from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Catholic voices from around the world are being raised in protest at the pro-GM bias of the US-Vatican conference in Rome which took place on Friday. There is outrage also at the arrogant assumption on the part of the organizing body, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, that it has a right to speak on behalf of the Church. There is suspicion among Catholic critics that the Academy has been co-opted by biotech interests - and we have the details! (see LOBBYWATCH AT THE VATICAN)

Good news from Europe, where a European Commission attempt to sneak a Monsanto GM maize through the approvals process has been thwarted, for the moment at least (EUROPE). However, the same maize, which has been heavily criticised by scientists from a number of countries, particularly France, after a feeding study on rats showed significantly different levels of white blood cells, kidney weights and kidney structure, as well as lower albumin/globulin rates, has been pushed through the approval process in Australia and New Zealand without the study even being considered (see AUSTRALASIA).

Finally, watch out for the most extraordinary change of mind by a leading GM zealot, Prof Thomas Hoban, who now says that the US has got it wrong on GM and must follow Europe. (see LOBBYWATCH AT LARGE).

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

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CONTENTS
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LOBBYWATCH AT THE VATICAN
LOBBYWATCH AT LARGE
CORPORATE TAKE-OVER OF SCIENCE
CONTAMINATION / PHARMING
EUROPE
FOCUS ON AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
THAILAND LATEST
AUSTRALASIA
DONATIONS

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LOBBYWATCH AT THE VATICAN
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A US-Vatican conference, "Feeding a Hungry World: The Moral Imperative of Biotechnology", took place in Rome on Friday 24 September.

It attracted worldwide condemnation, including from priests, bishops and other leading Catholics, in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the US:

PRIESTS IN ZAMBIA CRITICISE US-VATICAN CONFERENCE
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4371

SOUTH AFRICAN BISHOPS STATEMENT OF CONCERN
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4391

LEADING US CATHOLIC CONDEMNS CONFERENCE AS TOOL OF US
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4359

BISHOP GUTIERREZ OF THE PHILIPPINES LETTER OF CONCERN
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4378

MISSIONARY & AUTHOR, FR SEAN MCDONAGH
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4334

COLUMBAN CENTRE FOR PEACE, ECOLOGY AND JUSTICE (AUSTRALIA)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4323

GENERAL COUNCIL OF MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST COLUMBAN (IRELAND)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4382

+ LOBBYISTS IN THE VATICAN
The conference took place at the Pontifical Gregorian University under the aegis of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences with a line up of speakers who were all to a man known supporters of GM. They included the notorious US-industry lobbyist, CS Prakash.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=106

"It appears that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences," wrote the Executive Director of a leading US Catholic body, The National Catholic Rural Life Conference, "has allowed itself to be subordinated to the United States Government's insistent advocacy of biotechnology and of the companies which market it.

"Why has the Pontifical Academy of Sciences claimed for itself a lead voice? Is it because among its members are leading American advocates, members close to Monsanto, a leading US biotechnology company?"

Among those that Brother David Andrews surely must have had in mind was Peter Raven, a member of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences and one of the speakers at Friday's conference.

+ MONSANTO'S MAN AT THE VATICAN
Peter Raven is the Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden which is based in Monsanto's home town of St. Louis. The Garden and Raven's other projects have received millions of dollars of funding from Monsanto. The company's largesse is reflected in the Garden’s multimillion-dollar research centre - The Monsanto Center – and in a nearby plant biotech research institute - in the establishment of which Raven and Monsanto were the chief driving force.

What's in it for Monsanto? An old friend of Raven's, the geneticist Wes Jackson, says of him, "In a certain sense he's a paid traveling salesman for Monsanto." According to Raven himself, "The basic research we do here at the Garden makes us a major resource for the biotechnology industry".

Raven has refused to criticise the company and at one time was actually married to the company's Director of Public Policy, Kate Fish, leading to jokes that even his sex life came corporate-sponsored.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=191

+ CATHOLIC INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ON WHAT'S WRONG WITH GM
Read a superb action leaflet from the Catholic Institute for International Relations - "What's wrong with GM? Why genetically modified crops are bad for people and bad for the environment" – produced in response to the sustained industry-US lobbying of the Vatican.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4381

+ SEND A PROTEST LETTER ABOUT THE US-VATICAN CONFERENCE:
Address your concerns politely to:
Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences
Msgr Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, Casina Pio IV, 00120 - VATICAN

*For maximum speed, e-mail: [email protected]
Or fax: +39-0669885218*

See an example letter from the Safe Food Coalition in South Africa
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4372

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LOBBYWATCH AT LARGE
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+ GM ZEALOT GETS COLD FEET!
According to an article about North Carolina State University professor of sociology Thomas Hoban's "Change of Heart" about GMOs, this former GM enthusiast now thinks GM foods need to be labelled, and, "The FDA practices of voluntary pre-market notification and substantial equivalence are no longer valid. It is time for the US to learn from the EU about regulation." He also says of GM pharma crops, "You probably don't want that stuff in food. You don't want to be the food company identified as having plastic or pig vaccines in your corn flakes."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4387

What makes this so remarkable is that Hoban is listed by CS Prakash's AgBioWorld as one of its expert Media Contacts on GM and his previous publications include such gems as, 'Biotechnology is Here to Stay: American retailers need not worry about consumer acceptance of foods produced with modern biotechnology'.

Hoban is best known for his consumer surveys on GM foods which have been used to reassure the food industry, and the world at large, that the American consumer is right behind GMOs - something Hoban himself is now starting to question. "Polls still show the vast majority of American consumers do not understand that they already have been eating genetically engineered foods," he notes. "When they find out, they resent the fact that no one told them scientists were changing their food."

Hoban's own surveys were biased with leading questions favouring positive responses from consumers. UCLA communications professor Michael Suman paraphrased Hoban's style of q