WEEKLY WATCH 183 (15/7/2006) | |
from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor Dear all: It's been a week of bad smells from rotten governments. In Australia, government employees are using public money to attend workshops run by a biotech PR specialist teaching them how to beat citizens' groups and conflate them with "terrorists" (LOBBYWATCH). In Paraguay, the US military is apparently supporting the repression of farmers who are resisting the massive expansion of GM soy plantations by violent and illegal means. And Peru's health minister is being economical with the truth over the babies being used as GM guinea pigs in two of the country's hospitals. (THE AMERICAS). But there's some very good news. South Africa's normally lax GM regulatory body has turned down an application to conduct laboratory and greenhouse experiments on a much hyped GM sorghum. The application was refused on biosafety grounds, because of concerns that GM sorghum will lead to the destruction of the sorghum varieties prevalent throughout Africa. (AFRICA) Claire [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------ THE AMERICAS ------------------------------------------------------------ + ACTION ALERT: URGENT HELP NEEDED FOR PERU This law puts at great risk the extremely rich biodiversity of Peru, the food sovereignty of the country and of its indigenous peoples and the livelihoods of small farmers who depend on the extraordinary biodiversity of potatoes, corn, and other Andean and Amazonian crops for their survival. Many of these crops have their centre of origin in Peru, and were domesticated there thousands of years ago. Now this biodiversity, which has been conserved and developed, is under risk of genetic contamination, if transgenics crops are introduced into Peru. Peruvians are concerned that through this law, Peru will be transformed into a centre of GM experimentation, used for the testing of new technologies, crops and traits that have not been tested anywhere else in the world. The introduction of GM crops is also likely to exacerbate the process of deterioration of the peasant economies, which will lead to a genetic erosion of some of the crops that right now are feeding the world, like potatoes and corn. So please direct letters of protest to Ask him not to approve this law (Ley General de Promocion de la Biotecnologia en el Peru) + CONTROVERSY OVER VENTRIA PHARMA TRIALS IN PERU WORSENS Mazzetti rejected the idea that the GM product was given to 140 children and described the denunciation issued by the Peruvian Medical Association (AMP) as "ridiculous". The AMP considers the health ministry committed a serious illegal act and has taken the case to the provincial district attorney's office, alleging a violation of the children's rights. But the minister claims "The children participating in this research have not received transgenic rice." GM Watch comment: The health minister's denial is specious. They're using a transgenic protein in these trials. The transgenic (pharmaceutical) component in the rice has been extracted and then fed (via a beverage) to the children! See the excellent Mexican press piece - Babies as Guinea Pigs: Biotech company turns two Peruvian hospitals into laboratories + U.S. MILITARY SUPPORTS FARMER REPRESSION IN PARAGUAY EXCERPT: GRR [Grupo de Reflexion Rural, farmers rights group] said Cabrera was killed by paramilitaries connected to large landowners and soy producers, who are expanding their holdings. The paramilitaries pursue farm leaders who are organizing against the occupation of their land. Investigations by Serpaj demonstrate that the worst cases of repression against farmers have taken place in areas with the highest concentration of US troops. Serpaj reported that in the department of San Pedro, where five US military exercises took place, there have been eig |