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Newsletter Issue 1 Jan - Feb 2001 |
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GenetiX RoundUp™ Its been a disastrous few months for Aventis, French biotech transnational and UK public enemy No.1. The Star Link controversy that hit US headlines in September 2000 highlights the inevitable and unlabelled contamination of non-GM food. US coalition Genetically Engineered Food Alert (GEFA), announced that in tests it had found taco shells contaminated with genetically modified corn unapproved for human consumption. This corn, Aventis' ‘Star Link’ contains the plant pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, and a protein called Cry9C, which may trigger allergic reactions in humans. In its desperation, Aventis tried to get the FDA to temporarily approve Star Link corn for human consumption to get it off the hook! After this discovery, some of the US’s largest food manufacturers and processors were forced to withdraw products. In the UK the process of challenging the approval to the National Seed List of the first commercialised GM seeds (Aventis's Chardon LL) has been indefinitely postponed after it was discovered that French authorities had only tested the crop for one year rather than the two required under EU law. The hearing brought up issues including the failure to test the GM maize on cows, and ‘suspicious’ higher death rates among GM-fed chickens during trials. Unsuprisingly, Aventis, only formed last December from the merger of life science giants Rhone-Poulenc and Hoecsht, is already spinning off the huge financial liability that is its agricultural division. Action-wise the focus has been GM ANIMAL FEED, as it becomes clear that this rather unsexy campaign is the way to win the first round of the biotech battle (see Corporate Watch briefings on the subject). Greenpeace led the way in exposing the production chain behind the import of GM animal feed. First, 60 oversized chickens targeted global grain trader, Cargill at the Liverpool docks. This was followed by a visit to the turkey producers Bernard Matthews with 3 tonnes of GM-free animal feed which Bernard Matthews claimed was impossible to source. In December, oversized turkeys blocked an Asda depot to persuade them to 'stuff their GM turkeys' as well. With a contrition that is getting familiar, Monsanto CEO Henrik Verfaille presented Monsanto's new five point pledge, promoting themselves as ever so responsible in an attempt to forestall tightening of corporate liability legislation. The pledge includes a commitment to people’s religious, cultural and ethical concerns, and promises not to sell grain until it has been approved for consumption (!) or to use genes taken from animal or human sources in agricultural products intended for food or feed. A final word from the Pope who, speaking on Nov. 12 to an estimated 50,000 farmers in an outdoor mass, told them to ‘resist the temptations of high productivity and profit that work to the detriment of the respect of nature…when (farmers) forget this basic principle and become tyrants of the earth rather than its custodians ... sooner or later the earth rebels.’ Cheers John Paul – Are you listening Monsanto!! PLEASE NOTE: Corporate Watch briefing on Dalgety Agriculture. The Dalgety Group has now sold off its entire animal feed business mainly to Advanced British Nutrition (ABN), which trades as J Bibby Agriculture, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods PLC . This briefing is therefore out of date. Please focus your energies on persuading the major animal feed manufacturers (BOCM Pauls and ABN) the big international grain traders (Cargill and ADM) and, of course, the supermarkets, to go GM free. See our glossy new briefings on Cargill and ADM: These include an overview of the international trade in GMOs, called 'Control Freaks'. |
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