Canada Backs Terminator Seeds
JOHN VIDAL / The Guardian (UK) 9feb2005
An international moratorium on the use of one of the world's most controversial GM food technologies may be broken today if the Canadian government gets seed sterilisation backed at a UN meeting.
Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Canada wants all governments to accept the testing and commercialisation of "terminator" crop varieties. These are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds which farmers cannot replant.
Jointly patented by the GM company Monsanto and the US government, the technology was condemned in the late 1990s by many African and Asian governments who called for a permanent ban.
Monsanto and other GM companies which were developing similar technologies voluntarily pulled out of research after concerns were also raised about the "terminator" genes spreading to non-GM crops, and international outrage that poor farmers would not be able to use seeds from their crops, as they have always done.
But leaked instructions to Canadian government negotiators at the Bangkok meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, a group which advises the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity, show that Canada will request today that all countries open their doors to the technology.
The papers, leaked to the environment group ETC, also show that the Canadian government will attack an official UN report critical of the potential impact of "terminator" seeds on small farmers and indigenous peoples. The report recommends that governments prohibit the technology.
The Canadian government team in Bangkok was last night unavailable for comment.
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1408564,00.html 11feb2005
ACTION ALERT
"The Campaign" has launched an ACTION ALERT in response to a leaked memo showing that at a United Nations meeting this week in Bangkok, the Canadian government will attempt to overturn an international moratorium on TERMINATOR seed
The ACTION ALERT allows you to send an instant e-mail to the following Canadian officials: 1) Prime Minister Paul Martin 2) Hon. Andy Mitchell, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food 3) F.B. Fadden, President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Terminator seeds are genetically engineered to be sterile and thereby prevent farmers from saving seed. This is an extremely risky and controversial technology. Some scientists worry about what could happen if the terminator is unleashed on the environment. They fear that terminator technology could migrate from one farm to another, or from a farm to wild plants.
And activists in developing nations are concerned that the technology would put too much power in the hands of a few international agribusinesses.
Visit the following web address to TAKE ACTION NOW:
FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE:
ACTION ALERT - STOP TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY NOW! www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcidH77
Canadian govt to unleash Terminator! - help! www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcidH76
The Head of the Canadian Delegation in Bangkok is Robert McLean, Environment Canada email Robert.Mclean@ec.gc.ca tel +1 (819) 997-1303
Lucy Sharratt, Researcher, Polaris Institute 312 Cooper Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2P 0G7 (613) 237 1717 Fax: (613) 237 3359 www.polarisinstitute.org
BACKGROUND ARTICLE
Canada backs terminator seeds
John Vidal Wednesday February 9, 2005 The Guardian
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