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WEEKLY WATCH number 154 (9/12/2005)

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

From usingenglish.com:
"Perfidious Albion: England is known to some as perfidious Albion, implying that it is not trustworthy in its dealings with foreigners."

Nowhere is this perfidy more evident than in the UK government's dealings with developing countries on GM issues. UK government officials claim to be "neutral" on GM while acting as PR people and enforcers for the US government and the GM industry in vulnerable countries in Africa (LOBBYWATCH).

Don't miss my colleague Jonathan Matthews' analysis of a shockingly shoddy opinion piece on GM crop adoption in Africa which has been published in a supposedly peer reviewed journal (AFRICA).

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

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CONTENTS
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LOBBYWATCH
THE AMERICAS
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
EUROPE
AFRICA
FOOD SAFETY
RESEARCH
CAMPAIGN NEWS

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ UK: GOVT POLICY PUSHES GMOs
Two papers out this week show the direction of UK government policy. One, the DFID Agriculture Policy Paper, outlines the UK government's Dept for International Development's agriculture policy - including commitments to help promote patented new agricultural technologies (i.e. GM seeds).

The other paper - "Science, technology and innovation in Africa - going for growth" - is published by the Smith Institute, a think tank. It's edited by the ardent GM-supporter Calestous Juma and includes a section contributed by Syngenta, as well as a preface written by Gordon Brown, Blair's would-be successor.

There's an interesting indicator in the Syngenta part of the document as to how Syngenta makes use of government access - "Syngenta has been able to work successfully with the authorities in Burkina Faso in supporting their development of regulatory expertise in new technologies".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6021

+ JOUHN VIDAL ON SYNGENTA'S ACCESS TO UK GOVT
The UK Guardian's John Vidal has the following on the new DfID report, pointing out Syngenta's extraordinary access to the government:

[Blair's] Development secretary Hilary Benn today [7 Dec] unveils Britain's long-awaited strategy for agriculture in poor countries, and GM crops, as expected, are to be officially blessed. What happy timing, then, that Michael Pragnell, chief executive of Syngenta, the world's third largest GM company, should be in London last week to give a talk about poverty in Africa at No 11 Downing Street. Listeners included Benn, Treasury and Department for International Development officials, and some of the Commons international select committee. Syngenta's extraordinary access to No 11 came courtesy of the Smith Institute ... which was launching a publication, sponsored by Syngenta and with an essay by Pragnell.

Both organisations were adamant that GM was not on the agenda, even though the government's friendship with the company is clearly blooming. The head of the Syngenta Foundation is former DfID man Andrew Bennett, and DfID's chief scientist is Gordon Conway - who while running the Rockefeller Foundation in the US launched the Nairobi-based group known as the African Agricultural Technology Foundation - with the help of DfID and all major GM companies.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6024

+ BENN DEFENDS AID FOR GM CROPS
The UK Guardian's John Vidal again:
Britain is to direct more foreign aid to develop genetically modified crops in Africa to speed up economic growth on the continent and use modern science and new technologies to tackle hunger. A paper from the Dept for International Development, launched yesterday by international development secretary Hilary Benn, includes commitments to promote patented GM seeds and scientific research by GM firms.

But Mr Benn said that it was up to individual developing countries to decide whether they wanted the controversial technology. "We should work on the basis of good science. I am genuinely neutral about GM," he said. The paper commits the government to channelling much of its new GM research funding through the Africa Agriculture Technology Foundation, based in Kenya, set up in 2003 by the Rockefeller Foundation with American and UK government money and the help of major GM companies.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6029

More on African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF):
AATF's website only lists as donors USAID, the Rockefeller Foundation and the UK Dept for International Development. But oryza.com lists the following biotech corporations as donors to AATF: Monsanto, Dupont, Dow Agro Sciences and Syngenta.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=163

More on DFID:
In 2002, The Independent on Sunday reported that DfID had been running a "GBP13.4m programme to create a new generation of GM animals, crops and drugs throughout the Third World."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=175

+ STUDY SAYS FARMERS BENEFITING FROM HIGHER YIELDS, LOWER COSTS
An article in the St Louis Post-Dispatch, Monsanto's home town rag, reports, "As the number of commercially available, genetically modified crops grows, so do the benefits reaped by American farmers, according to a study released Tuesday by the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy."

The article goes on to say, "Farmers quickly adopted the technology that allows them to cut down on the use of pesticides and herbicides, boost yield and reduce costs.

"In 2004, biotech crops were planted on 118 million U.S. acres, an increase of 11 percent over the previous year, the study found. Growers using these varieties, as opposed to conventional

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