ACTION ALERT by the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network:
Take Action to Ban Terminator Technology!
April 2009: Ask the Prime Minister to support Bill C-353 “Terminator Seed Ban Act”
Take Action:
- Click here to send an instant email to the Prime Minister
- Organizations can click here to endorse the call for a ban – Click here to see the list of Canadian Groups calling for a Ban
- Write a personalized letter. Remember: postage is free to your elected officials! You can use your postal code to search for your MPs name and contact details. Below are some key addresses. (Note: The New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois have both endorsed the Bill to Ban Terminator in Canada.)
-
Send a postcard to the Prime Minister or distribute them in
your community! To order Ban Terminator postcards email
btpostcards@usc-canada.org - Send around the email action alert.
- Donate to support the campaign – the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network implements the Canadian strategy of the International Ban Terminator Campaign.
See below for an update and some basic info or go to www.banterminator.org for more resources.
Write a personalized message to:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
80 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Email: HarpeS@parl.gc.ca Fax: (613) 941 6900 Phone: (613) 992-4211
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, The Honourable Gerry Ritz
House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6
Email: RitzG@parl.gc.ca Fax: (613) 995-7080 Phone: (613) 996-8472
Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Official Opposition
House of Commons Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6
Email: IgnatM@parl.gc.ca Phone: (613) 995-9364 Fax: (613) 992-5880
Basic Information on Terminator:
What is Terminator? Terminator Technology genetically engineers
plants to produce sterile seeds at harvest. It was developed by the
multinational seed/agrochemical industry and the US government to
prevent farmers from re-planting harvested seed and force farmers to
buy seed each season instead. Terminator seeds have not yet been
field-tested or commercialized. In 2006, Monsanto bought the company
(Delta & Pine Land) that owns Terminator greenhouse research.
Terminator is sometimes called Genetic Use Restriction Technology
(GURTs) – the broad term that refers to the use of an external chemical
inducer to control the expression of a plant’s genetic traits.
Why is Terminator a problem? The top 10 largest seed companies
control half the world’s commercial seed market. If Terminator is
commercialized, corporations will likely incorporate sterility genes
into all their seeds. That’s because genetic seed sterilization would
secure a much stronger monopoly than patents — instead of suing farmers
for saving seed, companies are trying to make it biologically
impossible for farmers to re-use harvested seed.
Canadian farms of all sizes save seeds and this practice is growing as
the farm income crisis gets worse each year. Across the world, over 1.4
billion people, primarily small-scale farming families in the
developing world, depend on farm-saved seed as their primary seed
source. Terminator seeds will force dependence on external seed sources
and disrupt the age-old practice of farmer seed selection, exchange and
breeding – centuries of Indigenous and farmer seed variety development
is the foundation of the Canadian seed stock.
What impact will Terminator seeds have on farmers? Terminator is
a major violation of the rights of farmers to save and reuse their own
seeds. Through pollen movement in the first generation, Terminator
genes could contaminate farmers’ crops – farmers might then unknowingly
save and reuse seeds that are contaminated and will not germinate. This
could also happen if imported grain contains Terminator genes.
Farmers who depend on humanitarian food aid risk devastating crop loss
if they unknowingly use food aid grain containing Terminator genes as
seed.
Terminator would ensure a corporate stranglehold on seeds and result in
higher seed prices at a time when farmers are experiencing the worst
income crisis in the history of modern agriculture. If Canadian farmers
were forced to buy Terminator seeds every year, the cost would be
crippling. For example, an estimated 90% of Canadian wheat is planted
with saved seed – in total, the annual cost to buy this seed would be
$95 million dollars.
Who holds patents on Terminator? Monsanto could soon conclude a
deal to buy Delta & Pine Land (DPL), the world’s largest cotton
seed company, which jointly holds three US patents on Terminator
technology with the US Department of Agriculture. In October 2005, DPL
won new Terminator patents in both Europe and Canada. Also, the
multinational seed and agrochemical company Syngenta is requesting a
Canadian patent on its Terminator potatoes. But Indigenous potato
farmers in the Andes of Peru have asked Syngenta destroy this patent.
Will Terminator stop genetic contamination? The multinational
seed industry is waging a public relations campaign to promote
Terminator technology as a means to stop unwanted genetic contamination
from genetically engineered (GE) plants (particularly for potential use
in GE trees and plants modified to produce drugs and industrial
chemicals).
Escaped genes from GE plants are causing contamination and pose threats
to agricultural biodiversity and the livelihoods of farmers. For
example, Saskatchewan organic canola farmers are suing Monsanto and
Bayer for GE contamination (www.saskorganic.com/oapf).
Industry argues that engineered sterility would offer a built-in safety
feature for GE plants because if genes from a Terminator crop
cross-pollinate with related plants nearby, the seed produced from
unwanted pollination will be sterile – it will not germinate. But
Terminator technology is a complex system involving multiple inserted
genes that all work together in a sequence. Scientists warn that
Terminator will not be 100% effective. The likelihood of system failure
means it could never be a reliable tool for “biocontainment”. If
Terminator is used for “biocontainment” and fails, it would introduce
new, dangerous biosafety risks.
Update 2009:
Victory! Global Moratorium Upheld!: The international moratorium
at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity was upheld and
strengthened in March 2006 thanks to pressure from Canadians and people
across the world.
Canada still promotes Terminator: In 2005, the Canadian
government tried to overturn the UN moratorium. A leaked memo revealed
that the government was preparing to push language to allow
field-testing and commercialization. However, in March 2006, public
pressure forced the government to agree to strengthen the moratorium.
But our government has still not taken a stand against Terminator.
Monsanto Bids to Buy Terminator: In August 2006, Monsanto
announced it would buy Delta & Pine Land, the US seed company
conducting greenhouse trials of Terminator. In 1999 Monsanto made a
public commitment not to commercialize Terminator but “Monsanto does
not rule out the potential development and use of one of these
technologies in the future.”
Syngenta wants a Canadian patent on Terminator potatoes:
Multinational corporation Syngenta has applied for a Canadian patent on
its Terminator potatoes. But Indigenous farmers in the Andes of Peru
are asking Syngenta to denounce this technology.
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