URGENT - LETTER TO LULA - Please take action

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URGENT - LETTER TO LULA - Please take action

" GM WATCH " <info

 

Mon, 27 Sep 2004 21:09:00 +0100

 

 

ACTION ALERT FROM GM WATCH

http://www.gmwatch.org

 

PLEASE TAKE ACTION!

 

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE FARMERS, CONSUMERS, AND CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS

OF BRAZIL.

 

(IF YOU HAVE TIME FOR ONLY ONE ACTION, CLICK THIS LINK:

http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=5 )

 

Please send URGENT letters of protest (to the addresses below) asking

the Brazilian President to keep his promise not to give permission for

GM crops to be grown in Brazil.

 

Please also ask him to make sure that Brazil has effective biosafety

legislation.

 

*Example letter below*

 

TIME IS VERY, VERY SHORT - Lula is expected to give permission at any

time.

 

Please support the protests in Brazil.

 

IF YOU HAVE TIME FOR ONLY ONE ACTION, CLICK THIS LINK:

http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=5

 

It will take you to a form which will enable you to quickly send your

protest to Lula.

 

PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS

 

If possible, please also e-mail copies of the letters you send to:

info

 

If you want to find out more about what's happening in Brazil, see:

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4394

 

CONTACT DETAILS - please also consider sending faxes where possible.

 

President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Palacio do Planalto, 4' andar, 70150-900, Brasilia, DF, Brasil

Fax: 55 61 322 2314

Tel: 55 61 411 1201

E-mail: pr

You can also send messages to the President via this online form:

http://www.planalto.gov.br/falepr/exec/index.cfm?acao=email.formulario

 

Or e-mail Lula's advisors:

 

Casa Civil - José Dirceu

E-mail: casacivil

Postal Address:

Palácio do Planalto - 4º Andar

70150-900 - Brasília ? DF

 

Secretaria Geral - Luiz Soares Dulci

E-mail: sg

Postal Aaddress:

Pça. dos Três Poderes, Palácio do Planalto

4º andar - Telefone: 411 1225

70.150-900 Brasília ? DF

 

EXAMPLE LETTER

(FOR YOU TO CUSTOMISE IF SHORT OF TIME)

 

To the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

 

We are writing to express our strong support for the many Brazilian

environmental, consumer and small farmer groups who are asking you to

honour your previous statement that you will not grant " special

permission "

again for GM soya to be planted in Brazil.

 

As you know, Carlos Sperotto, president of the Rio Grande do Sul's

Agriculture Federation, has claimed that you will break this promise and

that his farmers will plant GM soya in any case.

 

We understand and share your strong desire to reduce hunger. We know

that you also place a strong emphasis on Brazilian exports but we believe

your support for agricultural production is being taken advantage of -

that you are being blackmailed into accepting the demands of those who,

backed by multinational agribusiness corporations, wish to force GMOs

onto Brazil, and who are using Sperotto and others to front their

self-interested campaign.

 

Theirs is a deliberate attack on Brazil's national sovereignty.

Geneticist Rubens Onofre Nodari, a professor at the Federal University of

Santa Catarina, who also works in the Environmental Ministry's genetic

resources section, has commented that, " The government is being held

hostage by farmers who feel free to do whatever they want. "

 

We ask you to listen not to Sperotto but to the voices of your own

Environment Minister and the many others who have written to ask you to

respect the Precautionary Principle enshrined in the Convention on

Biodiversity, of which Brazil is a signatory. This requires that

approval is

not given to the commercial cultivation of GMOs without prior studies on

the environmental impact and the risks to consumer health.

 

We not only support the call for no permission to be granted again for

the indiscriminate planting of GMOs, but also call on your Government

to restore the biosafety bill (Project Law) to the form in which it was

originally approved by the Chamber of Deputies back in February. The

original bill guaranteed environmental security, consumer safety and

national sovereignty, all of which will be devastated by the bill in its

present modified form, which has become practically unrecognisable.

 

We also consider that it is of fundamental importance that local state

governments be allowed to declare their territory GM-free if the people

and the legislative assemblies opt for that, as has been the case in

Santa Catarina, Paraná and Goiás.

 

We also consider it vital that people have the right to labels on food

products, showing whether they contain Genetically Modified ingredients

or not. Such a law has already been approved, although not complied

with, and will be revoked by the bill as modified in the Senate.

 

Brazilian civil society groups have written, " Mr. President, the

alarming inconsistencies and mistakes that the government is showing

regarding this issue leaves the organized civil society in extreme

frustration

and disillusionment with your government, both in Brazil and abroad " .

They also note that these are the same people that " applauded the

nomination of the Minister Marina Silva as a guarantee that finally, the

issues regarding the environment and sustainable development would be

taken

seriously by a Brazilian Government. "

 

Please listen to their plea and show the courage and leadership to

stand up for the long-term interests of the Brazilian people, rather than

those of big business.

 

Signed