>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [Biodemocracy]News #34 Agbiotech Aggression
>Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 16:09:37 -0500
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Received: from [63.231.196.30] by hotmail.com (3.2) with ESMTP id 
>MHotMailBD18D8D00064400437A03FE7C41E0EAF0; Fri, 13 Jul 2001 17:10:19 -0700
>Received: from pitboss.mcdonagh.com (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1])by 
>pitboss.mcdonagh.com (8.11.0/8.11.0) with ESMTP id f6E084E06787;Fri, 13 Jul 
>2001 19:08:04 -0500
>Received: from mail.mcdonagh.com (mail.mcdonagh.com [63.231.199.85])by 
>pitboss.mcdonagh.com (8.11.0/8.11.0) with ESMTP id f6DLTTE01664for 
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Fri, 13 Jul 2001 16:29:29 
>-0500
>Received: from aconcagua [63.231.201.21] by mail.mcdonagh.com  
>(SMTPD32-6.06) id A99B27A0120; Fri, 13 Jul 2001 16:35:23 -0500
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri, 13 Jul 2001 
>17:11:23 -0700
>Message-ID: <C30A35D36FCCD31187570008C7B1EB2156A7A7@AARDVARK>
>X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0)
>Importance: Normal
>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Errors-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-BeenThere: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.3
>Precedence: bulk
>X-Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>List-Help: 
><mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=help>
>List-Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>List-Subscribe: 
><http://listsrv.organicconsumers.org/mailman/listinfo/biodemocracy>,<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=subscribe>
>List-Id: biodemocracy newsletter 
><biodemocracy.listsrv.organicconsumers.org>
>List-Unsubscribe: 
><http://listsrv.organicconsumers.org/mailman/listinfo/biodemocracy>,<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe>
>
>To be removed from this list, send any email (blank or not) to
>mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED].  You will then
>receive an email confirming that you have been removed from this list.
>
>BioDemocracy News #34 Agbiotech Aggression
>By: Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association
>July 2001 (www.organicconsumers.org) (www.purefood.org)
>_________________________________________________
>Quote of the Month:
>
>"Genetically modified food is viewed as unsafe by most [Americans], and the
>public wants warning labels on food, a new ABCNEWS.com poll finds� 52%
>believe such foods are unsafe, and an additional 13% are unsure about
>them�93% say the federal government should require labels on food saying
>whether it's been genetically modified � 57% also say they'd be less likely
>to buy foods labeled as genetically modified� The image problem of
>genetically modified food is underscored by contrast to organic foods. 
>While
>only five percent of Americans say they'd be more likely to buy a food
>labeled as genetically modified, 52 percent say they'd be more likely to 
>buy
>food that's labeled as having been raised organically." (<www.ABCNEWS.com>
>6/20/01)
>
>Attack of the Gene Giants
>
>The global controversy over genetically engineered foods and crops has
>intensified. Sensing that they are losing the battle for the hearts and
>minds of the public, even in the US and Canada, Agbiotech interests, large
>food corporations, and their allies in government have stepped up their
>propaganda and intimidation campaign. Since the beginning of 2001 an
>unprecedented number of editorial, opinion, and news stories have appeared
>in the world press, extolling the virtues of agricultural biotechnology
>while denouncing opponents as know-nothing Luddites. Accompanying this
>industry media barrage, choreographed by leading public relations firms, 
>are
>a number of other recent noteworthy aggressions:
>
>* In Canada, Loblaws, Sobey�s, Safeway, A&P, and other large grocery chains
>have banned the use of �GMO-free� food labels. Natural food companies
>marketing organic and other foods certified as free of genetically modified
>organisms (GMOs) have been ordered by Loblaws and other chains to block out
>or remove �GMO-free� labels or else their products will be taken off
>supermarket shelves. Despite polls that show 90% of Canadians support
>labeling GMOs, government regulators, pressured by the US and the biotech
>lobby, have thus far ruled out mandatory labeling.  But a new GMO food
>labeling law has been introduced into Parliament, supported by 80 public
>interest groups.
