from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all

Despite the eagerness of much of the world's media and governments to dub the tsunami catastrophe an unfathomable 'act of God' or nature, it may be that much of the responsibility for some of the tragic consequences lies with powerful corporate interests that have devastated natural buffer ecosystems in pursuit of profit (TSUNAMI RESPONSES). Though this is not directly a GM issue, Devinder Sharma's analysis is so important and its message so shockingly under-reported that we have included it here.

Until policy makers take responsibility for the consequences of their actions, we will be hit by not-so-random disasters. At the same time, we shall continue to be fleeced by corporations as they sell us ever-more-expensive ways to 'fix' nature - when the problem was never nature's in the first place.

Speaking of corporate fixes, news continues to emerge of the massive scale of Monsanto's criminal activities in bribing Indonesian officials to accept its GM crops (MONSANTO IN INDONESIA). And ISAAA has produced its annual crop of misleading figures over GM uptake (LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL). Finally, in a desperate attempt to convince us of the benefits of GM, Prakash's AgBioWorld has enlisted the persuasive powers of... a nuke-touting rabbit (LOBBYWATCH REGULAR). I kid you not.

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

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CONTENTS
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MONSANTO IN INDONESIA
LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL - ISAAA's hype-fest
YEARLY REVIEWS: Kenya, Philippines, world (GRAIN)
AFRICA
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
TSUNAMI RESPONSES
LOBBYWATCH REGULAR

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MONSANTO IN INDONESIA
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+ MONSANTO BRIBED "AT LEAST 140" OFFICIALS AND OTHERS
More details have emerged about the Monsanto bribe scandal, in which the company bribed Indonesian officials and others to smooth the entry into the country of its GM crops. Monsanto gave bribes totaling a minimum of $700,000 to at least 140 current or former Indonesian government officials and their family members. Which leaves one wondering what kind of numbers could have been on the payroll worldwide?

The itchy-fingered ones include a senior official in the environment ministry, a senior official in the agriculture ministry, an official in the National Planning and Development Board (Bappenas), as well as 140 other bureaucrats between 1997 and 2002.

Monsanto agreed to pay USD 1.5 million in penalties to settle US criminal and civil charges.

The largest single set of bribes was for the purchase of land and the design and construction of a house in the name of a wife of a senior Ministry of Agriculture official, which cost Monsanto $373,990.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4776
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4780
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4793

+ MONSANTO BOSS URGED TO QUIT
Environmentalists and Members of the Scottish Parliament are demanding that Monsanto's president and chief executive in Scotland, Hugh Grant, be kicked off the International Advisory Board set up by Scottish Enterprise, which helps Scottish companies develop their businesses abroad. Mark Ruskell MSP, the Green Party's environment spokesman, told the Sunday Herald, "It is plainly ridiculous that a senior figure from Monsanto is at the heart of informing the Executive's strategy for Scotland's economic development."

This was supported by Jonathan Matthews of GM Watch who told the paper, "This man is steeped in a company culture that allowed this to happen." he added, "What has emerged about corrupt practices in Indonesia may just be the tip of the iceberg."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4779

+ INDONESIA'S CORRUPTION COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE MONSANTO
Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has begun to investigate the Monsanto bribery case.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4780
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4793

+ HOW MONSANTO'S GM COTTON WAS BROUGHT TO INDONESIA
It's interesting, in the context of the corruption scandal, to revisit the way in which Monsanto's GM seed was finally brought into Indonesia in March 2001.

According to the Jakarta Post, "A total of 40 tons of genetically modified Bollgard cotton seed arrived at the Makassar airport from South Africa amid strong protests from environmentalists... A number of activists, waving banners reading "Reject Genetically Modified Cotton in South Sulawesi", tried to intercept the convoy of trucks carrying the cotton seeds, which contain Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), and block them from leaving the airport. ...

"The authorities had apparently concealed the seed's arrival from the press. The provincial plantation office denied reports of the seed's arrival on Thursday morning, but at approximately 1pm on Thursday The Jakarta Post noticed a Russian Ilyusin transport plane ... unloading the seed in the airport's military area. The wide-bodied plane ... was tightly guarded, and reporters and photographers were barred from approaching the plane. Members of the Indonesian Air Force guarding the area said that reporters must back off for security reasons."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4782

+ DIRTY TRICKS AND BROKEN PROMISES - MONSANTO'S LEGACY IN INDONESIA
The farmers who grew Monsanto's seed did less well out of it than the officials who took the bribes. One Indonesian farmer who grew Monsanto's GM cotton said, "The company didn't give the farmer any choice, they never intended to improve our well being, they just put us in a debt circle, took away our independence and made us their slave forever."

In the first year of planting, there were reported failures of Bt cotton - the crop succumbed to drought and hundreds of hectares were attacked by pests. The drought had led to a pest population explosion on Bt cotton, but not on other cotton varieties. As a result, instead of reducing pesticide use, farmers had to use a different mix and larger amounts of pesticides to control the pests. Furthermore, the Bt cotton - engineered to be resistant to a pest that is not a major problem in Sulawesi - was susceptible to other more serious pests.
More at http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4783

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LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL - ISAAA's hype-fest
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+ ISAAA'S GM PROPAGANDA MISLEADING
The annual media-hype fest from industry body ISAAA is under way: "Eight million farmers in 17 countries grew engineered crops on 200 million acres last year, a 20 percent increase over the 167 million acres in 2003, according to a report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications."
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/science/10627915.htm

Here's an antidote from the Australia-based Network of Concerned Farmers:

"It is not that farmers benefit from GM technology, farmers are not being offered anything that can not be achieved with non-GM biotechnology," said Julie Newman of the NCF.

"Figures show the area of GM has increased in certain countries but this is because most of these farmers have relied on heavy subsidies from governments or from the GM companies themselves."

Mrs Newman explained that US and China rely mostly on government subsidies to compensate for increasing costs and decreasing commodity prices caused by over