1.NEW ACTION ALERT: email the NZ Government TODAY
2.URGENT ACTION NEEDED - Please email Canadian delegation today THURSDAY
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1.ACTION ALERT: email the NZ Government TODAY
[For details see urls to 3 stories below]

New Zealand and Australia are the only two nations backing Canada's attempt to overturn the ban on Terminator technologies at the UN Conference in Bangkok. GE Free NZ (story 1) and the NZ Green Party (story 2) today called on the NZ Government to oppose Terminator. The NZ Government (story 3) are refusing - stating that 'opinion is divided' - ie they, with Canada and Australia are divided from the rest of the world.
** To send your protest to New Zealand Ministers email:
-Environment Minister: [email protected]
-Trade Negotiations Minister: [email protected]
-Research, Science & Tech Minister: [email protected]
-Economic Development Minister: jim.anderton at parliament.govt.nz
-Foreign Affairs Minister: phil.goff at parliament.govt.nz

Urge them to change New Zealand's stance on terminator technology at Friday's final meeting.

1. ''Stop Terminator!'' Government Urged
www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/SC0502/S00035.htm
2. Govt Urged To Back Down On Terminator Technology
www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0502/S00238.htm
3. NZ supports case-by-case assessment
www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0502/S00251.htm
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2.URGENT! Terminator email call
From: "Carrie Stebbings" [email protected]

URGENT ACTION NEEDED - Please email THURSDAY

Dear Freeze Supporter,

On Tuesday 8th February 2005 the Freeze sent out a press release saying that the Canadian Delegation at the meeting of Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in Bangkok planned to try to overturn the current moratorium on terminator technology, officially known as Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTS). These technologies are designed to cause saved seed to fail to germinate when it is replanted, unless treated with chemicals.

An outcry has already ensued around the world and the Delegation appear to be backtracking. However, pressure is still required for a further meeting on Friday (the middle of Thursday night in the UK).

So please email your protest as soon as possible and before the end of this Thursday 10th Feb to the head of the Canadian Delegation and copy your email to the following list. If you can phone or fax, that would be even better!

Addresses and a suggested brief letter can be found below.

Thank you,

..

To the Head of the Canadian Delegation in Bangkok, Robert McLean, Environment Canada, [email protected] tel +1 (819) 9971303

CC: Prime Minister of Canada, 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

Canadian Food inspection agency (Plant Biosafety office) Jennifer McLean ([email protected] - phone 613 2252342 ext 4797), Toolika Rastogi
([email protected] phone 613 2252342 est 4017)

Dear Robert McLean

I/we write to call on the Canadian Delegation at SBSTTA 10 in Bangkok, Thailand, to stop trying to overturn the current international moratorium 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 to replant next season. Many consider it the most controversial 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 moratorium on further development of GURTS.

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.

The Canadian Delegation must abandon all attempts to overturn 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] or [email protected]

Pat Mooney (in Ottawa) +1 613 241 2267 [email protected]
Kathy Jo Wetter (USA) +1 919 9605223
[email protected]

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