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As governments at the 6th WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong bristle with the thorny politics of trade, the report that ETC Group releases today, Oligopoly, Inc. 2005, serves as a reminder that what looks like buying and selling between countries is most often the redistribution of capital among subsidiaries of the same parent multinational corporation.
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Los defensores de la biotecnología industrial están usando un nuevo estudio científico -que no encontró evidencias de contaminación de maíz transgénico en un área de un estado de México (Oaxaca)- para afirmar que el maíz nativo nunca estuvo amenazado y que si lo estuvo alguna vez, la contaminación se evaporó milagrosamente. Un representante de los agronegocios en México declaró incluso que "con este estudio se allana el camino para poder iniciar las siembras comerciales de maíz genéticamente modificado"
Según Silvia Ribeiro, del Grupo ETC en México "No sorprende que la industria use los resultados del estudio para servir sus propios intereses -como "prueba" de que la contaminación ya no existe y que se deberían extender los cultivos transgénicos a todas partes, incluso en los centros de origen. Las comunidades indígenas y campesinas están completamente en desacuerdo con esa interpretación que hace la industria para justificar sus cultivos contaminantes."
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According to Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group in Mexico: "It's no surprise that the industry is using the findings to serve its own interests - as 'proof' that contamination no longer exists and that GM crops should have free reign everywhere, even in the South's centers of crop genetic diversity. Indigenous and farming communities vigorously disagree with the biotech industry's self-serving interpretation of the study."
According to peasant communities in Oaxaca, the new findings are not terribly surprising. Baldemar Mendoza of UNOSJO (Union of Organisations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca) - who lives in the region covered by the new study - said, "We took samples in 3 of the 18 communities that the new report mentions (San Juan Ev. Analco, Ixtlan and Santa Maria Jaltianguis) and our results were also negative in those three communities." Mendoza points out that the geographic area sampled by the new study is small and the 18 communities are predominantly forest communities, which means that their main activity is not planting maize. Mendoza also points out, "The new study doesn't refer to any other part of Mexico where contamination has been found but some in the media are already making the false claim that 'there is no contamination in the whole state of Oaxaca or even all of Southern Mexico.'"
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Twenty-five years after the biotech industry got the green light to patent life, nanotech goes after the building blocks of life.
On the 25th anniversary of Diamond vs. Chakrabarty,* the US Supreme Court's landmark decision (June 16, 1980) that opened the floodgates to the patenting of living organisms, ETC Group releases a new report, "Nanotech's 'Second Nature' Patents."
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Veinticinco años después de que la industria biotecnológica obtuvo luz verde para el patentamiento de la vida, la nanotecnología codicia ahora los ladrillos constructores de todo lo existente.
En el 25 aniversario del caso Diamond vs Chakrabarty*, la decisión de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de Estados Unidos (16 de junio de 1980) que abrió las compuertas al patentamiento de organismos vivos, el Grupo ETC publica un nuevo informe, "Las patentes de nanotecnología: más allá de la naturaleza."
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Sin discusión, igual que con la ley Monsanto de "bioinseguridad", la Cámara de Senadores aprobó el 27 y 28 de abril pasado dos leyes que instrumentan la privatización de los recursos genéticos de México y la concesión de patentes sobre conocimientos indígenas.
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Ottawa - Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher of Ethiopia, Africa's chief scientist and negotiator for the Cartagena (biosafety) Protocol, received his Canadian visa late Tuesday evening (May 2005) Ethiopian time. Dr. Tewolde, who is scheduled to be in the crop biotech liability negotiations tomorrow morning, May 25 2005, in Montreal, has his bags packed and is awaiting a revised plane ticket that - even under ideal circumstances - could only get him to Montreal in time for the final day of the controversial set of UN negotiations (May 27). After extended discussions over Canada's Victoria Day holiday on Monday, a visa arrived in Ethiopia from the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi Tuesday.
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Ottawa. El Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher de Etiopía, científico africano de primer nivel y negociador del Protocolo de Cartagena sobre bioseguridad, recibió su visa para entrar a Canadá este martes muy tarde, tiempo de Etiopía. El Dr.
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Ottawa - En un asombroso desplante de interferencia política, el gobierno canadiense bloqueó la entrada del negociador más importante de África a las reuniones del Protocolo de Cartagena sobre Bioseguridad, quien debía asistir a las sesiones que comenzarán en Montreal la próxima semana (2005). El Protocolo es el acuerdo de Naciones Unidas que regula el movimiento internacional de organismos genéticamente modificados.
Al Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, representante científico del gobierno de Etiopía y delegado a las reuniones del Convenio de Diversidad Biológica (CDB) de la Organización de Naciones Unidas, con sede en Montreal, le devolvieron su pasaporte el 17 de mayo sin aprobar su solicitud de visa canadiense y sin ninguna explicación.
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In a breathtaking display of political interference, the Canadian government has blocked entry of Africa's chief negotiator for the Cartagena (biosafety) Protocol, who was scheduled to attend UN meetings beginning next week (2005) in Montreal. The Protocol is the United Nations treaty that governs the international movement of genetically modified (GM) organisms.
Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the Ethiopian government's chief scientist and its representative to the Montreal-based UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) had his passport returned without the requested Canadian visa yesterday (May 2005), and without explanation.
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