Quick Reads

Terminator en el campo

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El Convenio de Biodiversidad debe prohibir el uso de la tecnología Terminator, o el "Principio de Precaución" será un principio póstumo

Durante 1999 se otorgaron siete patentes nuevas sobre Terminator y más de una prueba de campo de tecnologías de restricción del uso genético (TRUGs). Los gobiernos presentes en la 5a. Conferencia de las Partes del Convenio sobre Diversidad Biológica (COP 5) deben actuar enérgicamente para prohibir Terminator y abrir una moratoria a las pruebas de campo o venta comercial de organismos modificados genéticamente con tecnologías de restricción del uso genético. "Esto será una prueba del tan voceado Principio de Precaución y del Protocolo de Bioseguridad negociado en enero pasado," advierte Silvia Ribeiro, "Si la COP 5 no logra ponerse de acuerdo en la prohibición de Terminator , que es un amenaza grave a la biodiversidad, mostrará que no se puede confiar en el Convenio y la ratificación del Protocolo será solamente una formalidad"

USDA Betrays Public Trust with Two New Terminator Patents

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Will USDA's Biotech Advisory Board Demand Accountability?

The Rural Advancement Foaundation International (RAFI), an international civil society organization based in Canada, announced today that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) holds two new patents on the controversial Terminator technology, the genetic engineering of plants to render their seeds sterile. If commercialized, Terminator would make it impossible for farmers to save seeds from their harvest, forcing them to return to the commercial seed market every year.

Organizaciones indigenas denuncian biopirateria en Chiapas

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Once organizaciones indígenas exigen que se suspendan las actividades de un programa de bioprospección en Chiapas, México, financiado por el Gobierno de Estados Unidos con 2,5 millones de dólares. Pese a las protestas de organizaciones indígenas locales, la Universidad de Georgia (EE.UU) dice que no suspenderá el proyecto que tiene una duración prevista de 5 años y que se propone colectar y evaluar miles de plantas y microorganismos usados en la medicina tradicional de las comunidades mayas.

Biopiracy Project in Chiapas, Mexico Denounced by Mayan Indigenous Groups

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University of Georgia Refuses to Halt Project

University of Georgia Refuses to Halt Project. Eleven indigenous peoples' organizations are demanding that a US$2.5 million, US-government funded bioprospecting program suspend its activities in Chiapas, Mexico. Despite the protest by local Mayan organizations, the University of Georgia (US) says it will not halt the five-year project, which aims to collect and evaluate thousands of plants and microorganisms used in traditional medicine by Mayan communities.Collectively known as the Council of Indigenous Traditional Midwives and Healers of Chiapas (Consejo Estatal de Parteras y M dicos Ind genas Tradicionales de Chiapas), the eleven Mayan organizations are denouncing the bioprospecting project, and they are asking other indigenous people in Chiapas to refuse to cooperate with the researchers. The project is led by the University of Georgia, in cooperation with a Mexican university research center, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), and Molecular Nature Ltd., a biotechnology company based in Wales, U.K. What is the Chiapas ICBG Project? The five-year project 'Drug Discovery and Biodiversity Among the Maya of Mexico,' now in its second year of operation, will receive a total grant of US$2.5 million dollars from the US government's International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG). The ICBG is a consortium of US federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) that awards grants to public and commercial research institutions that conduct bioprospecting/biopiracy programs in the South. The ICBG's self-stated goal is to promote drug discovery from natural sources, biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic growth in developing countries.

'Trait' Sanctions?

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Seedless in Seattle - Terminator Tech Trumps Trade Talks

Refusal to reject Suicide Seeds provokes fear that U.S. may use Terminator as a political weapon to enforce unilateral trade rules. From Trade Sanctions to Trait Sanctions?

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman s failure to reject Terminator Technology (a genetic modification that renders harvested seed sterile) may leave some World Trade Organization (WTO) trade delegations sleepless in Seattle. When the WTO meets next week in Seattle, governments are expected to endorse a new bout of global trade negotiations dubbed the Millennium Round. The United States will press for U.S. biased agricultural rules and tougher intellectual property provisions related to biotechnology. Some delegates and civil society organizations (CSO) attending the Seattle meeting fear that Uncle Sam will be tempted to use Terminator or (more likely) 'Traitor' (the remote-control of crop production traits) Technology to unilaterally dictate trade policies to countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Sanciones 'Traidoras'?

