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WEEKLY_WATCH_NUMBER_70

" GM_WATCH "

Thu, 29 Apr 2004 23:05:48 +0100

============================================================

THE WEEKLY WATCH NUMBER 70

============================================================

---------------------------

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor

---------------------------

Dear all,

 

Heinz Mueller, chemicals analyst at DZ Bank AG in Frankfurt was recently quoted

as saying, " At the moment, people think [GM] products are about as attractive as

an atom bomb. " (See QUOTES OF THE WEEK)

 

And no wonder. This week's explosive news has been the secret documents leaked

to the French newspaper, Le Monde, revealing the serious health effects on rats

of a Monsanto GM maize which was approved for release by the European Food

Safety Authority against the advice of French genetic engineering experts.

(REVEALED - THE HEALTH DANGERS OF GM MAIZE)

 

We heard too that a GM maize that has been widely grown in Spain has suddenly

been withdrawn. Concerns have been cited about its antibiotic resistant gene.

But Dr Maewan Ho has pointed out that this is the same maize that was fed to the

12 cows in Germany which mysteriously died; other cows became so sick that they

had to be destroyed. The farmer called for a proper investigation, which does

not appear to have been carried out.

 

This and many of our other stories this week all lead to one conclusion. All of

the data on GMOs headed for the market, most of which is currently kept under

wraps as " commercially confidential " , must be published and put into the public

domain. That way, we would be able to see for ourselves both the quality of the

data and any omissions. How long would the industry last under the glaring light

of truth? My contention is, about a tenth as long as a GM-fed cow. Let it prove

me wrong if it can.

 

I'd be delighted if the large and small NGOs, together with concerned

politicians and scientists, could band together and make this single demand in

one voice. Industry must put up - or shut up and clear out. How about it, folks?

 

Claire claire

www.ngin.org.uk / www.gmwatch.org

 

---------------------------

CONTENTS

---------------------------

*REVEALED - THE HEALTH DANGERS OF GM MAIZE

*OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK - GLOBAL

*ARTICLE OF THE WEEK: Science corrupted

*LOBBY WATCH

*COMPANY NEWS: Sell those shares says leading analyst

*CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK: Support Chapela

*DON'T MISS JEFFREY SMITH'S UK TOUR

*QUOTES OF THE WEEK

*DONATIONS - We need them!

*HEADLINES OF THE WEEK

*SUBSCRIPTIONS

 

---------------------------

REVEALED - THE HEALTH DANGERS OF GM MAIZE

---------------------------

 

+ FRENCH EXPERTS VERY DISTURBED BY HEALTH EFFECTS OF MONSANTO GM MAIZE

French newspaper Le Monde has run a sensational article exposing the total

subjectivity of GMO approval decisions. The article explains, on the basis of

documents Le Monde has seen and which would not normally have been made public,

that one group of leading experts says the health effects on rats of this

Monsanto GM maize are very disturbing, while another group has given this GM

maize a " green light " for marketing in the EU!

 

The article shows how the current regulatory system in Europe is wide open to

challenge because judgments are being made, in the words of one leading expert,

on the basis of little more than wishful thinking and with no credible

scientific evidence. The regulatory situation in the US is still more lax.

 

EXCERPTS from my unofficial translation of Le Monde's article:

 

The French commission for genetic engineering, which delivers an opinion on

GMOs, has become worried about the marketing of a GM maize after studying the

results of an experiment on rats.

 

The European scientific committee, however, gave the GMO the green light on 19

April. The maize, produced by Monsanto company, MY 863, received on April 19 the

go-ahead for marketing from the European scientific committee. This maize, in

the experts' view, does not affect the health of animals, or, moreover, that of

humans.

 

Though the opinion is public, official reports of meetings of this scientific

committee, the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), are confidential. As are

the debates of the committees of the Member States, including those of the

French commission for genetic engineering (CGB).

 

However the CGB, on the contrary, put out on October 28, 2003 an unfavourable

report. It was very disturbed by the malformations observed in a sample of rats

fed on MY 863 maize.

 

No one would ever have known anything of it if an association, the committee for

research and of information on genetic engineering (Crii-Gen)... had not forced

the door of the CGB while obtaining - thanks to the commission of access to

administrative documents (CADA) - these official reports, of which Le Monde was

made aware.

