LL:ART: Monsanto's chapati patent stirs Indian anger
from The Guardian Weekly 20-4-0205, page 5 Monsanto's chapati patent stirs Indian anger Wheat was 'created by generations of dedicated farmers' Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi Monsanto, the world's largest genetically modified seed company, has been awarded patents on the wheat used for making chapati - the flat bread staple of northern India.They give the US multinational exclusive ownership over Nap Hal, a strain of wheat whose gene sequence makes it suited for crisp breads. Another patent, filed in Europe, gives Monsanto rights over the use of Nap Hal wheat to make chapatis, which consist of flour, water and salt. Environmentalists claim Nap Hal's qualities are the result of generations of Indian farmers who spent years crossbreeding crops, and collective, not corporate, efforts should be recognised. Monsanto, activists say, is out to make "monopoly profits" from food on which millions depend. Monsanto inherited a patent application after buying the cereals division of the Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever in 1998, and the patent has been granted to the new owner. Unilever acquired Nap Hal seeds from a publicly funded British plant gene bank. Its scientists identified the wheat's combination of genes and patented them as an "invention". Greenpeace is trying to block Monsanto's patent, accusing the company of "bio-piracy". Dr Christoph Then, Greenpeace's patent expert, said after a meeting with the European Commission in Delhi: "It is theft of the results of the work in cultivation made by Indian farmers. We want the European Patent Office to reverse its decision. Under European law patents cannot be issued on plants that are normally cultivated, but there are loopholes in the legislation." A spokesperson for Monsanto in India denied that it had any plan to exploit the patent, saying that it was pulling out of cereals in some markets. "This patent was Unilever's. We got it when we bought the company. Really this is all academic as we are exiting from the cereal business in the UK and Europe," said Ranjana Smetacek, Monsanto's public affairs director in India. Campaigners in India say there are concerns that people might end up paying royalties to Monsanto for making or selling chapatis. "The commercial interest is that Monsanto can charge people for using the wheat or take a cut from its sale," said Devinder Sharma, who runs the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security in Delhi. Andrew Osborn adds from Brussels : Green campaigners accused the European Commission of kowtowing to the US last week by approving a variety of modified maize in a bid to dismantle the EU ban on new GM food. The commission approved the sale of canned genetically modified maize produced by the Anglo-Swiss firm Syngenta. EU states have three months to consider the decision. Clare Oxborrow, of Friends of the Earth, said: "The commission has caved in to pressure from the US and big biotech firms. European consumers don't want GM food." -- Visit the proposed Leftlink web site at http://www.leftlink.net/ -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:DDV: Join us this Wednesday evening - Overland Lecture
www.overlandexpress.org THIS WEDNESDAY 6.30pm at Trades Hall Bar & New Ballroom, Carlton: Meet internationally published author, activist & playwright LINDA JAIVIN. Jaivin will speak about the resourceful ways writers and artists are overcoming obstacles placed on dissenters by Howard government ministers. "I used to work as a foreign correspondent in China," she says. "I ended up resigning from my job because the Chinese Government systematically harassed and persecuted my friends until one bordered on suicide. I used to feel hugely thankful that, as an Australian, I lived in a democracy where such underhanded machinations were inconceivable. Or at least so rare that they were considered aberrations when exposed. I simply had never had the occasion to learn otherwise." In this third OVELAND lecture for 2003, JAIVIN engages in lively discussion of some of the more scandalous 'empathy barriers' the Howard government has erected and the ways artist are scaling these. She will draw on her experiences visiting Villawood Detention Centre. An open discussion will follow her lecture. $10/$6 entry includes a copy of OVERLAND (normally $12.50). Refreshments available. See www.overlandexpress.org for details. Enquiries 9688 4163 -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:DDV: Join us for launch & culture wars lecture
OVERLAND PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES 2003 Wednesday 25 June 2003, 6.30 pm MARGARET SIMONS on MYTH, EVIDENCE & CULTURE WARS Overland 171 lecture & launch, Trades Hall, Melbourne $10 / $6 entry includes copy of Overland 171 Simons talks about Australia's 'culture warriors' and their recent claims against ideological bias and calls for scholarly 'evidence'. Taking on media heavyweights including Piers Ackerman, Ron Brunton and Christopher Pearson, she talks about the media fallout from her explosive book, The Meeting of the Waters, which documents what has come to be known as the 'Hindmarsh Island Bridge Affair'. This series of events, says Simons, highlighted the still-raging 'culture wars' in Australia."I came to think of it as one of those big, even archetypal stories that tell us something about who we are, the way we connect to land, and how we exist in this continent." Asked to name the highest achievements of mainstream Western culture, she says, "most of us would probably think of the rule of law, judicial process, parliamentary democracy, the ideal of independent scholarship and freedom of speech, including freedom of the media". In the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Affair, "all these things miscarried and were perverted, if not corrupted. As a result, lives, careers and families were wrecked, and a great injustice was done. The victors wrote the history." Ron Brunton, Piers Ackerman and Christopher Pearson, says Simons, were key players in the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Affair. Simons explains how their actions, along with evidence buried and withheld from the Royal Commission, led to a dramatic miscarriage of justice. more information: http://www.overlandexpress.org/events.htm -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:URL: Boycott Brand America
