by Common Ground staff

East Coast oil spill another warning for BC
A mechanical failure on a Petro Canada drilling ship is being blamed for a 170,000 litre spill of crude oil off the coast of Newfoundland late last month. No estimate of how many seabirds died is available.
"This is exactly what the provincial and federal governments are telling us won't happen on the BC coast if the moratorium is lifted," said Brian Falconer, marine operations coordinator for Raincoast Conservation Society. "They say that technology is so advanced that environmental damage is not possible. This spill should remind us what we will face here on the BC coast if the moratorium is lifted."
www.raincoast.org and www.bcoilslick.org

Iraqi children suffer most
Malnutrition among the youngest children in Iraq has nearly doubled since the US-led invasion of that country, according to a survey done by Norwegian researchers, the United Nations and the Iraqi government.
The survey discovered the rate of acute malnutrition in children under five years old shot up to 7.7 percent from four percent since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The study was conducted by Iraq's health ministry in co-operation with Norway's Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies and the UN development program.
The report, released by the Norwegian institute, said about 400,000 Iraqi children are suffering from "wasting" °™ a condition marked by chronic diarrhea and deficiencies in protein.
"It's in the level of some African countries," said Jon Pedersen, deputy managing director of the Fafo Institute. The World Food Program, a UN agency, reported in September that 6.5 million Iraqis were dependent on food rations. Its program in Iraq is aimed at providing food to more than 1.7 million children.
Pedersen says given those statistics, he is baffled by the extent of the malnutrition problem in Iraq.
www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/11/22/malnutrition-Iraq_041122.html.

Evidence of possible election fraud found in Florida
There was something odd about the poll tapes.
A poll tape is the phrase used to describe a printout from an optical scan voting machine made the evening of an election, after the machine has read all the ballots and crunched the numbers on its internal computer. It shows the total results of the election in that location. The printout is signed by the polling officials present in that precinct/location, and then submitted to the county elections office as the official record of how the people in that particular precinct had voted. (Usually each location has only one single optical scanner/reader, and thus produces only one poll tape.)
Bev Harris of www.blackboxvoting.org, the erstwhile investigator of electronic voting machines, along with people from Florida Fair Elections, showed up at Florida's Volusia County elections office on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 16, and asked to see, under a public records request, each of the poll tapes for the 100 plus optical scanners in the precincts in that county. The elections workers - having been notified in advance of her request - handed her a set of printouts, oddly dated November 15 and lacking signatures.
"On the porch was a garbage bag," Bev said, "and so I looked in it and, and lo and behold, there were public record tapes." Thrown away. Discarded. Waiting to be hauled off."It was technically stinking, in fact," Bev added, "because what they had done was to have thrown some of their polling tapes, which are the official records of the election, into the garbage. These were the ones signed by the poll workers. When the elections officials inside realized that the people outside were going through the trash, they called the police.
Kathleen Wynne, a www.blackboxvoting.org investigator, was there. "We caught the whole thing on videotape," she said. "I don't think you'll ever see anything like this - Bev Harris having a tug of war with an election worker over a bag of garbage, and he held onto it and she pulled on it, and it split right open, spilling out those poll tapes. They were throwing away our democracy, and Bev wasn't going to let them do it."
But the Ollie North action in two locations on two days was only half of the surprise that awaited Bev and her associates. When they compared the discarded, signed, original tapes with the recent printouts submitted to the state and used to tabulate the Florida election winners, Harris says a disturbing pattern emerged.
"You have to understand that we are non-partisan," she said. "We're not trying to change the outcome of an election, just to find out if there was any voting fraud." That said, Bev added: "The pattern was very clear. The anomalies favoured George W. Bush. Every single time." www.blackboxvoting.org www.votergate.tv www.commondreams.org/views04/1118-22.htm


Students want monk freed
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a revered Buddhist monk and teacher from Eastern Tibet, was arrested and imprisoned by Chinese authorities in April 2002. He was sentenced to death for bombings that he did not commit. The two-year reprieve period on this sentence, brought about by international pressure, is coming to an end this month. Time is running out. Show your support for human rights: Help save Tenzin Delek.
Students for a Free Tibet is an International Human Rights Day rally and street theatre December 10, from 10 am to noon, at the Chinese consulate, Granville and 16th. Similar events will be taking place all over the world. For more details on how to help free Tenzin Delek Rimpoche visit www.studentsforafreetibet.org


