The seeds of Indonesia bribery scandal
Asia Times Online, January 20, 2005 (Indonesia)

The Department of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Monsanto with bribing an Indonesian government official to waive a strict environmental requirement needed to plant the controversial GM cotton seeds in Indonesian soil. According to the US authorities, Monsanto made some $700,000 in illicit payments to at least 140 current and former Indonesian government officials and their family members, from 1997 to 2002, [including] to buy land and build a house in the name of a wife of a senior Ministry of Agriculture official.
In September 2000, amid pressure from the public and non-government organizations, a planned agreement between the government and Monsanto to develop 20,000 hectares of GM cotton plants was postponed. Five months later, to the surprise and chagrin of environmentalists, Minister of Agriculture Bungaran Saragih gave approval for the sale of transgenic cotton in an experimental project in Sulawesi.
It was reported that only days after the decree was announced, a consignment of 40 tons of the GM cotton seeds arrived in Sulawesi from South Africa and was driven under armed guard from the airport in trucks marked "rice delivery". Just as the lawyers were arguing their case in court, [the] cotton, resistant to the pest Helicoverpa armigera, was being attacked by the very same pest. One report claimed that hundreds of hectares had been destroyed by the pests by late June.
But later that year the Ministry of Environment issued a decree that stated the requirement for an environmental impact assessment for such projects. "When it became clear that the lobbying efforts were having no effect on the Senior Environment Official, the Senior Monsanto Manager told the Consulting Firm Employee to 'incentivize' the official with a cash payment of $50,000," the SEC suit says.
In February 2002, an employee of the consulting firm visited the senior official and gave him an envelope containing $50,000 in $100 bills. The official took the money but said he couldn't promise he could get the law repealed. The Monsanto manager concocted a scheme to hide the bribe involv[ing] a "false invoice" [of] $66,000 to cover the bribe plus the taxes on the consulting company's falsely reported income. The repeal of the environmental impact study requirement was never authorized.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/022005/02.html

Investors challenge Monsanto over GE risks
AScribe Newswire, January 20, 2005 (USA)

A shareholder resolution to be voted on at today's annual meeting asks Monsanto to report on impacts related to its GE products. The co-filers are a coalition of 300 religious institutional investors and socially responsible investment firms with more than $150 billion in combined assets.
"Major market rejection and sudden business strategy reversals raise doubt that Monsanto is properly evaluating the risks of its genetically engineered products," said Michael Passoff, of the As You Sow Foundation.
Some of the major reversals that took investors by surprise include: [the] decision to not commercialize GE wheat despite spending $60 million on it in 2004 alone; cancellation of plans to develop pharmaceutical crops; forsaking its operations in Argentina despite 90 percent market penetration.
"As the world's leading producer of GE seeds, Monsanto faces unique business risks," said Marc Brammer, Senior Analyst of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. "These require a detailed assessment by management and reporting to shareholders." The report Innovest has released warns shareholders about hidden risks to Monsanto's profitability and points out that [the] stock price is likely overvalued compared to its actual earnings. Added Brammer, "Significant risks to financial performance remain un-examined in Monsanto's business plan and are not properly reflected in current stock market valuations."
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/022005/03.html

GM corn, soybeans found growing wild
The Japan Times, December 14, 2004 (Japan)

GM corn and soybeans have been found growing wild near Shimizu port, citizens' groups opposing GM foods said Monday. The groups also said GM rapeseed has been found growing wild near Fukuoka's Hakata port. Members suspect the plant was spilled during transport. The discovery of GM rapeseed follows its detection at [6 other] ports.
"Corn and soybean seeds are less likely to disperse than rapeseed; it's amazing that they grow wild," said Masaharu Kawata, a lecturer of chemical biology at Yokkaichi University.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/022005/04.html

Group urges ban on crops for drug[s]
Sacramento Bee, December 16, 2004 (USA)

The Union of Concerned Scientists called Wednesday for the US Department of Agriculture to ban open-field growing of corn, soybeans and other food crops engineered to produce pharmaceutical and industrial products. The group convened a panel from top agriculture schools who concluded the US food supply is not fully protected against contamination from drug compounds grown in food crops.
David Andow, editor of the technical report and an entomology professor at the University of Minnesota said "The many ways that a pharmaceutical crop could get into the food system is rather sobering." Seed mix-ups and pollen movement are the main contamination concerns."
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/022005/05.html

Ottawa asked to approve GM salmon
CBC News Online, December 8, 2004 (Canada)

A company based in the United States and Newfoundland is seeking approval to supply Canadian diners with GM salmon that grow twice as fast as normal fish.
Aqua Bounty Technologies has spent four years navigating the regulatory process in the US, but is still waiting to hear from that country's Food and Drug Administration.
Other people have concerns about the fish, though.
Biologist Jeff Hutchings was a member of the Royal Society of Canada expert panel on biotechnology. "If those fish were to escape and reproductively or ecologically interact with wild populations, there could be some severe detrimental effects to those wild populations," he said.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/022005/06.html

GM weedkiller use increases
Farmers Weekly, October 28, 2004 (UK)

A new study based on official US Department of Agriculture data on pesticide use reveals that while US pesticide use dropped during the three first years of commercial GM crop cultivation, it has increased sharply thereafter.
The study, conducted by Charles Benbrook, a former Executive Director of the Board on Agriculture of the US National Academy of Science, concludes the biotech industry's claims that GM crops help reduce the use of pesticides are unfounded.
The study differentiates between herbicide tolerant crops (HT) and Bt crops engineered to express the bacterial toxin Bacillus thuringiensis, which is toxic to many insects. Bt crops have helped reduce insecticide use by 7,000 tonnes from 1996; herbicide use on HT crops has increased by 62,000 tonnes. The overall pesticide use has risen by about 4.1% on the US GM acreage, according to the study. [It] predicts that for the foreseeable future, HT crops will increase pesticide use more than Bt crops will reduce it.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/022005/07.html

Minister to abolish GM scrutiny body
The Guardian, December 29, 2004 (UK)

The environment secretary, Margaret Beckett, is to scrap the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission after it repeatedly placed obstacles in the way of government plans to introduce GM crops.
When hostility to GM crops was at its height four years ago, the government defused the row by creating the Commission to discuss the social, ethical and economic issues surrounding their introduction in the British countryside. They put in charge Professor Malcolm Grant and appointed a wide range of members, from opponents of GM crops to staff of biotech companies.
Prof Grant managed to produce three influential consensus reports. The most difficult of those demanded wide separation between GM and conventional crops to prevent cross-contamination, render[ing] conventional crops unsaleable to supermarkets [and] a compensation scheme for conventional and organic farmers, underwritten by the government.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/022005/08.html