28 March 2003
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THE WEEKLY WATCH NUMBER 21
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from Andy Rees, the WEEKLY WATCH editor
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Dear all
Welcome to WW21 bringing you all the latest news in brief on the GM issue.
As Bush and Blair pursue their immoral and illegal war against Iraq, a coalition of peasant groups in the Philippines, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, has called on famers and others to boycott Monsanto's products, not only to block the use of the GM YieldGard Bt-corn which has been approved in the Philippines in dubious circumstances and in the face of mass opposition, but also to protest the US-led war on Iraq. The KMP say Monsanto's whole development as a company is "intimately linked to war" - see HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK.
The Monsanto boycott call comes in a context of a wider call for consumer boycotts of American products and services which, according to Reuters this week, is spreading across the world - see CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK. Meanwhile, while causing mayhem in Colombia spraying vast quantities of Monsanto's Roundup in an effort to wipe out cocaine crops, the US government appears to be working on the devlopment of Roundup-Ready Heroin!!! see HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK.
As ever, please make sure your friends and other contacts who may be finding it hard to keep up with all the breaking news on GMOs, get to see WW21!
Hope you enjoy WW21 and let me know what you think. Last week someone wrote to ask, "Whose side are you on - Saddam's?" The bad news for the biotech industry is that even this correspondent assured us of his total opposition to Monsanto!
Andy <andy@gmwatch.org>
www.ngin.org.uk
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WEEKLY WATCH number 21 - CONTENTS
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SETBACKS FOR THE GM INDUSTRY
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
REPORT OF THE WEEK 1 - The UK GM Farm Scale trials fail
REPORT OF THE WEEK 2 - Prof. Derek Burke, Godfather of GM
REPORT OF THE WEEK 3 - The pro-GM corporate warriors: meet the network
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
FACTS OF THE WEEK
LIES FROM THE GM LOBBY
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK
SUBSCRIPTIONS
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SETBACKS FOR THE GM INDUSTRY
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GM COMPANY IN INDIA SHOWS GATE TO RESEARCH STAFF:
Failure to get approval for commercialisation of GM Mustard is believed
to be the reason for the exit of some of the top scientists working with
Pro-Agro, in India, which is backed by the multinational firm Aventis.
https://ngin.tripod.com/240303d.htm
POLICE ARRESTS DURING COTTON PROTEST IN INDIA:
As reports of Bt Cotton failure continue to pour in from farmers around
the country, Indian police arrested nine Greenpeace activists during a
protest against Monsanto. They were demanding the withdrawal of its
transgenic seeds from the Indian market, an admission of Bt Cotton failure,
and compensation for farmers. Police also removed two women, who
had chained themselves to the iron gates of the Monsanto Research Center
building in Bangalore. Monsanto's only reaction was to try and oust
all the media from the complex, and prevent them from getting pictures.
"Greenpeace has recently concluded a sample survey of Bt Cotton farmers
in three districts of Karnataka," says Dr Ashesh Tayal of Greenpeace India.
"Just like in Andhra Pradesh, the farmers reported disturbingly high incidence
of pests - this, along with low, poor quality yields, point to a total
failure of the technology."
https://ngin.tripod.com/260303b.htm
MASS EXODUS OF EUROPE'S BIOTECH COMAPANIES FROM GM CROPS:
The European Commission has admitted that nearly two thirds of the
EU's biotech companies have cancelled GM research projects over the past
four years, mainly because of the controversy over the safety and labelling
of GM crops, and continuing consumer resistance.
https://ngin.tripod.com/240303d.htm
MONSANTO & CARGIL CAUGHT GENETICALLY ENGINEERING SURVEY RESULTS:
'Farm', the new campaigning and membership group for working farmers
and the public, has discovered that employees of biotech giants, Monsanto
and Cargill, have been seeking to exert undue influence over Farm's website
poll on GM crops. At a certain point, the polling dramatically changed
towards a more pro-GM stance. On analysing those responding to the
website poll, they discovered that 72% of all the 'No' votes had come from
Monsanto and Cargill IP addresses.
