The USDA has approved meat and milk from cloned animals. I won't bother posting articles highlighting the disturbances of this decision. Foods from cloned sources will of course not be labeled.



Fighting against biopiracy in the Andean mountains......paticularly interesting to me because I currently attend an institution that has programs to both homogenize the potato in order to make potato growing more "efficient" and thus more profitable/marketable and through a separate department is promoting the sustainment and integrity of the communities involved in potato farming and the potato varieties themselves (if you haven't see the varieties - they are amazing in the variety of flavors, shapes, colors, and favorable growing conditions like elevation)


This article also gives a great overview of the company policies of "Syngenta" (a company synonymous with Monsanto, the bringers of napalm and many PCB laden chemicals), biopiracy itself, the resistance movement, and Andean legislation regarding GMOs

'Insulted' Andean farmers pick GM potato fight with multinational
Syngenta

Friday January 12, 2007

A coalition of indigenous farmers in South America will today (12
January) launch an international protest against the multinational
corporation Syngenta, claiming that its plans threaten their region's
biodiversity, culture and food sovereignty.

In an open letter signed today by representatives of 34 indigenous
communities in Peru, the coalition says Syngenta’s claims that its
patent for 'terminator technology' potatoes is neither relevant nor
applicable in the region are "deeply offensive".

The Indigenous Coalition Against Biopiracy in the Andes says that by
commercialising such potatoes, the corporation would threaten more
than 3,000 local potato varieties that form the basis of livelihoods
and culture for millions of poor people.

It wants Syngenta to publicly disown the patent, which describes a
genetic- modification process that could be used to stop potatoes
from sprouting unless a chemical is applied.

Terminator technology refers to genetic modifications that 'switch
off' seed fertility, and can therefore prevent farmers from using,
storing and sharing seeds and storage organs such as potato tubers.

Although there has been a global moratorium on the field-testing and
commercial use of terminator technologies since 2000, research into
them continues and some countries and corporations want the ban relaxed.

"Syngenta's pursuit of terminator potato patents in Europe, Brazil,
Canada, China, Egypt and Poland — in addition to granted patents in
Australia and Russia — demonstrates its investment in the technology
and interest in commercialising it," states the letter. "No trade
barriers nor regulatory system would be in place in Peru to keep
terminator potatoes from contaminating native potatoes."

Peru and its Andean neighbours are the potato's centre of diversity —
with nearly 4,000 unique varieties that farmers have developed over
generations. Before reaching its position, the coalition undertook a
lengthy discussion with farmers across the region.

Farmers are concerned that terminator potatoes will enter the Andean
production system and destroy their traditions of storing and
exchanging potato tubers for future planting. This is central to the
farmers' culture and has contributed to the region's immense
diversity of potato varieties. They also fear that pollen from the
modified potatoes could contaminate local varieties and prevent their
tubers from sprouting.

"We feel greatly disrespected by corporations that make a single
genetic alteration to a plant and then claim private ownership when
these plants are the result of thousands of years of careful breeding
by indigenous people," says Argumedo.

"Making farmers depend on chemicals they do not want to use, and
preventing them from saving and reusing seeds and tubers, merely
increases corporate control over the global food system."

Last year, a Syngenta shareholder hand-delivered a letter outlining
the coalition's concerns to the corporation’s CEO Michael Pragnell.

"We received an insulting letter in reply," says Alejandro Argumedo
of Asociación ANDES, a founding member of the coalition. "Syngenta
disregards our culture, values and our right to use the tubers of a
resource that our peoples have nurtured for millennia. Introducing
'terminator technology' potatoes could create major problems for
farmers in the Andes."

Syngenta says it has a policy not to use terminator technology but
defines the term solely as a "hypothetical process, which leads to
plants with infertile seeds", adding that it was patented by another
company in 1998.

In March 2004, however, Syngenta was granted its own patent (US
patent 6,700,039) for a genetic modification process that stops
tubers — plant storage organs such as potatoes — from sprouting
unless an external chemical is applied.

"While distancing itself from the prevention of seed germination,
Syngenta remains keen to prevent potato tuber development," says
Argumedo. "For Andean farmers, this is the same thing."

