from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

We're delighted to report that our GM Watch and LobbyWatch websites are back online with the bulk of the material on the sites restored. For a comment on the attack, see http://aw2w.blogspot.com/2007/02/gm-is-now-global-battlefield.html.

Don't miss a landmark decision by a US federal court requiring more rigorous environmental assessments prior to GM field trials, and watch out too for a great opinion piece by Altieri and Holt-Gimenez on the recent BP-Berkeley tie up (THE AMERICAS). And we've got some very telling QUOTES OF THE WEEK, including one by the head of the ISAAA branding critics of GM crops selfish and fanatical.

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

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CONTENTS
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EUROPE
GM RICE CONTAMINATION FALLOUT
THE AMERICAS
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
QUOTES OF THE WEEK

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EUROPE
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+ ONE MILLION EU CITIZENS CALL FOR FULL LABELLING OF GM FOODS
A Greenpeace petition signed by 1 million EU citizens is calling on the European Commission to legislate that food products such as eggs, meat and milk where the animal has been fed with GM crops should be labelled as such. The petition was handed over to EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou on 5 February after the 1,000,000 signatures had been displayed outside the EU executive building in Brussels.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7511

+ HUNGARY CONFIDENT OF RETAINING GMO BAN
http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=74079-monsanto-hungary-gmo-ban

+ TORIES BACK ORGANIC INDUSTRY IN GM ROW
The Conservatives, Britain's main opposition Party are backing organic firms in their criticism of GM labelling plans. The Government wants labels to show only produce with more than a 0.9% GM element, but critics say the threshold should be nearer 0.1%. The Tories back that call, saying customers need to have "clear information" to ensure trust in food.
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2006372,00.html

+ MONSANTO DUMPED TOXIC WASTE IN UK
Evidence has emerged that Monsanto dumped thousands of tonnes of highly toxic waste in British landfill sites, knowing that their chemicals were liable to contaminate wildlife and people. An inquiry has been launched after the chemicals were found to be polluting underground water supplies and the atmosphere. A previously unseen government report shows that chemicals including Agent Orange derivatives, dioxins and PCBs which could have been made only by Monsanto, are leaking from a site not authorised to take chemical wastes.
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,2011024,00.html

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GM RICE CONTAMINATION FALLOUT
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+ GM RICE INDUSTRY FACES MELTDOWN AS GLOBAL REJECTION GROWS
Forty-one of the world's biggest rice exporters, processors and retailers have issued written commitments to stay GM-free. The worldwide tide of opposition is contained in the new Greenpeace rice markets report.

The report, "Rice Industry in Crisis", carries company statements covering Asia, Europe, Australia, and North and South America. It includes a commitment from the world's largest rice processor, Ebro Puleva, to stop buying US rice. This follows a major contamination incident in 2006, when the world's rice supply was contaminated with an experimental and illegal variety of GM rice produced by Bayer.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7516

Greenpeace report at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/rice-industry-in-crisis/

+ BAYER DEFENDS GM CONTAMINATION AS "ACT OF GOD" (GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE)
You might blame the dog for eating your homework, or a traffic jam for being late to work. But if you ever find yourself facing a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit for contaminating the world's number one food crop with an unapproved GM variety, just do what biotech company Bayer does. Blame God!

According to documents submitted to a US court by Bayer, last year's massive contamination of US rice with an unapproved, experimental variety of rice called LL601 was due to "acts of God" or the rice farmers themselves.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7516

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THE AMERICAS
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+ FEDERAL COURT ORDERS HALT TO NEW GM FIELD TRIALS
A US federal district judge has ruled that the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) must halt approval of all new field trials until more rigorous environmental reviews are conducted. Citing potential threats to the environment, Judge Harold Kennedy found in favor of the Center for Food Safety's contention that USDA's past approvals of field trials of herbicide tolerant GM bentgra