[CTRL] Gore Camp Spreads False Plan Colombia Rumor
-Caveat Lector- - Original Message - From: "Alberto M. Giordano" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 1:57 PM Subject: [narconews] Gore Camp Spreads False "Plan Colombia" Rumor Today's Press Briefing October 16, 2000 TOTAL SIMULATION International Press Coverage of Events in Latin America Can't Get Anything Right -- False Reports of the Demise of "Plan Colombia" are Planted by Gore Campaign: LA Times, NY Times serve as Rumor Mongers -- Bolivia Crisis Has Only a Temporary Fix; Will Re-explode by Years End -- PRI "Wins" in Tabasco, Mexico, by One Percent? (Fox and US Collaborate in Covering Up Yesterday's Election Fraud) -- Meet Vicente Fox's "Corruption Czar" -- He's an Expert on Soliciting Narco-Bribes, reports El Paso Times All these stories at: http://www.narconews.com/pressbriefing.html Today's Summary: Cynicism and simulation continue to be the watchwords for US press coverage of events in Our América. -- A nationwide revolt in Bolivia that paralyzed the country for 30 days is declared "over" by the international news media. In fact, the negotiated "solution" brings new problems and all the social movements who signed the pact say openly that they don't expect the Bolivian government to comply. The next wave of protests and blockades could begin as early as November; the deadline set by the US Embassy for "zero coca" plants in the country. -- Where are these rumors coming from? The LA Times and then the NY Times obediently printed this weekend that "Plan Colombia" may be cancelled after the November US elections. But US officials have already signed contracts with the Colombian government committing the $1.3 billion military invasion package through next year: thus freezing the US Congress from stopping the plan. Narco News reports: The false rumors were planted by the Gore campaign to diffuse the issue before the election (Fear of Nader at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?) -- Mexican national TV networks declared the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) as the winner of yesterday's state elections in Tabasco as soon as the polls closed. By nine a.m. this morning, the actual vote tally showed 44.13 percent for the PRI and 43.13 percent for the left-wing PRD (Democratic Revolution Party). Widespread acts of election fraud, ballot stuffing and the discovery of a clandestine election computer lab in Tabasco are just a few of the factors that make clear: The PRD won the popular vote, but like in Guerrero 1999, election fraud is still tolerated in Mexico when waged against the Left. President-elect Vicente Fox, of the PAN (National Action Party), threw his muscle behind the PRI. The US Embassy smiled: To them, the Mexican Left must be stopped at all costs, including through the robbing of elections, democracy be damned. -- Meanwhile, the El Paso Times broke courageously from the imposed party-line of US press coverage of Vicente Fox. It reported on Sunday that Fox's "anti-corruption czar", former Chihuahua governor Francisco Barrios, has been on the narco payroll for years. Here are the details of these stories, that Narco News will continue to track as they develop... http://www.narconews.com/pressbriefing.html From somewhere in a country called América, Al Giordano Publisher The Narco News Bulletin http://www.narconews.com/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Coming this week: Part II of our series on Associated Press and Reporter-Lobbyist Peter McFarren in Bolivia _ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"www.ctrl.org/A DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html"Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]/A http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/"ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL]
[CTRL] US Drug Czar McCaffrey Resigns
-Caveat Lector- If this has alrady been posted, sorry! I have not seen it as yet on the list. Amelia - Original Message - From: "Al Giordano" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 2:10 PM Subject: [narconews] US Drug Czar McCaffrey Resigns This just in... (The Mexican News Agency CNI en Línea broke the story this morning. AP has now followed up with this English language report) Adios to another war criminal Source: AP Breaking News Published: 10/16/00 Clinton Appointee McCaffrey To Leave White House Job AP - Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug policy adviser for five years, is leaving his job to pursue opportunities in the private sector - including mulling two job offers from universities to teach national security issues. In announcing the surprise move Monday, McCaffrey said in statement that "he was grateful for the leadership and support" of the Clinton administration. His resignation is effective Jan. 6, 2001, two weeks before President Clinton leaves office. He said in the statement that federal funds to fight drugs have increased and that adolescent drug abuse has fallen since he was appointed to the post. A retired general, McCaffrey has been President Clinton's director of national drug control policy since April 1996 and previously was commander of the Army's Southern Division. Besides the college offers, McCaffrey will also write books, a spokeswoman said. "He has found this job very, very rewarding," said spokeswoman Jennifer Pike. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"www.ctrl.org/A DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html"Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]/A http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/"ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Defense Foreign Affairs Daily Briefing 16 OCT 00
