NAFTA warning relevant to Bangladesh and other countries

[Guest guest]

NAFTA warning relevant to Bangladesh and other countries

facing US pressure

" GM WATCH " <info

Fri, 19 Nov 2004 22:36:20 GMT

 

 

 

 

NAFTA warning relevant to Bangladesh and other countries

http://www.gmwatch.org

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EXCERPTS: " When a free-trade organisation like NAFTA starts raising

concerns about GM crops, it ought to set some alarm bells ringing. It's

like McDonalds saying burgers and chips aren't very good for you, " - Ben

Ayliffe of Greenpeace

 

" By undercutting the Mexican farmers, the US is also threatening the

country's food security, and worsening Mexico's economic woes, since

unemployment and rural to urban migration will increase sharply as the

farmers lose their livelihood, " - Thomas Matthews of the UK-based

environmental watch group GM Watch told New Age on Monday.

 

New Age is the 2nd largest circulated English language daily in

Bangladesh

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NAFTA rules against GM crop

MAHTAB HAIDER, London, November 18

New Age, November 18, 2004

http://www.newagebd.com/front.html#3

 

At a time when import and development of genetically modified food is

being pushed through in Bangladesh by US interests in particular, a

commission of the North American Free Trade Agreement - a body that

has to

sustain tremendous US clout - has recommended that the Mexican

government minimise imports of GM maize from the US on environmental

and health

grounds.

 

The NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation recommended in a

report released on November 8 that the Mexican government should take

drastic measures to minimise its imports of genetically modified maize

from

the US and continue a ban on the cultivation of GM maize in the

country.

 

The warning came in the face of strong US opposition, which had

succeeded in delaying the publication of the recommendation since

June, as it

runs contrary to US trade interests.

 

The NAFTA warning is relevant to Bangladesh in the context that there

is a possibility of genetically modified technologies entering

Bangladesh under USAID funding.

 

The ministries and departments concerned have so far been optimistic to

introduce the technology since its advocates promise increased grain

yield.

 

" The Mexican government should strengthen the moratorium on commercial

planting of transgenic maize by minimizing the import of living

transgenic maize grain, " the NAFTA report said.

 

" All the maize imported by Mexico from Canada and the United States,

that is not certified as GM-free, should be sent directly and without

exception to mills for processing, " the report added.

 

The US Trade Representative and the Environmental Protection Agency

have criticised the NAFTA report on the day of its release, terming it

" flawed…not based on sound science, and [contradictory to] the report's

own scientific findings " .

 

But environmental groups have lauded the report, echoing the concerns

it voices, claiming that it rightly undermines US efforts to export GM

technology to other parts of the world.

 

In 2002, Zambia rejected a large consignment of US food aid after

discovering that the World Food Programme had been covertly

distributing GM

food among refugees in spite of a government ban.

 

" When a free-trade organisation like NAFTA starts raising concerns

about GM crops, it ought to set some alarm bells ringing. It's like

McDonalds saying burgers and chips aren't very good for you, " Ben

Ayliffe of

Greenpeace told New Age on Monday.

 

The NAFTA commission discreetly underlined the threat of genetic

contamination that GM maize poses to the indigenous varieties grown by

Mexico's 'campesinos' or small farmers. It suggests that the Mexican

government should consider subsidising growers of traditional

varieties of

maize, to keep them from being wiped out by cheaper US imports.

 

" Mexicans have cultivated maize for over 10,000 years, and each maize

variety grown anywhere in the world has its origin in that country, "

said Ayliffe.

 

He warned that contamination and the loss of diversity of indigenous

crop strains would imperil all future prospects of natural crop

improvement.

 

Mexico imports between six to eight million tonnes of maize from the US

annually, about 30 per cent of which is estimated to be genetically

modified.

 

The imports are inevitably cheaper than the maize grown by the

campesinos, as the US government subsidises its own growers with $19

billion of

assistance every year.

 

While the US farm lobby claims that cheap imports help Mexican

consumers in the form of lower prices, the country's 20-million strong

campesino community fear that imported maize will wipe out their

livelihood.

 

" By undercutting the Mexican farmers, the US is also threatening the

country's food security, and worsening Mexico's economic woes, since

unemployment and rural to urban migration will increase sharply as the

farmers lose their livelihood, " Thomas Matthews of the UK-based

environmental watch group GM Watch told New Age on Monday.

 

NAFTA was set up 10 years ago by Mexico, Canada and the US to promote

competition and efficiency and has time and again been accused of

kowtowing to the US trade agenda.

 

 

 

 

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