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Telling lies in Vietnam (15/9/2004)

FOCUS ON ASIA
http://www.gmwatch.org/asia.asp

Wherever in the world Prof CS Prakash goes in his unstinting efforts to assist the biotechnology industry and the US economy, there follows a succession of media reports containing his latest remarkable claims.

In Tanzania, for instance, he told his audience GM 'doubles production' (The Express, Tanzania, Aug 21, 2002). In the Philipinnes he said GM crops can help reduce farmers' post-harvest losses because 'most genetically-modified crops have longer shelf life'!!

Aaron deGrassi of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, provides another striking instance of Prakash's taste for advocacy over facts: 'Prakash has repeatedly cited [GM] sweet potatoes [in Kenya] as a positive example of the benefits of GM for African countries, but has confessed to having no knowledge of the results of scientific trials in Kenya.' When the results of those trials were finally reported at the beginning of this year, it emerged that the GM sweet potatoes had performed abysmally.

At the moment Prakash is bombarding yet another developing country with industry propaganda. This time it's the turn of Vietnam and true to form Prakash has managed to come up with yet another outrageous claim.

Adopting GM crops, Prakash has been telling the Vietnamese, will not only boost their country's exports, it'll create jobs for 60 percent of the labour force!!!

The chracteristic most commonly engineered into GM crops is herbicide tolerance. By allowing such a powerful form of weed control, these crops enable farmers to dispense with the labour they would normally need. Labour is, of course, the one thing many Third World countries have in abundance. This means GM crops are a recipe for exacerbating rural unemployment and increasing poverty, by forcing labourers off the land.

What can one say about a man who travels the globe as a VIP in order to tell poor and sometimes desperate countries a series of falsehoods?

For more on CS Prakash and his enormities - see item 2:

1. Prakash in Vietnam
2. Prakash in profile
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1. Prakash in Vietnam

US scientist suggests Viet Nam have law on biological security
15 September 2004
http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=32&NEWS_ID=117899

Ha Noi, Sept. 15 (VNA) - Viet Nam should invest more in researching biotechnology and develop a code on biological security to create a legal framework for scientists to conduct experiments and tests in biotechnology.

Talking with Lao Dong newspaper's correspondent in Ha Noi on Tuesday, Dr. Prakash, Director of the Tuskegee University's Centre for Plant Biotechnology, said the biological security code will contribute to raising people's awareness and helping them believe in the security of genetically modified crops (GMC).

Viet Nam will have long-term benefits if the country focuses investment in personnel training and biotechnological research, Prakash said, adding that Viet Nam has abundant human resources and a qualified contingent of scientists who are able to access new technologies.

The US scientist called for continued investment in biotechnology in Viet Nam with the aim of bringing benefits for farmers and trade activities.

Viet Nam should not bypass the development of biotechnology as the domain would contribute to developing agriculture, boosting exports and creating jobs for 60 percent of the labour force, Prakash said.
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2. CS Prakash - a GM WATCH profile
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=106
[for all the links]

Dr C. S. Prakash is Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics and Director of the Center for Plant Biotechnology Research at Tuskegee University, Alabama, USA, where he oversees research on the genetic modification of food crops and the training of scientists and students in plant biotechnology.

He serves on the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Biotechnology Advisory Committee and also on the Advisory Committee for the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India. He is also an advisor to USAID, serving as the principal investigator of a USAID funded project 'to promote biotechnology awareness in Africa'. Tuskegee University receives multi-million dollar funding from USAID.

Prakash is best known for his AgBioWorld campaign, which was launched in January 2000, involving the agbioworld.org website and the heavily-subscribed AgBioView e-mail list, which Prakash personally edits. His Declaration in Support of Agricultural Biotechnology has received support from over 3,000 scientists, including Nobel Laureates like Dr Norman Borlaug, who is a keen supporter of Prakash's campaign.

Under the AgBioWorld banner, Prakash has sent petitions and press releases to international bodies and meetings, such as the International Biosafety Protocol Meeting in Montreal and to the UN Committee on Sustainable Development, as well as to science journals and the media.

His campaign has attracted extensive media coverage, including well over a hundred newspaper and magazine articles. He was also featured in Martin Durkin's controversial documentary The Rise and Fall of GM on British TV's Channel 4.

Prakash has travelled overseas to speak at a number of events on behalf of the U.S. State Department, including at the U.S. embassy in London, at a debate staged by the Institute of Economic Affairs, and at the Seeds of Opportunity conference chaired by Philip Stott.

Prakash was the lead orator in May 2003 when U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced the U.S.'s intention to file a World Trade Organization case against the European Union over its 'illegal five-year moratorium on approving agricultural biotech products.' (Tuskegee Scientist’s Expertise a Key Component of World Trade Organization Initiative)

He has given testimony to the U.S. Congressional Committee on Science and to the Philippine Senate Committee on Health, and was keynote lecturer at the inaugural meeting of AfricaBio in Pretoria. He has also hosted a media forum for journalists in New Delhi with Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute and lectured at the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation in India.

He has worked as a 'Science Advisor' to the magazine Your World which is targeted at school students, developing a special issue on GM crops for the biotech-industry funded Biotechnology Institute. The Your World series has been used with children in schools in North America and Scotland.

His AgBioView list has been successfully used to catalyze GM supporters within the scientific community to be more proactive in supporting GM crops, most notably over issues like GM contamination of Mexican maize landraces, the rejection of GM contaminated food aid in Southern Africa, and Golden Rice.

As with other aspects of Prakash's campaigning, however, serious questions have been raised over his collaborators, his tactics and, not least, the accuracy of the information that Prakash puts into circulation.

For instance, Prakash is reported as having told a Tanzanian audience that GM 'doubles production' (The Express, Tanzania, Aug 21, 2002). In fact, as University of Minnesota economist Vernon W. Ruttan has noted: 'Thus far, biotechnology has not raised the yield potential of crops'. There is also some evidence for yield losses rather than gains, particularly with the main GM crop in global production.

Aaron deGrassi at the Institute of Development Studies, at the University of Sussex, provides another striking example of the unscientific nature of some Prakash claims. In his report Genetically Modified Crops and Sustainable Poverty Alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa deGrassi notes, 'Another surprising example of advocacy trumping facts is C.S. Prak

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