Fwd: Good news to report!

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:2 Jul 2003 10:24:06 -0000

 

News Update from The Campaign

Good news to report!

 

News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

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Dear News Update Subscribers,

 

I have a couple positive news items to report.

 

First, Representative Dennis Kucinich will be sponsoring the Genetically

Engineered Food Right to Know Act in the U.S. House of Representatives

very soon. He will also introduce five other bills that deal with

various aspects of regulating genetically engineered foods. We have

received long and short summaries of all the bills and final draft

copies of all the legislation for our review.

 

The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods will issue an ACTION

ALERT before the end of the week. You will be asked to send the ACTION

ALERT e-mail to your House Representative asking him or her to

co-sponsor the legislation. For greater impact, we will also have a

printable form letter you can mail to your House Representative.

 

You will receive a lot more information about the legislation in our

next News Update. And we discuss strategy and actions you can take to

help get the legislation passed.

 

The other great news involves a follow-up report about the USDA

Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology

that was recently held in Sacramento, California. As you will recall, we

reported this event was held by the USDA to promote genetically

engineered crops and food irradiation.

 

The Ecological Farming Association had a 10' x 20' booth at the USDA

Ministerial to promote organic agriculture and oppose genetically

engineered foods. We have learned that the organic booth was considered

the most popular at the show. Apparently many of the agricultural

ministers in attendance from around the world were much more interested

in organic agriculture than in genetically engineered foods.

 

Posted below is an article that ran last week in the Sacramento Bee

titled " Expo a crossroad of ideas - Some attendees are straying from the

ag event's theme. " Before the article are some introductory comments

from organic farmer and consultant Amigo Cantisano. I think you will be

very enthused to hear Amigo's take on the event.

 

Enjoy the article...and be watching for the ACTION ALERT about the

legislation later this week. Thanks!

 

Craig Winters

Executive Director

The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

 

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

Tel: 425-771-4049

Fax: 603-825-5841

E-mail: label

Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

 

Mission Statement: " To create a national grassroots consumer campaign

for the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass

legislation that will require the labeling of genetically engineered

foods in the United States. "

 

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INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS FROM AMIGO CANTISANO:

 

This is a good article from the Sacramento Bee 6/25/03 on the organic

farm bus tour that the Ecological Farming Association (that's us!!)

organized for the USDA Ministerial conference attendees and the press.

Agricultural ministers from more than 40 countries, including those from

Sri Lanka interviewed in the article below, were fascinated by, and

engaged in, our presentations on organics. The organic food and drink,

donated by organic farmers, processors and trade groups from around the

U.S., provided the ministers with a tasty, nutritious organic

introduction to our fruitful, frank discussions. Ag ministers from many

countries repeatedly asked us for immediate help from U.S. organic

farmers to help them get off both the pesticide and the GMO treadmill,

now.

 

We did not meet a single minister who was in support of GMO's; at most

they were cautiously observing and withholding judgment at present. But

they were absolutely fervent in their interest in and need for organic

farming assistance. The eight people who staffed our exhibit booth were

very impressed by the level and complexity of interest demonstrated by

the ministers and their staff. We are sure that our efforts will lead to

a dramatic acceleration in the adoption of organic farming practices by

farmers and governments throughout the world. This was the best work I

have ever done as an activist for a saner, organic agriculture. Give

Thanks!!!

 

Amigo Cantisano

 

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Expo a crossroad of ideas

Some attendees are straying from the ag event's theme

 

By Edie Lau and Mike Lee -- Sacramento Bee Staff Writers - (Published

June 25, 2003)

 

Early Tuesday morning, four visitors from Sri Lanka in Sacramento for a

conference on agriculture ducked out of the meeting to tour an organic

rice farm.

 

Among the conference talks the Sri Lankans would miss was one by

Monsanto executive Robert Fraley, explaining how genetic engineering

could nourish the Third World.

 

It probably was a talk they wouldn't have attended anyway. Dharmassree

Wijeratne, research director in the Sri Lanka agriculture ministry, said

his government is pushing organic farming, attracted by growing consumer

demand for organics and its reputation as environmentally safe.

