from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

At the end of last week Europe banned US maize imports until they can be proven to be free from the illegal GM maize Bt10 (SYNGENTA MAIZE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL).

And in the wake of the Indonesian bribery scandal, Monsanto is in trouble with the law yet again (THE AMERICAS), this time facing a subpoena from the Illinois attorney general regarding its licensing and pricing practices.

A remarkable and inspiring wave of reports, actions and resitance has marked the GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION against genetic engineering in India (see ASIA).

Notable amongst these were the 500 women farmers who held a demonstration outside the famous International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics, demanding farmers' seeds back from the ICRISAT Gene Banks. They also demanded that ICRISAT must close down if it does not put farmer-led research on their agenda.

The women said the trend of ICRISAT to turn its facilities over to private business and to invite transnational corporations onto its Board, has made it lose their trust.

The women also demanded that ICRISAT hand back the collection of germplasms in its gene bank to farmers: "Please hand us back our germplasm. Close down your gene banks. They have already turned into Gene Morgues. Now they will be turned by you into seeds for predatory corporate profits. THIS IS OUR HERITAGE, GIVE IT BACK TO US." (ASIA)

The other big news this week is that Dr Ignacio Chapela, the UC Berkeley professor who was denied tenure after criticising his university's sweetheart deal with a GM firm, is taking his case to court, as he announced at a press conference on Monday.
(CHAPELA GOES TO COURT)

We'll bring you regular updates on the Chapela case. We also encourage everyone to pay the closest attention to what this remarkably courageous scientist is saying as its relevance goes way beyond just UC Berkeley.

Here's a sample of what Dr Chapela had to say on Monday: "I believe there are illegal channels of influence driven by corporate, academic and political forces that are not disclosed to faculty. The university is governed by a shadow process, which I really look forward to shedding some light on." The net result of the process, Dr Chapela said, is to harness the university, its faculty, and its students to benefit profit-making corporations rather than the common good.

The scandal Dr Chapela is highlighting is the very same corporate take-over that the poor women farmers in India are protesting.

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

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CONTENTS
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CHAPELA GOES TO COURT
GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
SYNGENTA MAIZE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
LOBBYWATCH UK
ASIA
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
BIOWEAPONS

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CHAPELA GOES TO COURT
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Below are press reports arising form Dr Ignacio Chapela's press conference on Monday plus a written statement Ignacio has released which we encourage everyone to read in full.

+ RACISM, FRAUD AND RETALIATION
Dr Ignacio Chapela, a microbial biologist at UC Berkeley, has sued the University of California, saying he was denied tenure because he criticized a multimillion-dollar research deal with a biotech company.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Alameda County Superior Court, also claims Ignacio Chapela was discriminated against because he is of Mexican origin and that he has been a victim of a secret, unwritten rule of UC's tenure process - that professors shouldn't publicly criticize those giving lots of money to the university.

Chapela said the lawsuit takes his fight to a new, public level to illustrate the encroachment of private interests into university research and a resultant atmosphere that squelches scientific inquiry that leads to unpopular conclusions.

"The university has lost the capacity to do science", Chapela said. "This is not a lawsuit against the university. It is a lawsuit for the university and against the people who have bastardized and taken away what the university used to do.

.."It was time to open my case up to the purview of the state of California, the nation and the world. It is with happiness that I come to the court to do what the university has not been able to do."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5134
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5129
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5136

+ DR CHAPELA'S STATEMENT
EXCERPTS: "On 20 November, 2003, a decision was reached by the Chancellor of UC Berkeley to deny tenure in my case, after a process which Berkeley's Academic Senate considers to be at least 400% longer than any other case on the available record... The decision was reached in opposition to an overwhelming record of legitimate evaluation as follows:

* 17 out of 18 world-wide experts recommended that I should be tenured at Berkeley based on an analysis of my record and performance.
* 32 out of 33 (three abstentions) voting members of my department recommended that I should be tenured at Berkeley, based on their observation of my record and my performance.
* Two secret expert committees independently and unanimously recommended that I should be tenured at Berkeley.
* There was no other legitimate reason to deny tenure in evidence.

The decision to deny tenure was therefore reached through illegitimate means, and I claim that it was reached through the illegitimate influence of individuals who stand to lose financially – as well as politically and academically - from the results of my public scientific and policy work."

"[I have come to] conclude that the mediaeval structures of academic governance are now fully overrun by the overwhelming power of commercial forces that drive our historical moment.

What was created as an area of freedom from the normal rules of the land in order to protect the freedom of inquiry and education represented by this campus and by the very concept of a university, has been abused and prostituted to become a safe-haven for the free-wheeling promotion of personal and corporate gain beyond the gaze of the republic."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5140

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GM RICE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
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* Greenpeace is calling for an urgent, international product recall after uncovering the illegal release of a variety of GM rice in China. The GM rice has not been approved for human consumption and may have contaminated Chinese rice exports.*

+ ILLEGAL GM RICE FROM CHINA MAY HAVE CONTAMINATED WIDE AREA
Excerpt from New York Times report from Uhan, China:
Some Chinese growers and foreign specialists say they suspect much of this region's rice has been genetically modified. Many sellers here said the supplies came from a local university that specializes in biotech rice research. They said bags of rice could be bought there. "All the anti-bug seeds have been sold out," said a woman operating the store at the Huazhong Agriculture University in Wuhan.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5118

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SYNGENTA MAIZE CONTAMINATION SCANDAL
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+ JAPAN WARY OF BUYING US CORN
Japanese importers have nearly stopped making new purchases of US corn due to fears shipments m