from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Dear all

We've a Christmas treat for you this week in the form of redoubtable Australian farmer Julie Newman KO'ing pro-GM lobbyist Roger Kalla in the arena of GM contamination and liability (AUSTRALASIA).

Another remarkable woman, Kenya's Nobel Prize-winning Wangari Mathai, is indignant over the way in which big business is managing to browbeat and bribe poor governments into embracing GMOs. She warns that far from ending hunger, GMOs will worsen food insecurity. And farmers in Kenya have been expressing their outrage over a government bill seeking to introduce GM crops. (AFRICA)

Another GMO has been blocked in Europe (EUROPE), partly on food safety grounds, and Californian dairies are thinking about going GM-free in the cause of market advantage (THE AMERICAS).

More good news from the States: Monsanto has had to set up a massive liability fund following the bankruptcy of its chemicals division, Solutia, leading to a share price drop. But - and here's the kicker - the fund doesn't cover most of the liabilities that drove Solutia into bankruptcy, which have yet to be quantified! You can imagine why Monsanto has only let this particular cat out of the bag when it's hoping everyone's enjoying a Christmas snooze. (COMPANY NEWS)

There are two important CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK. Please continue to support Dr Ignacio Chapela in his fight for tenure justice. Even if you've already protested to Berkeley's Chancellor over Ignacio Chapela's sacking, you'll want to take advantage of The Campaign's new multiple alert that takes in everyone from the President of Berkeley to Governor Arnie! And stop the US FDA legalizing contamination of our food with experimental GMOs.

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE AMERICAS
CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
AFRICA
AUSTRALASIA
EUROPE
ASIA
COMPANY NEWS
GM TREES

------------------------------------------------------------
THE AMERICAS
------------------------------------------------------------

+ FARCE BEHIND MEXICO'S "MONSANTO LAW"
Summaries of two documents providing background on the Mexican Senate's recent passing of what has been aptly termed the "Monsanto Law" - a biosafety bill offering more protection to multinationals than to Mexico's farmers and biodiversity - are at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4741

These documents show how the legislation was watered down and excluded amendments put forward by a group of scientists and academics calling for a continued moratorium on the importation of GM maize.

The drafting of the legislation also paid lip service to public consultation while deliberately excluding any of the amendments to the legislation which were drawn up as a result of those consultation exercises.

This led to a collective resignation of the Consultation Board which was set up to investigate the issue of GMOs because their opinions were completely ignored. One participant said, "We are left with the farce of public consultation exercises which achieve nothing given that the results of all these heated debates are merely filed away."

+ CHAPELA ON "MONSANTO LAW"
Read Ignacio Chapela's open letter on Mexico's new law on biosafety at
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4744

Excerpt from summary of English translation of Chapela's letter:

The proposed legislation about to be passed by the Chamber of Representatives might well be re-titled: "The Law for Genetic Colonisation for the 21st Century" or "The Law for the Promotion and Gratification of the New Genetic Colonies". The legislation only succeeds in ensuring the interests of a tiny elite within Mexico which in turn represents the narrow interests of political and economic powers at home and abroad.

The implications of GM technology are profound and the effects of GMOs unpredictable. The government tells us that it knows of no damage caused by the release of transgenics, but this might well be a cause for alarm rather than complacency. No evidence exists simply because no attention has been paid to the obvious problems of genetic manipulation. Any research expressing reservations in respect of transgenics is routinely discredited. Those studies that purport to find no evidence of risks from transgenics are invariably funded by the industry itself.

Any opposition to the dogmatic principles of the science at the core of this legislation is stifled. The dangers of genetic contamination are barely mentioned. Similarly watered down is any attempt to enforce labelling and public information about transgenic products, and the legislation has effectively excluded public representation in the decision-making process.
---
Add your voice to the global protest over the treatment of Dr Chapela: http://www.thecampaign.org/alert_chapela.php
Also see CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK

+ CANADIAN FARMERS CONCERNED THEY MAY BE FORCED TO GROW GM
The National Farmers Union of Canada has presented its opposition to the Seed Sector Review completed in May this year. The NFU said, "The plan is to introduce legislation that will prevent farmers from being able to save seed and use it on their farms."

The seed review proposes the collection of royalties on farm-saved seed. The National Farmers Union says it also wants to compel farmers to buy corporate-produced seed by linking crop insurance premiums to the use of that seed.

An NFU representative said there is a link between forcing farmers to buy seed and genetic modification and that the biotech firms have been buying up the seed producers, adding, "Once they own all the seed companies, and once you have to buy [their seed], they're only going to give you what they want you to buy, which would be [genetically engineered."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4743

+ CALIFORNIA DAIRIES TO DUMP GM?
California dairy farmers who plant GMOs on dairy ranches may be inadvertently downloading an economic virus that could damage the local industry's market position as a supplier of natural products, says an article for TruthAboutTrade.org. The market risks are so serious that members of one local dairy association say they will probably seek a ban on GMO planting by members.

The Humboldt Creamery cooperative - which incorporates about two-thirds of local dairies - will probably consider whether to ban GMO planting by its members because of the potential impacts on its market. The dairies that supply Rumiano and Loleta, although not a cooperative, may consider a ban as well.

Such a policy would follow the successful precedent set when the dairies and processors became rBST-free in the 1990s. Given the risks involved, enacting a collective ban on planting GMOs may be the best course for the industry to take.

Print

Back to the Archive