WEEKLY WATCH number 227
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

Don't miss the latest instalment in the ongoing row over GM Watch's challenge to a paper on GM sweet corn that won an award for scientific excellence (WORMY CORN SCANDAL). It's also well worth making a trip to computer scientist Tim Lambert's science blog to see the photographic evidence on who's telling the truth in this story.
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/09/would_you_eat_wormy_sweet_corn.php

We also have two fascinating pieces on subjects that sound desperately boring - Malthusian scarcity and intragenic modification. The latter is a technique that some gene bashers hope will be the publicly acceptable face of GM (MALTHUS, GM AND IM).

And the big news this week is that India's regulators are being charged with contempt of court for their reckless promotion of large scale trials of GM food crops. (ASIA)

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

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CONTENTS
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WORMY CORN SCANDAL
CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE
AUSTRALASIA
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
ASIA
UN
PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE OF GM
MALTHUS
GM AND IM

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WORMY CORN SCANDAL
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+ WORMY CORN SCIENTISTS' CLAIMS "UNTRUE", EXPERT CONCLUDES
A computer scientist at the University of New South Wales has meticulously analysed pictures that Shane Morris claims prove that the controversial "Would you eat wormy sweet corn?" sign - placed above the bin of non-GM corn during the study he co-authored with Doug Powell and others - was taken down early on in the research. The expert concludes that the pictures show the wormy corn sign was never taken down, ie the exact opposite of what Morris claims. He writes, "I think that science would have been better served if Powell and Morris had acknowledged the flaws in their study rather than making untrue statements about the 'wormy corn' sign being removed."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8259
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/09/would_you_eat_wormy_sweet_corn.php

+ LOBBYISTS RALLY ROUND WORMY CORN SCIENTIST
An international group of hardline GM promoters have signed an open letter in support of Shane Morris and in condemnation of a letter to the Canadian High Commission that protests his behaviour - see below.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8276

+ SOIL ASSOCIATION CONDEMNS CANADIAN ATTACK ON UK AND IRISH FREE SPEECH
Peter Melchett of the Soil Association has written to the Canadian High Commission to protest the actions of the Canadian Government bureaucrat, Shane Morris, who has been threatening free speech in the UK and Ireland via legal threats against GM Watch and GM-free Ireland. Melchett says Morris has also been trying to undermine Ireland's GM-free policy. See Peter Melchett's letter at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8256

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CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF SCIENCE
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+ IRINA ERMAKOVA SET UP BY NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY
The journal Nature Biotechnology appears to have acted as a messenger boy for a bunch of pro-GM lobbyists to do a demolition job on the research of Russian scientist Dr Irina Ermakova. Dr Ermakova made headlines with her research showing ill effects on rats fed GM soy. Clearly, something had to be done.

The journal tells readers it "solicited" the comments from "a group of researchers working in the field."

But this appears to be completely untrue. In a letter from journal editor Andrew Marshall to Dr Ermakova of 25 June we are told: "I am writing to you because the journal has been approached by a group of authors wishing to critique the results of your work that have been discussed in public forums."

Marshall goes on to say, "... the journal would, however, prefer to provide you with an opportunity to present your own findings and conclusions in your own words, rather than a critique from one side."

According to Dr Brian John who has seen the correspondence, Dr Ermakova cooperated, assuming that the editor wished to publish an honest discussion of the scientific issues. She was never shown the "community feedback" to her answers prior to publication of the article, which is an attempt by the GM lobbyists to demolish her study **without giving her a chance to reply to their claims**.

The review authors are all long-familiar hardline GM-promoters - none with any background in toxicology -and they include former Biotech Industry Organisation Vice President, Val Giddings, and the head of a biotech industry funded PR effort, Vivian Moses.

Dr Brian John writes, "...there are some VERY serious questions that now need to be asked about the motives of a man who has seriously abused his privileged position as editor, and about the modus operandi of what used to be a serious scientific publication. What we effectively have is a very brutal and biased (and inaccurate) piece of peer reviewing by a self-selected group of GM proponents, in print and on the record, and published without the vilified scientist being given any opportunity to defend herself."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8273

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AUSTRALASIA
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+ TOP SCIENTIST CAUGHT IN GM MORATORIA CROSSFIRE
A leading Australi