WEEKLY WATCH number 246
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Claire [email protected]
http://www.gmwatch.org / http://www.lobbywatch.org

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CONTENTS
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HEALTH RISKS
RESEARCH
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
EUROPE
THE AMERICAS
COMPANY NEWS
GLOBAL SOUTH
AUSTRALASIA
GENETIC CROSSROADS

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HEALTH RISKS
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+ NEW PAMPHLET ON GM HEALTH RISKS
The Institute for Responsible Technology has produced a simple and accessible pamphlet on the health risks of GMOs. To view a pdf, go to:
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/utility/showDocumentFile?objectID=140

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RESEARCH
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+ GM SEEDS CAN 'LAST FOR 10 YEARS'
Seeds of some GM crops can persist in soil for at least 10 years, scientists have discovered. Researchers in Sweden examined a field that had been planted with experimental oilseed rape (canola) a decade ago, and found transgenic specimens were still growing there. This was despite intensive efforts in the intervening years to remove seeds. Prof. Mark Westoby, a plant ecologist from Macquarie University in Australia, said, 'This study confirms that GM crops are difficult to confine. We should assume that GM organisms cannot be confined, and ask instead what will become of them when they escape.'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8950

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QUOTES OF THE WEEK
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+ THE BATTLE OVER GM CORN IN MEXICO
'Better to die fighting, than on our knees begging for the food that we ourselves can produce.'
- Don Serdan, Mexican indigenous-rights activist (see THE AMERICAS)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8953

+ MONSANTO'S PCB CONTAMINATION
Q: Did Monsanto ever provide the residents of Anniston [US town poisoned by Monsanto's PCBs] with any data concerning the health hazards of PCBs in humans?
A: Uh-uh (indicating no). Why would they?
- William B. Papageorge, Monsanto Manager of Environmental Control, Deposition of March 31 1998
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8959

+ MONSANTO'S GM HORMONE AND CANCER
'If you have even just subtle amounts of IGF-1 [a substance found in elevated levels in the milk of cows treated with GM hormone rBGH], there's a link to breast, prostate and colon cancer. It's been known for years that that particular hormone is linked with cancers [because of its] effects on the endocrine system. The endocrine system is so sensitive that subtle effects can [make a difference].'
- Dr. Jenny Pompilio, an internist with Kaiser Permanente in Oregon
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8956

+ AUSTRALIA'S FARMERS WILL PAY FOR GM CONTAMINATION
'We as the polluted have to pay a royalty. So we are expected to pay for getting contaminated.'
- Julie Newman, Network of Concerned Farmers (see AUSTRALASIA)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8958

+ LOCALISATION, NOT GLOBALISATION, NEEDED TO FEED THE WORLD
'Climate change and peak oil will unravel our present-day fossil-fuel-dependent farming systems and long distance, 'just-in-time' food distribution networks more thoroughly and enduringly than any U-boat torpedoes... that means more localisation, less globalisation.'
- Robin Maynard, Vandana Shiva, Resurgence, April 2008 See also Lim Li Ching's article:
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WITHOUT GENETIC ENGINEERING
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8949

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EUROPE
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+ FRANCE: 25,000 PROTESTERS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST GMOs
Numerous demonstrations were held last weekend in cities across France prior to the opening of the debate in the French parliament on draft GMO legislation. Around 25,000 people protested against GMOs in Rennes, Clermont-Ferrand, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Avignon, Nancy and Lille.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8947

+ FRANCE: FIERCE BATTLE OVER GMO LEGISLATION
Last week members of the National Assembly (the French parliament) began debating the draft law on GMOs, the text of which had already been substantially modified in favour of GMOs during its consideration by the Senate. Critics of GMOs vowed to oppose the legislation. 'We are going to fight with determination, like dogs, against the proposed law,' Green Party member Noel Mamere told reporters ahead of the debate.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8952

+ FRANCE: POLITICAL VICTORY OVER GMOs
Opposition MPs were claiming political victory after the National Assembly adopted an amendment severely restricting the use of GMOs in relation to a whole series of quality agricultural production lines. Agence France-Presse described, 'An explosion of joy in the House' as the amendment went through.