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WEEKLY WATCH number 69 (23/4/2004)

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all,

Resistance to GM crops continues to grow, with events organised around the globe for the International Day of Action (17 April) of the international farmers' movement Via Campesina. See HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK - GLOBAL.

The GM rebellion is not only now spreading across the US but has exploded in America's "back-yard" with Venezuela's President both banning GM and terminating a big Monsanto GM contract (see HIGHLIGHTS - GLOBAL).  Here in the UK, the biotech empire continues to crumble, with UK science minister Lord Sainsbury's two biotech firms in deep trouble (HIGHLIGHTS - UK).

We also have a highly revealing biopiracy report from Devinder Sharma on exactly how the US Dept of Ag ended up sitting on the world's largest collection of germplasm - most of it collected at public expense but destined to make profits for corporations (REPORT OF THE WEEK).

Watch out too for all the latest news on the corporate take-over of science and our "lobby watch" section on biotech promoters.

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

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CONTENTS
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK - GLOBAL
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK - UK
McSCIENCE: Chapela/McScience/Biotech's rich list
LOBBY WATCH: ISAAA/Prakash/Moore/Henry Miller
REPORT OF THE WEEK: The Great Gene Robbery
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: 'Bad Things' on diarrhea rice
DONATIONS - We need them!
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
SUBSCRIPTIONS

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK - GLOBAL
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+ VIVA VENEZUELA--GM BANNED IN VENEZUELA-- MONSANTO TERMINATED!
Venezuala's President Hugo Chavez Frias has announced that the cultivation of GM crops will be prohibited on Venezuelan soil, possibly establishing the most sweeping restrictions on transgenic crops in the Western Hemisphere. Though full details of the administration's policy on GMOs are still forthcoming, the statement by President Chavez will lead most immediately to the cancellation of a contract that Venezuela had negotiated with the US-based Monsanto Corporation.

Before a recent international gathering of supporters in Caracas, President Chavez admonished GM crops as contrary to the interests and needs of the nation's farmers and farm workers. He zeroed in on Monsanto's plans to plant up to 500,000 acres of transgenic soybeans in Venezuela. "I ordered an end to the project," said President Chavez, upon learning that transgenic crops were involved. "This project is terminated."

President Chavez emphasized the importance of food sovereignty and security - required by the Venezuelan Constitution - as the basis of his decision. Instead of allowing Monsanto to grow its transgenic crops, these fields will be used to plant yuca (an indigenous crop), Chavez explained. He also announced the creation of a large seed bank facility to maintain indigenous seeds for peasants' movements around the world.

Let's hope this doesn't trigger another US-inspired coup attempt!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3307

+ EU BIOTECH LABELING AND TRACEABILITY REQUIREMENTS "WILL BE A SERIOUS BARRIER TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE," SAYS NFPA
Commenting on the European Union's new requirements for labeling and traceability of foods and feeds that contain GM ingredients, which became effective on April 18, John R. Cady, President and CEO of the US's National Food Processors Association (NFPA), made the following statement:

"These new requirements establish a serious trade barrier that will keep many U.S. food products out of the European market. European consumers will see such labels on food products as 'warning labels.'  ...the traceability requirements are a classic case of regulatory overkill, putting complex and detailed new requirements on food companies, with no benefit - but with added expense - for consumers. NFPA has long opposed these labeling and traceability requirements by the EU. We strongly urge the World Trade Organization to address this issue, and take action to block these new, unnecessary barriers to trade.

NFPA is the voice of the food processing industry
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3288

+ GERMANY'S MINISTER K†NAST INTENDS TO EXPAND COMPULSORY GMO LABELING
German federal minister for consumer affairs, Renate KŸnast, wants compulsory GMO labelling on products made from animals that were raised on GM feed. The focus is on meat, eggs and dairy products. KŸnast told [German TV network] ZDF that she had tried to achieve acceptance for this with the EU Commission but that EU Commissioner David Byrne had rejected it.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3298

+ ANTI-GM CAMPAIGN HEIGHTENED
Greenpeace has announced plans to step up its campaign against GM foods, as new laws come into effect across the European Union. The latest directive (EU Regulation 1829/2003), which covers traceability and labelling, does not require meat or milk from an animal fed on GMOs to be labelled as GM-produce - a condition opposed by campaigners.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3298

+ CALL FOR IMMEDIATE GLOBAL BAN ON GM FOOD
Read Mark Griffiths' powerful document, "Immediate Global Ban of GM Food - 'A Call For Wisdom in World Agriculture" at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3291   or for links, see
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/wisdomworldagriculture.htm

Excerpts:
GM foods could not have come to market if the facts about their unique risks had been acknowledged and if national laws had been honoured. Their introduction depended on systematic deception by both the biotech industry and the United States government, and their continued presence depends on continuation of the deception.

...it is time to choose between a food supply that has had its genetic blueprints radically restructured through invasive laboratory techniques or one that preserves the natural sequence and integrity of those blueprints. It is not possible to adequately maintain the latter while proceeding with the former.

+ BASQUE MONSANTO GMO PROTEST
Farmer group EHNE organized a symbolic burning of GMO seed in the main public square of Gasteiz, capital of the Basque Autonomous Region on 16 April, eve of International Farmer Protest Day. The seed burnt was Syngenta's (formerly Novartis) Bt maize authorised for commercial sowing in 1998. The seed bags we burnt were from both Syngenta and Monsanto (the PR33P67 810 Bt maize from Monsanto authorised for commercial sowing in the Spanish Member State in 2003 in a controversial interpretation of the EU moratoria). The action attracted a larg

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