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World Conservation Union Calls for Moratorium on Further Release of GMOs.
[ IUCN | IUCN Press Release | Reaction ]
Bayer Abandons GM crops in India and UK
Commercial use of Genetically Modified Trees yet on its way
[ Sign the Petition | Articles on GM-trees | World Rain Forest Movement ]
Keep GM Out of Europe!
[ The Institute of Science in Society | The Independent Science Panel | A GM-Free Sustainable World(pdf) ]
People's Caravan For Food Sovereignty Sweeps through Asia
Hundreds of peasant organizations and support NGOs, representing millions of poor Asian farmers, are currently participating in the People’s Caravan 2004 for People’s Food Sovereignty that is sweeping through 15 countries across Asia and Europe. After a first caravan in 2000, this year's caravan bears the theme "Asserting Our Rights to Land and Food" and will culminate in Nepal with a public rally and the Conference on Alternatives to Globalization on September 30. PC2004 aims to raise awareness on the issues involved in food sovereignty, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), genetic engineering (GE), pesticides, agrochemical transnational corporations (TNCs), workers' rights, and the promotion of sustainable agriculture. [ Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia Pacific | Resist Agrochemical TNCs | Indymedia Biotech | IMC-QC (Philipines) | radiomundoreal Spanish Radio Coverage ]
Roundup Ready: GMO actions in the European summer
Crop decontaminations have taken place in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, while in Finland, activists successfully felled a genetically modified tree study. In the UK, a nation wide protest took place against the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, for selling dairy products from cows raised with genetically modified feed.
Action Alert: PharmaCrops in the USA - deadline Tuesday
Art is not Terrorism
When the police arrived on May 11, they became suspicious of Kurtz's art supplies and called the FBI. Soon agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force and FBI detained Kurtz, cordoned off the entire block around his house, and later impounded Kurtz?s computers, manuscripts, books, equipment, and even his wife's body for further analysis. Dr. Kurtz and CAE are internationally recognized lecturers in the areas of biotechnology, information technology and media studies. Nine artists and one book publishing company, Autonomedia, were subpoenaed in this case. [ Critical Art Ensemble Defence Fund | background 1, 2 | Sunshine Project ]
corporate power
Some 17,000 people from biotech companies from about 60 countries are meeting behind closed doors to set up more contacts, to sell their ideas, to raise venture capitalism - and to convince journalists and the public that biotech is just great. To spin pro-biotech PR, corporate journalists were provided with story ideas already a week before the conference started, while Indymedia journalists were denied press credentials due to writing from an "activist point of view".
Reclaim the Commons vs BIO
The agenda is covering all kind of biotech topics in presentations, so-called executive workshops, receptions and corporate exhibitions. It is a place for companies to convene, to make business contacts, to lobby, and to convinve themselves that they are doing the right thing... Which they aren't! BioDev is organizing a teach-in with panels and workshop from 3 to 5 June, followed by 4 days of colorful street actions to resist biotechnology, reclaim the commons and plant alternatives! Check for the RTC web site www.reclaimthecommons.net for an overview of actions and events or call 877-806-2071. The Convergence Space is loaceted at 960 Howard between 5th and 6th. [ Indymedia: Biotech IMC | Indybay || Biodevastation to Biojustice | Reclaim the Commons ]
Action Alert! Pls sign on: Open Letter to FAO
A few of us around the world have taken the initiative to draft an open letter to the Director General of FAO to express our disagreement with the report "Agricultural biotechnology: meeting the needs of the poor?" that FAO launched on 17th May an unprecedented move by FAOs publicity machine in support of genetic engineering..
Farmers found Monsanto guilty of "crimes"
Protest against GMOs in Cape Town
[ Full story from IMC South Africa | More reports | Original press release | Biowatch South Africa]
Monsanto's supreme court
Canada's Supreme Court has confirmed it: Saskatchewan farmers Percy and Louise Schmeiser were illegally growing the company's canola as Gene Giant Monsanto accused.
Monsanto's pulling out of GM wheat
"We don't want it" - A message as simple as that is finally being heard. Monsanto, the world's biggest producer of GM crops and the related herbicides, backed down for economic reasons. Against consumer and farmers wishes there is no market for GM wheat in Europe: foreign buyers started looking for alternative sources in Australia and Eastern Europe, and US and Canadian farmers were not prepared to take the chance of some short term benefits, a lot of future problems, and the loss of a world market overnight. Earlier this year, Monsanto had already closed its grain research facilities in Europe. Two GM wheat field trials of Syngenta were destroyed in Germany [2]. Over the last year in Europe, the big biotech companies have been dropping out of one GM project after the other: Monsanto and Syngenta dropped GM sugar beet, while Bayer decided not to market GM maize in the UK even though they had got permission, and Spain has withdrawn Bt176 maize from the market: the only GM crop commercially grown in the EU. Whole regions have gone GM-free [1 | 2]. Finally, this is reflecting back on shareholders options and the US markets... [ Reclaim the Commons 3-9 June San Francisco, USA | Corporate Watch | GM Watch | etc group | Boycott Bayer | anti-GM slam poetry ] |
From Bangkok, on the 22 November, IUCN (World Conservation Union) members voted by a large margin for a moratorium on the further release of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) until they can be demonstrated, beyond reasonable doubt, to be safe for biodiversity, human health, and animal health.
15th Nov: In an admission of immense significance to the entire genetic engineering industry, Bayer Crop Science has conceded to Greenpeace India that all of its projects on genetically engineered crops in India have been "discontinued" [see 
Commercial use of Genetically Modified Trees have been pushed under the Climate Change agenda and are already a practice in China. December 2003 the United Nations have 
Scientists, politicians and farmers have joined up to call for the European Commission to abandon its drive for GM crops and to focus instead on supporting non-GM sustainable agriculture. Representatives from numerous civil society organisations - organic farmers, gardeners, producers, chefs, lawyers, doctors - and MEPs turned out to add supporting voices.
The dropping of the moratorium and the beginning of the EU labelling regime far from appeased the European anti-genetics movement. In fact actions have been a prominent part of the summer so far, particularly in July with different corners of Europe seeing a spate of anti-genetics events. 
ProdiGene Inc. has requested permission from the U.S. Department of
On May 11, Steve Kurtz, professor of art and member of the 
According to the film 
From 6 to 9 June, some 17,000 people from about 60 countries will converge at the 
(05/26/2004) GENERAL SANTOS CITY, South Cotabato, Mindanao Island -- Farmers' groups will stage tomorrow a "mock trial" here that would proclaim agrochemical transnational giant Monsanto Corporation 
CAPE TOWN, 29 MAY 2004 - The Environmental Justice Networking Forum (Western Cape Branch), a broad-based NGO coalition representing over 60 local NGOs and CBOs, together with representatives of labour and faith based organisations held a demonstration here on Wednesday 26 May against the lack of public access to information and the unwanted introduction of genetically modified (GM) foods into South Africa. 
