GMWATCH number 8 (4/4/2003) | |
4 April 2003 ================================== ------------------------------------------------------------ As America fights its war for world domination on two fronts - ownership of Iraqs oil stocks and of the world's food stocks through patented GM seeds - its exhilarating to see resistance to both moves rising across the world. Its becoming ever harder for corporate and political bullies to pull the wool over the publics eyes. And those of us with knowledge of the issues may feel we have a special responsibility to speak out and get involved. So this months campaigning section is expanded, with something for every activist, whether they be bold or shy, brazen or polite, energetic or wiped-out. As ever, keep giving us your feedback and send GMWATCH to all your friends. Claire Robinson <[email protected]> ----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWCASTLE FEEDING TRIAL - COMMENTS BY DR MICHAEL ANTONIOU The research was commissioned by the UK Government, as part of a project entitled "Evaluating the risks associated with using GMOs in human foods." It was published by the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA). FSA released the research, involving feeding volunteers with a burger and a milkshake containing GM soya, with a press release saying it "showed in real-life conditions with human volunteers, no GM material survived the passage through the entire human digestive tract... the research concluded that the likelihood of functioning DNA being taken up by bacteria in the human or animal gut is extremely low". But although the scientists at the University of Newcastle did not find DNA from GM food in the faeces of normal volunteers they had found that bacteria in the human gut can take up GM DNA. They found transgenic DNA had survived in the wastes from seven subjects with ileostomy bags and that for one in three of the seven, the gut bacteria had taken up the DNA. In a separate experiment on colonies of intestinal cells, the Newcastle team showed that loops of GM DNA called plasmids can be taken up directly, but only by one gut cell in 3000. The design of the experiment has been criticised as being biased against finding positive results - for instance, using a probe for GM DNA that detects only 5% of the entire length, and not monitoring the blood of the volunteers. In experiments dating back to the early 1990s, German scientists have found that transgenic DNA fed to mice can pass through the gut and also through the gut wall into the blood stream, ending up in blood cells, liver and spleen cells. Dr Michael Antoniou comments: However, the major individual health problem is not what "comes out at the other end" but what goes on inside the gut! So the risk of a health problem arising from the transfer of GM genes such as antibiotic resistance and Bt toxin to gut bacteria still stands. Also, please note that the paper quoted in the response to Arpad Pusztai is in "human intestinal simulations"; i.e. test tube experiments and NOT real people at all! Interesting but hardly physiological! We should also not stop reminding people that the Newcastle study entailed only ONE GM soy containing meal, which can hardly be called statistically significant but which yet showed up these very worrying findings all of which were hotly denied as possible in the past. Finally, the Newcastle study failed to carry out experiments with simulated diarrhoea conditions (e.g. administering a laxative) to assess whether bacteria containing GM genes would then be present in the faeces and released into the environment to pose a yet further problem for us all by for example spreading antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria into the environment! Follow-up work to this initial investigation clearly needs to be initiated involving the monitoring of a proper large cohort of people over a prolonged period of time (at least 6 months) where GM foods form a dominant component (>50%) of their diet, including foods containing antibiotic resistance marker genes (which the GM soya used in the Newcastle study did not contain). Simulated diarrhoea trials (e.g. administering a laxative) must also be carried out. ORGANIC FOOD HAS MORE HEALTHY COMPOUNDS - US REPORT CHILDREN WHO EAT ORGANIC HAVE LOWER PESTICIDE RESIDUES The former employee, who was involved in the loading of the Spudco potatoes, was further cited as saying the companies who bought them had no idea the product was genetically-altered, adding, "None of them knew. You can't tell. There's no stamp on them saying 'GMO', so the potatoes were just sold as regular potatoes." The former employee said they were told by Spudco senior managers, "Don't say on the bill it's GM potatoes." US TAXPAYERS TO SUBSIDIZE CLEANUP OF ALTERED CORN ----------------------------------------------------------- SCIENTIST VERRALL TELLS FSA TO RETRACT ALLEGATIONS Dr Jon Bell, acting chief executive of the UK Food Standards Agency, dismissed the report, in comments to the Sunday Herald, as containing "spurious and malicious allegations". John Verrall has published a letter in the paper issuing a public challenge to Bell to either produce evidence that any part of the report is untrue or else to "apologise for the accusations he has made against me". CSIRO CLINCHES BAYER CROPSCIENCE ALLIANCE "For Bayer CropScience," we are told, "the alliance with CSIRO is regarded as a model for global cooperation." Indeed it is. It a model of everything that's wrong in the relationship between public science and private interests. In the