https://ngin.tripod.com/240303c.htm
This is far from the first time Monsanto's been caught red-faced and
red-handed via its IP addresses. Previous transgressions include the posting
of poison pen attacks on scientists and others on the net and trying to
exploit the food aid crisis in southern Africa:
https://ngin.tripod.com/080303b.htm
CALL FOR US-MONSANTO BOYCOTT:
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), a coalition of peasant
groups in the Philippines, has called for a boycott by farmers of all Monsanto
products. Rafael Mariano, KMP chair, says the Boycott on Monsanto products
will be one part of the civil disobedience campaign and protest actions
against the US attacks on the Iraqi people. "The US military campaign
to topple the Iraqi leadership was for the benefit of US war industries
like the US-based Monsanto, the proponent of the genetically engineered
Bt-corn in the country and manufacturer of Agent Orange," Mariano said.
Agent Orange is the military name for the herbicides used by US troops
in Vietnam. Monsanto's version of Agent Orange had the highest levels
of damaging dioxin. The KMP said farmers should boycott these
products of Monsanto: Family of Roundup herbicide, Harness herbicide (corn),
Machete herbicide (rice), Asgrow seeds, DEKALB seeds and Hartz seeds.
The group likewise listed these genetically modified-varieties in its boycott
list: Bollgard, InGard, Roundup ready (corn) and the Yieldgard (Bt-corn)
which has been approved by the Department of Agriculture for local application.
Mariano also says that during the aftermath of conflicts, US corporate
giants like Monsanto benefit from the so-called food aid programs undertaken
with US help to rebuild war-torn areas. "Genetically modified foods that
are rejected in Africa would be shipped to Iraq..."
https://ngin.tripod.com/250303a.htm
See also CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK below
CANADIAN GM WHEAT TRIAL STOPPED TWO YEARS AGO:
The Canadian Agriculture Department suspended a trial of GM wheat two
years ago at its Indian Head experimental farm, due to concern that seed
might mix. But tests of Monsanto's Roundup Ready wheat will continue
at other government sites, and some farm groups, like Canada's National
Farmers Union, say they will continue to advocate an end to all such trials.
https://ngin.tripod.com/250303c.htm
GM WHEAT - NO ONE WANTS IT:
The Canadian Wheat Board, the agency which sells Canada's wheat to
the world, surveyed its customers and discovered that 82% of them do not
want and would not buy GM wheat. These customers know they can't
sell GM products to consumers. Consumers do not want to eat GM food.
Consequently, all farmers, those growing GM wheat and those who don't (and
whose crops would be contaminated), would lose money, about $45.8 million
and $32.3 million respectively. Only Monsanto would make money, about
$157 million.
https://ngin.tripod.com/250303c.htm
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OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
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Three arrested at protest outside Monsanto headquarters
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The US-financed spraying of a Monsanto herbicide, aimed at destroying
Colombia's cocaine trade, is also damaging legitimate food crops, poisoning
water, and causing skin rashes, protesters said. Three people
were arrested for trespassing during a protest at Monsanto's headquarters
in St. Louis. "They've caused massive dislocations of people," said
Gary Cozette, who traveled from Chicago for the protest. "They're
poisoning people. They're poisoning land. They're poisoning rivers."
https://ngin.tripod.com/250303b.htm
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Meanwhile... USDA and Department of State Invest in Roundup Ready Heroin!
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Project Number: 500-8-001-23
Project Type: Specific C/A
Objective: Upgrade the pharmaceutical poppy industry in Turkey...
Approach: Increase alkaloid yields in poppy through agronomy and plant
breeding; establish herbicide (glyphosphate) resistance through plant breeding
and genetics... [glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup]
http://nps.ars.usda.gov/projects/projects.htm?accession=404848
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Government company accused of hiding sale of GM potatoes
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Several hundred thousand pounds of GM Bt-potatoes were knowingly sold
to unsuspecting buyers as "regular potatoes" in 1999, by Spudco, the Canadian
government potato company, according to officials involved. A former
employee said they were told by Spudco senior managers, "Don't say on the
bill it's GM potatoes."
https://ngin.tripod.com/260303c.htm
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Ecologists slam EC round-table 'debate' on GM and non-GM co-existence
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Several European environmental organisations have accused the Commission
of reneging on its promises regarding the manner in which it proposes to
organise a round-table debate on the co-existence of conventional and organic
crops on the one hand and transgenic crops on the other. The weighting
of representatives is heavily in favour of the biotech industry.
