|
|
News |
| Top | Next | Front Page |
Date: 5 Feb 1999 18:06:07 -0600
From:
hhollers@centuryinter.net
Some time ago I signed up for the news releases from the Monsanto UK site. It's always good to know what the "enemy" is up to. Here's their most recent "News Update." Sure enough, they've put the Time article about Aspartame being safe on their web site, along with a bunch of other propaganda.
Alice Swanson
Healin' Hollers
Old Joe, Arkansas
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
| Date sent: | Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:03:29 -0500 |
| From: | listmaster listmaster@apollo.bivwood.com |
| To: | monsanto_uk-list@monsanto.co.uk |
| Subject: | News Update |
We welcome those of you new to this list and would like to thank you for joining. We hope you will find this service convenient and instructive.
Thank you for your interest.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This message is sent to Monsanto UK subscribers on request.
We never send unsolicited e-mails.
Your address is kept strictly confidential and will not be given to third parties.
You can leave the mailing list at any time. To do so, just send
an e-mail to
listmaster@monsanto.co.uk with "unsubscribe
monsanto_uk-list Should you notice any unusual activity, do not hesitate to
notify us immediately. Date sent: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:03:29 -0500 IN THE NEWS:
The EU wants scientists to come out of the lab and convince the
public
that changing the genetic make-up of food is really OK. The
European
Commission says the science has been badly damaged by well
publicised
criticism from environmental campaigners and consumer protection
groups.
http://www.monsanto.co.uk/news/99/february99/040299_DailyTelegraph.html
William Hague recently accused the Prime Minister of ignoring
expert
advice to establish a moratorium on genetically modified crops,
arguing
that such a measure would be common sense. But Tony Blair
insisted during
question time that the Government would proceed logically and
scientifically and "not on the basis simply of prejudice of either side
of
the debate, because that would only serve to increase public
concern on
the matter".
http://www.monsanto.co.uk/news/99/february99/040299_Independent.html
Heard the one about the common shampoo ingredient that causes
cancer? Or
how about the epidemic of blindness among toddlers who
accidentally get
waterproof sunscreen in their eyes? These absurd fictions used to
be the
stock-in-trade of ninth-graders bent on frightening the younger kids.
But
now such tall tales are appearing on the Internet, and many adults
are
taking them seriously.
http://www.monsanto.co.uk/news/99/february99/2299_TIMEOnline.html
The House of Lords says it is safe: the public is terrified. Has there
ever been such a wide gap between popular and expert opinion as
there is
on genetically modified food?
http://www.monsanto.co.uk/news/99/february99/1299_DailyTelegraph.html
IN THE KNOWLEDGE CENTRE:
Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Plants regarding Chicory derived
from genetically modified male sterile, Glufosinate tolerant parental
lines (RM3-3, RM3-4 and RM3-6) notified by Bejo Zaden (notification
C/NL/94/25-A) (SCP/GMO/087-Final) - (Opinion adopted by the Scientific
Committee on Plants, 18 December 1998)
http://www.biotechknowledge.com/showlib.php3?1004
Guidance document to facilitate notifiers in the preparation of plant GMO
dossiers for consideration by the Scientific Committee on Plants
(SCP/GMO/103-Final) - (Opinion expressed by SCP on 18 December 1998)
http://www.biotechknowledge.com/showlib.php3?1007
An ambitious international venture to decode nearly all of the genetic
material in a flowering plant called Arabidopsis thaliana--a member of the
mustard family--is speeding ahead of schedule. And the project is already
hastening the discovery of important genes in crop plants.
http://www.biotechknowledge.com/showlib.php3?981
Date: 5 Feb 1999 18:45:26 -0600 Sections: Thank you to Dayna Conner for copying and cleaning up the editable letter
(below)from the RAFI website for sending to the USDA Director and our
congresspeople to stop the terminator technology.
http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
First is a letter to USDA Director Dan Glickmand, then on to our
congresspeople.
