1.NEW ACTION ALERT: email the NZ Government TODAY
2.URGENT ACTION NEEDED - Please email Canadian delegation today THURSDAY
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1.ACTION ALERT: email the NZ Government TODAY
[For details see urls to 3 stories below]
New Zealand and Australia are the only two nations backing Canada's attempt to overturn the ban on Terminator technologies at the UN Conference in Bangkok. GE Free NZ (story 1) and the NZ Green Party (story 2) today called on the NZ Government to oppose Terminator. The NZ Government (story 3) are refusing - stating that 'opinion is divided' - ie they, with Canada and Australia are divided from the rest of the world.
** To send your protest to New Zealand Ministers email:
-Environment Minister: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
-Trade Negotiations Minister: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
-Research, Science & Tech Minister: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
-Economic Development Minister: jim.anderton at parliament.govt.nz
-Foreign Affairs Minister: phil.goff at parliament.govt.nz
Urge them to change New Zealand's stance on terminator technology at Friday's final meeting.
1. ''Stop Terminator!'' Government Urged
www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/SC0502/S00035.htm
2. Govt Urged To Back Down On Terminator Technology
www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0502/S00238.htm
3. NZ supports case-by-case assessment
www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0502/S00251.htm
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2.URGENT! Terminator email call
From: "Carrie Stebbings" This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
URGENT ACTION NEEDED - Please email THURSDAY
Dear Freeze Supporter,
On Tuesday 8th February 2005 the Freeze sent out a press release saying that the Canadian Delegation at the meeting of Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in Bangkok planned to try to overturn the current moratorium on terminator technology, officially known as Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTS). These technologies are designed to cause saved seed to fail to germinate when it is replanted, unless treated with chemicals.
An outcry has already ensued around the world and the Delegation appear to be backtracking. However, pressure is still required for a further meeting on Friday (the middle of Thursday night in the UK).
So please email your protest as soon as possible and before the end of this Thursday 10th Feb to the head of the Canadian Delegation and copy your email to the following list. If you can phone or fax, that would be even better!
Addresses and a suggested brief letter can be found below.
Thank you,
..
To the Head of the Canadian Delegation in Bangkok, Robert McLean, Environment Canada, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. tel +1 (819) 9971303
CC: Prime Minister of Canada, Right Hon. Paul Martin This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Fax: (613) 941-6900, Tel: (613) 992-4211
Hon. Andy Mitchell, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Fax: (613) 991-2147 Tel: (613) 996-3434
F.B. Fadden, President, Canadian Food Inspection Agency This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Fax: 228 6608 Tel: (613) 225-2342 extension 3737
Canadian Food inspection agency (Plant Biosafety office) Jennifer McLean (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - phone 613 2252342 ext 4797), Toolika Rastogi
(This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. phone 613 2252342 est 4017)
Dear Robert McLean
I/we write to call on the Canadian Delegation at SBSTTA 10 in Bangkok, Thailand, to stop trying to overturn the current international moratorium on Terminator Technology, officially known as Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTS).
Terminator technology was developed jointly by the US government and the seed industry to prevent farmers from saving seed from one year's harvest to replant next season. Many consider it the most controversial agricultural application of genetic engineering to date. Massive public opposition to the introduction of these "suicide seeds" in 1998 forced the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to impose a moratorium on further development of GURTS.
Farmers have an inalienable right to save, re-use, and exchange seed based on the traditional practices of thousands of generations of cultivators worldwide. The lifting of the moratorium on GURTS would effectively end farmers' rights to save seed and pose a serious threat to food sovereignty.
The Canadian Delegation must abandon all attempts to overturn the moratorium on GURTs.
Sincerely,
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
For more information on Terminator Technology:
www.etcgroup.org/documents/TermCom03.pdf
Hope Shand and Jim Thomas of ETC Group can be contacted at SBSTTA negotiations in Bangkok on cell phone +44 (0) 7752 106806 or by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pat Mooney (in Ottawa) +1 613 241 2267 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Kathy Jo Wetter (USA) +1 919 9605223
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.