- Original Message - From: Hei Ron CONT DLPC To: Richard Holbrook (E-mail) Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 11:16 AM Subject: FW: FYI -- Defense Foreign Affairs Daily Briefing 16 OCT 00 FYI:Excerpt from:Defense Foreign Affairs Daily Briefing 16 OCT 00US Handling of Response to USS Cole Attack Seen as Critical to US Strategic Projection, Domestic Political SituationANALYSIS. By Gregory R. Copley,(see Note 1) Editor, GIS. The actual and perceived response by the United States Government to the terrorist attack on the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyer USS Cole (DDG-67) in the port of Aden on October 12, 2000, is now seen as a critical milestone in US strategic credibility worldwide, and to the US domestic attitude toward the incumbent Clinton-Gore Administration. (See Note 2)The changing nature of international terrorism, in which there is now greater masking of the specific - but not the general - perpetrators of the terrorist acts increases the difficulty of formulating decisive responses and thereby increases the perception of impotence of the target government. The sense of impotence and frustration is only increased when the victim threatens strong retaliatory action and then cannot deliver.US Secretary of Defense William Cohen, shortly after the Cole attack (but after a sufficient timelag as to already indicate a lack of preparedness), made a statement which was almost identical to the US leadership statements following all recent incidents: "If ... we determine that terrorists attacked our ship and killed our sailors, then we will not rest until we have tracked down those who are responsible for this vicious and cowardly act."Despite (or perhaps because of) numerous recent visits to Yemen by senior US defense personnel, the US defense and intelligence community clearly failed to adequately assess the threat to visiting US warships and defense personnel. That is not to say that all terrorist acts can be prevented by good intelligence, but rather that terrorist acts can often be deterred through good physical security and better contextual intelligence.In the case of Yemen, it should have been clear that there was a heightened need for security, given Yemen's background, and particularly given the fact that some Yemeni and Islamist factions alike - and particularly the South Yemenis who fought a civil war in 1994 against North Yemen after national unification in 1990 - have a strong interest in embarrassing the Yemen Republic's (northern) President, Lt.-Gen. Ali Abdallah Salih.Those who follow the "global jihad" theory can make the case that the Cole incident was almost totally a response to the present Islamist war against Israel and (according to the fatwa issued by London-based Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed of the UK Shari'a Court) the United States.Those who have spent years following the South Yemeni revolt against the British colonialization of Aden, the overthrow of the traditional rulers, the earlier resentment of the Turkish and Egyptian overlords, and so on, and the more recent bitter South Yemeni guerilla war against Oman, can point - particularly following the relatively forced union of South Yemen (the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, an extreme marxist state) with North Yemen (Yemen Arab Republic) - to the entrenched nature of guerilla warfare in Aden. There are many surviving members of the British Royal Marines, the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force who can attest to the fact that the Aden station was one of the toughest combat zones during the 1960s. And the people there continued their fighting after the UK withdrew from "East of Suez" in 1960.The reality is that the heightened threat to US naval transits through Aden was the culmination of a number of factors, which include the Bin Laden-led/coordinated jihad as well as the local factors. For many of the combatants, the jihad merely lent a new fervor to their xenophobia and their ongoing wars.What, then, does this mean in terms of the security of US warships transiting Aden? The refueling and transit arrangements were meant not only to assist the US Navy in its deployments, but also to signify and cement relations between the US and the Yemen Republic, controlled from the old northern capital, Sana'a' by the former YAR President (now Yemen Republic President), Gen. Salih. For the US to cease such visits now, after only a year, would clearly indicate weakness and fear on the part of the US, as far as regional observers are concerned. How, then, should the US secure its position without incurring major human and financial costs?To begin with, proper attention needs to be paid to routine security during refueling stops. This was clearly not the case with the Cole stopover, despite the reluctance of Washington
Re: [CTRL] Barak: Arafat got what he deserved
-Caveat Lector- It was just 15 years ago that the incident of the Achille Laurel happened. Arafat was then considered a terrorist of the worst sort, sort of like Bin Laden today. Now we treat him as a statesman. What a difference a few years make. AKE A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"www.ctrl.org/A DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html"Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]/A http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/"ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Fw: [CTRL] TB or Super TB
An old post from Alamaine on the TB situation.
