[asia-apec 1382] Alternative Biosafety Protocol

[Elsie Dean]

Elsie Dean forwards:Joan Russow, lawyer Green Party member has developed
this Alternative Biosafety Protocol and is asking if you agree to sign
on and return it to her.  This is in response to the international
biosafety negotiations in Montreal Canada next week.

Subject:[StopWTORound] SIGN-ON ALTERNATIVE BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 23:47:43 -0800
From: Joan Russow <"mailto:jrussow at coastnet.com"
mailto:StopWTORound at onelist.com
ALTERNATIVE BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL- TO PREVENT HARM TO HUMAN HEALTH,
 BIODIVERSITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

THE PARTIES TO THIS PROTOCOL
RECALLING THAT
at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992),
the member states of the United Nations made a commitment to prevent the
transfer to other states of substances or activities that are harmful to
human health or the environment (principle 14, Rio Declaration);

RECOGNIZING the serious  issues raised by genetic engineering in terms
of health and safety, the environment, ethical considerations and social
justice;"

CONSIDERING the worldwide support for:
a global ban on genetically engineered processes, foods, crops and
animals
(ii) a global ban on the patenting of life forms as being contrary to
the "ordre public" public interest)
(iii) criminalizing biopiracy and theft of the genetic material and
knowledge of farmers, peasants, and indigenous peoples;

NOTING THAT the precautionary principle affirms that, where there is a
threat to human health or to the environment, the lack of full
scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing
measures to prevent the threat. The precautionary principle has long
been a tenet of international customary law and, as such, is required to
be integrated
into state law  This principle is present in  documents in differing
forms such as the Rio

Declaration:
Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full
scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing
cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation." (Rio
Declaration, 1992).

and  the Convention on Biological Diversity:

Where there is a threat of significant reduction or loss of biological
diversity, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a
reason for postponing measures to avoid or minimize such a threat
(Preamble, Convention on Biological Diversity, UNCED, 1992).

AWARE OF  the  evidence of hazards arising from genetically engineering
foods and crops reported in the World Scientists Statement presented at
Cartegena, Columbia, February 1999:
"* Herbicide resistant transgenes have spread to wild relatives by
cross-
pollination in both oilseed rape and sugar beet (Brookes, 1999) creating

many species of potential superweeds.
* Herbicide-resistant transgenic plants may lead to increased use of
herbicides, contrary to what is being claimed. The transgenic plants
themselves are already turning up as volunteer plants after the harvest
and
have to be controlled by additional sprays of other herbicides.
* Bt-toxins engineered into a wide range of transgenic plants already
released into the environment may build up in the soil and have
devastating impacts on pollinators and other beneficial insects
(Crecchi, C 1998).
* Genetic engineering of organisms is hit- or - miss and not at all
precise, contrary to misleading accounts intended for the public, as it
depends on the random insertion of the artificial vector carrying the
foreign genes into the genome. This random insertion is well-known to
have many unexpected and unintended effects, including cancer, in the
case of mammalian cells (Walden R, 1991).
* Serious doubts over the safety of transgenic foods are raised by new
revelations on the results of animal feeding experiments. Potatoes
engineered with snowdrop lectin fed to rats caused highly significant
reduction in both dry and wet weights of many essential organs: small
intestine, liver, spleen, thymus, pancreas and brain. In addition, it
resulted in impairment of immunological responsiveness and signs
suggestive
of viral infection (Leake, C ,1999).
Hazards may come from new genes and gene products. New genes and gene
products are introduced into food, often from bacteria and viruses and
other non-food species that have never been eaten before and certainly
not  in the quantities produced in the genetically engineered crops,
where they  are typically expressed at high levels. The long term
impacts of these genes and gene products on human health will be
impossible to predict
* Genetically engineered agriculture not only obstructs the
implementation of real solutions to the problems of food security for
all,  but also poses unprecedented risks to health and biodiversity. Far
from feeding the world, it will intensify corporate control on food
production and distribution which created poverty and hunger in the
first place. It will also reinforce existing social structures and
intensive agricultural
practices that have led to widespread environmental destruction and
falling yields since the 1980s (Brown, L R,. (1998)" {Excerpts from the
World Scientists' Statement}

RECOGNIZING THAT
the global community has made a commitment to the international
principle of customary law-the precautionary principle. This principle
states that where there is a threat to human health or the environment,
the lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason to
postpone measures to prevent the threat.
There is sufficient scientific evidence of the harmful health and
environmental consequences of GE foods and crops to justify the banning
of GE foods and crops, the end to export of GE foods and crops and the
immediate removal of GE foods from grocery shelves in accordance with
the precautionary principle.

RECALLING THAT
an exception to the patenting of inventions arises when the invention is
contrary to "ordre public" or morality; this explicitly includes
inventions dangerous to human, animal or plant life or health or
seriously prejudicial to the environment and applies where the
commercial exploitation of the invention must also be prevented and this
prevention is necessary for the
protection of order public or morality;

CONCURRING WITH THE World Scientists Statement that " Genetic
engineering is a new departure from conventional breeding and introduces
significant differences. Conventional breeding involves crossing related
species, and plants with the desired characteristics selected from among
the progeny for reproducing, and the selection is repeated over many
generations. Genetic engineering bypasses reproduction altogether. It
transfers genes horizontally from one individual to another (as opposed
to vertically from parent to offspring), often making use of infectious
agents as vectors or carriers of genes so that genes can be transferred
between distant species that would never interbreed in nature. For
example human genes are transferred into pig, sheep, fish and bacteria.
Toad genes are transferred into tomatoes. Completely new exotic genes
are being introduces
into food crops." (World Scientists Statement, 1999)

NOTING THAT
The current practices of genetic engineering are creating unpredictable
and irreversible combinations of transgenic organisms with one another
and with natural varieties and, as such, are defeating the purpose of
the Convention on Biological Diversity;

NOTING THAT
 under the Vienna Law of Treaties, the signatories to the Convention
must not create a situation that would make it impossible for them to
discharge their obligations under the treaty and that the creation of
unpredictable and irreversible combinations of transgenic organisms with
one another with natural varieties would defeat the purpose of the
Convention to "conserve biodiversity";

RECOGNIZING THAT
genetic engineering in the area of medical research raises serious
questions of ethics and social justice;

RECALLING THAT
Under the UN Convention on Women, Equality, Development  and Peace
(1995) and Habitat II (1996), the member states of the United Nations
made a commitment to ensure that corporations  (including transnational
corporations comply with international law, including international
environmental law;

MINDFUL that member states of the United Nations have failed to sign and
ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity along with other relevant
treaties, covenants and conventions, and that under the Vienna Law of
Treaty states are bound not to do anything in the interim between the
signing and the coming into force of the treaty to defeat the purpose of
the convention;

HAVE AGREED TO  THE FOLLOWING:

* to invoke the precautionary principle and institute an immediate ban
on all genetically engineered processes, foods, crops and animals;
* to embark upon the immediate removal of GE foods from grocery shelves;

* to invoke the "ordre public" principle and ban the patenting of living
organisms and their parts;
* to criminalize biopiracy and theft of genetic material and knowledge
of farmers, peasants, and indigenous peoples;
* to place a moratorium on genetically engineered medical research into
uses of genetic engineering until ethical standards can be put in place;

* to urge the full ratification of the Convention on Biological
Diversity and the enactment of domestic legislation to ensure
compliance.
SIGN-0N

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PLEASE SEND COPY TO mailto:jrussow at coastnet.com Joan Russow PhD
Global Compliance Research Project 1 250 598-0071
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