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Re: Terminator update:your chance to be heard/long



Apologize for the previous attachments..Here is in its entirety.
Connie Hoy

>        Help Stop the Terminator
> Jump to: http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
> --------------------------------------
>
> Monsanto in Closed Negotiations with the US Department of Agriculture to
> Finalize Control of Terminator Technology
>
>         --------------------------------------------------------
>         Monsanto is moving swiftly to finalize its control over
>         the Terminator technology.  The company may extract an
>         exclusive license from the US Department of Agriculture
>         (USDA) within weeks.   RAFI is initiating an urgent
>         internet-based international campaign to stop the USDA -
>         Monsanto negotiations before it's too late.  A special
>         WWW page has been set up at http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
>         to enable anyone with internet access to send a customized
>         message to the USDA asking it to cease negotiations and
>         bury this anti-farmer, anti-biodiversity technology.
>         Additional contact details are provided below.
>         ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> A Monsanto subsidiary, Delta & Pine Land (D&PL),  is currently negotiating
> with the USDA to exclusively license the US Government's interest in the
> controversial Terminator technology patent, a genetic technique that
> renders farm-saved seed sterile. The seed-sterilizing technology -
> developed with US taxpayer dollars - will prevent farmers from saving seed
> from their harvest, forcing them to return to the commercial seed market
> every year.
>
> The Terminator patent (US # 5,723,765) is jointly owned by D&PL and the
> USDA.  Under US law, since D&PL worked with USDA to develop the technology,
> the company has the option to negotiate an exclusive license.  Hoping to
> find a gullible international public, Monsanto's PR machine in Brussels,
> New Delhi, Harare, St. Louis, and points in between, are massaging jittery
> governments and publicly trying to distance the company from the Terminator
> technology by referring to it as "conceptual" and "not yet proven."   But
> the company's move to negotiate an exclusive license with USDA confirms
> that Monsanto is eager to commercialize Terminator seeds.
>
> Despite international controversy boiling over in at least two UN agencies
> rather than engage in public dialog, a leaked internal memo by Deputy
> Administrator K. Darwin Murrell reveals that USDA hopes to quietly manage
> controversy over the patent.    The memo warns USDA employees that
> Terminator research is "a sensitive issue that requires an extra level of
> review" to help "avoid potential political and legal pitfalls." But the
> USDA insists that the Terminator is a beneficial technology and confirms
> that its scientists are themselves interested in developing the seed
> sterilizing technique as platform to host a package of "stacked" traits in
> genetically engineered plants.
>
> SAY NO TO TERMINATOR!
>
> RAFI invites you to join an international e-mail campaign being initiated
> today to protest the licensing and commercial development of the Terminator
> technology.  RAFI has set up a special web page
> (http://www.rafi.org/usda.html) that automatically sends a customized
> e-mail to US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman (also see address
> information below).  We urge you to write to US Department of Agriculture
> officials to demand that USDA cease licensing negotiations and abandon all
> international patent applications on a dangerous and immoral technology
> that should never see the commercial light of day.
>
> RAFI is urging government institutions to hold public inquiries on the
> alarming rate of seed industry consolidation, and to take steps to
> safeguard - not eliminate - the fundamental right of farmers to save seed
> and breed crops.
>
> RAFI is also calling for protest over the fact that public research funds
> were used to develop a technology that will bring no agronomic benefit to
> farmers, and no benefits to consumers.  The Terminator technology is
> designed simply to increase seed industry profits by forcing farmers to
> return to the commercial seed market every year.
>
> Global Issue
>
> The potential impact of the Terminator technology goes far beyond US
> borders. It is an international issue, with global implications. Delta &
> Pine Land says that it will target the use of Terminator seeds in the
> South, where over 1.4 billion people - primarily poor farmers - depend on
> farm-saved seed as their primary seed source. Monsanto, which recently
> merged with American Home Products, is the world's second largest seed
> corporation and the number one agrochemical corporation.
>
> The owners of the Terminator patent have indicated that they will apply for
> patents in 87 countries worldwide. The patent is pending at the European
> Patent Office, in Canada, Australia, Japan and South Africa. USDA should be
> asked to abandon all international patent applications, and to revoke
> Terminator patents that have already issued, on the basis of public
> morality as provided in Article 27(2) of GATT TRIPS.
>
> The Terminator technology is the subject of controversy and debate
> worldwide. For example:
>
> … In May, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological
> Diversity (COP IV) recommended that the precautionary principle be applied
> to the Terminator technology. COP IV also directed its scientific body to
> examine the technology's impact on farmers and biodiversity.  In light of
> the Biodiversity Convention's ongoing assessment, USDA should cease
> negotiations that will lead to its commercial development.
>
> … India's agriculture minister Som Pal told the Indian parliament in August
> that he has banned the import of seeds containing the terminator gene
> because of the potential harm to Indian agriculture.
>
> … By majority vote, the Dutch Parliament recently moved to oppose the
> European Patent Directive by appealing to the European Court of Justice.
> The Terminator patent is one of the key issues that prompted the Dutch to
> renew objections to the Patent Directive that was passed by the European
> Parliament earier this year.
>
> Negotiations between USDA and Monsanto are now underway, it is important to
> act now! Stop Monsanto's bid to license and control the dangerous
> Terminator technology. E-mail messages and/or faxes should be sent to the
> following USDA officials and members of Congress. To see sample letters,
> and automatic sending options, go to RAFI's web site:
> http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
>
> -----
>
> The Honorable Dan Glickman,
> Secretary of Agriculture
> United States Department of Agriculture
> 200-A Whitten Bldg.
> 1400 Independence Ave., SW
> Washington  DC  20250
> a*@usda.gov
> tel: 202 720-3631
> fax: 202 720-2166
>
> Dr. Floyd P. Horn, Administrator
> USDA Agricultural Research Service
> 302-A Whitten Building
> 1400 Independence Ave., SW
> Washington  DC  20250
> a*@ars.usda.gov
> Tel: 202 720-3656
> Fax: 202 720-5427
>
> The Honorable Robert F. Smith, Chair
> House Agriculture Committee
> 1126 Longworth Bldg.
> Washington  DC  20515-3702
> B*@mail.house.gov
> Tel: 202 225-6730
> Fax: 202 225-0917
>
> The Honorable Richard G. Lugar, Chair
> Senate Agriculture Committee
> 306 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
> Washington  DC  20510-1401
> s*@lugar.senate.gov
> Tel: 202 224-4814
> Fax: 202 224-1725
>
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