 

The opinion of the CGB is clear: the commission " is not able to show the absence

of health risks to animals with regard to MY 863 maize. "

 

....German experts immediately expressed reservations on MY 863, giving the

reason that it integrates an antibiotic resistance gene ... but it is not the

antibiotic which posed a problem for the French experts who are concerned with

the effect on rats - the usual test to evaluate the harmlessness (or otherwise)

of GMOs. One feeds GM food to a group of animals, which one compares at the end

of 90 days with a control group of rats fed with the same maize, but not

genetically modified. The biological examination of tens of indicators on all

the rats makes it possible for toxicologists to judge if there is a significant

variation.

 

However, the French commission for genetic engineering (CGB) worried about many

biological effects: " significant increase in the white blood cells and the

lymphocytes in the males " of the batch fed with the MY 863; " reduced levels of

reticulocytes " (immature red blood cells) in the females; " significant increase

in blood sugar in the females " ; " higher frequency of anomalies (inflammation,

regeneration) " in kidneys of the males. After a long debate, the CGB said, in

" the absence of satisfactory interpretation of some of the significant

differences observed " , that it was not " able to show the absence of health risks

to animals " .

 

.... However, a few days later, November 6, 2003, another French commission, the

French Agency of health safety of food (Afssa), returned, on the basis of the

same file, an opposite opinion: the differences observed, determined the agency,

" are without biological significance " , and it says that MY 863 " does not present

a nutritional risk " .

 

.... But the CGB will not budge an inch. Gerard Pascal, director of research at

the National Institute of agronomic research (INRA), a rapporteur of the file on

MY 863 with the CGB... maintains his doubts. " I hear the argument of natural

variability, but what struck me in this file is the number of anomalies. There

are too many elements here where significant variations are observed. I never

saw that in another file. It will have to be done again. "

 

.... There also exist, in other files, details of effects on animals: on the four

GMOs examined by the CGB in 2003, which led to nutritional tests on rats,

anomalies were raised. For oilseed rape WP 73, " significant effects " were

observed on the liver and the kidneys of the animals, but they were related to a

parameter which has since been rectified.

 

However, the tests on the rats were not carried out during 90 days as is usual,

but only for 28. The commission also regrets that " the idea of asking for a test

on dairy cows " was not retained and that follow-up data after the marketing in

Canada are not available.

 

On the maize T 1507, the commission observes " a significant difference in food

consumption " of the rats which ate the GMO. For maize NK 603, " significant

differences " in 50 statistical comparisons out of 1200 were found, but they " do

not have toxicological significance " .

 

A Member of the Commission is worried about allergies to this product, and says

that " it is not possible to conclude in such a final manner as to the absence of

such a risk " . In spite of internal dissent, these files however received a

favourable opinion from the commission, then of the EFSA.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3308

 

For the article in the original French (Herve Kempf, " L'expertise confidentielle

sur un inquiŽtant ma•s transgŽnique " , Le Monde 22 April 2004) see

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3226,36-362061,0.html

 

+ SPAIN WITHDRAWS GM MAIZE!

Spain has withdrawn a GM maize from the market at the request of the EU. The

reason given is that Syngenta's (GM) Bt176 maize could generate resistance to

antibiotics. The withdrawal follows a report from the European Food Safety

Agency (EFSA) calling for an end to cultivation of several GM maize varieties.

Cultivation of Bt176 maize (maize) occupied 20,000 hectares in Spain, the only

member state of the EU with significant commercial GM crop acreage.

 

Syngenta wants to replace the withdrawn Bt176 with Bt11 maize, but Bt11 has not

yet received authorisation in the EU. In fact, the French and Belgium expert

committees have both refused Syngenta's Bt11 maize the green light, saying that

Syngenta has not performed sufficient toxicological tests with the actual GMO

but mainly provided the results with a Bt11 fodder maize. Both expert committees

have demanded full toxicological studies with the GMO for which the approval is

requested.

 

These problems are of wider significance as Syngenta is trying to gain approval

for its maize elsewhere in the world and is likely to support its applications

with the same " evidence " which has been rejected by the French and Belgian

scientists.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3344

 

+ KILLER MAIZE?