Furthermore, the debate will not address crucial questions. Which
all sounds chillingly familiar. The EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC)
has calculated that, with co-existence, production costs for conventional
oilseed rape would increase by 41% and those for conventional maize by
9%.
https://ngin.tripod.com/250303c.htm
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FSA hikacks school children's debating competition!
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Because of the high level of suspicion about the UK's Food Standards
Agency's antics and proclaimed neutrality in the GM public debate, Robert
Vint of Genetic Food Alert contacted the organisers of the the Schools
Debating Competition which this year has been sponsored by the FSA to debate
the following motion, 'This house would eat GM food'. The organisers,
the Durham Union Society, assured Robert that the Competition wasn't about
the merits of the motion but was designed to assess the debating skills
of the school teams that participated. For this reason, the school
children were not even given a choice as to which side of the debate they
were on. But yesterday (27th March) the FSA was busy getting the word out
to the media and the public that, to quote its headline, "SCHOOLS DEBATING
COMPETITION VOTES TO EAT GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD" As well as spinning
this to the media, the last line of the FSA's press relase makes it clear
that the report on the debate by the two Food Standards Agency Board members
present : "will form part of discussions by the Board about consumer acceptability
of GM foods among young people". Compare and contrast with what Robert
Vint says the debate organisers told him in a phone conversation that they
intended: "this was not a vote on supporting or opposing GM food but was
a vote on the relative quality of the debating skills of the teams in the
competition. Teams were not there to express their own views and were only
told on the day whether they would argue 'for' or 'against'." Anything
else in the report is down to the objectivity of its authors: the two FSA
board members, Richard Ayre and Robert Rees. Ayre is a member of the Advisory
Council of Sense about Science which shares its phone line with a charity
whose official contact person works for a PR company that employs ex-Monsanto
PR man, Harry Swan, and whose client list includes the very corporations
most likely to benefit if GM crop commercialisation gets the go-ahead.
https://ngin.tripod.com/190303d.htm
FSA's press release: http://www.food.gov.uk/gmdebate/gmpress/gmschoolsdebate
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Taxpayers to pay for clearup of ProdiGene GM corn debacle
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The US Agriculture Department's settlement with ProdiGene, over the
mishandled GM corn, portrayed three months ago as a stringent crackdown
designed to send a message to other potential violators, actually involved
a no-interest $3.75 million government loan (worth as much as $500,000
in interest and other savings to the company over the next three years).
Effectively, American taxpayers will subsidize the cleanup. The Agriculture
Department did not release this information at the time of the settlement.
Gregory Jaffe, director of biotechnology issues at CSPI, said the government
had misled the public, adding, "I think there was a conscious decision
to create an illusion that this was a more severe penalty than it really
is. This situation strongly suggests to me that the government is going
to say one thing in public and do something different to help this industry
as best it can behind closed doors."
https://ngin.tripod.com/260303c.htm
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Critic of biotech corn fears UC won't give him tenure
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In a flap, that raises new questions about corporate ties to universities,
some academics are wondering whether the junior UC Berkeley professor,
who has become a leading biotech industry critic, can get a fair hearing
in a tenure review that has already gone twice as long as usual.
"What we're talking about is a conflict of interest as naked as it gets,"
said David Noble, a science historian at York University in Toronto.
