NOFA/Massachusetts Social Action Center
Genetic Engineering News
November 7, 2007
compiled by Jack Kittredge
NOFA/Mass Social Action Coordinator
89% of Americans Want GM Labels - Some Politicians in Favor
In Iowa, Senator John Edwards, Governor Bill Richardson, and Senator Chris Dodd have gone on record in favor of mandatory labeling of GM foods as part of their presidential election campaigns. A report funded by the USDA found that 89% of the American public feels the federal government should require the labeling of GM foods. Only 10% felt that labeling should not be required. ? Leading Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Edwards agree to mandatory labeling, as do candidates Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich. Top Republican candidates have not taken positions. ?Breakdown of candidates' views:
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8393
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8376
Most Americans Unaware of GM Foods
Surveys show that a majority of Americans are unaware that more than 70% of processed foods they eat contain ingredients from GM corn, soybeans, canola, and cotton. However, Americans are increasingly aware of one GM product in their food, and they don't like it. And the food industry is responding. Food retail giant Kroger recently announced that by February 2008 all its processed milk will be from cows not injected with a GM growth hormone known as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) or rBGH.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8376
Pennsylvania Dept. of Ag Attacks rBGH-free Labeling
The Pennyslvania Dept. of Ag has come out with regulations that would make it difficult for anyone trying to sell rBGH-free dairy products there. The PDA has notified 16 dairies out of 140 they've reviewed so far that their labels are false or misleading and has given them until Jan. 1, 2008 to change them. The PDA is calling labels misleading as:
(A) A compositional claim which has not been confirmed through laboratory analysis, performed at the applicant's expense, or
(B) A compositional or production-related claim that is supported solely by sworn statements, affidavits or testimonials.
The trouble is, (A) would knock out any "rBGH (rBST)-free" labels, since there is no commercial test and (B) would knock out any labels such as "Our farmers pledge not to use..."
source: Geactivists Email October 24, 2007
New Article to Help Organic Farmers Understand Laws Prohibiting Use of Genetically Modified Organisms
Many organic farmers have questions about their legal rights and responsibilities with respect to the unintended presence of GMOs on their land. To try to meet the need for legal information, Farmers' Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG) has written an article, If Your Farm Is Organic, Must It Be GMO Free? Organic Farmers, Genetically Modified Organisms, and the Law. Farmers may download a free copy of the 40-page article by visiting FLAG's website, www.flaginc.org. Printed copies can be obtained by calling FLAG's office at 651-223-5400. In Minnesota, the phone call is toll-free at 1-877-860-4349. Printed copies are available to financially distressed farmers in Minnesota at no charge, for all others, the cost is $ 11.00, including postage.
source: FLAG press release, October, 2007
Canadian Ag "Probably the Least Profitable in The World"
As one of the biggest GM crop-cultivating countries in the world, Canada is often held up as a model of efficiency and profitability. But an interview with Darrin Qualman, director of research for Canada's National Farmers Union, shows that the truth is very different. Qualman says, "on a rough, per-acre basis, crop producers here are probably losing about $50 to $100 on every acre - as reflected in subsidy and debt levels. Canada's high-input, high-tech, high-cost food production model is probably the least profitable in the world."
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8408
Animal Feeding Trials Give Reasons to Fear GM Foods
A very useful summary of the animal feeding studies to date on GM foods, from Gundula Azeez of the Soil Association, is at ?http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8383
Plan To Authorise Contamination By Unapproved GMOs
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, which establishes food standards on behalf of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, has advanced a proposal that would allow low-level contamination by GMOs that have not been authorized in the importing country. Phil Bereano, Prof Emeritus at University of Washington, who has been closely involved with the Codex process, has written a useful analysis of Codex's proposal. Among other points, he writes, "No country is under any obligation whatsoever to adopt any Codex document - they are all voluntary. In addition, countries are free to adopt regulations at variance with Codex positions."
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8345
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8353
EU Blocks GM Potatoes, Corn
European Union governments have blocked approval of a GM potato made by BASF AG and three corn varieties developed by Monsanto. The opposition by health regulators from countries including Italy, Poland and Hungary prevents fast-track approval of the Amflora potato for animal feed and the corn types for feed and food. The European Commission, 27-nation EU's executive, must now ask government ministers to give their verdict in a step that will add months to a process the US says is too slow.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8377
Animal Feeding Trials Give Reasons to Fear GM Foods
In June 2005, after Greenpeace took Monsanto to court, the biotech company was forced to reveal its safety data for a GM maize. GM maize is widely used in animal feed, along with soya. The maize, Mon 863, had been genetically modified to produce a Bt-toxin, which kills maize pests. Monsanto's own studies showed that Mon 863 had statistically significant effects on rats that, according to a French scientist, indicated a toxic reaction. However the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) accepted Monsanto's arguments for why the findings should be ignored, and approved the GM maize.
