GMWatch: Portal

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Welcome to the GM Watch Portal on Spinprofiles

Welcome to the GM Watch Portal on Spinprofiles—your guide to networks of power, lobbying and deceptive PR around the issue of genetically modified (GM) crops and food.

Spinprofiles has a policy of strict referencing and is overseen by a Managing editor and a Sysop and several Associate Portal editors. The editors of the GM Watch portal are Claire Robinson and Jonathan Matthews.

Priority pages on GM


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What is wrong with GM?

When GM crops and foods were first introduced in the late 1990s, scientists raised concerns that genetic modification was imprecise and unpredictable and could result in harm to health and the environment. They warned that:

  • GM could create foods that are toxic, allergenic and less nutritious than their non-GM counterparts
  • GM crops could damage vulnerable wild plant and animal populations
  • GM plants cannot be recalled, but as living organisms will propagate, transmitting any damaging properties from generation to generation
  • GM crops could cause irreversible alterations to the food supply, with serious consequences for the environment and human and animal health.

Subsequent events and a growing body of scientific evidence have shown each of these concerns to be correct.

The issues

Consumer pressure and scientific concerns have largely kept GM foods and crops out of Europe. But millions of tons of GMOs enter Europe each year in the form of GM animal feed. Unlike GM foods meant for humans, these "stealth GMOs" do not have to be labelled and remain hidden from consumers.

In the face of growing consumer rejection of GM foods even in their homeland of the USA, GM animal feed and biofuels have become the biotech industry's lifeline.

Should we worry about stealth GMOs in animal feed? Probably, yes. Scientific studies show that GM DNA shows up in the milk and meat of animals fed GMOs. Other studies show that GM feed damages the health of animals. The only study that examined the direct effects on humans of eating GM food showed potential problems.

GMOs are promoted around the world on the back of:

  • false claims and hype
  • suppression of inconvenient scientific findings
  • denial of on-the-ground experiences of farmers around the globe, and
  • persecution of whistleblowers.

The GM Watch portal exists to expose the often undisclosed vested interests of the people and groups that push GM technology.


Recent Articles on SpinWatch

Latest articles on 'GM' on Spinwatch <rss title=off desc=off>http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/46-gm-industry?format=feed&type=rss</rss>

Recent Articles on SpinWatch

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Articles

An A-Z list of articles on the people and groups behind the push for GM crops and food is here.

Or search by category:

References and Resources

Websites:

GMWatch GM Watch sends out daily, weekly or monthly email bulletins that give all the latest news and comment on GM foods and crops. GM Watch has a particular emphasis on exposing the lies and deception behind the global push for GM technology. Subscription to bulletins is free.

Greenpeace International Genetic Engineering Campaign This website has details on the latest campaigns with easy and quick-to-do email actions to help keep our food supply free from GM contamination.

Friends of the Earth International This is the place to find details on the latest FoE global campaigns and downloadable reports on GM food and crops.

Biosafety Information Centre This website, run by the Third World Network, has information and downloadable briefing papers on biosafety problems with GM crops and foods worldwide.

Bioscience Resource Project This is a user-friendly website with all the latest science stories on GM crops and food. Includes critiques of corporate 'junk' science, exposures of conflicts of interest, and news on the persecution of whistleblowers.

Ban GM Food This campaign-oriented website is geared to Europe. It has details of how to take action and downloadable leaflets that people can print out at home and distribute. Emphasis is on scientifically accurate and well-referenced information that is not easily dismissed.

GM Contamination Register Because no official body is keeping track of GM contamination events worldwide, GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace have stepped into the gap with this up-to-date register.

Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology This group of scientists and medics campaigns for a ban on GM foods.

Will GM crops deliver benefits to farmers? This is an informative web page on farmers' experiences and agronomic research on GM crops.

EcoNexus This website "offers a rigorous scientific critique of genetic engineering (GE) and genetically modified organisms, and more recently of agrofuels (biofuels), synthetic biology and other new technological applications".

ISIS – Institute of Science in Society This is the place to go for science in the service of social and environmental sustainability. This website and the associated print magazine, Science in Society, frequently break news about new insights and developments that take years to become widely accepted knowledge. Readers often say that they read it here first.

Ban Terminator Terminator Technology is a dangerous and extremely unpopular development in GM that makes GM crops produce sterile seeds. The biotech industry is promoting it as a means to control GM contamination, but opponents believe that sterility is not watertight and that 'suicide genes' could escape to other plants, potentially causing a catastrophe. This website has news about the research and worldwide campaigns against Terminator.

Books:

Guy Cook, Genetically Modified Language: The Discourse of Arguments for GM Crops and Food, Routledge, 2004. This book provides an analysis of how proponents of GM food and crops manipulate language to frame the debate to their advantage.

Andy Rees, Genetically Modified Food: A Short Guide for the Confused, Pluto Press, 2006. Rees provides an invaluable overview and is an excellent introduction to the issues. It is written in an accessible style but does not compromise on scientific and factual accuracy.

Jeffrey Smith, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods, Yes! Books, 2006. This book is a masterpiece of science communication and should be required reading for all those who pretend that there is no evidence of harm from GM foods. It's laid out so that you can get the point of each chapter whether you skim, read in slightly more detail, or want all the small print. You don't have to be a scientist to understand it.

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Spinprofiles history

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References
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