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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all

Welcome to WW49 bringing you all the latest news in brief on the GM issue.

If you've ever wondered how a population gets brainwashed, don't miss the feature "AGRISCIENCE BUS" TAKES TEACHERS FOR A RIDE (HIGHLIGHTS). Writer Jane Garrison gives a fascinating glimpse into how American schoolchildren are being moulded by teachers, who, in turn, are trained by the biotech industry in a freebie summer school. It seems there's a gap in the US educational market for lessons in critical thinking.

That, of course, hasn't stopped Scottish Enterprise trying to inflict the same kind of propaganda exercise on Scottish school children and there have been other 'educational' initiatives courtesy of GM proponents in the UK (HIGHLIGHTS).

Meanwhile, a comprehensive new report shows the lies that such Orwellian exercises are built on.  Official US Dept of Agriculture data shows that far from decreasing pesticide use in the 8 years since GM crops were introduced into the US (1996-2003), GM crops have massively increased the overall use of pesticides (see SETBACKS).

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
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
SUBSCRIPTIONS

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SETBACKS TO THE GM LOBBY
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+ MONSANTO'S GM SOY SAFETY ASSESSMENT FLAWED, SAYS SCIENTIST
Monsanto's safety assessment application to the Japanese health ministry for Roundup Ready soybeans was "inadequate and incomplete," according to assistant professor Masaharu Kawata, of Nagoya University, Japan. According to the Japanese study, Monsanto's safety tests misrepresent data and included testing proteins not derived from the GM plant; insufficient feeding experiments; and intentional neglect of "inappropriate" data. Since the components of the GE soybean that people are eating are still unknown, governments who have approved the GE soybean should review their safety assessments.

Excerpt from Kawata's study:
Minimal feeding tests
Animal feeding tests are important for safety assessment. Monsanto conducted these experiments on rats, cows, chickens, catfish and quail. However, the scale of the experiments was very inadequate. For example, in rat experiments, raw and toasted soybeans both genetically modified and non-modified were fed to only 10 rats in each group and the feeding period was only 28 days. Toxicity across generations or chronic toxicity will not be measured by such limited experiments.

Even with these far from satisfactory experiments, the data for body and organ weight of liver, kidney and testicles show obvious differences in the male rats between groups fed wild strain soybean and those fed bio-engin eered soybean.

Raw soybean-fed groups showed no difference. But male groups fed toasted GE soybean, weighed 6.7% less than the group fed the ordinary soybean and 13% less than the group fed the commercial feed-mix at the end of the tes t period of 28 days. Though this difference is described as statistically significant in the data sheet, the conclusion ignores these results and states that "no statistical significance is observed."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1718

+ ENVIRONMENT TRUMPING GENES
A sign that biotech research is going nowhere comes from Nobel Laureate genome sequencer Sydney Brenner, who has recently called for a new appraisal of public healthcare instead of going in the direction of the human genome banks and personalised medicines. There are good reasons for Brenner and other scientists to break ranks with the pro-GM brigade.

Diet is found to affect genetic imprinting, a developing process in which genes are marked to become silent, resulting in immediate and longer-term health impacts on the unborn. The malnutrition of teenage mothers with too little to spend on food is a potential time bomb for the already overstretched public health service.
- Dr Maewan Ho, editorial, Science in Society 20, Autumn/Winter 2003 Order your copy from the ISIS online store
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/onlinestore/magazines.php
Read more of the editorial at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1726

+ GM CROPS NOW INCREASING PESTICIDE USE IN THE UNITED STATES
The planting of 550 million acres of genetically engineered (GE) corn, soybeans and cotton in the US since 1996 has increased pesticide use by about 50 million pounds, according to a report by the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center.

The report is the first comprehensive study of the impacts of all major commercial GE crops on pesticide use in the US over the first eight years of commercial use, 1996-2003. It draws on official US Dept of Agriculture data on pesticide use by crop and state. The report is entitled "Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Eight Years," and is the sixth in a series of "Technical Papers" prepared for Ag BioTech InfoNet.

It is being published via the Internet (hard copies will not be provided, but can be printed for free from the website). The report calculates the difference between the average pounds of pesticides applied on acres planted to GE crops compared to the pounds applied to otherwise similar conventional crops. In their first three years of commercial sales (1996-1998), GE crops reduced pesticide use by about 25.4 million pounds, but in the last three years (2001-2003), over 73 million more pounds of pesticides were applied on GE acres.

Substantial increases in herbicide use on "Herbicide Tolerant" (HT) crops, especially soybeans, accounted for the increase in pesticide use on GE acres compared to acres planted to conventional plant varieties. Many farmers have had to spray incrementally more herbicides on GE acres in order to keep up with shifts in weeds toward tougher-to-control species, coupled with the emergence of genetic resistance in certain weed populations.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1722

+ GM ADVISORS FAIL TO ANSWER THE ULTIMATE GM RIDDLE
A new UK government report on 'coexistence' designed to examine whether GM crops can be grown without contaminating non-GM and organic crops has failed to answer this crucial question. The report published by the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission (AEBC) also looks at who should foot the bill if something goes wrong. 'GM Crops? Coexistence and Liability ' is the Government's final piece of evidence in helping decide whether or not GM crops are to be grown commercially in the UK.

Responding to the report, Greenpeace GM Campaigner Ben Ayliffe said: "The Commission has failed to answer the crucial question about whether GM can actually coexist with conventional and organic crops in the UK. This is because they can't - coexistence is impossible and widespread contamination will be inevitable if GM is commercialised in this country."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1725

+ CATHOLIC CHURCH AND ETHICS OF GMOs
The full paper presented

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