Fwd: [Food-news] Terminator Technology Remains Banned; Mexico Disrupts Agreement on Labeling

[Guest guest]

> [Food-news] Terminator Technology Remains

> Banned;

> Mexico Disrupts Agreement on Labeling

>

> *www.foodnews.ca

>

> Editor's Note:* At CBD meetings in Curitiba, Brazil

> last week, the

> " terminator ban " has been upheld (item 1 below) but

> at the last minute,

> Mexico blocked proposed measures for labeling of GE

> foods (item 2). A

> maintenance of the ban on terminator seeds (or GURTS

> - genetic use

> restriction technologies - which suspend the

> reproductive capacity of

> seeds) is seen as victory for farmers and indigenous

> communities as

> terminator seeds represent a significant challenge

> to their livelihoods

> (for they require seeds and possibly other inputs to

> be purchased

> annually), to food security and to biodiversity. But

> this victory was

> made bittersweet by unexpected action taken by

> Mexico on the final day

> of talks. At the last minute the Mexican delegation

> proposed to bracket

> the clause that would require shipments of GM foods

> to be clearly

> labeled. This action delays decision-taking on the

> matter for another

> four years.

>

>

> http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0603/S00470.htm

>

> *Terminator rejection* - a victory for the people*

> Monday, 27 March 2006, 10:29 am*

> *Press Release: Greenpeace*

> Terminator rejection - a victory for the people

>

> Curitiba, Brazil, March 24, 2006--A broad coalition

> of peasant farmers,

> indigenous peoples and civil society today

> celebrated the firm rejection

> of efforts to undermine the global moratorium on

> Terminator technologies

> - genetically engineered sterile seeds - at the UN

> Convention on

> Biological Diversity (CBD) in Curitiba, Brazil.

>

> " This is a momentous day for the 1.4 billion poor

> people worldwide, who

> depend on farmer saved seeds, " said Francisca

> Rodriguez of Via

> Campesina, a world wide movement of peasant farmers,

> " Terminator seeds

> are a weapon of mass destruction and an assault on

> our food sovereignty. "

>

> " Terminator directly threatens our life, our culture

> and our identity as

> indigenous peoples " , said Viviana Figueroa of the

> Ocumazo indigenous

> community in Argentina, on behalf of the

> International Indigenous Forum

> on Biodiversity.

>

> " Today's decision is a huge step forward for the

> Brazilian Campaign

> against GMOs, " said Maria Rita Reis from the

> Brazilian Forum of Social

> movements and NGOs, " This reaffirms Brazil's

> existing ban on Terminator.

> It sends a clear message to the national government

> and congress that

> the world supports a ban on Terminator. "

>

> " Common sense has prevailed - lifting the Moratorium

> on the Terminator

> seeds would have been suicidal - literally, " said

> Greenpeace

> International's Benedikt Haerlin from the Convention

> meeting. " This is a

> genuine victory for civil society around the world -

> it will go a long

> way to ensuring that biodiversity, food security and

> the livelihoods of

> millions of farmers worldwide are protected. "

>

> Terminators, or GURTS (Genetic Use Restriction

> Technologies), are a

> class of genetic engineering technologies which

> allow companies to

> introduce seeds whose sterile offspring cannot

> reproduce, preventing

> farmers from re-planting seeds from their harvest.

> The seeds could also

> be used to introduce specific traits which would

> only be triggered by

> the application of proprietary chemicals by the same

> companies.

>

> At the CBD Australia, Canada and New Zealand along

> with the US

> government (not a party to the CBD) and a number of

> biotech companies

> were leading attempts to open the door to field

> testing of Terminator

> seeds by insisting on a 'case by case' assessment of

> such technologies.

> This text was unanimously rejected today in the

> CBD's working group

> dealing with the issue and still needs to be

> formally adopted by the

> plenary of the CBD.

>

> " Despite today's victory, there is no doubt that the

> multinational

> biotech industry will continue to push sterile seed

> technology, " said

> Pat Mooney of the Ban Terminator Campaign.

> " Terminator will rear its

> ugly head at the next UN CBD meeting in 2008. The

> only solution is a

> total ban on the technology once and for all, " he

> concluded.

>

> Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning

> organisation which uses

> non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global

> environmental

> problems, and to force solutions essential to a

> green and peaceful future.

>

>

> http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/17420.html

> *Mexico and Paraguay Block Agreement on Biosafety*

> Roberto Villar Belmonte

> _http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32548_

>

> CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 17 (IPS) - Mexico and Paraguay

> waited until

> Friday, the last day of the Third Meeting of the

> Parties to the

> Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (MOP3), to present

> new proposals to

> modify the text that has been under negotiation

> since Monday, thus

> prolonging the five-day gathering.

>

> During the MOP3, which ran through Friday in the

> southern Brazilian city

> of Curitiba, Mexico put up the strongest resistance,

> with its delegates

> stating that the country does not want mandatory

> labeling for

> cross-border shipments containing genetically

> modified organisms (GMOs).

>

> The negotiators had discussed a proposal set forth

> by Brazil late

> Thursday night, and renewed the process of informal

> contacts at around

> 10:00 AM local time.

>

> Shortly after noon, Norwegian delegate Birthe Ivars,

> chairwoman of the

> working group in charge of the talks on labeling,

> the most controversial

> issue in the negotiations, presented the proposal

> that the working group

> had reached agreement on.

