Submitted by ETC Staff on
A Message from our President
30 years not counting
For the past few years ETC’s board and staff have been reminding one another of our impending thirtieth anniversary and planning to mark the occasion with some special reflection or, at least, a memorable party. It wasn’t until we all met in El Salvador at year-end that we realized our thirtieth year had come and gone.
During the year, however, ETC launched a major study and opened a critical debate on synthetic biology (“extreme genetic engineering”); began a study and campaign on geoengineering in the framework of climate change; looked at the pharmaceutical industry’s plans for nanotechnology; and defeated Monsanto’s soybean “species” patent at the European Patent Office. All this while the staff presented at seminars in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, South Africa, Brazil, Ecuador, India, and several European countries (as well as at home in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico). For the small band of eight staff, this was another hectic, innovative year.
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