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[SANET-MG] Monsanto may commercialize terminator
Terminator includes both the old version created by USDA and newer
versions based on MADS box genetics. A recent patent was granted on a
fertility control in which the pollen or egg cells were killed in the
living plant using Ricin A toxin. Terminator will impact small farmers
and gardeners directly even if the constructions did not use dangerous
toxins. However both the original terminator (using barnase
ribonuclease) and the new generation using toxins including ricin A pose
a tangible threat to human and animal health.
Title : Monsanto May Commercialize Terminator\r\n
Date : 22 February 2006\r\n
Contents: Ban Terminator<br />
www.BanTerminator.org<br />
News Release<br />
21 February 2006<br />
<br />
Monsanto May Commercialize Terminator<br />
Biotech Giant Revises Pledge on Sterile Seed Technology as Global <br />
Alliance Calls for a Ban.<br />
<br />
Monsanto, the world's largest seed and agbiotech company, made a public
promise in 1999 not to commercialize 'Terminator Technology' - plants
that are genetically engineered to produce sterile seeds. Now Monsanto
says it may develop or use the so-called 'suicide seeds' after all. The
revised pledge from Monsanto now suggests that it would use Terminator
seeds in non-food crops and does not rule out other uses of Terminator
in the future. (1) Monsanto's modified stance comes to light as the
biotech and seed industry confront peasant and farmer movements,
Indigenous peoples and their allies in an escalating battle at the
United Nations over the future of Terminator.<br />
<br />
In 2000 the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
adopted a de facto moratorium on sterile seed technologies, also known
as Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs). But at next month's
high-level meeting of the CBD in Curitiba, Brazil (20-31 March 2006) the
biotechnology industry will intensify its push to undermine the six-year
old de facto moratorium.<br />
<br />
In response, over 300 organizations today declared their support for a
global ban on Terminator Technology, asserting that sterile seeds
threaten biodiversity and will destroy the livelihoods and cultures of
the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved seed.<br />
<br />
"The world's farmers and Indigenous peoples cannot trust Monsanto," said
Alejandro Argumedo from Asociacion ANDES - Potato Park in Cusco, Peru
"Monsanto's broken promise is a deadly betrayal because Indigenous
peoples and farmers depend on seed saving for food security and
self-determination."<br />
<br />
Terminator technology was first developed by the United States
Department of Agriculture and US seed company Delta & Pine Land to
prevent farmers from saving and re-using harvested seed, forcing them to
buy new seeds each season. (2)<br />
<br />
In October 1999, in response to worldwide opposition, Monsanto publicly
pledged not to commercialize Terminator seeds. Then-CEO, Robert Shapiro,
wrote an open letter to the Rockefeller Foundation, stating, "I am
writing to let you know that we are making a public commitment not to
commercialize sterile seed technologies, such as the one dubbed
'Terminator.'"<br />
<br />
Now, Monsanto has revised its commitment, pledging to keep Terminator
only out of food crops - opening the door to the use of Terminator in
cotton, tobacco, pharmaceutical crops and grass with sterility genes.<br />
<br />
Referring to new versions of GURTs, Monsanto's 'pledge' now says,
"Monsanto does not rule out the potential development and use of one of
these technologies in the future. The company will continue to study the
risks and benefits of this technology on a case-by-case basis."<br />
<br />
"Monsanto's revised pledge resonates closely with the actions of a few
rich governments that have been promoting Terminator at the UN
recently," points out Chee Yoke Ling of Third World Network. "It looks
like Monsanto and other corporations are behind the strategy to unleash
Terminator at the upcoming meetings of the CBD".<br />
<br />
Monsanto's new stance on Terminator is part of an industry-wide attempt
to undermine the de facto moratorium. In the past year, government
delegates from Canada, Australia and New Zealand, working hand in hand
with the biotech industry, have used UN meetings to introduce new text
that will be considered at next month's CBD meeting in Brazil. (3) This
text recommends Terminator technologies be approached on a "case by case
risk assessment" basis - echoing the language of Monsanto's new
'pledge.' The intention behind the 'case by case' approach is to
regulate Terminator just like any other genetically modified crop. This
would ignore the uniquely devastating societal impacts of genetic seed
sterility.<br />
<br />
"Terminator is a direct assault on farmers, Indigenous cultures and on
the food sovereignty and well-being of all rural people, primarily the
very poorest," said Chukki Nanjundaswamy of India from La Via Campesina,
an organization representing tens of millions of peasant farmers
worldwide. "If Monsanto bullies the UN into allowing 'case by case'
assessment of Terminator, it means farmers will be carried off the land
coffin by coffin."<br />
<br />
"These companies have a clear and simple vision that nothing should be
grown without a license from Monsanto and a few other masters of
sterility and reproduction," explains Benny Haerlin of Greenpeace
International. "They pursue this strategy step by step or 'case by case'
as they now call it. If governments at the CBD give in to Monsanto and
erode the Terminator moratorium we will all have to pay the bill
tomorrow and the collateral damage will be the integrity and fertility
of nature."<br />
<br />
The Ban Terminator campaign today announces the names of over 300
organizations worldwide that are demanding a ban on Terminator
technology. The list of organizations is available at
http://www.banterminator.org/endorsements These organizations are from
every region of the world and include peasant farmer movements and farm
organizations, Indigenous peoples organizations, civil society and
environmental groups, unions, faith communities, international
development organizations, women's movements, consumer organizations and
youth networks.<br />
<br />
"We are particularly alarmed that Monsanto's edited pledge no longer
rejects commercialization of this dangerous technology." said Lucy
Sharratt of the international Ban Terminator Campaign. "We are calling
on national governments to dismiss Monsanto's tactic in favour of an
all-out ban on Terminator. We invite all civil society <br />
and social movements to join with us for the battle against Terminator
next month in Brazil."<br />
<br />
For more information contact:<br />
<br />
Canada:<br />
Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator,<br />
Ban Terminator Campaign<br />
+1 613 252 2147 mobile<br />
+ 1 613 241 2267<br />
Pat Mooney, ETC Group<br />
Jim Thomas, ETC Group<br />
+1 613 241 2267<br />
lucy@banterminator.org<br />
jim@etcgroup.org<br />
www.banterminator.org<br />
<br />
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