- Original Message -
From: Alamaine
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2000 4:24 PM
Subject: [CTRL] TB or Super TB
-Caveat Lector- -Cui
Bono?-Another reason for limiting
globalisation and respecting nations' sovereignty. As we may have seen in the
past, the Ruskies don't have much of a care or a hoot to give about their prison
populations. This is reaffirmed in the article below. Something like this
(drug-resistant TB) among homeless wandering bedouin free spirited streetizens
in New York or some other large well-populated places may make some of the other
'bio-terrorist' efforts look tame. And, the means of contracting and spreading
is not very
difficult.Fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00031159.htm
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is spread almost exclusively by
airborne transmission. Although the disease can affect any site in the
body, it most often affects the lungs. When persons with pulmonary TB
cough, they produce tiny droplet nuclei that contain TB bacteria, which
can remain suspended in the air for prolonged periods of time. Anyone
who breathes air that contains these droplet nuclei can become infected
with TB. A person who becomes infected with the TB
bacillus remains infected for
years. Usually a person with a healthy immune system does not become
ill, but is usually not able to eliminate the infection without taking
an antituberculosis drug. This condition is referred to as "latent
tuberculous infection." Persons with latent tuberculous infection are
asymptomatic and cannot spread TB to others. Generally, a positive TB skin
test is the only evidence of infection. About 10-15 million persons in
this country are infected with M. tuberculosis. About 10% of otherwise
healthy persons who have latent tuberculous infection will become ill
with active TB at some time during their lives.This has some potential for
returning the world to a medieval / feudal state in that the class systems can
become once more very pronounced and strictly enforced. Donate to the World Bank
freely and often!!! AER From
NewsMax.Com{{Begin}}NewsMax.comAdvertise Your Banner
HereDrug-Resistant TB Being Spread From Russian PrisonsNew York Times
SyndicateMarch 23, 2000MOSCOW -- From behind the crumbling
yellow-brick walls of the Holding-Cell No. 1 prison complex, a deadly epidemic
is slowly being loosed upon an unsuspecting world.That epidemic is not
crime. It is tuberculosis.Russian jails are TB incubators. Every year,
tens of thousands of infected inmates are released from this country's
notoriously overcrowded prisons into society.Compounding the problem, a
powerful new form of tuberculosis, resistant to conventional treatments, is
spreading here, sparking fears that a new epidemic could threaten not only
Russia, but Europe and the United States.Moscow has acknowledged that it
lacks the financial resources to fight TB on its own, and has begun allowing
unprecedented access to its penal system. The West, faced with a possible new TB
threat, has offered financial assistance.``Tuberculosis isn't a private
matter, nor is it the internal business of any one country. It is a problem
without borders,'' said Alexander Goldfarb of the Public Health Research
Institute, which is developing a program to help Russia contain its TB
problem.Monday, officials at Moscow's main city jail, nicknamed
``Sailors' Quietude,'' held an open house for Western diplomats and journalists.
