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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Hi, anbei die News der letzten andertalb Wochen.<B><I> Schröders</I></B><I></I> Sprecher Steg hat gleich zu Beginn dieses Jahres sehr deutlich gesagt, wie Schröder zur Gentechnik steht:<B> "Es geht darum, die Spitzenposition Deutschlands zu halten. Dazu sind Anstrengungen in der Bio- und Gentechnologie notwendig."</B><B><I> Save our seeds</I></B><I></I> bedankt sich bei allen, die die Petition unterschrieben haben und ist sehr optimistisch bzgl. des Statements des Europäischen Parlaments. </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1900"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1900</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"></FONT><B></B><B><I> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Percy Schmeißer</FONT></I></B><I></I> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">hat das Verfahren gegen Monsanto vorerst verloren, will aber in Berufung gehen. Die Begründung des Gerichtes ist krass: egal wie die Samen auf sein Feld gelangt sind, er hätte wissen müssen, dass die Ernte Monsanto Erbgut enthält und deshalb keinen Teil der Ernte für die nächste Aussaat aufheben dürfen.</FONT><B></B><B><I> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Metro</FONT></I></B><I></I> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">scheint seine Pro-GM-Kampagne nun doch nicht zu starten, was ein Umdenken in der Bayer-Metro-Kampagne erfordert. Das nächste Treffen der</FONT><B></B><B><I> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">GenFood- Kampagne</FONT></I></B><I></I> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">ist übrigens am 17.Jan. (</FONT><A HREF="http://www.dosto.de/gengruppe/bameka/aktion/term17_01_04.html"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.dosto.de/gengruppe/bameka/aktion/term17_01_04.html</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">) und Ende Jan bietet die BUND-Attac-Genstreitfallgruppe Bildungswochenenden zum Thema Streitfall in Stuttgart und Verden an. </FONT><A HREF="http://www.oekologieglobal.de/seminare.php"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.oekologieglobal.de/seminare.php</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> Gruß, Sabine</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Einspruch - Hände weg von unserer Nahrung </FONT><A HREF="http://www.genug-wto.de/einspruch.html"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.genug-wto.de/einspruch.html</FONT></U></A>
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<P><FONT FACE="Arial">____________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">taz Nr. 7248 vom 3.1.2004, Seite 18, 8 Zeilen (TAZ-Bericht)</FONT><FONT COLOR="#FFFFFF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, </FONT><B></B>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">"Die Gen-Jäger" (1) So 19.10 Uhr, 3Sat</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">In drei Teilen beschäftigt sich die Dokumentation mit den medizinischen Möglichkeiten und ethischen Grenzen der Genforschung. Mit dem Kampf gegen Erbkrankheiten beginnt die wöchentliche Serie.</FONT></P>
<P><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">____________________________________</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">WEEKLY WATCH NUMBER 53, Fr 02.01.04 13:01</FONT><B></B><B></B>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">GM Food and hunger - a new book from Devinder Sharma</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">ON HOW POLITICS AND COMMERCE TRUMP HUMANITARIAN CONCERN</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">"At the height of the 1974 famine in the newly born Bangladesh, the US withheld 2.2 million tonnes of food aid to 'ensure that it abandoned plans to try Pakistani war criminals'. And a year later, when Bangladesh was faced with severe monsoons and imminent floods, the then US Ambassador to Bangladesh made it abundantly clear that the US probably could not commit food aid because of Bangladesh's policy of exporting jute to Cuba. And by the time Bangladesh succumbed to the American pressure, and stopped jute exports to Cuba, the food aid in transit was 'too late for famine victims'."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">- Devinder Sharma in the preface to his new book, GM Food and Hunger: A View from the South. To obtain a copy, please contact the author: dsharma@del6.vsnl.net.in </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1911"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1911</FONT></U></A></P>
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<P><U><I><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=5 FACE="Arial">1. EU</FONT></I></U><I></I><BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Save our Seeds news roundup (23/12/2003)</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">European Parliament votes for gmo free seeds, eu wide coexistence and liability and calls for moratorium on GMO approvals</FONT></B><BR>
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<FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The EP today adopted with a large majority (327:52) a report on the co-existence of GM and non-GM agriculture, which inter alia calls for</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">labelling of GM contamination in seeds at the detection level</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, eu wide coexistence and liability rules and</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">demands that no approvals for GMO cultivation should be approved until such legislation is in place</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">.<BR>
