from Claire Robinson, editor
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What a month!

CONTENTS:
+ GM CROPS TAKE ANOTHER KNOCK
+ BIOTECH FIRM REJECTS GM CROP
+ JOINT US-UK COVER-UP ALLEGED OVER ROGUE MAIZE
+ SYNGENTA HOLDING BACK INFO TO STYMIE ACTION
+ MAJORITY SUPPORT AUSTRIA OVER MONSANTO'S GM MAIZE
+ BLACKWASHING MONSANTO
+ CORE VIDEO AND CONFERENCE
+ PRO-CLONING LOBBYIST HELPS REGULATE CLONING!
+ NEW SEARCHABLE DATABASE ON REVOLVING DOOR AND GM
+ UK FIRMS DROP GM, SEEK TO BOOST REGULAR SEED
+ EU TO PUSH GMOS THROUGH DESPITE PUBLIC OPPOSITION
+ FOOD WATCHDOG PRO-GM AND 'BIASED AGAINST ORGANIC'
+ CANADA: GOVT USES TAX DOLLARS TO SHAFT FARMERS
+ GM FOODS "NOT ON THE RADAR" OF AMERICANS
+ US: NINE STATES LIMIT LOCAL GM BANS
+ WORLD'S LARGEST RICE MILLER OPPOSES GM RICE
+ US: NATIVE AMERICANS BAN GM RICE
+ BRAZIL'S LULA SIGNS UP TO MONSANTO LAW
+ CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN BRAZIL BIOSAFETY BODY
+ BRAZIL: GM SOY YIELDS DROP
+ MONSANTO "HOODLUM-LIKE" SAYS ARGENTINE GOVT
+ US: STINK BUGS EATING GM FARMERS' "LUNCH"
+ NEW REVELATIONS ABOUT BT COTTON IN INDIA
+ INDIA'S GM EXPANSION SUGGESTS CORRUPTION
+ DATA TAMPERING BY GOVERNMENT-MONSANTO NEXUS
+ GM SEEDS BURNT BY MORE THAN 3000 TRIBAL WOMEN
+ 'OUTCAST' WOMEN EXPOSE BT COTTON FAILURE
+ PATENT OFFICE REVOKES NEEM PATENT
+ ZAMBIA REAFFIRMS GM BAN, LOOKS TO ALTERNATIVES
+ CAN COUNTRIES CHOOSE TO ACCEPT OR REJECT GM?
+ NEW REPORT SAYS GM CAUSES HUNGER IN ARGENTINA
+ IRANIAN SCIENTISTS PRODUCE GM RICE
+ IRAQI GOVT URGED TO REVOKE "WICKED" PATENT LAW
+ EU "COEXISTENCE" RECOMMENDATION LEGALLY FLAWED
+ EC "CONSPIRACY" TO SUPPRESS GM HAZARDS
+ NEW RESEARCH SHOWS PROBLEMS WITH HRGM CROPS
+ NEW GOLDEN RICE PR BLITZ
+ MONSANTO PURSUES FARMERS
+ VENEMAN TO TAKE OVER UNICEF!
+ NZ GOVT POURS TAXPAYER MILLIONS INTO GM
+ AVERY "BLOOD OF STARVATION VICTIMS" CLAIMS
+ NEW ZEALAND: DEFEAT OF GM MORATORIUM BILL
+ ROUNDUP DOESN'T ONLY POISON WEEDS
+ GM LOBBY TRIES TO DISTRACT FROM DISMAL GM CROP TRIAL RESULTS AND CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
+ LORD OF UNREASON - TAVERNE'S NEW BOOK
+ NEW STUDY OVERTURNS CLAIMED WILDLIFE BENEFITS OF GM CROPS


+ GM CROPS TAKE ANOTHER KNOCK
The latest results of the UK GM crop trials show commercial use of some GM crops could alter the balance of weed species that thrive on British farmland, reports Nature. Such a shift could harm bees and butterflies. Butterfly numbers were cut by up to two-thirds and bee populations by half in fields of transgenic winter oilseed rape (canola), according to the final results of a three-year study commissioned by the UK government.