immortal words of John Stocker, CSIRO's former chief executive, "Working with the transnationals makes a lot of sense...Yes, we do find that it is often the best strategy to get into bed with these companies" (Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1992). A report in The Age in 1994 commented: "CSIRO bears a close resemblance to that other great Australian corporation, the ABC [equivalent to the UKs BBC]. Both are layered with discontent . . . but most importantly, both seem to be increasingly motivated by the corporate dollar." Alert NGIN/GMWATCH readers may recall that CSIRO scientist and Prakash/AgBioWorld supporter Dr Malcolm Livingstone angrily denied ANY connection with industry: "OK first of all I am not part of the INDUSTRY. I work for CSIRO (a publicly funded organisation with a rich history of good science) and before that with the University of Queensland. I don't know ANYBODY who works for agricultural companies and never have." Although ostensibly "publicly funded", CSIRO is, in reality, encouraged to get 30% of its funding from business, with CSIRO top management encouraging its staff to go to 40%. As a point of comparison, only about 10% of the funding of Europe's leading plant biotech institute, the John Innes Centre, is thought to come directly from industry. MINISTER "BUYING" LABOUR AND CORRUPTING POLITICAL PROCESS Lord Sainsbury's personal, political and financial interests span biotech, food retailing, and driving UK government policy in relation to technology and trade. He is simultaneously: Even senior members of Blair's ruling Party are dismayed at the corrupt relationship between Lord Sainsbury and Labour. Mark Seddon, a member of Labours National Executive Committee, claimed such donations were causing Labour to lose members amid criticism from the grassroots that the party was now "in the pockets of the powerful and the rich". He told the Today programme: "In any other country I think a government minister donating such vast amounts of money and effectively buying a political party would be seen for what it is, a form of corruption of the political process." CHAPELA FEARS HE WONT GET TENURE In 1998, Chapela led a fight against a controversial research partnership between biotech firm Novartis and Berkeley's Dept of Plant and Microbial Biology. He also co-wrote a journal article in 2001 in which he reported finding gene fragments from GM corn in the genomes of native Mexican maize. Now Chapela's allies say Berkeley Professor Jasper Rine, who sits on a nine-member tenure review committee, has such close ties to Novartis and the biotech industry that he can't be trusted to give Chapela a fair hearing. "What we're talking about is a conflict of interest as naked as it gets," said David Noble, a science historian at York University in Toronto. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Thus begins a riveting article by Andy Rowell and GMWATCHs very own Jonathan Matthews, published in the Ecologist, May 2003. The article contains revelations about a shadowy new group working with the Royal Society, called Sense About Science, which claims to be independent but is weighing in on the pro-GM side in the governments "public debate". SASs director is one Tracey Brown, who previously worked for Regester Larkin, a PR group which numbers among its clients the Bio-Industry Association, Aventis CropScience, Lilly, Pfizer and Bayer, i.e. some of the very corporations most likely to benefit if GM crop commercialisation gets the go-ahead. Browns phone number at SAS is the same as that of Global Futures, where Brown used to work, as did ex-Monsanto man Harry Swan. Global Futures, which claims to be a publishing house, has links with the extreme right-wing libertarian organisation Living Marxism, which opposes any restrictions on corporate activities. The attempts of the government/science establishment/industry coalition to railroad us into swallowing GM leads them into strange and sleazy company. Find out more at 'INDEPENDENT' GROUPS SHARE PRO-GM COMMON GROUND BIOTECHS HALL OF MIRRORS: A VERY DIRTY GAME Thats not all. Learn also how: Some of this material may be familiar to old hands of the NGIN/GMWATCH list but its great to have it easily accessible in one article. INDUSTRY GROUP CREATED BOGUS WEBSITES TO HIJACK BROWSERS CCF, a vocal supporter of GM foods, is run by Washington DC-based PR lobbyist "Tricky" Rick Berman. PR Watch describes CCF as a corporate "front group funded by tobacco, booze and food companies". According to PR Watch, "Berman says there are two things that set his firm, Berman & Co., apart from others in the trade. The first is that we always have a knife in our teeth. The other is that we don't chase the smaller issues... Our work is restricted to and focused on issues that affect shareholder value
