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Mothers for Natural LawInternational News on Genetic Engineering in AgricultureBiweekly News 99/02/28Thanks to Cliff Kinzel and Richard Wolfson for these items.
Articles have been aggressively shortened. ------------------ Copyright 1999 Southam Inc. The Gazette (Montreal) February 25, 1999, FINAL Canada, big farm exporters reject pact on alerted food CARTAGENA, Colombia Attempts to forge the world's first global treaty to regulate trade in genetically modified products failed yesterday morning when the United States, Canada and four other big agricultural exporters rejected a proposal that had the support of the rest of the roughly 130 nations. The treaty would have required that a country approve in advance any imports of agricultural commodities that have been genetically altered. Proponents of the treaty, led by European nations, said it would reduce the risk of spreading harmful ecological effects as genes from different species are introduced into plants, animals or microorganisms. But Washington and its allies argued that it would entangle the world's food trade in red tape and that a treaty should exclude food products and cover only seeds, plants, animals and micro-organisms. Some 25 per cent to 45 per cent of major crops grown in the United States are genetically modified, and U.S. negotiators feared the proposal could block or stall more than $50 billion in annual farm exports. Bleary-eyed delegates from many nations, who have been negotiating day and night for more than a week, expressed fury at the United States, accusing it of intransigence and of putting the interests of its world-leading farming and biotechnology industries above the environment. "It's five nations against the world," said Joseph M. Goto, the delegate from Zimbabwe, although Washington and its allies actually total six. Those in agreement with the U.S. and Canada are Australia, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. "There could be no greater injustice than that," Goto said. The United States, he added, "is holding the world at ransom." ------------------ RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #639 .
Genetically Altering the World's Food ...it is clear that Monsanto's goal is effective control of many of the staple crops that presently feed the world. From its own perspective, the U.S. government evidently believes Monsanto's goal is worth supporting. According to Bill Lambrecht of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, when Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern arrived in the U.S. in 1998 for a St. Patrick's Day visit, he was met by Sandy Berger, the director of the U.S. National Security Council. The topic of conversation at lunch was not peace in war-torn Ireland, but Ireland's pivotal vote in a pending European Community decision on Monsanto's genetically modified corn.[3] Lambrecht reports that when Monsanto flew a group of Irish journalists to the U.S. to help them prepare for the debate over genetically modified foods, their trip included a stop in the Oval Office at the White House -- an inner sanctum that few visitors to Washington ever see. When the French were reluctant to allow Monsanto's seeds to sprout on French soil, Secretary of State Madeline Albright and U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshevsky intervened on Monsanto's behalf. When the French still refused to yield, President Clinton personally took up the matter with French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and gave him "an earful," Lambrecht writes. When that didn't work, Vice-President Gore followed up with a phone call to the French Prime Minister. Ultimately, the French gave in to the steady, high-level pressure. "Wherever Monsanto seeks to sow, the U.S. government clears the ground," writes Lambrecht, who calls the U.S. government Monsanto's "most powerful ally." "From the White House and the National Security Council on down," Lambrecht writes, "the apparatus of the U.S. Government worked this year [1998] on behalf of biotechnology. For Monsanto, at this moment, it is like having an Olympic basketball team with several Michael Jordans."[3] We are speculating, but it appears to us that the U.S. government may view genetically modified crops as a powerful new arm of U.S. foreign policy. Nations whose staple foods are grown from seed that they must purchase year after year from a handful of U.S. corporations are nations likely to see the world the way the U.S. wants them to see it. When asked, they are likely to play ball, whether they want to or not. A new world order, indeed. Readers who would like to become active on this issue are urged to read the new publication, MONSANTO MONITOR, which is now being published in the Netherlands. Available via mail or E-mail. E-mail: biotech@aseed.antenna.nl Or write: P.O. Box 92066, 1090 AB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Phone: +31-20-468 2626; fax: +31-20-468 2275. Or: www.antenna.nl/aseed. ------------------ February 24, 1999 Parliament Urges Caution re the Safety of GMOs Spicer's Centre for Europe via NewsEdge Corporation : European Union, Feb. 22, 1999 (Spicers Centre for Europe) -- It is reported that the European Parliament, meeting in plenary session on 11 February 1999, adopted a report at First Reading on the Commission's proposal to amend Directive 90/220/EEC on the voluntary release into the environment of genetically modified organisms. In adopting the report, MEPs adopted 50 amendments to the original proposal, including one designed to hold those legally responsible for the production of GMOs accountable for any damage to human health or the environment. MEPs also voted in favour of compulsory labelling and insisted that GMOs must not contain any antibiotic-resistant genes or traces of toxic substances. ------------------ http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_285000/285163.stm Wednesday, February 24, 1999 Published at 18:15 GMT Councils Vote to ditch GM Food GM food could disappear from school menus Council chiefs in England and Wales have voted to halt the use of genetically-modified food in schools and care homes for five years. The Local Government Association's public protection committee agreed to end the use of GM foods "to protect the public from the potential risks of GM organisms". Chairman John Ryan said: "As major buyers and suppliers of food, councils should be very cautious on behalf of the public, many of whom are vulnerable, such as school children and the elderly." "The public's confidence in GM food is so low at the moment that councils would be well advised to follow our recommendations." The vote is not binding but if the committee's advice is accepted it could apply to old people's and children's homes as well as town hall canteens and 26,000 schools. ------------------ McCartney Vows To Keep Linda's Foods Pure
