Quick Reads

And the Winners Are...Captain Hook and Cog Awards announced in Curitiba

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The winners of the Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracyare an eclectic group that includes old favorites and new up-and-comers; Community-based biodiversity efforts win Cog Awards for defending food sovereignty

Google "Crashed" today (March 2006) at the Captain Hook Awards ceremony during the meeting of the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). No, this doesn't mean that Internet service was interrupted in Curitiba's ExpoTrade Convention and Exhibition Centre where the CBD meeting is being held through March 31. It means that Google walked away with an unexpected big win - just as the movie "Crash" did a few weeks ago at Hollywood's Academy Awards. In all, eleven Captain Hooks received prizes in ten categories related to biopiracy. There were seven Cog Award winners in six categories related to biopiracy resistance and community-based biodiversity strengthening.

Terminator rechazado! - Una victoria de la gente

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Una amplia coalición de agricultores, campesinos, pueblos indígenas y organizaciones de la sociedad civil celebran hoy (24.03.006) que los esfuerzos para minar la moratoria global sobre las tecnologías Terminator -semillas diseñadas genéticamente para ser estériles- hayan sido firmemente rechazados en la reunión del Convenio sobre Diversidad Biológica de la ONU en Curitiba, Brasil.

"Este es un gran momento para los 1 400 millones de campesinos pobres en el mundo que dependen de las semillas de la cosecha", dijo Francisca Rodríguez de Vía Campesina, un movimiento mundial de campesinos. "Las semillas Terminator son un arma de destrucción masiva y un asalto a la soberanía alimentaria. Terminator amenaza directamente nuestra vida, nuestra cultura y nuestra identidad como pueblos indígenas", afirmó Viviana Figueroa de la comunidad indígena de Ocumazo en Argentina, en representación del Foro Indígena sobre Biodiversidad

Ban Terminator Campaign -- Terminator Seed Battle Begins

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Farmers Face Billions of Dollars in Potential Costs

Curitiba, Brazil. After a week that has seen a worldwide mobilisation against Terminator technology, the issue of Suicide Seeds is about to hit the negotiating floor of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Curitiba, Brazil (March 2006). Known to the CBD as GURTs (Genetic Use Restriction Technologies), Terminator crops are genetically modified to create sterile seeds at harvest so that farmers must buy new seed every season. Today (22.03.2006) the Ban Terminator Campaign, a global coalition of over 500 organisations, released new financial calculations indicating that Terminator seeds will impose a burden of billions of extra dollars in seed costs on some of the world's poorest nations.

Monsanto Apologizes

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A 21 February 2006 news release from the Ban Terminator Campaign reported on Monsanto's revised pledge on Terminator. Whereas the company made a public commitment in 1999 not to use Terminator technology, its new pledge suggests that it would use Terminator seeds in non-food crops and does not rule out other uses in the future. Now Monsanto's Director of Public Policy has written an apology to the Ban Terminator Campaign and concedes that it didn't really mean it would consider using Terminator in non-food crops.

Monsanto May Commercialize Terminator

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Biotech Giant Revises Pledge on Sterile Seed Technology as Global Alliance Calls for a Ban

Monsanto, the world's largest seed and agbiotech company, made a public promise in 1999 not to commercialize 'Terminator Technology' - plants that are genetically engineered to produce sterile seeds. Now (February 2006) Monsanto says it may develop or use the so-called 'suicide seeds' after all. The revised pledge from Monsanto now suggests that it would use Terminator seeds in non-food crops and does not rule out other uses of Terminator in the future. Monsanto's modified stance comes to light as the biotech and seed industry confront peasant and farmer movements, Indigenous peoples and their allies in an escalating battle at the United Nations over the future of Terminator.

Prácticamente anulada, la moratoria sobre Terminator

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Camino libre para su aprobación en la ONU. Los opositores a las semillas suicidas se preparan para la batalla en la COP 8 en Curitiba, Brasil.

Los pueblos indígenas fueron traicionados y se hizo trampa a los derechos de los agricultores en la reunión de Naciones Unidas las últimas dos semanas, cuando los gobiernos de Australia, Nueva Zelanda y Canadá -siguiendo indicaciones de Estados Unidos y de una docena de Gigantes Genéticos corporativos- dieron un paso muy importante para terminar con la actual moratoria sobre la tecnología Terminator (plantas modificadas genéticamente para producir semillas estériles). Las nocivas recomendaciones que resultaron de la reunión de Granada, España, irán a la 8ava reunión bianual del Convenio de Diversidad Biológica (CDB) de la ONU en Curitiba, Brasil, del 20 al 31 de marzo de 2006.

Granada's Grim Sowers Plow Up Moratorium on Terminator, Clear the Path for its Approval at UN

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Terminator Opponents Prepare for Battle at COP8 in Curitiba, Brazil March 20-31, 2006

Indigenous peoples were betrayed and Farmers' Rights trampled at a UN meeting this week (March 2006) 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 (i.e., 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, 2006.

Cresce a Ameaça do Terminator: Encontro intergovernamental para atacar o problema das sementes suicidas

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Os povos indígenas, as organizações de agricultores e os representantes da sociedade civil estão se unindo para defender uma moratória de fato das Nações Unidas sobre a tecnologia de esterilização de sementes - a moratória está atualmente sob ataque da indústria multinacional de semente e biotecnologia. Uma reunião da Comissão sobre Diversidade Biológica, onde as "sementes suicidadas" estão na agenda, acontecerá na Espanha na próxima semana. A moratória das Nações Unidas - a qual tem recomendação contra os testes a campo e a venda comercial da tecnologia de esterilização de sementes - está sob ataque. A Delta & Pine Land (uma companhia multinacional de sementes) e o Departamento de Agricultura dos Estados Unidos recentemente obtiveram novas patentes sobre o Terminator na Europa e no Canadá.

Support the campaign to BAN TERMINATOR!

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Please join the international campaign to BAN TERMINATOR. Terminator refers to plants that are genetically modified to render sterile seeds at harvest. Terminator technology was developed by the multinational seed/agrochemical industry and the United States government to prevent farmers from saving and re-planting harvested seed. (More background information on Terminator)

Related Issues: 
Terminator & New Enclosures

Terminator ataca de nuevo! Encuentro gubernamental para abordar el tema de las semillas suicidas

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8º Encuentro del Grupo de Trabajo sobre CDB en Granada, España, del 23 al 27 de enero 2006

Representantes de pueblos indígenas, de organizaciones campesinas y de la sociedad civil luchan para conseguir mantener la moratoria de facto de las Naciones Unidas sobre la tecnología de esterilización de semillas. Actualmente la industria multinacional de semillas y biotecnología ataca agresivamente para terminarla. Esta semana (2006), se pone en marcha en España un encuentro de la Convención sobre Diversidad Biológica, en el que las "semillas suicidas" están en la agenda. Esta moratoria de Naciones Unidas -que alerta contra los experimentos en campo y la venta de tecnología de esterilización de semillas -está en peligro. Delta & Pine Land (una compañía multinacional de semillas) y el Departamento de Agricultura de EEUU recientemente consiguieron nuevas patentes de Terminator en Europa y Canada.

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