Thanks to Dr Maewan Ho for pointing out that THIS WITHDRAWN MAIZE IS THE SAME

ONE THAT APPARENTLY KILLED 12 COWS ON A FARM IN HESSE, GERMANY

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?ArcId=1890

This episode will not be talked about publicly in relation to the withdrawal of

this maize - but you can bet that it has come up in behind-closed-doors

discussions. This is yet another piece of evidence in support of the necessity

of making public the details of all GM research carried out by industry. Only

then will we be able to inspect the quality of what's been done and the extent

of the omissions.

 

+ MEACHER CALLS FOR GM INQUIRY

Former environment minister Michael Meacher has called for a new, full-scale

expert GM inquiry in the UK. At a special parliamentary briefing organised by

the Independent Science Panel and chaired by Alan Simpson MP in the House of

Commons on April 29, Mr Meacher said that the farm-scale trials had been

extremely narrow and that a new inquiry was needed.

 

This inquiry should systematically and rigorously test the impact of GM crops

and foodstuffs on the environment and on human health, said Mr Meacher. Mr

Meacher also called for a more open scientific process than what is currently

permitted in the UK, where dissenting voices in the scientific community have

been suppressed.

 

Finally, he argued that the UK needs decision making which is not influenced by

the biotechnology industry. " No scientist related to the biotechnology industry

should be allowed to take part in advisory bodies, and the full-scale GM inquiry

we need should be fully funded by public means, " Mr Meacher said.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3361

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3341

 

---------------------------

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK - GLOBAL

---------------------------

 

+ US SEEKS GBP1BN FROM EUROPE OVER GM BAN

The US has demanded that the EU abandon its ban on the growing of GM crops and

pay at least $1.8bn (GBP1bn) in compensation for loss of exports over the past

six years. The challenge is outlined in papers filed to the World Trade

Organisation and leaked to the Guardian newspaper.

 

The papers accuse the EU of imposing a moratorium on GM products in 1998 without

any scientific evidence and in defiance of WTO free trade rules. The EU has

until the end of May to reply before a WTO panel meets in June to adjudicate.

 

If it finds in favour of the US, the body will decide what trade sanctions can

be imposed to force Europe to fall in line. The US has said it has lost $300m a

year as a result of lost maize imports and would expect sanctions against the EU

to help recoup the sums.

 

The affair has worldwide significance because if the US can force the EU into

submission, then no country will be able to keep GM out without facing trade

sanctions. But there is strong consumer resistance to GM in Europe and several

countries have introduced rules banning imports of individual GMs, either for

growing or in food. These countries, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy

and Greece, are all cited by the US in the case presented to the WTO.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3331

 

+ US MAY ALSO USE WTO TO ATTACK AUSTRALIA

Western Australia was declared GM free last month but WA Farmers president

Trevor De Landgrafft predicts the US may mount a legal case to push the issue in

Australia. The WA government says it is not worried about a complaint to the WTO

about bans on genetically modified crops.

 

Agriculture Minister Kim Chance says he does not believe the US will succeed. " I

think the grounds on which they have attacked the European Union's import

processes are spurious and the WTO appellant body will find them so, " he said.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3356

 

+ AUSTRALIA: PRO-GM FARMERS' LEADER " OUT OF STEP " WITH OTHER FARMERS

When the Australian states rejected GM they came under a barrage of criticism.

Victoria was accused of giving in to " the growing Green religion " which was

" making Australians poorer and sillier " .

 

Foremost of those firing flack were the Institute of Public Affairs (the

right-wing Australian 'think tank' that has Monsanto amongst its funders) and

the president of the Victorian Farmers Federation, Paul Weller.

 

Now, Victoria's Minister for Agriculture Bob Cameron has replied in the press to

Weller, telling the Federation leader his views are out of line with farmers in

Victoria: " I can tell him how many of the calls to my electorate office

concerning GM support the VFF leaderships position. The answer is none - not

one. "

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3359

 

+ NZ: PUBLIC MISLED OVER GM MORATORIUM END

New Zealand's Broadcasting Standards Authority has upheld a complaint by Jon

Carapiet of GE Free NZ that TVNZ had breached the Broadcasting Act on grounds of

accuracy and fairness.

