Report from Shady Global Trade Talks in Singapore

And a call to build resistance against the TPP

Kiwis in New Zealand have been at the forefront of anti-TPP organizing, thus far.

Members and partners of Trans Pacific Partnership (known as TPP or TPPA) held the 16^th-round of talks in Singapore last week.  As usual, the talks were shrouded in secrecy. Hundreds of trade delegates and policy makers from 11 countries, including the US, met to negotiate expanding profit-driven industrial commerce, including special agendas to smooth trade flows between member countries in the grouping.

Farmers stage a protest march during an anti-TPP rally in Tokyo, April 25, 2012. Similar rallies were held last week.

While we heard reports of farmers in Japan protesting, solidarity rallies of labor and environmental activists and a bunch of petitions sent to congresspeople, responses to the TPP negotiations thus far have been far too calm and comfortable. But it doesn’t have to stay that way…

The following article (which will be printed in the coming Earth First! Journal) is a call for renewed resistance to the expansion of corporate globalization:

Stanford University Researchers in the Pocket of Big Biotech

Scientists Tied to Tobacco Industry Propaganda, and Funding from Monsanto, Turn Attention to Organic Food

From the Cornucopia Institute:

Cornucopia, Wisconsin – A recent study by Stanford University researchers made international headlines when it claimed that organic foods are no more safe or nutritious than conventional foods.  Organic researchers, farmers and advocacy groups immediately recognized the study as woefully flawed, and alleged underlying political motivations.

“People don’t buy organic food just because they think it contains slightly higher levels of nutrients, they buy organic for many other reasons, primarily to avoid toxic pesticide residues and toxins that have been genetically engineered into the food,” says Charlotte Vallaeys, Food and Farm Policy Director at The Cornucopia Institute, a non-profit organic farm policy organization.

Academics and organic policy experts, including at Cornucopia, immediately recognized that Stanford’s research in fact substantiates dramatic health and safety advantages in consuming organic food, including an 81% reduction in exposure to toxic and carcinogenic agrichemicals.  Unfortunately, readers would never know it by the headlines, since the results of the study were spun by the Stanford researchers and public relations staff, and accepted without the necessary fact-checking by journalists in a rush to file stories over the Labor Day weekend.

News Roundup 5/20

Greenpeace UK made BP a new flag. The coolest part is, they’re still taking suggestions for other new BP flags.

The Oil Spill is now leaking between 76,000 and 104,000 barrels per day. That’s a pretty wide range of guessing, but it makes sense considering the authorities have no idea what they’re gonna do about it. The damn oil will be in the Atlantic soon. And Congress thinks BP is using the wrong dispersant. Oh well. Maybe Kevin Costner will save us.

Good video here of a Maine EF!er on trial. He was supposed to be the police liaison.

Also from Maine, they’ve just posted directions to this year’s Rendezvous. There’s also the beginnings of a ride board, but no one’s posted anything yet.

The Sea Lion Defense Brigade has wrapped up their campaign and is claiming success. Congrats to them for keeping a close eye on the State’s insane plan to kill 64 California sea lions this year. They only actually killed 10.

In other pinniped news, the Navy is using sea lions to sniff out bombs. Props to Earth Island Institute for trying at least to tell them what they’re doing is wrong.

And last week RAN locked down at Cargill HQ in Minnesota. The video isn’t very good, and they’re still a bunch of compromisers on board with the FSC. Which by the way, was a good idea gone horribly wrong.

In other big enviro news, big green groups and corporations have reached an agreement to better manage a whole bunch of acres of Canada’s Boreal forest. Seems to reek of compromise. We’ll see if logging up there is slowed significantly, or if the forest will continue to disappear.

Climate Ground Zero is still busy, speaking out at a public hearing on what could be the largest mine in WV history. Two of their road blockaders still need our help to get their bail reduced.

ScienceDaily uses the Asian shore crab to make the dangerous point that maybe invasive species aren’t all bad.

And scientists at the Craig Venter Institute have created the first synthetic living cell. Next up: synthetic meat, coming to fast food joint near you.