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January 28, 2006 — Indigenous peoples were betrayed and farmers'
rights trampled at a UN meeting this week when the Australian, New
Zealand and Canadian governments — guided by the US Government and a
brazen cabal of corporate gene giants — took a major step to undermine
the existing moratorium on Terminator technology (ie, plants that are
genetically modified to produce sterile seeds at harvest). The damaging
recommendations from the meeting in Granada, Spain, now go to the
upcoming 8th biennial meeting of the UN's Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) in Curitiba, Brazil, March 20-31.
The CBD's ‘Working Group on Article 8(j)' that met in Granada this
week was established to protect the traditional knowledge, innovation
and practices of Indigenous peoples and peasant farmers. Civil society
groups and indigenous peoples watched in disbelief, however, as
governments ignored the profoundly negative social, economic and
environmental impacts of ‘suicide seeds' highlighted in numerous CBD
studies as well as in official submissions from Indigenous peoples and
farmers' organisations. The outcome now threatens biodiversity and the
future of seed-saving and locally adapted agriculture worldwide.
‘Terminator poses a threat to our welfare and food sovereignty and
constitutes a violation of our human right of self-determination,' said
Mariano Marcos Terena of Brazil on behalf of the International
Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity.
Although the meeting ‘reaffirmed'
the fragile UN moratorium on Terminator, new recommendations adopted in
Granada now may be used to block the CBD's precautionary approach when
governments meet in March in Brazil. Not only did the meeting fail to
condemn Terminator as immoral and anti-farmer, Australia and the United
States falsely claimed that Terminator, which creates sterility, would
‘increase productivity'.
With a US government official consulting at her side, the Australian
negotiator insisted on deleting reference to the ‘precautionary
approach' and used this as a bargaining chip to win controversial
wording for a ‘case-by-case risk assessment' of Terminator. ‘The new
reference to case-by-case assessment is shocking and extremely damaging
because it suggests that national regulatory review of Terminator is
possible — it undermines the CBD moratorium, opening the door to
Terminator approval,' warns Hope Shand of ETC Group.
‘Australia's brazen move confirms that an alarming government-industry
strategy is in play to overturn the UN moratorium on Terminator,' said
Lucy Sharratt of the Ban Terminator Campaign. ‘The process and outcome
dismiss the contributions of Indigenous peoples and local communities.'
Despite the unscrupulous push by a handful of rich countries to put
industry profits before farmers' rights, the majority of governments at
the meeting remain solidly opposed to Terminator technology and
committed to the existing moratorium. In her welcoming address the
Spanish Minister of the Environment acknowledged the dangers of
Terminator technology. During the meeting, the African Group, Egypt and
the Philippines made impassioned speeches about the potentially
devastating impacts of Terminator on biodiversity and food security and
the need for national bans.
Norway, Pakistan, Kenya and the European Union defended the existing
moratorium. India and Brazil both referred to their national laws
prohibiting genetic seed sterilisation technology. Despite this strong
opposition to Terminator, Australia's extreme position and its
determination to block consensus left governments little room to
negotiate.
In the halls of shame
Despite public pledges not to develop Terminator technology, gene
giants Syngenta and Monsanto lobbied aggressively on Terminator
throughout the week. Harry Collins of Delta and Pine Land, the world's
largest cotton seed company which is now testing Terminator plants in
greenhouses, attended under the auspices of the International Seed
Federation. Monsanto's Roger Krueger moonlighted as a representative
from the International Chamber of Commerce. They were joined in the
corridors by CropLife International, a pesticide lobby group
representing the ‘plant science industry'.
Outside the UN meeting Spanish people of all ages gathered to remind
governments of the strong public resistance to Terminator technology.
Ecologistas en Accion organised public events, street protests, and
educational street displays throughout the week as part of the
International Ban Terminator Campaign (www.banterminator.org). When
news of the Granada outcome reached the plenary of the World Social
Forum in Caracas, Venezuela last night there were howls of anger from
thousands of assembled farmers.
‘Allowing “case by case” approval
of Terminator means a slow death for farmers “coffin-by-coffin”,'
explained Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group speaking in Caracas.
The Ban Terminator Campaign will work with groups and movements across
the world to strengthen the global resistance to stop Terminator. The
fight now moves to the COP8 meeting in Brazil March 20-31.
A transcript of the Draft Recommendation submitted by the Working Group can be read on ETC Group's website at:
www.etcgroup.org/documents/8jWorkingGroupRecommendations.pdf
With thanks to the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and
Concentration. ETC group is dedicated to the conservation and
sustainable advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human
rights. Published in byronchild/Kindred, issue 17, March 06
www.etcgroup.org
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