from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

This week we have reports of yet more biotech companies biting the dust (THE AMERICAS), a sign of the general industry slowdown pointed out in an article for Inter Press News Agency (BIOTECH SLOWDOWN). This article is one of several recent press reports that have taken the trouble to look behind the industry hype at the unedifying facts of GM farming.

Another example of this heartening trend is that Scripps Howard news service has fired GM lobbyist Michael Fumento for writing pro-Monsanto articles without disclosing the fact that the company was funding him (LOBBYWATCH)!

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

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CONTENTS
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BIOTECH SLOWDOWN
THE AMERICAS
ASIA
EUROPE
AFRICA
FOOD SAFETY
LOBBYWATCH

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BIOTECH SLOWDOWN
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+ BIOTECH REVOLUTION MAY BE LOSING STEAM
An excellent article with this title for Inter Press Service News Agency says, "Long trumpeted as the solution to world hunger, some biotech supporters have scaled back their claims and now say the technology will make a substantial contribution to ending hunger. But just when or if that contribution will ever arrive is not clear."

The article criticizes industry body ISAAA's inflated figures for GM plantings:

"In the ISAAA's annual global status report issued on Jan. 12, it claimed that 90 million hectares of GE crops were planted in 21 countries in 2005. Although labeled an 'anti-poverty group' by some media, the ISAAA is in fact a biotech industry-supported lobby organisation.

"'No one has any idea where they are getting their numbers from,' said David MacDonald of the Polaris Institute, a Canadian NGO. Where there is solid independent government data, such as in the United States, the ISAAA numbers are inflated by five to 10 percent, he charged.

"MacDonald told IPS that the group's reports do not cite any sources or references, nor would most governments have this kind of information. 'We and other NGOs have been trying to get independent confirmation of this data for years, without success,' he said."

The article also casts a cool eye on the supposed benefits of biotech:

"Despite billions of dollars invested in research by governments and industry over more than 20 years, only three crops -- cotton, maize and soy -- account for 95 percent of GE acreage. These three crops are either herbicide-resistant or contain Bt insecticide.

"All that does is make life simpler for large farm operations to spray any amount of a particular herbicide without harming the crop, says MacDonald. Yields are not directly affected, nor are there additional nutritional benefits, improvements to the soil or environmental benefits."
More: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6147

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THE AMERICAS
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+ CANOLA IN MAINE AND VERMONT GM-CONTAMINATED
Maine farmers cannot be sure that the non-GM canola seeds they purchase to grow on their farms do not contain GM traits, University of Maine agriculture research professor John Jemison said.

Tests conducted last fall on research crops in northern Maine and Vermont indicated that the conventional crops and seeds contained genetically engineered DNA - DNA altered to allow crops not to be affected by herbicide applications - even though separated from GE plots.

Jemison's findings mirror those released in a study in 2004 by the Union of Concerned Scientists that found GM DNA is contaminating traditional seeds in three major US crops - corn, soybeans and canola.

Speaking at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show in Augusta, Jemison said that after harvest, tests were conducted on 4,500 conventionally grown canola plants. "We found contamination, or genetic resistance to herbicides, in five out of the six [genetic] lines," Jemison said, a condition that could not have been caused by current-season drift from GM crops.

This means that conventional canola seeds already are contaminated with GM-resistance traits, he said, and farmers cannot be 100 percent sure they are getting purely organic seeds. Maine's organic industry represents more than $10 million annually and is the state's fastest-growing agriculture segment.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6146

+ ANOTHER BIOTECH FIRM BITES THE DUST
Biotech firm Phytodyne Inc., based in Ames, Iowa, has folded. The company had wanted to market what it claimed was a faster, more precise way to genetically engineer crops.

State and federal government and private investors poured millions of dollars into the biotech startup. State officials touted Phytodyne as a poster child for the burgeoning biotech economy. Early in 2004, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack announced a three-year, $5 million financial assistance package for Phytodyne, saying the company had the potential to revolutionize agriculture.

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