Our offensive strategy is to shoot the messenger. Given the activists' plans to alarm beyond all reason, we've got to attack their credibility as spokespersons." MONSANTO & CARGILL GENETICALLY ENGINEER SURVEY RESULTS For the first few days, responses to the poll averaged at 90% agreeing with Meacher, 10% disagreeing. Latterly, opinion shifted gradually a little more against him - with around 82% agreeing, 18% disagreeing. Then - wham! - in the space of a day, responses to the poll lurched violently away from the minister, reducing from 80% to 60% to just over 50%. It seemed that some alien DNA had been inserted into the poll - and indeed it had. On analysing those responding to the website poll, farm discovered that 72% of all the 'No' votes had come from Monsanto and Cargill IP addresses. FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY SPINS SCHOOLS DEBATE ON GM However, the FSA didnt let that stand in the way of their obsession with spinning GM food down our throats. The FSA has been busy getting the word out to the media and the public that, to quote its headline, "SCHOOLS DEBATING COMPETITION VOTES TO EAT GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD". ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember the infamous Reuters headline, 'Eat GM or starve, America tells Africa', and how Andrew Natsios of USAID told us the US couldn't help hungry southern African countries who wanted non-GM grain because, however desperate the situation, the US wasn't allowed to untie its aid - it could only provide US grain? Well, now Mr Natsios is happily standing on his head. The war in Iraq is expected to be devastating for the country's rural economy with consequences on farmers' capacity to produce food, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today. The winter grain harvest, set to begin in a few weeks, and the spring planting could both be affected. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that it is donating an additional $200 million to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) *to purchase regional food aid* for Iraq. Of course, $200m is pretty small beer compared to the current $74.7 billion war budget being spent on destroying Iraq. As was feared by many opponents to the war on Iraq, the real intentions of the US "liberators" have not taken long to appear. Already, major construction and port management contacts have been handed to US corporations, instead of Iraqi companies. Even British officials have hinted at their disapproval. This means that instead of supporting a regeneration of any local economy, profits will fly out of the country into the foreign corporations. Some of the corporations already named have previous members among the US government. Perhaps this is why there are suspicions about Monsanto also benefiting from this war, considering that ex-Monsanto employee Ann Venemen is Secretary for Agriculture. In protest at War on Iraq and the exploitation of GM Food Aid, farmers' organisations in the Philippines have called for a boycott of Monsanto products, tying into the growing global boycott of US goods. [GMWATCH NOTE: I am sure none of our wise subscribers is still using Monsantos toxic glyphosate weedkiller Roundup. But many of you will have friends/relatives/neighbours who do. Now is a good time to persuade them to stop, if only for the selfish reasons that glyphosate has been linked in studies to Parkinsons and certain cancers - not to mention its horrific effects on some who live near sprayed areas and must breathe in the vapour. Commonly reported effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, disorientation, neurological symptoms, wasting, headaches, chronic fatigue, etc. etc. For the latest on pesticides and Parkinsons from the unexpected source of the American Chemical Society, --- CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH NUMBER ONE: CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH NUMBER TWO: Over 60,000 of the 100,000 that have been printed have been given out. However, the rest need to reach the public over the next few months. They could be put in wholefood shops, libraries etc., but they also need to be handed out in town centres/outside supermarkets, to reach people who don't normally see anti-GM info. To obtain leaflets, contact Becky Price of GeneWatch UK at 01298 871898 email: [email protected] or Rachel at Five Year Freeze 020 7837 0642 email: [email protected] CAMPAIGN NUMBER THREE - URGENT! On the 10th of April, MEPs will be voting on seven amendments that, if adopted, would prevent seeds being contaminated by genetically modified organisms. Current proposals by the European Commission would allow between 0.3% and 0.7% GM contamination in conventional seed. These figures were obtained by working backwards from the current labelling threshold of 1%. They are not based on any considerations for protecting the environment and have been criticised by English Nature. They would lead to widespread contamination of the environment and our right to choose GM-free food would disappear. Although the status of the Parliament vote next week is only advisory, this may be the last chance we have to influence EU decision-making on seed contamination. If these amendments are adopted it will send a very strong signal to decision makers that genetic contamination of seeds is unacceptable. What to do: 1. Go to the website of the UK office of the European Parliament and click on your region. This will give you all the MEPs in your region and their email addresses. 