25th September, 2001.

Biological Warfare. Governments and the World Health Organisation warn us today of possible further attacks by terrorists, this time using chemical and biological weapons; crop-duster planes are grounded in the US; gas masks sold out in the UK and the US. We hold our breaths this week as the threat of biological warfare is being treated very seriously indeed. "Neutral" Ireland is now a more "legitimate" target for attack too as our govt. offers airport facilities to the US military. There is little hope that sanity can prevail on either side in this insane situation and we can only wait and see how the situation unfolds.

Organic Lettuce and Salad Workshop. In light of the threatening world situation it hardly seems important to report such an event as this, the main offering  this month from Dr. Doroszenko's, Organic Research site, but life goes on and we must all carry on doing what we normally do. Actually, at any time this report would be a pathetic offering from what purports to be a news organisation. Anyone got any news on whats happening on this site? www.organic-research.com/research/Papers/lettuce.htm

Simulated Biological Warfare and FMD outbreak. There is a disturbing story from the Institute of Science in Society, www.i-sis.org , 24/09/'01, that suggests the foot and mouth disease outbreak in the UK "...may be linked to experimental GM vaccines tested in simulated bio-warfare emergency"(sic). Make up your own mind about the information and sources in this report. Hard to dispute however is the urging of the author, geneticist and anti-GM activist, Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, that "bio-warfare and GM crops are both brought under international peaceful control." www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V12/17/elliott-c.html.   

Ban lifted on Organic Goats' Cheese. The multi award-winning organic hard and soft cheeses, St. Tola, produced by Inagh Farmhouse Cheeses, Ennistymon, Co. Clare, were ordered to be withdrawn from the market- place in August by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. An alert had been caused by a case of sickness in a child in Mayo infected with e-coli 0157. The child, whose father actually milked the goats, had consumed milk supplied to Inagh for the production of their hard cheeses. According to the FSAI, two samples of Inagh cheese were then found to have levels of contamination by the bug and all cheeses were ordered to be recalled from sale. However the ban was lifted on the 31st August when Inagh agreed to the pasteurisation of some of its milk supplies (presumably the out-of-house milk for its hard cheeses?) There are conflicting stories from both sides in this affair with, for example, the FSAI saying that there was no "mix up", as reported in the Irish Examiner, Farming, 20th Sept., and Inagh disputing whether one or two samples were contaminated, to what extent they were contaminated, and the length of time it took the FSAI to give the results of their tests. The case was widely, and mostly sloppily, reported in broadsheets and tabloids throughout Ireland. I talked to both the FSAI and Inagh on 25th Sept. Somebody should tidy up the whole affair. See www.fsai.ie  and Inagh; info@st-tola.ie .

Neither GM nor Industrial agriculture will solve world hunger." Increased food production will not solve hunger worldwide. Giving out food or money will not address the causes of hunger, (which are) unjust distribution of land and resources, huge unequal access to education, health services, and corruption." - Miguel Villegas, 'scientist and citizen from the third world', Oxford, April '01. From our Facts&Quotes page.

Ireland's FMD outbreak subject of new play. Ireland's only foot and mouth outbreak, on the Cooley Peninsula in Co. Louth, is the subject of a new play by Declan Gorman. An excerpt, by Shady, a woman character, musing over the causes and effects of FMD, heard on Lyric FM, yesterday, suggest an entertaining and perceptive contemporary play. It is being performed at the City Arts Centre, Dublin this week. 

Big Pharma to come under the microscope. Bribing doctors with air-miles and other inducements to use particular drug and other medical products has always been a feature of direct marketing to the medical profession. The American Medical Association's, Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs is now to spend $590,000 on investigating this and educating doctors about the ethical problems involved in accepting gifts from the drug industry. Original article, titled, Pharma buys a conscience, by Carl Elliot (Philosophy Professor). www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V12/17/elliott-c.html . Relayed by, www.ngin.org.uk  

GM food safer than water!!! "More than two billion people have eaten genetically modified food in the past five years without becoming ill. Genetically modified food is less dangerous than stairs, bicycles or medicine. It's even safer than water." These are the most recent claims by ABC, Monsanto. They are now fulfilling the prophecy of one of their own, given earlier this year; "The hope of the industry is that over time the market is so flooded (with GM organisms) that there’s nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender!" Don Westfall, Vice President, Promar International, Washington, consultants to Kellogs, Unilever, Aventis etc. Do we surrender? http://biotechknowledge.com/showlib.php3?uid=5770&country=uk . The company claims too that a recent four-day forum on plant breeding in Edinburgh went off without any protest. The Scotsman headline on 14th Sept.supports this by saying; "GM debate takes rational turn". Look up the following brand new Scottish activist site for an alternative view. www.scottishgenetixaction.org .

