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from Andy Rees, the WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear Weekly Watchers
Welcome to WW37 bringing you all the latest news in brief on the GM issue. Please spread it far and wide!
Andy <[email protected]>
www.ngin.org.uk
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WEEKLY WATCH number 37 - CONTENTS
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SETBACKS TO THE GM INDUSTRY
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
ANIMAL GENETICS
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK 1 - Unwelcome underperformers
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK 2 - Promise of GM foods 'not quite realized'
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK 3 - RS trying to stifle the GM debate
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
FACT OF THE WEEK
FAIRYTALES FROM THE GM LOBBY
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK - PILGRIMS JOIN TRACS AND TROLLEYS AGAINST GM
SUBSCRIPTIONS
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SETBACKS TO THE GM INDUSTRY
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GM CONCERN HIGH AMONGST U.S. LOW INCOME CONSUMERS:
A peer-reviewed study from the US, on the awareness and attitudes to GM foods of low-income consumers, radically challenges claims that Americans are confidently consuming GM foods or that consumer concerns are a luxury of the affluent. "Over 80% of the participants indicat(ed) no prior knowledge or awareness of GM foods... Their awareness of GM foods was low, but ethical and safety concerns were fairly high; and they wanted GM foods to be labeled." The study is published in the University of California's journal 'California Agriculture' (July-September 2003 issue): http://danr.ucop.edu/calag/about.html.
ABSTRACT: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1291
FULL TEXT: http://danr.ucop.edu/calag/0303JAS/pdfs/GM_food.pdf
Interesting to view these findings alongside the recent multi-country study, undertaken by university researchers in the US, Norway, Japan and Taiwan, showing consumers, including American consumers, are willing to pay substantial premiums for non-GM foods. That study also found strong support among American consumers for mandatory labelling of GM foods.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1263
Many polls over the years have shown Americans, by a huge margin, want GM foods to be labelled. According to a July 2003 ABC News telephone poll of 1,024 adults, 92 percent of Americans support labelling.
AUSTRALIAN FARMERS SAY NO TO GM CROPS:
In the first public survey of farmers' attitudes across Australia toward GM crops, Biotechnology Australia found 74% of 500 people quizzed said they would not consider growing GM crops at this stage. 49% said they were generally opposed to GM crops, while only 23% said they were supportive. This position is in stark contrast with the pro-GM line of the National Farmers' Federation and federal Agriculture Minister Warren Truss. Australia's first GM food crop, a GM canola, was approved for commercial use last month. A series of state moratoriums on GM crops means a widescale planting is unlikely for several years. Australian Democrats agriculture spokesman John Cherry said the poll was a wake-up call for GM supporters. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/Sci_Tech/story_35883.asp
AUSTRALIA'S BIGGEST CANOLA BUYER WILL NOT BUY GM:
Australian food company Goodman Fielder, Australia's biggest buyer of canola (oilseed rape) oil, has said it will not buy products made from GM canola, because its consumers don't want GM products, reported ABC News. http://www.just-food.com/news_detail.asp?art=55122
BISHOP SPEAKS OUT IN THE PHILIPPINES:
A letter has been sent by Bishop Gutierrez, Chair of the Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace in the Philippines, to Bishop Martino in Rome expressing "deep concern" about any planned Vatican endorsement of GM crops. According to a report in The Guardian, "Renato Martino is the prelate behind the pro-GM lobby" in Rome. (Vatican backing sparks GM row, Report set to anger Catholics in developing world, The Guardian, 13 August 2003,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,1018256,00.html)
Bishop Gutierrez in his letter notes that the Permanent Council of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in the Philippines has also released a statement supporting the campaign of opposition to the commercial release of Monsanto's GM corn in the Philippines.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1350
US-BASED CONFERENCE OF CHURCHES UPHOLDS PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE ON GMOS:
An important statement from a US-based multi-denominational Conference of Churches: "As representatives of the church in this primary wheat production area [North Dakota], we believe the precautionary principle would require the application of a moratorium on the release of genetically modified wheat. We would further recommended requirements to label foods containing GMO ingredients, a review and reconsideration of the issues of patenting life-forms, and a rigorous legislative and regulatory review of GMO commodities involving all the stakeholders. "Humankind was given responsibility for creation and its stewardship. Such responsibility must be considered in the context of the full time span of creation. It must be carried out with deep respect for life and the complexity of ecological relationships among varieties of life forms, humankind, and the environment. Such stewardship requires informed and careful discernment of the opportunities and limitations within the natural order of creation. It must uphold the sacredness of life and creation." http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1339
ACTIVISTS INTERCEPT TRAIN DUMPING GM CORN:
Greenpeace activists intercepted a trainload of U.S. corn [August 17] as it tried to enter Mexico, in response to new evidence that the US is dumping GM crops across the border. The transport of this corn contravenes international agreements, and undermines the diversity and health of Mexican corn and the people who rely on it. Activists suspended themselves from the train's axles to hang below the railway bridge over the Rio Grande --- the Mexican-U.S. border --- while the Greenpeace Mexico office negotiated with the Mexican Government for a ban on the U.S. dumping of GM corn in Mexico. Scientific analysis from an independent U.S. laboratory of U.S. corn samples entering Mexico last autumn showed roughly one third of the corn was GM. Corn imports from the U.S. are thought to be responsible for widespread contamination of traditional varieties of corn grown by peasants in the mountainous regions of central Mexico. Much of the corn entering Mexico is Monsanto's Bt corn, engineered to produce a toxin that kills insects, threatens native butterflies and moths and damages the fertility of the soil. The long term impacts of engineered crops on humans and the environment are currently not known. Doreen Stabinsky of Greenpeace said, "This contaminated corn poses unacceptable threats t
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