A socially responsible approach to GMOs

Today, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that there will be no more cultivation of genetically modified crops in his country. Although full details are not out, Chavez terminated a 500,000-acre Monsanto project to grow GMO soybeans.

Brazil and Argentina are still involved in GMO soybean production.

Chavez said that a policy of food sovereignty and security established by the Venezuelan constitution was the basis of his decision.

He also announced the establishment of a "large seed bank facility to maintain
indigenous seeds for peasants' movements around the world."

Rafael Alegria, secretary of the international peasants' organisation Via Campesina, which brough the problem to the attention of Chavez, said, "The people of the United States, of Latin America, and of the world need to follow the example of a Venezuela free of transgenics", he said.

"If we want to achieve food sovereignty, we cannot rely on
transnationals like Monsanto", said Maximilien Arvelaiz, an adviser to
Chavez. "We need to strengthen local production, respecting our heritage
and diversity."

Meanwhile, last month in the US, a federal judge in Kansas City temporarily banned a genetically engineered variety of alfalfa and ruled that the US Department of Agriculture must complete an environmental impact study before releasing GMO alfalfa. He said that government and corporate lawyers presented no credible evidence that gene drift from the GMO crop would not contaminate other crops. This is the first time a GMO crop has been successfully challenged in the US. On May 4, US District Court Judge Charles Breyer permanently banned the genetically engineered alfalfa.

Yet, the University of California, Berkeley, recently signed a $500,000 deal with BP, an oil company, for biotechnology research into biofuels.

Chavez has been nationalizing Venezuelan oil reserves (seventh largest in the world) by edging BP and other transnational oil companies out of its oil fields, while at the same time providing cheap petroleum products to poor communities in the US through its subsidiary, Citgo.

Bill Hatch
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Notes

VENEZUELA: Chavez dumps Monsanto
From: owner-GE_NEWS@eco-farm.org
Sent: Thu 5/03/07 7:37 PM
To: GE_NEWS@eco-farm.org
Sunday, April 29, 2007 1:34 PM

The next genetic revolution?
We didn't want GM on our table, but the crucial question now is, will we allow it in our tanks? Robin Maynard and Pat Thomas report
GM WATCH daily list
http://www.gmwatch.org
The Ecologist, 29 March 2007
http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=831

Court Halt on GMO Alfalfa Shows USDA Failure
By Carey Gillam
Reuters
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031507O.shtml
Thursday 15 March 2007

5-4-07
Inside Bay Area
Court ruling bans genetically altered alfalfa...Paul Elias, AP
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_5816665
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Thursday barred the planting of genetically engineered alfalfa nationwide, ruling that the government didn't adequately study the biotechnology crop's potential to mix with organic and conventional varieties. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer made permanent a temporary ban he ordered in March on alfalfa with genetic material from bacteria that makes the crop resistant to a popular weed killer. The ruling is a major victory for anti-biotech crusaders, who have been fighting the proliferation of genetically engineered crops. It is the first ban placed on such crops since the first variety — the Flavr Savr tomato — was approved in 1994. Breyer said the U.S. Department of Agriculture must conduct a detailed scientific study of the crop's effect on the environment and other alfalfa varieties before deciding whether to approve it. Alfalfa is grown on about 21 million acres nationwide. California is the nation's largest alfalfa producer, growing the crop on about 1 million acres, primarily in the San Joaquin Valley. Breyer sided with organic farmers and conventional growers who fear lost sales if their crops are contaminated by genetically engineered plants. "The harm to these farmers and consumers who do not want to purchase genetically engineered alfalfa or animals fed with such alfalfa outweighs the economic harm to Monsanto, Forage Genetics and those farmers who desire to switch to Roundup Ready alfalfa," Breyer wrote Thursday. About 136.5 million acres of the nation's 445 million acres of farmland were used to grow biotech crops last year, an increase of 10 percent over 2005 plantings, according to the industry-backed nonprofit International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.