FOCUS ON ASIA: http://www.gmwatch.org/asia.asp
1. Latest GM 'threat' ... Watermelons
2. 9 farms contaminated, still counting ...
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1.Latest GM 'threat' ... Watermelons
The Nation, Sep 22, 2004
http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=1&id=121271&usrsess=1

A nongovernmental organisation yesterday claimed secret research on genetically modified watermelons is being carried out in the Northeast.

Network of Alternative Agriculture in the Northeast coordinator Ubon Yuwa yesterday said she had learned that a number of researchers had received funds from overseas to study genetically modified watermelons.

She said that suspicions mounted after a number of new varieties of watermelon had entered the market.

Ubon called on the Department of Agriculture to investigate the matter.

A week ago the government admitted that a Khon Kaen farm had been cultivating genetically modified papayas.

The farm had been supplied with papaya seedlings from a research station operated by the Agricultural Research and Development Office, where studies on genetically modified papayas were being conducted.

The discovery prompted the destruction of the research station's papaya trees.

More genetically modified papayas were later discovered at eight other farms in Khon Kaen.

Meanwhile, a group of NGOs yesterday submitted an open letter to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra asking him to appoint their choices for a committee being set up to investigate the spread of genetically modified papayas in the Northeast.

They proposed Surawit Wannakrairoj of Kasetsart University, Jirakorn Kachaseni of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Decha Siripat from Biodiversity and Community Rights Action, and Rosana Tositrakul of the Federation of Consumer Organisations.

Thaksin said during his weekly radio programme on Saturday that NGO representatives should sit in the probe panel.
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2.Thailand Says Nine Farms Contaminated By Genetically Modified Crops
Nancy-Amelia Collins
VOICE OF AMERICA, 21 Sep 2004
Science & Tech
Bangkok
[see url at end]

Nine farms in Thailand have been found to be contaminated by genetically modified crops. The announcement comes after a scandal shut down a big part of the country's program to test genetically modified crops. Thai agricultural officials say the farms where the tainted plants were found are near the Khon Kaen agricultural research station. The research station is one of the country's largest suppliers of papaya seeds, an important staple food in Thailand. Among other things, the station tests plants that have had their genes modified, an experimental process that aims to make plants resistant to disease or to improve crop yields.

The latest findings come several days after the government revealed that some research facilities improperly sold genetically modified papaya seeds to farmers.

The discovery of genetically modified (GM) plants on private farms is drawing fire from environmental groups. Many oppose the development and commercial use of (GM) plants because of fears they could present health hazards, or harm natural plant life. Varoonvarn Svangsopkul is with the environmental group Greenpeace in Southeast Asia. She says the contamination is likely to be more widely spread than so far reported, because once the GM seeds are released into the environment they cannot be controlled. "It will, you know, after it spreads it can cross-pollinate with non-GM papaya and then it will produce GM papaya from that," said Ms. Varoonvarn. "That's one thing, it will contaminate. It's a kind of genetic pollution." The agricultural ministry says that tests found 41 GM-tainted samples on nine farms out of more than 1,000 samples tested. The ministry says more work is needed to find out if the government's experimental site was the source of the contamination. Because of the seed-selling scandal, the government says the GM studies can only continue in safe laboratory settings. It did not cancel the overall program, which is a joint project with Cornell University in the United States.

Ms. Varoonvarn said the government pursued the GM program before enough was known about the potential effects to humans and the environment. "The problem is this thing hasn't been proven safe, and there is no research done on the effect of GM papaya," she said. The Unites States is the world's biggest producer of genetically modified crops. In Asia, only China and the Philippines have large GM crops.

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