy and food production.
Claire <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org
Profiles: http://bit.ly/12UAI2
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch
Facebook: http://bit.ly/c6OnaX
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CONTENTS
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THE AMERICAS
RESEARCH
SUPERWEEDS
EUROPE
LOBBYWATCH
GM ANIMALS
NON-GM SUCCESSES
VIDEOS
AUSTRALASIA
ASIA
AFRICA
SEED BANKS
SMALLPOX
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THE AMERICAS
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+ U.S.: PLANT DISEASE RAISES QUESTIONS ON GM CROPS
A disease called sudden death syndrome has infested up to half of Iowa's fields planted with GM glyphosate-tolerant soy, according to an expert at Iowa State University. The symptoms are that the plants turn yellow and die after being sprayed with glyphosate. One suspected culprit is an organism that's being investigated by Don M. Huber, an emeritus professor at Purdue University who has done research for Monsanto on chemical herbicides. Huber says this organism may be the link between GM crops and crop diseases and infertility in livestock. Interesting article on these topics in the LA Times:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13033
+ U.S.: GM LEAK CONTINUES TO COST
The GM industry may not have lived up to its promise to feed the world, but it's certainly feeding a lot of lawyers as a result of contamination events, writes Glen Tyler in a blog for Greenpeace. Recently, Riceland Foods was awarded US$136.8 million in damages in its case against Bayer. Bayer had contaminated the US rice supply in 2006 with an unapproved GM variety, destroying export markets.
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13061
+ ARGENTINA: LOCAL NO-SPRAY ZONES ARE NOT ENOUGH
A recent court victory by victims of pesticide spraying in a soy-producing region of Argentina resulted in a ban on the spraying of pesticides in one neighborhood and within certain distances of homes. The NGO, Grupo de Reflexion Rural (GRR), has issued a statement on this case and others like it. GRR says that it supports the right of spray victims to fight for no-spray zones in order to protect their families and communities. However, it points out that people within and outside Argentina must not settle for partial victories, as the entire industrial soy production model needs to end. It is causing rural depopulation and poisoning on a massive scale. GRR particularly condemns the Round Table on Responsible Soy for its attempts to greenwash an unsustainable agricultural model.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13065
+ MONSANTO USES FOOD CRISIS TO PUSH GM CORN IN MEXICO
Monsanto has turned the drop in international corn reserves and the havoc wreaked on Mexican corn production by an unexpected cold snap into an argument for speeding up commercial planting of its GM corn in Mexico. Monsanto says its modified seeds are the only solution to scarcity and rising grain prices. Monsanto's Latin American President José Manuel Maduro blamed restrictions on GM corn production in the country for the high level of imports of the staple: "Mexico's decision to not move forward [on transgenics] has led to the importation of 10 million tons of corn, a situation that demands a swift response."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13050
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RESEARCH
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+ BT TOXIN FOUND IN BLOOD OF PREGNANT WOMEN AND FOETUSES
CryAb1 toxin, the insecticidal toxin in GM Bt crops, has been detected in pregnant women, their foetuses, and non-pregnant women, according to a new study. This is the first study to reveal the presence of circulating pesticides associated with GM foods in pregnant and non-pregnant women. CryAb1 toxin is found in the most common GM corn - Monsanto's Bt MON810 (marketed with the trade name YieldGard). Global production of Bt corn takes place on many millions of hectares worldwide and many different types of foods contain Bt corn. Seven EU countries - Austria, Hungary, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Germany and Bulgaria - have banned MON810. Incidentally, the study also found that non-pregnant women had glyphosate and glufosinate (pesticides used with GM crops) in their blood.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13047
+ AGROCHEMICALS FOUND IN MOTHERS' MILK IN SOY-PRODUCING AREA OF BRAZIL
A study revealed that 62 samples of mothers' milk in the soy-producing state of Mato Grosso in Brazil were all contaminated with agrochemicals. Six substances were found in the samples of mothers' milk. One of these has been forbidden in Brazil for ten years. Prof Wanderlei Antonio Pignati, who is coordinating the study, says there is no legislation that establishes limits for agrochemicals in mothers' milk, only for cows' milk. The study revealed that some of the residues were above the limit allowed, even for cows' milk. In 2009, 140 ha of corn and soy were planted and 5.62 million liters of agrochemicals were used.