Tesco Ireland and Organics. In our Products page some weeks ago I pointed out that Glenisk was the producer of Tesco's own-brand Irish Organic Yogurt and was selling at a large discount. Retailers, who originally stocked Glenisk products told me that  they felt "betrayed". However I was assured by Glenisk at the time that this was only a temporary introductory marketing strategy and that the full price would be restored. This is now the case and the Glenisk yoghurts now sell side-by-side with the Tesco own-label brand at the same price, i.e. IP 1.19 , 500g cartons. There are some interesting new products in their stores which I'll deal with as soon as their spokesman in Cork, Paul Street gets back to me. 

Ag. Comm. Fischler. As I said last week, Franz Fischler seems to be saying interesting things about sustainable farming.You can read his speeches, including the recent one in Athens, for yourself, on this site; http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/fischler/index_en.htm. This is the Commission website for organic food and farming; http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/qual/organic/index_en.htm. I would be interested to hear  your views on this site. 

Tuesday 18th September 2001

Blight Free Potatoes. Three years ago I was given a deep purple potato by a friend in Castletownbere. Carleen, originally from the Shetland Islands, told me that the variety, known there as the "Negga Tattie", had been grown on the Shetlands for many generations and was comparatively blight free. My experience with it showed that it was indeed strongly resistant to blight (better than even the wonderful Nicola) and was a good main-crop yielder. It was also a "dry spud" (the type most favoured by the Irish - especially the older, country generation) with a good flavour and very nutritious. Now an unnamed purple potato variety from Eastern Europe has been found to be almost completely blight free.The potato was planted in trials at Newcastle University and was the only type to withstand deliberately-introduced blight fungus without spraying. The trial plot near Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland, has been much visited by experts in the last few weeks and the variety is being hailed as a potential boon to the organic potato industry. From next year the organic potato grower must give up the only  blight spray allowed under organic rules, the Bordeaux Mixture, based on copper sulphate and washing soda. Therefore blight-free potatoes would obviously be very attractive to producers. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it but it remains to be seen how acceptable it will be in terms of taste, colour and texture to consumers this side of the Continent (The British, as opposed to ourselves have always favoured a" wet" or "waxy" potato which seems to be the general taste also in western Europe). I don't know what the potato taste preferences of Eastern Europe are and whether this particular purple potato is dry or not but potato-eating habits change but slowly and there are very definite  prejudices at work particularly with regard to colour. For example, although I really like my Negga Tatties, I have seen committed organic consumers, although enthusiastic about the vibrant purple colour when raw, turn their noses up at the darkly mottled flesh when cooked. I think it would be a reasonable guess to say that purple potatoes will only serve a niche market for the forseeable future. 

Organic may be displaced as the realistic alternative to industrial farming in Europe. The EU Ag. Commissioner, Franz Fischler, is reported last week as saying; "We must ensure that we know what is expected from a modern agricultural production sector and that we deliver in the future quality to everyone and not only to a few who can afford it." His language is decidedly going in the direction of sustainable farming as opposed to organic farming; " We must provide the framework to avoid the creation of niche markets ....all consumers must have real value for money." It very much sounds as if Herr Fischler is taking deep note of Prof Jules Pretty's views on the future of agriculture, as outlined in the essay that I have highlighted now on my Home Page for several weeks.  New Farming for Britain; Towards a National Plan for Reconstruction, published by the Fabian Society, www.fabian-society.org.uk .I have also said myself for a long time that the organic industry, as it has developed, has not delivered and is perhaps incapable of delivering anything other than expensive, albeit healthy, food to the wealthy and already largely healthy consumer. This is not right and I agree with an organic producer friend of mine who said recently that the price situation in organic food amounts to "organic Fascism". It is surely a more humane aspiration to demand Healthy food for all - Quickly - Cheaply. It is gratifying to see that finally there may be a EU led move in that direction. http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg06/index_en.htm

Nestle blackmailed UK into slaughter policy. In order to save its controversial  dried milk export business (hugely criticized for its breast-milk displacement propaganda and marketing in the Third World) the food colossus, Nestle, supported by the NFU, bullied  Blair and his advisers back in April to slaughter rather than vaccinate during the FMD outbreak. Apparently Scudamore, King and Haskins were all  pro-vaccination and had the support of other sectors of the food industry including Tesco. Are there grounds here I wonder for the govt. to seek compensation from Nestle? www.guardian.co.uk/footandmouth/story/0,7369,548667,00.html.  See also www.babymilkaction.org for insights on Nestle's business "ethics". 