According to Patrick Mooney, Director of RAFI, we have a couple of weeks now
to
lobby the government to mothball the terminator and not give the patent to
Monsanto.
Subject: [your message title here]
[date here]
FROM:
Concerned Citizen [ Dear Secretary Glickman,
I am writing to ask that the USDA immediately cease
negotiations to license the Terminator technology to a Monsanto
subsidiary (Delta and Pine Land Co.). I also urge the USDA to abandon
its worldwide patent applications on this immoral and dangerous
technology.
The Terminator technology (US patent #5,723,765) is
a genetic technology that renders farm-saved seed sterile. This
technology has no agronomic benefit and should never see the
commercial light of day. The Terminator violates Farmers' Rights
and threatens agricultural biodiversity. The Terminator isn't about
improving agriculture, it is about sterilizing seeds, wresting control of
seeds
and plant breeding from farmers, and fattening Monsanto's profits.
According to Delta and Pine Land, Monsanto stands to make as much as US
$1.5 billion per year using the Terminator to force farmers to return to
the commercial seed market every year. This is not progress, it
is a threat to global food security and an egregious use of public
research money.
As a public agency dedicated to promoting agriculture, USDA should be
taking steps to safeguard the rights of farmers to save seed, not
designing technologies to eliminate those rights. In light of the
alarming rate of consolidation in the seed industry, I urge USDA to
launch a public inquiry into the impacts of seed industry
consolidation on farmers and food security.
The Terminator is an anti-farmer, anti-biodiversity technology - paid
for by public money - and in large part aimed, according to USDA and
Delta and Pine Land, at farmers in developing countries. USDA and
Monsanto have indicated in Patent Cooperation Treaty documents that
they intend to pursue patents on the Terminator in at least 87 countries.
National applications are moving forward - or have issued - in Australia,
Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Africa, most European countries, and
probably more jurisdictions.
Scientists warn that, under certain conditions, the trait for seed
sterility will flow, via pollen, from Terminator crops to surrounding
plants, making the seeds of neighboring plants sterile. Given the
profound risks to food security and the environment, especially in the
biodiversity-rich South, the Terminator patent embodies the kind of
threat to public morality described in Article 27(2) of the WTO TRIPs
agreement.
The Terminator technology is a dead-end for farmers and a threat to
food security worldwide. It is morally unacceptable, and it must be
banned. I respectfully urge you to stop the Terminator technology and
cease negotiations for its commercial development.
USDA should work for farmers - not Monsanto.
cc: [Date here]
I am writing to ask that the USDA immediately cease negotiations to
license the Terminator technology to a Monsanto subsidiary (Delta and
Pine Land Co.). I also urge the USDA to abandon its worldwide patent
applications on this immoral and dangerous technology.
The Terminator technology (US patent #5,723,765) is a genetic technology that
renders farm-saved seed sterile. This technology has no agronomic benefit and
should never see the commercial light of day. The
Terminator violates Farmers' Rights and threatens agricultural
biodiversity. The Terminator isn't about improving agriculture, it is
about sterilizing seeds, wresting control of seeds and plant breeding
from farmers, and fattening Monsanto's profits. According to Delta and
Pine Land, Monsanto stands to make as much as US $1.5 billion per year
using the Terminator to force farmers to return to the commercial
seed market every year. This is not progress, it is a threat to global
food security and an egregious use of public research money.
As a public agency dedicated to promoting agriculture, USDA should be
taking steps to safeguard the rights of farmers to save seed, not
designing technologies to eliminate those rights. In light of the
alarming rate of consolidation in the seed industry, I urge USDA to
launch a public inquiry into the impacts of seed industry
consolidation on farmers and food security.
The Terminator is an anti-farmer, anti-biodiversity technology - paid
for by public money - and in large part aimed, according to USDA and
Delta and Pine Land, at farmers in developing countries. USDA and
Monsanto have indicated in Patent Cooperation Treaty documents that
they intend to pursue patents on the Terminator in at least 87
countries.