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13039
The lead researcher, Prof Wanderlei Pignati of the Federal University of Mato Grosso, speaks in an interview about the problems caused in Brazil by GM soy. He says GM soy is worse for the environment than non-GM soy because it is engineered to tolerate large amounts of glyphosate, which kills many life forms. He says in Mato Grosso, 80% of last season's soy crop was GM. In Rio Grande do Sul, 95% was GM. Interview in Portuguese:
http://bit.ly/ejWKzZ
+ NEW STUDY SHOWS GM CONTAMINATION OF MAIZE IN URUGUAY
A new study shows that GM maize has cross-fertilized with non-GM maize in Uruguay. Percentages of transgenic seedlings in the offspring of the non-GM crops were estimated as 0.56%, 0.83% and 0.13% for three sampling sites with distances of respectively 40, 100 and 330 m from the GM crops. This is in line with the conclusion of research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics: "An impossible coexistence: transgenic and organic agriculture", which noted, "The cultivation of genetically modified maize [in Spain] has caused a drastic reduction in organic cultivations of this grain and is making their coexistence practically impossible."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13049
+ STOP ATTACKS ON INDEPENDENT RESEARCHERS
The attack on Prof G. E. Seralini by biotech advocates is just the latest example of denial, distortion, and harassment that has been institutionalized in the promotion of GMOs, writes Jeffrey Smith. A quote from a Nature article accurately describes this tactic: A "large block of scientists who denigrate research by other legitimate scientists in a knee-jerk, partisan, emotional way that is not helpful in advancing knowledge and is outside the ideals of scientific inquiry." Nature says these "strikes ... launched from within the scientific community" are sometimes "emotional and personal" and even "accuse scientists of misconduct".
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13048
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SUPERWEEDS
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+ HERBICIDE-RESISTANT WEEDS IN IOWA...
Herbicide resistant weed problems in Iowa are getting worse, says Iowa State University Extension weed scientist Mike Owen. "In Iowa we now have resistance in waterhemp to triazine herbicides, ALS inhibitors, PPO inhibitors, glyphosate and HPPD inhibitor herbicides," he said. "Anything that is suggested to be simple and convenient (herbicide, crop trait, whatever) will inevitably fail and cost you yield potential."
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13055
+ ... AND ARGENTINA
A 2009 article published in Geoforum examines glyphosate resistant johnsongrass, a weed that is affecting GM soybean fields in northern Argentina. The article describes the geographical advance of the invasion beyond the Pampas. It says that no preventive strategies are deployed against the invasion of johnsongrass. Instead, the reactive measures are based on "gene-stacking" that allows the use of still more glyphosate or new combinations of herbicides, thus combining the pesticide treadmill with a novel "transgenic treadmill".
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13055
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EUROPE
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+ EUROPE STEPS CLOSER TO REAL POWERS TO BAN GM CROPS
A weak proposal to give European countries the right to ban the cultivation of GM crops has been strengthened by the leading European Parliament committee. The European Commission is willing to give countries the right to ban GM crops only if these bans are based on a limited number of reasons. These include cultural and moral arguments, which EU lawyers argue are too weak to be legally robust. Now the environment committee has voted to include grounds related to potential environmental impacts of GM crops. Greenpeace argues that these grounds are crucial if national bans are to be legally robust.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13054
+ U.S. EMBASSIES USED ROMANIA AS TROJAN HORSE TO FORCE GMOs INTO EUROPE - WIKILEAKS
New WikiLeaks cables show that the US tried to use Romania as a wedge to relax European policies regarding GM crops. Romanian politicians played a duplicitous role. A "GMO trust-inducing program" was even set up to encourage the media to put out "positive messages" on GMOs. A cable sent on 18 January 2005, signed by Thomas Delare, deputy of ambassador Jack Dyer Crouch, stated: "A unique case in the region, Romania is a pioneer in biotechnology, it cultivates and promotes genetically modified soy, prohibited in the EU. The objective of the embassy is to help Romania enter the EU with a well-developed biotechnology sector and an educated population which understands the merits of biotechnology. Intensifying its efforts in Romania, the US will have a strong European ally, with common interests and beliefs in fighting against the anti-GMO position of the EU."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13040
+ CYPRUS: SEPARATE SHELVES FOR GM FOODS NOW LAW
In a success for Cypriot democracy, a bill has been passed making it compulsory to display GM foods on separate shelves in shops and supermarkets. In 2005 the prospect of a bill requiring the display of GM food on separate shop shelves led the US to send a note to the Cypriot parliament warning against any such move. The note, from the American Embassy in Nicosia, urged parliamentarians to oppose the passage of the bill, saying, "The bill is in essence a poke in the eye of the US." The note warned that the bill would "hurt US-Cypriot relations" and told the Speaker to "do what you can to keep the bill from coming to the floor".
