GMO: The Campaign Reporter - May 2006

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Mon, 1 May 2006 07:14:15 -0500

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The Campaign Reporter - May 2006

 

 

Review of the BioETHICS 2006 Conference in Chicago

 

The Biotech Industry Organization (BIO) holds an annual conference

each year in some North American city. And at the same time each year,

anti-biotech activists have held counter conferences in the same

cities. The counter conferences have had names like " Biodevastation "

and " Reclaim the Commons. "

 

Other than some limited local press coverage, these counter

conferences have not been overly effective in raising the awareness of

the media and public about the real health and environmental concerns

regarding genetically engineered foods.

 

This year BIO held their conference in Chicago. However, instead of

going with the Biodevastation theme for the counter conference, a

decision was made to tone down the protest angle a bit and go with a

conference designed to present the facts. The conference was called

BioETHICS 2006 and it accomplished what it was designed to do. The

BioETHICS conference, held April 8 -12, brought together activists,

farmers, scientists and religious leaders. The facts were presented

and the media and the public did listen.

 

What was perhaps more important than the actual conference was the

networking that was done among the participants. And from this

conference, the seeds were planted for much greater future gatherings

in the form of BioREALITY conferences that will now be held every year

in Washington, DC. (See next article below.)

 

Further, it appears the Biotech Industry Organization has now become

aware that the ethics of biotechnology are going to be questioned. For

one reason or another, BIO brought out a special eight-page BIOETHICS

brochure called " There's more to biotechnology than science and

business. " You can read this document at:

http://www.bio.org/speeches/pubs/bioethicsbrochure.pdf

 

In BIO's brochure they state " BIO is dedicated to open discussions

with consumers, farmers, legislators and opinion leaders regarding

ethical issues in the use of agricultural biotechnology. " However,

they did not accept the invitation to debate the issues at a panel

discussion on Monday night.

 

Overall, the BioETHICS conference was an excellent event, especially

when you consider it was done on a very limited budget. Special thanks

go out to the many volunteers who worked so hard to pull this

conference together.

 

You can review further details at the BioETHICS 2006 conference web

site at:

http://www.bioethics2006.org

 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

Announcing the 1st Annual BioREALITY Conference in Washington, DC

 

Rather than following the Biotech Industry Organization around the

country holding reactive counter conferences, The Campaign is

launching a proactive conference called BioREALITY that will be held

every spring in Washington, DC.

 

The tentative dates for the first annual BioREALITY conference are

March 27-29.

 

The BioREALITY Conference will have three primary focuses: education,

political lobbying and strategic planning.

 

We hope to have hundreds of activists, scientists, farmers and

religious leaders visiting the halls of congress during the BioREALITY

Conferences each year letting members of Congress know their feelings

and concerns about genetic engineering.

 

The Campaign plans to grow the BioREALITY Conference into a large

annual event attended by thousands of people from around the world.

For the first conference, we are anticipating between 500 and 1,000

people.

 

The BioREALITY Conference is an idea whose time has come.

 

Polls consistently indicate that the vast majority of the American

public want mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. Now,

in addition to the letters they have been receiving from voters in

their legislative districts and states, the politicians are going to

hear this demand for labeling first hand from hundreds of citizens who

will be visiting their offices in Washington, DC.

 

We will be supplying you further details about the BioREALITY

conference in the coming months.

 

Washington, DC is beautiful place to visit at this time of year when

over 3,700 cherry trees are just beginning to bloom:

http://www.nps.gov/nacc/cherry/

 

Mark your calendar to attend this enjoyable and important conference.

 

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

425-771-4049

info

www.thecampaign.org