+ BRINGING DEATH TO MILLIONS: THE G8
John Pilger explains why Tony Blair's "vision for Africa" is patronising, exploitative, and will cause even more deaths and suffering.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5409

+ AFRICAN CONSUMERS NEED FOOD SECURITY, NOT GMOs
In the run-up to the G8 meeting (6-8 July 2005) Consumers International (CI) is calling for food security in Africa, not GM food. Biotech corporations and some governments are trying to promote GM crops as miracle solutions to world hunger and malnutrition. However, there is no evidence that GM crops will solve world hunger and the claims made by biotech companies are detracting attention from real causes of hunger in Africa.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5433

+ AFRICA AND THE G8 - IMPORTANT SIGN-ON STATEMENT
A coalition of grassroots African NGOs have written a statement to the leaders of the G8 requesting that world leaders and development partners take actions that will genuinely help the people of Africa. YOU CAN SIGN-ON TO THIS STATEMENT at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5422

+ HUNGRY FOR AN ALTERNATIVE - TEWOLDE INTERVIEW
In an interview with the UK Independent newspaper, Tewolde Berhan, the director general of the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, says that organic farming is the only real solution to famine in Africa.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5416

+ AFRICA YES! FLO NO!
Nothing could better symbolise the "GM to save the world" confidence trick than the rise and rise of Dr Florence (Flo) Wambugu.

The science journal Nature is calling on the G8 leaders to listen to Wambugu, among a number of other African scientists, so that they can learn the strategies that should shape the future deveopment of Africa.

In case you are in any doubt as to Flo's strategy for the future of the continent, here's a little of what she would like to tell the G8:

"We cannot develop Africa without biotechnology"

"GM crops have a major role to play in Africa"

"biotechnology has huge potential"

Meanwhile, Bill Gates' Foundation has just announced it's to pour $16.9 million into a consortium headed by Africa Harvest, of which Wambugu is the CEO. The consortium includes Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont.

In the press release Wambugu's 'Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International' (Africa Harvest) is described as "Africa's leading non-profit agricultural and scientific organization".

If it is, in any sense, "leading" then that's almost entirely thanks to the likes of Croplife International which funds Africa Harvest's "communication" activities. CropLife International is a global federation 'representing the plant science industry' and led by the following companies: BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta. And no, it isn't based in Africa.

Wambugu was picked and trained by Monsanto and came to fame via Monsanto's GM virus-resistant sweet potato project. She built her reputation on this project, capturing massive positive publicity for GM in the process. But Wambugu's reputation is built on a lie. The project in question has been far from the success for Africa that Wambugu has repeatedly claimed.

In fact, 3 years of field trials showed the project, which cost over $6 million, was a complete failure, delivering lower yields than conventional crops and no virus resistance - the very opposite of what Wambugu had for years been claiming right around the globe. By contrast, conventional sweet potato breeding in Uganda was able to develop with a small budget a well-liked virus-resistant variety with yield gains of nearly 100%!

As Aaron deGrassi of the Institute of Development Studies has noted, the tragedy is that this kind of "excitement over certain genetic engineering procedures can divert financial, human, and intellectual resources from focusing on productive research that meets the needs of poor farmers."
[Genetically Modified Crops and Sustainable Poverty Alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa
http://www.twnafrica.org/docs/GMCropsAfrica.pdf ]

So the leaders of the industrialised nations are being told to listen to a voice from Africa that's been trained by Monsanto and which is being amplified by CropLife International.

The President of CropLife International, who is also the CEO of the world's biggest GM company, Syngenta, is on record as saying, "As we leverage the potential of our Crop Protection and Seeds capabilities in pursuit of market share gain, we are targeting steadily higher returns and value creation for our shareholders."

In other words, the real goal of GM seeds is to feed the hungry corporations and their shareholders.

No doubt that's that's a message - relayed "from Africa" - that Bush and Blair may just be able to hear.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5443

For Flo's PANTS ON FIRE award
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p2temp2.asp?aid=59&page=1&op=2

+ ANDHRA PRADESH BANS MONSANTO
Andhra Pradesh, considered the seed capital of India, has banned Monsanto from marketing and selling its Bt cotton varieties in the state and from conducting any trials. The reasons are the failure of the company's seeds in previous crops and its refusal to pay 450 million rupees compensation to farmers as decided by the agricultural commissioner of the state.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5326
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5328
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5332

The AP government has suspended the joint director of agriculture, Warangal for complicity in fudging the Bt cotton records.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5335

+ MONSANTO'S COTTON HAS DEFICIENCIES - NEW STUDY
New research into Monsanto's Bt cotton cultivation in Maharashtra, India by scientists at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics shows the costs are significantly higher than for non-Bt cotton. They also report numerous complaints of Bt cotton suffering from bollworm and other pest/disease attacks.

The researchers recommend that the government should investigate and that if they find Bt cotton is being damaged by bollworm attack, they should not only help the farmers get proper compensation but should also penalise "the companies for making false propaganda about their seed varieties".<