 

The breach came in a debate on TVNZ broadcaster Paul Holmes' programme 'Holmes'.

The debate, between Carapiet and environment minister Marian Hobbs, was about

the government's decision to end the moratorium on GM releases. The decision to

end the moratorium prompted the largest demonstrations in New Zealand for

decades, but the government refused to extend the moratorium, claiming

scientific and other research backed their move.

 

During the 'Holmes' interview, one such research report was cited as proving the

government's decision was correct, and described as showing European markets

were unconcerned by GE release in New Zealand. In what appears to have been a

prior agreed plan, Holmes and the Minister both focussed on the report by the

Otago University Business School, " Trust and Country Image. "

 

" They seemed to be spinning the report's findings along similar lines, and

attacking me for pointing out the report's actual recommendations. Mr Holmes

said the study showed European importers didn't care about GM which is simply

not true. In referring to the Otago Report Marian Hobbs even dismissed our

'clean green image' as unimportant, claiming it was only hygiene and proper

regulation that really benefited New Zealand exports.

 

" The Otago Report is deeply flawed and its methodology suspect. The researchers

seem to have deliberately set out to find evidence to counter claims that

exports to Europe could be undermined by GE release, which is hardly an

objective approach. No wonder the Minister seized upon it, " says Mr Carapiet.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3323

 

NB: Paul Holmes has previously been in hot water for calling UN secretary

general Kofi Annan a " cheeky darkie " during a rant against the UN.

 

+ IRISH FARMERS ASSOCIATION OPPOSES GM

Speaking at the GM-free Ireland workshop at the Convergence Festival in Dublin

on Monday, Irish Farmers Association deputy president Ruaidhri Deasy said, " The

IFA's stance on GMOs is: Keep GM products out of Ireland. We don't need them. We

certainly can't pay for them. And our customers don't want them. "

 

Pointing out his role to protect and speak for the 85,000 farmers of Ireland, Mr

Deasy said that he had seen multinationals corporations like Monsanto in

operation in the developing world. " They don't care; they sit in their plush

boardrooms but they don't give a hoot. All they care for is profits. The last

thing Monsanto did was to put in the Terminator gene which wipes out the plant's

ability to reproduce. That enslaves farmers the world over. "

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3361

 

+ ANGOLAN GOVERNMENT EXPLAINS FOOD AID REJECTION

There are sound scientific reasons for Angola's rejection of GM American maize

food aid. A high-ranking civil servant in Luanda noted that it is not an

outright ban, but a request for the seed to be milled so it cannot accidentally

cross-contaminate their own crops, which might result in struggling peasant

farmers being sued by a giant agro-business such as Monsanto.

 

Angola faces severe food shortages but has aligned itself with four southern

African nations - Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe - which have banned

imports of GM food. Gilberto Buta Lutucuta, Angola's minister of agriculture,

said the food was rejected " because so far we don't know for sure what impact

these products might have on either human or animal health. " However, Zambia has

recovered so well that it is exporting its maize surplus to Angola.

 

Guy Scott, a former Zambian agriculture minister, has said that if the aid

agencies had cash rather than maize they could resolve the crisis without

touching GM. " But it is the official policy of USAID to promote GM. "

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3313

 

+ SUDAN EXTENDS WAIVER ON GM BAN UNDER US PRESSURE

On March 7, USAID stopped all humanitarian food aid shipments to Port Sudan

because the government of Sudan had asked that US commodities be certified free

of GMOs. USAID, which provides some 70% of the World Food Program's total food

aid for the country, consistently refused to provide any certification and

pressed Sudan to back down. Now, because the situation in Sudan is so serious

and as a result of US pressure, the government has extended its waiver on

banning GM food imports to January 2005.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3328

 

+ THE US IS THE WORLD'S STINGIEST DONOR

The world's biggest economy is also the world's stingiest aid donor. Washington

still only devotes 0.12% of its national income to overseas aid. Europe provides

twice as much as America in development cash.

 

Washington's aid programmes are still not driven by humanitarian imperatives.

Rather they are sometimes used to break open new markets for US corporations.

