Now this is worth a read ....

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/list.php

Great to see that some scientists are very worried about GE.

Of course they won't get a Corporation job but hey they probably don't need one.

Any scientists who read these lists prepared to join these luminaries?

Keep up the good work NonGM Farmer and Is it safe!

Independent trials should be funded by anybody but the chemical companies, that's what makes them independent. GRDC funding would be logical however GRDC is ramming GM down our throats because of what I believe is a fear that governments are planning to withdraw public funding from plant breeding and alternative multinational investment is not interested in less profitable non-GM plant breeding. GRDC relies on around 40% of their funding from government.

I change research documents on my website if I have evidence that it is incorrect. If it is flawed data from a well funded pro-GM lobby group, I will not although I will often mention this and the reason the data is flawed.

Why is it the pro-GM activists constantly claim "trust the regulatory process" when they don't trust the regulatory process assessing chemical safety? Atrazine has undertaken a stringent review and considered to be safe. Whereas the actual regulatory process on GM crops is flawed as it is difficult to assess what would actually fail. I am waiting for a reply to my question to the OGTR asking if they would have approved the CSIRO pea if the documentation was submitted to them. While the pro-GM sector is saying the regulatory system works, the regulatory system had nothing to do with the withdrawal.

Timeline from when I knew to when I told the media? Less than 2 minutes.

Regarding subsidies, I checked and found, contrary to what has been stated, the Chinese cotton growers are extremely heavily subsidised.

As mentioned, some consumers will not eat GM and we want to retain the right to market uncontaminated produce without astonomical costs and liabilities. Why should we accept vandalism of our consumer preferred product?

We need to get the rules right where the GM industry does not cause others economic loss and does not remove the choice of farmers or consumers. What do you see as a pathway to resolve these issues, ignore them and force GM in with no risk management?

Dear Julie NonGM Newman:

So Chuck Benbrook told you that he “wasn't fired from his job”? The journal “Science” reported that he was “sacked” from his National Academy job (Volume 250, page 1202). “Science”has very high journalistic standards. The article states “According to several sources, he was handed his walking papers by academy president Frank Press and given less than a month to clear out”. Please check your facts again, Julie.

With respect to Crabtree, isn’t it true that you threatened to sue him but then dropped the case because it you defamed him a week earlier and he therefore had the "right of privilege" to defend himself? Wasn’t it also the case that you were inferring that Bill was professionally incompetent or lying? Given that you have now written that “Bill Crabtree is no expert and has very little respect from the farmers around here or from other agronomists”, which I know to be false, I am no more inclined to reveal my identity. Looks to me that you have attacked his competence again.

I have talked to many US farmers growing Roundup Ready crops, and they would never want to give them up because they provide superior weed control. The first Roundup resistant weeds globally were found in Australia in orchards, not GM. We also have resistance to penicillin; should we throw that out? No, we should use both more wisely. Atrazine is also selecting for atrazine and simazine resistant ryegrass (and probably radish). Again, for this additional reason, will you give up your TT canola next season?

The references I gave you contradicting Greenpeace/NGIN’s claims were all independent of companies. What more does it take now for you to withdraw those claims?

Do you have any,evidence that the GRDC supports GM because it is afraid of the loss of public funding?

I trust the regulatory system, but you have misrepresented their conclusions on atrazine. The system finds that the risks are “acceptable”, not that that it’s “safe”.

Can you tell us how the Chinese cotton farmers are heavily subsidized, by how much and your source of information

Non-GM farmers have some suggested legal options but the courts will need to decide if law really protects us or not.

Yes, we are collecting documentation in preparation for a legal claim against Bayer Cropscience but this process may take some time. The class action will cost around $300,000 so we will wait until we have significant economic loss to lodge the claim. Farmers like Geoffrey Carracher have a very strong case of informing Bayer Cropscience of their unwillingness to accept trespassing GM genes.

We could sue the GM farmer or we could even vandalise GM crops. If we point our mister over the GM farmers fence to spray it out deliberately, we could claim we were protecting our property. This week, the French court ruled that the action of protestors tearing up GM trial crops was justified. The court was quoted as saying, "The defendants have shown proof that they committed an infraction of voluntary vandalism in a group to respond to a situation of necessity," and that situation of necessity "resulted from the unbridled distribution of modified genes that constitutes a clear and present danger for the well-being of others, in the sense that it could be the source of contamination and unwanted pollution."

