URGENT ACTION ALERT - STOP TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY NOW!

This follows on from the request for help from the ETC. group.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4876

Here's how to e-mail, fax or phone the Canadian Prime Minister, the Minister of Agriculture and the President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

URGENT ACTION ALERT

STOP TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY NOW!

PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY AND ACT NOW!

February 7 2005

* The Canadian Government is pushing for Terminator Technology in UN meetings Wednesday Feb 9 (Bangkok)!

* A confidential document leaked to ETC Group reveals the Canadian Government, at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in
Bangkok (Feb 7-11), plans to sabotage an international moratorium on genetic seed sterilisation technology, (known as Terminator Technology or Sterile Seeds).

* The Canadian government has instructed its negotiators to 'block consensus' on any other option.

* The Canadian government is doing the dirty work for the multinational gene giants and the US government. Even Monsanto wasn't  prepared to be this upfront and nasty.

WRITE NOW:

Canada's Prime Minister Right Hon. Paul Martin [email protected] Fax: (613) 941-6900, Tel: (613) 992-4211

Hon. Andy Mitchell, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, [email protected] Fax: (613) 991-2147 Tel: (613) 996-3434

F.B. Fadden, President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency [email protected] Fax: 228 6608 Tel: (613) 225-2342 extension 3737

SAMPLE LETTER BELOW

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February 7, 2005

Prime Minister Paul Martin
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario

Dear Mr. Martin,

I am writing to urgently request that you continue support for the current international ban on Terminator Technology, officially known as
Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTS).

Terminator technology was developed jointly by the US government and the seed industry to prevent farmers from saving seed from one year's
harvest and replanting it the next season. It is considered the most controversial and immoral agricultural application of genetic engineering to date. Massive public opposition to the introduction of these "suicide seeds" in 1998 forced the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to impose a de facto moratorium on further development of GURTS.

Until recently, only a few multinational seed companies and the US government were pressing for a lifting of the ban on GURTS. But it now
appears that our own government is aiding and abetting these vested interests.

According to leaked instructions to the Canadian delegation at SBSTTA 10 (a scientific advisory body to the CBD) in Bangkok, Thailand, Canada will insist on Wednesday, February 9, 2005, that governments accept the field testing and commercialization of GURTS varieties. Canadian negotiators have been instructed to undermine an official UN report recommending that governments seek prohibitions on GURTS technology. They have also been instructed to "block consensus" on other options if the ban is not lifted.

Farmers have an inalienable right to save, re-use, and exchange seed based on the traditional practices of thousands of generations of
cultivators worldwide. The lifting of the moratorium on GURTS would effectively end farmers' rights to save seed and pose a serious threat to food sovereignty.

It is appalling that the Canadian government is adopting such heavy-handed tactics in support of multinational seed companies and the US government. The Canadian delegation's strategy in Bangkok has to be abandoned. The Canadian government must reverse its stand on this issue and join with other governments to prohibit the GURTS technology once and for all.

In the interests of the world's farmers and people everywhere, I urge you, as Prime Minister, to immediately take action on this critical issue by directing the Canadian delegation to support the moratorium on GURTS.

Sincerely,

*****************************

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

For more information on Terminator Technology:
www.etcgroup.org/documents/TermCom03.pdf

Hope Shand and Jim Thomas of ETC Group can be contacted at SBSTTA negotiations in Bangkok on cell phone +44 (0) 7752 106806 or by email
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>  or [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

Pat Mooney (in Ottawa)  +1 613 241 2267 [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Kathy Jo Wetter (USA) +1 919 9605223  [email protected] <mailto:kjo@etcgr