Not long afterwards the press reported, "A vote on the controversial bill to separate genetically modified foods on supermarket shelves will likely be put off until after the summer break." It was also reported that the bill's sponsor had said that before the US Embassy's intervention, all the political parties were ready to vote through the bill but after the US intervention, "they're not sure any more". Now, five years later, the bill has been unanimously passed into law. Wikileaks has repeatedly disclosed the intense US diplomatic pressure being applied around the world to stop governments representing the interests of their citizens:
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13044
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13060
+ IRISH CALL FOR MORATORIUM ON GM CROPS
Ireland's previous Fianna Fail/Green coalition government agreed to ban field trials and cultivation of GM crops, and promised to introduce a voluntary GM-free label. But due to intense lobbying by the US Government and the global pesticide and the animal feed cartels, it failed to implement the policy agreement with any legislation. Two weeks before leaving office, FF's outgoing Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith voted to weaken the EU's GM safety rules and claimed that Ireland would now vote in favour of new GM approvals at EU level - without a mandate from the Irish people or the new government that followed.Farmers and consumers are concerned that the new Fine Gael/Labour government might allow GM crops to be grown in the Republic for the first time. Take action to prevent GM industry lobbyists from pushing GMOs into Ireland:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13051
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LOBBYWATCH
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+ DEAD PEOPLE ASTROTURFING FOR MONSANTO
An article in the New York Times describes how the US's Tea Party movement is being manipulated to support big business issues by the likes of Andrew Langer, head of the Institute for Liberty - a conservative astroturf (fake grassroots) group that's cosied up to tea party supporters to advance causes for corporate interests. Langer freely admits to the Times that various undisclosed interest groups have given him money to push Tea Party activists on certain issues. The Times also discovered the Institute had used the names of dead people on a "grassroots" petition it sent to the US Dept of Agriculture supporting Monsanto's efforts to relax restrictions on its herbicide-resistant GM alfalfa. This astroturfing for Monsanto was undertaken in conjunction with the Competitive Enterprise Institute. CEI, where Langer used to work, has long been an aggressive lobbyist for GM and has had Monsanto among its backers. Read on:
http://gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13042
+ INDIAN REGULATOR QUITS OVER CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Ahead of the first meeting of an expert committee of scientists to determine the kind of tests to be conducted on GM Bt brinjal, a prominent member of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has resigned from the panel. The resignation of P. Anand Kumar came following an appeal by the co-chair of the panel at its last meeting to members to quit if they had a conflict of interest. When contacted, Kumar said he was no longer part of GEAC, but declined to say more. People close to Kumar said he was dissatisfied with the repeated political interference in GEAC and neglect of science in it. However, according to the Supreme Court appointee in GEAC, Pushpa Bhargava, it was agreed in GEAC in a recent meeting that members would sign a form saying they had no conflict of interest. Kumar faced criticism last year for allegedly being the author of a report prepared by six science academies, which had favoured the immediate release of Bt brinjal.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13041
+ CONFLICTS OF INTEREST RIFE WITH EUROPE'S REGULATORS - REPORT
Some of Europe's pesticide and food safety regulators have serious conflicts of interest and are too close to the industry they are supposed to police, according to a new report.
In March it emerged that Angelo Moretto had resigned from the European Food Safety Authority's PPR Panel, which assesses the safety of pesticides, following revelations of a conflict of interest. Moretto allegedly failed to declare an interest in a consultancy company, Melete Srl., founded to support companies needing to comply with the EU's REACH regulation on chemical safety.
The new report, "Europe's pesticide and food safety regulators "Who do they work for?" reveals that Moretto's conflict of interest regarding Melete is only the tip of the iceberg. Moretto is just one of several EFSA scientific experts with close links to the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), a US-based organization funded by multinational pesticide, chemical, GM seed, and food companies. ILSI backers include ADM, BASF, Bayer, Cargill, DuPont, Kraft, Mars, Monsanto, Syngenta, and Unilever.
