GMW:_Protests_in_France,_Germany_and_Argentina

[Guest guest]

> Subject:

> Protests_in_France,_Germany_and_Argentina

 

> " GM_WATCH " <info

> Mon, 16 Aug 2004 16:28:27 +0100

 

>

> GM WATCH daily

> http://www.gmwatch.org

> ---

> Among those tearing up GM plants were Verts Yves

> Contassot, assistant to the Mayor of Paris, and

> Francine Bavay, Vice President of the regional

> council for the d'Ile-de-France region. (item 1)

>

> 1. " Voluntary reapers " strike again in France

> 2.GM lobby meets in Cologne / Protests and Counter

> Conference

> 3.Farmland Fight Moves to Isolated Argentine Woods

> ---

> 1. " Voluntary reapers " tear up a GM field in the

> Loiret, France

> 14 August 2004 - AFP

>

> About 160 anti-GM activists, according to the police

> and the organisers, took part on Saturday afternoon

> in the tearing up of a field of genetically

> modified maize near Pithiviers (department of

> Loiret), confirmed an AFP reporter.

>

> The activists, supported by the Confederation

> Paysenne and the Greens, gathered following a

> request from the " Voluntary GM Reapers Collective "

> on a field of a little less than 3000 square metres

> at Greneville-en-Beauce, a few kilometres

> from Pithiviers.

>

> Notably, amongst these were the green

> representatives Verts Yves Contassot, assistant to

> the mayor of Paris, with responsibility for the

> environment, and Francine Bavay, Vice President of

> the regional council for the d'Ile-de-France

> region.

>

> Fifty police, supported by helicopters, were

> mobilised. They did not prevent the cutting of the

> maize but checked the identities of the drivers of

> vehicles transporting the activists at the beginning

> of the event.

>

> " This information will be sent to the judicial

> authorities, who will take action which they

> consider to be useful " , the departmental police

> office stated.

>

> The demonstrators cut down and trampled a field

> where GM trials were taking place with the american

> company Monsanto. They believe that the trials are

> harmful to the environment and to " rural

> agriculture " and even to human health.

> (translation: Marcus Williamson)

> ---

> 2.GM lobby meets in Cologne / Protests and Counter

> Conference

> CBGnetwork, Mon, 16 Aug 2004

>

> ABIC 2004: The international biotechnology and seed

> lobby is meeting in Cologne

>

> Alternative Conference with Vandana Shiva and others

> on September 12, 2004

> Protest at the Cologne Fair on September 13

>

> From September 12-15 the Agricultural Biotechnology

> International Conference (ABIC 2004)

> http://www.abic2004.org/index.html will meet at

> Cologne’s historic trade fair center. According to

> its own publicity, the ABIC is one of the

> ‘internationally most important conferences on

> biological and genetic technology’ for ‘scientists,

> industry representatives, investors and

> politicians.’ On the program: Philippe Busquien (EU

> Commissioner for Research), North Rhine-Westphalian

> Premier Steinbrück, Robert Zoellik (US trade

> representative - invited), and the 20 biggest

> agribusiness and food multinationals of the world:

> Monsanto, Nestlé, Bayer, CropScience, Pioneer

> Europe, Syngenta and BASF. Along for the party are

> professors who fabricate innovations for the world

> market in sponsored universities, and the lobby for

> biotech business, which plans to make gene-food

> tasty for doubting customers.

>

> The better alternative: social justice and

> ecologically sound agriculture

> On September 12-13 the lobbyists from industry,

> science and politics will have to reckon with those

> who are not impressed by their PR events and myths

> of progress. They are the countless critics of

> genetic engineering in farmer’s organizations of the

> South and Europe, in consumer, environmental and

> church groups, and initiatives against the

> neoliberal world economic order.

>

> Protest Action: on Monday, September 13, 2004, from

> 10:30 a.m. at the Cologne Fair: Critical

> organizations and initatives will make it clear that

> the high-tech solutions from the laboratories and

> corporate meetings are not wanted.

> Coordination: Regina Schwarz,

> Anti_ABIC_Aktion, Tel. 0221-37 31 02

>

> Alternative Conference 12 Sept.

>

> Maternushaus (Kardinal-Frings Str. 1-3) 15:00 –

> 20:00

>

> Speaking on global trade, genetically manipulated

> food and patents:

>

> Vandana Shiva (India, Research Foundation for

> Science, Technology and Ecology)

>

> Rafael " Kaps " Mariano (Philippines, KMP farm

> organisation) (invited) and Irene Fernandez

> (Malaysia, Tenaganita). Both have been involved in

> the People's Caravan for Food Sovereignty, which

> will take place throughout September in 13 Asian

> countries.

> Gerald Choplin (European Peasant Coordination (CPE),

> Via Campesina) (invited)

> Christoph Then (Greenpeace Deutschland)

>

> Conference supporters: Brot für die Welt, Misereor,

> Greenpeace , BUND Köln, attac Köln , Netzwerk

> gentechnikfreies Oberberg, BioSkop-Forum zur

> Beobachtung der Biowissenschaften, Genethisches

> Netzwerk, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the

> Pacific (PAN AP), BUKO Agrar-Koordination, Coalition

> against BAYER-dangers, Netzwerk gegen

> Neoliberalismus, Bonner AK gegen Gentechnologie,

> BUKO Kampagne gegen Biopiraterie

>

> For more information: BioSkop e.V., Erika Feyerabend

> erika.feyerabend

> Tel. 0201-53 66 706; Misereor, Bernd Nilles

> nilles Tel. 0241 – 442515

> Directions: www.maternushaus.de/wegbeschreibung.html

>

> The problems of the present were created in

> corporate meetings and high-tech laboratories!

