News Releases

Good News for World Food Day: Suicide Seeds Are Dead…for the moment

16 October 2013

In a great bit of news for World Food Day, a key Brazilian congressional committee today withdrew the consideration of legislation that would have allowed the sale and use of Terminator Technology, also known as suicide seeds. The Constitutional Commission of the Brazilian House of Representatives was slated to consider Bill PL 268/2007 this morning, but decided instead to withdraw it from the agenda – taking into account the social concerns raised by the national and international mobilization in opposition to the bill. Further, the President of the Commission pledged that as long as he is at the helm, he will not allow the bill back on the agenda.

World Food Day Marked by Brazilian Legislation to Introduce Terminator Seeds and Prizes for Monsanto and Syngenta

15 October 2013

As the United Nations celebrates World Food Day October 16, in Brazil, a Constitutional Commission is slated to rule on pending legislation that would permit the use of Terminator technology (a.k.a. suicide seeds), upending the country’s 8 year-old ban and violating the international moratorium on the quintessential anti-farmer technology. Meanwhile, on October 17, in Iowa (USA), scientists from Syngenta and Monsanto, two companies that both have Terminator patents, will receive the World Food Prize for their “breakthrough” achievements in developing genetically modified crops.

Urgent Alert. No to Terminator - Sign this letter

14 October 2013

This week, as we celebrate World Food Day 2013 – whose theme is "sustainable food systems for food security and nutrition” – a serious threat to food sovereignty and food and nutrition security in Brazil has come to light. A bill, ( PL ) No. 268/2007 filed by Rep. Eduardo Sciarra - PSD / PR, allows exemptions to the ban on Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs, commonly referred to as Terminator) imposed by Brazil’s Biosecurity Law and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. If passed, this bill will allow the production and marketing of GM “suicide” seeds – seeds genetically engineered to be sterile in the second generation – forcing farmers to buy new seeds for every planting cycle.

Brazil Set to Unleash Terminator Threat

Fast-tracked Legislation to Allow Sterile Seeds Would Harm Farmers, Food Security
07 October 2013

Today Brazil’s Judicial Commission is slated to rule on the constitutionality of a proposed bill that will allow genetically engineered sterility in seeds, known as Terminator Technology. If the bill gains the approval of the Commission, it could quickly come to a vote in Congress. Brazil’s national law to ban Terminator has been under threat since it was enacted 8 years ago, but this most recent congressional action has caused the most serious alarm since it could swiftly overturn the ban.

News Release: Concern as IPCC Bangs the Drum for Geoengineering

IPCC Shoots a Silver Bullet (Point) for Climate Change, Includes Geoengineering in its Latest Report
27 September 2013

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published the first installment of its latest climate change Assessment Report, AR5, the final paragraph of its Summary for Policymakers – a bullet point referring to proposals for deliberately altering climate systems – has caused consternation by addressing the controversial topic of geoengineering. (1)While the paragraph does not endorse geoengineering, as had been proposed by Russia, its very presence is ringing alarm bells.

Yet another UN report calls for support to peasant farming and agroecology

It's time for action
23 September 2013

La Via Campesina, GRAIN and ETC welcome a new UNCTAD report which states that farming in rich and poor nations alike should shift from monoculture towards greater varieties of crops, reduced use of fertilizers and other inputs, greater support for small-scale farmers, and more locally focused production and consumption of food.

New Report: Putting the Cartel before the Horse…and Farm, Seeds, Soil, Peasants

Who Will Control Agricultural Inputs?
03 September 2013

News Release
September 9th, 2013

ETC Group publishes its 111th Communiqué today. The 40-page report – “Putting the Cartel before the Horse…Who Will Control Agricultural Inputs?” – provides market data on the world’s major corporate players involved in food and agriculture and analysis of key sectors in the corporate food chain.

News Release: Last Chance for Kickstarter to stop release of risky seeds

Stop the spread of synthetic biology
05 June 2013

There is less than a day to go before the popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter.com hands hundreds of thousands of dollars to a controversial project for the widespread and unregulated distribution of over half a million extreme-bioengineered seeds. Kickstarter, which stands to make over $22,000 from the project (1), has steadfastly refused to comment on its listing of a project to make and distribute ‘glowing genetically modified plants’ using Synthetic Biology.

Tunis 2013: If we rely on corporate seed, we lose food sovereignty

World Social Forum Event organized by La Via Campesina, GRAIN and ETC Group
04 April 2013

GROWING POWER IN PEASANT SEEDS SYSTEMS: Farmers seeds and struggle against GMOs, AGRA- 2nd Green Revolution. Tunis, March 29.

It has become crucial to defend seeds. In the past 20 or 30 years, what was once seen as normal – peasant farmers growing, selecting, saving and exchanging seeds – has come under attack from corporations seeking to control and commodify the very basis of agriculture.

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