The International Campaign against Biodevastation/ Genetic Engineering
8/13/98
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: The International Campaign against Biodevastation/ Genetic Engineering
Source: Greens/ Green Party USA
Clearinghouse: PO Box 1134, Lawrence MA 01842
(978) 682-4353
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit to source
Date: 8/13/98
Greens/ Green Party USA
Clearinghouse: PO Box 1134, Lawrence MA 01842
(978) 682-4353
From: Mitchel Cohen
2652 Cropsey Ave. #7H
Brooklyn, NY 11214
(718) 449-0037
ANNOUNCING: THE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST BIODEVASTATION/GENETIC
ENGINEERING
Representatives of The Greens/Green Party USA joined delegates from around the
world on
July 17-19, 1998, in St. Louis, Missouri, at the founding meeting of the
International
Campaign Against BioDevastation/Genetic Engineering.
At the national Green Party Congress that immediately followed the gathering,
the Green
Party USA announced plans to make the campaign against genetic engineering its
latest
coordinated nationwide effort. GPUSA unanimously voted to endorse the
International
Campaign, instruct its candidates to raise the issues around genetic engineering
in their
electoral campaigns, and organize mass participation in the movement against
genetically
engineered agriculture and bio-colonialism.
Represented at the Biodevastation gathering were concerned scientists and
representatives
of popular movements from Japan, Ireland,England, Mexico, the European
Parliament, India
and the United States. Groups represented included Greenpeace, Women's
Environmental
Network, Pure Food Campaign, Edmonds Institute, Rural Advancement Foundation
International, Institute for Social Ecology, National Family Farm Coalition,
Family Farm
Defenders, Council of Canadians, Genetics Forum (U.K.), Seikatsu Club (Japan),
and the
Green Parties of Europe, Mexico, Canada and the U.S.A., among others.
The 200 participants called for:
1) An immediate ban on genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone, endorsing
the
campaign to rid rBGH from school milk.
2) Keeping our forests, farms and food safe, and opposing the genetic
engineering of all
plants and animals.
3) Abolishing patents of genetic sequences and living organisms in the form of
"intellectual property rights."
4) Stopping the National Violence Initiative Project (U.S.), and an immediate
halt to the
drugging of Black and Latino children in the name of their supposed "genetic
predisposition" to committing crimes. (Contrary to the assumptions of the
Violence
Initiative Project, the convention asserted, neither behavior nor intelligence
is
racially or genetically determined.)
5) Disbanding the Human Genome Diversity Project and putting an end to the
colonization
of the genes of indigenous people.
6) An immediate cessation of administering experimental and genetically
engineered drugs
to prisoners, people living on American Indian reservations, and people in so-
called
"third world" countries.
7) A ban on "Terminator" seed technology and patent, the immediate cessation of
all
"Terminator" tests and a banning of its application.
8) Encouraging smaller-scaled organic farming, local food systems, home-scale
gardening,
and ecosystem restoration. The convention opposed the consolidation of corporate
and
monocrop farming and their reliance on genetic engineering and toxic herbicides
and
insecticides.
The delegates held an exciting and colorful rally in front of the World
Headquarters of
the Monsanto Corporation, a major player in the development of genetically
engineered
agriculture, including the newly patented "Terminator" technology.
In addition, the International Campaign Against Biodevastation/ Genetic
Engineering
supported the call for world-wide days of action against genetic engineering on
October
2-16, 1998, with Oct. 15th as a day of coordinated actions.
The St. Louis gathering formed a coordinating committee, with representation
from
different regions of the U.S., and announced plans for follow-up meetings in
Mexico and
India over the next two years.
The Green Party selected Mitchel Cohen of Brooklyn, New York, and Mary Israel of
Lake
Worty, Florida, to coordinate its work around genetic engineering and its
participation
in the International Campaign.