>

> The declared goal of the ABIC 2004 conference is

> that agricultural genetic engineering should be

> profitably used in Europe – against the will of an

> overwhelming majority of consumers and producers.

> That’s the reason why proponents stress the

> " international advantages of genetic engineering,

> especially for the lands of the South. " The illusion

> is spread that traditional plants will not be

> contaminated through cross-pollination by GMO

> plants. Public relations like these should boost the

> marketing/commercial exploitation of " golden rice "

> (genetically engineered to include Vitamin A

> otherwise available in native plants) for the South

> and garnish the European market with alleged

> " consumer advantages. " The conference is taking

> place in Germany for the first time. Hans Kast from

> BASF Plant Science sees the opportunity, after five

> years of stagnation because of citizen protest and

> tedious negotiations in the European Union, finally

> to be able to commercialize genetically manipulated

> foodstuffs in Europe. The guidelines for gene

> technology, for labeling and on the coexistance of

> traditional and genetically-armed agriculture would

> now offer the necessary protection " for the

> exploitation of the great potential for plant

> biotechnology in the European economy. " The new

> German gene technology law allows for the planning

> and introduction of genetically manipulated versions

> of traditional crops.

>

> Our Response:

>

> Hunger in the South is neither the result of low

> productivity from small farmers, nor can it be

> fought with genetically manipluated seeds. The

> solutions will be based on fair access to land,

> water, seeds and agricultural tools.

> Plant diversity will not be secured through genetic

> research and patenting, but rather through

> cultivation for local consumption and organic

> agriculture. Instead, the policies of the World

> Trade Organization (WTO) encourage large-scale cheap

> imports, dumping and monocultures for export, which

> local markets and plant varieties cannot compete

> with in the long run.

> Tasty and easily digestible foods are not guaranteed

> by Euopean policies, rather by small and

> middle-sized companies, organic farmers and

> attentive consumers. With the lifting of the

> moratorium against the cultivation of genetically

> manipulated crops, the EU bureaucracy has pushed

> open the door for those seed and agrochemical giants

> that dominate more than 30% of the commercial seed

> market.

> Coalition against BAYER-dangers

> www.CBGnetwork.org

> CBGnetwork

> Fax: (+49) 211-333 940 Tel: (+49) 211-333 911

> please send an e-mail for receiving the English

> newsletter Keycode BAYER free of charge.

> German/Italian/French/Spanish newsletters also

> available.

> ---

> 3.Farmland Fight Moves to Isolated Argentine Woods

> Mon Aug 16, 2004

> By Hilary Burke

>

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews & storyID=5986824

>

> GENERAL PIZARRO, Argentina (Reuters) - General

> Pizarro, a one-telephone town in the northern

> province of Salta, gained notoriety last month when

> environmentalists chained up bulldozers to protest

> the sale of a nearby nature reserve.

>

> Plans to raze forests have sparked wider fears that

> a push north by Argentina's farming frontier could

> sacrifice the environment at the altar of growth.

>

> A boom in easy-to-grow genetically modified soybeans

> in Argentina, the world's No. 3 soy producer, has

> brought farming to plots never before seeded. After

> a surge in prices, soy is now grown on half of all

> farmlands, and northern provinces represent 16

> percent of that acreage, up from 9 percent a decade

> ago.

>

> Some see the expansion as a godsend for backwater

> areas like General Pizarro, a dusty, depressed town

> of 3,000 people 1,000 miles northwest of Buenos

> Aires. The economic crisis of 2002 left half of all

> Argentines living in poverty.

>

> But environmental groups say clearing trees for big

> farms or ranches will bring few jobs and do great

> ecological harm, undermining long-term growth.

>

> " People complain that landowners want to convert

> their property into farmland, but no one offers

> economically viable alternatives, " said Carlos

> Suarez, an agricultural engineer and forestry

> specialist from Salta province.

>

> " There's got to be a balance between environmental,

> social and economic factors, " he said. " If not,

> there will always be conflicts. "

>

> Greenpeace, which staged last month's demonstration

> in General Pizarro, is seeking a two-year,

> nationwide ban on tree clearings to assess and

> protect forested areas. In June, environmentalists

> won a six-month halt to deforestations in

> neighboring Santiago del Estero province.

>

> Besides sheltering unique plants and animals,

> woodlands help clean the air by producing oxygen and

> prevent flooding and erosion. Scientists say they

> may also harbor plant components that cure grave

> ailments, like cancer.

>

> " The main threat to Argentina's remaining native

> forests is the advance of the farming frontier,

> especially to make way for genetically modified

> soybeans, " said Emiliano Ezcurra of Greenpeace

> Argentina.

>

> This year Salta's government stripped the Pizarro

> reserve of its protected status and divided 39,500

> acres among three private companies -- only one of

> which focuses on soybean production. Continued

> ...

>

> © Reuters 2004. .