PANUPS: Shareholders and Public Interest Groups Knock Pesticide Companies

[Guest guest]

PANUPS

 

PANUPS: Shareholders and Public Interest Groups Knock Pesticide

Companies

Mon, 07 Jun 2004 13:55:10 -0700

 

===========================================

P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

===========================================

 

Shareholders and Public Interest Groups Knock Pesticide Companies

June 7, 20004

 

The spring Annual General Meeting (AGM) season saw agrochemical corporations

facing tough criticism from shareholders and public interest organizations over

potential liability for environmental and other impacts of pesticides and

genetically engineered (GE) crops. Shareholders focused on rejecting industry

claims that GE crops are wanted by consumers in industrialized nations and

needed to " feed a hungry developing South. " The AGMs served as platforms to

raise questions about the environmental and human health impacts of agricultural

biotechnology, and to address evidence indicating that GE crop commercialization

is cutting into corporate profits.

 

During the Syngenta AGM, shareholders and activist groups such as Greenpeace

Switzerland and Swissaid presented letters from farmer organizations, peasant

groups, activists and scientists strongly opposing commercialization of GE

crops. They also held a vigil outside the office of the Secretary of State for

International Development in the United Kingdom (UK). The actions were in

solidarity with the People's Caravan for Food Sovereignty, a coalition of Asian

farmers and peasant movements devoted to asserting their right to food, land and

productive resources. Asian farmers point to the Switzerland-based company's

efforts to use patented GE seeds to control Asian staple crops, such as rice.

 

Groups throughout the global South reject Syngenta's claim that GE crops are

needed to feed the hungry, seeing the claim " more [as] a public relations

strategy rather than really addressing the needs of poor people, " according to

People's Caravan. The coalition points out that hunger and malnutrition in Asia

are not caused by a lack of agricultural technology, but by a widespread lack of

access to land and productive resources, and can only be solved by addressing

the underlying political and economic causes of poverty, not by naively relying

on a " technological silver bullet. "

 

The People's Caravan also strongly opposes the continued production of

Syngenta's popular herbicide paraquat, sold as Gramoxone. A People's Caravan

press release charges, " Syngenta is poisoning the environment and the Asian

people with its highly hazardous pesticides, such as paraquat. " Paraquat is

among the world's most highly toxic herbicides, and causes severe health

problems for agricultural workers in many developing countries.

 

At Dow Chemical's annual shareholders meeting, (see PANUPS on May 21, 2004)

concerned investors introduced a resolution asking Dow to report new initiatives

to help those affected in the 1984 pesticide plant disaster in Bhopal, India,

and to spell out any risks the disaster may pose to Dow's finances or

reputation. The Dow annual meeting followed the April release of a report by

Innovest Strategic Value Advisors saying that Dow is underreporting to the SEC

and to its shareholders the full impact of expenses related to asbestos

liability, Agent Orange and a variety of environmental contamination issues.

Innovest labeled Dow's stock a risky investment.

 

The German-based agrochemical company Bayer AG also experienced opposition at

its AGM in Cologne. Seven anti-GE activists from the UK and Holland managed to

get past security and created several non-violent disturbances, which included

chanting anti-GE slogans, before being apprehended by authorities.

Representatives from Friends of the Earth Europe and the Coalition Against Bayer

Dangers appealed to Bayer's executive board and an estimated 7,000 shareholders,

on economic grounds, noting Bayer's failure to commercialize GE maize in the UK,

which led to a 1.9% drop in the company's share value. The organizations pointed

out that a similar rejection of Bayer's GE oilseed rape by Belgian authorities

limited the market for Bayer products.

 

Also in May, Monsanto announced it would abandon efforts to commercially release

GE wheat, due to opposition from GE-activists and concerns from North American

farmers over losing export markets. News of Monsanto's abandonment led to a

US$1.01 decline in the price of Monsanto stock, further exacerbating Monsanto's

troubled economic situation. Monsanto posted losses of U.S. $97 million in 2003.

 

Sources: Press Release, April 27, 2004, PAN Asia and Pacific,

http://www.panap.net; Press Release, Gaia Foundation, April 27, 2004,

http://www.peoplesearthdecade.org/articles/article.php?id=293; Increasing

Grassroots to Dow Chemical. PANNA,

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20040520dv.html; Bayer Urged to Quit

Genetically Engineered Crops, Friends of the Earth Europe, April 30, 2004,

http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/home.html; Activists storm stage at Bayer's AGM

to protest over the company's GM crop interests, Indy Media,

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2002/04/29183.html; Monsanto shelves plans for

modified wheat, New York Times,

http://www.thecampaign.org/News/may04g.php#shelves.

 

Contact: PANNA

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting on

pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media. It's

produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and

non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to

pesticides worldwide.

 

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all

contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

 

===========================================

Back issues of PANUPS are available online at:

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

 

Please note: responses to this message will not be read.

To comment, send an email to:

panna

 

To , send a blank email to:

PANUPS-

 

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Phone: (415) 981-1771

Fax: (415) 981-1991

Email: panna

Web: http://www.panna.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Messenger