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OT (sort of) [Fwd: PANUPS: Suicide Seeds on the Fast Track]

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

With the list's indulgence, I am forwarding two things that hit my mailbox
this evening. While these are not about square foot gardening, they are
about -- well, certain horrors that are occurring in the big money world of
agribusiness. I think everyone in the country should be made aware of these
insanities and atrocities.

Patricia 


> Fri, 24 Mar 2000 00:11:33 -0500
>To:  PANUPS <panups@igc.topica.com>
>From: PANUPS   <panupdates@panna.org>
>Subject: PANUPS:  Suicide Seeds on the Fast Track
>Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 20:56:42 -0800
>X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
>
>===========================================
>P A N U P S
>Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
>===========================================
>Suicide Seeds on the Fast Track
>
>March 24, 2000
>
>"We've continued right on with work on the Technology Protection System
>[Terminator]. We never really slowed down. We're on target, moving ahead to
>commercialize it. We never really backed off."--Harry Collins, Delta & Pine
>Land Seed Co., January, 2000
>
>A report released by the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI)
>reveals that Terminator and Traitor technology are riding a fast track to
>commercialization. Terminator technology, the genetic engineering of plants
>to produce sterile seeds, is universally considered the most morally
>offensive application of agricultural biotechnology, since over 1.4 billion
>people depend on farm-saved seeds. Traitor technology, also known as genetic
>use restriction technology (GURTs), refers to the use of an external
>chemical to switch on or off a plant's genetic traits.
>
>"After Monsanto and AstraZeneca publicly vowed not to commercialize
>terminator seeds in 1999, governments and civil society organizations were
>lulled into thinking that the crisis had passed. Nothing could be further
>from the truth," said RAFI's Executive Director Pat Mooney. "Despite
>mounting opposition from national governments and United Nations' agencies,
>research on Terminator and Traitor (genetic trait control) is moving full
>speed ahead."
>
>According to RAFI, Delta & Pine Land, the world's largest cotton seed
>company is moving aggressively to commercialize Terminator. And despite
>massive protests, the U.S. Department of Agriculture supports and defends
>its anti-farmer patent and research on suicide seeds. Last year, AstraZeneca
>conducted field trials on genetic trait control technology (Traitor
>technology) in the UK. According to industry sources, it is not the first
>company to conduct field tests of this kind.
>
>RAFI's report concludes that corporate commitments to disavow Terminator are
>virtually meaningless in light of the pace of corporate takeovers. Monsanto
>and AstraZeneca have each merged with other companies since they pledged not
>to commercialize suicide seeds.
>
>* On December 2, 1999 Novartis and AstraZeneca announced they would spin-off
>and merge their agrochemical and seed divisions to create the world's
>biggest agribusiness corporation -- to be named "Syngenta."
>
>* On December 19, 1999 Monsanto announced that it will merge with drug
>industry giant Pharmacia & Upjohn to create a new company, named Pharmacia,
>with combined annual sales of $17 billion.
>
>The Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
>(FAO) Jacques Diouf recently declared his opposition to Terminator. In
>publicly rejecting Terminator, FAO's Diouf has come to the defense of the
>1.4 billion people who depend upon farm-saved seed for their survival.
>
>Among the national governments that have announced their intention to oppose
>Terminator technology are Panama, India, Ghana, and Uganda. India, one of
>the first governments to publicly reject Terminator, explicitly prohibits
>Terminator genes in a draft bill now before the Indian Parliament. Ghanaian
>Minister of Environment, Cletus Avoka, says that his government will not
>tolerate the use of Terminator technology. Panama's Minister of Agriculture
>and Fisheries writes that his government "will adopt measures to prohibit
>the specific patents as well as the technology in general." Ugandan
>officials have said that their government is discussing measures to outlaw
>Terminator at the highest levels of government.
>
>Terminator and Traitor technologies are not limited to a single patent, nor
>is the research confined to one or two companies. Delta & Pine Land is
>currently the high-profile crusader for Terminator, but the goal of genetic
>trait control is industry-wide. According to RAFI, over 30 patents are
>collectively held by the multinational agrochemical firms that dominate the
>field of biotechnology.
>
>According to RAFI, the future of Terminator/Traitor Technology rests with
>national governments and multinational corporations. The pressure points for
>political action are, first and foremost, with national governments around
>the world. Second, pressure should be applied at key international fora such
>as through the BioSafety Protocol at the Convention on Biological Diversity,
>and intellectual property negotiations at the World Trade Organization.
>
>Entitled "Suicide Seeds on the Fast Track," the new RAFI Communiqué is
>available on RAFI's Web site http://www.rafi.org.
>
>Source/contact: RAFI International Office, 110 Osborne Street, Suite 202,
>Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3L 1Y5 Canada; phone (204) 453-5259; fax (204)
>925-8034; email rafi@rafi.org.
>
>===========================================
>NOTE: Replies to the sender of this message
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>Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)
>49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
>Phone: (415) 981-1771
>Fax: (415) 981-1991
>Email: panna@panna.org
>Web: http://www.panna.org
>===========================================
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>_________________________________________________________
>Enlighten your in-box.         http://www.topica.com/t/15
>
>Attachment Converted: "C:\PIPEPLUS\DOWNLOAD\pennyclr7510.vcf"
>


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