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Surprise, surprise! Monsanto lied about GM field trials?

Devil's Own MonsantoNOTE: It seems from this that Monsanto actually wrote a report for a regulatory committee (!) – “TAC Sub-Committee Recommendations and Findings”, and that the report contained important information that appears to be false.   EXTRACTS: [The] claim made in [the] Monsanto-written report ["TAC Sub-Committee Recommendations and Findings"] about conducting all sorts of [GM field] trials was simply contrary to facts.
It is [a] harsh reality that Monsanto, a seed marketing company, prepared a report about its own seeds cultivation and imposed it on regulators.   On the other hand, [the] head of TAC [Technical Advisory Committee - a regulatory committee] first decided to hold a meeting to discuss this report but later emailed it to members of [the] committee [] seeking their comments in a week.    This hurriedness [raised] eyebrows and stirred a controversy, prompting several members to express their reservation about the process. [This is] why [the] head of Technical Advisory Committee tendered his resignation last week following disclosure of [the] whole episode about [the] Monsanto-written report.
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Foreign company speaks on GM corn field trials
The News, June 16 2011

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=6758&Cat=13&dt=6/16/2011

LAHORE: Monsanto Pakistan had submitted an application in October 2008 seeking approval for seed import and field trials of Genetically Modified corn in Pakistan. The permission was granted and the process of field trials continued for two years. The trials concluded successfully in December 2010, and consequently, in February 2011, Monsanto Pakistan submitted an application and a scientific dossier seeking approval for commercial release of Genetically Modified Corn. This product is named VT Double Pro.

It provides in-plant protection with dual modes of action to protect against certain above-ground pests that plague Pakistani farmers, including the corn Stem borer, (Chilo partellus), American bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera), army worm (Spodoptera litura) and beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua). This product also provides the corn plant with tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup(r) brand agricultural herbicides, opening up new possibilities for weed control for Pakistani farmers.

Till date, VT Double Pro has been planted on millions of acres in 9 countries. The safety of VT Double Pro as stack or singles for food & feed or environmental releases purposes has been approved by regulators in over 20 countries, including regulators in the United States, Argentina, Australia/New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Honduras, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan and the European Union.

The National Bio-safety Committee (NBC) authorized Monsanto to import limited quantities of VT Double Pro seed to conduct field trials under permit. These trials were conducted strictly in accordance with protocols established by the Field Monitoring Sub-committee of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). As per its trial permit, Monsanto submitted the locations of the trials, type of trial (Agronomic / Phenotypic evaluation, NTO studies, Ecological interactions, Productions of crop tissues for gene expression studies, Insect bio-efficacy, Weed control with Roundup(r) herbicide, Crop safety against use of Roundup(r) Herbicide, Large Scale etc.), planting dates, plans for field operations to National Bio-safety Centre for the each year. Members of the Field Monitoring Sub-committee of TAC visited all the trial locations a number of times to witness the product performance, verify adherence with trial permit conditions and collect necessary relevant data. A year wise monitoring report of the field trials is issued by Field Monitoring subcommittee of TAC as well.

As part of the regulatory process, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) must review the field trial study results and scientific dossier prior to consideration by the NBC. The TAC formed a …read more>>>

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 17th, 2011 at 9:30 PM and is filed under Corruption, Food & Drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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