The coalition is calling for support from the international
community, including the World Council of Churches, which lobbies for
political change that supports the word’s poorest communities.

In May 2006, the council’s general secretary Samuel Kobia issued a
statement condemning terminator technology. "Preventing farmers from
re-planting saved seed will increase economic injustice all over the
world and add to the burdens of those already living in hardship," he
said.

The coalition finalised its letter at a meeting held on 11-12 January
in Lares, Cusco, Peru. The meeting was organised by Asociación ANDES
(the Quechua-Ayamara Association for Sustainable Livelihoods) with
support from the International Institute for Environment and
Development.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Alejandro Argumedo (ANDES) 00 51 1 955 82372

Mike Shanahan
Press Officer
International Institute for Environment and Development
Email: mike.shanahan@iied.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7872 7308
Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826
www.iied.org

NOTES TO EDITORS
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is
an independent, non-profit research institute. Set up in 1971 and
based in London, IIED provides expertise and leadership in
researching and achieving sustainable development (see: http://
www.iied.org).

The Association for Nature and Sustainable Development (ANDES) is a
non-profit Peruvian indigenous organisation that aims to improve the
quality of life of Andean indigenous communities by promoting the
conservation and sustainable use of their bio-cultural heritage
through rights-based conservation-development approaches. See: http://
www.andes.org.pe/

Founded in 2002 in Lima, Peru, the Indigenous Coalition Against
Biopiracy is an informal network of indigenous communities, community-
based organisations and individuals working together to protect their
collective biocultural heritage, which is the basis of their culture
and sustenance. The coalition primarily aims to create a space to
analyse and discuss the threat of biopiracy to indigenous communities
as well as strategies to confront its increasing influence on a local
and global level.

Syngenta AG is a multinational corporation with staff in 90 countries
that markets seeds and crop protection products. The company's sales
in 2005 were approximately US$8.1 billion. Syngenta is listed on the
Swiss stock exchange (SWX: SYNN) and the New York stock exchange
(NYSE: SYT). See: www.syngenta.com/en/index.aspx

Syngenta’s website states that: "Syngenta and its predecessor
companies have a long-standing policy not to use the so-called
'terminator' technology to prevent seed germination." It defines
terminator technology as "a hypothetical process, which leads to
plants with infertile seeds" and states that it was patented in 1998
(not by Syngenta and its predecessor companies). The website adds
that: "Syngenta believes that other methods of controlling the
activity of genes, such as chemical switch technology, will provide
new benefits for farmers and consumers… Other techniques involving
the control of the activity of genes in plants could bring a variety
of benefits for farmers and consumers. These include boosting the
natural disease or pest resistance abilities within a crop plant
during susceptible periods of growth, reducing losses after crops
have been harvested, or helping avoid frost damage by controlling the
timing of plant development."
See: www.syngenta.com/en/ar2003...nsibility/
position.aspx (link 4)

Full details of Syngenta’s patent (US patent 6,700,039) are online
at: www.patentstorm.us/patents/...text.html

In 2000 the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
recommended that governments not field-test or commercialise genetic
seed sterilisation technologies - thus creating a de-facto
international moratorium. In 2006, the CBD rejected a proposal —
backed by Australia, Canada and New Zealand — to allow field trials
of the crops on a case-by-case basis.

The potato (<i>Solanum tuberosum</i>) originated in the highlands of
South America, where it has been consumed for more than 8,000 years.

The World Council of Churches' general director’s full statement on
terminator technology is online at: tinyurl.com/rhsux

Biopiracy refers to the monopolisation (usually through intellectual
property rights) of genetic resources and traditional knowledge or
culture taken from people or regions that developed and nurtured
those resources.

In November 2006, the Andean Parliament passed a resolution to
declare the countries of the Andean Community (Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru and Bolivia) free of genetically modified potatoes. The
resolution urges governments of the Andean countries to stop any
field trial, manipulation and experimentation with genetically
modified potatoes to eliminate the risk of loss of genetic
variability of potatoes. It also calls for an end to any activity
related with propagation in the environment, commercial use,
transportation, use, commercialisation and production of GM Potato,
inside the Andean Community.