ACTION ALERT - STOP TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY NOW! (7/2/2005) | |
URGENT ACTION ALERT - STOP TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY NOW! This follows on from the request for help from the ETC. group. 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 * 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 ***************************** Prime Minister Paul Martin Dear Mr. Martin, I am writing to urgently request that you continue support for the current international ban on Terminator Technology, officially known as Terminator technology was developed jointly by the US government and the seed industry to prevent farmers from saving seed from one year's 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 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 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: 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 Pat Mooney (in Ottawa) +1 613 241 2267 [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> |