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Bio-Safety Protocol must prevent developing countries from becoming illegal GMO dumping grounds

For reliable and fair food and livestock feed labels
by Greenpeace International

On March 13 Greenpeace called upon the representatives of the 132 member states of the International Biosafety Protocol to agree upon reliable and fair standards of identification and labelling of genetically engineered organisms (GMOs) in international shipments of food and feed products.

Earlier today Greenpeace also handed over to the Clearinghouse and  Secretariat of the UN Agreement a ground-breaking Contamination Report documenting 113 incidents of contamination, illegal releases and negative agricultural impacts of genetically engineered crops.

"What's at stake at this meeting is environmental and consumer safety," said Greenpeace International's GE expert Benedikt Haerlin from the meeting in Curitiba. "This time it is imperative that the international community gets it right --- it must ensure that   genetically engineered food and feed will not ultimately be spread on to unsuspecting producers and consumers in importing countries. The majority of developing countries without national GMO legislation in place are dependent on the International Biosafety Protocol to protect them."

At the last set of negotiations of the protocol in 2005, a powerful coalition of trade, agro-industry and science lobbyists in alliance with the USA, Canada and Argentina, who have not ratified the protocol, successfully lobbied to prevent clear labelling rules and promoted meaningless "may contain GMOs" language instead. Protocol members Brazil and New Zealand finally blocked a draft agreement on Article 18.2 (a) which provides for identification of international shipments of LMOs intended for feed, food and processing.

"Brazilian President  Ignacio Lula has a golden opportunity at this meeting in his own country to show leadership on the protocol," said Haerlin. "Lula and his cabinet must put   the protection of biodiversity and the poor countries of the world above   the demands and interests of the likes of the US and of agro-industry giants like Monsanto and Cargill."

"Greenpeace and GeneWatch's  GM Contamination Report may just cover the tip of the iceberg --- contamination is spreading much faster than we can document it --- but it is undeniable proof  of  the need for global bio-safety and labelling standards of GE crops," concluded Haerlin.

Also in this section:
US State Department, Human rights in Panama
Jackson, A corrective gloss on the State Department report
Human Rights Watch, Milosevic escaped judgment but not justice
Crowley, AIDS in Latin America
Lai, India - South Africa - Brazil: the new southern trade powerhouse?
Reporters Without Borders, Two Mexican journalists killed in less than a day
Amnesty International, Mandatory death penalty struck down in the Bahamas
Sanchez, The military issue in Peru's election
Greenpeace, Let's have reliable food and animal feed labels
Bernal, Farmers and the Panama Canal expansion
Leis, Once upon a time...
Sirias, "Folklore" that Panama can live without