<BR>
Report as adopted, in all languages<BR>
</FONT><A HREF="http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A5-2003-0465+0+NOT+XML+V0//EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=S"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A5-2003-0465+0+NOT+XML+V0//EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=S</FONT></U></A><BR>
<BR>
<FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">eurActiv: Parliament wants strict EU-wide rules for co-existence<BR>
</FONT><A HREF="http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe?204&OIDN=1506888&-tt=en"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe?204&OIDN=1506888&-tt=en</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> </FONT>
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<P><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">________________________________________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The Nuffield Councel in Bioethics - London, 28 December 2003</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">GM debate must not neglect developing countries</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Launch of Discussion Paper: the use of genetically modified crops in developing countries<BR>
<BR>
There is an ethical obligation to explore the benefits that genetically modified (GM) crops could offer people in developing countries, according to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. "The possible costs, benefits and risks associated with particular GM crops must be assessed on a</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">case by case</FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">basis," said Dr Sandy Thomas, Director of the Nuffield Council.<BR>
<BR>
Dr Thomas was launching a Discussion Paper,</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The use of genetically modified crops in developing countries</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, which argues</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">that GM crops could significantly improve agriculture in developing countries</FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">but warns against considering GM technology in isolation. "We recommend asking how the use of a GM crop compares to alternatives," continued Dr Thomas.</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> It is essential to focus on the specific situation in a particular country</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, and to compare all possible options. This comparison should include not only other approaches in agricultural research and practice, but also the potential cost of doing nothing.<BR>
<BR>
The Council held a consultation during summer 2003, and the responses received highlighted the complexity of the debate. While</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> many respondents described the benefits they had experienced from GM crops</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, others argued that economic, political or social change was more important than new technologies. "We recognise that we are discussing only part of a much larger picture.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">We do not claim that GM crops will feed the world but we do believe that, in specific cases, they could make a useful contribution to improving the livelihood of poor farmers in developing countries</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">," commented Dr Thomas.<BR>
<BR>
GM crops could be used to address agricultural problems, such as drought and salty soils, where other methods of plant breeding or conventional agriculture have been less successful. GM crops could also address some health problems. For example,</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Golden Rice</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, modified to produce ß-carotene, could help to prevent vitamin A deficiency. However, in other situations, the use of a GM crop may be less appropriate. GM herbicide resistant crops may lead to reduced demand for labour, which could hinder the reduction of poverty in developing countries.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Currently, much GM research serves the interests of large-scale farmers in developed countries</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. The Council recommends that</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">research into GM crops must be directed towards the needs of small-scale farmers in developing countries</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. The UK Department for International Development, the European Commission and other national governments should commit additional resources to expanding relevant research.<BR>
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The paper also emphasises the impact of European regulations on GM crops, concluding that</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> the freedom of choice of farmers in developing countries is being severely challenged by EU agricultural policy</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. Many developing countries do not have the necessary infrastructure to meet strict EU requirements for labelling and traceability of GM crops. Additionally, there is concern that even planting GM crops only for domestic use might jeopardise export markets for non-GM crops.</FONT><BR>
