Fwd: Massive International Protest on GM Contamination of Mexican Maize

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ETC group

Massive International Protest on GM Contamination of Mexican Maize

 

 

News Release

20 November 2003

www.etcgroup.org

 

Take Action!

 

 

Massive International Protest on GM Contamination of Mexican Maize

 

Go here to send message of protest: http://www.etcgroup.org/action3.asp

 

An open letter to Mexican government authorities and intergovernmental bodies

was sent today, signed by 302 organizations from 56 countries, demanding actions

to stop contamination of farmers’ maize with DNA from genetically modified (GM)

maize, and to prevent any further contamination in the world’s centers of crop

diversity and origin.

 

See the letter and signatories

here:http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=417.

 

" People all over the world are showing solidarity with the campesinos and

indigenous people of Mexico, " said Ana de Ita from CECCAM, " GM contamination is

a potential threat to their land and livelihoods, but also to the heart of the

Mexican culture and food systems. It must be stopped. "

 

The open letter asks the Mexican government to maintain the moratorium against

the planting of transgenic maize in Mexico, stop the importation of transgenic

or non-segregated maize — likely the main source of contamination in Mexico— and

conduct urgent studies to determine the extent of the contamination. They also

call upon the Mexican Congress to reject the biosafety bill now under

consideration because it is " deeply flawed. "

 

" The issue goes far beyond Mexico because all centers of crop diversity could be

endangered, " said Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group. " The international community’s

lack of action is apalling. The only beneficiaries are the multinational Gene

Giants, who are hoping that governments will surrender to GM contamination. But

surrender is not on our agenda. "

 

Organizations from five continents around the world are also asking the United

Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),the Convention on Biological

Diversity (CBD), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT),

the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and the

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to adopt these issues on their agendas and take

actions to ensure the application of the precautionary principle to prevent

further GM contamination of farmers’ varieties. They also urge intergovernmental

bodies to call for a global moratorium on the release of GMOs in crop centers

of origin and diversity, and to insure that the biotechnology industry will not

be allowed to make patent infrigement claims against farmers who are victims of

GM contamination.

 

Take Action!

Readers are invited to join the international protest by demanding action. Go

here to send messages directly to the Mexican government and to international

bodies:

http://www.etcgroup.org/action3.asp

 

For more information:

 

Hope Shand, ETC Group, hope, +1-919-960 5223

Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group, silvia

Ana de Ita, CECCAM, Centro de Estudios para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano,

ceccam

 

 

 

 

 

 

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