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Mothers for Natural LawInternational News on Genetic Engineering in AgricultureBiweekly News 99/03/31Thanks to Cliff Kinzel and Richard Wolfson for these items.
Articles have been aggressively shortened. ------------------ Copyright 1999 Madison Newspapers, Inc. Wisconsin State Journal March 24, 1999, Wednesday, ALL EDITIONS Wind-Blown Genes Cut Into Organic Profits Rick Barrett Agribusiness reporter Bad news could be blowing in the wind for organic farmers and food companies if their crops are contaminated from the airborne pollen of genetically altered crops. In one case, a Hudson food company recently lost $ 170,000 in sales after its organic corn chips tested positive for genetically engineered corn. The company, Prima Terra, had shipped 80,000 bags of chips to Holland -- only to have them fail a random "gene scan" by government inspectors. Under European regulations, the chips could not be sold as organic even though only one bag in the shipment might have been contaminated. Prima Terra destroyed all of the chips rather than ship them back to the United States. After the incident last December, Prima Terra didn't ship any chips for two months until it was certain it had found the source of the contamination, said company president Charles Walker. The source was pollen from genetically engineered corn that blew into an organic farmer's corn field in Texas. The corn had a patented gene inserted into it that made it artificially resistant to bugs -- something not allowed in organic farming. It might have come from a neighboring field or it might have come from miles away, as corn pollen travels in the wind. ''But either way it was a nightmare for us,'' Walker said, adding that it cut deep into company corn chip profits for an entire year. ------------------ Copyright 1999 The Straits Times Press Limited The Straits Times (Singapore) March 22, 1999 Altering Crops May Unleash Super-Viruses Making plants resistant to common scourges through genetic engineering could end up wiping out farms, warns a report to the British government LONDON - Crops genetically altered to be resistant to common plant viruses risk creating mutant strains of "super-viruses" which could wipe out entire farms, a damning research report commissioned by the British government has warned. The study was ordered under the government's Genetically Modified Organisms Research Programme. It found plants made resistant to common viruses could in fact trigger the evolution of more virulent strains which could spread throughout the British countryside, said The Independent On Sunday. The report was prepared for the Department of the Environment by the Scottish Crop Institute. ------------------ International Scientific Committee Warns of Serious Risks of Breast and Prostate Cancer from Monsanto`s Hormonal Milk March 22, 1999 CHICAGO, March 21 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation -- The following was released today by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor Environmental Medicine, University of Illinois School of Public Health and Chairman of The Cancer Prevention Coalition: The European Commission (EC) has just released a report by its authoritative international 16-member scientific committee, based on meticulous scientific documentation, confirming excess levels of the naturally occurring Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) in milk of cows injected with Monsanto's biotech hormone (rBGH). The report concludes that the excess levels of IGF-1 pose serious risks of breast and prostate cancer. "Experimental evidence for an association between IGF-1 and breast and prostate cancer is supported by epidemiological ... evidence arising from recently published cohort studies ... " ------------------ Allergy and Digestion Problems Caused by Soya From a summary prepared by the Natural Law Party UK press office <nlpnews@e-mailing.co.uk> A study by Europe's leading specialists on food sensitivity, the York Nutritional Laboratory in northern England, found that allergy and digestion problems caused by soya had increased significantly in the past two year, rising from 14th to 9th place in the list of leading allergens. As this period coincided with the widespread introduction of GM soya into processed foods, researchers at the Laboratory felt that these findings raised serious new questions about the safety of GM foods. ------------------ Altered Crops Will Get Safety Review By Bill Lambrecht St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau The National Academy of Sciences is beginning an urgent study of the benefits and potential risks of genetically engineered crops with an eye toward recommending changes in government regulations. Over the next six months, a special committee of 13 scientists and experts chosen by the National Research Council, which is an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, will examine not only safety issues but social and economic implications of plants modified with pesticide genes. That includes most genetically engineered crops. ------------------ Herbicide Resistant Crops - No Economic Benefit to the Farmer Set out below are important extracts from a paper presented at the 1997 British Crop Protection Conference in Brighton, England, on "North American Developments in Herbicide Tolerant Crops" by M D K OWEN, of Iowa State University. The paper concludes that the use of herbicide resistant crops, including genetically engineered varieties, are unlikely to provide farmers with economic advantages over existing weed management strategies. The full paper can be viewed at www.weeds.iastate.edu/weednews/Brighton.htm Although this paper dates from 1997 it has since become clear from other reports that agronomists in the US are now advising growers of Roundup Ready soya beans, for