from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

This week brings news of the UK's first GM superweed. In the wake of the deluge of publicity surrounding this event, it's emerged that Bayer has withdrawn all its applications to grow GM oilseed rape (canola) in the EU.

We also have some devastating Indian government research demonstrating Bt cotton's poor pest resistance (ASIA). It seems the findings were known back in 2003 but were kept under wraps, allowing more releases of a crop that continues to harm the livelihoods of poor farmers.

We've always said that inheritance is about more than just genes, and that's being borne out in research that shows toxic insult can be passed down through generations without any alteration of genes (TOXICS AND GENETICS).

And there's lots more interesting stuff, from the reported ban on GMOs coming into Ghana to the extraordinary contamination problems besetting Austalasia, so make sure you check out all the different sections below.

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

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CONTENTS
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UK's FIRST SUPERWEED
ACTION AGAINST GMOs: 30-31 July
THE OTHER TERRORISTS
AFRICA
AUSTRALASIA
THE AMERICAS
ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST
CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE
TOXICS AND GENETICS
GM UNCERTAINTIES
WTO

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UK's FIRST SUPERWEED
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+ GOVT STUDY FINDS UK's FIRST SUPERWEED
New government research, revealed 25 July, reports on the discovery of the first GM superweed in the UK - the result of GM oilseed rape cross-breeding with a common weed, charlock, during the UK's GM farm scale trials.

The revelation raises yet more concerns about the impact of growing GM oilseed rape in the UK. It also comes less than a month after the UK tried to persuade other European countries to lift their own bans on growing GM oilseed rape. The UK government claimed to be acting on scientific grounds but it now seems it was already aware of this study at the time of the votes. The UK's Environment Minister was the only Minister to vote against all of Europe's GM bans.

What has given this news particular impact is that scientists had dismissed this problem as virtually impossible. In a review of the evidence by the European Environment Agency in 2000, it was concluded that "there appears to be general agreement that natural gene flow is not likely to occur between B. napus and S. arvensis." (Brassica napus is oilseed rape, Sinapis arvensis is charlock)

Friends of the Earth's Emily Diamand said: "The Government's trials have already shown that growing GM crops can harm wildlife. Now we're seeing the real possibility of GM superweeds being created, with serious consequences for farmers and the environment. What is disturbing is the way the Government appears to have ignored its own evidence in trying to force GM crops onto countries that have a real cause for concern. The Government must stop acting as cheerleader for GM crops, and start paying attention to its own research, and above all, to the British public."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5531
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5529

+ WEED DISCOVERY BRINGS CALLS FOR GM BAN
Britain cannot afford to take the risk of spreading GM genes to wild plants and should ban GM crops that have wild relatives in the countryside, the former UK environment minister Michael Meacher said.

Mr Meacher said French research which showed that one herbicide resistant weed introduced into a crop had multiplied to 103,000 plants in four years, was "frightening". "The safe option is to say simply that the risk of these GM crops is too great and we will not grow them," he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5537

+ BAYER WITHDRAWS GM OILSEED RAPE IN EU
Bayer has withdrawn its applications to grow GM oilseed rape in the EU. The move comes as public calls for GM-free zones spreads across Europe and follows a series of research findings which have uncovered environmental damage resulting from the GM crop being grown.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5538

+ SCIENTIST'S CLAIM IS CONTRADICTED BY HIS OWN RESEARCH!
Dr Les Firbank, co-ordinator of the GM farm-scale evaluations (FSEs) claims "there are no environmental consequences" from GM crops interbreeding with wild relatives like charlock and that it is simply a problem for farmers in terms of weed management. But bizarrely, Fairbanks claim is directly contradicted by his own research! The clear conclusion from the FSEs which he oversaw is that different forms of weed management have a critically different impact on wildlife.

In other words, weed management can have major environmental consequences. The herbicide regime used with GM oilseed rape, for instance, was shown to have a significantly more damaging effect on wildlife than that used with the non-GM crop, which was why Bayer was not allowed to proceed with GM rape commercialisation.

This makes it ludicrous to argue that a problem such as herbicide resistant weeds that forces farmers to intensify their herbicide regimes by the addition of yet more toxic herbicides is something that has "no environmental consequences"!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5550

+ MORE SUPERWEED LIES AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM
"The likelihood of transfer of the introduced genes from the GM canola to the less closely related brassicaceous weed species Raphanus raphanistrum, Hirschfeldia incana and Sinapis arvensis [charlock] is very low". Elsewhere the risk is described as "negligible".
- The Australian government's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, in assessing the application for commercial release of Bayer's GM Liberty Link canola (oilseed rape)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5539

"I have no worries about GM technology producing superweeds."
- Sir Robert May, chief government scientist, April 1999

"The concept of a superweed is very interesting. We have all seen The Day of the Triffids and I guess that can cause some alarm but frankly I do not believe it is a problem."
- Dr David Evans, Zeneca research director, Jun