from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

At the same time that reports are hyping trials claiming to show benefits of GM rice for small-scale farmers in China, Greenpeace has revealed that the trials are probably the source of the unapproved, and therefore illegal, GM rice that is being made available commercially in China and which is thought to be contaminating Chinese rice exports (ASIA).

Don't miss a scintillating review by Craig Sams of Lord Taverne's book, The March of Unreason (LOBBYWATCH).

And there's some fantastic news from India, thanks to the tremendous work of campaigners there in support of India's farmers. (VICTORY IN INDIA)

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

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CONTENTS
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LOBBYWATCH
AUSTRALASIA
AFRICA
VICTORY IN INDIA
ASIA
THE AMERICAS
CORPORATE CRIMES
BT10 SCANDAL

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ DESPERATE MONSANTO HIRES BOLLYWOOD STAR AS "BRAND AMBASSADOR"
Amidst all the controversy over the bitter harvest from its GM cotton in India and just prior to the banning of several of its GM cotton varieties (see VICTORY IN INDIA), Monsanto hired Bollywood style-king Nana Patekar to try and give a bit of glamour to its products.

Patekar says he is supporting Monsanto's Bt cotton because of the suicides involving pesticides among cotton farmers, and because "the government has given clearance to the [GM] technology and it must have considered all angles".

Which is curious when you consider (a) it was the government that gave clearance to the pesticides which are harming farmers and (b) that within days of Patekar making that claim the government's regulator's withdrew their "clearance" for serveral of Monsanto's products in parts of India.

And what is the story that Indian farmers have actually been telling us with regard to Monsanto's GM cotton? According to the extensive research initiated by the Deccan Development Society, "It is a story of terrible loss, deep pain, and cold anger, leading to explosive violence and even death... Hundreds of farmers... have repeatedly told us how [Monsanto's Bt cotton] cultivation had ruined them totally."

It would have been nice if, instead of taking the cash of the corporation that has brought us pesticides, dioxin, PCBs, agent orange, patents on life, corruption, child labour and GM seeds, Patekar had used his star status to endorse an initiative like that at the Andhra Pradesh village of Punukula, which has made farming for small-scale farmers pesticide-free while increasing their incomes.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5186

+ CRAIG SAMS ON TAVERNE'S MARCH OF UNREASON
Read a superb review of Lord Taverne's recently published book, 'The March of Unreason', at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5206

EXCERPTS:
If you are partial to blind faith, then buy 'The March of Unreason' by Dick Taverne. The chairman of the pro-GM lobby group, the Association of Sense about Science, exhibits the most touching belief in a God called Science.

Curiously, there is no reference in the book to the Scientific Method... If he had applied this to his own work, the book would never have been written. The most common mistake in applying the Scientific Method is the experimenter's own bias and Dick has that by the bucketful.

... Science is alive and well - what's changing is how it is harnessed, with the interests of sustainability and justice demanding an equal seat at the table with power and profitability. The most dangerous effect of Taverne's book is that it will put people off science when in fact it is blinkered authoritarianism that is his real passion.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5206

+ HONOUR FOR PROFESSOR BULL***T
CS Prakash is leading the celebrations on behalf of his AgBioWorld campaign over the GM crop promoters who've just been "elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (USA) which is among the highest scientific honors... AgBioWorld congratulates all the scientists and scholars for this tremendous honor."

Among the newly elected foreign associates highlighted by Prakash are Calestous Juma from Harvard, and David Baulcombe, head of the Sainsbury Laboratory, and professor at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. An article from GM Watch editor, Jonathan Matthews, gives some insight into the dubious character of Prof Baulcombe's contribution to the GM debate.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5202

It's interesting to contrast the "tremendous honor" and congratulations now heaped on Prof Baulcombe, who has made totally misleading public statements and false claims in support of GM crops, with the vilification and sacking of scientists like Dr Arpad Pusztai and Dr Ignacio Chapela for seeking through their research and public statements to expose the truth about GM crops.

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ I WON'T EAT GM FOOD - MINISTER
Western Australian (WA) Agriculture Minister, Kim Chance, has publicly stated he would not eat GM foods. Chance said he did not feel comfortable eating GM foods because not enough is known about the health effects. However, bizarrely, the Minister also expressed support for the trial of GM salt-tolerant wheat at Corrigan in Western Australia.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5199

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AFRICA
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+ ISAAA EXAGGERATES GM PLANTINGS - AGAIN!
Research conducted by the African Centre for Biosafety says South Africa's commercial growing of GM maize, soya and cotton has been grossly exaggerated by the biotechnology industry for propaganda purposes.

South Africa has been presented as one of the big cultivators of GM crops but, far from being a big producer, South Africa is actually an importer and not an exporter of these crops because its production is so limited. Meanwhile Monsanto is doing its best to take over South Africa's seed supply in terms of both GMOs and hybrids.

Behind the miselading hype is the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), an industry-backed lobby group that consistently tries to inflate the figures of GM plantings around the world to support the argument that GM crops are here to stay.

Despite South Africa's permissive GMO laws, Monsanto South Africa has estimated production of its GM maize (MON 810 and NK603) in South Africa to constitute no more than a total of 6-7% of the area under maize, less than the ISAAA's estimate of 15-20% during 2004.

More ISAAA-generated porkies:
"...somewhere in the world this week or next a farmer will plant the 1 billionth acre of genetically enhanced crops. This is a huge milestone for the world," says Dean Kleckner of Truth About Trade
http://www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=3745

However, according to Val Giddings of the Biotehnology Industry Organisation (BIO), in Washington DC, ''We're approaching the 500 billionth acre of crops improved by biotechnology being grown around the world"!
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=28383

One billion - five hundred billion?? That's some difference! But thanks to ISAAA's inflated figures, which are used world wide as an index of