<A HREF="http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/press/pr_0000000741.asp"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/press/pr_0000000741.asp</FONT></U></A>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">____________________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">WEEKLY WATCH NUMBER 53, Fr 02.01.04 13:01</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">The Nuffield Council on Bioethics</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">[It] says it is an</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> independent</FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">body which examines the ethical issues raised by developments in medicine and biology. Established in 1991, it is funded by The Nuffield Foundation, the Medical Research Council and The Wellcome Trust. In 1999 no less than four ...reports on GM were published in the UK in the space of just two days. All asserted the safety of GM foods and crops, and all strongly criticised the research of </FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Dr Arpad Pusztai </FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">which had raised considerable doubts about the safety of GM foods. ...One of these reports was the Nuffield Council on Bioethics' report,</FONT><I> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Genetically modified crops: the social and ethical issues</FONT></I><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> , published in May 1999. The attack on Dr Pusztai was contained in an appendix to the report which Pusztai characterised as 'misleading and full of inaccuracies... unscientific and most unfair.' </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The Nuffield report declared</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">that all GM foods currently on the market were 'safe' and that there was a moral imperative to make GM crops available to developing countries</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. Though the panel that drew up the report was presented as 'a group of independent scientists'…</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Among those on the panel were: </FONT>
</P>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=48"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Mike Gale</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> FRS: biotechnologist at the </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=67"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">John Innes Centre (JIC)</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, which at that time was</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">negotiating a deal with biotech giants Zeneca and DuPont </FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">promising some £60-70m in investment….</FONT></LI>
<LI><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Derek Burke</FONT></U><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">: former vice chancellor of the University of East Anglia (UEA), and former chair of the governing council of the </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=67"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">JIC</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> (see above), both of which have benefited from biotech industry funding. </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=26"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Burke</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> was chairman for nearly a decade (1988-97) of the Advisory Committee for Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP), the regulatory body which approved the UK's first GM foods. </FONT></LI>
<LI><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Brian Heap</FONT></U><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> FRS: then Vice President of the </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=113"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Royal Society</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. Like </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=26"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Burke</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> and </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=48"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Gale</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=55"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Heap</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> helped produce the Royal Society's report 'Genetically Modified Plants for Food Use' which was used at an earlier stage to reassure government ministers that there were no significant problems with GM. He was also on the Royal Society group that organised a partial 'peer review' of Pusztai's work while it was still unpublished ...</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Michael Lipton: development economist at the Poverty Research Unit, University of Sussex. Lipton is a strong supporter of GM and of genetically modified 'golden rice'.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">He warns that it is threatened by 'a great anti-scientific wave' and says NGOs which oppose it should have their charitable status brought into question. He does not appear to consider the large amount of money being invested in 'golden rice' could better be spent on the cheap and effective approaches already available, nor that those likely to be most directly affected by this technology should be centrally involved in decision making about it. </FONT></B></LI>
<BR>