Guests toured previously off-limits cells and treatment centers as pale and thin
TB-infected inmates, most dressed in sweatpants and T-shirts, coughed and peered
up from their cots.Although the prison is among Russia's best equipped,
it is woefully understaffed. A doctor on duty, who refused to give her name,
said the prison hospital has just one physician for every 88 TB
patients.Of the 5,200 inmates in the facility, 623 have full-blown
tuberculosis. Nationally, in other prison facilities, the situation is not much
better.Health care officials estimate that 100,000 out of a prison
population of 1 million have active TB. One in four of these have a potent new
drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, called MDR TB.About 300,000
Russians are sent to prison annually, and each year the same number are
released. According to various estimates, anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 of
those released each year have full-blown TB.``Our city jails are
revolving doors. . .and the focal points of the TB epidemic,'' said Colonel
Alexander Kononets, head of the medical service for Russia's
prisons.Predictably, TB has spread among the Russian population at a
staggering rate. According to official statistics, there are 440,000 cases of
active TB in Russia. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, reported
cases of the disease have more than doubled.A recent
[CTRL] Fw: [CTRL] unwed mothers
Bard, Let's not forget to congratulate the fathers of these children because without their contribution, none of this would have been possible. In fact, maybe they deserve the bulk of the credit here. Amelia - Original Message - From: "Bard" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 10:06 PM Subject: [CTRL] unwed mothers Source: Middle American News, May 2000, page 4 http://www.manews.org/Default.htm BRAVE NEW WORLD Births to unwed mothers in the U.S. hit an all-time high in 1998, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Unwed mothers accounted for 1.29 million births, more than half of all the 3.94 million births recorded in 1998. (The corrupt government schools, and dysfunctional parents who lack the will to instill discipline in their kids, should be Congraulated for this stunning achievement.) -- Bard BUCHANAN-Reform http://gopatgo2000.com/default.htm We are a Nation of the Rule of Law; however, I, for one, will not be Ruled by the Lawless. To All Elected Officials: "Stop stealing my earnings that you use to give to those whom you know will vote for you." There's not a dime bit of difference between a DemoRat and a RepubRat, they're simply two wings of the same bird of prey which pecks at your earnings while insidiously devouring your Freedom. A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"www.ctrl.org/A DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance-not soap-boxing-please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'-with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds-is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html"Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]/A http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/"ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"www.ctrl.org/A DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html"Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]/A http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/"ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Fw: Re: [CTRL] Bill Richer's E-mails continue to freeze my mail.
My computer freezes/locks up all the time but there is no pattern to it of a certain person's mail causing it. It will happen when I have too much mail in the Inbox of Outlook Express. It will happen when the "temp" file of Windows has apparently too many items. There was a Microsoft correction of some subject lines being too long. The most usual reason that I have found for mine locking is that I need to update McAfee virus scan or there is a new "critical" windows update. Even Hewlett-Puckered has updates at their site. Maybe you should check for updates in your PC manufacturer, Windows and and virus scans or other services like that which you are using. I am only semi-computer literate and there are those knowing far more about these things. You are not likely to get the real culprit (McAfee, Microsoft, etc.) to readily admit that they are freezing up PC's all over the place. Try updating the above and see if it stops. And delete some extra large files of email, etc. Reserve more disc space for email. All of those helped me. Amelia - Original Message - From: "Robert F. Tatman" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 15, 2000 5:03 AM Subject: Re: [CTRL] Bill Richer's E-mails continue to freeze my mail. I haven't been seeing problems like this, but in the past I've run into similar issues with very large messages which seem to clog the download from a mail server. In Outlook and Outlook Express, you can create a message rule which will blow out messages larger than 750 kb. I don't believe this is possible in Netscape, but don't know about Eudora and other mail programs. You may need to discuss this with your ISP to see if large messages can be deleted or split serverside. - Original Message - From: "Kris Millegan" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 15, 2000 12:05 AM Subject: Re: [CTRL] Bill Richer's E-mails continue to freeze my mail. I am sorry, but I have no idea at all. I will send to list.serv's listowner help-list. Om K In a message dated 5/14/00 5:41:40 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I send this out to Kris Milligan, Bill Richer, and the CTRL List. I repeatedly have "mail freeze ups" -- where the downloading of emails STOPS at at one (but no means all) of Bill Richer's email. The only remedy is to go in to mailstart.com, which reads anyone's emails from a remote location, and delete all Bill Richer's emails in the vicinity of the emails where the problem is occuring. Then, when I go back to my provider -- the email down loads fine. A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"www.ctrl.org/A DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance-not soap-boxing-please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'-with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds-is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html"Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]/A http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/"ctrl/A To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"www.ctrl.org/A DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html"Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]/A http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/"ctrl/A
