Agnet May 23/08 SWITZERLAND: Syngenta and Monsanto end legal dispute over crop technologies KANSAS CITY: U.S. rice farmers want class action against Bayer Biotechnology vs. sustainability: What do students think? CANADIAN GMO labelling bill will not move forward CANADA: Frightening food for thought LETTER: Terminator seed ban under threat how to subscribe SWITZERLAND: Syngenta and Monsanto end legal dispute over crop technologies 23.may.08 Associated Press http://www.pr-inside.com/syngenta-and-monsanto-end-legal-dispute-r605113.htm BASEL, Switzerland -- Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta was cited as saying Friday it has resolved a legal dispute with U.S.-rival Monsanto over their respective corn and soybean businesses. Syngenta said it will withdraw antitrust and infringement cases related to Monsanto's use of herbicide-tolerant and insect-protected corn technologies, and herbicide-tolerant soybean technology. In return, Monsanto will license Syngenta's technology for making crops resistant to the herbicide Dicamba. Syngenta will also license one of Monsanto's «Roundup Ready» technologies for increasing soybean yield.   top KANSAS CITY: U.S. rice farmers want class action against Bayer 23.may.08 Reuters Carey Gillam http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSN2322513620080523 Germany's Bayer is, according to this story, battling to keep thousands of U.S. rice farmers from becoming part of a massive class-action lawsuit over the contamination of commercial rice supplies by a Bayer biotech rice not approved for human consumption. In hearings this week in federal court in St. Louis, Missouri, lawyers representing rice farmers were cited as saying about 7,000 long-grain producers in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas should be allowed to seek unspecified damages against Bayer for contamination that was uncovered in August 2006. Farmers suffered extensive losses, both from a plunge in rice prices, and in a drop in export business as Japan and the European Union moved to restrict U.S. rice from crossing their borders. The story notes that about 700 rice farmers have filed lawsuits against Bayer following the August 2006 disclosure that the company's genetically altered experimental rice had somehow contaminated food supplies. While the United States is a small rice grower, it has been one of the world's largest exporters, sending half of its crop to foreign buyers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration said there was no public health or environmental risks associated with the genetically engineered rice and the two agencies elected not to punish Bayer for the contamination.   top Biotechnology vs. sustainability: What do students think? 23.may.08 e! Science News http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/05/23/biotechnology.vs.sustainability.what.do.students.think College students in a Sustainable Agriculture course were surveyed before and after taking the class. Students' exposure to the ideas of sustainability, as well as biotechnology-related topics, provided them with a chance to state their views as they completed homework and exams and participated in discussions. William A. Anderson, Professor of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, conducted the survey and shares the results, which are published in the 2008 Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education. Students were asked to agree or disagree with 17 statements related to sustainable agriculture and biotechnology during the first class session and again during the last session. This helped the instructor to learn their understanding of the topics, to reveal their opinions toward topic-related statements (many of which were controversial), and to stimulate their interest in the course. At the start of the class, some students believed that biotechnology products and practices were beneficial to agriculture’s sustainability efforts. They supported the use of genetically modified crops, and they did not believe that biotechnology contributed much to food allergy problems or toxins in the environment. Other students were less comfortable with biotechnology. They noted problems with the decline in biodiversity, safety and reliability, patents, consumer acceptance issues, as well as other environmental, societal, and economic concerns. "At first, students were neutral about organic farms as fully sustainable businesses, but they rejected that idea later," Anderson says. "They discovered that organic farmers, like conventional farmers, are continually striving to make their operations more sustainable." The theory that students would likely soften their stances and adopt a more middle, uncertain, or neutral ground related to the more controversial survey statements turned out to be incorrect. Instead, students tended to agree or disagree more strongly in many cases. The Sustainable Agriculture course, after development and approval by the university, attracted more students than expected, not just the handful who had requested it. Most course participants came from conventional farming backgrounds, rather than organic, and most likely this influenced their acceptance of biotechnology as they strived to find a place for it in sustainable systems. "I feel that it is critically important for faculty to expose today's students to both sustainable agricultural systems and agricultural biotechnology without introducing personal biases. Students should interject their own educated voices into the evolving debate," concludes Anderson.   