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WEEKLY WATCH number 230
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from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

An extremely important new study shows genetically engineered Bt corn byproducts that are washing into streams near cornfields could be endangering aquatic life (NEW RESEARCH).

It also raises big questions as to how U.S. and other regulators gave the go ahead to Bt corn without undertaking sufficient testing of their impact on aquatic ecosystems. And it raises a big flag about other Bt crops. Take, for instance, Bt trees which could contribute even more biomass to streams than corn.

On the plant breeding front, there have been two more non-GM breakthroughs: a drought-resistant maize in the Philippines, and a pest-resistant maize in Africa (ASIA, AFRICA). And these are only the latest in an extraordinarily long list of recent non-GM success stories, including salt-tolerant, drought-resistant, allergen-free and biofortified crops - see http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8139

Don''t miss the latest news on pro-GM lobbyist Shane Morris, whose attempts at proving that the controversial ''wormy'' sweetcorn sign wasn''t up at the site of his GM research have spectacularly backfired - yet again (PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - THE LATEST).

Finally, don''t forget to TAKE ACTION! on GM sugar.

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

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CONTENTS
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PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - THE LATEST
NEW RESEARCH
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
ASIA
AFRICA
FOOD SAFETY
CODEX
TAKE ACTION!

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PROPAGANDA, FRAUD AND LIBEL - LATEST
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Biotech lobbyist Shane Morris is still trying to defend his indefensible scientific paper, which claimed to show that consumers preferred to buy GM rather than non-GM corn but omitted the crucial information that a sign above the non-GM corn described it as ''wormy''!! Because GM Watch pointed this out in an article entitled ''Award for a Fraud'', Morris made legal threats against our internet service provider.

Now Morris has received another blast from Peter Melchett of the Soil Association over his behaviour. In a second open letter Melchett tells him, ''You may underestimate the impact that the threat of legal action by a Government employee has on small, voluntary organisations. I do not.'' He also points out: ''The current edition of the magazine Private Eye quotes a leading expert on research ethics at Cambridge University, Dr Richard Jennings, who describes your research as 'flagrant fraud'. The same article refers to your 'heavy-handed libel threats'.''
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8350
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8352
For the background see ''Award-winning paper ''a flagrant fraud'''':
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8314

+ NEW IMAGE FURTHER DEMOLISHES MORRIS'S CLAIMS
Shane Morris posted two photos on his blog which he said proved that the controversial ''Would you eat wormy sweet corn?'' sign was taken down early on in his and Doug Powell''s research into whether consumers preferred GM or non-GM sweet corn. After carefully studying both photos, Tim Lambert, a computer scientist at the University of New South Wales, previously concluded, ''I think that science would have been better served if Powell and Morris had acknowledged the flaws in their study rather than making untrue statements about the ''wormy corn'' sign being removed.''

Now GM Watch has published a special composite image that Tim Lambert has created that shows more clearly than ever that the ''wormy'' corn sign is present in both the photos that Morris said showed it had been taken down. To see the new photographic evidence go to
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=97&page=1

The composite has been formed from the two images on Morris''s blog plus a third image - a picture of the ''wormy'' corn sign taken by a photographer for the Toronto Star at the start of the research, when even Shane Morris admits the sign was on display.

In the composite, Tim Lambert has lined up signs present in all three images one above the other, and this makes it is easy to see at a glance that they are images of exactly the same sign, even though two come from photographs that Morris has claimed disprove the presence of the ''wormy'' corn sign!!

Tim Lambert told us: ''I've put three versions in this one image. The bottom one is the clear image... The middle one is [from] Morris''s photo of the signs. It's hard to read, but it''s clear that has the same words as the bottom one. The top one is from Morris's [other] photo... I just stretched it horizontally to compensate for the angle of the photo. It's blurry, but you can see that it''s the same sign again and with the same words on it. This photo is dated 9.27.2000, which seems to contradict Morris''s claim that the sign was taken down before he was there.''

The only difference in the sign dated 9.27.2000 is that another much smaller orange sign is covering the bottom right hand part of the wormy corn sign, but other than that, as Tim Lambert notes, it''s the same sign and with the same words on it, including the question: ''Would you eat wormy sweet corn?''

According to Morris supporter, Andrew Apel in his article, ''Propaganda, Fraud and Libel'', ''the hand-written ''wormy'' sweet corn signs had gone up and come down before Morris was in Canada, before he was employed at the University of Guelph, and before the data were gathered.'' But from the photographic evidence, none of this seems to be true.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8362

The photographic evidence is supported by the testimony of Dr Rod MacRae, an agricultural scientist in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University (Canada), who went to see how the research was being conducted several weeks after the commencement of the study, and who has stated categorically that he saw the ''wormy'' corn sign on display during his visit. More on this, and more background and analysis of the images here
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/09/would_you_eat_wormy_sweet_corn.php

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NEW RESEARCH
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+ GM CORN MAY AFFECT AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS - STUDY
A study by an Indiana University environmental science professor and several colleagues suggests a widely planted variety of GM corn has the potential to harm aquatic ecosystems. The study is being published online this week by the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

Researchers, including Todd V. Royer, an assistant professor in the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs, establi