lunes, febrero 29, 2016

Insult to injury

https://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/organic-bytes-500-first-they-injure-us-then-they-insult-us

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viernes, febrero 26, 2016

EFE: Monsanto apuesta por Puerto Rico como eje regional de producción de semillas


http://www.metro.pr/economia/monsanto-apuesta-por-puerto-rico-
como-eje-regional-de-produccion-de-semillas/pGXpby!3QsG2xUrHXV7o/

San Juan, 24 feb (EFEUSA).- La multinacional estadounidense Monsanto apuesta como eje regional para la producción de semillas por Puerto Rico, territorio caribeño en el que la compañía de biotecnología invirtió 5 millones de dólares en el último año.
El responsable de Asuntos Comunitarios de Monsanto en Puerto Rico, Miguel Pereira, dijo hoy en declaraciones a Efe que la isla es clave para el proceso de investigación y desarrollo (I+D) de semillas de algodón, maíz y soja, razón por la que la compañía seguirá invirtiendo capital y recursos en el territorio caribeño.
"Puerto Rico es un eslabón en la cadena, ya que su clima -tropical- permite realizar durante todo el año investigación y producción", dijo el directivo sobre la actividad de Monsanto en la isla caribeña, donde mantiene operaciones desde mediados de la década de los años 90 del pasado siglo.

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domingo, febrero 21, 2016

Mosquitos transgénicos: remedio peor que la enfermedad

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2016/02/20/opinion/021a1eco

Silvia Ribeiro

En el contexto de temor construido por la expansión del virus zika y su supuesta relación con microcefalia, uno de las propuestas más riesgosas que se promueven es liberar billones de mosquitos transgénicos. No hay pruebas de que esto sirva para disminuir las enfermedades –incluso podría aumentar los casos o hacerlos más graves– e implica liberar al ambiente insectos transgénicos, con impactos impredecibles en ecosistemas y potencial mutación de virus y otros mosquitos. El costo de producirlos es alto y el negocio de quienes promueven los frankenmosquitos es que se destinen recursos públicos a estas riesgosas tecnologías, drenando fondos que deberían usarse en enfoques realmente útiles de prevención y atención colectiva de los diversos factores que influyen en el desarrollo de las enfermedades.

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sábado, febrero 20, 2016

With friends like these

https://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/organic-bytes-499-back-stabbing-gmo-labeling-movement

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El negocio del zika y los mosquitos transgénicos



No existe evidencia, en ninguna parte del mundo, de que los mosquitos transgénicos hayan reducido la incidencia de dengue ni otras enfermedades.



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jueves, febrero 18, 2016

Visión corporativa Vs. derecho a la alimentación


http://radiomundoreal.fm/8850-vision-corporativa-vs-derecho-a-la?lang=es

Durísimo cuestionamiento a simposio FAO sobre Biotecnología: "La industria biotecnológica manda" dicen organizaciones civiles de todo el planeta



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martes, febrero 16, 2016

Corporate vision of the future of food promoted at the UN



More than 100 civil society organizations raise alarm about FAO biotechnology meeting

Just when the biotech companies that make transgenic seeds are merging, the corporate vision of biotechnology is showing up at FAO. At today’s opening of the three-day International symposium on agricultural biotechnologies convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, more than 100 civil society and social movement and organizations (CSOs) from four continents have issued a statement denouncing both the substance and structure of the meeting, which appears to be another attempt by multinational agribusiness to redirect the policies of the UN agency toward support for Genetically-engineered crops and livestock. 

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jueves, febrero 11, 2016

Libro de Carmelo Ruiz Marrero



El gran juego de ajedrez botánico: Escritos sobre biotecnología y agroecología es una compilación de 15 años de trabajo investigativo y educativo del periodista Carmelo Ruiz Marrero en torno a los temas de la agricultura, ecología, biotecnología y soberanía alimentaria. Es un esfuerzo por documentar y analizar el modelo de agricultura industrial capitalista, el cual está exacerbando el problema del hambre y la crisis ambiental, y servir de guía a los nuevos movimientos sociales, pensamientos ecológicos y paradigmas científicos que están surgiendo y planteando alternativas.

