GM WATCH MONTHLY REVIEW No. 40
Claire Robinson, editor
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PREVIOUS MONTHLY REVIEWS
- IN GERMAN
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=82&page=1

- IN DUTCH
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=81&page=1

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MONTHLY REVIEW CONTENTS
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GM POTATO TRIALS - UK
CONTAMINATION
NON-GM SUCCESSES
GM BANS / RESTRICTIONS
COMPANY NEWS
CORPORATE CRIMES
CORPORATE TAKEOVER
GM APPLICATIONS / EXPANSIONS
TERMINATOR
LOBBYWATCH
RESISTANCE TO GM
GM AND CLONED ANIMALS
NEW BOOK

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GM POTATO TRIALS - UK
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+ SCIENTIST IN GM POTATO WARNING
Dr Arpad Pusztai, the scientist who found that GM potatoes harmed the health of rats, has warned that the decision to approve trials of blight-resistant GM potatoes in the UK could mean preventing cross-contamination was "almost impossible".

"We are dealing with a very unstable genome which will almost certainly be producing some toxic effects and if they get into our human food chain it will cause a huge calamity," he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7355

+ INDUSTRY ADMITS CONTAMINATION A PROBLEM
The biotech industry has admitted GM contamination of potatoes "cannot be excluded". http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7357

+ CHIP MAKERS OPPOSE GM POTATO TRIAL
The UK government's decision to allow trials of a new strain of GM potato has been met with strong opposition by the potato industry and the country's largest maker of chips. The British Potato Council said its refusal to endorse the trials was based on consumers' mistrust of GM technology. Bill Bartlett, corporate affairs director of chip manufacturer McCain Foods (GB), said McCain Foods was also disappointed with the decision.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7355

+ FARMER QUITS GM POTATO EXPERIMENT
A Derbyshire farmer dropped out of the forthcoming GM potato trials because of threats made against him, according to media reports. However, Derbyshire Police said the farmer had made "no specific complaints" about any threat. The farmer's concerns apparently arose from the "intense publicity". That did not stop pro-GM lobbyists denouncing the "intimidation" and calling on the government and police to act robustly to defend reason, freedom and democracy! This is not the first time that such stories have been shown to have no basis except black propaganda.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7400
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7416
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7422

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CONTAMINATION
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+ U.S. AND BIO IN CODEX CONTAMINATION SCAM
The undemocratic WHO organization Codex has approved a US government proposal to develop a food safety risk assessment process for adventitious presence. Industry body BIO has thanked the US government for pushing through the move at Codex. This may take some years but is still a source of concern.

COMMENT from Dr Michael Antoniou:
It is quite obvious that this is NOT the science-based food safety assessment that it is claimed to be but something for purely political and commercial convenience. [Dr Antoniou is Reader in Medical and Molecular Genetics at King's College London, and an expert on GM foods]
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7363

+ GM CORN DESTROYED IN NZ
All but about 50ha of the sweetcorn crops grown with seed contaminated with GM seeds in the Gisborne and Hawke's Bay regions has been destroyed.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7413
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7356
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7365

+ NZ GOVT MAY FACE $1 MILLION BILL FOR CORN BOTCHUP
The New Zealand government may face a bill of up to $1 million to clean up the latest GM border bungle.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7372

+ ALERT OVER SECRET GM SEED IN IMPORTS
GM Canadian canola is being imported into Australia. The multinational grain trader Cargill said it had imported canola seed because of a sharp drop in Australian canola production caused by the drought.

GM WATCH COMMENT: Seems Cargill's trying to exploit Australia's recent drought as an excuse to dump otherwise unwanted (and hence massively-discounted) Canadian GM canola (oilseed rape).
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7367
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7359

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