MONSTER MUNCH INC.

Friday 15th March 2002 | Issue 346

WAKE UP! IT'S YER SMALL GENE POOL

“Since genetic engineering manipulates the basis of life, the
risks involved are more frightening than any other developed so
far... We feel it is unjust of the richest of the world to expect
us to bear the risks of their experimentation.” - Tewolde
Egziabher, Ethiopian Delegate (CBD).

In April UN delegates will be yapping about the state of the world’s
biodiversity resources over two-headed salmon and champagne at
the sixth meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
in Holland. Set up during the UN Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the CBD
have only just agreed on the useless Biosafety Protocol and The
Law of the Seed. Neither will have the power to stop the legal or
illegal spread of GMOs, protect farmers rights or stop finite
resources being plundered for profit. This is because these UN
organisations didn’t have the power or force of will to fight
powerful biotech corporations and the World Trade Organisation.

MEXICO
“What’s frightening is how fast it has spread” said Yolanda Lara,
spokesperson for Oaxaca’s non-governmental Rural Development
Agency about the spread of GM corn in Capulalpan, a village in the
hills of Mexico’s Oaxaca State. Normally locals might be thankful
for this new source of corn, the staple food of villages in the
area. But they now know this corn is GM, which is surprising
because GM crops have been banned in Mexico since 1998. Berkeley
scientists have confirmed that this new corn is the spawn of
Monsanto: it has the same DNA as the biotech giant’s commercial GM
maize. David Quist, responsible for the study suggests that “It’s
more likely that the contamination came from food aid brought into
these regions. A lot of it comes from the United States and a lot
of it is transgenic.” So under the guise of offering support to
poverty stricken villagers in remote parts of Mexico, the US has
managed to off-load tonnes of subsidised GM maize on unsuspecting
shopkeepers and subsistence farmers. Locals are worried that the
GM corn, which they say has been around in their shops for several
years, will out-compete native varieties. The Berkeley study
confirms their fears, suggesting that GM corn is likely to
dominate local corn and may also threaten the research of the
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, home to the
largest variety of endangered maize in the world. Quist believes a
well-enforced ban on imported GM corn and a programme to encourage
traditional habits of swapping and testing wild seeds is the way
forward.

PHILIPPINES
In February this year Greenpeace Asia activists blocked the
unloading of 17,000 tonnes of GM soybeans from the United States.
The Philippine government buys about 300,000 tonnes of soybeans
and over one million tonnes of soymeal annually, mainly from the
United States. Last October, Swiss corporation Novartis AG
confirmed allegations from Greenpeace that some samples of baby
food it sold did contain genetically modified soybean. Beau
Baconguis of Greenpeace Asia said, “We should not be forced to
feed our children with food the rest of the world is increasingly
rejecting.”

INDIA
India is the biggest cotton producer in the world so it was big
news when, in 1998, 500 farmers committed suicide in Andhra
Pradesh because of the failure of their cotton crops. Dr. Pushpa
Bhargava, an Indian biologist, told the Indian Science Congress
that the failure of the cotton seed in Andhra Pradesh in 1997 and
1998 should be investigated since Monsanto could have been using
local seed companies to market bad seed in order to destroy the
supply system. “The destruction of the seed supply and Monsanto’s
purchase of Indian seed companies would have ensured that Indian
farmers had no option but to buy Monsanto’s Bt. cotton and in
future Monsanto’s terminator crops.” The Indian farmers ain’t
taking this lying down and in 1998 the Karnatka farmers union
occupied and burned down the three fields of GM cotton and 500
farmers occupied Cargill, the biotech multinational offices,
throwing loads of their processing kit out of windows. They did
loads of other actions too as part of ‘Operation Cremate Monsanto’
and hundreds of farmers and activists took part in the
Intercontinental Caravan, which toured through Europe.

The struggle against biotech giants in India continues today and
on Monday 18th Indian women farmers will be in London to challenge
British Government aid to the state of Andhra Pradesh’s “Vision
20\20” programme, which will displace 25 million rural people, and
corporatise agriculture in the state. This action opposes the
Memorandum of Understanding signed by Chief Minister of AP and
Monsanto, which will give the company free rein to plant GM crops
throughout Andhra Pradesh. They will present the findings of a
Citizen’s Jury at 2pm in the House of Commons.

RESISTANCE IS FERTILE
While 9 EU states have a legal postponement of genetically
modified organisms, countries such as Sri Lanka and India have
been forced to bow to the ‘superior’ power of US backed World
Trade Organisation and sign the Trade Related Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement which limits their ability to
deny access to Monsanto and the like. That said, anti GM and
anti-capitalist actions are growing, so get yer arse in gear and
see what you can do to stop the greedy corporate elite (and their
government chums) from controlling our food supply.

The first GM crop bashing of the year kicked off in Warwickshire
last weekend. Following a procession about 100 people pulled up
some plants in a field of GM oil seed rape for half an hour before
police made five arrests. Despite the non-violent protest a police
spokesman said “We were treating it as a peaceful protest, but it
did go beyond that.” - probably unaware of cops enjoying tea and
cakes provided by the local Women’s Institute, in the village
hall, with the protesters after the event.

* To see if there’s any farm scale trials in your area contact:
020-7272-1586, www.geneticsaction.org.uk.

* After suing Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser for infringing
patent rights when his fields were contaminated with GM oil seed
rape, even though he was unaware of the contamination and was
unable to prevent it (SchNEWS 300) Monsanto are now threatening
other farmers. See the threatening letters at
www.percyschmeiser.com.

In a separate case two Canadian organic farmers are trying to sue
Monsanto and Aventis. They seek compensation for damages caused by
GM oilseed rape, and an injunction to prevent Monsanto from
introducing GM wheat into the region. The local organic farmers
group said “…losing wheat to genetic contamination would devastate
organic farming…our very future is at stake.” Info:
www.saskorganic.com.

* This Sunday (17th) there’s a Global Day of Action for Farmer’s
Struggle, www.viacampesina.org. And on 27th March is a Genetic
Futures in Food and Farming CDB talk, 12-4 pm, Main Lecture
Theatre School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Contact:
enquiries@itdg.org.uk. And running alongside the UN Conference in
Holland, Resistance is Fertile are organising actions, workshops
and activities for a world without GMOs and patents on life April
6th-19th. www.resistanceisfertile.org.