Hi! Thought you all might be interested in this petition if you have not
received something about this already. Please sign and please forward!
Thank you!!
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: PANUPS: Action Alert, WTO, Hands Off Our Food!
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 16:54:32 -0700
From: PANUPS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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P A N U P S
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service
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Action Alert: WTO, Hands Off Our Food!
July 20, 2004
Join the "Bite Back the WTO" signature campaign against the U.S. attempt
to use the World Trade Organization (WTO) to force genetically
engineered food on the European Union (EU). In May of 2004, the campaign
presented the WTO with 100,000 signatures from people in 90 nations,
arguing against a U.S. legal challenge that would allow biotech
companies to gain a foothold in the EU. The on-line petition continues
to collect signatures and aims to deliver even more objections to the
WTO before the case is settled. Sign the petition at,
http://www.bite-back.org.
A May 2003 legal complaint filed by the U.S., Argentina and Canada
argues that the European Union's informal moratorium on GE food is an
illegal barrier to free trade. If the U.S. wins the dispute the EU will
either face economic sanctions or must accept more genetically
engineered (GE) food. Such a ruling would also make it more difficult
for developing countries to prevent importation of GE crops or
genetically modified organisms (GMOs), allowing biotech corporations
easier access to new markets in the global South.
The Bite Back coalition argues that people and their governments -- not
the WTO -- should decide what to eat and what to farm, and that
decisions about the health and environmental risks of GE food should be
made in accordance with the United Nations Cartegena Protocol on
Biosafety. Signed in June of 2003, the Biosafety Protocol recognizes the
risks of GMOs and allows importing governments to apply the
precautionary principal when considering whether to let " live" GMOs
like seeds across their borders. The Protocol also recommends that all
shipments be accompanied by appropriate documentation and labeled " may
contain GMOs."
The WTO complaint was put forward as the EU was about to lift its
moratorium on GE crops, which suggests that the GE labeling and
traceability legislation underway in the EU may have been its intended
target. Another target of the legal action was the Biosafety Protocol
itself, then being ratified around the world. Many view the complaint as
an attempt to intimidate the growing rejection of GMOs by developing
countries.
The "Bite Back: WTO Hands Off Our Food!" campaign is organized by
Friends of the Earth, together with ActionAid Alliance, Public Services
International, Public Citizen, the International Gender and Trade
Network, the French Confédération Paysanne, the Indian Research
Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and is joined by more
than 200 other organizations. The campaign's aim is to collect thousands
of signatures to deliver to the WTO from people around the world,
demanding that the WTO dismiss the complaint and uphold health and
environmental standards and people's right to say no to genetically
modified food.
Sign the complaint at, http://www.bite-back.org.
Source/Contact: Bite Back: WTO Hands Off Our Food!, Friends of the Earth
Europe, http://www.bite-back.org, http://www.foeeurope.org.
PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and
reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the
mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North
America, a non-profit and non-governmental organization working to
advance sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.
You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and
all contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit
http://www.panna.org/donate.
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Back issues of PANUPS are available online at:
http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html
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Phone: (415) 981-1771
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Web: http://www.panna.org
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