</UL>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">In drawing up its report, the Nuffield panel consulted, among others, the biotech corporations Monsanto and Zeneca. The Scottish Herald (30 May 99) reported that an early draft of the report had</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">warned of possible environmental problems </FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">with GM crops and suggested leaving large GM-free tracts of the UK as an 'insurance policy'.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">This suggestion did not survive consultation with the industry and was edited out before publication. </FONT></B></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Although the report made such strong recommendations on the use of GM crops in the developing world,</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">curiously there was no consultation with anyone from the developing world, nor was a single well-known scientific critic of GM consulted</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. …A group representing Indian farmers even turned up uninvited at the Nuffield offices in London to express </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1042"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">their unhappiness with the report</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> and frustration at their point of view not being heard. The Nuffield's director eventually agreed to speak to them, though not before calling the police.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Four years on, in 2003, a group within the Nuffield Council on Bioethics' produced a follow up report to coincide with the UK's national GM Public Debate. </FONT><A HREF="http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/gmcrops/latestnews.asp"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The use of genetically modified crops in developing countries</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> again strongly supported GM crops. The BBC's Pallab Ghosh reported, 'GM crops can contribute substantially to improving agriculture in developing countries, an independent scientific think-tank has concluded.' </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">...Dr Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the head of Ethiopia's Environmental Protection Authority, </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1905"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">responded</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> , 'The Nuffield report suggests that there is a moral imperative for investment into GM crop research in developing countries. But the moral imperative is in fact the opposite. The</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">policy of drawing funds away from low-cost sustainable agriculture research, towards hi-tech, exclusive, expensive and unsafe technology is itself ethically questionable</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. There is a strong moral argument that the funding of GM technology in agriculture is harming the long-term sustainability of agriculture in the developing world.'</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">New-Delhi based trade and policy analyst, Devinder Sharma, sees the Nuffield Council's plea for massive funding for GM research as</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">more about job security for their fellow scientists than food security for the hungry</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. The panel, </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1906"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Sharma suggests</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, is guilty of exploiting hunger in the poor world for the sake of employment opportunities for the rich. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The Nuffield report's vision is also notably at odds with the 2003 report on </FONT><A HREF="http://twnafrica.org/news_detail.asp?twnID=374"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">GM crops in Africa</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> by Aaron deGrassi of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, where Michael Lipton is based. DeGrassi assesses empirically the major GM showcase projects in Africa and finds they have little if anything to offer in terms of serious poverty alleviation. The report concludes, 'genetic modification may constitute a novel tool but it is a relatively ineffective and expensive one in Africa.' The report supports the judgement of a South African commentator, 'There are better ways to feed Africa than GM crops.' </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> </FONT><A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=98"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=98</FONT></U></A>
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<P><U><I><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=5 FACE="Arial">2. Deutschland</FONT></I></U><I></I><FONT FACE="Arial"> </FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Freitag 2. Januar 2004, 15:54 Uhr</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="arial">Schröder will Innovation zu einem Schwerpunktthema 2004 machen</FONT></B>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">(AFP) Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder (SPD) will Bildung, Forschung, Innovation, Familie und Kinderbetreuung zu Schwerpunkt-Themen seiner Politik in diesem Jahr machen. Vize-Regierungssprecher Thomas Steg sagte am Freitag in Berlin weiter, diese Themen sollten bereits in der nächsten Woche bei den Klausurtagungen der SPD und der SPD-Fraktion in Weimar und Leipzig eine Rolle spielen.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">Ziel beim Thema Innovation sei es, die Spitzenpositionen Deutschlands zu erhalten oder auszubauen. Zusätzliche Anstrengungen seien etwa bei der Bio-, Gen- und Nannotechnologie notwendig</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">. Der Kanzler halte eine "Innovationsoffensive" für notwendig im Zusammenspiel mit Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft. Der Sprecher betonte, dass "Innovationskultur" eine Aufgabe der gesamten Gesellschaft und nicht nur der Politik sei.</FONT></P>
