WEEKLY WATCH number 188 (18/8/2006)

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

A federal district judge has ruled that the US Dept of Agriculture broke the law and put endangered species at risk in allowing GM pharma crops to be cultivated in Hawaii (THE AMERICAS).

And Monsanto needs watching still more carefully now they're taking over Terminator firm Delta & Pine Land (COMPANY NEWS).

Claire
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org

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CONTENTS
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COMPANY NEWS
RESEARCH
LOBBYWATCH
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
AFRICA
AUSTRALASIA
ASIA
GM MEDICINES
QUOTE OF THE WEEK

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COMPANY NEWS
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+ MONSANTO TO BUY DELTA AND PINE LAND FOR USD 1.5 BILLION
Monsanto has agreed to buy cotton seed maker Delta and Pine Land Co. for $1.5 billion. According to the Ban Terminator Campaign, Delta & Pine Land:
*is the 11th largest seed company in the world
*is the largest cotton seed company in the world
*produces and sells conventional and GM soy and cotton seed.

Delta & Pine has publicly declared its intention to commercialize Terminator.

Delta & Pine holds three patents jointly with the United States Department of Agriculture. These were the first patents on Terminator. Delta & Pine is conducting greenhouse tests of Terminator in the US and has new glossy promotional material on Terminator. http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6892

+ WHAT THE MONSANTO TAKEOVER MEANS
ETC Group comments on Monsanto's takeover of Delta & Pine Land (EXCERPT):

With D&PL subsidiaries in 13 countries - including major markets such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Pakistan - the takeover means that Monsanto will command a dominant position in one of the world's most important agricultural trade commodities and that millions of cotton farmers will be under increased pressure to accept GM cottonseed.

"This merger," says Ibrahim Coulibaly, President of the National Coordination of Peasants' Organizations of Mali, "guarantees an intensification of the already immense political pressure on West African governments to accept GM seeds. Delta & Pine Land couldn't exercise the kind of clout Monsanto can. This deal is a major threat to our farmers and food sovereignty. African farmers' groups and civil society organizations need international support to resist the pressure of multinational corporations and USAID on African governments to adopt GMOs." http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6898

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RESEARCH
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+ NEW STUDIES HIGHLIGHT THE FAILURES OF GM COTTON - podcast and transcript
The latest GM Watch podcast looks at the new evidence on how GM cotton is failing to deliver, especially for farmers in the developing world.

We look at a whole series of recent studies that have come out of China, South Africa and the USA, including two brand new studies yet to be published, and we also discuss a disturbing report about new problems that are emerging this year in the GM cotton fields of Arkansas.

For the first time, the transcript - complete with references for the research - is available on the GM Watch website at http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=86&page=1

You can listen to the podcast on your computer (eg with QuickTime) via indymedia: http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/2006/08/5288.shtml

or on your computer or MP3 player via iTunes http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=158600210

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LOBBYWATCH
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+ GM CROPS AND DDT: CONNECT THE DOTS
In an article in the Cape Times in response to one by the neo-liberal Free Market Foundation, Glenn Ashton writes (EXCERPT):

Jasson Urbach attempts, on behalf of the neo-liberal Free Market Foundation (FMF), to make a case that GM crops are necessary to improve the food security of Africa ...

This is not the first time Urbach has attempted to hoodwink the public with pseudo-science. He recently penned a paean of support for DDT as a mechanism to reduce the incidence of Malaria in Africa. In that article he directly compared the toxicity of DDT to coffee, beer and peanut butter and went so far as to claim that there was no substantial evidence to show DTT was dangerous to humans.

Besides the tacit admission that DDT thus does affect other living organisms besides humans, Urbach's claim of lack of evidence of danger to humans is incorrect. A study by the University of Berkley showed the ability of DDT to slow childhood development. Another study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Services showed a strong relationship between prematurely delivered and low birth weight babies and mothers' blood levels of DDE, the metabolic breakdown product of DDT. It is not by chance that international health interests have called for its total withdrawal.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6900

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