WEEKLY WATCH number 218
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

In Brazil, Syngenta is threatening to use force to expel the family farmers who are occupying the site of the land where the company illegally planted GM crops. We explain how you can help the farmers and lobby Syngenta (BRAZIL).

More research on Roundup shows it may affect reproduction and foetal development at much weaker dilutions than the store-sold product (NEW RESEARCH). Unbelievably, Monsanto still claims in its British marketing of Roundup that it is "biodegradable and children and pets need not be excluded from treated areas". Even worse, hundreds of thousands of gardeners, farmers, and local authorities interpret this as meaning the stuff is safe and continue to use it with abandon.

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

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CONTENTS
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UNITED STATES
AUSTRALASIA
AFRICA
CORPORATE TAKE OVER OF THE ACADEMY
BRAZIL
ASIA
SUPREME COURT ROW CONTINUES
NEW RESEARCH
FOOD SAFETY
EUROPE
BIOFUELS

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UNITED STATES
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+ RICE FUTURES PLUMMET OVER GM RICE CONCERNS
Chicago Board of Trade rice futures have plummeted amid stories of GM-contaminated rice building up in Arkansas elevators, according to a story for Dow Jones Newswires.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7892

+ FARMERS WORRY ABOUT GM RICE APPROVAL
The National Farmers Union expressed "great concern" over the approval by the US Department of Agriculture's decision to allow Ventria Bioscience to plant its GM pharma rice in Kansas. The decision "poses a potential risk to the American food supply," said the National Farmers Union, NFU, which represents 250,000 farm and ranch families in all US states.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7915

+ U.S. CORN GLUTEN EXPORTS TO EU DOWN NEARLY 40%
The ACGF and the American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) are again warning US corn farmers that key US corn gluten export markets are being lost due to unapproved GM varieties. According to USDA data for the current corn marketing year, US corn gluten exports are 38.1% below the previous year to the EU. The EU has been by far the most important export market for US corn gluten feed and meal.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7912

+ GM EUCALYPTUS TO BE TRIALLED IN USA
Biotech firm ArborGen has applied to trial GM cold-tolerant hybrid eucalyptus trees in the US. This trial is thought to be the first in the US to allow the flowering of a GM forest tree and, as such, it raises serious gene flow issues. The trial is taking place in the context of the hyping of GM trees as an up-and-coming biofuel source. The comments to USDA of Dr Doug Gurian-Sherman of the Union of Concerned Scientists are at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7922

+ BUSH'S 'FOOD BULLY' FAVOURITE TO TAKE OVER AT WORLD BANK
With Paul Wolfowitz on the way out, Robert Zoellick, the former US trade representative, has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed him as the World Bank's president. Zoellick was, of course, the man who drove the US's WTO case against the EU on GM food - a policy brilliantly picked apart in an article by political analyst Conn Hallinan at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7921

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ THE GM HARD SELL BEGINS
A good article in Australia's The Sunday Age tells how the GM lobby is pushing for the lifting of the GM moratorium in Victoria. It covers a pro-GM meeting sponsored by the Institute of Public Affairs, which numbers Monsanto amongst its funders.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7903

+ VICTORIA GM REVIEW PANEL: NEITHER EXPERT NOR INDEPENDENT
Premier Bracks has announced a panel to review the ban on GM canola in Victoria, Australia. But Gene Ethics Director Bob Phelps said the panel is "neither independent nor expert": "The panellists are keen supporters of GM crops and foods who have promoted it for many years. And none are expert in trade or marketing issues, the main focus of the review," he said.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7911

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AFRICA
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+ UGANDA: USAID TO FUND GM COTTON TRIALS
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is to inject $160,000 into pest resistant cotton trials in Uganda, reportedly to help improve the competitiveness of its cotton farmers. GM Watch comment: The US is now claiming to be helping the same cotton farmers it has impoverished through the massive trade distoring subsidies it gives to its own cotton sector which undermine cotton prices and African exports.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7907

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CORPORATE TAKE OVER OF THE ACADEMY
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