It's not just in countries like Thailand that things are going badly wrong for the biotech industry. As they desperately try and push GM crops into Africa and Asia, they keep suffering one set back after another back on their home turf.

First GM pharmaceutical rice got blocked in California; then one county after another there started voting to go GM FREE; next the big food industry group, Grocery Manufacturers of America, spoke out against the open-field testing of GM pharma crops; and finally came headlines like 'Americans Win Disclosure Ruling Against Untested GM Crops', after a federal district court judge ordered the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to disclose the locations of open-air field tests of pharma crops in Hawaii. Disclosure, according to the USDA and the biotech industry, should not have been allowed because it could lead to "civil unrest."
http://www.progress.org/2004/gene104.htm

And now leading GM pharma corp ProdiGene, whose pharma corn crops have previously caused mayhem in Iowa and Nebraska, is being reported as having abandoned its controversial Texan GM pharma corn project (see below).

While confirmation of the ProdiGene pull-out is awaited, it is looking increasingly likely that the biotech industry will soon be forced to follow the example of a European pharma network and head for the developing world to test out its dangerous wares.

The Europeans have selected laxly-regulated South Africa as an easy testing ground but they're running into increasing resistance. Peter Lowins, a South African farmer who represents the local grain growers, understands the game plan: "And that's why they try using Third World countries to do these experiments. If it's wrong or if it's a failure in the future, it doesn't affect them."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4285

In the meantime, you can find out more about the Texan project via the US-based Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods' pharma crops' website: http://www.pharmcrops.com

They've also set up an ACTION ALERT on the site so you can instantly send comments on ProdiGene's permit requests to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at:
http://www.pharmcrops.com/prodigenealert.php

Comments must be submitted no later than Tuesday night.

A detailed letter from the Sierra Club, the US's biggest wilderness conservation group, to US Ag Sec Ann Veneman, objecting to the cretinous ProdiGene plan is at:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4232
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Fwd-

From: Neil Carman <[email protected]>
Subject: Prodigene's Texas biopharm corn project is "Off"

RE: Prodigene's biopharm corn project in Frio County, Texas put on hold.

Good news!

Elizabeth Allen, a Business reporter with the San Antonio Express News, called today asking questions about Sierra Club's concerns with Prodigene's biopharmaceutical corn project proposed for a secret location in Frio County, Texas (near San Antonio). Elizabeth obtained my contact information from the USDA Docket. I submitted comments on behalf of Sierra Club's GE committee to the USDA Docket on August 10, 2004 to oppose the project and we know that several
hundred other comments were sent by people using Craig Winters Campaign to Label GMOs website.

The good news is that, according to my conversations with Elizabeth Allen, she was told by a Prodigene spokesperson (the CEO was traveling and not available) at College Station, TX, this morning that Prodigene's Frio County biopharm corn project is definitely "OFF." However, Elizabeth did not elaborate about where that means the Frio County biopharm project is permanently dead or postponed indefinitely. She told me that the SAEN will publish a story when she confirms what the status of Prodigene's Frio County project is from the USDA since there's still some uncertainty at this time.

Anyway I think it's good news for the time being.

Neil Carman, Ph.D.
Vice chair
Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee
Austin, Texas

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