WEEKLY WATCH number 170 (6/4/2006)

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

This week's focus is on the recent EU conference on "coexistence" of GM and non-GM farming, which despite some telling comments from the environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, failed to address any of the contamination problems currently occurring and typified the EU Commission's approach of allowing the GM companies to pollute with impunity (COEXISTENCE IN EUROPE).

It's not all bad news from Europe, however. The corrupt and ineffectual European Food Safety Authority, which has rubber-stamped every GMO that has come before it for approval, may be forced to start cleaning up its act (FOOD SAFETY IN EUROPE).

A special GM WATCH Award for Tame Media goes to the BBC. In a TV programme devoted to the recent drug trial catastrophe ("Real Story with Fiona Bruce"), the BBC managed not to even hint at the fact that the drug was genetically engineered. See more coverage of this story in GM MEDICINES.

Finally, don't forget JIGMOD on April 8. Find out more about what's happening around the world: http://altercampagne.free.fr/

And don't forget the convergence in Chicago: April 8-11: http://reclaimthecommons.net/ http://www.bioethics2006.org/

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

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CONTENTS
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COEXISTENCE IN EUROPE
FOOD SAFETY IN EUROPE
WTO
ASIA
GM MEDICINES

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COEXISTENCE IN EUROPE
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+ POLISH GOVERNMENT EYES GM BAN
Poland's government wants to ban sowing and curb imports of genetically modified plants to protect its image as an environmentally-friendly state, Deputy Farm Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski said on Wednesday.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6419

+ EUROPEAN GM CONFERENCE: A MISSED OPPORTUNITY
During a European Commission conference on "coexistence", which failed to resolve any of the problems of growing GM crops, agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, said GMOs were here to stay, while Europe's environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, attacked the EU's food safety agency (EFSA) for flawed risk assessments of GM crops and foods, saying it relied too much on data given by the biotech industry.

Fischer Boel reconfirmed the Commission's position not to set EU rules that would protect consumers and European farmers from contamination, and continued to deny the right of regions to establish themselves as GMO-free zones. But Stavros Dimas pointed to the failures of the European Food Safety Authority in evaluating the long-term risks of GM foods and crops.

At the end of the conference Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth warned that Europe's food and farming will be widely contaminated if GM crops are grown in Europe. And a coalition of farming and environmental organisations issued a statement calling for a Europe-wide debate open to all citizens.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6418

+ EU "COEXISTENCE" CONFERENCE: FREEDOM OF CHOICE FOR WHOM?
The Commission's policy on the "coexistence" of GM, conventional and organic crops, presented at this week's conference entitled "Freedom of Choice", refused to accept that organic and conventional farming have the right to remain GM-free.

Friends of the Earth's new publication, "Contaminate or legislate?", shows how the Commission is pushing for "coexistence" rules to allow up to 0.9% GM contamination of conventional and organic crops, because anything containing up to 0.9% accidental GM contamination does not have to be labelled. But this denies consumers and farmers a genuine choice, and if accepted will lead to genetic contamination creeping inevitably upwards.

"Freedom of choice for whom?" asked Helen Holder of Friends of the Earth Europe. "The Commission is listening to the biotech industry and not its Member States and citizens."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6408
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6414

Contamination incidents show worldwide illegal spread of GMOs:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6318
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6414

+ GM CONTAMINATION IN SPAIN: A WARNING FOR EUROPE
The spiralling uptake of GM crops in Spain is causing massive genetic contamination, threatens the livelihood of farmers and urgently needs to be suspended, says Greenpeace. Their new report, "Impossible Coexistence", shows how GM crops in Spain - the only EU country that grows GMOs on a large scale - are undermining agricultural biodiversity and consumer choice.

Greenpeace campaigner Geert Ritsema said, "Testimonials from farmers demonstrate that the unabated growth of the GM industry now represents the single largest threat to their livelihoods, especially in the regions Aragon and Catalonia where GM crops are mainly cultivated."

The new report is based on thoro


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