>
>* In 1994 Monsanto and state agriculture officials in the United States
>launched a similar intimidation campaign against several thousand dairies
>and health food stores in the US attempting to label or advertise their
>dairy products as free of recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). To this
>date, Monsanto�s �no labeling� intimidation campaign has been quite
>successful. Less than 10% of US dairy products today are labeled as
>�rBGH-free� even though the overwhelming majority (90%) US dairy cows are
>not being injected with the drug. Most of America�s 1500 dairies, backed by
>food giants such as Kraft/Phillip Morris, have collaborated in denying
>consumers free choice by co-mingling rBGH-tainted milk with regular milk 
>and
>then deliberately lying to consumers about the presence of the hormone (�we
>don�t know�) in their company�s products. rBGH is banned in every
>industrialized country except for the USA, primarily because of scientific
>concerns that it is a cancer hazard and likely to cause increased 
>antibiotic
>residues in milk. Voting with their pocketbooks against rBGH, millions of 
>US
>consumers have turned to organic milk and dairy products as well as
>rBGH-free labeled brands.
>
>* Reports of genetic pollution and genetic drift continue to proliferate.
>According to a CBC (Canada) radio broadcast (6/2/01), genetically 
>engineered
>canola plants are showing up in farmers� fields all across the Canadian
>prairie, even though many of them have never planted GE seeds. Martin
>Phillipson, a University of Saskatchewan law professor, said that Monsanto
>may be liable for damages if their gene-altered, herbicide resistant canola
>continues to spread. "The GM canola has, in fact, spread much more rapidly
>than we thought it would," said Martin Entz, a plant scientist at the
>University of Manitoba. "It's absolutely impossible to control."
>
>* Similar genetic pollution has been reported in the US by farmers growing
>organic corn and certified �GMO-free� soybeans. US trade representatives,
>working hard to engender a growing sense of fatalism regarding the
>�impossibility� of growing �GE-free� soybeans, corn, and canola, have told
>EU bureaucrats that it is unreasonable and �unworkable� to expect anything
>less that 5% genetic contamination in non-GMO grain exports. (Financial
>Times 6/20/01)
>
>But well-known critics such as Jeremy Rifkin point out that the biotech
>industry�s genetic pollution is creating a backlash. "They're hoping 
>there's
>enough contamination so that it's a fait accompli� But the liability will
>kill them. We�re going to see lawsuits across the Farm Belt as conventional
>farmers and organic farmers find that their product is contaminated.� (New
>York Times 6/13/01)
>
>* The US government has warned EU officials that their proposed mandatory
>labeling and traceability requirements for genetically engineered grains 
>and
>foods violate World Trade Organization rules mandating free trade and could
>subject EU countries to major WTO sanctions and fines. (Reuters 6/1/01)  In
>a 5/18/01 letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, the American
>Farm Bureau Federation, the Grocery Manufacturers of American, and 17 other
>farm and commodity giants warned the EU's proposed regulations threaten "a
>$4 billion US agricultural export market."
>
>* The White House and the biotech industry continue to pressure Brazil to
>approve Monsanto�s Roundup Ready soybeans for commercialization. Because of
>their ban on GE soybeans the Brazilians have captured an increasing share 
>of
>the EU and Asian export market �while US market share has declined. "We are
>very hopeful that last domino will fall," said Bob Callanan of the American
>Soybean Association. "That's why the environmentalists are putting up a
>stink down there in Brazil. They know if that goes, it's all gone." (New
>York Times 6/11/01)  According to USDA figures (PS&D database) US soy
>exports to the EU during the 1995-2000 period declined 14.3%, while
>Brazilian exports increased 10.7%.
>
>* The Bush administration announced 6/13/01 that studies carried out by the
>Centers for Disease Control found �no evidence� that Aventis� genetically
>engineered StarLink corn has caused allergic reactions in humans. Last 
>fall,
>revelations that StarLink corn, banned by the EPA for human consumption, 
>had
>contaminated over 300 brand name food products, caused a massive
>billion-dollar recall and disrupted overseas grain markets. Further recalls
>were announced July 5 as StarLink corn was detected in white corn tortilla
>chips. US critics from the Genetically Engineered Food Alert
><gefoodalert.org> coalition immediately denounced the CDC findings as
>inadequate and unscientific. Among serious problems with the CDC tests: a
>tiny and insignificant sample of human blood serum was tested, too small to
>be representative of the potentially affected population; the Cry9c protein
>studied for allergenicity was a synthetic lab construct rather than the
>actual gene-altered protein as expressed in the corn plant; and special
>risks to infants, children, mill workers, and farm workers were not taken
>into consideration. For a scientific critique of the StarLink whitewash see
>(www.purefood.org/gefood/fdaallergyscandal.cfm)
>
>* Reuters reported 6/25/01 that Sri Lanka was being pushed by the US to
>reverse its ban on genetically engineered foods. Responding to intense
>pressure, Sri Lanka officials announced a temporary suspension of their 
>ban,
>but emphasized that the ban would likely be reimposed Sept. 1. "We know of
>no credible scientific evidence justifying Sri Lanka's ban. We believe it 
>is
>totally unwarranted," Weyland Beeghly, agricultural counselor of the U.S.