example, to use multiple applications of glyphosphate on these crops (or to use residual herbicides in addition to glyphosphate) in order to achieve intended levels of weed control (see footnote). This technology was originally marketed as requiring just a single application of Roundup but in many cases this has not given the intended (i.e weed-free) results. ------------------ How Women took on the Supermarkets - and Won The decision by stores not to stock genetically modified products is a triumph for purse power. Which, writes MELANIE McDONAGH, means woman power Evening Standard - London THERE has been a quiet revolution this week; what's more, it's a women's revolution. What I'm talking about is the extraordinary decision by the supermarkets Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer to join Iceland in not using genetically modified ingredients in their products. Yesterday, it was followed by the news of measures to force eating places to designate GM maize and soya in meals, to oblige even the smallest hotdog vendor to label his ketchup for GM constituents. And you know who did it? Women, that's who, because it's women who buy food for families and women who exercise most of the purchasing power in the above-named supermarkets. There aren't many ways that ordinary people - that is, women in shopping queues - can wield direct influence over politicians, still less over the way world trade and British agriculture is carried on. But that's precisely the implication of what's happened. As a result of a vigorous public debate, conducted in the newspapers, on radio and on television, people buying their groceries have simply walked away from anything with "Genetically Modified" on the label. There is no other way to interpret this decision by the supermarkets, perhaps the most sophisticated registers of changing social habits, except as a rational concession to consumer preferences. (Copyright 1999) ------------------ Copyright 1999 Newspaper Publishing PLC The Independent (London) March 23, 1999, Tuesday Parliament Food: 'Cynical' Monsanto Branded Public Enemy Number One Fran Abrams MONSANTO, the firm at the centre of the controversy over genetically modified food, is "public enemy number one", a Liberal Democrat MP told the House of Commons last night. Norman Baker, MP for Lewes, said the US-based multinational had shown a lack of concern for the environment and for public opinion. In a debate on the World Trade Organisation, Mr Baker said the firm's activities must be curtailed. "Monsanto are public enemy number one. They insist on thwarting consumer choice, bulldozing elected governments and forcing their wretched products on the world's population. They need to be brought within democratic control urgently. ------------------ Brazil State Threatens to Destroy Monsanto Soy SAO PAULO, March 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's major soybean producing state of Rio Grande do Sul is threatening to destroy genetically-modified soybeans grown on a test plot by the local unit of U.S. biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. "The soybean area will be destroyed by the end of the month if they continue in violation of state law," the state's Agriculture Secretary Jose Hermeto Hoffamann told Reuters. Rio Grande do Sul, which aims to sell soybeans to European consumers opposed to transgenics, accused the multinational of breaking a new, March 3 state law by failing to provide an environmental risk analysis for the 435-hectare test plot. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. ------------------ Spanish Farmers Urge Gm Food Moratorium INTERVIEW 07:57 a.m. Mar 22, 1999 Eastern By David Brough LISBON, March 22 (Reuters) - Leading Spanish farmers' group COAG is calling for a moratorium on genetically modified (GM) planting and foods until possible health risks are fully investigated, a spokesman said on Monday. ``We need to know what we are planting and consuming,'' Lluis Nomen, COAG's chief environment spokesman, told Reuters in a telephone interview from Reus in northeastern Spain. He said COAG, a national body representing some 200,000 Spanish farmers, was demanding a moratorium on using GM organisms in planting and foodstuffs until scientists had completed investigations into possible health risks. ``We want to be sure that scientific research is made public and that farmers and consumers are informed,'' he said. (Lisbon newsroom +351-1-3113124 lisbon.newsroom+reuters.com) Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ------------------ Tuesday, March 23, 1999 Published at 10:59 GMT
GM Food Ban Boosts Iceland The number of people shopping at frozen foods retailer Iceland has rocketed since its ban on genetically-modified foods and the success of its home-shopping scheme... The group made pre-tax profits of £55.1m for 1998 compared with £43.5m the previous year. Turnover was £1.74bn, up from £1.57bn. ------------------ New Consumer Group Fights For Organic Food The Organic Consumers Association is a new, non-profit, consumer advocacy organization working to educate and unite organic consumers to protect the integrity of the organic label, promote sustainable agriculture, oppose hazardous practices of industrialized farming and biotechnology, and protect citizens' right to know how their food is produced. OCA is working hard to ensure that the US Department of Agriculture develops a strong set of national rules for organic food. OCA is affiliated with the Center for Food Safety in Washington, D.C. Give us a call at: 218-726-1443. Write us at: 860 Highway 61, Little Marais, MN 55614. Email us at: safefood@cp.duluth.mn.us Or visit our website: www.organicconsumers.org ------------------ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is compiled for educational use only. |
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