National applications are moving forward - or have issued - in
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Africa, most European countries, and
probably more jurisdictions.
Scientists warn that, under certain conditions, the trait for seed
sterility will flow, via pollen, from Terminator crops to surrounding
plants, making the seeds of neighboring plants sterile. Given the
profound risks to food security and the environment, especially in the
biodiversity-rich South, the Terminator patent embodies the kind of
threat to public morality described in Article 27(2) of the WTO TRIPs
agreement.
The Terminator technology is a dead-end for farmers and a threat to
food security worldwide. It is morally unacceptable, and it must be
banned. I respectfully urge you to stop the Terminator technology and
cease negotiations for its commercial development.
---------------------------------------- Green Building Professionals Directory at
http://www.greenbuilder.com/directory
Date: 6 Feb 1999 07:43:06 -0600 The Daily Mail, a national UK newspaper has launched a new
campaign against GM.
Those of you with sharp eyes may have seen in the qoutes
from the Parliament debate a reference to Novartis funding
the Labour Party. Today the Mail followed it up with a huige
front page headline :- LABOUR'S LINKS TO GENE FOODS and the
following article
by David Hughes,
Political Editor,
6 February 1999
DISTURBING questions about the Government's policy
on so-called Frankenstein food were raised last night
when it emerged that a producer of genetically modified
crops has given money to the Labour Party
An offshoot of the Swiss chemical giant Novartis spent
thousands of pounds sponsoring a seminar for
newly-elected Labour MP's in 1997.
It was also revealed that, in a lobbying blitz on Whitehall.
highly paid executives from the GM giants are visiting
the Agriculture Ministry on an almost daily basis.
One Labour insider said: We were amazed at the extent
these companies had civil servants wrapped round their
fingers.
The new raft of revelations came two days after Tony
Blair rejected calls for a three-year ban on introducing
commercial GM foods. The Government had already
faced econflict of interesti charges because Science
Minister Lord Sainsbury is on the Cabinet Comittee
dealing with biotechnology - even though his family firm
is a leading retailer of GM products.
A Labour official
yesterday confirmed that Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK
had sponsored the training seminar at the Institute of
Civil Engineers building opposite the House of
Commons. The party refuses to say how much money
was involved, other than that it was more than £5,000.
Novartis is one of the world's leading biotech companies
spearheading the introduction of GM food. It specialises
in the development of GM maize.
A spokesman insisted yesterday that its UK
pharmaceuticals arm is a eseparate operating companyi
which has nothing to do with GM food. The same point
was made by Labour.
But food campaigners said this was merely an attempt by
Novartis to cover its tracks in its attempts to gain
influence with the Government.
The news coincided with the announcement that Franceis
biggest supermarket chain Carrefour o which has outlets
all over the world o has ordered all GM foods to be
cleared from Its shelves. And a Daily
Mail investigation revealed that British customers are
unaware that they are buying so-called Frankenstein food
because of a hopelessly-confused labelling system. It is so
full of loopholes that as much as 90 per cent of products
containing GM Ingredients do not have to be identified.
The big players in the battle of GM food are
conglomerates that straddle the world
-- Monsanto and DuPont from North America, AgEvro
of Germany, Novartis of Switzerland. Formed three years
ago from the merger of Ciba and Sandoz, Novartis saw
its sales stand at £13.9 billion last year. With such huge
sums at stake, It is unsurprising that the GM firms are
among the most sophisticated lobbying organisations of
the age. They say they are working for the good of
mankind, particularly the billions in the Third World who
do not have enough to eat.
But the real prize is the vast profit that awaits them when
the genetically modified crops start growing around the
world.
They are masters of the art of persuasion. They have to
be knowing that consumers - particularly in the West -
are instinctively hostile to the concept of genetically
engineered food.