<P><A HREF="http://de.news.yahoo.com/040102/286/3tn0z.html"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://de.news.yahoo.com/040102/286/3tn0z.html</FONT></U></A>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">_________________________________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Email von Corinna Hölzel, Greenpeace-Einkaufsnetz, 24.12.03</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">Metro gibt nach</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">letzte Woche hat uns Metro noch ein Weihnachtsgeschenk beschert: Sie haben sich gentechnikfrei gemäß den Anforderungen der neuen Kennzeichnungsregelung erklärt. Die Aussage haben wir vom Juristen prüfen lassen, es ist eindeutig. Sie gilt für alle Eigenmarken aller Vertriebslinien (Cash & Carry, Real, Extra und Kaufhof) und für Deutschland und in soweit für ihre internationalen Märkte, wie es sich um Produkte handelt, die auch in Deutschland vertrieben werden. Das ist erstmal ein Sieg, obwohl sie bei den tierischen Rohstoffen (Eier, Milch, Fleisch, Wurst) noch nicht auf gentechnikfreie Fütterung der Tiere setzen oder eine Absichtserklärung dafür geben. Wir haben die Greenpeace Aktivitäten daraufhin sofort eingestellt. Im nächsten Jahr werden wir überlegen, wie die Strategie zu Futtermitteln aussehen wird, denn da geht der Großteil der gentechnisch veränderten Pflanzen hin.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Am 14. Januar veröffentlichen wir einen Gentechnik Einkaufsratgeber mit ca. 400 Firmen und Marken, die nach ihrer Verwendung von Gentechnik beurteilt sind. Die Broschüre ist im handlichen Taschenformat A6, farbig, 28 Seiten stark bei Greenpeace kostenlos zu bestellen. Bei Interesse an größeren Mengen zwecks Weiterverteilung bitte bald bei mir melden.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">___________________________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Berliner Zeitung, Donnerstag, 18. Dezember 2003</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">Die nächste Erbgutkarte ist in Arbeit</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">…</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Nach der großen Genkarte des Menschen, die das internationale Humangenomprojekt schon vor einiger Zeit vorgelegt hat, arbeiten Forscher nun an einer kleineren, aber feineren Genkarte: Forscher aus Großbritannien, Kanada, China, Japan, Nigeria und den USA</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">suchen nach den Erbgutbausteinen, die von Mensch zu Mensch verschieden sind</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Diese so genannten SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) machen nur etwa ein Tausendstel des menschlichen Genoms aus</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. Sie sind für die Forschung so interessant, weil sie die individuelle Neigung zu bestimmten Krankheiten beeinflussen. Über die Ziele des Projekts und erste Ergebnisse berichteten Forscher um David Bentley vom Wellcome Trust Genome Campus im britischen Hinxton jetzt im Fachjournal Nature.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Mehr als fünfeinhalb Millionen SNPs sind bisher bekannt. Einige davon liegen nah beieinander und werden auch zusammen vererbt. Solch ein Satz von mehreren SNPs heißt im Fachjargon Haplotyp. Die Forscher nennen daher die Karte, an der sie arbeiten, "Hapmap" - Haplotyp-Karte. Innerhalb der nächsten zwei Jahre soll sie komplett sein. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Zwar seien zahlreiche Haplotypen in allen Bevölkerungsgruppen zu finden, schreiben die Wissenschaftler, einige jedoch kämen in bestimmten Gegenden häufiger vor als andere. Für ihre Genkarte untersuchen die Forscher DNA-Proben von 270 Menschen aus Nigeria, Japan, China und den USA.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Vierzehn Monate nach dem Startschuss für das Hapmap-Projekt im Oktober 2002 veröffentlichte das Team jetzt große Datenmengen im Internet. Forscher aus aller Welt können die dort bereit gestellten Informationen kostenlos nutzen, um nach Genen zu suchen, die bei Volkskrankheiten eine Rolle spielen. Um den Zugang zu den Daten nicht zu beschränken, haben sich die am Projekt beteiligten Wissenschaftler verpflichtet, keine Patente auf entdeckte SNPs anzumelden. Das ist ihnen erst dann gestattet, wenn sie in einem Nachfolgeprojekt die Funktion eines bestimmten Erbgutabschnitts nachweisen können. (kat.)</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Weitere Infos zum Projekt:</FONT>
