Unfair America
Editorial, Boston Globe, 22 June 2003
WHEN CONGRESS last year caved in to special interests in agribusiness and passed a farm bill laden with subsidies for commodity crops like cotton, corn, wheat, and soybeans, there was little discussion of its foreign policy impact. But the subsidies encourage US farmers to produce far more than the nation needs and to dump the rest on world markets, undercutting farmers in the Third World... the United States should not blame others for contributing to African poverty.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/173/editorials/Unfair_America+.shtml

Jose Bove back in jail
BBC News, UK, June 22 2003
French anti-globalisation activist Jose Bove has been arrested to start a 10-month prison term for destroying genetically-modified crops. Bove, 49, was apprehended in a dawn raid on Sunday by French police on his farm in southern France.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3010524.stm

U.S. biotech industry pushes hard on international stage including Iraq
Associated Press, June 22 2003
SAN FRANCISCO -- International discord over genetically modified crops is more pronounced than ever as thousands of biotech executives and government officials, including President Bush, gather at pro-biotechnology conferences on both U.S. coasts. In Geneva, U.S. negotiators failed last week to persuade Europeans to lift a ban on biotech products, escalating a trade war. Monsanto Co., meanwhile, is aggressively trying to exact payments from farmers illegally using its technology in Brazil. And a Bush administration appointee was dispatched to Baghdad, tasked with, among other things, figuring out whether genetically modified crops have a place in Iraq.
http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/062203/bus_062203080.shtml

Protests begin for biotech conference
They danced in the street, chalked up the sidewalks and tried to drum up public awareness about genetically engineered trees.
http://fox40.trb.com/news/ktxl-062103protestors,0,7336431.story?coll=ktxl-news-1

For more on GM trees see: http://www.gaaget.org/home.html
Site of the Global Alliance Against GE Trees (GAAGET) - an international network working to prevent the release of GM trees into the environment.

Early expo protesters peaceable
Sacramenta Bee, June 22 2003
Police roamed downtown Sacramento by bicycle, motorcycle and car to watch for civil disobedience and other acts of rebellion Saturday as demonstrators gathered in the city to protest an upcoming international agriculture conference.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/6901930p-7851543c.html

Meacher: Blair sacked me
BBC News updated, 22 June 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3010254.stm

GM research played down - Meacher
BBC Online, 22 June 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3010254.stm

The Japan Times, June 22 2003
Leading Japanese soy sauce manufacturer Kikkoman Corp. has begun using only non-GM soybeans in its products (which command 27 percent of the domestic market). "We have always used soybeans whose safety was assured," said spokesman Masahiko Shinoharaha. We wanted our customers to enjoy our soy sauce without any worries." (but not in the US where they use local soya beans).
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20030622a1.htm

NFU warns of threat of genetically modified foods
Danny Hendricken, district director for the National Farmers Union (NFU) on Prince Edward Island says the P.E.I. government has given its blessing for organizaing field trials of genetically-modified wheat and other cereal crops and  that could have a serious impact for wheat and cereal farmers. Hendricken says producers are faced with the prospect of losing important markets in Europe to countries such as Australia, which is marketing its wheat as GM free. "Canadian cattle producers are experiencing the devastating consequences of border closures and market losses that have resulted from BSE. At the same time, however, the Canadian government is considering the approval of the grain system equivalent of BSE: genetically-modified wheat," said NFU president Stewart Wells. "GM wheat will lead to massive market losses and will effectively close borders to Canadian exports. But unlike BSE-which can be rooted out and markets and borders reopened-the devastating effects of GM wheat will be permanent," said Wells, in a presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture. Other exporters, such as Australia, will not be proceeding with GM wheat and are positioning themselves to take over Canadian markets.
http://www.journalpioneer.com/article.cfm?showid=3811

Bush sets trip to Africa for next month
Bush leaves for his first visit to the continent July 7. Over the six day trip, he is to visit Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria. "This visit highlights the Bush administration's commitment to working toward a free, prosperous and peaceful Africa," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1078&dept_id=151021&newsid=8487899&PAG=461&rfi=9

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