How else to explain why Ethiopia, where 15 million are threatened by famine,

receives about the same level of food aid as Peru, where American agribusiness

dumps dairy surpluses.

 

The Centre for Global Development recently put America second from bottom in its

ranking of how effectively developed nation's policies help the poor.

From a Guardian leader, May 31 2003

 

+ US: APPEALS COURT THROWS OUT $780,000 MONSANTO AWARD IN DISPUTE WITH FARMER

In St Louis, an appeals court has thrown out the $780,000 in damages a

Mississippi farmer was ordered to pay Monsanto in a seed-patent dispute, calling

the agriculture biotechnology giant's formula for calculating such damages

" unenforceable " under Missouri law.

 

In November 2002, the St Louis-based US District Court for Missouri's eastern

district ruled that the farmer, Homan McFarling, violated a Monsanto-held seed

patent and ordered him to pay the company $780,000 in damages, given his

admission that he saved seeds after harvesting crops grown from Monsanto's

patented Roundup Ready soybean seed.

 

But in its ruling this month, the federal appeals court declared the sum " not a

reasonable estimate of the harm that would be anticipated to flow from breach of

the prohibition prohibiting replanting seed. "

 

In a similar case a year ago, a Tennessee farmer opposed to Monsanto's seed

licensing practices was sentenced in a St Louis federal court to eight months in

prison for lying about a truckload of cotton seed he hid for a friend. Kem

Ralph's prison term for conspiracy to commit fraud was believed to be the first

criminal prosecution linked to Monsanto's crackdown on farmers it claims have

been violating agreements on using GM seeds. Ralph has been ordered to pay

Monsanto more than $1.7 million.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3357

 

+ US'S FIRST GMO LABELING LAW PASSED

Vermont has become the first state to require manufacturers of GM seeds to label

and register their products. Under the bill, GM seeds must be labeled as such

after October 1.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3356

 

+ CANADA: FARMERS' UNION WANTS MANDATORY LABELLING

Quebec's largest farmers union wants to see mandatory labelling of GMOs and is

asking farmers to voluntarily label produce because customers want to know what

they are buying. The Union des Producteurs Agricoles (UPA) president Laurent

Pellerin said the federal government has shown no interest in making produce

labelling mandatory, but that could change if enough farmers volunteer.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3334

 

+ GM NON-FOOD CROPS WILL CONTAMINATE FOOD AND NATURE

A new GeneWatch UK report reveals how the production of GM crops intended for

non-food uses could contaminate food crops and wild species. The report

considers the current development of GM crops intended for non-food use:

grasses, flowers, trees, crops such as cotton used for fibre, and crops being

modified for industrial production of oils, starches and plastics.

 

The report reveals:

*how the biotech industry is pursuing GM in non-food crops in the hope of

side-stepping public concerns over GM foods

*that GM grasses for use in lawns and golf courses may be commercialised in the

US soon and raise serious environmental concerns because they are perennial,

wind pollinating, and spread via underground shoots

*how GM trees for use in intensive plantations may pose serious environmental

threats because trees are long-lived and their seed and pollen can move long

distances

*how the use of GM food crops, like oilseed rape, for non-food uses such as the

production of biofuels and plastics, could create contamination of non-GM and

organic food crops.

 

GM cotton and flowers are the first commercialised non-food GM crops that are

being grown commercially outside Europe. GM potatoes modified for industrial

starch production could be given approval for growing in Europe in 2004.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3314

The full report can be downloaded as a pdf file from

www.genewatch.org/CropsAndFood/Reports/non-food_crops_part2.pdf

 

+ SPANISH GM SOYA BLOCKED

A ship importing thousands of tons of GM soya into Spain was prevented from

unloading by protesters from Greenpeace, who are demanding an end to GMO

contamination of conventional food.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3356

 

+ FIRST OIL, NOW GMOS

Following our report that Venezuela's president Chavez has banned GM plantings

in his country, NLP Wessex's Mark Griffiths draws our attention to reports that

the US has been trying to topple Chavez for some time because of his influence

over the Venezuelan oil industry. Venezuela is the largest supplier of oil to

the US outside of the Muslim world other than Canada. Chavez's brave stance on

GMOs will add to the US's enthusiasm for " regime change " in this democratic

country. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3315

 