[CTRL] Fw: [Lis-LEAF] Super Seeds Sweeping Major Markets, and Brazil May Be Next
- Original Message - From: "Max "Madd Maxx" Baer Robinson" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Lis-LEAF" [EMAIL PROTECTED]; "[cp]" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 8:00 AM Subject: [Lis-LEAF] Super Seeds Sweeping Major Markets, and Brazil May Be Next [Putting a harness on profit of the world's food crops and who knows what the future holds to health effects. MM-] May 16, 2000 Super Seeds Sweeping Major Markets, and Brazil May Be Next By ANTHONY DePALMA with SIMON ROMERO http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/051600sci-gm-seed.html He was dazzled by the vast fields of soybeans in Brazil, and the efficiency of the farms in Argentina frankly frightened him. But nothing that Harold H. Dyer, an Iowa farmer, saw on his working vacation in South America last year surprised him more than finding out that his competitors freely used genetically modified soybeans in ways that would have landed him in a heap of trouble. He knew most farmers in Argentina planted modified soybean seeds, but he did not know they saved seeds from one year to plant the next, a practice that is legal in Argentina but not in North America. The Argentinians told him they never pay a technology fee for the seeds, which cost American farmers an extra $6.50 a bag. And in Brazil, where such seeds are still outlawed, no one came right out and said so, but Dyer was convinced that the seeds were being smuggled in. The Brazilian government insists that no genetically altered soybeans are grown there, but Dyer said he saw soybean fields that were as free of weeds as the parts of his own 2,500-acre farm in Iowa and Missouri where he sows the super seeds. "They have to live by their rules, of which there aren't any, and we have to live by ours, which are numerous," said Dyer, 75, who also runs several grain elevators in Iowa and Missouri. "It's not fair, and I would like for it to be changed, but that's the way it is." Brazil is in the process of deciding whether to make the new technology legal. And there is a growing sense that what happens in Brazil -- the world's No. 2 soybean producer, after the United States -- could tip the balance on genetically altered crops around the world. Should Brazil officially reject biotechnology's lure, it would be a big setback for American companies that have already been hurt financially by fierce resistance in Europe from consumers and large companies that refuse to buy modified produce. But if Brazil's huge agricultural sector joins the biotech fold, experts say, it may someday be difficult for consumers anywhere to find any food free of genetically modified material. That is because the United States, Brazil and Argentina, the No. 3 producer, together grow 80 percent of the world's 157 million metric tons of soybeans, an extraordinarily versatile crop that is pressed into oil, processed into food, and added to countless foods. "Once Brazil starts harvesting transgenic soybeans, there will be no turning back," said Joao Carlos Carvalho, president of Agropecuaria Basso, a Brazilian company licensed to sell the seeds if they are approved. The situation in Brazil also shows how difficult it is to control this new technology in the absence of any global regulatory mechanism. The Brazilian government approved the use of modified seeds developed by Monsanto in 1998, but a consumer group challenged the approval in federal court in Brazil. Delmiro Silva, a spokesman for Monsanto in Brazil, expects a ruling sometime this year. Technically, it is still illegal to plant high-tech seeds in Brazil. This is such a sensitive issue that the minister of agriculture, Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes, would respond only to a written question. "The commercial planting of genetically modified soybeans in Brazil is not permitted," he wrote. Frequent government testing, he added, has confirmed that the harvest is free of genetically modified organisms. Still, many agricultural experts, Brazilian and American alike, suspect that modified seeds are being smuggled in from Argentina. Dwain L. Ford, chairman for international affairs at the American Soybean Association, estimated that up to 30 percent of Brazil's soy crop could already be genetically modified. South American farmers are thus using the new technology without paying for it or necessarily understanding how to control it. "There are no strict controls on highways or in warehouses, so no one really knows how many seeds have been smuggled in," said David Brew, a partner at Brasoja Corretora de Cereais, a grain trading company in Porto Alegre, Brazil. "Now the concern is that the smuggling has resulted in the trafficking of second-generation seeds as well." While suspicious consumers stopped such farming in its tracks in Europe, the rush to biotech on this side of the Atlantic appears to be picking up steam. The big biotech companies, led by Monsanto, have made the Western hemisphere a vast proving ground