St John's Wort.  Dr Dilis Clare, the Galway physician and herbalist, concerned about what happened to St John's Wort (see last week's item) and what may happen to other herbal products, is arranging a talk and discussion on the subject in Dublin. The talk, titled, 'Availability of Herbs and Herbal Medicine in 21st Century Ireland'  will take place at Trinity College (Ussher Hall-Arts Block) Dublin, at 6.45 pm on 26th September. Further details can be had at ; 091 583260. If you wonder what this has to do with organics, remember what happened to comfrey. I have heard it said that garlic, will be next on the list! Any natural herbal product that is cheap, can be home-produced and, above all, is effective is a threat to the profitability of Big Pharm and can be targeted for counter-propaganda and subsequent regulation. Remember the sequential moral tale; "What did you do when they came for the Jews?".

Organic Farming in Decline! Finland and Austria, the two countries in Europe with the highest percentages of organic farmland,  are now showing decreases in total acreage.There are many factors at work, including the expiration of organic premia - Finland - and difficulties of attracting new entrants into farming generally - Austria.  www.organicmonitor.com/r2307.htm for a description of the Austrian probems and www.organicmonitor.com/r0709.htm for the report on the Finnish situation.

History of the Organic Movement. There is a good essay on the originators of the organic movement, Trailblazers, Heroes and Pioneers on this website; www.organicanews.com/news/article.cfm?story_id=170 . There were gaps in my knowledge I was pleased to fill in e.g. Louis Bromfield, Pulitzer Prize winner (for Early Autumn, 1927) who founded the Malabar experimental farm in Ohio, which was famously and poetically recorded in a series of books he wrote in the '30s and 40s. Aldo Leopold was a new name to me too; his Sand County Almanac, published after his death in 1949, was apparently nothing less than a call to a revolution in environmental consciousness.The otherwise comprehensive article did not however include a mention of Frank Newman Turner and I emailed the author, David Kupfer, environmentalist, journalist and farmer( who has a book on the subject in preparation) to ask why. (He has just replied - he hadn't heard of FNT but is checking him out on this site. David is looking for other information too, "on the social/cultural roots and evolution of the organic farming movement as opposed to the organic industry.") So, come on you ag. journos and ag. academics out there that click so frequently onto this site, help him out and show him how intelligently interactive we are on this side of the pond. See also, Philip Conford's, Origins of the Organic Movement, 2001, £14.99 - review at;  www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=82658 

Scandinavian organic vegetables booming. www.just-food.com/news_detail.asp?art=41437&dm=yes

Ireland had no stand at the world's largest organic food fair. Slight correction - "Ireland", should read, the Republic of Ireland, as there was a stand from Tyrone, Certified Organic Nutrients. The Biofach International Fair is the world's leading organic market place. It was held in Nuremberg last March. In contrast to the miserable absence of our AgMin representatives and producers there were pavilions of exhibitors from countries like Chile and Argentina bent on winning market shares in the UK in particular. A good report can be seen on the fair by Jim McNamara at;  www.organicmattersmag.com May/June, 2001 issue.