Italians pass tough GM coexistence ban
The Italian government just passed a tough bill on coexistence between GM, conventional and organic crops. Prime Minister Berlusconi tried to block the bill as restrictive and illiberal, but in the end he and his ministers had to pass it because of the popular outcry.
Roberto Pinton of Italy's Green Planet told GM Watch, "Only one minister voted against the ban: Mr Castelli (the attorney general). But he is not a GM-campaigner; on the contrary: "I am against the coexistence decree as I am strongly contrary to GMOs: no coexistence is possible. My ideal law about this matter has only a short article: GMOs are not allowed in Italy."
The decree bans GM crops up to December 31, 2005. Regions are asked to pass their own laws not later than this date. Laws have to set coexistence criteria, aimed to avoid contamination of non-GM crops. Thirteen out of 20 regions have passed laws declaring GM-free status.
The decree bans the cultivation of GMOs in open fields, in a bid to prevent the contamination of traditional crops. But it will not outlaw restricted and protected testing of GMOs. www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4620


Pioneer sold GM seed illegally
A report sent to GM Watch from Croatia says that Pioneer is trying to avoid being convicted for the illegal sale of GM seed, which Croatian farmers unknowingly planted. Pioneer has refused to pay around 2 million Euro in compensation. However, the ministry of agriculture, which ordered the destruction of GM corn crops, has compensated farmers.


GM safety tests flawed
A peer-reviewed scientific paper published in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews debunks the myth that GM crops are thoroughly tested, regulated and proven safe.
The paper, Safety Testing and Regulation of Genetically Engineered Foods, includes a comprehensive case study of two types of insecticide-producing GM corn (chiefly the MON810 variety of Monsanto), showing how flawed testing and regulation permitted these varieties onto world markets despite evidence that they could cause food allergies.
The European Commission recently approved 17 types of corn derived from MON810. A number of countries including Poland, Austria, Italy, Germany, Greece and Denmark have criticized the commission's approval of the corn.
The scientific paper reveals fundamental flaws in how biotech companies test and the US government regulates GM crops. The paper thus raises serious questions about whether GM foods, which have been on the market since 1994, are in fact safe, as claimed by the biotech industry and US regulators.
Authors Dr David Schubert of California's Salk Institute and William Freese of Friends of the Earth US base their meticulously documented, 25-page paper on nearly 100 sources, including little-known US regulatory documents and unpublished studies by biotech companies.
Added Freese: "In one case, the US Environmental Protection Agency ignored a published study by an Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist suggesting that GM corn could cause food allergies, and instead asked Monsanto and Syngenta to essentially re-do FDA's analysis." http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4628


GM wheat trials in Germany dropped
Blaming disruptive efforts from environmentalists, Syngenta has decided to not pursue any further field trials with GM wheat for the time being in Germany. A company representative said, "For the past two years, Syngenta has tried to promote its research projects and step up to its critics. However that did not work. Any further attempt does not make sense right now. In addition, the situation in Germany for field trials is not very conducive. The studies will probably be continued outside of Germany."
www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4624


Officials taken hostage by Indian farmers
About 200 cotton farmers took into custody the district manager of Monsanto, T.V.S. Gupta, and eight agriculture department officials in November demanding compensation for the Bt cotton seed that had failed to germinate properly leading to poor yield.
The next day, the farmers, of Phanidam village in Sattenapalle mandal of Guntur district, released the nine hostages after an assurance from the district manager of Monsanto Seeds that it would pay compensation. The farmers demanded a compensation of Rs.15,000 per acre for about 20 acres. www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4622


Hokkaido to stop GM
Japan's northernmost prefecture and its largest food-producing region, plans to put in place next spring restrictions that would result in an effective ban on commercial cultivation of GM crops. The new rules are in response to growing consumer interest in food safety and are aimed at maintaining the reputation of products from Hokkaido.
A licensing system would allow commercial cultivation of GM plants, but the conditions would be so strict - for example, constant monitoring to prevent cross-fertilization with other plants - that the rules are expected to effectively halt such activity by ordinary farms. However, experimental cultivation would be allowed if experts agree that steps are being taken to prevent cross-fertilization and contamination.
www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4623


