GMW: Terminator squelched in Bangkok

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GMW: Terminator squelched in Bangkok

" GM WATCH " <info

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:12:47 GMT

 

 

 

 

GMW: Terminator squelched in Bangkok

http://www.gmwatch.org

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EXCERPTS: After being swamped this week by protest emails and letters,

the Canadian government was forced to soften its public position on

Terminator...

 

New Zealand and Australia also backed the position of industry and

Canada, while a fleet of US government representatives observed from the

sidelines.

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ETC Group

News Release

Friday, February 11, 2005

www.etcgroup.org

 

Suicide Seeds - Bombshell in Bangkok

Canadian-Led Coup to Allow Terminator Technology

Narrowly Squelched at UN Meeting

 

Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto, spoke

today at a UN meeting in Bangkok - harshly criticizing his governments'

efforts to promote field-testing and commercialization of Terminator

seeds

(plants genetically-modified to render seeds sterile at harvest time).

 

" The Canadian government has acted shamefully. It is supporting a

dangerous, anti-farmer technology that aims to eliminate the rights of

farmers to save and re-use harvested seed, " said Schmeiser. " Instead of

representing the good will of the Canadian people or attending to the

best

interests of the Biodiversity Treaty, the Canadian government is

fronting for the multinational gene giants who stand to win enormous

profits

from the release of Terminator seeds around the world. "

 

Schmeiser is the 74-year old Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto

for patent infringement when the company's patented, genetically

modified canola seed invaded his farm - unwanted and unwelcome. A

victim of

genetic pollution and a champion of Farmers' Rights, Schmeiser

courageously fought Monsanto all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court.

 

A Canadian government proposal to unleash Terminator was leaked to the

ETC Group on the first day of a UN meeting in Bangkok, February 7-11

(SBSTTA, the scientific advisory body to the Convention on Biological

Diversity - CBD). The news stunned farmers' organizations, government

delegations, and civil society worldwide. Ottawa's instructions to the

Canadian delegation in Bangkok called for an all-out push for

field-testing and commercialisation of sterile seed technologies,

effectively

un-doing the precautionary, de facto moratorium on Terminator seeds

adopted

by governments in 1998. Even worse, the Canadian delegation was

instructed to " block consensus " by governments attending the meeting

if it

didn't get its way. ETC Group has also learned that, in advance of the

Bangkok meeting, Canadian embassies around the world asked governments to

support a recommendation for " field testing and commercial use " of

Terminator. Canada's blatant promotion of an anti-South technology

does not

bode well for the G8 meeting of world leaders in July in Scotland where

Canada will propose to introduce nanotechnology on the G-8 agenda.

 

After being swamped this week by protest emails and letters, the

Canadian government was forced to soften its public position on

Terminator,

but it continued to press a solidly pro-Terminator view in the corridors

and in a committee appointed to negotiate draft text on Terminator.

(The drafting group on Terminator included representatives from Canada,

the European Community, Peru, Tanzania, and the Philippines.) By

Thursday morning Canada and its seed industry allies had drafted text

that

included language promoting Terminator field trials, capacity building

for

the use of Terminator in the developing world and specifically invited

the research participation of " private sector entities. "

 

" The draft text on Terminator released Thursday morning was appalling -

it looked like it was written by the multinational seed industry, " said

Jim Thomas of ETC Group, speaking from Bangkok. " It strongly reflected

the Canadian government 's pro-Terminator position as revealed earlier

this week in the leaked document. "

 

Suicide Seed Squad: Canada hasn't been working alone in Bangkok. The UN

meeting was crawling with representatives from the biotech industry and

related trade groups - including Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land, Crop Life

International, PHARMA (pharmaceutical manufacturers), the International

Seed Federation and more - who lobbied against current restrictions on

the development of suicide seeds. New Zealand and Australia also backed

the position of industry and Canada, while a fleet of US government

representatives observed from the sidelines. (The US government is not a

Party to the Biodiversity Convention.)

 

Thankfully, disaster was averted due to key interventions by the

governments of Norway, Sweden, Austria, the European Community, Cuba,

Peru

and Liberia, on behalf of the African Group.

 

The good news is that these governments managed to delete the most

offensive wording. The final text and recommendations reaffirm earlier

decisions, amounting to a continuing, but fragile, de facto moratorium on

Terminator. The issue now bounces to another CBD advisory body (the

Working Group on 8(j)) in March 2006.

 

Interminable Terminator? The bad news is that decisions made in

Bangkok will allow the issue of Terminator to be re-examined and

re-studied

interminably. In ETC Group's view, the CBD continues to dilly-dally and

delay decisions on Terminator while the industry is moving full-speed

ahead to bring sterile seeds to market.

 

" The international community needs to know that Terminator technology

is a real and present danger. The biotech industry is chomping on the

bit to commercialize suicide seeds. Nothing short of an all-out ban on

Terminator will stop it from being unleashed in farmer's fields, " said

Hope Shand of ETC Group.

 

For more information:

 

Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc:

Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) hope: 919

960-5223

Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) silvia: 52 55 55 632

664

Jim Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim: 44 (0)7752 106806 (mobile)

 

Note to Editors:

 

Terminator technology was first developed by the US Department of

Agriculture and the multinational seed industry to prevent farmers from

replanting saved seed. When it came to public light in 1998 massive

public

opposition forced Monsanto and Syngenta to disavow the technology.

 

SBSTTA is the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and

Technological Advice, a body that advises the UN Convention on Biological

Diversity. www.biodiv.org

 

The United Nations refers to Terminator seed technology as GURTs

(genetic use restriction technology).

 

For more information on Percy Schmeiser's court case, see:

www.percyschmeiser.com

 

The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, formerly

RAFI, is an international civil society organization headquartered in

Canada. The ETC group is dedicated to the advancement of cultural and

ecological diversity and human rights. www.etcgroup.org.

 

 

 

 

 

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