The squabble revolves around Ignacio Chapela, who in 1998 led a fight against
a controversial research partnership between the biotech firm Novartis
and Berkeley's Department of Plant and Microbial Biology - apartnership
whose repercussions were discussed in the article THE KEPT UNIVERSITY.
https://ngin.tripod.com/240303a.htm
In The 'Kept University' a Berkeley scientist says, "Molecular biology
and genetic engineering have clearly risen as the preferred approach to
solving our problems, and that's where the resources are going. New
buildings have gone up, and these departments are expanding, while the
organismic areas of science - which emphasize a more ecological approach
- are being downsized." This scientist once chaired Berkeley's world-renowned
Division of Biological Control. Today that division, along with the
Department of Plant Pathology and more than half of all faculty positions
in entomology, are gone - in part, many professors believe, because there
are no profits in such work. "You can't **patent** the natural organisms
and ecological understanding used in biological control," Andy Gutierrez,
a Berkeley entomologist, explains. "However, if you look at public
benefit, that division provided billions of dollars annually to the state
of California and the world." In one project, Gutierrez helped to
halt the spread of a pest that threatened to destroy the cassava crop,
a food staple for 200 million people in West Africa.
https://ngin.tripod.com/240303a.htm
The online version of this article appears in four parts at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/03/press.htm
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Some pesticides may lead to Parkinson's Disease
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At the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans,
researchers at Virginia Tech presented findings which showed that some
insecticides may cause a cascade of chemical events in the brain that could
lead to Parkinson's disease.
https://ngin.tripod.com/250303c.htm
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Exposure to pesticides lowered dramatically when young children go
organic
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A study at the University of Washington, not surprisingly, found that
children fed predominantly organic produce and juice had only one-sixth
the level of pesticide by-products in their urine compared with children
who ate conventionally farmed foods. Dr John Wargo, a specialist
in risk analysis at Yale, was quoted as saying, "This justifies the importance
of an organic diet, that organic foods lower a child's exposure.
Industry people are saying show me the dead bodies. I don't want
people gambling with my kids that way."
https://ngin.tripod.com/250303c.htm
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'We are the Poors' - The new apartheid
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Naomi Klein's review of Ashwin Desai's book "We Are the Poors" gives
one a sense of what has gone wrong in post-apartheid South Africa, and
of the resistance that exists beyond a neo-liberal cheer-leading elite
(that has, unlike any other country in Africa, thrown open its doors to
the ginat multinational biotech corporations). Klein calls it one
of the best books yet on globalization and resistance. Its secret, she
says, is that it barely mentions globalization, instead weaving together
richly told local stories that bring this subject vividly to life.
The book is set in the Durban area, where Desai describes the struggles
of the residents of some of the poorest areas in South Africa. Unemployment
among black South Africans is more than 40%. 40,000 households lose access
to electricity each month. More than 100,000 people recently contracted
cholera in Kwa-Zulu Natal from drinking contaminated water after their
taps were turned off. ANC's scandalous track record on wealth redistribution
in postapartheid South Africa is coming to light. South Africa is
under real pressure from international financial markets to introduce austerity
policies, and President Thabo Mbeki has cooperated with an unseemly enthusiasm.
For instance, when the WTO gave the South African government twelve years
to phase out protections for its national garment industry, the ANC chose
to complete the project in eight.
https://ngin.tripod.com/270303a.htm
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REPORT OF THE WEEK 1 - The UK GM Farm Scale Evaluations fail to provide
conclusive results - Friends of the Earth report
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After four turbulent years, the world's largest experiment on GM crops
- Britain's farm-scale trials - is all but over, with the fieldwork done
and research papers written. Opponents have chosen the lull before
the first findings are published in a few month's time to mount the most
detailed attack on the science yet. "That the trials look set to
produce uncertain results is not a reflection on the scientists involved,"
says Pete Riley, whose team at Friends of the Earth compiled the report.
"Rather it highlights the inherent problems of embarking on politically
motivated science." Campaigners are keen to shift the focus onto
what even some neutral experts see as the experiment's potential Achilles'
heel: its statistical power. A new analysis by Friends of the Earth, highlighted
in this week's New Scientist magazine, suggests that the science of the
Government-sponsored GM farm scale evaluations (FSE) will fail to provide
any conclusive evidence on whether GM crops will do long-term harm to farmland
wildlife. The main findings of Friends of the Earth's report are
that:
* Ecologically significant differences between GM and non GM crops
may be missed because the experiment does not have sufficient statistical
power.
* The scope of research was seriously limited by time and resource
constraints.
* It may be impossible to detect any meaningful differences for some
important indicator species.
