-Caveat Lector-
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: USDA Says Yes to Terminator
Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 09:14:16 -0500 (CDT)
From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: ?
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
RAFI
Rural Advancement Foundation International
www.rafi.org | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
News Release - 3 August 2001
USDA Says Yes to Terminator
It's official. The US Department of Agriculture announced this week that
it has concluded negotiations to license the notorious Terminator
technology to its seed industry partner, Delta & Pine Land (D&PL). As a
result of joint research, the USDA and D&PL are co-owners of three patents
on the controversial technology that genetically modifies plants to
produce sterile seeds, preventing farmers from re-using harvested seed. A
licensing agreement establishes the terms and conditions under which a
party can use a patented technology. Although many of the Gene Giants hold
patents on Terminator technology, D&PL is the only company that has
publicly declared its intention to commercialize Terminator seeds. (for
details, see "2001: A Seed Odyssey" RAFI Communique, January/February
2001, www.rafi.org)
"USDA's decision to license Terminator flies in the face of international
public opinion and betrays the public trust," said Hope Shand, Research
Director of RAFI. "Terminator technology has been universally condemned by
civil society; banned by international agricultural research institutes,
censured by United Nations bodies, even shunned by Monsanto, and yet the
US government has officially sanctioned commercialization of the
technology by licensing it to one of the world's largest seed companies,"
explains Shand.
"USDA's role in developing Terminator seeds is a disgraceful example of
corporate welfare involving a technology that is bad for farmers,
dangerous for the environment and disastrous for world food security,"
adds Silvia Ribeiro of RAFI. Terminator has been universally opposed as an
immoral technology because over 1.4 billion people, primarily poor
farmers, depend on farm-saved seeds as their primary seed source.
Michael Schechtman, Executive Secretary to USDA's Advisory Committee on
Agricultural Biotechnology, made the official announcement regarding the
licensing of Terminator at the Committee's August 1 meeting. The 38-member
Advisory Committee, established during the Clinton administration, was
created to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on issues related to
growing public controversy over GM technology. Because of overwhelming
public opposition to USDA's involvement with Terminator, the issue became
a top priority for the Advisory Committee. USDA officials admitted last
year that the Agency had the option of abandoning patents on Terminator,
but chose not to do so. Although many members of the Biotech Advisory
Committee urged the USDA to abandon its patents and forsake all further
research on genetic seed sterilization, the USDA steadfastly declined. The
official statement released by USDA this week states that the Agency "had
a legal obligation" to license the technology to D&PL.
In a lackluster attempt to quell its critics, the USDA pledged to
negotiate licensing restrictions on how the Terminator technology could be
deployed by Delta & Pine Land. "In the end, the restrictions negotiated by
USDA are meaningless," concludes Michael Sligh, RAFI-USA's Director of
Sustainable Agriculture, and member of the Biotech Advisory Committee.
According to Sligh, "USDA's promotion of Terminator technology puts
private profits above public good and the rights of farmers everywhere."
Sligh spearheaded efforts amongst Advisory Board members who urged the
USDA to abandon Terminator.
USDA places the following conditions on D&PL's deployment of Terminator:
_ The licensed Terminator technology will not be used in any heirloom
varieties of garden flowers and vegetables and it will not be used in
any variety of plant available in the marketplace before January 1,
2003.
(RAFI's comment: In other words, Terminator will not be commercialized,
at the earliest, until 2003 - only 17 months from now. To suggest that
USDA is protecting heirloom varieties from genetic seed sterilization
technology is ludicrous. There's no money to be made on genetic
modification of heirloom vegetables and flowers. The seed industry aims to
engineer seed sterility in major crop commodities - especially those crops
that have not been successfully hybridized on a commercial scale such as
soybeans, rice and wheat.)
_ USDA scientists will be involved in safety testing of new varieties
incorporating the GM trait for seed sterility, and a full and public
process of safety evaluation must be completed prior to regulatory
sign-off by USDA.
(RAFI's comment: Can USDA play a role in both developing and regulating
this technology? Is it a blatant conflict of interest for the agency to
conduct a biosafety review of a product in which it holds a financial
interest?)
_ All royalties accruing to USDA from the use of Terminator will be
earmarked to technology transfer efforts for USDA's Agricultural
Research Service innovations that will be made widely available to the
public.
(RAFI's comment: "Technology transfer" is a very broad concept.
Terminator seeds in every foreign aid package? More paper clips for ARS
patent lawyers?)
USDA concludes that Terminator "is a valuable technology." Ironically,
the agency promotes Terminator as a "green" technology that will prevent
gene flow from transgenic plants.
"We reject the notion that Terminator is a biosafety bandage for GM
crops with leaky genes, but even if it were, biosafety at the expense of
food security is unacceptable," concludes RAFI's Silvia Ribeiro.
Last year the FAO's Panel of Eminent Experts on Ethics in Food and
Agriculture concluded that Terminator seeds are unethical. When heads of
state meet at FAO's World Food Summit Five Years Later in Rome, 9-15
November, they will have the opportunity to re-affirm that finding, and
recommend that member nations ban the technology. In keeping with its
image as a rogue, isolationist state in international treaty
negotiations on global warming and biological weapons, the US also
appears to stand alone on Terminator.
********
Delta & Pine Land (Mississippi, USA) is the world's 9th largest seed
corporation, with revenues of $301 million in 2000. The company has
joint ventures and/or subsidiaries in North America, Brazil, Argentina,
China, Mexico, Paraguay, South Africa, Australia, and China.
RAFI is an international civil society organization based in Canada. We
are dedicated to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity
and to the socially responsible development of technologies useful to
rural societies.
For further information on this news release:
Hope Shand, RAFI: [EMAIL PROTECTED],
919 960-5223
Michael Sligh, RAFI-USA (member of USDA's Ag Biotech Advisory
Committee),: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (919) 542-1396
To add or remove your name from the RAFI listserver, please go to
www.rafi.org and then "Sign Up" where you will be given the choice of
adding or removing your name.
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