GMW: 1 town in 4 GMO-free in Italy/BASF admits defeat

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GMW: 1 town in 4 GMO-free in Italy/BASF admits defeat

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 25 May 2006 22:33:32 +0100

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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1.ONE TOWN OUT OF FOUR IS GMO-FREE

2.BASF admits defeat - Call for EC to allow total GM crop bans

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COLDIRETTI: ONE TOWN OUT OF FOUR IS GMO-FREE

http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200605221411-1135-RT1-CRO-0-NF30 & page=0 & id\

=agionline-eng.bnessitaly

 

(AGI) - Rome, May 22 - One small town out of four joined the " GMO-free "

campaign, supported by Coldiretti to " preserve and enhance our great

environment and food heritage " .

 

That's what a Coldiretti survey, presented at the event " Voler bene

all'Italia " , reveals. Among the 5,835 towns with less than 5000 people,

1,574 municipal administration adopted regulations to preserve their

territory from GMO and biotech contamination.

 

This result " proves that local citizens and institutions oppose biotech

in 'Made in Italy' products. This is mainly to be seen in small town

municipal councils, which account for 2/3 of the 2,355 municipal councils

that joined the national initiative.

 

On the whole, most of the GMO-free towns are in Piedmont (394),

followed by Lombardy (202), Campania (196), Veneto (192), Lazio (171),

Sardinia (137) and Emilia Romagna (127).

 

In one out of four there are GMO-free farms producing DOP appellation

products such as cheese and ham; in 60 pct of them there are

olive-groves which give 37 DOC Italian oils.(AGI) .

221411 MAG 06

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2.BASF admits defeat of GMO potato experiment

EPA conditions " too difficult " to deal with

GMO patents violate human rights

Call for EC to allow total GM crop bans

 

GM-free Ireland press release, 24 May 2006

http://www.gmfreeireland.org/press/GMFI26.pdf

 

The world's largest chemicals company BASF said yesterday it will not

go ahead with its controversial patented GMO potato experiment in Co.

Meath this year, and may cancel it altogether.

 

BASF said it made the decision because of the conditions imposed in the

provisional consent given by the Environmental Protection Agency on 8

May [1]. These included obligations for the company to reduce the risk

of cross-contamination of neighbouring farmers and wildlife, and to pay

the costs of an independent monitoring of health and environmental

impacts. BASF complained that such conditions had not been imposed for

similar experiments in Sweden.

 

The cancellation may also have been influenced by nationwide opposition

from more than 100 farm and food industry groups, resistance by TDs

from all the parties, two motions passed unanimously by Meath Co.

Council,

and the threat of further legal action on planning and constitutional

grounds. [2]

 

GM-free Ireland Network spokesperson Michael O'Callaghan said " the

official cancellation of the GMO potato experiment this year is a victory

for European farmers who refuse to surrender ownership of their seeds

and crops " .

 

The WTO's Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement

enables corporate owners of GMO crop patents to claim ownership of

contaminated farmers produce. [3] Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser faced a

million dollar patent-infringement lawsuit from Monsanto after his crops

became contaminated with its GMO rapeseed in 1996. The Supreme Court of

Canada ruled that he no longer owned his seeds and crops because they

contained the patented GMO genes. [4]

 

Speaking by phone from Canada last night Percy Schmeiser congratulated

the Irish farming groups who opposed the GMO potato experiment, and

said he has filed a GMO-related complaint against the government of

Canada

with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights earlier this month.

His charges against the Canadian government include:

 

• Violation of consumers rights because they are not being told about

the level of GM contamination in their food supply;

 

• Violation of farmers' rights because of GMO contamination of their

seeds and crops;

 

• Suppression of academic freedom, due to private sector funding of

biotech research;

 

• Attempts to foist GMO terminator seeds on the rest of the world

(terminator seeds are modified to be sterile and thus prevent farmers

from

saving and planting their own seeds).

 

Percy Schmeiser and the Indian farm leader Vandana Shiva, who is

leading the global campaign against the patenting of farm crops, will be

keynote speakers at the Green Ireland conference organised by GM-free

Ireland to discuss Ireland's GMO policy at Kilkenny Castle on the

weekend of

16-18 June. [5]

 

Michael O'Callaghan described the cancellation of the GMO potato

experiment as " a small victory in the battle to prevent the commercial

release of dangerous GMO seeds and crops for which there is no market in

Europe " .