Claire Robinson, author of the new report, said, "ILSI is active in redesigning pesticide, chemicals, and GM food risk assessment processes in the US and Europe. It presents a veneer of impartial science but its recommendations follow a trend of reducing the expense and rigour of safety testing. This suits industry but puts public health at risk.
"ILSI has come under heavy criticism in the US from groups such as the National Resources Defense Council and the United Steelworkers of America for weakening regulatory standards. It's busy doing the same in Europe."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13043
Download report: http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/File:Eu_pesticidefoodsafety.pdf
+ FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR DISASTER BROUGHT TO YOU BY SENSE ABOUT SCIENCE FUNDER'S PARENT COMPANY
The corporate crimes of GE Healthcare and its parent company, GE Electric, are the subject of a recently published article by Dr Martin Donohoe and GMWatch's Claire Robinson. General Electric supplied reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan that are involved in the current nuclear catastrophe. Even after one reactor exploded, GE defended the reactors it supplied to Japan, saying the containment system was safe and reliable. GE's subsidiary, GE Healthcare, has funded the UK pro-nuclear and pro-GM lobby group, Sense About Science. SAS has produced information leaflets and articles that downplay the risks of radiation from nuclear power plants and of chemical pollutants. There is considerable overlap between SAS's messages and its funder GE's role in supplying nuclear power plants, petrochemicals, agrochemicals, and industrial gases.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13028
+ BIG NEW PUSH FOR GOLDEN RICE
Nearly US$20 million in new grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be spent on getting GM golden rice and GM cassava to market. Head of agricultural development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lawrence Kent, previously worked out of the Monsanto-funded Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. The Coordinator of the Golden Rice Network, set up to promote the GM rice, is former Monsanto man Gerard Barry.
More on golden rice: http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13064
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GM ANIMALS
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+ GM COWS PRODUCE "HUMAN" MILK
Chinese scientists have created GM cattle that produce "human" milk. The scientists claim milk from herds of GM cows could provide an alternative to human breast milk and formula milk for babies. A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals said the organisation was "extremely concerned" about how the GM cows had been produced. Helen Wallace, director of GeneWatch UK, said: "We have major concerns about this research to genetically modify cows with human genes. There are major welfare issues with genetically modified animals as you get high numbers of still births. There is a question about whether milk from these cows is going to be safe from humans and it is really hard to tell that unless you do large clinical trials like you would a drug."
GMW comment: It's not clear who is intending to market this product - presumably the same companies that have been responsible for the sickness and deaths of thousands of children in developing countries by promoting formula milk over breastfeeding. And before the biotech proponents argue that GM milk is for those mothers who can't breastfeed, that situation is taken care of by wet nursing and, increasingly, by human milk banks.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13031
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NON-GM SUCCESSES
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+ NON-GM RINGSPOT VIRUS-RESISTANT PAPAYA
"Only GM can save the papaya", like "only GM can save the banana", is a recurring myth used by GM promoters. Now it's being used to push GM papayas into Peru, where the papaya crop has been hit by a disease called ringspot virus. But a papaya resistant to ringspot virus has been developed by non-GM means.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13035
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VIDEOS
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+ STUFFED, STARVED AND SPRAYED: RAJ PATEL ON GM CROPS AND CORPORATE AG
Economist Dr Raj Patel puts the case against globalized corporate agriculture, including GMOs, and its efforts to marginalise the planet-wide push for a more environmentally sensitive approach to food production (agroecology).
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videosb/6-must-see-videos/11675
+ WHAT IS BEHIND THE "RESPONSIBLE" SOY LABEL? DETECTIVE PIG FINDS OUT
New - Portuguese language version of the animation: http://bit.ly/f9ao58
English and other languages:
http://www.gmwatch.eu/gm-videosb/26-gm-in-latin-america/13014
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AUSTRALASIA
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+ AUSTRALIA: FLOODS SPREAD GM SEED
A farmer whose fields have been infested by GM canola washed down by floods says the spread of large chunks of GM seed highlights the inadequacy of Australia's co-existence policy between GM and non-GM canola. Bob Mackley said measures such as adventitious presence levels of trace levels of GM material were designed for contamination by cross-pollination, not for the widespread transportation of viable seed pods. Mackley said, "I have not grown GM, and have no intention of doing so, with the mounting evidence that there are financial benefits to growing non-GM. Inevitably there will be more and more contamination and we could face the situation where Monsanto owns Australia's canola crop."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13032
Why GM and non-GM crops cannot coexist:
http://bangmfood.org/quotes/24-quotes/31
+ DIRTY TRICKS CAMPAIGN TO GET GM INTO NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand is under pressure to drop its GM-free status so that NZ can have a free trade deal with the US. A dodgy report on - wait for it - the effect of GM crops and nuclear power on tourism is being used as justification to introduce GM into NZ. This will affect people all over the world, as many countries import meat, dairy products and other foods from NZ.
