from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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The biotech industry has been indulging in its usual shadow-play, issuing plugs for GM for India that appear to emanate from India itself, but which on closer examination turn out to come from everywhere but! (FOCUS ON ASIA)

It's also invented yet another "grassroots" front group, this time in France (LOBBYWATCH).

Don't miss an important counter-event to the big biotech bash coming up in September in Cologne, Germany (EURO-NEWS).

Claire [email protected]
www.lobbywatch.org / www.gmwatch.org

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CONTENTS
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LOBBYWATCH
FOCUS ON ASIA
FOCUS ON AFRICA
EURO-NEWS
AUSTRALIA
THE AMERICAS
CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK - UK
DONATIONS

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ BIOTECH'S "RADICAL RURAL CAMPAIGNERS"
An article in The Independent (UK) refers to "the surprise emergence in France of a group of radical rural campaigners claiming to be in favour of open-field [GM] experiments".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4239

They recently turned up ready for a fist fight at Loiret in France when about 160 anti-GM activists took part in decontaminating a field of GM maize. (see EURO-NEWS below)

So who are these "radical rural campaigners" with a taste for genetic contamination?

According to the article, they're led by Pierre Pagesse, "a farmer and the managing director of the French biotechnology firm Biogemma". Pagesse is also described as "president of Limagrain, a leading European seed company of which Biogemma is the research arm."

In terms of sales, Limagrain ranks as the 4th biggest seed company in the world, with only DuPont (Pioneer), Monsanto and Syngenta outselling it. Like those agrochemical giants, Limagrain has invested heavily in GM crop R&D and has undertaken GM field trials.

In 1994 Limagrain took over the seed production assets of the French agrochemical giant Rhone-Poulenc, through an exchange of shares, which led to the creation of Limagrain Genetics International - 83% owned by Limagrain and 17% by Rhone-Poulenc. The two companies also developed common research programmes for developing GM crops within a joint venture.

The biotech firm Biogemma was created by Limagrain in July 1997. In April 1998 RhoBio, a subsidiary common to Biogemma and Rhone-Poulenc was formed. RhoBio went on to become a joint venture with Aventis Crop Science and then Bayer Crop Science.

According to a report on Limagrain's innovation strategy, "At the same time that it created Biogemma, Limagrain also made the strategic decision to concentrate on biotechnology and agro-industrial activities, and to dedicate *all its resources* towards this goal." (emphasis added)

In other words Limagrain bet its shirt on biotech. As the report notes: "biotechnology is one of the central themes for the company; and mastering biotechnology is seen as necessary if the group is to keep its identity and independence... resources, such as the company's capacity for research and development, are [therefore] earmarked for biotechnology."

The report identifies as a key challenge to this strategy: "the acceptability of GMOs". It also notes that, "ironically", investment in genomics "may provide a way to avoid transgenic methods altogether delivering it from the current controversy".
http://www.agbioforum.org/v4n1/v4n1a09-joly.htm

Under the leadership of Pierre Pagesse, however, controversy, rather than being sidestepped, is being embraced!

As Limagrain has farmers as shareholders and stakeholders, they may wish to consider the quality of Pagesse's strategic thinking and whether it isn't time for more intelligent leadership.

Limagrain also owns the US-based company Biotechnica Agriculture. Limagrain Canada is owned by Monsanto.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4239

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FOCUS ON ASIA
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+ ISAAA CHIEF BACKS TERMINATOR IN INDIA!
When confronted with the problem of cross-pollination of non-GM plants, the only solution Clive James, chairman of the industry-backed GM crop promotion body ISAAA, can offer is the Terminator! This, he complains, had had to be shelved at the behest of "the Greens".

James was speaking at the recent big pro-GM "International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology: Ushering in the Second Green Revolution" conference in New Delhi.

In fact, MS Swaminathan, a co-host with James of the conference, is among those who has denounced the technology: "In India where there are nearly 100 million operational holdings, denial of plant-back rights or the use of the terminator mechanism will be disastrous from the socio-economic and biodiversity points of view, since over 80 percent of farmers plant their own farm-saved seeds."

Swaminathan is just one among many who have queued up to condemn Terminator genes. They included the FAO Director-General, Dr Jacques Diouf; Dr Gordon Conway, President of the Rockefeller Foundation; and The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Not exactly a bunch of greens!

For more on ISAAA: http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=66&page=I
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4237

+ MORE WIT AND WISDOM OF CLIVE JAMES
At the New Delhi conference (see above), James supported the proposed "single window" for GM regulation in India. But he was forced to concede that even under the avidly pro-GM US regulatory system, no single window exists for GM regulation.

James also said, Wambugu-style, that he's not saying GM crops are a silver bullet, it's just they're "essential"!

Next, when cornered over the fact that poverty not production is the real problem underlying hunger in India - a country which regularly produces large surpluses of grain that go to rot because the poor can't afford them - James was left blithely claiming, "the transgenic technology can also solve the problem [ie poverty] by raising the income of the people".

How to support such a claim? Despite all the evidence to the contrary, James claims that GM cotton has been a success in India - this off the back of a discredited one-off survey carried out for Monsanto by the Nielson marketing agency!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3405
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4237

+ VANDANA SHIVA SAYS INDIA NEEDS STRONGER REGULATORY SYSTEM, NOT DEREGULATION
Excerpt from an article in the Financial Express by Dr Vandana Shiva (GEAC is India's statutory body for GM crop assessment and approvals), in which she criticizes attempts to weaken India's GM regulatory system:

Those of us who work for independent science, protection of environment and public health are calling for a "GEAC Plus", aimed at strengthening regulation for biosafety by enhancing the capacities of the environment ministry in collaboration with the health and agriculture ministries. Strengthening regulation for biosafety is also required under the Cartagena Protocol. Industry however wants a "GEAC Minus"; creating a fast track single window clearance to substitute GEAC.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4234

+ GOLDEN RICE A DISTANT DREAM FOR INDIA
An article in Business India says fears of environmental damage and food safety have held up India's plans to develop varieties of GM nutrition-enriched rice.

"Products like salinity- and drought-tolerant rice varieties as well as the vitamin-A enrich