Thu, 11 Mar 1999
Caspar Davis
Subject: IMPORTANT: Help Kill Terminator
This is one of the most important issues of the day. Please write. My letter is appended; feel free to copy it if you like.
Caspar Davis
***FORWARDED (and edited) MESSAGE
***Dear Members of the Global Response "Quick Response Network":
Here's news re. some POSITIVE impacts of our letter campaigns!
1) GR Action #1/99: Terminator Technology
Our collaborating organization RAFI reports that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's offices are "inundated" with letters on Terminator Technology. Already the deluge of letters has pushed FAO to put Terminator Technology on the agenda of its April meeting. We have learned that over 35 patents are now pending on various Terminator-type technologies. Monsanto, in other words, is not the only problem. We have to address this on an international level -- and the FAO is the BEST target. A strong resolution against Terminator Technology at FAO's April meeting will set off a snowball effect throughout the international arena. That's what we need to stop the utilization of this technology before it starts. Please see our website (http://www.globalresponse.org) for details (Index of Past Actions, GR Action #1/99) -- and send a fax to the FAO!
At the website, you will find (inter alia):
Please send a polite letter to:
Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director General United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Viale delle Terme di Caracella 00100 Rome, Italy Fax: Internat'l access code+390(6) 570-53152
In your letters, urge the FAO to condemn Terminator Technology because:
The FAO is the voice for world food security in the United Nations. In the context of its Food for All Campaign, the FAO should come to the defense of the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved seed for their survival. Scientists warn that under certain conditions the trait for seed sterility will be carried by pollen to surrounding plants, both wild and cultivated, causing inadvertent sterilization. If farmers are forced or persuaded to use Terminator Seeds, centuries of crop genetic diversity developed by the world's small farmers could be lost forever. An FAO resolution against Terminator Technology will effectively warn governments of the danger of granting patents on Terminator Technology.
You may also want to express your concerns about Terminator Technology to:
Secretary Dan Glickman U.S. Dept. of Agriculture 1400 Independence Ave SW Washington DC 20250 Fax: 202/720-2166
Robert B. Shapiro Chairman and CEO Monsanto 800 N. Lindbergh St. Louis MO 63167 Fax: 314/694-1757
CGIAR Policy on the Terminator - The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research is a global network of 16 international agricultural research centers. CGIAR gives the following reasons for its decision against using Terminator Technology in its breeding materials: (1) the potential risk that seed sterilization may spread to surrounding crops through pollen; (2) the possibility that sterilized seeds might be sold or exchanged for planting; (3) the importance of farm-saved seed, particularly to resource-poor farmers; (4) potential negative impacts on genetic diversity and (5) the importance of farmer selection and breeding for sustainable agriculture.
A Farmer's Duty - "A farmer's duty is protecting the earth, maintaining its fertility, and maintaining the fertility of seed. Farmers have such pride in saying, 'This is the tenth generation seeds that I'm planting'.When we plant a seed there's a very simple prayer that every peasant in India says: 'Let the seed be exhaustlesslet it bring forth seed next year.' But that prayerseems to be changing into the prayer, 'Let this seed get terminated so that I can make profits every year,' which is the prayer that Monsanto is speaking through the terminator technology." -- Dr. Vandana Shiva, from an interview published in In Motion Magazine
"The Earth is not dying - it is being killed. And the people who are killing it have names and addresses."
- U. Utah Phillips
--------
* MY LETTER:
*Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director General United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Viale delle Terme di Caracella 00100 Rome, Italy
Dear Dr. Diouf:
I urge the FAO to condemn Terminator Technology because the FAO is the voice for world food security in the United Nations.
The major reasons for condemning Terminator technology include: (1) the potential risk that seed sterilization may spread to surrounding crops through pollen; (2) the possibility that sterilized seeds might be sold or exchanged for planting; (3) the importance of farm-saved seed, particularly to resource-poor farmers; (4) potential negative impacts on genetic diversity and (5) the importance of farmer selection and breeding for sustainable agriculture.
In the context of its Food for All Campaign, the FAO should come to the defense of the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved seed for their survival. Scientists warn that under certain conditions the trait for seed sterility will be carried by pollen to surrounding plants, both wild and cultivated, causing inadvertent sterilization.
If farmers are forced or persuaded to use Terminator Seeds, centuries of genetic crop diversity, developed by the world's small farmers to match myriad climate and soil conditions, could be lost forever. In this era of global warming and increasing climatic instability, preservation of seed diversity is more important than ever.
An FAO resolution against Terminator Technology will effectively warn governments of the danger of granting patents on Terminator Technology.
Yours Very Truly,