+ GMOS ARE DEAD: SMART BREEDING IS THE WAY OF THE FUTURE

The excerpt below is from an interesting article that confirms an earlier

comment by Robert Goodman, the former head scientist at Calgene who now works

with the McKnight Foundation, overseeing a $50 million program that funds

genomics research in the developing world: " The public argument about

genetically modified organisms, I think, will soon be a thing of the past. The

science has moved on. "

 

Excerpt:

Researchers are beginning to understand plants so precisely that they no longer

need transgenics to achieve traits like drought resistance, durability, or

increased nutritional value. Over the past decade, scientists have discovered

that our crops are chock-full of dormant characteristics. Rather than inserting,

say, a bacteria gene to ward off pests, it's often possible to simply turn on a

plant's innate ability.

 

The result: Smart breeding holds the promise of remaking agriculture through

methods that are largely uncontroversial and unpatentable. Think about the

crossbreeding and hybridization that farmers have been doing for hundreds of

years, relying on instinct, trial and error, and luck to bring us things like

tangelos, giant pumpkins, and burpless cucumbers. Now replace those fuzzy

factors with precise information about the role each gene plays in a plant's

makeup. Today, scientists can tease out desired traits on the fly - something

that used to take a decade or more to accomplish.

 

Even better, they can develop plants that were never thought possible without

the help of transgenics. Look closely at the edge of food science and you'll see

the beginnings of fruits and vegetables that are both natural and supernatural.

Call them Superorganics - nutritious, delicious, safe, abundant crops that

require less pesticide, fertilizer, and irrigation - a new generation of food

that will please the consumer, the producer, the activist, and the FDA.

- Richard Manning, " Super Organics " at

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/food.html?tw=wn_tophead_4

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3340

 

---------------------------

ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

---------------------------

 

+ THE HONESTY OF SCIENCE IS BEING COMPROMISED AT EVERY TURN

A brilliant essay with the above title has been published in the New Statesman

(26 April 2004) by Dr Colin Tudge, Research Fellow at the London School of

Economics and a three-time winner of the Glaxo/ABSW Science Writer of the Year

Award, as well as former features editor of New Scientist. The essay is well

worth reading in full at

http://www.newstatesman.com/site.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_People & newDisplayURN\

=200404260019

 

Tudge concludes that unless drastic action is taken to challenge the current

corporate take over of science, " the future life of humanity is going to be both

more brutal and far shorter " than it need be.

 

Excerpts:

 

Last year in the Lancet, Dr Bernard Dixon asked whether Sars might be treated by

the well-tried, century-old technique of " passive immunity " - injecting

antibodies originally derived from infected patients and multiplied in some

neutral organism. This method can be greatly improved by modern biotechnology.

Would it not work? Later a drug company executive told him: " Of course it would.

But we've looked at it and there's no money in it. " Goodness me.

 

I have seen what I think comes close to perjury many a time - and often on

public platforms - in the name of corporate science. What makes it worse is the

piety that envelops it: the appeal to " evidence " , which for scientists is the

sine qua non. Detractors are not simply derided, but shamed for their

sloppy-mindedness. However, the " evidence " typically presented is anything but.

There are graphs and statistics - the trappings of science - yet often they

signify nothing.

 

I remember a recent defence of golden rice, genetically engineered to be rich in

Vitamin A, and hence to save the lives and sight of millions in the developing

world. There were pictures of molecules and of poor blind children, and rows of

figures to show how many could be helped, were it not for the tiresome

non-governmental organisations. But the speaker did not point out that Vitamin A

is, in effect, carotene, one of the commonest molecules in nature. It is the

yellow pigment that is present (masked by the chlorophyll) in green leaves, and

in yellow roots such as carrots and cassava as well as fruits such as papaya and

mango. If people practise horticulture, they have Vitamin A aplenty, and

traditional farming always included horticulture. Problems start when

traditional mixed farms are replaced by monocultural commodity crops for export

to make cash for the owners of the new estates. Golden rice is not the antidote

to old-fashioned inadequacy, as the speaker implied. It merely

solves (partially) a problem created by modernity.