Dear Jammers, In spite of opposition from the world - proven in poll after poll - Bush's oil-thirsty war machine marches on. Feeling frustrated? It's time to take a new stand and hit Rogue Nation USA exactly where it counts - right in the economy. It's time to Boycott Brand America. Are you ready? The Boycott Brand America pledge is already up at http://adbusters.org - check in to sign it, find out more, and help circulate the pledge. Let's build this boycott into an international mass action on par with the peace marches! Once you've signed, we'll keep in touch as thousands of others add their consumer clout to reel in the global bully. Get ready for days of action on oil, fast food, sweatshop labor, the media and more. Got an idea to share or an action to report? Let us know what you're up to, tell [EMAIL PROTECTED] More fire! The Staff & Volunteers at Adbusters - Want to join the Culture Jammers Network? Visit http://adbusters.org/information/network/ . -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:INFO: War on Iraq Knowledge Test
Please pass this on. Take the 'War'-on-Iraq IQ Test Do you know enough to justify going to war with Iraq? 1. Q: What percentage of the world's population does the U.S. have? A: 6% 2. Q: What percentage of the world's wealth does the U.S. have? A: 50% 3. Q: Which country has the largest oil reserves? A: Saudi Arabia 4. Q: Which country has the second largest oil reserves? A: Iraq 5. Q: How much is spent on military budgets a year worldwide? A: $900+ billion 6. Q: How much of this is spent by the U.S.? A: 50% 7. Q: What percent of US military spending would ensure the essentials of life to everyone in the world, according to the UN? A: 10% (that's about $40 billion, the amount of funding initially requested to fund the US retaliatory attack on Afghanistan). 8. Q: How many people have died in wars since World War II? A: 86 million 9. Q: How long has Iraq had chemical and biological weapons? A: Since the early 1980's. 10. Q: Did Iraq develop these chemical & biological weapons on their own? A: No, the materials and technology were supplied by the US government, along with Britain and private corporations. 11. Q: Did the US government condemn the Iraqi use of gas warfare against Iran? A: No 12. Q: How many people did Saddam Hussein kill using gas in the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988? A: 5,000 13. Q: How many western countries condemned this action at the time? A: 0 14. Q: How many gallons of agent Orange did America use in Vietnam? A: 17 million. 15. Q: Are there any proven links between Iraq and September 11th terrorist attack? A: No 16. Q: What is the estimated number of civilian casualties in the Gulf War? A: 35,000 17. Q: How many casualties did the Iraqi military inflict on the western forces during the Gulf War ? A: 0 18. Q: How many retreating Iraqi soldiers were buried alive by U.S. tanks with ploughs mounted on the front? A: 6,000 19. Q: How many tons of depleted uranium were left in Iraq and Kuwait after the Gulf War? A: 40 tons 20. Q: What according to the UN was the increase in cancer rates in Iraq between 1991 and 1994? A: 700% 21. Q: How much of Iraq's military capacity did America claim it had destroyed in 1991? A: 80% 22. Q: Is there any proof that Iraq plans to use its weapons for anything other than deterrence and self defense? A: No 23. Q: Does Iraq present more of a threat to world peace now than 10 years ago? A: No 24. Q: How many civilian deaths has the Pentagon predicted in the event of an attack on Iraq in 2002/3? A: 10,000 25. Q: What percentage of these will be children? A: Over 50% 26. Q: How many years has the U.S. engaged in air strikes on Iraq? A: 11 years 27. Q: Were the U.S and the UK at war with Iraq between December 1998 and September 1999? A: No 28. Q: How many pounds of explosives were dropped on Iraq between December 1998 and September 1999? A: 20 million 29. Q: How many years ago was UN Resolution 661 introduced, imposing strict sanctions on Iraq's imports and exports? A: 12 years 30. Q: What was the child death rate in Iraq in 1989 (per 1,000 births)? A: 38 31. Q: What was the estimated child death rate in Iraq in 1999 (per 1,000 births)? A: 131 (that's an increase of 345%) 32. Q: How many Iraqis are estimated to have died by October 1999 as a result of UN sanctions? A: 1.5 million 33. Q: How many Iraqi children are estimated to have died due to sanctions since 1997? A: 750,000 34. Q: Did Saddam order the inspectors out of Iraq? A: No 35. Q: How many inspections were there in November and December 1998? A: 300 36. Q: How many of these inspections had problems? A: 5 37. Q: Were the weapons inspectors allowed entry to the Ba'ath Party HQ? A: Yes 38. Q: Who said that by December 1998, "Iraq had in fact, been disarmed to a level unprecedented in modern history." A: Scott Ritter, UNSCOM chief 39. Q: In 1998 how much of Iraq's post 1991 capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction did the UN weapons inspectors claim to have discovered and dismantled? A: 90% 40. Q: Is Iraq willing to allow the weapons inspectors back in ? A: Yes 41. Q: How many UN resolutions did Israel violate by 1992? A: Over 65 42. Q: How many UN resolutions on Israel did America veto between 1972 and 1990? A: 30+ 44. Q: How many countries are known to have nuclear weapons? A: 8 45. Q: How many nuclear warheads has Iraq got? A: 0 46. Q: How many nuclear warheads has US got? A: over 10,000 47. Q: Which is the only country to use nuclear weapons? A: the US 48. Q: How many nuclear warheads does Israel have? A: Over 400 50. Q: Who said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"? A: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr * Charles Sheketoff, Executive Director Oregon Center for Public Policy PO Box 7, Silverton, OR 97381 The United States Government will spend more on the military in fiscal year 2003, than all the rest of the countries on Earth combined. Current expenditures are 437
