2.Quote of the week: the hidden goal
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1.THE SELF-REFERENTIAL PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES RECEIVES STREET PROTESTS
PRESS RELEASE, 20 May 2009
Press release by Guido Pollice, President of Verdi Ambiente e Società and by Fabrizia Pratesi, Scientific Committee Coordinator of Equivita
A sit-in on Piazzale Flaminio to inform the citizenry on GMOs.
On the 18th of May 2009, from 10:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. we organized a street protest to tell the citizenry that the study week promoted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences does not help science. Science needs dialogue, debate, doubt and not unilateral market initiatives behind 'closed doors'.
We organized the street protest to tell the citizenry that GMOs are not science. They are a (arguable) technology that, for roughly 30 years, has always borne the same fruit: plants genetically modified to become resistant to herbicides and insects.
Plants that are engineered only for the profit of a handful of agro-chemical multinationals. Patented plants that do nothing for the poor people in the world because they contribute to starve them and make them GMO-dependent.
Pope Benedict XVI has stated: 'The campaign to promote GM sowing, that pretends to grant food security [Å ] risks to ruin small farmers and to suppress their traditional crops, making them dependent on GM production companies ('Instrumentum laboris' document).
But neither the words of the Pontiff, nor the appeal of groups of Catholic organizations, nor the protest of civil society seems to have had an impact on the promotional campaign of biotech foodstuffs launched by the Pontifical Academy.
Fortunately however, the message conveyed by the Pontifical Academy does not find fertile ground within society. People are increasingly informed and interested in what they eat and it will not be easy to convince them that GMOs are good and fair products. Indeed, one of the latest surveys shows that European citizens consider it a priority that the European Community
ban GMOs (King Baldwin Foundation).
We have always 'invested' in an open debate with people. This is another reason why we organized a street protest on the 18th of May, in concomitance with the workshop: 'Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context of Development' of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. And, perhaps, our direct connection with people was, and continues to be, more effective than the self-referential debate organized within the Vatican.
For further information:
Press Office of VAS: +39 063608181 +39 329.1328437
Press Office of Equivita+39 : 063220720 +39 335.8444949
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2.Quote of the week: the hidden goal
Catholic missionary and author, Father Sean Mcdonagh on the real purpose of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences meeting
"They want to get rid of the very minimal regulations that we have at the moment. They said it in the introduction to the study week, and every one of them says it in his abstract. That's their goal. Bishop Sanchez Sorondo (chancellor of the Pontifical Academy) has said that the purpose is to examine whether GM crops are safe, but I'm sorry, that's not it. The purpose is to use the prestige of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and its good name to beat on governments so that you can reduce regulation.
I would also claim that they want to use something like the Potrykus rice [Golden Rice] as a battering ram against the regulatory process. The strategy is that if you get it through once, you've set the precedent."
Extract from:
GMOs are going to create famine and hunger
National Catholic Reporter (NCR), May 19 2009
http://ncronline.org/news/gmos-are-going-create-famine-and-hunger