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  • From: "Jill Taylor Bussiere" <jdt AT itol.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Genetically Engineered Corn
  • Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 09:00:15 -0600


From Global Exchange Sent on by Jill, Wi
***********************

Please join us for the week of actions in the Continental Campaign and
Protest Against Genetically Engineered Corn from April 10-17, 2002.

Farmer, environmental, indigenous, and consumer groups will stage protests
and hold press conferences across North and South America the
week of April 10-17 -- launching a Continental Campaign Against Genetically
Engineered Corn (Campaña Continental Contra el Maíz Transgénico).

Mexico, the center of origin and diversity of corn, has been "contaminated"
by Genetically Engineered varieties of corn. The genetic contamination of
Mexican native corn varieties threatens not only the genetic integrity of
corn, one of the world's most important basic crops, but the food security
for millions in the Americas.

The entrance of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 has
provoked the widespread economic displacement of local farming communities
and the genetic erosion of corn resulting from the
"dumping" or sale of corn under the price of production. Corporate control
basic grains, patented seeds and chemical inputs like fertilizers is
undermining food sovereignty and threatening biodiversity. In Mexico, the
hardest hit are indigenous campesinos or farmers who account for the vast
majority of Mexican corn producers. Although the source of contamination of
native Mexican corn varieties is unknown, most evidence leads to the some 6
million tons of corn exported each year to Mexico from the United States.
35-40% of the corn planted in the United States is Genetically Engineered.

Rural and urban activists throughout the Americas will call on grain
exporters, the biotech industry, and the US and Canadian governments to stop
dumping untested and unlabeled genetically engineered corn on Mexico and
other nations, where irreplaceable corn varieties are being damaged by
"genetic pollution."

Campaign activists are also demanding that corporations and governments heed
the concerns of consumers, North and South, and remove genetically
engineered corn and other foods and crops from the market, unless they
can be proven to be safe for human health and the environment. Recently
hundreds of US consumers have reported allergic reactions to the FDA after
eating Kraft and other brand name products likely containing genetically
engineered corn. In Mexico researchers have detected widespread
contamination of traditional varieties of corn, caused by surreptitious
imports of genetically engineered corn into Mexico by grain export giants
such as Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill.

On April 10-17, activists in North and South America will dump corn and
organize picket lines, protests, press conferences and petitions to
government, corporate and supranational organizations. Key demands
include: 1) Continental prohibition of Genetically Engineered corn, 2) Stop
dumping Genetically Engineered corn on Mexico and other centers of
diversity; and 3) Guarantee a fair price to all corn producers, North and
South.

Protesters will target US Embassies, Mexican Consulate offices, grain
ports, corporate offices (Kraft, Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill,
Monsanto) as well as major grain exchanges in Winnipeg, Minneapolis, and
Chicago.

If you wish to help organize a protest or press event in your local
area in the US or Canada contact jessica AT organicconsumers.org or call
218-226-2164 in the USA. In the USA protests are being organized by the
Organic Consumers Association, the Genetically Engineered Food Alert,
and Global Exchange, among others. For more information, to endorse the
call to action or for Bay Area activities information, please contact the
Global Exchange Mexico Program mexico AT globalexchange.org, call the Mexico
Program (415) 255-7296 Ext. 239 or visit the Global Exchange Mexico
Program's web site at http://www.globalexchange.org/campaaigns.mexico.

In Latin America, the April 17 protests are being organized by leading
campesino, indigenous, environmental and environmental groups. To help
organize an event in Latin America contact biodiversidad AT laneta.apc.org

During the week, a fax action and letter writing campaign will also be
posted to the Global Exchange site, calling for:

1. The Mexican Embassy to stop corn imports from the United States,
ratify the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and, pass Public Health Law
82 requiring labeling for Genetically Modified Organisms.

2. The country delegates at the UN Biodiversity Summit in The Hague,
The Netherlands from April 8-19 2002, to propose an immediate moratorium on
GM grain shipments to centers of origin, ban all Genetic Use Restriction
Technologies or Terminator crops, and ratify the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety in their country of origin.

Endorsers:

México Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Políticas de Acción
Comunitaria (CIEPAC); Red Mexicana de Acción Frente al Libre Comercio
(RMALC); Red de Acción sobre Plaguicidas y Alternativas en México
(RAPAM); Consejo de Organizaciones de Médicos y Pateras Indígenas
Tradicionales de Chiapas (COMPITCH); Desarrollo Económico y Social de los
Mexicanos Indígenas, A. C. (DESMI); Estudiantes Tzeltales de Guaquitepec"
Chilón, Chiapas; Las Abejas and Centro de Derechos Humanos Tepeyac del Istmo
de Tehuantepec. Honduras Coordinación de Organizaciones Populares e
Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH). Guatemala Plataforma por la Vida- Consejo de
Investigaciones para el Desarrollo de Centroamérica Asociación (CIDECA);
Fundación para el Desarrollo Educativo Social y Económico (CIEBA); Centro de
Estudios de la Frontera Occidental de Guatemala (CEDFOG); Instituto Meso
Americano de Permacultura (IMAP); Pastoral Social de la Tierra
Huehuetenango; Asociación de Mujeres LEMNA; Mamá Maquín; Derechos en Acción
and Oxfam Australia Brasil Movimiento de los Trabajadores Rurales sin Tierra
(MST); MPA; ANMTR; CPT; FEAB and MAB. El Salvador Foro Agropecuario. Haití
Platfom Ayisyen pu Pledwaya pou yon Devlopman Alternatif (RAPDA). Dominican
Republic: Colectivo de Organizaciones Populares. Paraguay
Sobrevivencía-Friends of the Earth Paraguay. Colombia Organizaciones
Indígena de Colombia. Ecuador ECUARUNARI. Canada ETC Group and Canadian
Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP). United States:
Organic Consumers Association; Global Exchange; Food First; Rights Action;
Centro para la Justicia Económica; South West Organizing Project; First
Nations North and South; Pesticide Action Network; Center for Food Safety;
National Environmental Trust; Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy;
State Public Interest Research Groups and Friends of the Earth-US.
Continental Networks: La Convergencia de Movimientos de los Pueblos de las
Américas (COMPA), Red de Acción en Plaguicidas y sus Alternativas de América
Latina (RAPAAL)


_________________________________________________________________

Global Exchange

http://www.globalexchange.org







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