Alliance Newsletter – May 2008
Dear GE Network,
This is the newsletter of the Genetic Engineering Policy Alliance. The Alliance is a network of organizations and individuals promoting precautionary policies on genetically engineered food and agriculture. We are united in our concern about the impacts of genetically engineered crops and foods on agriculture, the public, and the environment.
GE In the News
Maine Passes GE Bill Protecting Farmers
After nearly a year and a half of dialogue and compromise amongst many of the key players in Maine's agricultural economy, a state bill (HB 1650) was signed into law by the governor on April 14, 2008. The bill prevents lawsuits for patent infringement against farmers who unintentionally end up with genetically engineered material in their crops, ensures lawsuits that do occur will be held in the state of Maine, and directs the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources to develop and implement Best Management Practices for Genetically Engineered Crops.
Also in April, the town of Montville, Maine adopted an ordinance that bans the production of GE organisms, the first such local law in the U.S. outside of California.
 Mexico Decides to Allow GE Corn Testing
Mexico, widely thought to be the birthplace of corn, said in March it will begin allowing experimental planting of genetically modified crops, despite resistance from some farmers who question their safety. Supporters of GMO foods, whose DNA is altered to be resistant to pests, say they are a way to boost world food supplies. But farmers in Mexico's rural south, where corn has been grown for thousands of years, worry GM corn will cross-pollinate with native species and alter their genetic content.
Under the new rules, the farmers who want to plant GMO crops must register with the agriculture ministry and environmental authorities to request a permit. GMO corn seeds will not be allowed into certain parts of the country that are determined to be "centers of origin" for genetically unique corn strains found only in Mexico.
Research
Two Studies Show Reduced Yields in GE Crops - Major new study shows that modified soya produces 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent.
Excerpts from www.globalresearch.ca
Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis. 
The study - carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt - has found that GM soya produces about 10% less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.
Professor Barney Gordon, of the university's department of agronomy, said he started the research - reported in the journal Better Crops - because many farmers who had changed over to the GM crop had "noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions". He added: "People were asking the question 'how come I don't get as high a yield as I used to?'"
He grew a Monsanto GM soybean and an almost identical conventional variety in the same field. The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-GM one.
The GM crop - engineered to resist Monsanto's own weedkiller, Roundup - recovered only when he added extra manganese, leading to suggestions that the modification hindered the crop's take-up of the essential element from the soil. Even with the addition it brought the GM soya's yield to equal that of the conventional one, rather than surpassing it.
New Soil Association report shows GM crops don't yield more - sometimes less
From a Soil Association press release found at: www.soilassociation.org
 The Soil Association has published a report on the latest available research on GM crop yields over the last ten years. The yields of all major GM crop varieties in cultivation are lower than, or at best, equivalent to, yields from non-GM varieties.
Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, said: "GM chemical companies constantly claim they have the answer to world hunger while selling products which have never led to overall increases in production, and which have sometimes decreased yields or even led to crop failures. As oil becomes scarcer and more expensive, we need to move away from oil dependent GM crops to producing food sustainably, using renewable energy, as is the case with organic farming."
Invitation to Join the STOP GE Trees Campaign
The STOP GE Trees Campaign is soliciting member organizations to strengthen their call to end the genetic engineering of trees.
 The timber industry has joined forces with the oil industry and the biotechnology industry to rapidly advance their work to commercialize GE trees for pulp and paper as well as agrofuels. They plan to develop huge plantations of genetically engineered with traits such as reduced lignin and insect resistance. GE tree plantations will have catastrophic implications for forests, forest-dependent peoples and wildlife.
If you would like to add the name of your organization to the campaign, please email Anne Petermann globalecology@gmavt.net with your organization name and web site URL. Your organization will be listed on the STOP GE Trees Campaign website with a link to your organization's own website. Press releases will include a link to the page on our website that lists all of the member groups of the STOP GE Trees Campaign.
For more details, go to www.globaljusticeecology.org/stopgetrees.php
Featured Members
 PSR-LA
www.psrla.org
PSR-LA is working to bring together health professionals and the diverse communities of Southern California to reduce threats to public health related to war and environmental toxins.
PSR-LA supports policies and programs that improve health and reduce health disparities for communities in southern California. Along those lines we strongly advocate for and believe that the New Green Economy we are creating today must be predicated on the ideas of sustainability, respect for human health and careful regard for the environment. The issue of genetically engineered food and agriculture is a perfect example of how we must exercise precaution in our economic and environmental policies in order to protect our health and the health of our future generations.
PSR-LA is a member of the Genetic Engineering Policy Alliance because of its strategic platform which seeks to: promote the public's right to know about genetically engineered food and safeguard the public's health from exposure to genetically engineered food.
 Californians for Pesticide Reform
www.pesticidereform.org
CPR is a statewide coalition of over 185 organizations, founded in 1996 to shift fundamentally the way pesticides are used in California. CPR's mission is to improve and protect public health, sustainable agriculture, and environmental quality by building a movement across California that changes statewide and local pesticide policies and practices.
Our member organizations include public health, children's health, educational and environmental advocates, clean air and water organizations, health practitioners, environmental justice groups, labor, organizations, farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates.
For CPR, working with the GE Policy Alliance is a critical part of both exposing the myth that GE agriculture uses less pesticides and advocating for a safe agricultural system in California.
Want to Join?
Organizations and businesses wanting to join the Genetic Engineering Policy Alliance can sign up on our web site.
To receive this newsletter without becoming a member, please email info@gepolicyalliance.org and request to be added to our list.
Thanks for your interest and support!
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