12th September 2001

Chemicals in vegetables totally safe, says C.E of Bord Glas, the Irish Horticultural Board. In an interview with David Storey, for the current, Organic Matters magazine, Michael Maloney says he is "100% confident " of eating conventionally produced vegetables.  www.organicmattersmag.com. Do I remember a British agriculture minister saying something like that about beef as he very publically shared a burger with his daughter, pre the BSE melt-down? But the brave Michael is not only a super-confident, conventional veggie-loving civil servant, he has a lot to offer the scientific community as well; he tells us, "all chemicals are rigorously tested.....in their reactions with other chemicals". Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that to date there was no published data on the effects on human health of different combinations of pesticides and that the first such study in the world has just been commissioned by the UK, Consumers Association. Reviewing the UK govt's recent statistics on pesticides, the CA says that pesticide levels in fruit and vegetables are so high that they recommend that all products "should be peeled or washed or buy organic". Perhaps Mr Maloney would like to offer them the benefit of his or his Board's expertise and research which obviously ensure that Irish produce is a paragon of purity from toxic chemicals and the like.  www.which.net/whatsnew/pr/sep01/which/pesticide.html. The Chief Ex. has a remarkable take on organic production too; he sees no quality difference between conventional and organic produce and is convinced that organic will only remain a niche market that can't go anywhere because bigger producers will not get involved. I'd like to tell him someday about my experience working on Soil Association Chairperson, Helen Browning's, 1,250 acre, ultra-commercial and highly profitable organic farm in southern England - and she is not that unique - my site will lead to many other examples. Mr M. might also benefit from having a chat with the Jun. AgMin. Noel Davern who must have had some insights (surely?) into the huge future for organic farming from his trip to the Danish Organic Conference last May. And if MM needs more convincing he should have a look at the item below from The Independent. You have to hand it to Michael though - he' s a loyal ould son - blind (giving him the benefit of the doubt) but loyal! And the whole thing would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that people's health and lives are at stake here. Would that we could hold such figures personally responsible for their words and actions. Perhaps one day, just as with Big Tobacco and Big Pharm today, we may haul the mouthpieces and apologists for Big Agri in front of class-action courts. www.bordglas.ie

The Way We Eat is the title of a new series of articles on our eating habits published in the Wednesday Review supplement of The Independent. The first installment last week was by award-winning journalist Michael McCarthy. In a fine piece of journalism he highlights the conclusions of Prof. Jules Pretty's investigation into the real cost of "cheap food" which takes into account the costs through taxes of premiums and subsidies, and the other multi-billion pound costs  of "collateral damage",  to the environment and to humans and animals. He sees through the lie of the ABCs claim to feed the world with chemical and GM farming; " a country that relies indefinitely on high chemical inputs to grow its food is mortgaging the fertility of its soil - and one that relies on genetically modified crops is mortgaging the freedom of its farmers..." He also suggests that Monsanto's cynical motto of, Food Health, Hope does not reflect the real aims of the corporation, which might be more truly reflected by "Bigger Bucks From Deadlier Weedkillers". Some facts and figures about fast food at the end of the article will destroy your appetite. One example; in some slaughterhouses hides are pulled off by machine often spilling cowshit onto the meat, whilst up to 20% of animals have the contents of their guts dumped into the mix (see also following item on E-coli). This latter is from Erich Stossel's book, Fast Food Nation, which I have recommended since publication and  which is now on the Sunday Times Business Bestseller list. www.independent.co.uk . He also quotes Jules Pretty's Fabian Society lecture, New Farming for Britain, which, because I believe it is one of the most important contributions to the debate in recent times, I have highlighted on my Home Page for the last four weeks.  www.fabian-society.org.uk . 

E-coli 0157 Epidemic. A leading academic and adviser to the UK govt. claims almost 50% of cattle herds now are infected with the deadly E-coli 0157 bug and could soon be as big a  threat to human  health and British agriculture as BSE and FMD. Studies show that a beef animal can have up to10kgs of dung embedded in the hide when sent for slaughter. The bug can be killed by thorough cooking - over 72C for at least two minutes. S.T. 9th September, www.sunday-times.co.uk 

These little piggies don't go to the market. Look up this site for a little light relief, www.pigbrother.co.uk . Yes, "Pig Brother"! Inspired by a bit of mucking about after a party, a pen of rare-breed organic pigs - destined for breeding rather than sausages, has been rigged up with webcams to observe their every intimate move. Richard, of Somerset Organics is the main culprit of the jape which has a serious side too as it hopes to raise money for Farmers in Need. 

