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 Terminated?
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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.
Terminator Exterminado?
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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.
World Seed Conference
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RAFI Releases Newly Updated Seed Industry Giants: Who Owns Whom?
Conferencia Mundial de Semillas
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La Conferencia Mundial de Semillas 1999, sesiona del 6 al 8 de Setiembre en Cambridge, Reino Unido, conmemorando el 75o. aniversario del comercio internacional de semillas. RAFI aprovechó esta oportunidad para lanzar una actualización de su informe "Consolidación de la industria de semillas". Un número cada vez menor de enormes compañías -los Gigantes Genéticos- dominan las ventas mundiales de semillas, agroquímicos y farmacéuticos. "Dado el ritmo vertiginoso de fusiones en el comercio global de semillas, las empresas que formaban la membresía de la Conferencia han ido desapareciendo. Hoy en día, probablemente todos los directores ejecutivos de la industria de semillas se puedan reunir cómodamente en un picnic en el patio de alguno de los miembros", señala Pat Mooney, director ejecutivo de RAFI, que es uno de los panelistas de la Conferencia Mundial de Semillas a realizarse la semana próxima.