 

....Often the " evidence " presented in defence of, say, GM crops runs to thousands

of pages, apparently covering many hundreds of trials, all of them carefully

designed at great expense in the public interest. When Saddam Hussein presented

the UN with a 10,000-page apologia for the weapons he apparently did not have,

he was greeted with scepticism. The plausibility, diplomats felt, was inversely

related to the bulk. Indeed so. "

 

....rationality is increasingly equated with expediency, and expediency with

profit. So it is " rational " to seek to make as much money as possible out of

farming, say, and " irrational " to bang on about employment, and ways of life,

and autonomy, and suchlike abstractions. As the coup de grace, policy is

increasingly decided on the basis of what is " rational " , which is equated both

with what is commercially expedient and with what science says should happen. So

it is that GM crops are being wished upon us on the grounds that there are no

" scientific " reasons for not growing them. Anyone who cares about science - as

well as anyone who cares about humanity, and good thinking - should be appalled

by such nonsense. But it has become the norm, and is presented with all the

pompous piety for which we deride the worst of clerics.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3360

 

---------------------------

LOBBYWATCH

---------------------------

 

+ THE NEO-CONSERVATIVE EXTREMISTS ARE OUT

From Eco sounding by John Vidal, The Guardian, April 28, 2004

 

Anger management:

The neo-conservative extremists are out. Patrick Moore, co-founder of

Greenpeace, last week accused the green movement of being " anti-science,

anti-technology, and anti-human " ; Paul Driessen, of the Centre for the Defence

of Free Enterprise, accused Europe of causing millions of deaths in Africa

through its bans on GM foods; and dear Roger Bate, of the Institute of Economic

Affairs in London, chipped in to accuse the UN of killing the poor. Steady on.

 

Agony uncle:

Botanist, ecologist and biotech supporter Klaus Amman is head of the Bern

botanical gardens, and is preparing a proposal for a European biotech manifesto

to help the European public to understand the benefits of the technology. He has

been describing how to handle opponents: " Avoid eco-Stalinists like Greenpeace

.... you can talk to the WWF and the World Conservation Union and many organic

farmers, and - to a much lesser degree - Friends of Earth. "

 

Not in our backyard:

But Amman may have trouble persuading anyone, so rapidly is opposition to the

genetically modified crops mounting. Friends of the Earth Europe has found more

than 1,000 French town mayors who support GM-free zones, as well as 500 Italian

cities, half of all Greek prefectures and nine out of 10 regions of Austria that

are all requesting bans in their areas. In Britain, 12 county councils, nine

unitary authorities, two metropolitan districts, one London borough, 13 district

councils, two national park authorities, and 35 Welsh councils have voted

against the crops. That means that about 14million people in Britain are living

in areas with a GM-free policy.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/environment/news/0,14129,1204436,00.html

 

---------------------------

COMPANY NEWS

---------------------------

 

+ SYNGENTA: " SELL "

Analyst Dr Heinz Muller of DZ Bank is advising Syngenta shareholders to sell

despite growth in the first quarter because " These trends are not likely to

continue, and DZ Bank expects the company's sales to decline in Q2. There is

lack of visibility into the license scenario for genetically engineered plants

in Europe, the analyst states. "

 

Lack of " visibility into the license scenario for genetically engineered plants

in Europe " roughly translates as no-one wants GM plants so this may not be a

good business to invest in.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3358

 

---------------------------

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK

---------------------------

 

+ SIGN CHAPELA INQUIRY LETTER

Following the denial of tenure by UC Berkeley to biotech critic Prof Ignacio

Chapela, a public letter is circulating and collecting endorsements. The letter

calls for an independent investigation, a continuation of Chapela's term in the

meantime, and a public question-and-answer session with Chancellor Berdahl.

Please sign the letter at http://www.chapelatenure.org/index.asp?action=sign]

 

We must act promptly. Prof Chapela has announced that there will be an

investigation by the Committee on Privilege and Tenure of the Academic Senate,

and that his term will be extended to December 31, 2004. The University

administration, perhaps anticipating the sort of scrutiny and pressure this

sign-on letter provides, has made some concessions. However, as Prof Chapela has

made clear, this letter remains important.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3333

 

-------

DON'T MISS...