Para comprarlo:


http://www.editorialtiemponuevo.net/2015/01/el-gran-juego-de-ajedrez-botanico.html

http://libreriaisla.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LI&Product_Code=9781505964356&Category_Code

http://www.amazon.com/gran-juego-ajedrez-botanico-biotecnologia/dp/1505964350/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421124564&sr=8-1&keywords=el+gran+juego+de+ajedrez

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miércoles, febrero 10, 2016

In defense of labeling

http://www.alternet.org/environment/gmo-labeling-undermined-bogus-legal-analysis

ENVIRONMENT

How an Agrichemical Industry Mouthpiece Is Trying to Undermine GE Labeling with Bogus Legal Analysis

A recent claim in a Forbes op-ed is flat-out wrong and shows no understanding of constitutional law.


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Syngenta Megamerger Must Be Blocked, by Wenonah Hauter

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE:
http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/03/syngenta-merger/

The proposed takeover of Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta by China National Chemical Corporation would accelerate the hyper-consolidation in the global seed and agrochemical market.
The move by the state-owned ChemChina comes on the heels of last year’s announced megamerger between DuPont and Dow Chemical—a deal that would leave only three firms controlling more than three-quarters of the corn and 80 percent of the soybean seeds in America. Today’s deal dwarfs the takeover of formerly U.S.-owned Smithfield by WH Group in 2013. The Department of Justice and antitrust authorities of governments across the world must act to block these seed megamergers.


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martes, febrero 09, 2016

Sino-Genta?


http://etcgroup.org/content/sino-genta
For more background, see ETC Group’s recent report: Breaking Bad: Big Ag Mega-Mergers in Play [1]
For a decade, six multinationals have controlled 75% of the world’s high-tech seeds and pesticides businesses. Late last year, Dow and DuPontagreed to merge and now state-owned ChemChina is buyingSyngenta for $43 billion. This means that Monsanto needs a merger to stay in the game. Or, is the game about to be called?
If regulators allow these two mergers to go through – and that’s by no means certain – then the Big Six will become a Fat Five: Dow-DuPont’s agribusiness spinoff (“Deep Doodoo”?) will lead the pack, followed by ChemChina – already #7 in global pesticides – and Syngenta, which is #1 in pesticides and # 3 in seeds (“Sino-genta”?). That leaves Monsanto in third position trailed by Bayer and BASF.  Monsanto was repeatedly rebuffed by Syngenta, but it desperately needs to step up its pesticides game. Either one or both of Bayer and BASF could spin off their agricultural interests to Monsanto or one of the German Giants might put Monsanto out of its misery with a takeover. Another possibility is that one of the three huge farm machinery companies – most likely Deere & Company – rolls in and digs Monsanto out of its hole (“Demonsanto”?) because of synergies in their Big Data agricultural technologies. Business as usual is not an option.

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lunes, febrero 08, 2016

La desesperación de Monsanto



http://www.culturacomun.com/2016/02/por-carmelo-ruiz-marrero-la-corporacion.html

Por Carmelo Ruiz Marrero

La corporación estadounidense Monsanto, mayor semillera y compañía de biotecnología agrícola del mundo, está en una situación desesperante. Terminó el 2015 botando a la calle a unos 2,600 empleados, y en enero de 2016 anunció que botaría a mil más. Esto equivale a 16% de su fuerza laboral. Según el International Business Times, esta drástica reducción de personal obedece a una reestructuración que aspira a ahorrarle a la compañía $500 millones para el fin del año fiscal 2018.

Fundada en 1901 originalmente como una compañía dedicada a la química, Monsanto comenzó a apostarle en grande a la biotecnología transgénica y al negocio de las semillas a fines del siglo XX. En los años 80 y 90 devoró numerosas compañías agrícolas y de genética como Asgrow, Calgene, Dekalb y Holden, y en 2000 se reorganizó, redefiniéndose como una empresa de “ciencias de la vida”. En 2005 se convirtió en la semillera número uno del mundo al comprar el conglomerado mexicano Seminis.

La mayor parte de sus semillas transgénicas son genéticamente modificadas para tolerar su propio herbicida basado en glifosato, el Roundup, haciendo posible así vender la semilla y el agroquímico como un paquete tecnológico integrado. Estos cultivos transgénicos de Monsanto se conocen como Roundup Ready. La combinación de semillas transgénicas y herbicida ha resultado ser una de las historias de éxito empresarial más impresionantes de la historia reciente de la agricultura, pero ésta va en vertiginosa zozobra, poniendo en jaque el futuro de la compañía.