Organic Roadshow and Annual IOFGA Conference. The Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association are running a series of information meetings throughout the country during Sept. The organisation will hold their Annual Conference in Killarney on 12th and 13th October.The theme this year will be Organic - The Bright Light of Agriculture.  Details of both on,  www.organicmattersmag.com 

 Same old gang at new UK AgMin, says senior scientist, Professor Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, himself a member of the BSE inquiry panel. He warned that DEFRA, which replaced MAFF last June, has the "same old gang" in charge. In a hard-hitting speech to the British Association in Glasgow he claimed that nothing has been learned from the 3 year long, £26 m  BSE inquiry which is in danger of becoming "a hugely expensive doorstop". In the early days of BSE the Min of Health, he maintains, chose his advisers by ringing up a friend and putting together some names rather than finding the best people in the field. He says also that in relation to FMD he couldn't "see there was any effort to identify the best people to tackle the problem and give the best advice". And now to ensure the lid is kept on the can of worms of the FMD fiasco, none of the three separate investigations announced by the govt will be public. The Independent, 5th September, www.independent.co.uk/ 

And on another light note, read Tim Dowling's, Everything Gives you Cancer, on the Guardian Online last Thurs. Wickedly funny but accurate piece on our paranoias about carcinogens in our food and environment. www.guardian.co.uk. 

St John's Wort Works.  Also see in the same issue of the Guardian as above, What Works column, a good account of the pros and cons of St John's Wort, the herb for which there is now "compelling evidence" for its effectiveness and relative safety as an antidepressant. It is still widely and cheaply available in the UK. In Ireland however it has been banned, except on prescription, but, as we all know, it was becoming a major competitor to Prozac and other SSRIs  and "so it had to die"; Big Pharm after all  is one of Ireland's VBF.......And now the SSRIs  are in the dock (but not Prozac - so far - except in the case of the British academic who was dropped recently by the Univ. of Toronto for criticising Eli Lilly's, Prozac and its side effects) as a class action is initiated for horrific withdrawal and other symptoms. Various media this week.

A Museum of Rural Life, a full-blooded decentralised offspring of the Irish National Museum has just opened in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. A friend, Brian Rodgers, one of Ireland's great craft thatchers  gave a demonstration of his skills on the opening day recently. I really welcome this museum and look forward to getting up to Mayo to see it but I can't help thinking  that its about bloody time we had this facility - 30 years ago when I was studying agricultural economics at Reading University it was a great delight to me to wander through MERL - the Museum of English Rural LIfe - but also sad as I contemplated how our rural heritage at the time was utterly neglected, even despised. 

5th September 2001

Join the Revolution.  Low-tech, sustainable agriculture shunning chemical in favour of natural pest control and fertiliser, is pushing up crop yields on poor farms acrosss the world, often by 70% or more... The findings will make sobering reading for people convinced that only GM crops can feed the planet's hungry in the 21st century...A new science-based revolution is gaining strength built on real research into what works best on the small farms where a billion or more of the world's hungry live and work...It is time for the major agricultural research centres and their funding agencies to join the revolution. New Scientist editorial, 03/02/2001.

The Festival of Potatoes and Open Day at the Organic College, Dromcollogher last Saturday was memorable. As I expected it would be, it was a day of stimulation, education, craic, ceoil agus bia. The Director, Jim Mc Namara and his staff, students, speakers and demonstrators produced a wonderful event for so many people - out of all proportion to their slender resources and miniscule staff. The farm demonstrations of ridge-making, oats scything, wheelwrighting etc were very popular (and wonderful to be greeted on arrival there with a complimentary cuppa and a home-made scone) and could have happily gone on for the day. The display of heritage potatoes in the Courthouse was outstanding - finally I got to see the Lumper, the potato that was such a large part of the tragedy of the Famine. Lectures, workshops, the barbeque (those huge helpings of organic lamb chops!), story-telling, networking and, in the heel of the hunt, the irresistible Green Pub, added up to a very full day - 21 hours! - it was a six-hour return car journey - Herself had an appointment Sunday morning, unfortunately. I sincerely hope they will hold the Festival again next year but it may be a good idea to extend it over a weekend. It was definitely the organic event of the year. Hopefully, I will be writing more on the event elsewhere. www.organiccollege.com 

Global Food Industry is Destroying the Traditional Family Farm; this is the concllusion reached in a new boook. Another Season's Promise; Hope and Despair in Canada's Farm Country, Viking Books. The author, Ingeborg Boyen maintains that industrial agriculture, driven by world trade has put farmers on a treadmill of having to keep getting bigger to cover ever-dwindling margins.Through the experience of a local farm family he shows how crazily unsustainable modern agriculture is. www.ngin.org.uk 28/08/'01.

