January 2004

Pesticide Potpourri

• Representative Bob Goodlatte and five other members of the House Agricultural Committee recently toured Iraq to observe the transition of the food supply chain from the previous system to the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Ministry of Trade. As of October, two million tons of food have been delivered to Iraq since April, making it the largest food operation over this period. (House press release, 12/23/03).

• China's decision to approve imports of genetically modified U.S. soybeans is a goodwill gesture that will help trim a record bilateral trade deficit but won't significantly ease tensions. A senior U.S. official was cited as saying that China will soon offer life-long approval for U.S. soybeans imports worth $2 billion annually, weeks after Premier Wen Jiabao visited the United States. Hong Liang, Goldman Sachs' chief economist for China, was quoted as saying, "It's a good sign that China is trying to be more conciliatory. But I don't see this as China giving way to quiet down trade disputes." (Reuters via Agnet, 12/23/03).

• The homes of thousands of employees of Bayer in the UK are to be protected from protesters opposed to genetically-modified crops by special exclusion zones. This marks the first time that anti-harassment laws have been invoked in the furor over GM foods. On December 31, a judge granted a wide-ranging interim injunction, which will create exclusion zones around employees' homes - ranging from 100 yards in most cases to a square kilometer in one - as well as around corporate buildings. The order, which will run until a further court hearing on February 11, puts severe restrictions on the permitted protest activity by certain named campaigners and anti-GM organizations, and requires them to notify the police in advance. It also curtails photography and video footage of employees and clamps down on certain e- mail activity. (Financial Times via Agnet, 1/2/04).

• Increasing demands for traceability and labeling of bioengineered foods will disrupt international food trade for the foreseeable future according to members of USDA’s Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21^st Century Agriculture. One of the biggest hurdles is that these issues vary on a country by country basis and enforcement is uneven. A spokesperson for the Grocery Manufacturers of America stated that the European Union rules are becoming models for other countries, and that if the U.S. does not act, they will erect non-science barriers to trade. (Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, 12/15/03).

• A group of scientists from Ocean Alliance have spent the last three years collecting fat samples from sperm whales. Using a crossbow and arrows with specially designed biopsy tips to take skin and blubber samples, the group has sampled roughly 900 of the whales. Since the whales are mammals with long life spans and large fat stores, they are believed to be good bioindicators of chemical burden. In a preliminary analysis of 30 samples, all of the samples contained residues of DDT, PCBs, chlordane, hexachlorocyclohexane, and hexachlorobenzene in “small amounts.” (Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, 12/15/03).

• A controversial new television campaign launched in early December by the Center for Consumer Freedom is certain to give the publicity hounds at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) the sort of attention they don’t actually want. The two spots feature a darker side of PETA that will likely shock many of the group's supporters. The first of two 30-second commercials features a young woman who talks about teaching her children to love and respect animals. But she denounces PETA's support of arson and other animal-rights violence as too extreme and unacceptable.

The second spot highlights PETA's opposition to all medical research using animals, including efforts to find cures for leukemia, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS. PETA even donated $70,000 from its tax-exempt contributions to Rodney Coronado, a convicted criminal who burned down a Michigan State University research laboratory. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk recently referred to Coronado as a "fine young man." The ad shows Coronado, videotaped less than a year after his parole expired, demonstrating to student activists how to build a firebomb. (http://www.consumerfreedom.com).

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