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GLOBAL NEWS MONSANTO'S MAN IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION Mites R. Taylor's appointment by the Obama administration to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 7 July sparked immediate debate and even outrage among many food and agriculture researchers, NGOs and activists. The Vice President for Public Policy at the Monsanto Company from 1998 until 2001, Taylor exemplifies the revolving door between the food industry and the government agencies that regulate it. He is reviled for shaping and implementing the government's agricultural biotechnology policies during the Clinton administration. Yet what has slipped under everyone's radar screen is Taylor's involvement in setting US policy on agricultural assistance in Africa. In collusion with the Rockefeller and Bill and Melinda Gates foundations, Taylor is once again the go-between man for Monsanto and the US government, this time with the goal to open up African markets for genetically modified (GM) seed and agrochemicals. Taylor's re- appointment to the FDA came just after Obama and the other G8 leaders pledged US$20 billion to fight hunger in Africa over the next three years. In the late 1970s, Taylor was an attorney for the US Department of Agriculture, then in the 1980s a private lawyer at DC law firm King & Spalding, where he represented Monsanto. When Taylor returned to government as Deputy Commissioner for Policy for the FDA from 1991 to 1994, the agency approved the use of Monsanto's GM growth hormone for dairy cows, without the milk having to be labelled (this hormone is now found in most US milk). His role in these decisions led to a federal investigation, though eventually he was exonerated of all conflict-of- interest charges. Some estimate that Monsanto controls 90% of the global market for GM seeds. In Brazil, 54% of all soybeans are produced with Monsanto's GM Roundup Ready® seeds, and in 2008 the country began spraying more pesticides and herbicides than does the US. There is evidence that in 2003, Monsanto sold a Brazilian senator a farm for one-third of its market value in exchange for his help to legalise the herbicide glyphosate (the world's most widely used herbicide), sold by the corporation as Roundup®. In 2008, Monsanto controlled 80% of the Brazilian market for glyphosate, having elevated the price by 50% since its legalisation. Glyphosate is an endocrine disruptor. In March 2009, Dr Gilles-Eric Seralini, a molecular biologist at the University of Caen, France, published the results of a study which found that Roundup causes cells to die in human embryos. "Even in doses diluted a thousand times, the herbicide could cause malformations, miscarriages, hormonal problems, reproductive problems, and different types of cancers," said Dr Seralini. In May, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine called for a moratorium on GM foods: "...several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system". According to a study published by the Union of Concerned Scientists this year, GM seeds do not produce higher yields than conventional seeds. Yet they pose serious ecological risks, especially from genetic contamination from pollen. In the US, it is becoming impossible for the organic food industry to certify non-GM foods, due to contamination by GM pollen. (Source: By Isabella Kenfield, CounterPunch, 14 August 2009, http://www.counterpunch.org/kenfieldo8142009.html) Research on genetically modified seeds is still published, of course, but only studies that the seed companies have approved ever see the light of a peer-reviewed journal. In a number of cases, experiments that had the implicit go-ahead from the seed company were later blocked from publication because the results were not flattering. (Source: Scientific American, August 2009, http://tinyurl.com/mkkw43) BELUGA WHALE SAVES STRUGGLING DIVER Agere diver has a Beluga whale to thank for helping to save her life after her legs were paralysed by cramps. Yang Yun was taking part in a free- diving contest at Polar Land in Harbin, northeastern China, in which participants were required to sink seven metres to the bottom of a pool and stay there for as long as possible without the aid of breathing equipment. Ms Yun, 26, thought she was going to die amid the Beluga whales she shared the Arctic pool with, after struggling to move her legs while trying to kick her way to the surface. "I began to choke and sank even lower and | thought that was it for me, | was dead," she told journalists. "Until I felt this incredible force under me, driving me to the surface." That "incredible force" was Mila, a Beluga whale that had noticed her distress and clamped its jaws around her leg. Using her sensitive nose, Mila drove Ms Yun carefully to the surface, to the amazement of onlookers and an underwater photographer who captured the entire incident on film. "Mila noticed the problem before we did," one organiser said. "She's a sensitive animal who works closely with humans and | think this girl owes her her life." (Source: Herald Sun, Melbourne, 30 July 2009, http://tinyurl.com/oxe4dw) NEXUS * 9 OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com