The story of another approval shows how GM regulators can turn a blind eye to worrying evidence. After a trial of the GM oilseed rape, GT73, caused significant decreases in rats' weights, Monsanto said there were technical problems and repeated the study. The second study found that the GM-fed rats had larger liver weights. Monsanto said this trial should also be ignored as it was ''inconsistent'' with the first trial. When a third study found no problems, GT73 was approved by the EFSA.
Another recent study raised a new concern. Australian scientists inserted a gene from a kidney bean into peas to make them resistant to a weevil. They then fed the GM peas to mice for four weeks. Results published in 2005 showed this triggered allergic reactions and the mice's lung tissue became inflamed. The mice also became sensitive to other substances, such as egg white, whereas those fed non-GM peas did not. ??The scientific community was surprised because the gene, when it was in the kidney bean, had been known to be safe. However, further tests revealed that when the gene was introduced into the pea, the pea had attached different chemicals to the protein produced by the gene, changing its safety. The scientists were forced to conclude that a gene that is safe in its native plant may become unsafe when inserted into a GM plant - contrary to what had been assumed by the GM regulators.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8383
GM Champion Claims Blacks Less Intelligent
DNA co-discoverer and Nobel Laureate James Watson has repeatedly expressed support for GM. Earlier this year, for instance, Monsanto released an ''exclusive'' video they'd made of Watson expounding on his support for GM in agriculture. But ??Watson is now at the centre of a row after claiming black people are less intelligent than whites. The 79-year-old geneticist said he was ''inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa'' because ''all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really''. He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that ''people who have to deal with black employees find this not true''. Watson has courted controversy in the past, reportedly saying that a woman should have the right to abort her unborn child if tests could determine it would be homosexual, and that he'd like to see all women genetically engineered to be pretty.
source: ?http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8380
GM Sugar to Hit Stores In 2008
American Crystal, a large Wyoming-based sugar company, which ironically has launched an 'organic' line of their sugar, and several other leading U.S. sugar providers have announced they will be sourcing their sugar from genetically engineered sugar beets beginning this year and arriving in stores in 2008. Like GM corn and GM soy, U.S. products containing GM sugar will not be labeled as such. Since half of the granulated sugar in the U.S. comes from sugar beets, a move towards biotech beets marks a dramatic alteration of the U.S. food supply. The GM sugar beet is designed to withstand strong doses of Monsanto's controversial broad spectrum Roundup herbicide. Farmers planting GM sugar beets are told they may be able to apply the herbicide up to five times per year. Sugar beets are grown on 1.4 million acres by 12,000 farmers in the U.S. from Oregon to Minnesota. Meanwhile candy companies like Hershey's are urging farmers not to plant GM sugar beets, noting that consumer surveys suggest resistance to the product. In addition the European Union has not approved GM sugar beets for human consumption.
source: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/
campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=12700
Euro Commission Punishes Sweden For Transparency
The European Commission has taken the first step of legal action against Sweden for having given public access to a confidential document - a move that could ultimately see Stockholm defending its traditional policy of transparency in EU courts. Late last month the commission sent a formal letter to the Swedish authorities asking for explanation as to why environment group Greenpeace in 2005 got access to a document about a new type of GM corn feed to be launched by Monsanto. Greenpeace had been refused access to the report in the Netherlands and therefore turned to Sweden where - after taking the issue to the highest court - the NGO finally got the report from the Swedish Board of Agriculture - the government's expert authority in the field of agricultural and food policy.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8366
UK: GM Protester Hit With Fine
A GM protester has been fined more than GBP400 for damaging a metal fence that collapsed under his weight as he tried to destroy a field full of GM potatoes. Activist Martin Shaw failed in his bid to rip up the only GM trial crop in the UK, but the GM potatoes were destroyed just days later by other activists.
source: ?http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8384
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8379
Monsanto Files Suit Against French GM Activists
The French unit of Monsanto has filed a lawsuit against unnamed parties following the latest destruction of some of its test fields for GM maize.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8392
GM Ban In France Confirmed
There was biotech industry outrage after France announced a ban on Monsanto's MON810 (Bt) corn, the only GM crop being grown in France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would suspend the planting of GM pest-resistant crops until the results of an appraisal of the issue later this year or early in 2008. He also said he doubted the benefits claimed for them. Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth Europe commented that, "the precautionary shift now in Sarkozy's tone is a seismic one". France's policy shift is expected to have implications for the rest of the EU.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8424 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8429 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8437
Dimas Calls For GM Maize Ban?EU
Environment Commissioner Dimas is proposing to ban two types of GM maize because of the risks they pose to the environment. The GM maize varieties are Syngenta's Bt11 and Pioneer/Dow's 1507. Scientific studies have shown them to be toxic to certain butterfly species and possibly to other beneficial insects and they may have long term negative effects on soil health.
source: ?http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8422
Chefs Drop Support For Irish Food Scheme Over GMOs
The Irish branch of Europe's leading chefs' organisation, Euro-Toques, has pulled out of the government-run Feile Bia food awareness scheme because of its failure to support small food producers and the continued awarding of its Quality Assurance label for Irish meat and dairy produce that is being refused by leading EU retailers because it comes from livestock fed on GM ingredients.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8399
Irish Doctor: GM Foods Should Be Subjected to Feeding Trials
In Ireland, the row over GM foods has escalated, with a letter in the Irish Medical News from Dr Elizabeth Cullen demanding feeding trials. ?She says: "The potential health impacts of genetically engineered food is too serious an issue to ignore any longer. We are guinea pigs in a global experiment, but in which nobody is monitoring the results. The issue is of profound importance; surely feeding trials cannot be too much to ask?"