top CANADIAN GMO labelling bill will not move forward 23.may.08 USAgNet http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-national.php?Id=1235&yr=2008 A motion to send proposed legislation seeking the mandatory labeling on foods containing genetically modified components forward to the committee stage was defeated in the Canadian House of Commons earlier this month. Bill C-517 was a private member's bill that sought to amend the Food and Drug Act by adding a narrow definition of the term 'genetically modified' (GM), and adding to the duties of the Minister of Health. The additional duties would involve being responsible for establishing which foods contain genetically modified components, and then publishing this information on a publicly available website. The bill also would have required a label be affixed to the product stating "This product or one or more of its components has been genetically modified" and a sign be posted near the GM-containing foods that states "genetically modified." The motion was defeated 156 to 101. As was reflected during the hours of debate prior to the vote, almost all Conservative party members voted against the motion while most Bloc and NDP members voted in favor. The Liberal vote was split; 30 percent of the votes in favor of the motion were cast by Liberal MPs.   top CANADA: Frightening food for thought 23.may.08 Montreal Gazette John Griffin http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=3f87922f-20eb-4493-8a29-a60a11dea213 Content conquers craft in Marie-Monique Robin's devastating exposé Le Monde selon Monsanto (The World According to Monsanto). According to this review, the French journalist's documentary format is pedestrian - lots of phone calls, talking heads, cheesy mock-dramatic background music. But her seriously researched critique of the international chemical "life sciences" giant Monsanto will freeze the blood in your veins. You may know Monsanto for its role in those old chestnuts PCB, dioxin and Agent Orange, poisons so pervasive and so stubborn they have spread their toxic stain from pole to pole? But did you know the 100-year-old company is a major player in the GMO revolution? Under the plausible guise of eradicating world hunger with genetically modified seeds resistant to Round-Up, a best-selling herbicide it also developed, Monsanto has launched an insidious campaign to achieve worldwide market supremacy, regardless of the social cost to small farmers and rural economies. The story says it's all laid out in previously classified documents, and confirmed by scientists, politicians and victims. What the evidence suggests is that Monsanto has long waged a dirty war of pressure campaigns, corruption, collusion with government and prevarication, also known as big fat lies. As someone says, "biotech is so important, we can't let problems get in the way." Which explains the current GMO saturation of global markets and the stealth penetration of those seeds through "transgenics" into native seed stock.   top LETTER: Terminator seed ban under threat 22.may.08 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/22/food Sol Oyuela, Environmental officer, Progressio, writes that as the world grapples with the impact of global food shortages (Six million Ethiopian children at risk of malnutrition, May 21), the livelihoods of 1.4 billion of the world's poorest farmers who rely on harvesting seeds from one crop for sowing the next season is under threat from biotech companies which are pushing to commercialise "terminator" technology - genetic engineering that results in plants producing sterile seeds. The advent of these so-called suicide seeds represent an insidious attempt to privatise plant life - and force poor families in developing countries to buy new seeds each year from the large companies that control the $19bn global seed market. A global ban on terminator technology struck eight years ago is now under threat from a powerful alliance of biotech companies and countries with vested interests. They argue terminator technology should be considered on a case-by-case basis, thereby undermining the blanket moratorium. We fear the ban will once again come under pressure at this week's UN summit on the convention on biological diversity in Bonn. Biotech companies' claims that terminator technology will prevent contamination between GM and non-GM crops are hotly contested, yet the EU and, by implication, British taxpayers are contributing to the development of the technology through a £3.4m EU research project investigating ways that seeds can be brought back to life with chemicals. In the developing world, small-scale farming is how millions of families survive. It is vital that at the Bonn summit this month the UK government strongly supports the continuing global ban on terminator technology.   top Agnet is produced by the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University, and is supported at the Gold Fork level by: Marler Clark. Agnet is supported at the Sterling Fork level by: Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Ontario Cattlemen's Association, Food and Rural Affairs. Agnet is supported at the Silver-plate Fork level by: The National Restaurant Association, Sholl Group/Green Giant Fresh, Feedlot Health Management Services, McDonald's, Syngenta Crop Protection Canada. The Food Safety Network presents a unique opportunity to bring together all those associated with agriculture and food, to enhance the safety of the food supply. To provide financial support to the Food Safety Network, please visit http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/donations.php. For information on collaboration or fee-for-service opportunities, please contact Dr. Doug Powell: dpowell@ksu.edu To subscribe to the html version of Agnet (subscription is free), send mail to: listserv@listserv.ksu.edu leave subject line blank in the body of the message type: subscribe agnet-L firstname lastname i.e. subscribe agnet-L Doug Powell (replace agnet-L with agnettext to subscribe to the text version of agnet) To unsubscribe to the html version of Agnet, send mail to: listserv@listserv.ksu.edu leave subject line blank in the body of the message type: signoff agnet-L (replace agnet-L with agnettext to unsubscribe to the text version of agnet) For more information about the Agnet research program, please contact: Dr. Douglas Powell associate professor dept. diagnostic medicine/pathobiology Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 66506 cell: 785-317-0560 fax: 785-532-4039 dpowell@ksu.edu http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu archived at http://archives.foodsafety.ksu.edu/agnet-archives.htm