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Mothers for Natural LawInternational News on Genetic Engineering in AgricultureBiweekly News 98/12/01Thanks to Cliff Kinzel and Richard Wolfson for these items.
Articles have been aggressively shortened. ------------------ Marijuana-Equivalent Oranges - Addendum Discerning readers may have found the GE oranges in our last newsletter rather hard to swallow. Alerted by some such, Mothers for Natural Law checked with the source and found that the article in question is in fact a fiction. Apologies for not getting this straight before circulating the item. On the other hand, the thesis of the article is not far-fetched. In particular, there appear to be people in the world who could, without a qualm, promote unfortunate and undetected applications of genetic engineering. Editor ------------------ Copyright 1998 Southam Inc. The Ottawa Citizen November 27, 1998, Friday, Final Edition Losing Touch with Tooth-and-Claw Nature
Switzerland nearly outlawed biotechnology in food production over the summer. Was this an isolated incident, or does it mean more trouble for modern agriculture as it tries to triple world food production for the 21st century? Switzerland's "Gene Protection Initiative" would have banned the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment. In effect, the initiative would have outlawed biotechnology for food production in Switzerland. And that was the intent. The referendum resulted from a six-year campaign by a consortium of 70 Swiss organizations that collected 100,000 voters' signatures. Key organizations in the anti-biotech coalition included Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, Swiss Organic Farmers and several animal rights groups. Ominously, the big Swiss Lutheran Women's League and Swiss Catholic Women's League were also members. The well-funded publicity campaign featured full-page newspaper ads that equated biotechnology with nuclear technology. Campaigners also harshly criticized scientists for experiments involving not only lab rats, guinea pigs and monkeys, but also worms, flies and fish. The vote was expected to be close until just a few weeks before the referendum, when a major campaign was launched by Switzerland's scientists and research-based companies. Voters were reminded that a ban would drive away many of Switzerland's most notable companies, including those in the country's large pharmaceutical industry. The jobs they provide would go elsewhere, too. The biotech proponents also played up the favourable image of biotechnology in human medicine, with posters showing sick children and Swiss biologists working on well-known diseases... ...The fact that both the Lutheran and Catholic women's organizations joined the coalition is a huge red flag for the future. The women's church groups have lots of members, and they're not far-out activists like many of the people in Greenpeace... ------------------ Copyright 1998 Gazeta Mercantil Inc. Gazeta Mercantil Online November 26, 1998, Thursday Consumers Reject Genetically Engineered Soy
The debate surrounding trade liberation of transgenic soy developed by Monsanto do Brazil, is growing. The French supermarket network Carrefour, entered into the discussion with a letter to the Brazilian Consumer Defense Institute (IDEC), saying that it would be determined to avoid the use of genetically engineered soy used in products produced by its suppliers. 'We trust in our capacity to convince many companies to continue cultivating soy in a natural way,' said the letter, signed by the director of the network in Brazil, Jean Duboc. Even before having trade of transgenic soy approved, it is already the target of consumer defense entities because of the packaging of the product and its derivatives. (Mauro Zanatta, Gazeta Mercantil) ------------------ Copyright 1998 New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad
November 24, 1998 Altering Genes in Food Crops
THERE are over 7,000 common food products - from baby foods, chocolates, frozen desserts, bread and margarine, to sausages, meat products and meat substitutes - which contain genetically altered soyabean derivatives. Yet none are labelled to warn consumers of their negative implications, says Dr Michael Hansen, research associate at the US-based Consumer Policy Institute, which addresses questions of environmental quality, public health and economic justice affecting consumers. Genetically-engineered (GE) soyabean is mixed with the regular crop in the United States before it is sold domestically or exported. The mixing continues despite repeated consumers' demand in the US to have GE food products labelled, he says. ------------------ Copyright 1998 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc. November 22, 1998, Sunday, Five star lift edition India Gives Monsanto an Unstable Lab for Genetics in Farming by Bill Lambrecht; Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau ...India has been an agriculture testing ground before - in the "Green Revolution" in the 1960s, which increased food production through hybrid seeds and fertilizers. But intensive agriculture also helped to put farmers on a treadmill of chemicals and debt, critics say. Now some in India worry about what foreign companies have in store for them next. Despite farm and food problems reflected in the unprecedented suicides [of farmers], Monsanto's drive to convert India's crops by genetic engineering is being met by a potentially explosive resistance. The leader of a farm group in Bangalore warned last week that his organization is considering "an action" to stop Monsanto's work. Bluffs are a