>Embassy in neighboring India, told a news conference in Sri Lanka May 10.
>Informed sources report similar strong-arm tactics being employed by
>American diplomats and trade bureaucrats throughout the Asia and Pacific
>region (and across the world)�where mandatory labeling and production or
>import bans on GMOs are steadily gaining momentum.
>
>* Cropchoice.com reported 5/21/01 that Monsanto has continued suing
>�hundreds� of US farmers for �patent infringement,� for the �crime� of
>having genetically engineered plants growing on their property without
>paying royalty payments to Monsanto. Several farmers being sued by Monsanto
>are fighting back however, filing counter-lawsuits in North Dakota and
>Illinois, claiming that Monsanto is deliberately causing genetic pollution,
>and then turning around and suing innocent farmers who are victims of this
>genetic trespass.
>
>* Congressman George Nethercutt, a Republican from Washington state,
>detailed plans 6/20/01 for a full-out legal assault on so-called
>"eco-terrorism," including a federal bill that would convey �mandatory
>prison sentences for violence against environmental and life-sciences
>research.� The bill comes in the wake of over 45 acts of crop destruction 
>or
>sabotage carried out over the past two years by American activists against
>genetically engineered food crops, trees, and animals. Although no one has
>been injured in these �decontamination� actions, the biotech industry
>worries that direct action and crop sabotage will become more widespread.
>Over the past 60 days anti-GE direct actions and sabotage have been 
>reported
>in Idaho, California, Washington, Oregon, Belgium, France, UK, and the
>Netherlands.
>
>* More Agbiotech Aggression. Monsanto and Aventis recently blocked 
>citizens�
>rights to find out the locations where genetically engineered field crops
>are being tested in Australia (Sydney Morning Herald 6/22/01).  In a 
>similar
>move, Monsanto threatened July 3 to sue authorities in France for releasing
>the location of secret GE test sites.
>
>* Meanwhile on the �right-to-know� labeling front, Trader Joe�s, Price
>Chopper, Hy-Vee and other regional supermarket chains are informing US
>consumers that it is not possible to tell them which of their products
>contain GMOs�even as these grocers see an increasing demand for organic and
>GMO-free foods and beverages. <www.organicts.com>
>
>* Starbucks, the world�s largest coffee chain, under increasing pressure
>from the Organic Consumers Association, as well as activist groups in
>Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, still is refusing to state
>publicly that they will never purchase GE coffee beans. Starbucks also
>refuses to state that they will remove rBGH and other GE ingredients from
>their beverages and foods. The transnational coffee giant maintains they 
>are
>conducting �market research� regarding the availability and prices of
>GMO-free milk, baked goods, and chocolate, and claim they will start 
>brewing
>Fair Trade shade-grown coffee on an �ongoing� basis. On June 25-26, the
>Organic Consumers Association mobilized protesters to leaflet Starbucks
>cafes in over 200 cities and five nations (US, Canada, New Zealand, UK, and
>Australia). For a Starbucks campaign update see
><www.purefood.org/starbucks/>
>
>* Switzerland government bureaucrats in mid-June rejected a national GMO
>moratorium, despite receiving 300,000 post cards from Swiss consumers, and
>despite polls indicating that the overwhelming majority of the population 
>is
>against GE foods.
>
>* A small Quebec brewery has won a court battle with a federal agency over
>its right to label its beer as containing no GMOs. Unibroue, based in
>Chambly, Que., obtained a certificate a year ago from the Canadian Food
>Inspection Agency, classifying its beers as GMO-free. The classification 
>was
>intended to help the firm's European exports, but was challenged by
>pro-biotech government officials in the CFIA. (Canadian Press service
>6/15/01)
>
>Global Grassroots & Regulatory Response
>
>Despite the ongoing global offensive by the Gene Giants, anti-GE and
>pro-organic forces continue to gain strength on all fronts, including 
>public
>opinion, marketplace dynamics, and legislation.