Or we could seek compensation from the government that caused economic loss for neglecting their duty of care.

Yes, we will take action to protect ourselves.

My lawyer’s letter to Mr Crabtree was to remind him that he should be more responsible when giving public statements and he has settled.

Chuck’s wife Karen did not give details and the trivialities of how Mr Benbrook left a chemical advisory committee didn't interest me.

Chinese subsidies on cotton: http://www.l21.com.au/downloads/L21%20Worth%20Noting%20Volume%20III%20Issue%2
These massive subsidies are scheduled to stop after this months FTA signing so it may be doubtful if Chinese cotton farmers will maintain viability.

I would not plant a chemical resistant crop if the weeds were resistant to the chemical the crop was resistant to. It would be no point because the whole idea is to kill the weeds not just spray the chemical.

Julie Newman raised the idea that linseed is a source of "omega-3"

I commented that the omega3 profile of linseed and fish oils are different
Here is documentation.

The relevant point is that important omega3 fats eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA) are not found in linseed BUT are present in fish oil.

The following paper gives some published analysis of linseed and linseed-fishoil mixture 50/50% diets

Br J Nutr. 2004 Apr;91(4):551-65.
Effects of dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, breed and dietary vitamin E on the fatty acids of lamb muscle, liver and adipose tissue.
Demirel G, Wachira AM, Sinclair LA, Wilkinson RG, Wood JD, Enser M.

Table 1 g/kg diet, linseed or linseed-fishoil

Fatty acid............................Linseed...... Linseed-Fish-oil50:50

18 : 3n-3 (linolenic).................25·7 23·5........18·3 20·3
20 : 5n-3 (eicosapentaenoic).....ND ND...........2·2 2·4
22 : 6n-3 (docosahexaenoic)......ND ND...........2·5 2·2

ND=not detected, different columns represent different diets

Conclusion Linseed lacks Omega 3s present in fish oil

similar data in
British Journal of Nutrition (2004), 91, 539–550
Biohydrogenation of dietary n-3 PUFA and stability of ingested vitamin E in the rumen, and their effects on microbial activity in sheep
S. Chikunya1*, G. Demirel, M. Enser, J. D. Wood, R. G. Wilkinson and L. A. Sinclair
Division of Food Animal Science, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Bristol BS40 5DU, UK

Interestingly, the papers mention that trans-fatty acids, about which much health fuss is made, are produced NATURALLY by bacteria in the rumen from the polyunsaturated vegetable oils (linseed) fed to animals, and trans fats thus appear in the meat.
I DONT THINK WE SHOULD NOW BAN MEAT from sheep who eat oilseeds though.

There are a number of definitions of the Precautionary Principle, so we could end up arguing the merits of the various definitions. In broad, the principle states: “When threat of harm to the environment or human health is foreseen, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically”. The principle should not involve guesswork, although some would use it in this manner. Equally, it should not be used to stifle activity, simply because we are not certain of the consequences. Again, some would have it used in this manner. I can think of lots of areas of human activity where we know the cause and effect relationships, such as driving motor cars, where instead of stopping the activity we put in place precautions to reduce the impact, such as, air bags, catalytic converters and so on. Curiously, industry has mostly come up with these ideas.

Compare with GM foods. Despite your reluctance to eat them, there are plenty of studies showing that GM per se does not make food inherently more dangerous and none showing the opposite (there are some that seem to show some small changes of unknown significance). Likewise, there are plenty of studies showing no greater threat to the environment from GM plants compared to conventional plants and none showing a greater threat. The current state of science dictates there is no foreseeable threat from GM plants. There are a lot of imagined threats and there are still some unknowns, but if we were to apply such actions to our other activities, we would end up doing nothing. Remember, there are still people around who believe the world is flat.

My understanding is that there are two peer-reviewed animal studies that have looked at generational effects of consuming GM food. Neither found any important effect. One did find that the offspring of mothers that ate GM food grew slightly faster, but I doubt that is important.