Business as usual
Biotech regulation in the second Bush term is expected to be a continuation of agency initiatives in the current term, industry sources told Food Chemical News..Industry body BIO is hopeful that the second Bush term will see an FDA commissioner empowered to push regulatory initiatives sought by the industry. Jeff Barach of the National Food Processors Association expressed hope that US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick would file a second World Trade Organization complaint against the EU, this time addressing new EU rules on labeling and traceability of GM food and feed that took effect last April.
www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4637


GM wheat still a risk
A leading grain market economist says commercial introduction of GM wheat still risks the loss of up to half of US wheat export markets and up to a one-third drop in price. "No new policy changes or trends have significantly lowered the market risk of introducing genetically modified wheat," said Dr Robert Wisner, professor of economics at Iowa State University. "Consumer resistance remains strong in Europe and Asia, and consumers remain the driving force in countries where food labeling allows choice."
Dr Wisner's conclusions are in an update of his October 2003 report, Market Risks of Genetically Modified Wheat, prepared for Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), a regional network representing farmers and ranchers in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon. www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4636


US corn threatens Mexican farmers
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is having a severe effect on rural Mexico, TVE's Earth Report program claims.
NAFTA was set up 10 years ago by Mexico, Canada and the US to promote competition and efficiency. But US corn farmers, propped up by subsidies, are outcompeting their Mexican counterparts. As a result, US corn is flooding Mexican markets, threatening to put traditional farmers out of business. Not only does this create social problems, it also has environmental consequences, among them being GM contamination of indigenous corn by US corn.
www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4625


Fed up with lies?
Last month saw the launch of a major new website called SpinWatch that aims to counter corporate PR and government propaganda. It was launched during an international conference at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow on Spin and Corporate Power.
GM Watch founder, Jonathan Matthews, is a contributing editor to SpinWatch and the site includes the GM/LobbyWatch profiles of front groups, think tanks and corporate friendly scientists. The leading lights of SpinWatch include Prof David Miller and the investigative journalist, Andy Rowell, author of Green Backlash and Don't Worry: It's organisation - Cafod. Nowadays, Fiona heads the Science Media Centre while Claire as well as heading up the IoI brings a Furediite spin to the burning moral issues of the day on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze. http://www.spinwatch.org


Global ban on GM trees sought
China appears to be the first country to commercialize GM trees, says the Finnish NGO People's Forest Forum. Reports say there are now more than a million insect resistant GM poplars in Southern China. If those GM poplars can cross-pollinate with natural populations then China has already contaminated other countries in breach of the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol, says Mikko Vartiainen, a lawyer in the People's Biosafety Association in Finland.
Finnish environmental organizations have launched an international campaign for a global ban on GM trees. Their petition to the UN has been signed by more than 200 organizations and 2,000 individuals from 70 countries HYPERLINK "http://elonmerkki.net/forestforum/uk/signed1.html" elonmerkki.net/forestforum/uk/signed1.html
The campaign has protested the UN decision in the climate meeting in Milan which allows nations to set up GM tree plantations and gain carbon dioxide emission credits through them. The next step for the campaign is to present its demand in Buenos Aires in December at the tenth UN Kyoto meeting. HYPERLINK "http://elonmerkki.net/forestforum" elonmerkki.net/forestforum HYPERLINK "http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4621" www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4621
Fatal chemical found in Durban groundwater
The eThekwini Municipality and the Bayer group confirm that an unknown volume of hexavalent chromium - the cancer-causing chemical compound made famous in the Hollywood movie Erin Brokovich - had been found in groundwater outside the Bayer chemical factory in Tomango Road. Residents have been warned not to drink water from any boreholes which may have been sunk in the area.
City manager Michael Sutcliffe and Bayer/LanXess managing director Michael Krancher said the situation was not health-threatening and "does not constitute an emergency." Nevertheless, city health chief Umi Sankar said any resident who drank contaminated borehole water should see a doctor immediately.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?


Red Cross finds detainee abuse in Guantanamo:
The finding that the handling of prisoners detained and interrogated at Guantanamo amounted to torture came after a visit by a Red Cross inspection team that spent most of last June in Guantanamo.
http://207.44.245.159/article7392.htm