>
>* In North America, biotech proponents were dismayed by a 6/20/01 ABC News
>poll which, among other trends, found that 62% of American women now 
>believe
>that genetically engineered foods are �unsafe.� The ABC News poll, as well
>as recent polls in Canada, shows that North Americans are slowly but surely
>catching up to their counterparts in Europe and Asia�where 70-80% of
>consumers remain firmly opposed to �Frankenfoods.� As ABC News put it,
>�Barely more than a third of the public believes that genetically modified
>foods are safe to eat.� Another poll (6/26/01) conducted by the Pew
>Charitable Trust, underlines the fundamental problem that the gene 
>engineers
>face: the more that Americans hear about genetically engineered foods, the
>more concerned they become. More than half of Pew respondents (55%) 
>reported
>they had heard a 'great deal' or 'some' about genetically modified foods
>sold in grocery stores, up from 44% just six months earlier, and many lack
>confidence in the government's ability to manage gene-altered foods,
>following last fall's recall of products contaminated with Starlink corn.
>The poll also found that consumers are paying more attention to media
>coverage of the potential hazards of GE foods as opposed to their supposed
>benefits. In other words the more Americans hear about genetically
>engineered foods, the less they like them, despite a $50 million dollar a
>year propaganda campaign launched by the biotech industry two years ago.
>
>* US exports of co-mingled or genetically engineered crops are facing major
>restrictions in foreign markets, according to a new report by the General
>Accounting Office, the research arm of the US Congress. In the wake of
>losing several billion dollars in GE-tainted corn, soy, and canola exports,
>US and Canada agro-exporters can expect even more losses as European, 
>Asian,
>and other governments adopt the �precautionary principle� requiring
>pre-market safety testing, labeling, and segregation of genetically
>engineered crops.
>
>Since biotech crops came on the market in 1996, US farm exports have fallen
>from $60 billion a year to $51 billion�a decline of 15%. The US has lost
>$400 million a year in corn exports to the EU, while Canada has lost a
>similar amount in canola exports. Bernard Marantelli, a spokesperson for
>Monsanto UK, admitted April 18 that GE canola acreage in Canada this year
>�went down� a significant amount.�
>
>A similar pattern is emerging in soybeans, with US GE soya essentially 
>being
>boycotted by major companies in Europe, Japan, Korea, and other nations.
>Over the past year, major EU food corporations and fast food chains have
>also begun to remove all GE corn and soya from their animal feed. Already
>25% of all EU animal feed is now GE-free. Meanwhile exports of GE-free
>grains from Brazil, Australia, India, and China are expanding. Sources in
>the EU feed industry say the present demand for certified non-GMO soybean
>meal has grown from nearly zero to 25% in only 12 months, with the
>expectation of further increases in the coming year. (AgJournal UK 5/30/01)
>
>* Japanese food manufacturers carried out three major recalls of snack 
>foods
>in May and June after finding traces of Monsanto�s genetically engineered
>NewLeaf potatoes in the products. Facing global opposition to their GE
>spuds, Monsanto announced earlier this year that they were pulling NewLeaf
>potatoes off the market.
>
>* In a related development, Monsanto announced that its Roundup Ready
>soybeans would not be available for planting in Canada in 2001. Canada has
>begun to supply increasing amounts of non-GE soybeans to Japan. (GAIN 
>Report
>#CA1075 Canada Oilseeds and Products 5/18/01)  Four other GE crops have 
>also
>been removed from the Canadian market this year, GM flax - "Triffid"; GM
>canola - "Quest"; GM potato - "NatureMark"/"NewLeaf"; and GM
>  corn-"StarLink.� <www.gmfoodnews.com/>
>
>* BridgeNews (6/3/01) reported that South Korea's sole food-grade corn
>buying group, Korea Corn Processing Industrial Association (KOCOPIA), is
>requesting international trading houses to stop supplying the nation with 
>US
>corn. The move follows last week's discovery by local authorities of
>StarLink corn contamination in cornstarch production, a KOCOPIA official
>told BridgeNews.
