GMW: Protesters gear up for biotech event

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GMW: Protesters gear up for biotech event

" GM WATCH " <info

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 13:32:58 GMT

 

 

 

 

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EXCERPT: " It's a shame that public resources were spent, and every

effort was made to exclude the public, the farmers, the native Hawaiian

stakeholders "

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Protesters gear up for biotech event

Biotech summit in Waikiki

By Stewart Yerton

syerton

 

 

Star Bulletin, 11 January 2006

http://starbulletin.com/2006/01/11/business/story03.html

 

This week's Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and

Bioenergy has all the trappings of a world-class meeting: government

officials, multinational corporations, learned academics and, of course,

protesters.

 

Although it's not clear how many will show up, the activists pledge to

be out in force at the event, which starts today at Hilton Hawaiian

Village.

 

Mililani Trask of Na Koa Ikaika Kalahui Hawaii, a human rights and

environmental group, said a main concern is the lack of a framework to

protect the environment and native species. Hawaiian groups created just such as

framework in 2003 in a document called the " Paoakalani

Declaration. " But politicians and corporations have ignored the

declaration, she said.

 

Trask points to a lawsuit involving Mera Pharmaceuticals Inc. as an

example of the state's deficiencies. When the company wanted to import

genetically engineered algae from California to grow on the Big Island,

environmental groups had to sue to force the state Department of Agriculture to

require studies of potential environmental impacts.

 

There's also the issue of patenting the genes of native plants and

microscopic organisms, a process called bioprospecting.

 

Walter Ritte, a spokesman for Hui Hoopakele Aina, compared the activity to the

taking of Hawaiian lands in the 19th century. Ritte said capitalists are now

attempting to seize and sell Hawaii's mana, orspiritual life force.

 

" Now they're trying to take the thing that is us, that has sustained

us, and they're going to do the same thing to that that they did to the land, "

Ritte said.

 

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of the Biotechnology Industry

Organization, said that in contrast to some pharmaceutical firms,

industrial biotech companies generally gather not plants, but

microscopic organisms found in mud.

 

Although the conference has a panel on bioprospecting, Trask said she

and other locals were denied the chance to participate.

 

" It's a shame that public resources were spent, and every effort was

made to exclude the public, the farmers, the native Hawaiian

stakeholders, " she said.

 

Erickson said that the local organizers of the panel discussion had

not submitted Trask's name to the organization. In any case, he said,

the meeting was not meant to be a forum for debate.

 

" This conference is not about having debates, " he said. " It's about

scientific information and policy information. "

 

 

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