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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all

Welcome to WW47 bringing you all the latest news in brief on the GM issue.

The web of hypocrisy over GM is unravelling, with leaked Canadian government papers revealing that while the government remains publicly gung-ho for biotech, it is secretly aware that continuing with the crops will lose yet more export markets (see our lead story).

For light relief, don't miss the story of biotech bully-boy Prof Trewavas complaining to the media about abuse and intimidation he's received from NGIN/GMWATCH and other anti-GM activists (see HYPOCRITE OF THE WEEK). This is interesting, because we have, over many years, drawn attention to the abuse, intimidation and misleading statements that Trewavas himself has directed at scientists sceptical of GM.

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
HYPOCRITE OF THE WEEK
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
MONTHLY REVIEW
SUBSCRIPTIONS

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SETBACKS TO THE GM LOBBY
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+ Cabinet papers warn Canada off GM crops A secret briefing to the Canadian government has warned that the country's massive food exports are at risk from its continued use of GM crops. The paper, which has been obtained under the Access of Information Act, warns the cabinet of the "pressing need to immediately address these concerns". Such fears contrast with the government's repeated endorsement of GM crops and technology as a great opportunity for Canada.

The paper, drafted by a senior civil servant, says that "producers are becoming worried about losing markets and losing choice over what they produce", while consumers are becoming more worried that they cannot distinguish between GM and non-GM products.

"These concerns could precipitate a loss of confidence in the integrity of the Canadian food system, which could be very disruptive to the domestic system as well as Canada's ability to export to demanding markets."

Some pages of the secret document, which have been blanked out, concern advice on how to deal with the growing public fears and the potential loss of further export markets for Canadian goods.

Canada is the third-largest producer of GM crops after the US and Argentina. But the paper says that the production of GM canola (oilseed rape) is affecting the value of non- GM canola in some markets. It says: "The EU was effectively closed to all Canadian commodity canola."

Canadian farmers' greatest fear, however, is the introduction of GM wheat, of which trials are imminent. The Canadian Wheat Board has just surveyed its overseas customers in Europe, Japan and the US, with 82% saying that they would not take GM wheat. The export market for milling wheat into bread is worth £2bn a year to Canada. More at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1700

+ Europe blocks GM sweetcorn.
A European Union (EU) regulatory committee has failed to support a proposal by the EU's Executive Commission to approve a controversial GM sweet corn, meaning that Europe's de facto ban on GM crops continues.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1694

+ .BUT BLAIR AND FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY TRIED TO GET GM SWEETCORN PASSED
Contrary to the wishes of the vast majority of Brits, only 8% of whom wish to eat GM foods, the British government pushed for the EU to approve Syngenta's GM sweetcorn. The approval of the sweetcorn - codenamed Bt11 - was seen as a "symbolic gesture" to appease the US. The Food Standards Agency, which represented Britain on the EU deciding committee, said it saw no reason why it should not be approved - against the wishes of environment and agriculture ministers.

The FSA's position, however, was exploded by a well-timed new report from the Austrian government, which concludes that safety testing of GM foods - including the sweetcorn - has been sporadic, non-existent, or based on assumptions that cannot be verified. The report - Toxikologie und Allergologie von GVO-Produkten - focused on 11 applications for approval of GM maize, beet, potato, oilseed rape, cotton and carnations, as well as the Bt11 sweetcorn.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1695

+ EVEN THE AMERICANS WON'T EAT THE STUFF
Mark Griffiths of NLP Wessex points out that GM crops which are produced for direct human consumption (e.g sweet corn, potatoes, sugar beet) instead of animal feed (like soya and maize) are generally not being grown even in the US even when they get approval because food processors will not touch them.
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/usdagmeconomics.htm

+ Devinder Sharma in US to talk about GM, globalization and food security
Food will be a weapon in future political, economic and strategic conflicts, an international activist warned. Indian journalist, author and critic Devinder Sharma, while on a lecture tour of the US, said control of the world's staple crops by a handful of multinational corporations already poses significant threats to world stability and the fight against hunger. He said wars of the future could be fought without weapons by using food as leverage instead.

"Those who control the staple foods don't need any weapons," he said. Sharma said using food as a weapon is not new, citing the 19th century potato famine in Ireland, which he said was more about deliberately poor distribution than a food shortage.

Sharma urged Vermont farmers to continue to oppose the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that pose a significant economic threat to organic producers. He said there is growing evidence GMOs are harmful to the environment and contribute to hunger in Third World countries.

Sharma said an extreme example of the impact of global food trade on hunger in India was the export of the 65 million tons of grain in 2001 as cattle feed to the United States. At the same time, he said, India had to import cattle fodder to feed millions of starving Indians.

"What a remarkable development program we're in," said Sharma. "We owned food being exported to feed cattle (in America) and converted cattle feed (from America) to feed humans."

In Africa, he said attempts by American companies to deal with famine are actually making the problem worse. He said GMO grain does not reproduce, forcing poor farmers to buy new seed each year, with millions facing starvation as a result.
http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?recid=2155

GMWATCH comment: Devinder Sharma has accurately pinpointed the endgame of the biotech industry: world domination via control of the food supply. This is something that appears to have escaped those biotech liberals who claim that GM would be OK with sufficient public ownership of gene technology - if gene technology was publicly owned it would be useless to the industry! Note that some years ago, Monsanto and other multinationals formed plans to move into the water business, privatising water supplies first in countries which faced shortages and where bigger profits cou

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