The results will be felt as a further blow to advocates of transgenic crops. In 2003, two of the three other transgenic varieties covered by the study, spring oilseed rape and beet, were shown to harm biodiversity by reducing overall levels of weeds.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5015

+ BIOTECH FIRM REJECTS GM CROP
Biotech giant Bayer no longer wants to grow the GM winter oil seed rape trialled in the GM farm scale evaluations in Europe.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5006

+ JOINT US-UK COVER-UP ALLEGED OVER ROGUE MAIZE
The whereabouts of 170,000 tonnes of contaminated GM maize and its possible import into the UK has caused an international investigation and claims of a cover-up on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) first put out a statement saying the contamination was "on a small scale" but later retracted it, instead saying the maize was unlikely to have got into food but might have been fed to cattle.

The maize is not licensed to be grown in Europe and contains a GM antibiotic-resistant marker [resistant to ampicillin, a commonly used antibiotic] of a type scientists have advised the EU to phase out. It is theoretically possible for bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics as a result of contact with the marker genes.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5053

Critics have expressed surprise that neither Syngenta nor the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the presence of the marker when they admitted that the release of Bt10 had taken place. "It is quite scandalous," says Greg Jaffe, head of the biotechnology project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5043
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5047
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5054
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5063

+ SYNGENTA HOLDING BACK INFORMATION TO STYMIE ACTION
An official from the Japanese Health Ministry told Reuters that Japanese ports would start testing samples of corn cargoes from the United States after the ministry obtained the necessary data from Syngenta to detect Bt10. But Syngenta seem to be sitting on their hands, delaying the release of full information at every turn.

"At the moment we cannot distinguish BT10 from BT11 because we do not have the detection methods", the EU’s Health and Consumer protection Spokesman Philip Tod has admitted . "We have a method to detect Bt11, but not for Bt10 because it is not an authorised product", he explained.

Campaigners are calling to a halt to all shipements and products containing Bt11 if Syngenta fail to provide the necessary information to enable detection of Bt10.

Interestingly, the GM detection firm Genetic ID say detection of Bt10 is possible immediately: "Contrary to statements by the EU Commission, as reported in some media reports over the past few days, the detection of Bt10 maize as well as the distinction from Bt11 is possible immediately."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/05/business/web.0505corn.html
http://www.euobserver.com/?sid=9&aid=18785

+ MAJORITY SUPPORT AS AUSTRIA RAISES QUESTIONS OVER GM MAIZE MON810
Austria has raised strong concerns about the commercial cultivation of GM maize MON810, approved by the European Commission for planting in Europe. A majority of countries (13: Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Cyprus, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia) supported the Austrian criticism. In a note to the Council of the EU, Austria stated that in light of scientific uncertainties about possible effects of the GM maize as well as the absence of a plan to monitor these effects, MON810 should not be planted yet.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4955

+ BLACKWASHING MONSANTO
A new article from GM Watch founder, Jonathan Matthews, exposes how Bush and Monsanto are manufacturing black support for GMOs via groups like CORE (see below).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4987

+ CORE VIDEO AND CONFERENCE
Black civil rights-turned corporate rights group CORE (corporate partner: Monsanto) is promoting its pro-GM video and conference, which feature "personal testimonials from African farmers whose lives have been improved by genetically modified (GM) crops".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4970

+ PRO-CLONING LOBBYIST HELPS REGULATE CLONING!
Juliet Tizzard, a member of the LM network - which eulogises genetic engineering and human cloning - has become Policy Manager of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the UK government body which licenses and monitors human embryo research conducted in the UK.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4960

+ NEW SEARCHABLE DATABASE ON REVOLVING DOOR AND BIOTECH
The Edmonds Institute has announced its "New Revolving Door", a searchable database about people who have worked in/for both government and industry, with emphasis on those connected to the biotechnology industry.
http://www.edmonds-