from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

Tony Hall, the U.S. ambassador to the FAO, has renewed his call for African leaders who refuse the U.S.'s GM-contaminated food aid to be tried for "crimes against humanity". It appears to be part of a viral marketing strategy aimed at painting the U.S. and biotech as the saviours of Africa and those that raise concerns as genocidal villains. And lobbyists like CS Prakash and Willie DeGreef have been joining in the chorus. (LOBBYWATCH)

The most important piece of news this week is the TERMINATOR ACTION ALERT - our first item below. leaked documents reveal how the Canadian government has been secretly planning to unleash the hated Terminator sterile-seed technology upon the world. They must be stopped and time is running short. Please act IMMEDIATELY to prevent this catastrophe - a series of simple actions are outlined.

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

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CONTENTS
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TERMINATOR ACTION ALERT
TOP TEN GM READS
LOBBYWATCH
EUROPE
THE AMERICAS
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
FOOD SAFETY
MORE TERMINATOR ACTION DETAILS

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TERMINATOR ACTION ALERT!!!
- PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS
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+ EMAIL THE CANADIAN GOVT TODAY PROTESTING PLAN TO UNLEASH TERMINATOR
Canada with the support of New Zealand and Australia is working to break the seal on the current moratorium on Terminator, a leaked Canadian document seen by The Guardian newspaper amongst others reveals:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4876

+ GUARDIAN'S JOHN VIDAL ON CANADIAN TERMINATOR MOVE
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4885

+ ACTION STATIONS!
PLEASE e-mail, fax or phone the HEAD OF CANADA'S DELEGATION in Bangkok, the Canadian Prime Minister, the Minister of Agriculture and the President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency TODAY.

*Head of the Canadian Delegation in Bangkok, Robert McLean, Environment Canada, [email protected] Tel +1 (819) 9971303*

For easy e-mail action on Canadian government visit the following web address to TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.thecampaign.org/alert_terminator.php

OTHER CONTACT DETAILS FOR CANADIANS & EXAMPLE LETTER AT END OF WEEKLY WATCH

*For more information on Terminator Technology:
www.etcgroup.org/documents/TermCom03.pdf

+ EMAIL NEW ZEALAND GOVT TODAY
New Zealand and Australia are the only two nations backing Canada's attempt to overturn the ban on Terminator technologies at the UN Conference in Bangkok. GE Free NZ and the NZ Green Party have called on the NZ Government to oppose Terminator. The NZ Government is refusing, stating that "opinion is divided", i.e. they, with Canada and Australia are divided from the rest of the world!

To send your protest to New Zealand Ministers email:
-Environment Minister: [email protected]
-Trade Negotiations Minister: [email protected]
-Research, Science & Tech Minister: [email protected]
-Economic Development Minister: jim.anderton at parliament.govt.nz
-Foreign Affairs Minister: phil.goff at parliament.govt.nz
Urge them to change New Zealand's stance on Terminator technology at Friday's final meeting.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4890

+ UK: MORLEY URGED TO OPPOSE TERMINATOR GENES
The Five Year Freeze, a campaign supported by around 200 National organisations and companies, representing over 4 million people, plus 500 local councils, has urged UK environment minister Elliott Morley to oppose the Canadian government's attempt to railroad in Terminator.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4879

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TOP TEN GM READS
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The current edition of The Ecologist (Vol. 35, No.1, Feb 2005) lists GM Watch's "top reads" on GM.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4888

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ NEW U.S. CALL FOR AFRICAN LEADERS TO BE TRIED FOR "CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY"
Tony Hall, the US ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, has repeated his call for African leaders who refuse the US's GM-contaminated food aid to be tried for "crimes against humanity".

When Hall originally called in 2002 for these leaders to be tried, organisations from over 30 different countries around the world responded with a powerful open letter calling for an apology for a "reckless comment" which "reeks of hypocrisy and bad political judgment and has no legal basis in international law". Hall's comment, the letter said, "serves only to further damage the reputation of the US government already suffering for its unilateral, aggressive and abusive foreign policy."

But, however ludicrous and inflammatory Hall's comments may have been, it has played its part in a viral marketing strategy aimed at painting the US and biotech as the saviours of Africa and those that raise concerns as villains. This can be seen from an article for FrontPageMagazine.com in which the refusal of GM food aid in Africa is listed by an American commentator, in a piece marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, as an example of a modern crime against humanity.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4889

+ BIOTECH REJECTION AN "OUTRAGE" AND "TRAGEDY" IN DEVELOPING WORLD
Willie DeGreef, described as "a biotechnology consultant from Belgium", has told a US Grains Council meeting in California that it is an outrage and tragedy when third world policy makers reject "genetically enhanced foods" and "state that they'd rather have their children starve than to eat".

DeGreef is quoted as saying, "How did we get that far; who was responsible for whispering (those) messages to those policy makers," who rejected GM food aid. "That is something that I would rather sooner or later want to find out, because you're talking about literally crimes against humanity."

This is fantastically misleading. In the case of Zambia, the country that is most often quoted in relation to the rejection of GM food aid, president Levy Mwanawasa only reaffirmed his rejection of US GM maize on the advice of his own experts.

This was a transparent process in which pro-GM scientists had ample opportunity to more than whisper their messages. A delegation of Zambian scientists and economists, headed by Dr Wilson Mwenya of the National Science and Technology Council, completed a fact-finding tour of laboratories and regulatory offices in South Africa, Europe and the US, before reporting back to the president. The report concluded that studies on the safety of GM foods are inconclusive, and the US maize should be rejected as a precautionary measure. And there is absolutely no evidence that anybody died as a consequence of the president's decision.

Willie DeGreef somehow fails to mention that he used to punt GM foods for Syngenta.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4883

+ ROCKEFELLER PRESIDENT IS NEW MAN AT DFID
A campaign to push more public money into GMOs has received a major boost with the appointment of a leading GM proponent to help oversee the international aid programmes of Britain's Department for International Development (DFID).

The campaign has been underway for some time on