<BR><A HREF="http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/10001688"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/10001688</FONT></U></A>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">______________________________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Sonntag 4. Januar 2004, 10:28 Uhr</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="arial">Fehlbildungen bei Retortenbabys: Defekte Gene der Eltern schuld</FONT></B>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">Hamburg (dpa) - Der Versuch ist kräftezehrend und kompliziert, doch für viele Paare ist eine künstliche Befruchtung die letzte Chance zum eigenen Kind. Jahrelang gab es keine medizinischen Probleme bei den «Babys aus der Retorte».</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">Muss das Spermium im Labor jedoch direkt in die Eizelle injiziert werden, dann treten häufiger als bei natürlich gezeugten Kindern Herzfehler, Gaumen-Spalten und andere Missbildungen auf. Dies liegt nach Ansicht von Reproduktionsmedizinern jedoch weniger an der Technik des so genannten ICSI-Verfahrens, als am Alter und Erbgut der Eltern.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">Im Jahr 1978 wurde Louise Brown geboren - sie ist als erstes Kind außerhalb des Mutterleibs gezeugt worden. Die Zahl der seither im Reagenzglas entstandenen Kinder wird auf etwa eine Million weltweit geschätzt. Der Berliner Verein Wunschkind, ein Zusammenschluss von Selbsthilfegruppen für ungewollt Kinderlose, weiß von jährlich 200 000 Paaren allein in Deutschland, die sich Rat bei Medizinern oder Zentren für künstliche Befruchtung holen. 12 000 Kinder pro Jahr - 1,6 Prozent aller Geburten - verdanken ihr Leben der In-vitro- Fertilisation (IVF), der Befruchtung außerhalb des Körpers.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">Seit zehn Jahren gelingt es Ärzten, auch solchen Paaren zu helfen, bei denen der Mann wegen einer schlechten Samenzellen-Qualität nahezu unfruchtbar ist. Bei ICSI, der Intracytoplasmatischen Spermieninjektion, wird ein einzelnes Spermium per Pipette in die Eizelle eingefügt. Doch gerade dieses Verfahren macht Medizinern nun Sorgen: «Die Fehlbildungsrate scheint bei ICSI erhöht zu sein», sagt der Präsident der Gesellschaft für Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe (DGGG), Klaus Diedrich und beruft sich auf eine Studie mit insgesamt 11 000 Kindern. ...</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">Der Präsident der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Reproduktionsmedizin, Eberhard Nieschlag, glaubt, bei den Betroffenen gebe es oft «eine Neigung zu genetischen Störungen». Diese können seiner Meinung nach der Grund für die Zeugungsprobleme sein und auch für Missbildungen bei den Kindern. «Wir kennen diese Gene aber noch nicht genau», sagt Nieschlag…. Andere Studien bringen Krankheiten wie das Downsyndrom in Verbindung mit künstlichen Befruchtungen, bei denen die Kinder eine ungewöhnliche Zahl an Erbgutträgern (Chromosomen) haben. Die Befürchtung, das Verfahren berge Gefahren wie etwa die Beschädigung des für die Zellteilung wichtigen Spindelapparats in der Eizelle, teilen die Mediziner nicht. «Es kann in Ausnahmen zu einer Störung kommen, aber eigentlich ist die Spindel bei der Behandlung zu sehen», meint Diedrich.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="arial">Eine genaue Aufklärung und Chromosomen-Untersuchungen der Paare seien unerlässlich, meint Nieschlag. «Die Zahl derer, die dann bei einem bestimmbaren Risiko lieber verzichten, ist nicht unerheblich»….</FONT></P>
<P><A HREF="http://de.news.yahoo.com/040104/3/3todd.html"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://de.news.yahoo.com/040104/3/3todd.html</FONT></U></A>
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<P><U><I><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=5 FACE="Arial">3. Welt</FONT></I></U><I></I><FONT FACE="Arial"> </FONT>
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<P><U><I><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=5 FACE="Arial">3.1 Kanada</FONT></I></U><I></I><FONT FACE="Arial"> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Vancouver Courier [via Agnet Dec. 29/03] December 28, 2003</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">Readers give Monsanto an earful</FONT></B><BR>
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<FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">...During the trial, it was well established that the greatest concentration of Monsanto's GM Round Up ready canola was in the gutters along the roads that ring Schmeiser's farm. A very small amount of GM Round Up ready canola was found in Schmeiser's fields. The former could only have come from Monsanto's GM canola seed</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">carelessly spilled from trucks delivering seed to other canola farmers</FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">in the area, while the</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">field contamination would have to be from seed and pollen wind drift</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">.<BR>
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As far as the federal court was concerned, all of this was irrelevant to the fact there was some of Monsanto's GM canola in and around Mr. Schmeiser's fields….The problem in the Schmeiser/Monsanto case is that the federal court justices who heard the appeal were too timid to strike down a flawed</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">patent law passed by a parliament that failed to take into account such unintended and avoidable consequences</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> suffered by Percy Schmeiser and other Canadian farmers.<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">...Despite Trish Jordan's (of Monsanto) insinuations to the contrary, the courts did not rule on where the seed came from. The finding of the court was</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">that it didn't matter where the seed came from</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The ruling of the courts was that Mr Schmeiser knew or ought to have known that there were genetically engineered canola plants in his fields. He was therefore infringing on Monsanto's patent and should not have saved his own seed and replanted it the next year. This despite the fact that this had been his practice in over 50 years of farming.<BR>