* Monitoring of important soil organisms was dropped because of money
and time constraints.
* Rare arable plants were excluded from the study because of time constraints.
* Modelling based on the results will be hampered by a lack of knowledge
about interactions between different species, which food sources are preferred
by which birds and mammals
* Poor geographical distribution of the trials undermines the relevance
of the results (eg 45% of maize is grown in the SW region but only 8% of
trials took place there).
* Advice on the use of weed killer on the GM crops was given by the
companies who developed the technology, leading to concerns that the GM
crops may have been managed to maximise biodiversity whilst ignoring the
final yield.
* Evidence that in the US, additional herbicides are used to achieve
the required level of weed control in maize crops has been overlooked,
meaning the maize results could be irrelevant.
Friends of the Earth Campaigner Pete Riley said: "We have published
this report because we think it is vital that the public, farmers and the
Government realise the limitations of the Farm Scale Evaluation results.
These studies, due out in the autumn, are incapable of providing adequate
evidence that GM crops have no impact on wildlife. This is not the
fault of the researchers - their hands were tied. .The Government
was not interested in properly investigating the long term impacts of GM
crops, it wanted to avoid the threat of a moratorium. But they cannot
expect the British public to accept that the future commercialisation of
GM crops poses no threat to wildlife without the hard evidence."
https://ngin.tripod.com/260303e.htm
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REPORT OF THE WEEK 2 - Professor Derek Burke, the Godfather of GM
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In a recent Times Higher Education Supplement article ('This will be
like no other debate' 24 March 2003), Prof Derek Burke makes some startling
admissions
Burke was chairman of the government's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) from 1989 to 1997. You might have thought that the government would have sought a committee chairman who wasn't already committed to the technology he would be responsible for evaluating. Instead they chose Derek Burke - someone who was more than committed - he describes his attitude here as 'bullish':
Burke writes in the Times Higher article: 'We made that mistake about biotechnology [of hyping it] in the early 1980s... We were bullish, but if you overdo it, you will regret it. Some of this is driven by over-confidence, some by a desperate thirst for funds. Quick money can easily mislead inexperienced managers into spending too freely and uncritically, and credibility is quickly lost.'
The 'bullish about biotech' Professor Burke has been called the Godfather of GM in the UK. The logic of having a passionate advocate of a technology as head of the ACNFP, the regulatory body overseeing the public health implications of GM foods, is a curious one. Passionate advocacy, after all, seems incompatible with the qualities one might have thought desirable - calm reflection, proper and wide-ranging review, and due caution!
Although Prof Burke may have no direct financial interests in any of the biotech food corporations, it is also true that one would not expect him to be unsympathetic, having himself worked for a biotech company in North America in the 1980's. During much of his time as head of ACNFP, Prof Burke was also Vice Chancellor of the University of East Anglia (UEA) and a member of the Governing Council of the John Innes Centre (JIC), the UK's leading institute for plant biotech. Both institutions have benefited from the growth in investment in this area of research. The year after Burke completed his Chairmanship at ACNFP, UK biotech company Zeneca committed itself to investing over GBP50 million of commercial sponsorship in the JIC, though they have subsequently pulled out.
Burke has also been a key contributor to the project to establish the
commercial imperative at the heart of UK public science, particularly in
areas relevant to biotechnology.
https://ngin.tripod.com/240303e.htm
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REPORT OF THE WEEK 3 - The alliance of science
'Independent' groups share pro-GM common ground
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In the UK the past few years have seen the emergence of an unprecedented
battery of industry-funded lobby groups, thinktanks, websites and libertarians
- many linked, all pro-GM.
THE SCIENTIFIC ALLIANCE (SA):
A corporate funded group, set up in 1991 by Robert Durward, director
of the British Aggregates Association. It is constant in its pro-GM,
anti-green, pro-industry positions.
SENSE ABOUT SCIENCE (SaS):
Sense about Science is funded by non-GM companies such as Unilever
and GlaxoSmithKline. Its director is Tracey Brown, who used to work
for PR company Regester Larkin, whose clients include pharmaceutical, oil
and biotech companies, including Aventis, Bayer and the Bio Industry Association.
