Action Against Canadas Promotion of Terminaltor Seeds

[Guest guest]

Further proof---as if we needed any---that the world has lost its collective marbles. I can't imagine a single argument for advocating this practice in a sane world. Please send e-mails to the Canadian Prime Minister at pm Party leaders: Copps.S , Minister_Ministre , just , jack , Harper.S , Duceppe.G Government Newsroomnewsroom Agriculture and Agri-Food Canadahttp://www.agr.gc.caPlant Gene Resources of Canadahttp://pgrc3.agr.gc.ca/ Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administrationhttp://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/ Canadian Wheat Boardhttp://www.cwb.ca/en/index.jspAll government emails in pasteable form at: http://ghostchild.com/Canadian_Government_Email_list.htm PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS INFORMATION WIDELY ********************************************************************ETC GroupNews ReleaseFriday, February 11, 2005http://www.etcgroup.org/Suicide Seeds - Bombshell in BangkokCanadian-Led Coup to Allow Terminator Technology Narrowly Squelched at UNMeetingPercy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto, spoke today ata UN meeting in Bangkok - harshly criticizing his governments' efforts topromote field-testing and commercialization of Terminator seeds (plantsgenetically-modified to render seeds sterile at harvest time)."The Canadian government has acted shamefully. It is supporting a dangerous,anti-farmer technology that aims to eliminate the rights of farmers to saveand re-use harvested seed," said Schmeiser. "Instead of representing thegood will of the Canadian people or attending to the best interests of theBiodiversity Treaty, the Canadian government is fronting for themultinational gene giants who stand to win enormous profits from the releaseof Terminator seeds around the world."Schmeiser is the 74-year old Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto forpatent infringement when the company's patented, genetically modified canolaseed invaded his farm - unwanted and unwelcome. A victim of geneticpollution and a champion of Farmers' Rights, Schmeiser courageously foughtMonsanto all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court.A Canadian government proposal to unleash Terminator was leaked to the ETCGroup on the first day of a UN meeting in Bangkok, February 7-11 (SBSTTA,the scientific advisory body to the Convention on Biological Diversity -CBD). The news stunned farmers' organizations, government delegations, andcivil society worldwide. Ottawa's instructions to the Canadian delegationin Bangkok called for an all-out push for field-testing andcommercialisation of sterile seed technologies, effectively un-doing theprecautionary, de facto moratorium on Terminator seeds adopted bygovernments in 1998. Even worse, the Canadian delegation was instructed to"block consensus" by governments attending the meeting if it didn't get itsway. ETC Group has also learned that, in advance of the Bangkok meeting,Canadian embassies around the world asked governments to support arecommendation for "field testing and commercial use" of Terminator.Canada's blatant promotion of an anti-South technology does not bode wellfor the G8 meeting of world leaders in July in Scotland where Canada willpropose to introduce nanotechnology on the G-8 agenda.After being swamped this week by protest emails and letters, the Canadiangovernment was forced to soften its public position on Terminator, but itcontinued to press a solidly pro-Terminator view in the corridors and in acommittee appointed to negotiate draft text on Terminator. (The draftinggroup on Terminator included representatives from Canada, the EuropeanCommunity, Peru, Tanzania, and thePhilippines.) By Thursday morning Canada and its seed industry allies haddrafted text that included language promoting Terminator field trials,capacity building for the use of Terminator in the developing world andspecifically invited the research participation of "private sectorentities.""The draft text on Terminator released Thursday morning was appalling - itlooked like it was written by the multinational seed industry," said JimThomas of ETC Group, speaking from Bangkok. "It strongly reflected theCanadian government 's pro-Terminator position as revealed earlier this weekin the leaked document."Suicide Seed Squad: Canada hasn't been working alone in Bangkok. The UNmeeting was crawling with representatives from the biotech industry andrelated trade groups - including Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land, Crop LifeInternational, PHARMA (pharmaceutical manufacturers), the International SeedFederation and more - who lobbied against current restrictions on thedevelopment of suicide seeds. New Zealand and Australia also backed theposition of industry and Canada, while a fleet of US governmentrepresentatives observed from the sidelines. (The US government is not aParty to the Biodiversity Convention.)Thankfully, disaster was averted due to key interventions by the governmentsof Norway, Sweden, Austria, the European Community, Cuba, Peru and Liberia,on behalf of the African Group. The good news is that these governmentsmanaged to delete the most offensive wording. The final text andrecommendations reaffirm earlier decisions, amounting to a continuing, butfragile, de facto moratorium on Terminator. The issue now bounces toanother CBD advisory body (the Working Group on 8(j)) in March 2006.Interminable Terminator? The bad news is that decisions made in Bangkokwill allow the issue of Terminator to be re-examined and re-studiedinterminably. In ETC Group's view, the CBD continues to dilly-dally anddelay decisions on Terminator while the industry is moving full-speed aheadto bring sterile seeds to market."The international community needs to know that Terminator technology is areal and present danger. The biotech industry is chomping on the bit tocommercialize suicide seeds. Nothing short of an all-out ban on Terminatorwill stop it from being unleashed in farmer's fields," said Hope Shand ofETC Group.For more information:Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc:Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) hope: 919960-5223Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) silvia: 52 55 55 632 664 JimThomas, ETC Group (UK) jim: 44 (0)7752 106806 (mobile)***************************************** http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021005X.shtml Canada Backs Terminator Seeds By John Vidal The Guardian U.K. Wednesday 09 February 2005 An international moratorium on the use of one of the world's most controversial GM food technologies may be broken today if the Canadian government gets seed sterilisation backed at a UN meeting. Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Canada wants all governments to accept the testing and commercialisation of "terminator" crop varieties. These are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds which farmers cannot replant. Jointly patented by the GM company Monsanto and the US government, the technology was condemned in the late 1990s by many African and Asian governments who called for a permanent ban. Monsanto and other GM companies which were developing similar technologies voluntarily pulled out of research after concerns were also raised about the "terminator" genes spreading to non-GM crops, and international outrage that poor farmers would not be able to use seeds from their crops, as they have always done. But leaked instructions to Canadian government negotiators at the Bangkok meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, a group which advises the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity, show that Canada will request today that all countries open their doors to the technology. The papers, leaked to the environment group ETC, also show that the Canadian government will attack an official UN report critical of the potential impact of "terminator" seeds on small farmers and indigenous peoples. The report recommends that governments prohibit the technology. The Canadian government team in Bangkok was last night unavailable for comment.__________Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, MedICIS-Institute for Cooperation in Space3339 West 41 AvenueVancouver, BC V6N3E5 CANADATel: 604-733-8134Fax: 604-733-8135Email: alwCampaign: http://www.peaceinspace.orgExopolitics: http://www.exopolitics.com ICIS: http://www.peaceinspace.com«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»Paranormal_Research - Scientific Data & Health Conspiracies Paranormal_ResearchSubscribe:... Paranormal_Research-