WEEKLY WATCH number 240
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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2008 sees the 10th anniversary of the founding of GM Watch, so over the next few weeks we'll be putting out some articles and material to mark our 10th birthday. An interview with GM Watch's founder, Jonathan Matthews, tells how it all began and explores how this technology's being promoted worldwide: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8717

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

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CONTENTS
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GM CROPS HAVE FAILED
EUROPE
PROPAGANDA LAB LATEST
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
GM ANIMALS
MARKER ASSISTED BREEDING
GENETIC CROSSROADS

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GM CROPS HAVE FAILED
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+ PESTS EVOLVE RESISTANCE TO GM CROPS
The bollworm - the insect pest that's supposed to be killed by genetically modified Bt cotton - has developed Bt resistance and is beginning to spread in parts of the US, a scientific study has found. The study is claimed by the researchers from the University of Arizona to be the first documented example in the wild of an insect pest becoming resistant to Bt crops. In fact, reports of Bt resistance are years-old, though this study may be the first to make the findings 'official'. The resistant form of the moth's caterpillar was found in surveys of fields in the southern states of Mississippi and Arkansas between 2003 and 2006. This study is just the latest in a whole series that point up the problems and failings of Bt cotton.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8736
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8737

+ GM CROPS HAVE FAILED
As part of our celebrations of 10 years of GM Watch, we've republished the article with this title by Lim Li Ching and Jonathan Matthews documenting the failure of GM crops to increase yield, improve agronomic performance, reduce agrochemicals, and increase farmer income. It's accompanied by telling examples taken from a subsequent US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report that bear out all of the article's conclusions about the failure of GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8728

+ EUROPABIO ADMITS INCREASED CHEMICAL USE
An excellent article by Rikki Stancich in the magazine Ethical Corporation walks a clear path through current biotech industry hype. It also includes a frank admission from the biotech industry-lobby group EuropaBio that Roundup Ready (GM) crops have led to 'the weeds themselves' now being 'Roundup resistant, which has resulted in much higher applications of Roundup along with a host of other chemicals'.

EXTRACTS: [on drought resistance] Neither Monsanto nor Bayer LifeSciences was willing to provide any documentation to support their claims to drought-resistant crop strains. Nor were BIO and EuropaBio forthcoming with any evidence substantiating drought resistance in crops.

[on biofuels] The market for biofuels could unlock the global market for the green biotech industry. But current research has thrown up a raft of reasons as to why the biofuel model is inherently at odds with its goal of providing sustainable renewables. Competition for land resources, deforestation, diversion of food crops into fuel crops, to name a few. Hence the promise of significant gains for the biotech industry on the back of biofuels may yet prove tenuous.

[on yields and inputs] The assertion that GM crops in general yield higher productivity has been challenged by several studies, including one carried out by the US Department of Agriculture. This particular study suggests that yields of GM crops are lower than traditional crops and that the use of inputs (herbicides and pesticides) has, in fact, increased.

[on chemical use] EuropaBio's Nathalie Moll also admitted that greater applications of Roundup herbicide were being applied. She says that is because 'farmers have rotated RR crops, usually soya and maize, to the point that the weeds themselves are now Roundup resistant, which has resulted in much higher applications of Roundup along with a host of other chemicals'.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8739

+ UK CHIEF SCIENTIST GETS GM FACTS WRONG
GM Freeze have provided a detailed analysis of David King's various failed attempts to promote GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8721

+ MONSANTO'S FRALEY GETS AWARD
According to a Monsanto press release, the National Academy of Sciences has given Monsanto's chief technology officer, Robert Fraley, an award because, '[Monsanto's GM] plants have increased productivity, reduced chemical use and profoundly changed global agriculture.'

*Increased productivity? Monsanto has failed to introduce a single GM crop with increased yield potential. Even USDA data shows GM crops do not increase yield potential and may reduce yields.

*Reduced chemical use? Over 80% of the GMOs grown worldwide have been engineered for herbicide tolerance, encouraging the indiscriminate use of chemicals. USDA and other data shows this