>
>* As the General Accounting Office report indicates, the US is becoming
>increasingly isolated in international negotiations such as the Biosafety
>Protocol and the Codex Alimentarius of the World Trade Organization--facing
>increasing pressure from both the global North and South for precautionary
>measures regarding GMOs. Thirty-five nations, representing a billion 
>people,
>are now involved in the process of setting mandatory labeling requirements
>for genetically engineered foods. In mid-July the Codex is expected to tell
>the US that its �no pre-market safety testing� and �substantial 
>equivalence�
>doctrines on GMOs are not acceptable. (Financial Times 7/2/01) For a report
>on present and pending GMO legislation across the world see
><www.purefood.org/gefood/updatethirdworld.cfm>
>
>*A thousand protesters took to the streets in San Diego, CA June 25-26,
>challenging industry leaders gathered for the annual Biotechnology Industry
>Organization (BIO) convention. The street protests, preceded by three days
>of �BioDevastation� teach-ins and workshops, generated extensive media
>coverage across North America, along with a near hysterical response from
>the Biotech Establishment. <www.biodev.org>
>
>In a press release dated 6/22/01, the agribusiness and biotech front group,
>American Council on Science and Health, stated:
>
>�Caveat Emptor. Consumers and journalists beware. Biodevastation activists
>aim to target you over the next few days with false and misleading
>information about food safety, nutrition and the environment. The same
>people who brought you a long list of other false health and environmental
>scares-including the infamous Alar in apples scare, the Dow-Corning breast
>implant campaign-and dozens of other debunked fears are at it again. This
>time the scaremongers are targeting such safe foods as milk and other dairy
>products in your local supermarket and at food retail outlets such as
>Starbucks.�
>
>*In one San Diego protest 6/24/01, activists from the Ruckus Society
>unfurled a giant 1500 square-foot banner in front of the Convention Hall,
>which read "Biotech Perverts--Get Out of Our Genes". "There are thousands 
>of
>biotech industry representatives coming to town, who are perverting
>agriculture, science, nature and democracy as we know it. These perversions
>impact human health and the well-being of all life." stated Shannon 
>Service,
>a Biodevastation protest leader.
>
>* On June 26 several hundred protestors in San Diego and Ocean Beach 
>rallied
>against Starbucks, calling on the company to ban GE food and beverage
>ingredients and to brew Fair Trade, shade-grown coffee on a weekly basis.
>Ocean Beach residents are trying to stop a Starbucks caf� from locating in
>their neighborhood, pointing out that Starbucks has now become the 
>�Wal-Mart
>of American coffee shops,� routinely moving into neighborhoods and putting
>local independent coffee shops out of business.
>
>* A North American seafood importer, Martin International Corporation, is
>calling on the major seafood companies to take up arms against attempts to
>develop genetically modified salmon. If not, seafood consumption may
>decline, he says. "It is my opinion that the US consumer would embrace
>genetically engineered salmon about as enthusiastically as they would allow
>a nuclear power plant to be erected in their back yard. If anything, the
>American public is looking to find out more about the products that they
>assume to be wholesome, safe and environmentally sound and more and more 
>are
>leaning to 'natural' or certified organic to be sure of what they are
>receiving." Richard C. Martin Jr. (Quoted in IntraFish, a fish industry
>publication, 5/22/01). In the US, the Center for Food Safety and the
>Genetically Engineered Food Alert have launched a legal petition to keep GE
>Frankenfish off the market. See <www.foodsafetynow.org>
>
>* Reuters (6/22/01) reports that the Gene Giants were openly criticized in
>front of international farm leaders at the World Agricultural Forum in St.
>Louis. "A steadily shrinking number of companies are gaining unprecedented
>control over all aspects of commercial food, farming and health," said 
>Rural
>Advancement Foundation International research director Hope Shand. Shand
>pointed out that Monsanto seeds account for 94% of the total area planted 
>in
>commercial genetically engineered crops, worldwide. Rounding out Shand's
>list of �gene giants� are DuPont Co., Syngenta Crop Protection Inc., 
>Aventis
>CropScience and Dow AgroSciences LLC. Shand said aggressive moves by the 
>big
>Agbiotech firms for greater control of their GM seed creations must be
>combated if world hunger and poverty problems are to be addressed.
>
>* Over the past 60 days public interest activists in a number of countries,
>including India, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico, and Peru
>have denounced the US for �dumping� GE soya and corn in food aid shipments
>and grain exports. Biotech industry spokespersons have responded that
>denunciations of GMOs in food aid shipments are proof that anti-GE
>campaigners such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are willing to let
>the hungry masses in the Third World starve.