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8372
Brazil: Two Dead In Clash At Biotech Farm
Two men were killed and five wounded when guards working for the Swiss biotech company Syngenta clashed with Brazilians invading a GM seed farm in Parana state. "Forty gunmen got off a bus and started shooting. They executed Valmir Motta, shot five peasants and beat up another man," said a spokesman for the rural workers' group Via Campesina, which had organized the action in protest at the illegal growing of the seeds. One guard was killed. The state government of Parana, where the farm is located, said that seven security guards were taken into custody and face accusations of homicide and gang formation. The farm was occupied by peasant families in March 2006, to expose to public authorities and civil society the illegal production by Syngenta of GMO soy and maize seeds in the area. The latest clash occurred at the peasant families were trying to re-occupy the area.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8417 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8402
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8401
Huge Premium for Brazilian GM-Free Corn
Brazilian GMO-free corn is attracting a huge premium over the Chicago price.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8332
Kenya Biosafety Coalition Wins Fight Against Biosafety Bill
The biotech industry and the US-backed pro-GM lobby in Kenya suffered an unexpected setback after the Kenyan Biodiversity Coalition, comprising more than 40 NGOs, was able to prevent the passage of an industry-friendly Biosafety Bill with the help of public protests and demonstrations in Nairobi.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8404 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8370 http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8386
Failure of Bt Cotton In Andhra Pradesh, India
Some Bt cotton farmers in Andhra Pradesh are in serious distress at the end of the 2007 growing season, says a new report from a fact-finding team. The report confirms that Bt cotton is affected by sudden drying/wilting, has more sucking pests and diseases like black arm/leaf spot. And pesticide use on Bt cotton is high.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8413
Indigenous Rice Better Than GM for Dealing With Stress
Navadanaya, a New Delhi-based NGO, has together with farmers from nine Indian states developed a register documenting over 2,000 indigenous rice varieties. According to Navadanya, the GM rice strains are not only costly to cultivate but also are a poor match to the native strains in fighting pests, diseases and environmental fluctuations. Several indigenous rice strains adopted by the Indian farmers can withstand extremes of climatic conditions, survive submergence for a fortnight and even withstand salinity with a high degree of success.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8359
India: Farmer Suicides Inspire Highway Blockade Across India
The plight of thousands of Vidarbha cotton farmers who have committed suicide triggered a national highway blockade of non-violent resistance in India. More than 10,000 cotton farmers from the region participated in the rally. At the root of the thousands of suicides among the cotton farmers is the promotion of expensive inputs like GM seeds in combination with a credit squeeze and the removal of a minimum support price.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8342
India: "Holy" Seeds Threaten Biotech Project
Planned field trials of Bt brinjal (eggplant) in Karnataka state are under threat after Ramesh Bhat, one of India's leading biologists and former deputy director of the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad, warned that the Bt gene could contaminate a native variety of brinjal, which people consider sacred.
source: ?http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8391
Australia: Three Arrested In GM Protest
Three Greenpeace activists have been arrested during a protest at dairy giant Murray Goulburn's Melbourne headquarters. Protesters went into the building demanding the co-operative support bans on GM food crops. Campaigner Louise Sales says the company supports the reintroduction of GM crops for use in stock feed.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8405
Japan Urges Australia To Continue GM Crop Bans
A delegation representing Japanese food buyers arrived in Australia to lobby state governments to maintain bans on GM food crops. Moratoria on commercial GM food crops in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia are due to expire next year and are being reviewed.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8371
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8387 ?More on Japanese resistance to GM: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8385
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8395
Only Small Minority of Australian Farmers Want GM Crops
Only 27.6 percent of farmers want to see GM grain crops introduced into Australia, according to a Rural Press survey, while a clear majority are opposed to GM commercialization.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8343
Australian PM Out of Touch With Consumers and Farmers
Western Australian Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance has accused the prime minister of being out of touch with Australian consumers and farmers with his recent comments on GM food crops. "We are heavily reliant on our export markets and yet the Prime Minister wants us to switch to GM foods that are rejected by discerning consumers worldwide," he said. "This will damage Australia's international reputation as a source of reliable, safe quality food."
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8416
Strong Public Support For Zero Tolerance to GM Contamination
79% of New Zealanders would support the current policy of zero tolerance to GM contamination of seed imports, says a new poll.
source: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=8416
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