Denmark to tax farmers of GM crops
New Scientist, December 3, 2005 (EU)
Denmark last week became the first country in Europe to tax farmers who grow GM crops. The money collected will be used to compensate farmers who can't sell produce at its usual price because of contamination from a GM farm nearby. The EC authorised the scheme, and other countries are considering similar measures.
"What's good is that the GM farmers are paying, otherwise they'd have no incentive to prevent contamination happening," says Gundula Azeez of the Soil Association, which represents organic farmers in the UK. The biotech industry, meanwhile, regards the tax as arbitrary and unfair.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/01.html

Cotton farmers sue Monsanto
Reuters, February 24, 2006 (USA)

More than 90 Texas cotton farmers have sued Monsanto Co. and two affiliated companies - Delta & Pine Land Co. and Bayer CropScience L.P. - claiming they suffered widespread crop losses because Monsanto failed to warn them of a defect in its genetically altered cotton product. The lawsuit seeks an injunction against what it calls a "longstanding campaign of deception," and asks the court to award both actual and punitive damages.
The farmers claim there is evidence that the promoter gene inserted into the cotton seeds in the GM process does not work as designed in extreme high heat and drought conditions, allowing herbicide to eat into plant tissue, leading to boll deformity, shedding and reduced yields. The plaintiffs claim Monsanto knew this but did not disclose it so the farmers would continue to buy and use Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. Monsanto spokesman Andrew Berchet said there is no evidence that anything other than the weather is to blame for the crop losses.
But farmer Alan Stasney said he has evidence in his fields. A strip of cotton that inadvertently was not treated with Roundup yielded 1,051 pounds of lint per acre at harvest, while on either side of those rows, cotton that was treated with Roundup yielded only 675 pounds per acre. Stasney said [it] cost him more than $250,000 in sales.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/02.html

Europe bridles at WTO [ruling]
Reuters February 8, 2006 (EU)

European countries bristled at a world trade ruling that touches on national sovereignty over GMO foods. A World Trade Organisation panel ruled that various EU countries - Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg - had broken international trade rules by imposing national bans on marketing and growing specific GMOs.
Some countries reacted angrily to the WTO ruling, saying they would defend their legal right to block EU-approved products, since this was the will of consumers.
French consumer and farming groups deplored the WTO ruling, insisting that a large majority of consumers firmly opposed GMOs and that the EU's temporary approvals ban was correct. A poll published in France this week showed that 78 percent of those questioned would like a temporary ban on GMO products in order to evaluate their health and environmental impact.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/03.html

Hundreds attend anti-GM foods protest
Irish Independent, February 22, 2006 (Ireland)

Hundreds of people have mounted a demonstration outside the Dail today to protest against plans to plant GM potatoes. Politicians from across the political divide were in attendance, along with farmers, consumers groups and green campaigners. Eddie Punch from the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association said "If we go down the GM road, we will compromise irrevocably our ability to sell to premium [EU] markets [and] to the maximum number of consumers."
The German chemical firm BASF has applied for permission to plant a crop of blight-resistant GM potatoes as part of a five-year experiment.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/04.html

US may press Africa on GMOs
AllAfrica Global Media, February 9, 2006 (Africa)

The US may push Africa to accept GMO food now that the WTO has ruled the EU broke rules by barring GMO foods and seeds, but Africans vowed yesterday to resist.
"We do not want GM foods and our hope is that all of us can continue to produce non-GM foods", Zambian Agriculture Minister Mundia Sikatana told Reuters.
Campaigners and analysts saw the US using the WTO ruling to press Africans to accept GMO food imports on the basis that Europe, which has usually backed the obstinate African position, will itself have to take them.
"There is a serious warning there to Africa not to restrict access to US markets. But I think it has the potential to increase resistance to GMOs in Africa and elsewhere," Leslie Liddell, director of Biowatch South Africa.
Africans argue that better technology to increase irrigation, more widespread use of fertilisers and pesticides, and improved monitoring of market trends will help deliver improved harvests and defeat hunger.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/05.html

Exporters slam Monsanto for soy suits
Reuters, February 14, 2006 (Argentina)

Monsanto Co. has sued importers of Argentine soymeal in three European countries to try to enforce patents there on its Roundup Ready gene technology, which was never patented in Argentina but is nearly universally used by farmers. [It] has halted Argentine soy shipments in three Spanish ports and in Liverpool, England, testing for its Roundup Ready technology in a prelude to lawsuits.
The Center for Grain Exporters and the Argentine Chamber of Vegetable Oil Industries said "These actions will have a negative impact on internal soy prices since they involve penalties worth about 10 percent of the product's total value."
Monsanto has lobbied for two years for a new soybean royalty mechanism in Argentina, where the government estimates that 30 percent of farmers buy soy seeds on the black market and avoid paying the fees.
By law, many farmers can also use biotech soy seeds culled from their own plants without paying royalties.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/06.html

French farmers may have to pay [to grow] GM
Landwirtschaft, February 10, 2006 (France) (Translated)

French farmers may have to pay for the cultivation of GM crops in the future. Up to 100 Euros per hectare will have to be paid into a liability fund. The fund will act as compensation for GM mixing, which exceeds the agreed threshold of 0.9 % set by the EU. The liability fund will initially exist for five years, and an insurance model is planned thereafter.
The tax is controversial, among other aspects, because seed producers do not have to contribute. Greenpeace commented that the burden would exclusively fall on farmers, while the food industry, seed producers and commerce would get off scot-free.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/07.html

EU: No licence for medicine in GM goat milk
Bridges Trade BioRes, Vol. 6 No. 4, March 3, 2006 (EU)

An application to licence the world's first medicine to be produced from a GM animal was turned down by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) on 24 February.
GTC Biotherapeutics, based in the US, engineered goats to contain a human gene that codes for anti-thrombin, an anticoagulant. The result was goats that produce in their milk a substance that inhibits blood clots from forming. The medicine, called Atryn, would have been used by people with an inherited disease leaving them prone to developing blood clots. However, the EMEA decided that the company applying for the licence had failed to demonstrate the benefits of the drug outweighed its risks. EMEA said the testing process on patients giving birth or undergoing surgery was insufficient and not supportive.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/08.html

Farmers, others sue USDA over GMO alfalfa
Reuters, February 17, 2006 (USA)

A coalition of farmers, consumers and environmental activists [have] sued the US government over its approval of a biotech alfalfa that critics say will spell havoc for farmers and the environment." Alfalfa is very easily cross-pollinated by bees and by wind. The plant is also perennial, meaning GMO plants could live on for years.
"The USDA failed to do a full environmental review when they deregulated this GE alfalfa," said Will Rastov, an attorney for Center for Food Safety, one of the plaintiffs.
The suit asserts that the GM alfalfa will probably contaminate conventionally grown alfalfa at a fast pace, ultimately forcing farmers to pay for Monsanto's patented gene technology whether they want the technology or not.
The group says biotech alfalfa would also hurt production of organic dairy and beef products as alfalfa is a key cattle feed. And the suit claims farmers could lose export business, valued at an estimated $480 million per year, because buyers in Japan and South Korea, major importers of US alfalfa, have indicated they would avoid buying US alfalfa once the genetically engineered variety is released.
Plaintiffs also said Monsanto is marketing the herbicide-tolerant crop in a way that encourages far greater applications of chemicals than alfalfa typically requires.
Full item: http://www.GEinfo.org.nz/032006/09.html