Novartisis involvement with the Labour Party is an
object lesson in how they work. The final page of
Labour's 1998 Annual Report carries a list of all the
companies that gave the party at least £5,000 in spon#172#
sorship during 1997. The list includes Novartis
Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd.
critics have accused the Government, food manufacturers
and supermarkets of conniving with the conglomerates to
force feed their products to consumers. They point to the
fact that huge quantities of GM foods are now in
supermarkets despite the fact there has been no
consultation with consumers and no studies on the
long-term health effects.
MP's have raised concern about a Ministry of Agriculture
project, revealed by the Daily Mail last month, under
which £125,000 was paid to Sheffield University to
devise a strategy eto promote public understandingi of
biotechnology. Researchers from the universityis
Journalism Studies department called for a campaign of
official leaflets and eeducationali videos to be shown at
supermarket checkouts.
Friends of the Earth and other campaigning groups
would like a five year moratorium on GM foods to help
ensure public health is not needlesly put at risk.
English Nature, the government's official advisory body
on wildlife issues, also wants a moratorium on the
commercial growing of GM crops in the UK amid fears
they will contribute to the disappearance of songbirds
and other wildlife.
The Prime Minister's rejection of the moratorium idea
came despite growing pressure from across the spectrum
- - ranging from Tory leader William Hague to Prince
Charles, Labour backbenchers, consumer groups and
green campaigners. The backlash against GM foods
erupted in the Commons this week in a highly-charged
debate which saw a cross-party alliance blasting the
headlong rush to their use.
Tory former minister Alan Clark believes the consumer is
feeling the edouble squeezei of multi-national firms such
as Monsanto and the big supermarkets.
There is an unholy combination between those two
forces to cajole. intimidate or by financial inducement
persuade the consumer that they are perfectly safe if they
go quietly along and swell the profits of these two
bodies, he said.
Date: 6 Feb 1999 17:05:58 -0600 Not only is the UK one of the major arms producing nations,
now they are trying to become the worlds largest exporter of
transgenic pigs.
Official figures for export from the Home Department:-
figures in brackets are transgenic pigs exported for
breeding purposes, other figures are for exported pigs for
research work.
Wonder who eats the bacon when they are finished!!!
-------------------------------------- Green Building Professionals Directory at
http://www.greenbuilder.com/directory
Date: 6 Feb 1999 20:15:06 -0600 Paul Davis today provided the important information shown below.
Experiments on Pig to Human transplantation are scheduled to begin this
March at University Hospital, London , Ontario according to the
London,Ontario news media.
The local press have refused to publish
information about the international moratorium on Pig to Human
transplatation.The media report the $millions provided by Novartis and
the suffering of those awaiting transplantation. The only concern
expressed are the ethical concerns of animal rights and a few religious
fanatics. The British exports to Canada clearly signal multinational
corporations efforts to get around the legitimate concerns over spread
of ERV viruses in virulent form from pigs to people.
Sadly the
bureaucrats of the Canadian government are providing the people of
southern Ontario as white mice in a dangerous experiments , while
cowardly newpersons cheer them on and report public relations for large
corporations.
Date: 6 Feb 1999 18:02:28 -0600 From Organic Gardeing Listserv:
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1999 09:17:32 -0600 Here is a list of seed companies that sell non-hybrid seeds. These
seeds produce plants whose seeds can be planted successfully.
Aleta
Date: 6 Feb 1999 07:43:33 -0600 Also from the Daily Mail today - (more to come!!!)
THE French food company which established Britainis
first hypermarkets removed all GM food from its shelves
last night. Carrefour's customers had expressed concern
about the products despite a major advertising and
information campaign by the market leader, Monsanto.
The Carrefour group has more than 200 stores in France
and opened a huge branch outside Caerphlliy, in South
Wales, in the early 1970s. With an annual turnover of
more than £lO billlon it is one of Europe's leading
retailers.
