from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

We have two important campaign victories to celebrate this week. First, Dr Tewolde Egziabher, Africa's chief biosafety negotiator, finally - and belatedly! - got a visa after grassroots protests from around the world (MONTREAL MADNESS); and second, Dr Ignacio Chapela got tenure, despite being denied it by his university after he criticized its deal with a biotech firm and published research revealing GM contamination of native Mexican maize (CHAPELA VINDICATED). Both Tewolde and Ignacio have thanked all those who took action in support.

A new row has erupted about the cover-up allegedly perpetrated by Monsanto in collusion with government bodies over a feeding study which showed ill effects of GM maize on rats (FOOD SAFETY). Europe's food safety authority approved the maize in spite of knowing about the problems, and now their focus seems to be on making sure that the public never catch sight of the damaging data.

Don't miss some important new research from Hungary on the damaging effects of GM insect-resistant maize on butterflies and other species (EUROPE). It looks as if there may not be any more studies of this sort, however, as Monsanto has refused to supply any of its seeds for research!

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

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CONTENTS
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LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL
CHAPELA VINDICATED
SCIENTISTS UNDER ATTACK
MONTREAL MADNESS
FOOD SAFETY
ASIA
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE

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LOBBYWATCH SPECIAL
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+ REVEALED: THE PRIVATE INTERESTS BEHIND THE "PUBLIC" RESEARCH INITIATIVE
In 1997, in the midst of the Biosafety Protocol negotiations, the Global Industry Coalition flew in a panel of ''public researchers'' to lend support to the industry's case. The biotech industry's attempt to influence the negotiations, although unsuccessful at the time, seems to have provided the model for the new Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI), whose supporters will be active in Montreal in the coming days, seeking to make sure their voice is heard at the Cartagena Protocol biosafety meeting and beyond by promoting GM research and opposing strict regulation.

Our new GM Watch profile makes clear the dubious backgrounds and behaviour of those driving forward this new initiative, and exposes the truth about their claims to being independent of the biotech industry.

A taster:
Prior to the formal launch of the foundation, a number of ''awareness-raising activities'' at events involving public sector scientists were undertaken with the financial support of the private sector. The private sector is also contributing to the running costs of the foundation. The foundation is even administered via a private sector company - Cambridge Biomedical Consultants Ltd.

Conflicting interests also enmesh the prime movers behind the initiative, Willy de Greef and Piet van der Meer, who are on the Foundation's four-member Board as well as being the Vice-Chairs of its Steering Committee. De Greef is currently the Executive Director of his own private consultancy - International Biotech Regulatory Services - but until the end of 2002 he was the Global Head of Regulatory Affairs - Biotechnology for Syngenta, while Van der Meer is married to a notorious lobbyist for the Global Industry Coalition!
Full profile: http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=316

+ VAN DER MEER IN MONTREAL
Disturbingly, at the current talks on the Biosafety Protocol in Montreal, Van der Meer got to make an 'expert' presentation at the liability and redress meeting on Wednesday. Helping Van der Meer make his presentation to the delegates was another supposedly impartial expert, Muffy Koch, who has been part of the industry-backed lobby group Africabio - a pro-GM lobby group which has Monsanto among its sponsors. An article in the science journal Nature said of Africabio, "the group's methods would be considered in some countries to be blatant media manipulation."
More on Van der Meer and Koch:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=271
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=316

+ "PUBLIC RESEARCHERS" SAY KEEP THE PUBLIC OUT!
A meeting of the parties to an important UN Treaty on environmental rights - the Aarhus Convention - is being held 25-27 May. The Aarhus Convention covers Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. It has been ratified by 34 countries.

The current meeting will consider specific proposals to amend the Convention to extend the rights of the public to participate in decision-making on GMOs. However, the biotech industry is opposed to any amendment to the Convention that would give the public any greater rights. And so too is the new pro-industry grouping - The Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) (see above item).

If, however, the negotiating Parties do decide to amend the Aarhus Convention in relation to GMOs, PRRI wants the negotiating parties to exclude research and development activities.

You get the picture - these "public researchers", who are saying they need a far bigger voice in decision-making on GMOs want the public firmly excluded from such decisions. In other words, they want a bigger say for themselves over these issues, and no say at all for the public who fund their research and pay their salaries!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5274

See EUROPE for more on the Aarhus Convention.

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CHAPELA VINDICATED!
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+ CHAPELA GETS TENURE AND RETROACTIVE PAY!
UC Berkeley new Chancellor, Robert Birgeneau, has granted tenure and retroactive pay to Prof Ignacio Chapela. The action comes a month after Chapela filed suit against the University of California. Said Chapela, "I'm glad that this small chapter in my story is over. This takes the tenure issue out of centre stage and allows us to concentrate on the questions of the corruption of the university and how decisions are made."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5272

An article in the journal Nature noted, "In the United States and beyond, the Chapela tenure fight has symbolized the conflict between academics' freedom to challenge policies, and the relationship between public universities and industry. The case has taken on special significance in recent years as professors at other US universities have come under attack for their views, with leading politicians calling for reduced tenure protections."

A University spokesman claimed, "This shows the process works," but Chapela responded, "To me, it shows the system doesn't work, unless you fight."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5282

Chapela thanked his supporters in a statement, which said, "This decision is a clear message of vindication not only of myself, but also of the innumerable individual and collective efforts put into this process by all of you. You have generously added your voices to the many questions raised around my tenure review and demanded a process free of conflict of interest or undue influence, and for this I am thankful. I foresee no official recognition of your presence, but you should know that it was precisely that which in the end achieved this result."
Rest of Chapela's statement: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5261

+ GMWATCH COMMENT ON CHAPELA'S TENURE

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