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domingo, febrero 07, 2016

ChinaChem to takeover Syngenta - Greenpeace statement

http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/press/releases/food-agriculture/
2016/ChinaChem-to-takeover-Syngenta---Greenpeace-statement/

“The proposed takeover of Syngenta by ChemChina – a state owned Fortune 500 company – is another indication that Big Agribusiness is in turmoil. The continuing concentration of corporate power in the agricultural sector will lead to increased dependencies of farmers on just a handful of global players. The current system of industrial agriculture, promoted by big corporations puts profit over people and undermines the farmers’ freedom to choose what they grow and how.”

Zhang Jing, Food and Agriculture Campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia Beijing Office, said: “The industrial agricultural system is based on large-scale monocultures, GE-crops and giant inputs of fertilisers and pesticides. It leads to severe environmental damage and degradation all over the world, putting our food diversity and food security at risk.”

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Standing up for transparency: A letter to Nature Biotechnology


To the Editor:

I am writing to you as co-director of the consumer group US Right to Know (USRTK). Your editorial in the October issue entitled “Standing up for science” contained many indefensible statements. It falsely accused us of a “smear campaign” in investigating the food and agrichemical industries, their public relations firms and front groups, and the professors who speak for them.

Our aim is to expose the ties between the food and agrichemical industries and those who assist in their public relations efforts. The documents we obtained show that University of Florida Professor Kevin Folta accepted a $25,000 unrestricted grant from Monsanto (St. Louis). In accepting the grant, he promised Monsanto “a solid return on the investment.” Just a couple weeks later, he publicly claimed no association with Monsanto, and repeatedly denied ties to Monsanto. Although the grant was paid to the University of Florida Foundation, Monsanto's grant letter is addressed to Folta and specifically states that the funds could be used “at your discretion in support of your research and outreach projects.” The documents show that Folta's proposal to Monsanto was crafted to evade disclosure and conflict-of-interest reporting. As Folta notes in his proposal, the purpose was “to eliminate the potential concern of the funding organization influencing the messaging,” by placing the funds into an account that is “not publicly noted.”

Just because it is legal to lie and hide corporate contributions doesn't make it ethical. At one point, Folta even wrote to a Monsanto executive, “I'm glad to sign on to whatever you like, or write whatever you like.” This is not a shining example of integrity in science.

Your editorial neglects to mention that Folta used text that was ghostwritten by the public relations firm Ketchum (New York) for the website GMO Answers (https://gmoanswers.com/), and—incredibly—in a recent interview he defended this as an acceptable practice for scientists (http://www.buzzfeed.com/brookeborel/when-scientists-email-monsanto).

For the record, USRTK is not an anti-GMO group. We are a consumer group. We believe genetic engineering of crops may someday have benefits; however, it should proceed only with full transparency, as well as stringent health and environmental testing and safeguards.

We are working for transparency, accountability, the integrity of science and public institutions, and to improve our nation's food system. We are not out to 'get anyone'. Folta's main complaint is that his e-mails were cherry-picked; however, unlike WikiLeaks, we chose not to post thousands of pages of documents obtained through the US Freedom of Information Act exactly because they contain personal e-mails and other material that are not relevant to our investigation. We do release to journalists, or in some cases directly to the public, specific newsworthy documents about food and agrichemical industry PR and lobbying tactics that highlight what they do not want consumers to know about our food.

But a larger issue looms beyond the specifics of Folta's relationship with Monsanto; the incident highlights a wider problem in the systems we have for assuring transparency concerning disclosure of financial interests of academic scientists. Although drug and medical device manufacturers are required under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act to disclose payments to doctors and teaching hospitals, at this time, there is no similar requirement for food or agrichemical companies. USRTK believes there should be.

Collaboration between industry and academia can be beneficial as well as problematic; transparency must be the guiding principle for such relationships. Scientific journals, such as Nature Biotechnology, have an important role to play in advocating for transparency in funding, lobbying and public relations conducted by university scientists. We hope to hear more from your team on that topic.

We want to encourage scientists to communicate with the public to create a thriving science-based society. The problem comes when such communication is reduced to misleading PR talking points to promote commercial products and corporate profits.

- Stacy Malkan

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