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CEC wants to control issue of transgenic pollution in Mexico
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation is a bureaucracy spawned by
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The group was formed
with the sole purpose of adjudicating problems associated with cross
boarder environmental issues. Under NAFTA rules tribunals have been set
up to deal with particular environmental problems. For example,
tribunals have awarded damages in the $billion to a corporation which
wished to distribute a polluting gasoline additive in Canada because the
additive was banned and such tribunals have have awarded damages to
firms that wished to incinerate toxic wastes in Canada and Mexico but
were refused by the countries. Heretofore the commission tribunals have
been a gold mine for greedy american lawyers who spread pollution north
and south of USA. If CEC runs true to form they will likely impose
sanctions against Mexico for use of patented corn genes.
The "expert" panel put together to deal with the spread of transgenes to
Mexican corn is notable for excluding the investigators, such as
Dr. David Quist, who published the original finding on spread of
trangenes to Mexican corn. All of the original investigators should have
been included the original investigators. Currently the panel appears to
be weighed down by fatuous academic bureaucrats who mindlessly promote
american transgenic crops. The panel seems the first step along tribunal
path which seems to be a mechanism for imposing American pollution on
all North America and making Canada and Mexico pay them for the injury.
I hope that others will contact CEC to express concern that the original
investigators were not included on their "expert" panel.
Advisory group named to CEC study on genetic diversity of maize in Mexico
Montreal, 7 October 2002 -- The 16-member advisory group that will work
with the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
to examine issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of
traditional maize varieties in Mexico was announced today by the CEC
Secretariat.
In June, the CEC Secretariat informed the governments of Canada, Mexico
and the United States--the three partners to the North American Free
Trade Agreement--that it would prepare a special report on the potential
effects of transgenic corn on traditional maize varieties in Mexico.
Authority for the study comes from Article 13 of the North American
Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), the environmental side
accord to NAFTA.
The effects of transgenic varieties on maize in Mexico--the crop's
center of origin--have been a source of public concern and the CEC
Secretariat has received numerous requests to initiate this analysis.
The advisory group, chaired by Dr. José Sarukhán, senior professor of
ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México-UNAM), and Rapporteur of the World
Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology,
includes a distinguished group of experts encompassing the fields of
ecology, biotechnology, law, economics and public policy:
* David Andow, University of Minnesota, United States
* Mindahi Crescencio Bastida-Muñoz, Consejo Mexicano para el Desarrollo
Sustentable and member of the CEC Joint Public Advisory Committee, Mexico
* Andrew Baum, SemBioSys Genetics Inc., Calgary, Canada
* Susan Bragdon, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute,
United States
* Conrad Brunk, University of Victoria, Canada
* Donald Doering, Worldadjuticating Resources Institute, Washington,
DC, United States
* Norman Ellstrand, University of California at Riverside, United States
* Amanda Gálvez, UNAM, Mexico
* Luis Herrera Estrella, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados
del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico
* Julian Kinderlerer, University of Sheffield, England
* Peter Phillips, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
* Peter H. Raven, Missouri Botanical Gardens, United States
* Allison A. Snow, Ohio State University, United States
* José Luis Solleiro Rebolledo, Agrobio, Mexico
* Victor Manuel Toledo, UNAM, Mexico
The advisory group will guide the CEC Secretariat's examination of this
issue and will participate in the development of the special report to
the Council of the CEC, including whatever recommendations the advisory
group may wish to make.
As with other reports initiated by the CEC Secretariat under NAAEC's
Article 13, the maize study will include input from prominent
international and national groups, sector organizations, the private
sector, interested members of the public, as well as the three NAAEC
parties. Public input will be solicited throughout the study process,
including a symposium planned for Mexico in 2003.
The Secretariat's report is expected in early 2004.
The CEC was established by Canada, Mexico and the United States to build
cooperation among the three partners in implementing NAFTA's
environmental accord. The CEC addresses environmental issues of
continental concern, with particular attention to the environmental
challenges and opportunities presented by continent-wide free trade.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
393, rue Saint-Jacques Ouest, Bureau 200
Montréal (Québec) Canada H2Y 1N9
Tel: (514) 350-4300; Fax: (514) 350-4314
E-mail: info@ccemtl.org
Web site: http://www.cec.org
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