LONDON (Reuters) - Paul McCartney vowed Monday to eliminate genetically modified ingredients from his late wife Linda's range of vegetarian foods. His statement came after a British television program found Linda McCartney's vegetarian sausages and mince contained genetically modified (GM) soya, despite assurances from the company that they did not. The former Beatle vowed to continue his wife's animal rights and vegetarian campaigns after she died of cancer last April at the age of 56. Concern has grown in Britain over the presence of GM ingredients in foods. Prime Minister Tony Blair has sought to calm nerves by stating that he is happy to eat the foods himself. BBC television's Newsnight program said scientific tests it commissioned showed that Linda McCartney mince and sausages contained Monsanto's Round-Up Ready genetically modified soya. McCartney said he disputed the findings, but if they were true the problem would have arisen from the fact that last year GM soya and non-GM soya were being mixed by some producers, making it hard to trace the GM ingredients. "We are unfortunately living in a GM world -- I wish we weren't -- and because of that we run constant risks of contamination, for instance from GM crops blown by the wind on to non-GM crops," said. "However, given our background and what we believe in, I trust that people will realize that there is no way on earth that the McCartney family is going to try and sneak GMOs (genetically modified organisms) into our products," McCartney added. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited ------------------ The UK Independent 20 Feb 99 Scientists get the pip over GM tomatoes By Steve Connor, Science Editor It could turn out to be the ultimate GM nightmare for a British biotechnology company, whose employees were pictured on the front of a national newspaper eating genetically modified tomatoes. The photograph in The Daily Telegraph of Dr Nigel Poole and colleagues from Zeneca Plant Science showed the scientists munching their way through whole tomatoes, seeds included. Now the company is to be reported to the Government's health and safety watchdog for possible breach of the regulations governing the escape of GM organisms into the environment. Officials fear that the seeds of the GM tomatoes could have passed straight through the digestive systems of the Zeneca staff and germinated in a sewage farm somewhere in deepest Berkshire. Professor John Beringer, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, said yesterday that he has no option but to report Zeneca to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which is responsible for prosecutions under the regulations governing the containment of GM plants and animals. "If they were knowingly eating the tomatoes including the seeds then they are probably bringing about a release to the environment," Professor Beringer said. "My colleagues are uncertain whether it would be examined as a breach of the containment regulations, or whether it would be deemed a deliberate release. It's probably a breach of containment." ------------------ Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Limited The Times (London) February 20, 1999, Saturday Biotech Firms Flourish amid the Furore Nigel Hawkes Business is booming despite fears over genetically modified food, reports Nigel Hawkes FOR a community whose life-blood is optimism, it has been a bad week. Day after day in the furore over genetically modified (GM)food, headlines have denounced Britain's biotechnology industry as a danger to the human race. Indeed the past two years have not been kind to the infant biotech industry, the closest thing to betting on horses the stock market allows, as several setbacks have sent prices plunging. Despite this, Britain is producing one new biotech company every week. The BioIndustry Association estimates that there are more than 460 small and medium-sized companies operating in biotech, employing 40,000 people. This makes Britain's biotech industry second only to that of the United States in size. For a country often accused of failing to cash in on its science, the growth of biotech companies is proof that things have changed. The association estimates that growth in the industry has been averaging 20 per cent a year. ------------------ Copyright 1999 Gazeta Mercantil Inc. GAZETA MERCANTIL ONLINE February 18, 1999, Thursday Genetically Engineered Soy to make Debut in Second Half of 1999 Sao Paulo, Cascavel and Porto Alegre, 02/18/99 After a lot of waiting and debate, Brazil will definitely enter the era of genetically engineered grain commercialization. In the 1999/2000 crop, which will start being planted in September, Brazil will collect its first transgenic grains: Roundup Ready soy, by Monsanto. 'We are already multiplying transgenic soy seeds in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goias, which will be sold from the second half of this year,' said Rodrigo Lopes Almeida, director of corporate issues for the company. (Denis Cardoso, Silvio Oricolli and Angela Caporal, Gazeta Mercantil) [Parana and Rio Grande do Sul are looking into legal approaches to banning GE crops in those states - Editor] ------------------ Copyright 1999 FT Asia Intelligence Wire All Rights Reserved Copyright 1999 BUSINESSWORLD (PHILIPPINES) February 25, 1999 Genetically Engineered Corn to Solve Shortages? Genetically engineered corn may hold the key to solving the country's perennial shortage of the grain, to be used for the production of feeds for the livestock and poultry sector. In an interview, Dr. Randy Hautea of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said the use of the genetically engineered bt corn variety in Philippine farms will eliminate the need for corn imports of as much as 300,000 metric tons. Mr. Hautea, who heads ISAAA's Southeast Asia office, said bt corn, which produces its own pesticides, is resistant to the Asiatic corn-borer pest which is responsible for 10% to 30% of the country's annual corn harvest losses. Copyright(C) 1999 Businessworld ------------------ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is compiled for educational use only. |
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