SaS has forged links with the Royal Society. An SaS panel that addresses
the issue of scientific peer review meets at the Royal Society and includes
Brown, as well as Tony Gilland, from the Institute of Ideas.
THE INSTITUTE OF IDEAS (IoI):
The libertarian institute, part funded by GM company Novartis, developed
out of LM (formerly Living Marxism) magazine, whose publisher was media
commentator Claire Fox. LM and the IoI have a history of attacking the
environmental movement. It is now running a Genes and Society festival,
in association with pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The event is organised
by the IoI's Tony Gilland, who has gone on record as saying the "farm-scale
trials are an unnecessary obstacle" to the introduction of "beneficial
and benign" GM. The IoI has published a book co-authored by Tracey
Brown of Sense about Science, who also chairs a session at the Genes and
Society festival. The sister organisation of the IoI is Spiked, an
internet magazine run by ex-LM editor and Times columnist, Mick Hume.
Spiked has started a "public debate" on GM labelling in association with
the International Policy Network.
INTERNATIONAL POLICY NETWORK (IPN):
The network, set up last year, is a coalition of international rightwing
thinktanks. The directors of the IPN in the UK are Roger Bate and
Julian Morris, of the Institute of Economic Affairs.
THE AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY COUNCIL (ABC):
The ABC was set up by the biotech industry as a lobby group.
It is chaired by Stephen Smith, of GM company Syngenta. In February
2002, one conclusion of ABC's inaugural report was that if GM crops could
be seen to be beneficial to birds, then the majority of people would support
their growth. The ABC has moved its PR account to Lexington Communications,
where its director, Mike Craven, was head of New Labour's press office
and worked with deputy prime minister John Prescott. Lexington has
now hired Bernard Marantelli, formerly of GM company Monsanto, to organise
a £250,000 PR campaign aimed at "regulators, legislators, retailers
and consumer groups" to approve GM crops.
SCIENCE MEDIA CENTRE (SMC):
Based in the Royal Institution - the oldest independent research body
in the world - the SMC says it is "an independent venture" but consistently
defends GM and openly accepts money from GM, drug and oil companies including
BP-Amoco, Dupont, Pfizer and Astra Zeneca. The head of SMC is Fiona Fox,
a former contributor to LM magazine and sister of Claire Fox, of the IoI.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,7843,921537,00.html
https://ngin.tripod.com/260303a.htm
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FACTS OF THE WEEK
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A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine (January 8,
1998 - Vol. 338, No. 2, Stelfox et al, Conflict of Interest in the Debate
over Calcium-Channel Antagonists) which was the first of its kind on conflicts
of interest, showed that scientists' judgements on a controversial issue
would appear to be affected by their relationship to relevant commercial
interests and that the relationship need not be a direct one: "Supportive
authors were also more likely than neutral or critical authors to have
financial relationships with any pharmaceutical manufacturer, irrespective
of the product (10%, vs 67% and 43%, respectively; P<0.001)."
https://ngin.tripod.com/240303e.htm
The EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has calculated that production
costs for conventional oilseed rape would increase by 41% and those for
conventional maize by 9%, if GM was commercialised in Europe, due to contamination
problems.
https://ngin.tripod.com/250303c.htm
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HEADLINES OF THE WEEK: from the NGIN archive
https://ngin.tripod.com/mar03.htm
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27 March 2003
"We Are the Poors" - The New Apartheid
26 March 2003
'Independent' groups share pro-GM common ground
Police arrest nine activists during cotton protest
activists take Monsanto by storm
Government company sold GM potatoes to unsuspecting buyers
US subsidises GM clean-up
25 March 2003
War opponents urge US-Monsanto boycott
Boycotting Bush's backers/protest outside Monsanto headquarters
Licensing a GM 'lemon'
Pesticides cause Parkinson's etc.
