Tell your MP to support a Ban on Terminator Seeds in Canada!

Support Ban of Terminator Seeds – Before Dec 7/06
Tell your MP to support a Ban on Terminator Seeds in Canada!

[ For fully linked version, see link below.
Find your Member of Parliament using your Postal Code]

On December 7th 2006 the House of Commons Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee will hold a one-hour hearing on Terminator technology.

In March 2006 and February 2005, your letters stopped the Canadian government from acting to end the international moratorium on Terminator (“suicide seeds‿) at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. In March, the Canadian delegation to the UN meeting did not object to the reaffirmation and strengthening of the moratorium. Yet, our government supported the moratorium without actually stating a position on Terminator. Now we find out that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is preparing the road for approval of Terminator!

DEMAND that the Canadian Government state its unqualified opposition to this dangerous technology and take immediate steps to legislate a ban on field-testing and commercialization in Canada.

Terminator or Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURTs) is a technology of genetic engineering designed by the multinational seed industry to render seeds sterile after first harvest, thus preventing farmers from saving and re-using seed, forcing them to return to corporations to buy seed every season. This predatory strategy has been widely condemned, in Canada and across the world, because it threatens farmer livelihoods, food security, and agricultural biodiversity. And yet, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency continues to prepare for the potential introduction of Terminator seeds and there is no policy in Canada to address the devastating impacts Terminator would have on farmers’ livelihoods.

UPDATES:
• In August 2006, Monsanto announced that it will buy US seed company Delta & Pine Land. If the deal goes through, Monsanto will own the most advanced research on Terminator including the only greenhouse trials of Terminator seeds in the world. (Monsanto previously committed not to commercialize Terminator but has begun to reword this pledge.)
• In October 2005, the Canadian Patent Office granted the first ever Canadian patent on a Terminator technology (owned by Delta & Pine Land and the U.S. Department of Agriculture).
• Swiss multinational Syngenta has requested a Canadian patent on Terminator potatoes.

WRITE TO your Member of Parliament (postage is free).
Find your Member of Parliament using your Postal Code

FOR MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND A SAMPLE LETTER:
http://www.banterminator.org/p/282 or contact the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network at i...@cban.ca

MAKE SURE TO COPY YOUR LETTER TO:
Hon. Chuck Strahl
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-2940
Fax: 613 944-9376
E-Mail: Stra...@parl.gc.ca

Right Hon. Stephen Harper
Prime Minister
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-4211
Fax: 613 941-6900
EMail: Harp...@parl.gc.ca

Wayne Easter,
Liberal Agriculture Critic
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-2406
Fax: 613 995-7408
EMail: East...@parl.gc.ca

André Bellavance
Bloc Québécois Agriculture Critic
House of Commons Ottawa,
Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 995-1554
Fax: 613 995-2026
EMail: Bell...@parl.gc.ca

Alex Atamanenko
NDP Agriculture Critic
House of Commons Ottawa,
Ontario K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 996-8036
Fax: 613 943-0922
E-Mail: Atam...@parl.gc.ca

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This action is organized by the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network http://www.cban.ca Please join us in the Campaign against Terminator seeds and other forms of corporate control over seeds.
Please contact us for more information or to donate. i...@cban.ca
613 241 2267

Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator
Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN)
Collaborative Campaigning for Food Sovereignty and Environmental Justice
431 Gilmour Street, Second Floor
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 0R5
Phone: 613 241 2267
Fax: 613 241 2506
coor...@cban.ca
www.cban.ca
www.banterminator.org/p/282

item courtesy Ban Terminator Canada announcements list
contact[at]banterminator.org
http://www.banterminator.org

(NB: Received from: http://www.boilingfrog.ca/)