[permaculture] The Green Party endorses International Seeds Day on April 26

Brent McMillan brent at gp.org
Tue Apr 7 12:21:33 EDT 2009


GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, 
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene at gp.org

The Green Party endorses International Seeds Day on April 26, calls for 
the repeal of Order 81 making Iraqi farmers dependent on US firms

• International Seeds Day http://www.INEAS.org/20090426_PR.pdf

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on 
environmental and international policy http://www.gp.org/speakers

• "The First 100 Days: What Would a Green Administration Look Like?" 
(video and text) http://www.gp.org/first100

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States has endorsed 
International Seeds Day (ISD, http://www.INEAS.org/20090426_PR.pdf) on 
April 26, which will mark the fifth anniversary of the passage and 
signing of Order 81 by Paul Bremer, administrator of the Coalition 
Provisional Authority in Iraq.

Order 81 (http://www.trade.gov/static/iraq_memo81.pdf) prohibits Iraqi 
farmers from reusing seeds harvested from new varieties introduced in 
Iraq and registered under the law. According to the law, farmers are 
banned from saving such seeds and required to pay royalties to the 
holder of the patent on the seed -- an American corporation. The Iraqi 
constitution has historically prohibited ownership of biological resources.

ISD, organized by the Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies 
(INEAS, http://www.INEAS.org), will educate the public and media about 
the importance of biodiversity and seed saving; the dangers of 
genetically modified food and patent seeds; the ruinous effect of Order 
81 on Iraqi agriculture; and the growing resistance to the power of 
giant agribusinesses over seed resources.

"Order 81 has made farmers in Iraq -- who have planted since 7000 BCE -- 
dependent on companies like Monsanto. We call on President Obama and 
Congress to repeal Order 81 immediately," said Sanda Everette, 
permaculture designer and a co-chair of the Green Party of the United 
States.

"Monsanto has a record of selling pest-resistant seeds that have been 
genetically engineered for sterility to farmers around the world, 
rendering the farmers permanently dependent. Order 81 has turned Iraq 
into a feeding trough for favored US corporations, just as the Iraqi 
hydrocarbon law gives US and British oil companies control over most 
Iraqi oil. The US invasion and occupation of Iraq have proven to be an 
exercise in death and destruction for the sake of corporate pillage," 
said Ms. Everette.

According to INEAS, "[f]armers in Iraq have operated in a mostly 
free-to-little-regulated, informal seed supply system. Farm-saved seeds 
and the free exchange of planting materials among farmers have long been 
the basis of agricultural practice in Iraq. Yet all of this has become 
history.... The purpose of Order 81 is to facilitate the establishment 
of a new seed market in Iraq, one in which Iraqi farmers are forced to 
make their annual purchase of seeds, including those that are 
genetically modified, from transnational corporations."

INEAS notes that Order 81 grants US firms complete control over Iraqi 
farmers' seed for 20 years, requiring them to sign an agreement to pay a 
'technology fee' and an annual license fee. "Plant Variety Protection 
(PVP) made seed reusing and saving illegal as well as 'similar' seed 
plantings punishable by severe fines and imprisonment. Agribusiness 
wants the same rights everywhere, including in the USA. This will 
jeopardize the future of organic and independent farming."

Similar laws have placed many developing countries in Africa and Asia, 
including Afghanistan and India, at the mercy of foreign agribusiness 
monopolies.

The Green Party supports the right of farmers to save their own seeds 
and preserve the heritage that farmers have developed over thousands of 
years to sustain human populations. Greens advocate the establishment of 
international seed banks such as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.

Greens support protection for small farms, farmers' markets, and 
organically and locally grown produce in the US and around the world, 
all of which have been threatened by agribusinesses like Monsanto, 
Archer Daniels Midland, and Tyson. The Green Party opposes genetic 
modification of organisms used for food and supports legislation to 
protect the public from threats to biodiversity from seed stocks created 
by corporations.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Tally of Green election victories 
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
• Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information: 
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

The Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS)
1 (617) 86-INEAS (864-6327)
INEAS at aol.com
INEAS_1994 at yahoo.com

The Organic Revolution
Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology
http://www.navdanya.org/organic/index.htm

GM Science Exposed
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/pdf/Papers_on_GM_Hazards.pdf

"The soils of war: The real agenda behind agricultural reconstruction in 
Afghanistan and Iraq"
Grain, March 2009
http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=217

"Order 81 and the plunder of farming"
By Latha Jishnu, April 1, 2009, Business Standard (India)
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/latha-jishnu-order-81the-plunderfarming/353518/

Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

~ END ~

Posted by:

Brent McMillan, Steward of Woodhaven
Avilla, IN, USA



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