Food wars could erupt again between EU and US. The World Trade Organisation is not often perceived as being antagonistic towards the US but a recent ruling by it looks set to trigger a food trade war between the EU and the US. Since the Foreign Sales Corporations Replacement Act was introduced last November, US businesses can set up off-shore trading companies to sell goods overseas without paying US taxes. This amounts to a 30% export subsidy, the WTO says, and violates the organisation's Agriculture Agreement. Of course this is only one more subsidy to American food producers whose govt. continually whines about EU subsidies to its food industries. Only two weeks ago, EU Ag. Commissioner, Franz Fischler, accused the US of having "double standards" when it voted to give its farmers a $5.5 billion aid package. Apparently this was not in breach of WTO rules as they stand but Herr Fischler also pointed out that the level of US agricultural subsidies, at $11,000 per farmer, was almost three times the EU average.

Farmers' Markets exploding throughout the US. Having almost doubled in numbers in the last few years, there are now almost 3,000 farmers' markets, involving 20,000 farmers, in the US. This report, gives some colourful insights into why they are such a success; a restarauteur looks for "bug-holes" in kale as a spray-free indicactor; an apple producer gets ten times his packer's offered price in the New York market. In one city alone, Seattle, market sales last year totalled $12 million.  http://www.purefood.org/Organic/FarmersMarket901.cfm

Attack of the Killer Jellyfish. To add further to the problems of the intensive fish farming industry, salmon farms in Scotland have lost hundreds of thousands of fish to an, as yet, unidentified jellyfish. The jellyfish, although tiny, little more than a cm., delivers a powerful sting which triggers histamine in the salmon which in turn kills the fish. Recent algal blooms in the sea lochs have also caused considerable losses by starving the salmon of oxygen. No reports, so far, of similar problems with the Irish industry.  http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=92378

French GM crop growers considering suing activists. An organisation representing French maize growers is thinking of doing the ABC's job for them by taking legal action against crop-pulling demonstrators. I think this is a world first and probably represents a move by the biotech corporations to deflect controversy onto farmers' groups. www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12288/story.htm. 

"GM-free" may not be. The GM giants are winning hands down says David Storey in the Irish Examiner. Whilst we in Ireland are on pause re the GM debate, the ABCs are achieving their goals in Canada and the US with a vengeance.  Don Westfall, Vice President, Promar International, Washington, consultants to Kellogs, Unilever, Aventis etc described the agenda well some months ago; "The hope of the industry (ABCs – AgBioTech Corps) is, that over time the market is so flooded (with GM organisms) that there’s nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender!" In recent tests of "GM-free" products in the US, 75% had some GM contamination - one organic grain company was involved. www.examiner.ie/nuapublish/np/NP/WPBTool/WPBWebPageH/supplements  See also, article, Market Enforcers by Guardian journalist, George Monbiot on his just-launched website, www.monbiot.com 

The Skeptical Environmentalist is the name of a forthcoming book that is being hailed by the ABCs and their marionettes as a "masterpiece", This will bring an end to extreme environmentalism they tell us. The author, Danish Professor Bjorn Lomborg tells us that environmentalists have got it all wrong but on the other hand he bites the hand that feeds him by claiming that there is already enough food produced to feed the world - presumably, therefore, no need for GM food? www.AgBioWorld.org/biotech_info/topics/agbiotech/frankenfood.html     

Claims for insect-repelling GM crops rubbished. See New York Times article, 30/08/'01, "Bt means Big Trouble for Nation's Crops". Despite huge acreages of insect-repelling GM crops in the US and Canada there has been no drop in the use of insecticides. The NYT article urges a moratorium on this kind of insecticide-producing crop which has been causing adverse reactions in humans and unguessed at problems in the soil and the environment generally.  www.checkbiotech.org/blocks/dsp_newsdetail.cfm?doc_id=nytsyn_2001_08_30_medic_4467-0672-pat_nytimes (the NYT website charges for past articles, thus this backdoor site).

Irish Food Watchdog bites abusers. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland announces a "name and shame" policy to bring extra pressure to bear on persistent breakers of food hygiene regulations. www.fsai.ie .

GM companies want to control world food supply. So, says French AgMin, Jean Glavony. He is also quoted as saying that he has, " a great distrust of GMOs" and describes ABCs as being "expansionist" and having "imperialist aims". www.ngin.org.uk 26/08/'01.