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Sin semillas en Seattle -La tecnologia Terminator tambien es una amenaza en las negociaciones comerciales.

La negativa a rechazar las semillas suicidas podría significar que EE.UU. quiere utilizar "Terminator" como un "arma política" para imponer sus reglas de comercio. De Sanciones Comerciales a Sanciones Traidoras?

USDA Must Abandon Terminator Technology

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Representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs) met yesterday (29.10.1999) with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to demand that his agency abandon research and development of the controversial Terminator technology. Participants included the American Corn Growers Association, Consumers Union, National Family Farm Coalition, Ralph Nader, International Center for Technology Assessment, Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet, Consumer Federation, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, North Dakota farmer Fred Kirschenmann, and RAFI. Terminator refers to a genetic engineering technique that renders second generation seed sterile, preventing farmers from saving seed from their harvest, and forcing them to buy new seed each year.

Terminator Exterminado?

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Monsanto promete no seguir con sus semillas suicidas pero sigue trabajando en otras tecnologias 'traidoras'

Luego de 18 meses de controversias y de intensa oposición popular en todo el mundo, Robert B. Shapiro, Director Ejecutivo de la multinacional Monsanto, le comunicó a Gordon Conway, Presidente de la Fundación Rockefeller, que Monsanto ha decidido abandonar los planes de comercialización de la tecnología Terminator (que causa esterilidad en las semillas al momento de cosecharlas). La carta que Monsanto envió a Rockefeller se puede leer en el sitio internet de la compañía: http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/gurt/default.htm (link no longer active)

Sin embargo, la multinacional dice que continuará procurando sus objetivos de investigación (ciertamente relacionados con la tecnología Terminator) que le permitirán en el futuro poder controlar a su antojo características vitales para la productividad del cultivo. RAFI las llama tecnologías 'Traitor' (traidoras).

'Cabe felicitar a las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, los agricultores, científicos y gobiernos de todo el mundo que durante los últimos 18 meses han llevado a cabo una campaña anti-Terminator sumamente efectiva,' dice Pat Mooney, Director Ejecutivo de RAFI, sobre al anuncio de Monsanto. 'El público ha rechazadoTerminator unánimemente por que es claramente negativo para los agricultores, la seguridad alimentaria y el medio ambiente,' explica Mooney.

Terminator Terminated?

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Monsanto surrenders 'suicide seeds' but continues work on other Traitor Technologies

Monsanto surrenders 'suicide seeds' but continues work on other Traitor Technologies. With biotech's silver bullet firmly imbedded in its own foot, Monsanto is dropping its guns, abandoning the Terminator, and telling farmers that it wants to play nice. Not so fast, hombre! Following 18 months of controversy and intense popular opposition around the world, Monsanto CEO Robert B. Shapiro has advised Gordon Conway, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, that Monsanto has decided to abandon plans to commercialize Terminator Technology (causing crop seed to become sterile at harvest-time). Monsanto's open letter to Rockefeller is available on the company website at: www.monsanto.com/monsanto/gurt/default.htm (link no longer available) However, the company says it will continue to pursue closely related research targets that could allow Monsanto to switch on - or off - other genetic traits vital to a crop's productivity. RAFI calls it "Traitor" technology. "Congratulations should go to the civil society organizations, farmers, scientists, and governments all over the world who have waged highly effective anti-Terminator campaigns during the past 18 months," said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of RAFI, in reaction to Monsanto's announcement. "The public unanimously rejected Terminator because it's bad for farmers, food security, and the environment," explained Mooney. "Monsanto would never have abandoned the profit-generating potential of sterile seeds just because it was an immoral technology," said RAFI's Research Director, Hope Shand. "The company finally realized that Terminator will never win public acceptance. Terminator has became synonymous with corporate greed, and it was met with intense opposition all over the world," adds Shand.

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