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<FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">In a case that has implications for farmers and indeed anyone in the world concerned about the unconfined release of man-made genes into the food supply and the environment, Mr. Schmeiser has been given leave to appeal the lower courts' decisions to the Supreme Court of Canada.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The case will be argued in Ottawa on Jan. 20, 2004. </FONT></B></P>
<P><U><I><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=5 FACE="Arial">3.2 USA</FONT></I></U><I></I>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">WEEKLY WATCH NUMBER 53, Fr 02.01.04 13:01</FONT>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">Mix-up leaves biotech project at CSUS withering on the vine</FONT><BR>
</B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">By Edie Lau -- Bee Science Writer<BR>
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Wednesday, December 31, 2003<BR>
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A project in genetically engineering crops to produce medicines began with exuberant hopes at Sacramento State. Now all that remain are two disheveled plants with one wrinkled red tomato. After five years, the biologist who led the project, Nicholas Ewing, is giving it up. The experiments didn't work. Ironically, the very tool he was trying to employ -- biotechnology -- spoiled the studies. The problem lay in the seeds.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Ewing and his students tried to genetically engineer seeds they thought were from an ordinary tomato. Trouble was, the seeds were mislabeled; they arrived with genes already altered</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">.<BR>
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It was another case of agricultural biotechnology appearing to be out of control. "This is a significant thing," Ewing said in an interview this week in his office at California State University, Sacramento, where he is chairman of the department of biological sciences. "</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">It illustrates that these (biotech) genes can be difficult to contain unless we have practices in place to better detect them."<BR>
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<FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Ewing was one of 34 people around the world who may have received the misidentified seeds over the past seven years.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The seeds came from the University of California</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, Davis, C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center -- a repository of seeds from more than 3,600 varieties of wild and domesticated tomatoes. Like other such seed banks, the Rick Center is</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">a sort of Library of Congress for crops -- a place where the genetic diversity of important plants is catalogued and preserved</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The Rick Center doesn't knowingly keep genetically engineered seed in its stock</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. When officials recognized the error this fall, the embarrassed center issued a recall and apology, followed in mid-December by a public announcement.<BR>
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The seeds traveled widely: to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Most recipients were scientists, though not all. ...</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">UC Davis officials emphasized that the mistake in no way endangered the food supply.</FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The biotech gene, or "transgene," in the tomato was approved for human consumption by the U.S. government in 1994. The transgene is designed to slow the fruit's decay. It is essentially the same as that in the Flavr Savr tomato, the world's first genetically engineered commercial crop, created by the</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> Davis</FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">biotech company Calgene.<BR>
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Since the consequences of the mistaken distribution so far appear to be minor -- nothing more serious than botched experiments in assorted labs -- Ewing looks upon the incident as something of</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">a useful warning</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. "In a way, I think it was good it happened at this time in this way. It's indicative of what can happen, and maybe," he said, pausing, his normally lively voice growing soft, "even what will happen." </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Ewing, who earned a doctorate in plant physiology at UC Davis in 1993, started exploring making pharmaceuticals in crops in 1998. He was inspired by a student who became intrigued by the idea of making inexpensive vaccines out of plants, which could be especially beneficial in poor countries. But now, not wanting to be party to a more serious biotech accident, Ewing is putting the project on indefinite hold.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Students in his lab were just beginning to attempt to engineer into tomatoes the components of an antibody derived from mouse cells, as well as a bacterial protein</FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">that binds to antibodies. In both cases, the products appear to be safe to eat, Ewing said, but he can't say so positively."In light of this (seed accident), we thought, 'Let's back up on this,' " he said. "... I want to look more carefully at safety and the regulatory process."<BR>