-------

 

+ JEFFREY SMITH'S UK TOUR

The author of the brilliant book on GM, Seeds of Deception, is coming to Britain

for a lecture tour. Dates/venues are at

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3335

 

" What is so exciting about this book is that it is no dry text of scientific

exegesis - it positively fizzes with the human drama of the cabals and

conspiracies behind the scenes which have littered the history of Big Biotech in

its frantic efforts to get itself accepted. It is meticulously documented and

powerfully written, somewhere between a documentary and a thriller. " -

Ex-environment minister Michael Meacher in his foreword to Seeds of Deception

 

-------

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

-------

 

" At the moment, people think [GM] products are about as attractive as an atom

bomb. "

- Heinz Mueller, chemicals analyst at DZ Bank AG in Frankfurt (Syngenta,

Monsanto Test EU's Ban on Gene-Altered Food, Bloomberg.com, April 23)

 

" Once upon a technologically optimistic time, the founders of a swaggering

biotech startup called Calgene bet the farm on a tomato. It wasn't just any old

tomato. It was the Flavr Savr, a genetically engineered fruit designed to solve

a problem of modernity. [it bombed!]

 

" ...[According to] Robert Goodman, the former head scientist at Calgene who now

works with the McKnight Foundation, overseeing a $50 million program that funds

genomics research in the developing world, 'The public argument about

genetically modified organisms, I think, will soon be a thing of the past. The

science has moved on.' "

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3340

 

-------

DONATIONS

-------

 

Our thanks to all of you who have donated to GM WATCH. For those who have not

yet contributed, you can donate online in any one of five currencies via PayPal,

at http://www.gmwatch.org/donate.asp

OR by cheque or postal order payable to 'NGIN', to be sent to: NGIN, 26

Pottergate, Norwich, NR2 1DX, UK. We appreciate your support.

 

-------

HEADLINES OF THE WEEK: from the GMWATCH archive

-------

29/4/2004 Appeals court sets aside $780,000 Monsanto award in dispute with

farmer

29/4/2004 Pro-GM farmers' leader " out of step " with other farmers

29/4/2004 Protest at Bayer's AGM / approval sought for another Monsanto maize

29/4/2004 Spanish GM soya blocked / US's first GMO labeling law / Oz farmers

warn of US GM push

28/4/2004 Evidence from the Soil Association to EFRA inquiry

28/4/2004 GMOS are dead - " The science has moved on "

28/4/2004 Neo-conservative extremists / Klaus Ammann / GM-free all over

28/4/2004 Scientists Call for Enquiry into GM Food Safety

28/4/2004 Spain withdraws GM maize!

27/4/2004 Attack of the gene giants

27/4/2004 Quebec's largest farmers union wants mandatory GM labels

27/4/2004 Seeds of Deception - UK tour

27/4/2004 Sign Chapela inquiry letter/latest news on tenure case

27/4/2004 Skipper arrested in dramatic blockade of GM soy ship

27/4/2004 US seeks a Billion Pounds from Europe over GM ban

26/4/2004 CGIAR turns to outsourcing for multinationals

26/4/2004 Greenpeace blocks GM shipment / Protests GM maize / 50% of Chinese

consumers dislike GMOs

26/4/2004 Guilty! Public misled over end of GM moratorium in NZ

26/4/2004 No go for GMO, say Europe's farm ministers

26/4/2004 Sudan extends waiver on GM ban under US pressure

25/4/2004 Biotech Sentries - Genetic State

25/4/2004 Wide support at African conference for refusing GM maize

24/4/2004 Corporations Waging War on Biotech Critics, Independent Science

24/4/2004 Dirty tricks, corruption and empty promises - GM crops in Indonesia

24/4/2004 French experts very disturbed by health effects of Monsanto GM maize

24/4/2004 Health fears over GM maize as Britain backs US imports

24/4/2004 New reports of health problems in Philippines

23/4/2004 Famine and death in Africa the result of bans on GMOs

23/4/2004 First oil, now GMOs

23/4/2004 GM non-food crops will bring contamination

23/4/2004 Needless Tragedy In Angola - US exploiting GM food aid

23/4/2004 WEEKLY WATCH number 69

FOR THE COMPLETE GMWATCH ARCHIVE: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive.asp

 

-----------------------

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