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WEEKLY WATCH number 212 (14/4/2007)

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all:

Reports coming from South Korea suggest the Government there is desperately trying to cover up a Faustian pact with the US to exempt GM crops from safety tests in return for textile industry concessions.

Things are really bubbling in India. An official task force for India's Planning Commission says the country's apex GM regulator has been flouting the law in irresponsibly approving GM releases. And 6.5 million farmers want to join the public interest lawsuit before India's Supreme Court to stop GM crops.

Meanwhile, India's department of biotechnology has been ordered to disclose toxicity and allergenicity data on GM crops approved for field testing. This has already lead to the disclosure that the safety data for some of the approved crops is still "under development" and "yet to be evaluated"!!

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

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CONTENTS
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CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
ASIA: IRRI AND ICRISAT PROTESTS
ASIA: FIGHTING BACK
ASIA: BT COTTON FIASCO
ASIA: REGULATORY BATTLE HOTS UP
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
AFRICA
AUSTRALASIA
PHARMA CROPS
LOBBYWATCH
QUOTES OF THE WEEK

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CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
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+ TAKE ACTION ON THE LOSS OF HONEYBEES!
The Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee is asking for scientific investigation into whether GM crops are responsible for the massive die-off of bees in the US. You can help by lobbying Senator Tom Harkin, 731 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510. Tel (202) 224-3254; fax (202) 224-9369. Model letter at
http://www.sierraclub.org/biotech/whatsnew/whatsnew_2007-04-07.asp

Senator Harkin can also be reached online via his website at http://harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm

Laurel Hopwood says the Sierra Club welcomes lobbying by concerned citizens right across the world: "Considering the colony collapse disorder is an international issue, he should be bombarded with the request to do the science."

+ GM SPUDS - INFO, PETITION, RALLIES, CHANCE TO COMMENT
Oppose BASF's plans to trial GM potatoes in the UK *New website http://www.mutatoes.org *Please spread the word about rallies and picnics in Cambridge and Hull (for Hedon) on 14 and 21 April. http://www.mutatoes.org

*Sign the petitions - time's running out http://www.hedonagainstgm.org.uk/petition.php (Hedon) http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/notogmspuds/  (Cambridge) *Grid references for trials

Cambridge: TL430627.

Hedon: if trial approved, grid refs after 20 April at http://www.mutatoes.org *Second consultation by UK's DEFRA into the proposed trials ends 20 April. Address for comments: [email protected] Reference for subject line of e-mail: 07/R42/01 http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7750

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ASIA: IRRI AND ICRISAT PROTESTS
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+ PROTEST AT ICRISAT AGAINST GMOs
As a part of the International Month of Opposition to GM, about 300 women farmers, led by the Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of Diversity and the Deccan Development, formed a human chain in front of the International Crop Research Institute (ICRISAT) in Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India denouncing ICRISAT for its corporate-backed pro-GM research agenda. They demanded that ICRISAT move away from GM and work with farmers to build on the foundations of their science once again.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7747

+ IRRI TOLD TO GET OUT OF ASIA
"IRRI out of Asia!" This was the resounding call of more than 1,000 Filipino farmers who marched in front of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) headquarters to protest its 47th anniversary and to culminate the highly successful Asia-wide Week of Rice Action (WORA) led by Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP). Sarojeni Rengam, PAN AP's executive director, said, "We are telling IRRI to get lost, to get out and be with farmers and not TNCs like Monsanto, Syngenta and Bayer. We don't want GE crops, especially rice. ... We can't allow IRRI to take over."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7732

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ASIA: FIGHTING BACK
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