24 March 2003
Chapela 'fears UC won't give him tenure'
GM protesters in court
Monsanto & Cargill genetically engineer survey results
Mass exodus of Europe's biotech companies from GM
'This will be like no other debate'
21 March 2003
Church joins anti-Bt corn drive with one millionsignature petition/
Monsanto endures barrage of farmer demands
Drop in GM trials - GM projects cancelled
StarbucksReneged on Promise
GM means 'long-term loss'
Credibility of GM public debate hangs by a thread/
Italy's right to ban GM upheld
THE WEEKLY WATCH number 20
20 March 2003
Iraq, the 51st state/Resistance is not futile
Indian farmers likely to shy away from Bt cotton
European Consumers Not Tempted to GM Food
Broom's Barn economics critique
19 March 2003
Your genetically modified future
German could face standards watchdog over GMcrops row
Now Syngenta boss quits!
Thai rice farmersprotest U.S. interference
Strange Bedfellows
FOR THE COMPLETE NGIN ARCHIVE: https://ngin.tripod.com/nginlist.htm
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CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK
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Opposition to US imperialism, in the form of consumer boycotts of American
products and services, is spreading across the world as Reuters has reported.
https://ngin.tripod.com/260303d.htm
Ready for action? From personal choice to public protest, you can build the Brand America Boycott with the power of your own imagination.
Call for US-Monsanto boycott, from the Philippines
Monsanto's development is "intimately linked to war"
http://www.inq7.net/reg/2003/mar/25/text/reg_4-1-p.htm
"For globalisation to work, America can‚t be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is. The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald‚s cannot flourish without McDonnell-Douglas, the designer of the F-15, and the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps."
"....As for Iraq, America should bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb......" Thomas
Friedman....New York Times
http://www.quitusa.com/
Find out more about the boycott and take the pledge to boycott brand
America:
http://adbusters.org/campaigns/boycott_america/
http://www.boycottwar.net/
http://www.consumers-against-war.de
http://www.boycottamerica.org/
http://www.boycottbush.net/
http://www.spendforpeace.co.nz/
http://www.stopspending.org
...
Here is the one and only rule for the Brand America Boycott: this action
belongs to you. You decide what brands and products stand as symbols of
America's new empire-building project, and you decide how you'll make your
statement. Above all else, this is a culture jam - personal, spontaneous,
unpredictable.
Some people are planning a total Made-in-America boycott. Some will
boycott oil for the duration of the war. Others are planning public activism
against the greatest symbols of the Brand America warriors: McDonald's,
Philip Morris, Exxon Mobil, Texaco, the major automakers, Tommy Hilfiger,
Gap, Starbucks, Nike, Disneyland, the Hollywood cinemas. Media activists
can launch TV Turnoff campaigns against Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and MTV.
The limits to your participation are the limits of imagination, and the
brainstorming has already begun.
---
in the UK: leave Labour - why it's time to quit the Party if you're
a member - Labour takes no notice of members until they stop paying their
contributions!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,921188,00.html
...
Disobey
by John Pilger; March 13, 2003
How have we got to this point, where two western governments take us into an illegal and immoral war against a stricken nation with whom we have no quarrel and who offer us no threat: an act of aggression opposed by almost everybody and whose charade is transparent?
How can they attack, in our name, a country already crushed by more than 12 years of an embargo aimed mostly at the civilian population, of whom 42 per cent are children - a medieval siege that has taken the lives of at least half a million children and is described as genocidal by the former United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq?
How can those claiming to be "liberals" disguise their embarrassment, and shame, while justifying their support for George Bush's proposed launch of 800 missiles in two days as a "liberation"? How can they ignore two United Nations studies which reveal that some 500,000 people will be at risk? Do they not hear their own echo in the words of the American general who said famously of a Vietnamese town he had just levelled: "We had to destroy it in order to save it?"
"Few of us," Arthur Miller once wrote, "can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied."
These days, Miller's astuteness applies to a minority of warmongers an apologists. Since 11 September 2001, the consciousness of the majority has soared. The word "imperialism" has been rescued from agitprop and returned to common usage. America's and Britain's planned theft of the Iraqi oilfields, following historical precedent, is well understood. The false choices of the cold war are redundant, and people are once again stirring in their millions. More and more of them now glimpse American power, as Mark Twain wrote, "with its banner of the Prince of Peace in one hand and its loot-basket and its butcher-knife in the other".
full story
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=3232§ionID=41
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