GM Watch brings you… THE WORST OF 2006 - PART 2

Sadly, the second part of 2006 turned out to be even worse than the first when it came to the aggressive and deceptive push behind GMOs. The final couple of months were so bad, in fact, that they require a section all to themselves, still to come - PART 3!

Previously in this series:
THE WORST OF 2006 - PART 1
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7456
Also available in German:
DIE SCHLECHTESTEN NACHRICHTEN DES JAHRES 2006 - TEIL 1
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7459

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THE WORST OF 2006 - PART 2: JULY-OCTOBER

JULY

+ July: AUSTRALIA'S NEW CHIEF SCIENTIST: CONFLICTED OUT
Australia's new chief scientist, Dr Jim Peacock, aggressively lobbied for removal of the Australian states' GM moratoriums. But Peacock hadn't disclosed that he not only had GM patents but was on the board of three biotech companies and on the payroll of one as an 'advisor'.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6744

+ July: HOW TO WORK WITH "FAR RIGHT-WING NUTSO ACTIVISTS"
Katherine Wilson reported on a workshop in Melbourne, Australia, run by biotech PR consultant Ross Irvine, that taught "the best strategies to win against activists". She learned how to create bogus community groups, false statistics, and, in Irvine's words, build links with "far-right-wing nutso activists". She also learned to conflate environmental "activist" with "terrorist" and "security threat". Irvine's workshop was attended by a Who's Who of powerful industry and government PR flacks.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6738

+ July: ROUNDUP READY MILITARY
The US military, under the excuse of fighting terrorism, established bases and new collaborations with the Paraguayan military that were said to include advice and support on dealing with indigenous farmers resisting the GM soy expansion.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6742
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6850
EXTRACT from a commentary by Dr Ignacio Chapela:
... internal military and paramilitary repression has found an immediate use in promoting the spread of GMO soy. Herbicide resistant transgenic soy has brought to this South American region a form of agriculture that is incompatible with campesino or indigenous ways of life. Instead of changing agriculture to fit people, the landscape is being cleansed through violence to make it fit mechanized, high-input, monoculture soybean production. National armies are now protecting GMO export-oriented soybean plants against the diverse ecosystems of the region, but also against the citizens of those countries who insist on rejecting them. Infusing the CIA and the US military into this formula simply adds deadly power to an already raging fire.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6794

+ July: MYTH OF THE "INDEPENDENT EXPERTS" WHO SUPPORT GM
Throughout the year pro-GM lobbyists kept passing themselves off as representing a wealth of independent experts, rather than a small self-interested clique. Here's a classic case. An article in the journal Science reported that a paper - on how the non-GM approach of marker-assisted selection (MAS) was eclipsing the crude technology of genetic engineering - had been rejected by "many in the scientific community". However, the the small number of scientists quoted in the article all came from a very narrow sector of the scientific community, were all long-established GM supporters, and mostly had strong vested interests in its acceptance!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6687

+ July: LAUNCH OF "ASK-FARCE"
A new pro-GM lobby group - "ASK-FORCE" - was launched by Prof Klaus Ammann to expose the "hidden agendas" of the critics of GM crops. GM Watch wondered why, if it disliked hidden agendas so much, ASK-FORCE hadn't explained in its launch document that the groups with which it said it was intending to cooperate all had either biotech industry membership or backing.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6720

+ July: NFU VICE-PRESIDENT LINKED TO LOBBYISTS
The UK's Nation Farmers' Union's vice-president Paul Temple headed the NFU's development of policy on GM "coexistence" - a policy described by John Vidal of the Guardian as "gagging for" GMOs. That was perhaps not so surprising given the ubiquity of Temple's biotech industry associations. It was, however, at total odds with the wishes of UK farmers, who seem to have developing GM almost at the very bottom of their wish-list.*
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6712
* http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7245

AUGUST

+ August: US KNOWINGLY SHIPPED BANNED FOOD
The rice contamination scandal involving an unapproved Bayer GM rice, LL601, contaminating the US rice supply, was not made public until August. But the contamination was first brought to the attention of US rice marketer Riceland Foods back in January. Bayer knew about it in May, but apparently did not get round to informing the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) until July. And USDA decided not to go public until several weeks later.

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