>
>But as noted author and hunger expert Frances Moore Lappe pointed out in 
>the
>Los Angeles Times (7/1/01): �Government institutions are becoming ever more
>beholden to� corporations [rather] than to their citizens. Nowhere is this
>more obvious than in decisions regarding biotechnology--whether it's the
>approval or patenting of biotech seeds and foods without public input or 
>the
>rejection of mandatory labeling of biotech foods despite broad public 
>demand
>for it. Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but by a scarcity of
>democracy. Thus it can never be solved by new technologies, even if they
>were to be proved �safe.� It can only be solved as citizens build
>democracies in which government is accountable to them, not private
>corporate entities.�
>
>* Activists barricaded the offices of the Novartis biotech corporation in a
>suburb of Minneapolis on 6/25/01, in solidarity with the Biodevastation
>protests in San Diego. Police were forced to break down the doors and 
>arrest
>the protesters. On 5/14 a group of 50 Southeast RAGE (Resistance Against
>Genetic Engineering) activists in Greensboro, NC were harassed (and three
>arrested) by police as they staged a symbolic � crop decontamination�
>exercise outside the Agbiotech company Syngenta�s offices in North 
>Carolina.
>Fifty biohazard "technicians" quarantined a cardboard "garden" of
>genetically altered mutant corn, which was then removed by a giant puppet,
>Father Earth.
>
>* The biotech industry is alarmed by a proposed ballot initiative in 
>Denver,
>Colorado, next November which will give voters a chance to vote on whether
>genetically engineered foods should be served in area schools, given that
>these foods have not been proven to be safe. After a heated debate in the
>media over several weeks, the Denver Post published an editorial June 1
>calling for mandatory labeling of all genetically engineered foods.
><www.non-gmosource.com>  The success of the Denver effort in raising the
>level of debate over Frankenfoods in Colorado has inspired the Organic
>Consumers Association and a number of Green Party activists to discuss
>joining efforts with local activists (and national networks such as the
>Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods) to get city council
>resolutions and initiatives on the ballot all across the US. State ballot
>initiatives on GE foods are also underway in Washington, Oregon, and other
>states. <www.washingtonrighttoknow.com> <www.labelgefoods.org>
><www.safefood.org> and <www.thecampaign.org>
>
>What�s Next in the Frankenfoods Fight?
>
>Despite industry efforts to create a false sense of fatalism, to convince
>people that Frankencrops are spreading everywhere and cross-pollinating
>everything, even organic crops, so therefore there�s no possibility of
>resisting them, the global consumer and farmers movement against 
>genetically
>engineered foods continues to grow and expand.
>
>Although US and Canadian corporations such as Loblaws, Starbucks, and 
>Trader
>Joe�s are under tremendous pressure by their partners in the food and
>biotech industry to �hold the line,� and not cave in to consumer and
>activist demands, the pressure coming from the grassroots against these and
>other food and beverage corporations will undoubtedly increase over the
>coming months.
>
>Similarly, although the Bush administration, Monsanto, and the Gene Giants
>are trying harder than ever to pressure governments around to world to
>import and allow cultivation of GE crops inside their borders, very few are
>taking up their offer. Three nations continue to produce almost 99% of all
>GE crops�the US (74%), Argentina (15%), and Canada (10%)�and the export
>markets for these countries� crops are growing smaller, not larger,
>month-by-month.
>
>On the regulatory front, the US and the Gene Giants appear increasingly
>isolated in their �no safety testing� and �no labeling� position. A growing
>number of scientists around the world now believe that the gene-splicing
>process itself is inherently unpredictable and haphazard, and that 
>therefore
>proving that gene-altered foods are safe for human health and the
>environment will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. For a detailed
>scientific and legal critique of the US government�s no labeling and safety
>testing policy see <www.purefood.org/gefood/fdasued.cfm>
>
>Similarly on the labeling front, it is becoming increasingly difficult for
>the Bush administration and the Agbiotech lobby to override the will of 90%
>of world�s consumers who are demanding mandatory labeling of genetically
>engineered foods--mainly so that they can avoid buying them. As Norman
>Braksick, the president of Asgrow Seed Co. (now owned by Monsanto) 
>predicted
>in the Kansas City Star (3/7/94) seven years ago, �If you put a label on a
>genetically engineered food, you might as well put a skull and crossbones 
>on
>it.�
>
>Stay tuned to BioDemocacy News and the website of the Organic Consumers
>Association <www.organicconsumers.org> for further developments.
>
>### End of BioDemocracy News #34 ###
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Biodemocracy mailing list
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>http://listsrv.organicconsumers.org/mailman/listinfo/biodemocracy

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

Reply via email to