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¿Suicidio en Carnaval? Terminator regresa al Congreso en Brasil

Mientras suena la samba, aumenta la presión para aprobar las semillas suicidas

Firme la petición para detenerla

Organizaciones de la sociedad civil brasileña alertaron ayer que una iniciativa de ley iniciada en 2007 para revertir la prohibición de uso de semillas Terminator podría reactivarse (nuevamente) en el Congreso de ese país. Existen dos iniciativas al respecto desde hace varios años, pero una de ellas, introducida en 2007 por el diputado Eduardo Sciarra del PSD (la PL 268/2007) comenzó a reactivarse en julio pasado y llegó a ponerse en primer plano en octubre 2013. La legalización de Terminator en Brasil tendría implicaciones globales, comenzando por la violación a la moratoria sobre Tecnologías de Restricción del Uso Genético (TRUG, apodadas tecnologías Terminator), vigente desde el año 2000 en el Convenio sobre Diversidad Biológica.

Suicide at the Carnaval? Terminator is back in the Brazilian Congress

Push to Pass Suicide Seeds Legislation Could Come While Deputies Dance

Push to Pass Suicide Seeds Legislation Could Come While Deputies Dance

Sign the petition to stop it!

Brazilian civil society organizations warned yesterday that a 2007 bill to end Brazil’s ban on Terminator seeds could soon be on the move (again) in the Brazilian Congress. While two bills have been on the congressional agenda for several years, a 2007 bill (PL 268/2007, filed by Rep. Eduardo Sciarra – PSD party) began moving through the Congress last July and came to a head last October. The legalizing of Terminator in Brazil would have global implications, including as a violation of the United Nations moratorium on Terminator technologies, in place since 2000 at the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Competencia para poner nombre a la vainilla artificial

El Grupo ETC y Amigos de la Tierra lanzaron una competencia internacional de diseño y mercadotecnia para llamar la atención sobre el uso de biología sintética (ingeniería genética extrema) en nuestra comida. Usen su creatividad para ayudarnos a denunciar un ingrediente, muy antinatural, que amenaza introducirse en nuestros platillos y otros productos: una nueva "vainilla". Ayúdenos a denunciarlo y a explicar lo que podría ocurrirles a los cultivadores de la verdadera vainilla en el mundo.

Fate of Pro-Terminator Bill Uncertain

Brazil’s Judiciary Commission in Confusion: Charges, Counter-Charges and Confrontations

Confronted with 35,000 institutional and individual signatures on a petition growing by several hundred an hour, Brazil’s Judiciary Commission agreed to take the Pro-Terminator Bill off the agenda this week leaving open the possibility that the bill will not be passed until Congress reconvenes in early February. However, the Judiciary Commission also determined to sit again next Tuesday and could continue meeting even Wednesday and Thursday before adjourning for Christmas. The Chair of the Commission has reiterated his commitment to block the contentious bill but CSO observers understand that a majority of Commission members are in favor of the suicide seed legislation and could, regardless of a formal agenda, call for a vote at any meeting. Brazilian allies both in the Commission and among the civil society organizations attending the negotiations say that representatives and government officials have been shocked by the scale in ferocity of global opposition to the proposed legislation.

Comisión legislativa en Brasil “exterminaría” las semillas (y la agricultura) esta semana

Después de comprometerse en el Día Mundial de la Alimentación (16 de octubre) a bloquear una iniciativa que legalizaría la siembra de semillas Terminator en Brasil, la Comisión de Justicia está nuevamente emplazada a aprobar las semillas suicidas, lo que sería un regalo navideño para Monsanto, DuPont y Syngenta.

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Recent Blogs

The Big Fix - 9 Tech controversies to watch for in 2009

The Big Fix - 9 Tech controversies to watch for in 2009
English

Written for The Ecologist - February 2009

available online at http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=2053

Somebody somewhere has to have a cunning plan to fix our environmental problems and save the world – right? Jim Thomas sorts through the big tech ideas you’ll be reading about this year 

Hanging in Hong Kong with the Syn Bio Crowd

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Plastic Plants

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Henry Ford dreamed of making plastic cars out of soy. Now Dow, DuPont and other chemical giants are also dreaming of a ‘green’ future. But, as Jim Thomas argues, bioplastic is not the eco-solution it’s cracked up to be.

Article from New Internationalist Magazine September 2008 issue - available online here

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Read the debate here in the latest issue of New Internationalist Magazine: http://www.newint.org/features/special/2008/08/01/technofixes/

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