A spokesman said: eExperts worldwide are divided on
the risks posed by the spread and release of GM foods
for both consumer health and the environment. Many
questions are still unanswered. For the first time, man is
crossing barriers between species. It seems impossible to
us, at the present level of knowledge, to be able to
measure the long-term consequences. The lack of
transparency which surrounds GM foods is contrary to
our policy of traceability.
It will be a major operation for Carrefour, as 516 out of
its 1,800 own-label products have, until now, contained
genetically-engineered
ingredients in some form.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Top
Previous Next Front Page
From: listmaster
listmaster@apollo.bivwood.com
To:
monsanto_uk-list@monsanto.co.uk
Scientists To "Sell" Genetic Tampering
Date sent: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:03:29 -0500Top
Previous Next Front Page
From: listmaster
listmaster@apollo.bivwood.com
To:
monsanto_uk-list@monsanto.co.uk
Tories Attack "Muddle" Over Altered Foods
Date sent: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:03:29 -0500Top
Previous Next Front Page
From: listmaster
listmaster@apollo.bivwood.com
To:
monsanto_uk-list@monsanto.co.uk
A Web Of Deceit
Date sent: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:03:29 -0500Top
Previous Next Front Page
From: listmaster
listmaster@apollo.bivwood.com
To:
monsanto_uk-list@monsanto.co.uk
Ignorance Feeds The Propaganda Machine
Date sent: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:03:29 -0500Top
Previous Next Front Page
From: listmaster
listmaster@apollo.bivwood.com
To:
monsanto_uk-list@monsanto.co.uk
Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Plants
Date sent: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:03:29 -0500Top
Previous Next Front Page
From: listmaster
listmaster@apollo.bivwood.com
To:
monsanto_uk-list@monsanto.co.uk
Guidance document to facilitate notifiers in the preparation of plant GMO dossiers
Date sent: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 11:03:29 -0500Top
Previous Next Front Page
From: listmaster
listmaster@apollo.bivwood.com
To:
monsanto_uk-list@monsanto.co.uk
Arabidopsis -- A Model Plant Genome
Top
Previous Next Front Page
From:
Judy_Kew@greenbuilder.com (Judy Kew)
Sample Letters to stop Terminator
Letter to the USDA
Letter to your Senator
Letter to the USDA
From: [
concerned_citizen@youraddress]
Secretary of Agriculture
200-A Whitten Bldg.
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington DC 20250
[Your Affiliation]
[Your City and Region]
[Country]
Letter to your Senator
[Your Name]
admars@ars.usda.gov
bob.smith@mail.house.gov
senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov
rafi@rafi.org
http://www.greenbuilder.com
modem: 512.288.3903
Top
Previous Next Front Page
From:
devatalk@mcmail.com
UK National Daily Launches Genetic Food Watch Campaign
Labour's Links To Gene Foods
Top
Previous Next Front Page
From:
devatalk@mcmail.com
Transgenic pigs
Month Breeding Research Destination
June 97 (19) 5 to USA
Aug 97 (19) 7 to Japan
Nov 97 4 to Netherlands
April 98 (19) 12 to Canada
April 98 10 to Spain
April 98 (19) 21 to Spain
May 98 2 to Netherlands
June 98 (19) 21 to Italy
June 98 5 to Spain
Sept 98 (19) 8 to Canada
http://www.greenbuilder.com
modem: 512.288.3903
Top
Previous Next Front Page
From: joe cummins
jcummins@julian.uwo.ca
Transgenic pigs in Canada
Top
Previous Next Front Page
From:
Judy_Kew@greenbuilder.com (Judy Kew)
From: Fred and Aleta Sonnenberg
binary@TDS.NET
Companies That Sell Open-Pollinated (Non-Hybrid) Seeds
Top
Previous Front Page
From:
devatalk@mcmail.com
French supermarket chain bans GM