Japan Offspring Fund / Zenkoku Nodanro
November 4, 2004 Tokyo, Japan

Japan Offspring Fund (JOF) did a demonstration today in central Tokyo together with Nodanro, the National Federation of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Cooperatives Workers' Unions.

Many Japanese environmental and consumer organizations are actively opposing GM rice research. We were happy to hear the opinions of Nodanro, who seems very reluctant to farm such rice, should it be permitted. Nodanro also expresses strong concern about issues related to the monopoly problem (such as patenting of GM rice varieties) and anti-diversity associated with genetically modified crops.

We handed out leaflets with information about Genetically Modified Organisms. The leaflets said "Stop GM Rice" and explained in detail about risks of GM, such as monopolization, anti-safety and anti-diversity. The message was: "We support sustainable agriculture!" From Nodanro, the president Shinichiro Okada participated. There were lots of police but the event went really well. The demonstration took place outside Akasaka Prince Hotel, where the Japanese Agriculture Ministry and IRRI held a Symposium about GM rice. 2004 is the International Year of Rice according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. The official events will continue in Tsukuba until Nov. 7, 2004.

More info:
Rice 2004 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
http://www.fao.org/rice2004/index_en.htm
International Rice Research Institute information about the World Rice Conference in Tokyo and Tsukuba, Nov 2004:
http://www.irri.org/wrrc2004/
Zenkoku Nodanro: Zenkoku Norin Gyogyo Dantai Shokuin Rodokumiai Rengo Heiwa Bldg. 5-gokan 5F, 5-8, Hamamatsu-cho 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0013
Phone: 03-3437-0931
Fax: 03-3437-0681
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Homepage: http://www.nodanro.or.jp/

Sincerely,
Martin Frid
Japan Offspring Fund