February 2005
FARMERS :
URGENT MESSAGE OF INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE
Canadian
Government to Unleash Terminator Bombshell at UN Meeting:
All-out
push for commercialisation of Sterile Seed Technology
February 7,
2005 ETC Group,News Release www.etcgroup.org
A confidential
document leaked today to ETC Group reveals that the
Canadian
government, at a United Nations meeting in Bangkok (Feb
7-11), will attempt
to overturn an international moratorium on genetic seed
sterilisation
technology (known universally as Terminator). Even worse,
the Canadian
government has instructed its negotiators to "block
consensus" on any other
option.
"Canada is about to launch a devastating kick in the
stomach to the world's
most vulnerable farmers - the 1.4 billion people who
depend on farm saved
seed," said ETC Group Executive Director Pat Mooney
speaking from Ottawa.
"The Canadian government is doing the dirty work for
the multinational gene
giants and the US government. Even Monsanto wasn't
prepared to be this
upfront and nasty. Canada is betraying Farmers' Rights
and food sovereignty
everywhere."
Terminator technology was first developed by the US
government and the seed
industry to prevent farmers from re-planting saved seed
and is considered
the most controversial and immoral agricultural
application of genetic
engineering so far. When first made public in 1998,
"suicide seeds"
triggered an avalanche of public opposition, forcing
Monsanto to abandon the
technology and prompting the UN Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) to
impose a de facto moratorium on its further development.
According to the
leaked instructions to Canadian negotiators at SBSTTA 10
(a scientific
advisory body to the CBD), Canada will insist on
Wednesday (9 Feb.) that
governments accept the field testing and
commercialization of Terminator
varieties (referred to as GURTS -- Genetic Use
Restriction Technologies).
Canada will also attack an official UN report, prepared
by an international
expert group, which is critical of the potential impacts
of Terminator seeds
on small farmers and Indigenous Peoples. In stark
contrast to Canada's
position, the expert report recommends that governments
seek prohibitions on
the technology.
In Bangkok, civil society and Indigenous Peoples are
calling on the Canadian
government to abandon its endorsement of Terminator and
to join with other
governments to prohibit the technology once and for all.
Many African and
Asian governments have called for Terminator to be banned
and the European
Union has also been supportive of the existing
moratorium.
"It is outrageous that Canada is backing an
anti-farmer technology and
shameful that it will 'block consensus' on any other
outcome. Governments
from around the world must not accept this bullying
tactic," says ETC
Group's Hope Shand from the negotiations in Bangkok.
"If Canada blocks
decision-making on this issue, the moratorium will be in
jeopardy and
terminator seeds will be commercialized ending up in the
fields of small
farmers."
The full leaked text of the Canadian government's
instructions to its
negotiators on Terminator/GURTS follows.
Hope Shand and Jim Thomas of ETC Group can be contacted
at SBSTTA
negotiations in Bangkok on cell phone +44 (0) 7752 106806
or by email
jim@etcgroup.org or hope@etcgroup.org
Pat Mooney (in Ottawa) +1 (613) 241-2267 etc@etcgroup.org
Kathy Jo Wetter (USA) +1 (919) 960-5223 email
kjo@etcgroup.org
The Head of the Canadian Delegation in Bangkok is Robert
McLean, Environment
Canada email Robert.Mclean@ec.gc.ca tel +1 (819) 997-1303
***
"Advice on the report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert
Group on Genetic Use
Restriction Technologies (GURTS);
report. Canada notes that the experts were unable to
reach consensus and
that while this is recognized in para. 15 of the report,
this should have
been made clear in the recommendation section of the
report. Unfortunately,
the report leaves the impression that consensus was
achieved on all of the
recommendations when this was clearly not case and in
particular in terms of
recommendation (b) which reads as follows, "In view
of the current lack of
data, recommends that Parties and other Governments
consider the development
of regulatory frameworks not to approve GURTs for
field-testing and
commercial use."
Canada will suggest that the document clearly indicate in
the Annex that
there is no consensus on for the recommendations.
Alternatively, the AHTEG
report can be referred to as the "Chairs'
report". Canada also believes that
the AHTEG report contains scientific inaccuracies and a
lack of balance in
terms of reflecting both potential positive and negative
impacts of this
technology, and these issues should be addressed before
the report is
further distributed. We believe that it would be
beneficial for Parties and
other governments to submit comments to the Executive
Secretary/CHM to
represent national views to improve the accuracy of the
document, and that
these be made available to both the 8j working group and
COP.
Additionally, Canada will propose that SBSTTA adopt a
recommendation for
decision at COP8 based on the revised wording of
recommendation "b" below
and will propose this recommendation be incorporated for
consideration at
the 8j meeting:
NEW WORDING for recommendation b) of AHTEG report
(b) In view of the current lack of data, recommend that
Parties and other
Governments consider the development of domestic
regulatory frameworks TO
ALLOW FOR THE EVALUATION OF NOVEL VARIETIES, INCLUDING
THOSE WITH GURTS, FOR FIELD TESTING AND COMMERCIAL USE
BASED ON PPROPRIATE SCIENCE-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL
RISK/SAFETY ASSESSMENTS.
In Canada's opinion the revised wording we are
suggesting, strengthens the
recommendation and provides for a strong scientific
assessment of risk.
If we are unsuccessful in obtaining these additions
(indication that
recommendations in the AHTEG report were not based on
consensus OR agreement
to have national views submitted) AND changes to
recommendation "B" --or any
other outcome which clearly addresses our concern over a
defacto moratorium
on GURTS-- Canada is prepared to block consensus on this
issue."