TAKE ACTION: lobby politicians and media to preserve NZ's clean green reputation:
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13034
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ASIA
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+ PHILIPPINES: PROTESTING GOLDEN RICE AND IRRI
Philippines farmer-scientist group MASIPAG joined around 200 peasants, scientists, students, ex-IRRI workers and NGOs at the front of the International Rice Research Institute in Manila, calling for its immediate closure coinciding with its 51st anniversary. IRRI is undertaking field tests of golden rice, a GM rice claimed to combat vitamin A deficiency. Dr Chito Medina, National Coordinator of MASIPAG, said, "Vitamin A deficiency is not a problem of insufficient food sources but of food inaccessibility due to poverty and its associated conditions.... It is also important to point out that the problem on 'hidden hunger' is exacerbated by loss of other food sources due to mono-cropping agricultural technology through the Green Revolution brought about by IRRI." Protesters plan to eat natural foods that are rich in Vitamin A and other nutrients in front of IRRI's gate.
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13030
More on Golden Rice:
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-myths/11130
See also LOBBYWATCH
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AFRICA
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+ CAUTIOUS WELCOME FOR GM LABELS IN SOUTH AFRICA
The African Centre for Biosafety and SAFEAGE have cautiously welcomed South Africa's new mandatory labeling regime for GM food. However, the groups express concern that consumers could be faced with up to five labels on GM foods, owing to attempts by government to appease agribusiness. According to Fahrie Hassan of SAFAGE, "the labeling regime represents a compromise package, which allows industry to opt for labels where testing for GM content is undertaken, as well as for labels where no testing is required. This may result in consumers being confused about what the differences are between the various labels."
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13037
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13063
+ FARMERS WARN AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS ABOUT GM GIANTS
Small scale farmers in 12 African countries have asked governments to be wary of agribusiness giants who want to bring in GM crops under the disguise of support to smallholder farmers. The grouping, under Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers' Forum (ESAFF) said GM crops threatened indigenous plant species, organic harvests, small farmers, and the health and welfare of everyone.
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13063
+ TANZANIA TO SOFTEN BIOTECH RULES
Tanzania's government is set to review, and ultimately repeal, a legal clause that holds everyone liable to punitive sanction - from developers, financiers and other partners, down to the last sales outlet, should anything go wrong in the development and utilization of agricultural biotechnology. The government move follows high-level consultations within the scientific community and policy-makers - and comes amid calls by scientists that the "strict liability clause" in the country's regulatory framework "is so prohibitive that even Tanzanian experiments involving regional biotech programmes have had to be done on foreign soil".
http://gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13063
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SEED BANKS
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+ SEED SAVING, SEED BANKS, MONSANTO, AND GATES
Large scale seed banks treat their seed stocks negligently and fail to ensure that seeds remain viable, says Andrew Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety. What is more, local seed saving initiatives have seen their collections of painstakingly collected seeds effectively stolen by big seed banks. Kimbrell points out that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault has received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has close ties to Monsanto, and by DuPont and Syngenta. It's not hard to guess why these entities would be interested in seed banks, which provide a source of patentable germplasm.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13052
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SMALLPOX
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+ CALL TO DESTROY SMALLPOX VIRUS STOCKS
Civil society groups are calling on the 64th World Health Assembly (WHA) to terminate research with smallpox virus and to fix a date for the destruction of the remaining smallpox virus stocks. The groups write: "In 2005, civil society and many developing country governments questioned proposals from the US to genetically engineer the dangerous smallpox virus. While smallpox has been eradicated from nature since 1977 and solely exists at WHO Repository Laboratories in the US and Russia, retention of the virus is temporarily authorized for research that is essential to global public health. Since 1996, there have been repeated (and unimplemented) WHA resolutions that the virus should be destroyed. Continued retention of smallpox virus no longer serves any essential public health purpose, and the possibility of its escape, amplified by the risks of unnecessary research, threatens us all."
http://www.gmwatch.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13053