Cal GE-Free Newsletter #22, December 2006

IN THIS ISSUE

News:
- GE Rice Retroactively Approved by USDA
- Biggest Russian food and feed importers adopt GE free policy

Research:
- Turning Food into Fuel: GM Drought Tolerant Soybeans in South Africa.
- Alternatives to GE: Marker Assisted Selection

Take Action:
- National Call-in Day! Ask Starbucks to Hold the Hormones
- Help build the California GE-Free Network

NEWS

GE Rice Retroactively Approved by USDA

Late on Friday November 24th the USDA declared safe for human consumption the genetically
engineered variety of rice (LL601) that had been found contaminating the US rice supply this
summer. Bayer Cropscience, the company holding the LL601 patent, applied for deregulation after
contamination of the U.S. long-grain rice supply was discovered in August. In approving the
rice, the USDA allowed Bayer to take a regulatory shortcut and skip many of the usual safety
tests by declaring that the new variety is similar to ones already approved, in this case two
varieties of biotech rice that Bayer never commercialized because farmers did not want them in
their fields.

As we reported last month, the experimental rice, designed to resist Bayer's Liberty weedkiller,
escaped from Bayer's test plots after the company dropped the project in 2001. The resulting
contamination, once it became public, prompted countries around the world to block rice imports
from the United States, sending rice futures plummeting and farmers into fits. Adam Levitt, an
attorney for about 300 farmers suing Bayer, said that the approval does nothing to change that
outlook. "Unless the U.S. export countries change their view and begin to regain a sense of
confidence in U.S. rice, the U.S. rice farmers are still hurt and this whole ruling is illusory
in its effect," Levitt said. "It's not a victory at all, because at the end of the day people
are not purchasing U.S. rice and the exports markets are absolutely closed still."

To read a complete Reuters article, go to: http://www.calgefree.org/news/2006/112506.shtml


Biggest Russian Food and Feed Importers Adopt GE Free Policy

Sodruzhestvo, the biggest soy importer in Russia, which supplies 70% of all soy used in the
Russian food and feed industry, has stated that it will turn its new factory currently under
construction in Kaliningrad into a GE free zone. The new oil-extraction and feed-processing
plant will not only produce GE free soy oils and feeds, but also GE free maize and GE free
oilseed rape products.

Following the move by Sodruzhestvo the feed producer Rybflotprom, which controls 7% of the
Russian feed market and is 80% owned by the French company Provimi, also announced it has
adopted a GE free policy for all its products. Both companies will soon start importing GE free
soya from Brazil instead of GE soy from Argentina and the US.

For more information, go to: http://www.calgefree.org/news/2006/112406.shtml


RESEARCH AND INFORMATION

New Report: Turning Food into Fuel: GM Drought Tolerant Soybeans in South Africa.

The use of GE crops to produce biofuels is being touted as a boon for alternative energy as well
as a new economic development pathway for poor regions. A new report from the African Centre for
Biosafety challenges this assumption, looking at the pros and cons of using GE soybeans to
produce bio-fuels in Africa. The study concludes that ultimately, biofuels are not a green
option because of the net and fixed costs of production as well as the opportunity cost of using
arable lands for fuel instead of food.

To read the full report, go to: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7321

Alternatives to GE: Market Assisted Selection

Scientists are experimenting with a new technique that speeds up natural breeding by selecting
which plants to cross using genetic information, rather than simply choosing them by their
attributes, as farmers have done throughout the history of agriculture. This new Marker Assisted
Selection (MAS) has already been used to create wheat that has a higher nutritional content by
crossing it with a wild variety that has higher levels of protein, iron and zinc. GM Watch
reports that while much hyped GM crops like Golden Rice are still years away from going into
farmers' fields, this biofortified wheat joins a growing list of non-GM successes, some of which
are already being tried out by farmers.

For the complete article on MAS wheat go to: http://www.calgefree.org/news/2006/112406a.shtml
For other stories about MAS successes go to: http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7326


TAKE ACTION

National Call-in Day! Ask Starbucks to Hold the Hormones

On Tuesday, December 5th, tell Starbucks to buy better milk! Let Starbucks know how you feel
about its continued use of milk produced with artificial GE growth hormones. Call Starbucks at:
1 (800) 235-2883 Mon – Fri 5 AM – 6 PM (PST) If the line is busy, try again later or email
info [at] starbucks.com
It should take just a few minutes of your time to let Starbucks know that its decision to use
rBGH milk is bad for cows and may be bad for people. By making the call, you let Starbucks know
that itÂ’s also bad for business.

Why?
Injecting cows with artificial growth hormone harms cows and may harm people. Cows “treated”
with this hormone get more infections, which leads to more antibiotic use. Overuse of
antibiotics in animal production creates antibiotic resistant bacteria, a serious threat to
treating people. Additionally, there is a potential link between rBGH and higher risk of breast,
prostate, and colon cancer. Find out more at http://www.holdthehormones.org Starbucks is the industry
leader in coffee specialty retail, and it promotes itself as a socially responsible corporation.
In fact, Starbucks buys 2% of the entire world's coffee beans, and thus has a huge impact on the
market. If Starbucks stops using milk made with artificial hormones, it will greatly impact the
dairy industry, and send a strong message about public opposition to this harmful product. Tell
Starbucks to buy better milk!

For more info contact: Audrey Hill at ahill (at) fwwatch (dot) org, ph. 202-797-6555
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Help Build the California GE-Free Network

As one of the largest agricultural economies in the world, California has the opportunity to
become a leader in safeguarding our public and private lands, fisheries, forests, schools,
gardens, and nurseries, from GE contamination. If GE is an issue that you are concerned about
and you want to get involved in local action:
- If you are not already a member, sign-on to the Cal GE-Free list serve http://www.calgefree.org to
receive this newsletter and action alerts.
- Consider a donation to Californians for GE-Free Agriculture.

To make make a tax-deductible donation, send a check payable to Cal GE-Free at: 15290 Coleman
Valley Rd., Occidental, CA 95465

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