political tool in India. But the warning must be taken seriously, considering what farmers did to a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in Bangalore two years ago: They surrounded it and smashed its windows with rocks. Monsanto is taking precautions: In the company's 8,000-square-foot greenhouse being built in Bangalore, the genetically engineered crops that the company says will feed India's hungry people will grow behind half-inch-thick bulletproof plastic... ------------------ The Independent 22-11-98 Revealed: How US Bullies Nations over Genetic Food Documents show how trade muscle was used to make New Zealand water down new labelling rules, writes Marie Woolf THE UNITED States, the world's biggest producer of genetically modified food, has been accused of "bullying" foreign governments to protect the global ambitions of the agri-chemical firm Monsanto. Cabinet documents from New Zealand, seen by The Independent on Sunday, show that the US government threatened to pull out of a potential free-trade agreement with New Zealand over its plans for labelling and testing genetically modified food. The documents also reveal that the US was concerned that curbs on selling genetically modified food in New Zealand could set a precedent for European countries, including Britain. New Zealand's labelling rules, which were due to become law this week, are set to be reviewed next month. Opposition MPs have accused the New Zealand government of backing down on GM food under pressure from the US. British MPs say the documents give the first clear evidence of the lengths to which the US will go to defend the American bio-technology industry. They believe that Tony Blair has privately come under similar pressure from President Bill Clinton and the US government. They want him to publicly reveal what discussions the British Government has held with the White House, which has close links with Monsanto, about the growth and sale of GM crops in Britain. ------------------ France's Glavany Favours Caution over Gene Crops PARIS - French Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany on Tuesday defended France's stance over genetic crop engineering, saying he would opt for over-prudence rather than throwing caution to the wind... France, torn between angry environmental lobbyists and foreign firms eager to import gene modified seeds, is facing legal proceedings from the European Commission over delaying authorisation for a number of genetically altered crops. A decision by France's highest administrative court to freeze authorisation of three strains of genetically modified maize seeds in France came in response to a plea by Greenpeace. While based on procedural irregularities rather than safety grounds, the move added to public unease over gene-crops... (C) Reuters Limited 1998. ------------------ Hijacking Food!
Genetic Engineering - corporate tool for food security erosion and enslavement of farmers. Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific's Safe Food Campaign 1998 was launched at the Asia Pacific People's Assembly in Kuala Lumpur by a panel of scientists, health, environmental and consumer activists. The theme of the Campaign, "Say NO! to Genetic Engineering in agriculture and food production", aimed to debunk corporate propaganda that genetic engineering was the panacea for all our food needs into the next century. There is ever increasing evidence that this technology has more problems than solutions for us all. ------------------ Fired rBGH Investigative Reporters Get Ethics Award LOS ANGELES (October 24, 1998). Former WTVT investigative reporters Jane Akre and Steve Wilson have received one of the top honors in journalism for standing up to the station when they say they were ordered to broadcast false and misleading news reports. The national Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) presented the husband-and-wife team its Award for Ethics at the group's annual conference Saturday in Los Angeles... In presenting the honor, SPJ President Fred Brown said the award recognizes those individuals who, through their actions and decisions, provide a role model for all journalists. "(Jane Akre and Steve Wilson) actually lost their jobs for refusing to incorporate false information into an investigative story about bovine growth hormone," Brown said, "and then waged a post-employment campaign to make sure the record was set straight in the case." The two received a standing ovation in the cavernous hotel ballroom packed with journalists from around the country... ------------------ Background - SF Chronicle Opinion Editorial Research Alliance Debated By Peter Rosset and Monica Moore The proposed $50 million "strategic alliance" between biotech giant Novartis and U.C. Berkeley's College of Natural Resources raises questions that demand public scrutiny. The University is a public institution mandated to serve the people of California. Its core funding is appropriated by the state legislature, and its governing body, the Regents, is appointed by the Governor, California's highest elected official. Yet for a one-time investment, the College of Natural Resources would be 'joined at the hip' to one of the world's largest biotechnology and agrochemical companies, allowing public goods to be appropriated for private profit. Under this partnership Novartis employees would sit on internal College committees, and Novartis would receive first negotiating rights to patentable research discoveries... ------------------ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is compiled for educational use only. |
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