PANUPS: Action Alert, WTO, Hands Off Our Food!

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> PANUPS <panups

> PANUPS: Action Alert, WTO, Hands Off Our

> Food!

> Tue, 20 Jul 2004 16:54:32 -0700

>

> ===========================================

> P A N U P S

> Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

> ===========================================

>

> Action Alert: WTO, Hands Off Our Food!

> July 20, 2004

>

> Join the " Bite Back the WTO " signature campaign

> against the U.S. attempt to use the World Trade

> Organization (WTO) to force genetically engineered

> food on the European Union (EU). In May of 2004, the

> campaign presented the WTO with 100,000 signatures

> from people in 90 nations, arguing against a U.S.

> legal challenge that would allow biotech companies

> to gain a foothold in the EU. The on-line petition

> continues to collect signatures and aims to deliver

> even more objections to the WTO before the case is

> settled. Sign the petition at,

> http://www.bite-back.org.

>

> A May 2003 legal complaint filed by the U.S.,

> Argentina and Canada argues that the European

> Union's informal moratorium on GE food is an illegal

> barrier to free trade. If the U.S. wins the dispute

> the EU will either face economic sanctions or must

> accept more genetically engineered (GE) food. Such a

> ruling would also make it more difficult for

> developing countries to prevent importation of GE

> crops or genetically modified organisms (GMOs),

> allowing biotech corporations easier access to new

> markets in the global South.

>

> The Bite Back coalition argues that people and their

> governments -- not the WTO -- should decide what to

> eat and what to farm, and that decisions about the

> health and environmental risks of GE food should be

> made in accordance with the United Nations Cartegena

> Protocol on Biosafety. Signed in June of 2003, the

> Biosafety Protocol recognizes the risks of GMOs and

> allows importing governments to apply the

> precautionary principal when considering whether to

> let " live " GMOs like seeds across their borders.

> The Protocol also recommends that all shipments be

> accompanied by appropriate documentation and labeled

> " may contain GMOs. "

>

> The WTO complaint was put forward as the EU was

> about to lift its moratorium on GE crops, which

> suggests that the GE labeling and traceability

> legislation underway in the EU may have been its

> intended target. Another target of the legal action

> was the Biosafety Protocol itself, then being

> ratified around the world. Many view the complaint

> as an attempt to intimidate the growing rejection of

> GMOs by developing countries.

>

> The " Bite Back: WTO Hands Off Our Food! " campaign is

> organized by Friends of the Earth, together with

> ActionAid Alliance, Public Services International,

> Public Citizen, the International Gender and Trade

> Network, the French Confédération Paysanne, the

> Indian Research Foundation for Science, Technology

> and Ecology, and is joined by more than 200 other

> organizations. The campaign's aim is to collect

> thousands of signatures to deliver to the WTO from

> people around the world, demanding that the WTO

> dismiss the complaint and uphold health and

> environmental standards and people's right to say no

> to genetically modified food.

>

> Sign the complaint at, http://www.bite-back.org.

> Source/Contact: Bite Back: WTO Hands Off Our Food!,

> Friends of the Earth Europe,

> http://www.bite-back.org, http://www.foeeurope.org.

>

> 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.

>

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> Back issues of PANUPS are available online at:

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

>

> Please note: responses to this message will not be

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> To comment, send an email to:

> panna

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> Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

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

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> Phone: (415) 981-1771

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> Email: panna

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