[asia-apec 1775] Biojustice Call to Action - June 24-25th

[Anuradha Mittal]

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                        **  Call to Action!  **                          
   

   International Days of Action against the Biotechnology Industry 
                   June 24-25th, 2001, EVERYWHERE                        
   

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Join thousands of activists, farmers, scientists, and others from around 
the world in opposing the biotechnology industry! 

On June 24th and 25th, 2001 the Biotechnology Industry Organization 
(BIO) convention in San Diego, will open its doors to thousands of 
executives, lawyers, venture capitalists, and corporate scientists 
working to further their agenda of a patented and commodified future. 

Outside the convention hall and all over San Diego, thousands of people 
will be gathering for Beyond Biodevastation 2001/BIOJUSTICE!  This 
multi-day  event will feature teach-ins, demonstrations, and direct 
actions to confront and shed light on the threats to our health, 
environment, farms and society posed by genetic engineering. 

We are calling for people to come to San Diego with ideas for affinity
group-based actions, and for simultaneous solidarity actions in 
communities  around the world to stop the commodification of life, the 
destruction of food systems, the theft of genetic information and the 
loss of community power. 

The possibilities are endless. From teach-ins to voluntary GE food 
labeling  brigades, from demonstrations against the gene giants to 
organic potlucks,  from direct actions to leafleting, we are calling for 
global grassroots  organizing against the biotechnology industry. 

Since 1987, corporate gene giants have been contaminating the world's 
food supply with dangerous and largely untested products of genetic 
engineering. Many of these same companies are also major players in the 
global  pharmaceutical industry, which has made health care unaffordable 
for growing numbers of people around the world, while channeling 
research funds toward  expensive genetic approaches to health and 
disease at the expense of more  fundamental medical and health needs.  
These companies have also told the world that genetic engineering will 
reduce pesticide use, as they engineer their crops to tolerate more 
herbicides. 

 Despite wide spread opposition to genetically engineered food and 
demands for affordable health care, the biotechnology industry is 
continuing along a path of social and environmental destruction. 
Corporations and governments  are leading the agenda to globalize patent 
laws that privatize life as intellectual property rights, encourage 
greed and sell out science to the  profit motive. 

To stop the biotechnology industry, to bring power to our communities, 
to create sustainable food systems, to create universal health care, we 
call communities, individuals, and organizations to TAKE ACTION! 

 For more information and updates on the days of action, see: 
                            http://www.biodev.org 

The Organizers of Biojustice 2001 
The Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project 
North East Resistance Against Genetic Engineering - neRAGE.org 

                           
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Background on the Gene Giants: 

Monsanto:  Today a much smaller company than before, as a result of a 
merger with Pharmacia, and the subsequent spin-off of only the 
agriculture, seed and pesticide divisions under the Monsanto name.  
Still, Monsanto controls 85% of all genetically engineered germplasm, 
and is using its ownership of many of the world's most important 
commercial seed companies to saturate the commercial seed supply with 
genetically engineered varieties. 

Aventis:  Formed two years ago by the merger of the German chemical 
giant Hoechst and the French Rhone Poulenc, Aventis is best known for 
the   "Starlink" variety of pesticidal GE corn.  This variety is not 
approved for human consumption and is considered likely to cause severe 
allergic  reactions in some people.  Still, it has been found in 
hundreds of  brand-name processed foods, and has thoroughly contaminated 
the US supply of corn seed.  Aventis also specializes in crops resistant 
to glufosinate herbicides. 

Syngenta:  Formed within the past year, when Novartis and Astra-Zeneca 
decided to spin off many of their agricultural divisions to protect
themarket value of their pharmaceutical divisions, Syngenta describes 
itself as "the world's leading agribusiness company."  Syngenta markets 
numerous varieties of herbicide-tolerant and pesticidal GE crops. 

DuPont:  In 1999, DuPont Chemical completed its purchase of Pioneer 
Hi-Bred, the world's largest seed company.  Pioneer aggressively markets 
numerous GE varieties from all of the largest biotechnology companies. 

Novartis:  Since its founding in 1996, from the merger of Swiss
chemicalgiants Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy, Novartis has been one of the 
world's most aggressive marketers of pesticidal Bt crops, featuring an 
activated toxin spliced from Bt bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis).  
Novartis has also been heavily involved in xenotransplantation research, 
seeking to genetically engineer animals to provide organs for human 
transplants; this line of  research is considered extremely abusive to 
animals and, if it ever succeeds, it could introduce lethal animal 
viruses into the human  population. 

Astra-Zeneca:  Parent company Zeneca in the UK was responsible for one 
of the first field trials of genetically engineered trees; Astra-Zeneca 
is reportedly continuing to develop Terminator seed technologies, 
despite a public pledge to discontinue this research. 

Dow Chemical:  Dow's involvement in biotechnology includes its ownership 
of the San Diego-based Mycogen, which recently absorbed Cargill's seed 
division.  Dow is collaborating with San Diego-based EPICyte to produce 
human antibodies in genetically engineered plants. 
                            
Cargill:  The world's largest and most vertically integrated wholesale 
grain trader.  Its joint venture with Monsanto specializes in 
genetically  engineered animal feeds.  "Cargill has used its extreme 
market power to ensure that the market is GM, against consumer opinion," 
states the UK's Corporate Watch. 

Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst at foodfirst.org.

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