It says it all that the industrially-aligned CGIAR has NEVER taken a public position against the contamination of native varieties of corn in Mexico, particularly, as the article notes, in the light of the study produced by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation which found that GM corn had contaminated local varieties of the crop in Mexico.

Unlike the CGIAR, the study recommends that Mexico enforce its moratorium on the planting of GM corn and apply stricter controls against imports of GM products from the United States. It also urges that studies be carried out to assess the impact that illegally planted GM corn has had on native species of plants, and that methods be developed to decontaminate local crops. It also recommends clearly labelling imports of products containing GM crops so consumers know what they are buying.

According to the article, Greenpeace says that the CEC report was completed in June, but that the results were not released because they would annoy U.S. biotech corporations. The CGIAR has long been pursuing an identical policy.

For more on CGIAR:
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=295
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Activists Take Fire at CGIAR
Diego Cevallos
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26116

MEXICO CITY, Nov 2 (IPS) - Environmentalists and farm activists in Mexico are criticising the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for allegedly distancing itself from small farmers and pandering to transnational biotech corporations that produce transgenic seeds.

CGIAR director-general Francisco Reifschneider, from Brazil, told IPS that "Those who are protesting have erroneous information. But their criticisms are welcome, because for us, dialogue with civil society and small farmers, to whom we give our work without charging one cent, is essential."

He was referring to protests outside the Mexico City hotel last week where the CGIAR was holding a meeting.

The CGIAR, which was created in 1971, describes itself as "a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organisations, and private foundations supporting 15 international agricultural centres".

"The alliance mobilises agricultural science to reduce poverty, foster human well being, promote agricultural growth and protect the environment," the organisation's web site adds.

The global alliance, which links more than 8,500 scientifist around the world, met Oct. 27-29 in the Mexican capital with agriculture ministers from a number of countries to assess the current state and future of agricultural research.

In the three-day meeting, the CGIAR publicly invited private companies to create research associations to combat hunger, which affects an estimated 842 million people in the world today.

According to studies, more than 70 percent of agricultural research is currently carried out by private companies like biotech firms that produce genetically engineered (GE) seeds.

"The activists who accuse us of promoting transgenic (crops) are mistaken," because of the 400 million dollars a year that the CGIAR invests in improving seeds, "just three percent goes towards transgenics," said Reifschneider.

The alliance of research institutions has a gene bank containing germ plasm from more than 600,000 varieties of crops, collected with the aim of improving seeds.

The products that the 15 affiliated centres work with, basically using crossbreeding techniques, include corn, rice, beans and potatoes, as well as breeds of fish and livestock.

But according to Silvia Ribeiro, spokeswoman in Latin America for the Canada-based Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, "The CGIAR is focused on private companies and biotechnology, and there is abundant evidence of that."

In late 2002, the committee of non-governmental organisations that formed part of the CGIAR fell apart when the alliance came under fire from many of its members for forging closer ties with transnational corporations and doing little or nothing in the face of evidence that native varieties of corn were being contaminated by GE corn in Mexico.

GE crops are banned in Mexico, the birthplace of corn, but have been planted anyway.

"We respect their point of view, but it is not accurate," said Reifschneider. "We work with complete transparency, and everything that we research and produce is offered to small farmers free of charge, because our mission is to fight hunger and improve crops, to produce more, and better."

With respect to transgenic crops, he said more research is needed, but added that he would only recommend their use if "there is no other alternative."

A CGIAR meeting on transgenics held in Italy last August was attended by representatives of biotech giant Monsanto and Dupont, which is also involved in the GE market, and there was a notable absence of delegates from small farmer organisations and other civil society groups.

One of the issues of most concern to activists is the fact that the patents for GE crops belong to a handful of corporations, which small farmers must pay to use their seeds.

The area sown with transgenic crops reached 67.7 million hectares worldwide in 2003, nine million more than in 2002, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), an international organisation that promotes GE crops.

The varieties of transgenic soy, corn, cotton and canola sold on the market today are controlled by just five transnational corporations from the industrialised North, which own the patents.

And just three countries -- Argentina, Canada and the United States -- account for more than 90 percent of the area planted in these crops, although they are being cultivated more and more widely in other countries as well.

The five corporations are Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta, Aventis and Dow, all of which argue that GE crops represent no risk to human health or the environment, and that their only interest in developing them is fighting hunger, which is why they have sought out alliances with bodies like the CGIAR.

But the contracts that the biotech companies make farmers sign when they buy transgenic seeds forbid them from saving seed from their harvests, which means they must purchase new seed every year.

That runs against the normal process of seed selection carried out by small farmers around the world, by which crops have traditionally been improved.

Another risk is that transgenic seeds accidentally reach fields of native varieties of crops, and contaminate them, which is what experts have reported in Mexico.

And to make matters worse, the corporations have even sued small farmers who harvest crops from fields that have been contaminated by GE crops, accusing them of using patented products without authorisation.

The environmental and farm activists protesting outside the hotel where the CGIAR held its meeting last week complained that GE crops are planted illegally in Mexico, and that they pose a threat to health and are used as an instrument of domination by the large corporations.

But Mexican Agriculture Minister Javier Usabiaga called the protesters "ignorant" people who can't handle the latest biotech advances.

Greenpeace, the international environmental watchdog, which took part in the demonstrations, said it is inconceivable that the CGIAR has not yet taken a public position against the contamination of native varieties of corn in Mexico.

"With respect to Usabiaga, all I can say is that it embarrasses us to have a minister like that, who labels those who do not believe in transgenic crops 'ignorant'," the director of Greenpeace Mexico's consumers programme, Areli Carrión, told IPS.

The International Centre for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat (CIMMYT), a CGIAR affiliate based in Mexico, said last month that it would continue to work on transgenic technologies.

The announcement was taken by activists as confirmation that public research centres are opting for such technologies, and are selling out to the corporations that produce GE seeds.

Last month, Greenpeace leaked a study produced by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), a NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) watchdog panel, which found that GE corn had contaminated local varieties of the crop in Mexico.

Greenpeace released the results of the two-year, 450,000-dollar study before the governments of Canada, the United States and Mexico -- the members of the CEC -- decided whether to release it.

The study recommends that Mexico enforce the moratorium on the planting of transgenic corn that has been in effect since 1998, and apply stricter controls against imports of GE products from the United States.

It also urges that studies be carried out to assess the impact that illegally planted GE corn has had on native species of plants, and that methods be developed to "decontaminate" local crops.

In addition, it recommends clearly labelling imports of products containing GE crops so consumers know what they are buying.

Greenpeace says that the CEC report was completed in June, but that the results were not released because they would annoy U.S. biotech corporations. (END/2004)