[asia-apec 1476] Good Food Campaign

[Anuradha Mittal]

This Action Alert is being forwarded on behalf of Research Foundation 
for Science, Technology and Ecology. Please send your endorsements to 
rfste at ndf.vsnl.net.in.


Dear friends,

Please endorse the memorandum below and join the Good Food Campaign.

Say "NO" to GM Foods.

Kindly send us intimation of your endorsement.

Regards,
Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology
A-60 Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016, India
Tel: 0091 11 656 1868
Fax: 0091 11 656 2093
E-mail: rfste at ndf.vsnl.net.in

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Memorandum

STOP DUMPING GE FOOD!

Using disasters to create markets
In the recent super cyclone that hit the Eastern coastal state of Orissa 
in India the "relief" package from the US comprised of genetically 
contaminated foods.  The food aid constituted corn-soya blend, samples 
of which were collected by the Research Foundation for Science, 
Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) team during their relief work in Orissa 
after the super cyclone. RFSTE has been involved in ecological studies 
and biodiversity regeneration in the cyclone devastated coastal regions 
of Orissa. 

RFSTE got
the samples of this corn-soya blend tested. The results of genetic
identification tests of the corn-soya blend being distributed by the US
government in Orissa confirm the genetic contamination of the corn-soya
blend. The tests - which were carried out by US-based Genetic ID, the
world's leading laboratory on testing for genetically engineered (GE)
products - thereby prove that the US has been using the Orissa victims 
as guinea pigs for GE products which have been rejected by consumers in 
the North, especially Europe. The food "aid" to Orissa was routed 
through Co-operative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) and 
Catholic Relief Society (CRS), who directly get the food from US. 

The US provided a "relief" package of $7.5 million to Orissa out of 
which 4.15 million was for food aid. In this way the US Government is 
using public funds meant for aid to create profits and markets for the 
biotech industry. We demand that the US Government stop using money 
meant for relief to the poor for subsidising the biotech industry and 
helping it to use emergencies to create market access and market entry 
for GE products. This diversion of public money for private gain at 
social cost is unethical and unnecessary.

After the release of the test results of the Orissa food relief, both 
the USAID and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have admitted that they
supplied GM food grown in US to Third World countries as aid . The US 
gives just over two million tonnes of it directly to the Third World, 
while the WFP distributes another one and a half million tonnes donated 
by US.  The implications of GM food dumping are therefore for regions 
beyond Orissa. It raises the anxiety of other food distribution 
programmes being used as channels of distribution for genetically 
engineered foods. 

Is the food for children also genetically engineered?
The Government of India has stated that no "import" of genetically
engineered foods has taken place. The imports were therefore clearly
without appropriate information and clearances. What is at stake is not
just emergency relief, but food aid for children in normal feeding
programmes such as the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). CARE
India gives food aid for supplementary feeding of pre-school children 
and expectant and nursing mothers in the ICDS. The World Food Project 
2206 affecting six states and 31.72 lakh "beneficiaries" are being 
supplied with corn-soya blend imported from the US . CARE provides food 
aid to 66.05 lakh "beneficiaries" distributed in the states of Andhra 
Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The 
food includes corn-soya blend probably also contaminated by GM 
ingredients. Besides potential risks of food safety, this so-called food 
aid is culturally totally inappropriate. Policy documents admit that the 
corn-soya blend is "cooked with other food items such as jaggery and 
condiments to make food tasty and acceptable", which implies that 
otherwise the food aid is untasty and unacceptable. 

The ICDS programme in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh is financed by World Bank. IDA
credits of $692.75 are thus possibly being used as subsidies for the US
biotech industry destroying local farmers and threatening people's 
health, nutrition and culture. 

It is time to insist that the nutritional aid necessarily come from 
fresh safe local sources utilising culturally acceptable foods and not 
from dumping of untested, unsafe and culturally inappropriate 
commodities. 