>

> But Mexican delegate Marco Antonio Meraz Ríos

> unexpectedly suggested

> placing brackets around the clause making it

> compulsory for signatories

> of the Cartagena Protocol to clearly label shipments

> containing GMOs,

> thus leaving the issue open to future negotiations.

>

> " Is this a serious way to deal with matters,

> reinserting brackets that

> had already been removed? " protested Brazilian

> Ambassador Luiz Alberto

> Figueiredo Machado, co-chair of a contact group

> involved in the

> negotiations on labeling.

>

> " We are dismayed. We thought Mexico was negotiating

> in good faith this

> week, but it decided not to express its position

> until the very last

> day, " complained the Ethiopian delegate, to applause

> from the majority

> of the participating diplomats.

>

> There are no conclusive studies showing that

> transgenic products are

> harmless to the environment and human health. The

> Protocol, in effect

> since September 2003, is aimed at protecting

> biodiversity from the risks

> that may be posed by living organisms modified by

> means of biotechnology.

>

> Venezuela, the European Union (EU) and Japan

> expressed themselves in

> favour of the proposal that would give countries six

> years to adjust to

> the rule on mandatory labeling of GMOs in

> international transport, two

> years longer than Brazil had originally suggested.

>

> Peru initially opposed the wording " contains GMOs "

> during the

> negotiations, and the Peruvian delegate was also

> applauded when he

> finally announced his government's support for the

> agreed-on text.

>

> The clause that was still being discussed Friday

> night states that

> national labeling of transgenic products will be

> assessed at the MOP5,

> to be held in four years, since from now on, the

> conference will take

> place every two years.

>

> The goal is to consider a decision during the sixth

> meeting, to ensure

> that the documentation that accompanies GMOs

> destined for direct use as

> food for human beings or animals, or for processing,

> clearly indicates

> that the shipment contains transgenics and includes

> the necessary

> detailed information.

>

> The chairwoman of the working group called on the

> Mexican delegates to

> re-evaluate their stance and passed them the floor.

> The ensuing silence

> further raised expectations. This prompted Ivars to

> urge, " Mexico,

> please press the button, " which elicited widespread

> laughter, amplified

> by the faulty sound system.

>

> Once he finally got the microphone to work properly,

> the Mexican

> ambassador said that there should be no surprise

> regarding his country's

> proposal, since Mexico has consistently questioned

> the obligation to

> identify cross-border shipments.

>

> The Paraguayan delegation then voiced its support

> for Mexico and called

> for the resumption of negotiations.

>

> An hour and a half later, once a new version of the

> document - free of

> square brackets û had been presented by Ivars,

> Mexico once again

> conditioned its approval on changes to another part

> of the text, which

> calls on governments to adopt measures to guarantee

> the documentation

> accompanying products containing GMOs.

>

> The EU protested the changes, describing them as a

> step backwards. For

> his part, Rubens Nodari from the Brazilian

> Environment Ministry

> remarked, " In practice, the Mexican proposals are

> aimed at eliminating

> the obligatory nature of labeling. "

>

> As of late Friday evening, the negotiations resumed

> behind closed doors

> had not resulted in an agreement. The executive

> secretary of the

> Convention on Biological Diversity, Algerian Ahmed

> Djoghlaf, attributed

> the difficulties in reaching a consensus to the wide

> range of interests

> at stake, but said he was confident that an

> agreement would ultimately

> be reached.

>

> Greenpeace, however, blamed the lack of agreement on

> pressures exerted

> by agribusiness corporations and the countries that

> export the largest

> quantities of transgenics, like the United States

> and Argentina, which

> are not parties to the Cartagena Protocol.

>

> Given the fact that an " absolute consensus " is

> needed to adopt a

> decision, it is easy to co-opt one or a few

> countries and prevent the

> will of the large majority from prevailing, argued

> Sergio Leitao,

> Greenpeace director of public policy.

>

> His fear is that the meeting will fail to produce

> any advances, or will

> end with a timid text that does not establish a

> secure system for

> identifying transgenics. " Only a telephone call from

> Brazilian President

> Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Mexican President

> Vicente Fox could save

> COP-MOP 3 from total failure, " he remarked.

>

> According to Djoghlaf, Brazil's proposal contributed

> significantly to

> the attempt to overcome the obstacles faced by the

> Cartagena Protocol,

> and he praised Lula's decision to endorse the

> adoption of a clearly

> worded " contains GMOs " labeling system, with a

> four-year deadline for

> implementation.

>

> The 22 decisions adopted this week will make it

> possible to begin

> implementing the Protocol, said Djoghlaf, who

> stressed that over the

> next two weeks, in Curitiba itself, the world's

> largest meeting ever on

> biological diversity will take place.

>

> A total of 2,669 participants have registered for

> the Eighth Meeting of

> the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on

> Biological Diversity

> (COP8), including 96 government ministers. COP7 was

> attended by 2,300

> delegates and 16 ministers.

>

> So far, 2,086 official meetings have been held on

> the Convention, and

> the 192 decisions adopted are gathered in a volume

> that is 1,039 pages

> long. Now it is time for implementation, stressed

> Djoghlaf. (END/2006)

>

>

> <http://www.gmwatch.org/archive.asp?sm=3 & sy=2006>

>

> --

>

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