 

He said the next step is for the Irish Government to join the

European-wide campaign for EC legislation that clearly recognises the

legal

democratic right of member states and regions to prohibit the release of

GMO seeds, crops, trees, fish and livestock if they wish to do so. " The

time has come for the Irish Government and the EC to stop surrendering

our sovereignty and food security to the WTO " , he said. [6]

 

ENDS

 

ATTRIBUTION

 

Michael O'Callaghan

Co-ordinator, GM-free Ireland Network

tel + 353 (0)404 43885

mobile + 353 (0)87 799 4761

email: mail

web: www.gmfreeireland.org

 

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

 

1. The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provisionally

approved an experimental field trial of 450,000 patented GMO potatoes

by the

world's largest chemicals company BASF on 4 May 2006, subject to BASF

agreeing to 10 conditions including providing detailed plans before the

trial begins for post-release monitoring of health and environmental

impacts, and the installation of a high-security electrified fence. The

BASF notification and related EPA documents and submissions may be found

on the EPA web site at http://www.epa.ie.

 

2. Information about Ireland's opposition to the proposed GMO potato

experiment (including the transcript of a national press conference,

protest photos, independent scientific risk assessments, reports of local

community meetings, and a map of the proposed experiment site) may be

found at http://www.gmfreeireland.org/potato.

 

3. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement

(TRIPS) enables individuals and corporations to obtain patents on

living organisms ‚ including those that have been genetically

modified. The

TRIPS agreement is a cornerstone of the so-called " Free Trade

Agreement " set up by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This enables

companies

like Monsanto to demand patent royalties from farmers who use GMO seeds

and crops, including farmers who have no wish to use them but who have

been inadvertently contaminated. TRIPS is formally known as the

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

(Annex 1C

of the Marrakech Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization,

signed in Marrakech, Morocco on 15 April 1994). The relevant documents

may be found at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/t_agm0_e.htm.

 

A paper published in the journal Science in 2005 revealed that nearly

20% of human genes have now been patented, mainly by commercial

companies (see note 110 below for details). Gene patents allow

companies to

claim monopolies on future genetic tests and treatments, and may restrict

and distort research.

 

See the controversial EU Biotech Patents Directive 98/44 on the legal

protection of biotechnological inventions:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/indprop/invent/index.htm

which apparently fails to consider the contamination of seeds and crops

by transgenic DNA.

 

According to Feargal Brady, Examiner of Patents at the Irish Patents

Office (http://www.patentsoffice.ie), there is nothing in EU or Irish

patent law to protect contaminated farmers from being sued for patent

infringement. The key legal texts include the Irish Patents Act 1992:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA1Y1992.html, the Patents (Amendments)

Bill of 1999 and the drafting of amendments to the Patents (Amendment)

Bill, 1999 approved on 15 September 2004. According to Feargal Brady,

Irish patent law places the burden of proof in GMO contamination

lawsuits on the contaminated farmer. This violates farmers rights and the

" consumer pays " principle and the Irish Constitution. The Irish Patents

Office has already granted hundreds of life patents, of which at least

247

to Monsanto. A database of life patents granted in Ireland may be found

at http://www.patentsoffice.ie.

 

4. Expropriation of farmers crops: see interview with Canadian farmer

Percy Schmeiser, who lost ownership of his crops after being

contaminated by Monsanto's GMO oilseed rape in 1996; the Supreme Court

of Canada

ruled that the patented GMO genes found in his seeds and crops belong to

the patent owner Monsanto, and that the farmer no longer owns his seeds

and crops: http://www.gmfreeireland.org/interviews/schmeiser.php .

 

5. The Green Ireland conference will take place at Kilkenny Castle on

the weekend of 16-18 June. Ireland's clean green image provides a

competitive advantage for our farming, food and eco-tourism

industries. But

this is now under threat from air and water pollution and the possible

introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops. This conference

provides an opportunity for stakeholders and international experts to

discuss

solutions and learn about our democratic legal rights and

responsibilities to determine our future. For details see

http://www.gmfreeireland.org/conference .

 

6. Irish MEPs are being urged to sign the European Parliament's Written

Declaration on genetically modified food, seeds and fodder. The

deadline for signatures is 13 June. The Declaration calls for every

country

and region to have the right to completely prohibit the import, growing

and sale of genetically modified organisms; it urges urges the Council

and the European Commission to implement strict and unlimited liability

for gene technology firms concerning all damages to the environment,

health and the economy which result from the introduction and utilisation

of GMOs; and calls for all patent rights on living organisms to be

declared invalid. The full text of the Declaration is available at

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/decladoc/document/2006/P6_DCL(2006)0014/P6_DCL(200\

6)0014_EN.doc

 

 

 

 

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