Dumping unsafe and inappropriate foods is unnecessary and unjustified
India has enough to feed its people. There is sufficient food grain 
stock in the country. Immediately after the cyclone the Orissa State 
Government supplied 5.6 lakh tonnes of rice and 1.4 lakh tonnes of wheat 
to nearly 31,42,495 affected families in the 14 districts between 
November 1999 and March 2000. Over and above the State Government 
distribution, there were surpluses of food grains to the tune of 7.92 
million tonnes in 1998-99 and 20.1 million tonnes in 1999-2000. 
According to official sources, there is a buffer stock of more than 288 
lakh tonnes of wheat and 131 lakh tonnes of rice as in July 2000.

Our demands
We call on the Government of India and Government of Orissa to
immediately withdraw the corn-soya blend from distribution in Orissa and 
introduce mandatory segregation and labeling of all food entering the 
country for presence of GE constituents. 

We call on the US Government to stop using public finances to subsidise
their gene giants. 

We demand that the World Bank stop using public funds to create market
for US biotech corporations.

We call on the Government of India to explore alternatives for food and
nutrition aid which strengthen local economies, protect farmers'
livelihoods and ensure safe and culturally appropriate foods.

We call on all aid agencies to not use GE in children's food aid.  

We call on all relief agencies to stop dumping of inappropriate and
unsafe food and to subscribe to ethical principles of food aid. 


Principles for an ethics of food aid:

I 	Emergency situations should not be used for dumping untested and
unethical foods on vulnerable sectors. 
II 	Food aid should be culturally appropriate. 
III 	The food coming in as relief should be labeled for its ingredients 
and guaranteed safe and accordingly should go through the same sanitary 
and phytosanitary testing as all other imports. 
IV 	As far as is possible local and regional surpluses should be 
mobilised and it should not involve the dumping of surpluses from other 
countries.
V	Distribution policies should be equitable both in the sense that they 
include all affected people irrespective of class, gender and other 
inequalities and do not increase these inequalities.
VI	Policies for rehabilitation should increase peoples self reliance and 
restore human dignity, not generate a begging mentality and create a 
dependency syndrome.
VII	 To ensure sustainable livelihood, all policies of food aid should 
be based on sustainable development principles.
VIII	Crops selected should strengthen household food security, provide
fodder, fuel and  housing  material and improve farm incomes.
IX	Livestock should provide both drought power and food.  Multipurpose 
trees are necessary to meet food, fuel; structural timber needs besides 
providing ecological security.
X	Seeds distributed to farmers should be open pollinated varieties so 
that farmers can save them and not be burdened with the heavy costs of 
annual seed purchase which is pushing farmers in other regions to 
suicide.
XI	External interventions in agriculture should not be a vehicle for
draining people's resources, creating indebtedness and permanent
impoverishment.
XII	External interventions should build on people's skills and 
knowledge, not erode and displace their knowledge and skills.
 
THE GOOD FOOD CAMPAIGN 
Food safety in terms of quality and nutrition is of utmost importance to 
every human being. As a basic right, it is imperative that those eating 
the food ought to know what it is constituted of. Guaranteeing the right 
to information can ensure food safety. 

Unsafe food cultures are being perpetrated by vested interests of the
biotech industry. The most serious of threat to food comes in the form 
of genetically engineered foods and crops. Major corporations that are 
active in the agri-sector are trying hard to push genetically modified 
crops and foods. 

What is worse is that disaster and emergency situations especially those 
in the Third World are being used to create market access and 
opportunities for such unsafe food technologies which are being rejected 
in the North, (Europe has closed its markets to such genetically 
modified foods). The government and local communities in such vulnerable 
areas are being trapped into the corporate agenda of seed and food 
dependency.  

As citizens of India we demand ethical and dignified standards for food 
and for emergency relief. 

If you are concerned about the dumping of culturally inappropriate,
economically destructive foods, which could have serious ecological and
health impacts join the Good Food Campaign and say no to GM foods. The 
Good Food campaign will fight for:
- People's food rights
- Culturally appropriate consumption patterns
- Locally supportive economic models of production
- Guaranteed safe foods

Endorse this memorandum and join the Good Food Campaign. 
Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst at foodfirst.org.
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