2. Copy the letter below and email it to all your MEPs by Tuesday 8th April, urging them to go along and vote for these amendments. If an MEP has two email addresses, use both! If you have time, personalise the letter and add in your own concerns. Sorry about the short notice the report has only just become available. More information on this vote is pasted below the letter. If you would like to see the full report containing the amendments (26 pages) let me know and I can email it to you. Thank you! Clare Oxborrow Please vote against genetic contamination of seeds - 10 April I am writing to you to urge you to attend the European Parliament vote on the 10th of April on the marketing of seeds, and to vote for amendments that would prevent seeds being contaminated by genetically modified organisms (GMOs). I understand that the European Parliament will vote on a report drafted by Danielle Auroi (A5-0078/2003). Amendments have been included that deal with the presence of traces of GMOs in conventional seeds. Please support amendments 1, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20 and 21 in the Auroi report. These amendments will prevent genetic contamination of seeds and set the threshold for the adventitious presence of GMOs in conventional seeds at the lowest detectable level, in line with the latest scientific and research findings. Current proposals by the European Commission would allow between 0.3% and 0.7% GM contamination in conventional seed. These levels would lead to widespread contamination and would pose a serious threat to the environment. Our right to choose GM-free food would also be taken away, as once seeds become contaminated the whole food chain will be affected and eliminating the problem is impossible. These amendments are crucial to ensure a GM-free food supply, to maintain consumer choice and to protect the environment, please support them on the 10th April. Yours sincerely, [you should include your postal address at the end of the email to each MEP to show you are a bona fide constituent, they tend to ignore emails without one!] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- BIOTECH FAMILY TREE POSTER AVAILABLE ------------------------------------------------------------------------- INSECT PESTS GROW FAT ON BT TOXIN NEW REPORT ON EXORCIST TECHNOLOGY What happens to the chemically excised DNA is unclear. Transgenic DNA has been found to survive in soil for at least 2 years, and in fact to replicate during that time. So the industrys hope to market this technology as environmentally friendly would seem to be just another cynical lie. ETCs report also features an update on Terminator Technology, which makes plants produce sterile seeds. Marketed as an environmentally friendly system of preventing GM pollen transfer, its value to industry is that it prevents farmers saving seeds - a practice which keeps most third world farmers afloat and undoubtedly saves lives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ECONOMICS CRITIQUE OF BROOMS BARN FINDINGS ON GM CROPS farm says: "The direct impact on yield likely from adopting the sorts of management practices needed to deliver these environmental benefits have been suggested to be 10% by Monsanto, with other research suggesting this figure could be as high as 31%. Given typical yields of sugar beet at 50 tonnes per ha and an adjusted value of £28 per tonne, this suggests a cost of £140 to £430 per hectare in loss of yield alone, quite aside from the increased costs incurred through applying sprays in this way." Another mentally deranged study showing that farmers can benefit wildlife by deliberately growing weeds in their fields of GM crops is reported at: "The pro-GM lobby says that farmers seeking to protect their rights are denying farmers choice, but what choice exists for farmers wishing to grow GM free crops, five years after the GM canola release?" Mr Statham said. Mr Scott Kinnear, VFF and NCF member said, "Its extraordinary that the Risk Assessment of the release of GM canola not only fails to assess economic and social impacts but fails to consider herbicide resistance and the health and environmental issues of increased herbicide use by farmers." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- BT COTTON: MONSANTOS SCIENTIFIC FAIRYTALE Now Abhijit Sen, professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and chairman of the High-Level Committee on India's Long-Term Grain Policy, has said the data has such high standard errors that Qaim and Zilberman "have simply not been able to establish the main case that yields are 80% higher." If the thesis is so full of holes, why the rush to press? It may have something to do with the fact that Monsanto is trying to shake off a year-long profit slide (the firm lost $1.75 billion or $6.67 per share, compared to a profit of $399 million or $1.51 per share a year ago). The slide was in part due to deeper concerns worldwide over biotechnology and a drought at home. Thus analysts say the company needs to sell aggressively. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MASS EXODUS OF EUROPE'S BIOTECH COMPANIES FROM GM The Commission also found that the number of GM field trial applications fell by 76 per cent last year, from the 250 submitted in 1998 to a level not seen since 1992. By comparison, US field trial bids have remained relatively stable at about 1,000 a year. The Commission's gloom deepened after an opinion poll of 16,500 people showed deep-rooted disquiet about GM crops. Although 44 per cent of Europeans believed medical biotechnology would improve their lives, only 36 per cent supported GM foods. NOW SYNGENTA BOSS QUITS! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MOST CONSUMERS WORLDWIDE DONT WANT GM FOOD PROTESTS BUILD AGAINST GM FOOD CORNWALL GOES GM-FREE In a full meeting, Cornwall County Council voted to keep the County of Cornwall free of GM crops and GM food and feed, and to call on the Secretary of State to provide legal protection for this County as a GM free area, under European law. Under this law, councils can request legal protection of their areas from particular GM crops. http://ngin.tripod.com/020403a.htm --- To subscribe to the 'WEEKLY WATCH' To subscribe to 'GMWATCH' (monthly) To unsubscribe to any of the the NGIN lists: archived at: NGIN website: Donations made out to 'NGIN': |