from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

As news continues to emerge about Syngenta's illegal release of an unapproved maize and contamination of the food supply, it has become clear that supposed regulators in the US, Britain and Europe have colluded with the company to cover up the affair (CONTAMINATION SCANDAL LATEST).

Don't miss the latest research findings on the toxicity of Roundup, the herbicide most commonly used on GM crops (NEW RESEARCH).

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

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CONTENTS
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CONTAMINATION SCANDAL LATEST
LOBBYWATCH
AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
MIDDLE EAST
ASIA
NEW RESEARCH
FOOD SAFETY
CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK

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CONTAMINATION SCANDAL LATEST
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+ US OFFICIALS FRET OVER SOUTH KOREA'S RESPONSE TO ROGUE CORN
U.S. industry and government officials say they are concerned South Korea may disrupt corn trade by requiring testing for an unapproved biotech strain produced in the U.S. over the past four years.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5060

+ JOINT US-UK COVER-UP ALLEGED
From the UK Guardian:
The whereabouts of 170,000 tonnes of contaminated GM maize and its possible import into the UK has caused an international investigation and claims of a cover-up on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) first put out a statement saying the contamination was "on a small scale" but later retracted it, instead saying the maize was unlikely to have got into food but might have been fed to cattle.

The maize is not licensed to be grown in Europe and contains a GM antibiotic-resistant marker [resistant to ampicillin, a commonly used antibiotic] of a type scientists have advised the EU to phase out. It is theoretically possible for bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics as a result of contact with the marker genes.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5053

Critics have expressed surprise that neither Syngenta nor the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the presence of the marker when they admitted that the release of Bt10 had taken place. "It is quite scandalous," says Greg Jaffe, head of the biotechnology project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5043
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5047
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5054

+ COMMISSION ONLY ACTS AFTER 10 DAYS
The Commission confirmed on 1 April that around 1000 tonnes of the illegal GM maize has entered the European food chain and some was planted at tests sites in Spain and France. The Commission has now written to the United States and to Syngenta for more information.

Friends of the Earth criticised the European Commission for doing too little, too late, about the illegal import into the EU of unapproved GM maize.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5056

+ DEFRA ACCUSED OF KEY ROLE IN GM CONTAMINATION COVER-UP
DEFRA has been accused of playing a key role in a cover-up designed to protect the GM industry from the effects of the latest GM contamination scandal. According to GM Free Cymru, the government department rushed out a press notice last week to protect Syngenta, within 24 hours of receiving notification of the contamination of maize supplies with Bt10.

GM Free Cymru says the DEFRA press notice was misleading, and contained statements which DEFRA must have known to be untrue:

** The DEFRA statement stresses that the contamination incident was on "an extremely small scale". But GM Free Cymru points out that by using Syngenta's own figures, around 187,000 tonnes of contaminated maize has entered the food chain.

** DEFRA pretends that because USDA has concluded that there are no safety concerns about the contamination incident, we should all come to the same conclusion. But there is no effective regulation of GM crops and foods in the USA, and Bt 10 maize has never come before the authorities for assessment or regulation either in the US or Europe.

** DEFRA states that Bt10 maize "is covered by the existing tolerance exemption for Bt11" and that it is virtually identical in its proteins. But DEFRA and ACRE knew as long ago as 2003 that Bt10 is unique and identifiable. It also contains ampicillin antibiotic resistant marker genes, which make it illegal in Europe.

** DEFRA and ACRE are in possession of technical data about Bt10 which they have refused to place in the public domain. We believe that since Bt10 was developed about ten years ago, it has changed its character and may be unstable. If this is the case, and if Bt10 really is a "failed" variety, DEFRA should be protecting the public, not Syngenta.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5044

+ 'FOOD SAFETY' BODY SHOULD ACT
GM Free Cymru has written to the European Food Safety Authority to demand that they impose an embargo on the import of US maize to the EU.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5037

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ NEW GOLDEN RICE PR BLITZ
Golden Rice is back - a new PR blitz is underway to acccompany publication of an article on how Syngenta scientists have managed to increase the level of precursor Vitamin A in the rice. See: 'GM golden rice boosts vitamin A'
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=X&oi=news&start=0&num=1&q=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4386933.stm

Syngenta is, of course, highly unlikley to be encouraging its scientists to study those genes that would make a non-GM vitamin-A rice possible, because that would deny Syngenta the GM poster child the industry so desperately needs, given its failure to demonstrate any benefits to consumers or the poor.

Similarly, the International Rice Research Institute is busy preparing to run trials on Golden Rice even though IRRI's own scientists already have types of rice they've been working on for longer that are naturally rich in vitamin A, iron and zinc.

Golden Rice has the money and support to be developed even though it's possible to achieve the same results without the uncertainties of GM. The renowned Indian scientist Dr Pushpa Bhargava has pointed out that in terms of meeting the requirement for vitamin A, "there are other cheaper and better sources already available". http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5041

+ FOOD WATCHDOG PRO-GM AND 'BIASED AGAINST ORGANIC FOOD' SAYS ITS OWN REVIEW
Britain's official food safety watchdog must review its controversial policies on GM and organic goods, a wide-ranging official review of its performance has concluded.

The review, carried out to mark the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Food Standards Agency, makes it clear that its support for GM and its attacks on organic produce has caused a widespread loss of confidence in its judgement and independence.

This conclusion is all the more striking because the review - conducted by Baroness (Brenda) Dean at the agency's invitation - is otherwise notably sympathetic to the watchdog.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=625943

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AFRICA
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+ NIGERIAN CONSUMER BODY REJECTS GMOs
Nigerian con