Grassroots Pressure Preserves a "Fragile Global Moratorium" on Terminator Seeds

ETC Group
News Release
Friday, February 11, 2005
www.etcgroup.org

Suicide Seeds - Bombshell in Bangkok
Canadian-Led Coup to Allow Terminator Technology Narrowly Squelched at
UN Meeting

Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto, spoke today
at a UN meeting in Bangkok - harshly criticizing his governments'
efforts to promote field-testing and commercialization of Terminator
seeds (plants genetically-modified to render seeds sterile at harvest
time).

"The Canadian government has acted shamefully. It is supporting a
dangerous, anti-farmer technology that aims to eliminate the rights of
farmers to save and re-use harvested seed," said Schmeiser. "Instead of
representing the good will of the Canadian people or attending to the
best interests of the Biodiversity Treaty, the Canadian government is
fronting for the multinational gene giants who stand to win enormous
profits from the release of Terminator seeds around the world."

Schmeiser is the 74-year old Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto
for patent infringement when the company's patented, genetically
modified canola seed invaded his farm - unwanted and unwelcome. A victim
of genetic pollution and a champion of Farmers' Rights, Schmeiser
courageously fought Monsanto all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court.

A Canadian government proposal to unleash Terminator was leaked to the
ETC Group on the first day of a UN meeting in Bangkok, February 7-11
(SBSTTA, the scientific advisory body to the Convention on Biological
Diversity - CBD). The news stunned farmers' organizations, government
delegations, and civil society worldwide. Ottawa's instructions to the
Canadian delegation in Bangkok called for an all-out push for
field-testing and commercialisation of sterile seed technologies,
effectively un-doing the precautionary, de facto moratorium on
Terminator seeds adopted by governments in 1998. Even worse, the
Canadian delegation was instructed to "block consensus" by governments
attending the meeting if it didn't get its way. ETC Group has also
learned that, in advance of the Bangkok meeting, Canadian embassies
around the world asked governments to support a recommendation for
"field testing and commercial use" of Terminator. Canada's blatant
promotion of an anti-South technology does not bode well for the G8
meeting of world leaders in July in Scotland where Canada will propose
to introduce nanotechnology on the G-8 agenda.

After being swamped this week by protest emails and letters, the
Canadian government was forced to soften its public position on
Terminator, but it continued to press a solidly pro-Terminator view in
the corridors and in a committee appointed to negotiate draft text on
Terminator. (The drafting group on Terminator included representatives
from Canada, the European Community, Peru, Tanzania, and the
Philippines.) By Thursday morning Canada and its seed industry allies
had drafted text that included language promoting Terminator field
trials, capacity building for the use of Terminator in the developing
world and specifically invited the research participation of "private
sector entities."

"The draft text on Terminator released Thursday morning was appalling -
it looked like it was written by the multinational seed industry," said
Jim Thomas of ETC Group, speaking from Bangkok. "It strongly reflected
the Canadian government 's pro-Terminator position as revealed earlier
this week in the leaked document."

Suicide Seed Squad: Canada hasn't been working alone in Bangkok. The UN
meeting was crawling with representatives from the biotech industry and
related trade groups - including Monsanto, Delta & Pine Land, Crop Life
International, PHARMA (pharmaceutical manufacturers), the International
Seed Federation and more - who lobbied against current restrictions on
the development of suicide seeds. New Zealand and Australia also backed
the position of industry and Canada, while a fleet of US government
representatives observed from the sidelines. (The US government is not a
Party to the Biodiversity Convention.)

Thankfully, disaster was averted due to key interventions by the
governments of Norway, Sweden, Austria, the European Community, Cuba,
Peru and Liberia, on behalf of the African Group.

The good news is that these governments managed to delete the most
offensive wording. The final text and recommendations reaffirm earlier
decisions, amounting to a continuing, but fragile, de facto moratorium
on Terminator. The issue now bounces to another CBD advisory body (the
Working Group on 8(j)) in March 2006.

Interminable Terminator? The bad news is that decisions made in Bangkok
will allow the issue of Terminator to be re-examined and re-studied
interminably. In ETC Group's view, the CBD continues to dilly-dally and
delay decisions on Terminator while the industry is moving full-speed
ahead to bring sterile seeds to market.

"The international community needs to know that Terminator technology is
a real and present danger. The biotech industry is chomping on the bit
to commercialize suicide seeds. Nothing short of an all-out ban on
Terminator will stop it from being unleashed in farmer's fields," said
Hope Shand of ETC Group.

For more information:

Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc@etcgroup.org:
Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) hope@etcgroup.org: 919
960-5223
Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) silvia@etcgroup.org: 52 55 55 632 664
Jim Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim@etcgroup.org: 44 (0)7752 106806 (mobile)

Note to Editors:

Terminator technology was first developed by the US Department of
Agriculture and the multinational seed industry to prevent farmers from
replanting saved seed. When it came to public light in 1998 massive
public opposition forced Monsanto and Syngenta to disavow the
technology.

SBSTTA is the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and
Technological Advice, a body that advises the UN Convention on
Biological Diversity. www.biodiv.org

The United Nations refers to Terminator seed technology as GURTs
(genetic use restriction technology).

For more information on Percy Schmeiser's court case, see:
www.percyschmeiser.com

****************************************************************************
****************************
This GMO news service is underwritten by a generous grant from the Newman's
Own Foundation, edited by Thomas Wittman and is a production of the
Ecological Farming Association www.eco-farm.org <http://www.eco-farm.org/>
****************************************************************************
****************************