2006 saw some huge advances in the global campaign of opposition to the imposition of GMOs.

Here's a small selection of some of the good news stories that GM WATCH reported.

Much admiration to all the individuals and organisations that contributed to these successes.

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BEST NEWS OF 2006
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+ TOP RICE EXPORTERS SAID "NO!" TO GM RICE
The world's two largest exporters of rice agreed to shun genetically engineered varieties. An agreement between rice traders from Thailand and Vietnam protects half the crop traded on the world market from the dangers of GM, and puts mounting pressure on other rice-producing nations to commit to a GM-free rice supply.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7337

+ INDIA'S RICE INDUSTRY CAME OUT AGAINST GM RICE
India's top rice exporters and farmers unions joined with environmental groups in warning the Indian government against further field trials of GM rice, saying it could jeopardise the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers across the country.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7210

INDIA: GM RICE TRIALS DESTROYED
Farmers from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), representing hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers, torched GM rice fields, starting a trend followed elsewhere in India of enforcing the biosafety measures that were being ignored..
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7195

+ CHINA DIDN'T GIVE COMMERCIAL APPROVAL TO GM RICE
Despite constant predictions to the contrary by pro-GM lobbyists, China - the world's biggest rice producer and consumer - put off any commercial introduction of GM rice yet again in 2006 amid growing concerns about biosafety and potential loss of markets.
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=72601-nutrogen-gm-rice-biosafety
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7369

+ NO GO AHEAD FOR GM RICE IN IRAN
The director of the Iran's department of environment, Fatemeh Javadi, announced that a go-ahead for cultivation of GM rice would not be issued.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7197

+ MEXICO REJECTED GM MAIZE
Mexico banned biotech companies from planting GM corn. Mexico is the birthplace of corn and still a storehouse of genetically valuable native species.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7139 http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7196

+ BOLIVIA TO OUTLAW GM CROPS AND GO ORGANIC
The Bolivian government aims to transform the country into an organic oasis in South America and to outlaw GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7269
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6167

+ ECUADOR BANS GMOs IN FOOD AID
Ecuador's Parliament has passed a law which bans the presence of GMOs in food aid sent to that country.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6565

+ BRAZILIAN GOVERNOR MOVES TO EXPROPRIATE LAND FROM SYNGENTA
On November 9 Roberto Requiao, Governor of the state of Parana dealt a blow to Syngenta when he signed a decree to expropriate its experimental test site in the public interest after Syngenta illegally planted 12 hectares of GM soybeans at the site.

The action was representative of the growing sentiment among Latin American politicians to resist the increasing power of GM and agribusiness corporations, and was also evidence of the increasing organization and power of civil society in the region.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7379
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7358

+ SOUTH AUSTRALIA EXTENDED GM BAN
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7289
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7045

+ WESTERN AUSTRALIA PARLIAMENT VOTED DOWN COMMERCIAL GM TRIALS
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7028

+ U.S. FEDERAL COURT RULED BIOPHARM PERMITS ILLEGAL
A federal district judge ruled that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) flouted both the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act by not conducting preliminary environmental reviews before permitting the cultivation of drug-producing GM crops throughout Hawaii.

US District Judge Michael Seabright also called USDA's regulatory heedlessness "arbitrary and capricious" and "an unequivocal violation of a clear congressional mandate."

The ruling may make it harder to win permits to grow GM crops across the country. Said Honolulu Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff, "The days of rubber-stamping t