from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

This week saw a lawyers' bonanza as rows over GM crops escalate. Monsanto has been suing European importers of Argentine GM soy for royalties it has been unable to collect in Argentina on its Roundup Ready technology. The WTO has delayed its ruling on the EU's GM embargo yet again (EUROPE). And India's monopolies commission has issued notices to Monsanto to cease charging exorbitant royalties on its Bt trait (ASIA).

Meanwhile, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, acting as pawns of the US, have been instrumental in helping to undermine the international ban on Terminator technology (TERMINATOR). And Missouri is spending huge amounts of public money on avoiding "unpleasant surprises and controversies" for biotech companies wanting to set up home there (THE AMERICAS).

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

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CONTENTS
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ASIA
AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
AUSTRALASIA
EUROPE
TERMINATOR

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ASIA
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+ ORGANIC FARMING COULD REDUCE RURAL POVERTY - U.N. STUDY
Organic food production could offer a way out of poverty for many small farmers in developing countries but needs government support, says a largely overlooked UN study conducted in India and China.

South Asian farmers who have switched over from using synthetic fertiliser to more eco-friendly, traditional forms of organic farming have earned more and achieved a higher standard of living, says a study by the United Nations. However, small farmers are often excluded from supportive government reform programmes that encourage organic farming, says the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

"In China and India, organic production is growing steadily," said the report. The study looked at the role of organic agriculture in rural poverty reduction.

In addition to bringing about higher prices for agricultural produce, lower unemployment and less rural migration, "organic farming reduces the health risks posed by the use of toxic chemicals, as well as the high costs of chemical pesticides and fertilisers. (Also), the environment benefits from improved soil management and less polluting techniques," said the IFAD.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6188

+ INDIA: FLEECING THE RURAL POOR
In the urban world, if you buy a car or a hi-fi system, Devinder Sharma points out in an article for the Deccan Herald, the manufacturer "not only provides a guarantee but often orders the withdrawal of a particular batch of faulty product line".

But the reality of rural life, Sharma says, is very different. Even with India's Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, admitting in parliament that Bt cotton had failed in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, and with India's regulatory body refusing to renew permission for the cultivation of three Mahyco-Monsanto Bt cotton varieties, the company has successfully refused to provide a single rupee in compensation to the farmers who believed its promises.

In fact, around the world the agbiotech industry refuses to accept any liability for the impact of its products. Even the deaths of indebted farmers - fooled by aggressive marketing into buying the company's expensive seed - count for nothing. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6196

+ SCIENTIST TAKES APART BT COTTON CLAIMS
Dr Doug Gurian-Sherman has sent us an interesting commentary on an article published recently in the Indian press - "In defence of Bt cotton". The article claims bumper yields from Bt cotton - in spite of reports of widespread failure of the crop. It also claims higher income for farmers, in spite of reports of farmer indebtedness and suicides that place the blame squarely on Bt cotton.

Dr Gurian-Sherman exposes the falseness of these claims and concludes that the kind of spin to be found in the article "is typical of proponents of GE crops, who don't seem to have enough confidence in their technology to make accurate and realistic arguments."

Dr Gurian-Sherman is senior scientist at the Center for Food Safety in Washington, DC, and was formerly with the US Environmental Protection Agency, where he was responsible for assessing human health and environmental risks from GM plants and microorganisms.

R K Sinha & Bhagirath Choudhary, the authors of the article Gurian-Sherman takes apart, are from the biotech industry-backed ISAAA and the All-India Crop Biotechnology Association (AICBA).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6194

+ OUTRAGE AT INDIAN WELCOME TO MONSANTO MAN
The visit of Hugh Grant, CEO of Monsanto, to India and his scheduled meeting with government officials has raised alarm among activists. Members of SAGE (South Against Genetic Engineering) wrote to the prime minister and president of India as well as chief minister and agriculture minister of Andhra Pradesh voicing their objections and requesting the prime minister to stand by the millions of Indian farmers who have been destroyed in the process of using GM seeds. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6188

+ SOUTH KOREA: BLAST FROM A DARK PAST
Survivors of Agent Orange, the defoliant used by the US during the Vietnam War, have won a historic class suit brought in South Korea against Monsanto. The Seoul Supreme Court charged that Monsanto and Dow Chemical were not immune from being responsible for the lethal effects of the chemical spray upon humans, both combatants and civilians, at the height of the controversial war.

In the wake of Agent O