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...The UC Davis seed mix-up is just the latest in a string of mishaps involving the escape of genetically engineered genes. In 2000,</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">StarLink</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, a variety of transgenic corn approved only for animal feed, was discovered widely in taco shells, corn chips and other human food, forcing a massive recall. Traces of the StarLink protein reportedly remain in some corn products today.</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"></FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">In 2001, researchers from UC Berkeley reported finding</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">biotech genes in native corn</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> from the mountains of rural</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Oaxaca, Mexico</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, where growing genetically engineered corn is illegal. In 2002, a Texas biotech company,</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">ProdiGene</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, was found to have</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">contaminated 500,000 bushels of soybeans</FONT></B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">with corn engineered to make pig vaccine. The soybeans had to be destroyed. In all cases, no obvious harm was done to public health or the environment, though there were economic repercussions and, perhaps, some erosion in consumers' confidence.<BR>
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...At CSUS, Ewing and his students were confounded because</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">the seeds contained a bacterial gene for antibiotic resistance</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">, which is a tool genetic engineers use to distinguish transformed plants from untransformed plants. Usually only a small fraction of plants that are manipulated actually incorporate the transgenes. Scientists treat all manipulated plants with antibiotics, and those that survive -- those that are resistant to antibiotics -- are the ones that have taken up the transgenes.</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">In Ewing's case, even the tomato plants that didn't take up his target gene carried the antibiotic resistance gene</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. Later, when he and his students checked the plants' DNA, they were perplexed: The gene they thought they'd introduced wasn't there. Figuring the mistake was theirs, they ordered a second batch of seeds from UC Davis. "The last thing you want to do is blame somebody else," Ewing said. When the same thing happened again,</FONT><B> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Ewing realized something was wrong with the seed</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">. Just as he was set to call the seed bank, the seed bank called Ewing. The mix-up had been detected through a similar experiment failure at a UC Davis lab….<A HREF="http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1912">http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1912</A></FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">________________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">WEEKLY WATCH NUMBER 53, Fr 02.01.04 13:01</FONT><B></B><B></B><B></B>
<BR><B><FONT COLOR="#008000" SIZE=4 FACE="Arial">Seeds Of Deception - The Wisdom Of Animals</FONT><BR>
</B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">By Jeffrey M. Smith<BR>
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Mice avoid eating GM foods when they have the chance, as do rats, cows, pigs, geese, elk, squirrels, and others. What do these animals know that we don't? At the end of most chapters is a one-page story describing how farmers, students, and scientists discovered that animals refuse to eat the same GM foods that we consume everyday.<BR>
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Excerpt<BR>
The Washington Post reported that laboratory mice, usually happy to munch on tomatoes, turned their noses up at the genetically modified FlavrSavr tomato. Scientist Roger Salquist said of his tomato, "I gotta tell you, you can be Chef Boyardee and mice are still not going to like them." The mice were eventually force fed the tomato through gastric tubes and stomach washes. Several developed stomach lesions; seven of forty died within two weeks. The tomato was approved without further tests.<BR>
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from ' SEEDS OF DECEPTION: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating' by Jeffrey M Smith (ISBN 0-9729665-8-7).</FONT></P>
<P><A HREF="http://www.SeedsofDeception.com/Between-the-Chapters-The-Wisdom-of-Animals.php#Excerpt"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">http://www.SeedsofDeception.com/Between-the-Chapters-The-Wisdom-of-Animals.php#Excerpt</FONT></U></A><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> </FONT>
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