 

" In organic, " he said, " nothing can go wrong. "

 

The Sri Lankans were lured on the farm tour by the Ecological Farming

Association, one of numerous groups that have criticized the

U.S.-organized Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science

and Technology for not presenting a wider array of farming philosophies.

 

In particular, critics oppose U.S. policies favoring agricultural

biotechnology, in which crop traits are changed by manipulating the

plant's genes.

 

The three-day conference has been about much more than biotechnology.

Its theme is using science and technology to ease world hunger. But

genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have grabbed the most attention

because of their economic and social implications.

 

For U.S. farmers, GMO acceptance means more exports of biotech crops

such as soy, corn and eventually wheat. For the U.S. government, it

means fewer hassles shipping food aid, which doubles as a relief valve

for overproduced crops. For a few companies who hold key biotech

patents, it means profits.

 

The stakes for biotechnology are highest in the Third World, where most

of the 800 million hungry people in the world live, and where

governments try to avoid anything that would undermine fragile political

and economic institutions.

 

Such was the case last summer when drought-stricken Zambia rejected a

shipment of genetically modified corn from the United States.

 

Chance Kabaghe, deputy minister of agriculture, said his country of 10

million people had little choice even though many were at risk of

starvation.

 

If the corn had proved dangerous, fallout could have toppled the

government and floored an already shaky economy, Kabaghe said.

 

" We didn't know the implications or the effects of GMOs, " he said. " We

have to move cautiously. "

 

Now, Zambian officials are researching GMOs on trips to Europe and at

this week's meeting.

 

Kabaghe expects Zambia eventually to accept genetically modified foods,

and he doesn't hold a grudge against the United States, which paid his

way to Sacramento.

 

" They mean well, " he said, " but they are moving at a faster rate than

ourselves. "

 

The U.S. also paid the way for the Sri Lankans, who nevertheless slipped

away from the conference to visit organic rice paddies at Living Farms

in southern Sacramento County.

 

On the issue of biotechnology, Sri Lanka farm policy departs markedly

from that of the United States. Wijeratne, who has a doctorate in food

science from the University of Illinois, said genetically modified foods

are too new to be declared absolutely safe.

 

" It's like margarine, " he said. " All this time, we thought that

margarine was this super (product). Now we find out that it's worse than

butter. "

 

So Sri Lanka is seeking a different route to farm prosperity.

Agriculture Minister S.B. Dissanayake said his goal is to convert 30

percent of his nation's farms to organic in a decade.

 

Many developing nations lack the financial and technical support to

quickly adopt or maintain many kinds of technology promoted at the

conference, said Armand Renucci, a biotechnology specialist at the

French Embassy in San Francisco.

 

" It looks to me to be very far from reality " for developing countries,

he said.

 

Monsanto, the world leader in genetically modified crops, wants to

change that perception.

 

" Every farmer in the world can use ... this technology, " Fraley told an

audience of 100 delegates, noting that Monsanto is working on new seeds

relevant to the Third World.

 

For instance, he said, the company recently identified a gene that can

be inserted into soybean or corn plants to make them tolerant of

drought.

 

He told the ministers that the key to having such crops in their

countries is establishing science-based regulations and a favorable

business climate.

 

" I look at the audience and know that you have very influential

positions, " he said. " You have a choice. These regulations can become

barriers to adoption or ... can encourage and enable the science to be

developed. "

 

Fraley did not give much advice about how poor countries could afford

the technology. And to those who questioned the long-term safety of

genetically engineered crops or the implications of having a

multinational company controlling seeds, Fraley repeated a theme of

biotech backers.

 

" Being a leader is risky, " he said. " But the risk sometimes of not

proceeding, of not using new tools, of not getting the benefit, is also

significant. "

 

The three-day conference ends today after delegates take field trips to

a variety of undisclosed farms, research labs and food production

facilities.

 

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If you would like to comment on this News Update, you can do so at the

forum section of our web site at: http://www.thecampaign.org/forums

 

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