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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all

Welcome to WW46 bringing you all the latest news in brief on the GM issue.

Occasionally, someone asks me why I and others bother to continue campaigning on the GM issue as "it doesn't make any difference". Well, I hope you'll forgive a momentary diversion from the GM topic in the interests of answering that question and (I hope) inspiring all you hard-working people to carry on.

For many years, the people of Byker in Newcastle have suffered ill health and terrible pollution problems from a waste incinerator. Ash from the incinerator contaminated with higher levels of dioxin than were found in Vietnam post-Agent Orange was spread over playgrounds, paths and allotments where the residents grew food. The residents have campaigned for more years than I can recall to close the incinerator, but were told by officials from the Council, the Environment Agency and the waste company that there was no problem with the incinerator, no pollution, no ill health effects, etc., and that they should give up and shut up because "the waste has to go somewhere and incinerators are here to stay". But they didn't give up.

And now, it seems, the residents have won. The incinerator has closed and will not re-open. The two Byker campaign groups have just won the UK's biggest prize for environmental campaigning (over the big national groups), and have beaten incineration not just for Byker, but for the whole Newcastle area. In the process, they have cleaned up most of the contaminated ash, run a dozen corrupt officials out of town, forced the Council into a long-term Zero Waste policy and generally helped change the national landscape on the issue. The campaigners didn't start out as experts or specialists in anything: they just knew what was right, knew what they wanted to happen, and didn't stop till they got there.

Look out for the section on the last month's top stories, and for CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK.

Claire    [email protected]
www.ngin.org.uk

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CONTENTS
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SETBACKS TO THE GM LOBBY
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
MONTHLY REVIEW
SUBSCRIPTIONS

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SETBACKS TO THE GM LOBBY
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COLOMBIA: COURT ORDER AGAINST BT COTTON
On 17 October 2003 the Court of Cundinamarca - Colombia judged against the Ministry of Environment Dwelling and Territorial Development and Monsanto, in relation with the introduction of Bt cotton in Colombia. The court ordered a suspension of the authorization given by the ICA (Institute of Agricultural Research) for importing and planting of the genetically modified cotton in Colombia. It also ordered the Ministry of Environment, to require from Monsanto Colombian INC an environmental license prior to the importation and plating of Bt cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1683

GM CROP RESISTS POISON, BREAKS FENCE
In Australia, trials of the nation's first commercial GM food crop have been found to be in breach of their licence conditions. The Network of Concerned Farmers released internal NSW Agriculture documents showing concerns over the trials of GM canola near the city of Wagga Wagga. The documents show the canola, created by Bayer Cropscience to be resistant to a new type of herbicide, had spread from its small trial plot into a neighbouring wheat field. Despite efforts to poison and slash the plants they survived to the stage that they flowered, putting them in breach of their growing licence conditions. NSW, along with most other states, has a moratorium on GM food crops but is allowing trials such as that staged at Wagga.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1685

REPORT SAYS GM WHEAT COULD CUT EXPORTS IN HALF
A US economics professor said the introduction of GM wheat in the next two to six years could cut spring wheat exports in half. Most foreign countries have no interest in buying products with GM wheat, said Robert Wisner, an Iowa State University researcher. "Dr. Wisner's report confirms our worst fears," said state Sen. April Fairfield, D-Eldridge. "The premature release of genetically modified wheat will devastate our export markets and threaten the livelihoods of North Dakota wheat farmers." Monsanto responded that the report was aimed at scaring farmers.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1678

CENTRAL TEAM TO STUDY BT COTTON FAILURE
A team of agricultural scientists and government officials will visit the state of Ahmedabad to study the failure of the Bt cotton crop. The secretary to the department of biotechnology, under the ministry of science and technology, said that government would take further steps based on the report of this team.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1688

UPPER AUSTRIA TO APPEAL AGAINST REJECTION OF GM BAN
The regional parliament of Upper Austria announced on 4 November that it is to appeal against the European Commission's decision not to allow the region to declare itself a GM free zone. The Commission rejected the request by Upper Austria following consultations with the European Food Safety Authority. The reasons given were that no new scientific evidence had emerged to support a ban and that Upper Austria had failed to prove the existence of a problem specific to the region that justified such an approach.

The regional parliament, however, rejects both conclusions. In its appeal to the Court of First Instance, it points to the recently published results of UK field scale trials, which suggest that certain GM crop varieties could threaten natural biodiversity. Further, the parliament argues that the small scale nature of agricultural production in Upper Austria, together with its uniquely high proportion of organic farmers, constitutes a specific problem for the region.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1684

GM PINE TREES IN DISEASE PROBE
In New Zealand, an investigation has started into possible contamination of GM pine trees being grown in a field trial at Rotorua. The contamination allegations come from two former Forest Research Institute scientists, Dale Smith and John Hutcheson. Dr Smith quit his job at the institute in 1996 when he discovered GM pinus radiata seedlings had been grown in the same greenhouse as imported pinus taeda seedlings, in breach of regulations.  He alleges there was evidence the taeda plant material, imported from the US, was contaminated with pine pitch canker virus, capable of devastating New Zealand's forestry industry.

Dr Smith informed the Environmental Risk Management Authority in late 2000. Dr Smith said Erma dismissed his concerns because the breach occurred before the passing of the 1999 Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act, under which the authority was set up.

Forest Research's Dr Christian Walter, who is running the GM pine tree trial, is adamant his 1000 seedlings are not contaminated with the fungus and were never grown with the taeda seedlings. "I don't know where [Dr Smith's] evidence is but I can say the available evidence I am cu

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