Scandalous pro GMO conference in Mexico

As big busi­ness pumps money into white­wash­ing the image of large scale chem­i­cal indus­trial GM mono­cul­tural farm­ing, cer­tain ele­ments within FAO are choos­ing to ignore their own major­ity find­ings and recommendations:

“The Inter­na­tional Assess­ment of Agri­cul­tural Knowl­edge, Sci­ence and Tech­nol­ogy for Devel­op­ment (IAASTD), a com­pre­hen­sive, peer-​reviewed assess­ment of the state of agri­cul­tural knowl­edge by over 400 sci­en­tists and devel­op­ment experts from around the globe, co-​sponsored by the FAO and other UN agen­cies, has con­cluded that genet­i­cally engi­neered crops are not likely to con­tribute sub­stan­tial solu­tions to the fun­da­men­tal prob­lems fac­ing agri­cul­ture today. Genetic engi­neer­ing is a tech­nol­ogy in search of a prob­lem, an expen­sive and risky dis­trac­tion from real solu­tions to address prob­lems of hunger, poverty and the impend­ing chal­lenges of cli­mate change. Increased fund­ing for eco­log­i­cal farm­ing solu­tions that repair degraded ecosys­tems and pro­vide resilience in the face of cli­mate change — not busi­ness as usual — are the way for­ward.” It is not sur­pris­ing that money is being pumped into oppos­ing IAASTD because the huge biotech chem­i­cal and seed com­pa­nies and the US Gov­ern­ment were the main dis­senters of the UN pol­icy. Dis­gusted farm­ers from all over the world are attend­ing a counter-​conference, organ­ised and hosted by the Mex­i­can national cam­paign, Sin maíz no hay país ” With­out Maize there is no Earth” to sup­port the above FAO agro-​ecological food sovereignty policy.

On 1March2010, GM Watch, ( http://www NULL.gmwatch NULL.eu/​latest-​listing/​1-​news-​items/​11988-​fao-​condemned-​for-​shameless-​promotion-​of-​gmos) and the listed organ­i­sa­tions, from all over the world expressed their con­tempt for this despi­ca­ble cow tow­ing to cor­po­rate power at the expense of the people.

To the orga­niz­ers of the UN Food and Agri­cul­ture Orga­ni­za­tion Inter­na­tional Tech­ni­cal Con­fer­ence on Agri­cul­tural Biotech­nolo­gies in Devel­op­ing Countries:

We the under­signed civil soci­ety orga­ni­za­tions are appalled at the deci­sion of the U.N. Food and Agri­cul­ture Orga­ni­za­tion (FAO) to spon­sor a tech­ni­cal con­fer­ence on agri­cul­tural biotech­nol­ogy at this time, in this place, the birth­place of maize. The con­fer­ence is tak­ing place as the Mex­i­can gov­ern­ment moves to intro­duce genet­i­cally engi­neered maize in field tri­als, threat­en­ing the cen­ter of ori­gin of maize and its most impor­tant cen­ter of diver­sity with irre­versible con­t­a­m­i­na­tion, a move being fought vocally and vig­or­ously — in this the UN Inter­na­tional Year of Bio­di­ver­sity — by Mex­i­can civil soci­ety, indige­nous peo­ples, campesinos, and all those who stand in defense of maize and its his­tory in Mex­ico. The cen­ter of diver­sity of maize in Mex­ico is a resource of unpar­al­leled impor­tance for human­ity. It is the repos­i­tory of our future options, our genetic alter­na­tives, as we con­front the dif­fi­cult chal­lenges of cli­mate change and con­tin­ued agri­cul­tural pro­duc­tion in envi­ron­ments degraded by agro­chem­i­cal pol­lu­tion. Mex­ico is the birth­place of maize and cus­to­dian of its genetic diver­sity, diver­sity now threat­ened by con­t­a­m­i­na­tion from the field tri­als. By hold­ing this con­fer­ence at this time in Mex­ico, the FAO appears to con­done this dan­ger­ous step. The Inter­na­tional Assess­ment of Agri­cul­tural Knowl­edge, Sci­ence and Tech­nol­ogy for Devel­op­ment (IAASTD), a com­pre­hen­sive, peer-​reviewed assess­ment of the state of agri­cul­tural knowl­edge by over 400 sci­en­tists and devel­op­ment experts from around the globe, co-​sponsored by the FAO and other UN agen­cies, has con­cluded that genet­i­cally engi­neered crops are not likely to con­tribute sub­stan­tial solu­tions to the fun­da­men­tal prob­lems fac­ing agri­cul­ture today. Genetic engi­neer­ing is a tech­nol­ogy in search of a prob­lem, an expen­sive and risky dis­trac­tion from real solu­tions to address prob­lems of hunger, poverty and the impend­ing chal­lenges of cli­mate change. Increased fund­ing for eco­log­i­cal farm­ing solu­tions that repair degraded ecosys­tems and pro­vide resilience in the face of cli­mate change — not busi­ness as usual — are the way for­ward. Unfor­tu­nately huge sums of money are instead being spent on this con­fer­ence, by the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity and the Mex­i­can gov­ern­ment, to clean the image of a tech­nol­ogy that risks con­t­a­m­i­nat­ing cen­ters of crop diver­sity, increases pes­ti­cide use and, through patent­ing, takes away farm­ers’ his­toric and fun­da­men­tal right to save seeds. The FAO should instead be using its resources to imple­ment the pol­icy options found in the 2000-​page doc­u­ment result­ing from the Inter­na­tional Agri­cul­ture Assess­ment. The world clearly faces huge chal­lenges ahead to seri­ously address hunger and poverty in the face of a chang­ing cli­mate. The wis­est sci­en­tists and agri­cul­tur­al­ists of the world have pro­vided us a blue­print for the way for­ward in the IAASTD report. One of the old­est agri­cul­tural civ­i­liza­tions of the world has given us a wealth of maize diver­sity. Noth­ing less than how to pro­tect and use these resources in a way that is sus­tain­able, socially just and ben­e­fi­cial for the world’s poor­est peo­ples and the planet’s frag­ile ecosys­tems must be the agenda of the con­fer­ence. Sig­na­to­ries African Bio­di­ver­sity Net­work African Cen­tre for Biosafety Agri­Cul­tures Net­work, Nether­lands All India Drug Action Net­work, India Anthra, India Aso­cia­cion ANDES, Peru AS-​PTA, Agri­cul­tura Famil­iar e Agroe­colo­gia, Brazil Biowatch South Africa Cal­i­for­ni­ans for GE-​free Agri­cul­ture, USA Cen­esta, Iran Cen­ter for Food Safety, USA Cen­ter for Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies, India Con­sumer Rights for Safe Food, Philip­pines Diverse Women for Diver­sity Doc­tors for Food & Biosafety, India Eco­log­i­cal Soci­ety of the Philip­pines Edmonds Insti­tute, USA Egyetemets Létezés Ter­mészetvédelmi Egyesület (ETK), Hun­gary Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies Insti­tute, Philip­pines EQUIVITA Sci­en­tific Com­mit­tee, Italy Fed­er­a­tion of Eco­log­i­cal and Envi­ron­men­tal Orga­ni­za­tions (FEEO), Cyprus FIAN Inter­na­tional Food Sys­tems Integrity, USA Foun­da­tion for Genetic Resource, Energy, Ecol­ogy and Nutri­tion, India Friends of the Earth Inter­na­tional Friends of the Earth, USA Gaia Foun­da­tion, United King­dom Gen-​ethisches Net­zw­erk (Gen-​ethical Net­work), Ger­many Genetic Rights Foun­da­tion, Italy GM Freeze, United King­dom GM Watch, United King­dom Green Con­ver­gence, Philip­pines Green­peace ILEIA, Cen­tre for Learn­ing on Sus­tain­able Agri­cul­ture, Nether­lands Insti­tute for Agri­cul­ture and Trade Pol­icy, USA Insti­tute for Cul­ture and Ecol­ogy, Kenya Insti­tute for Respon­si­ble Tech­nol­ogy, USA Insti­tute for Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment, Ethiopia Inter­na­tional Fed­er­a­tion of Organic Agri­cul­ture Move­ments (IFOAM) Inter­na­tional Peo­ples Health Coun­cil (South Asia ) Jus­tice and Peace Desk, Dio­cese of Mar­bel, Philip­pines Kenyan Debt Relief Net­work (KENDREN) Kheti Virasat Mis­sion, India MASIPAG (Farmer Sci­en­tist Part­ner­ship for Devel­op­ment), Philip­pines MIJARC Munlochy Vigil, Scot­land Nav­danya, India Net­work Opposed to Genet­i­cally Mod­i­fied Organ­isms, Philip­pines NOAH, Friends of the Earth, Den­mark Oak­land Insti­tute, USA Par­tido Kalikasan (Philip­pine Green Party) PELUM-​Kenya Pes­ti­cide Action Net­work North Amer­ica PLANT (Part­ners for the Land & Agri­cul­tural Needs of Tra­di­tional Peo­ples), USA Prac­ti­cal Action, United King­dom Provin­cial Organic Agri­cul­ture Pro­gram, Office of the Provin­cial Agri­cul­tur­al­ist, Negros Occi­den­tal, Philip­pines RAFI-​USA Save Our Seeds, Ger­many Ser­vi­cio de Infor­ma­ción Mesoamer­i­cano sobre Agri­cul­tura Sostenible (SIMAS), Nicaragua Soil Asso­ci­a­tion, United King­dom Sun­ray Har­vesters, India Third World Net­work Wash­ing­ton Biotech­nol­ogy Action Coun­cil, USA Wervel Bel­gium WFFP, Sri Lanka 49^th Par­al­lel Biotech­nol­ogy Consortium

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