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Environment Action
Alerts for
April 24 - April 30, 2001
from Global Response April 24, 2001
As a member of the JustEarth! Network, Global Response asks
your
participation in this urgent letter
campaign. -- Paula Palmer, Executive
Director
Dear JustEarth! Network Members:
We have recently received reports
that four farmers protesting the Three
Gorges Dam have
been arbitrarily detained and possibly tortured. The men
attempted to complain to government officials about the
embezzlement of
funds that were to be used to resettle
people affected by the Dam. Please
write to the Chinese
government to express your concern that these men were
detained for exercising their right to freedom of
expression and that they
be released
immediately. Ask the authorities to ensure that the men are
not subjected to torture or ill-treatment. An Urgent Action
with more
details is below. Please send letters
immediately.
Activists who
speak out against large scale development projects, such as
the Three Gorges Dam and China Western Poverty Reduction
Project, have been
routinely persecuted, arrested, and
silenced. We have been urging the
Chinese
government to promote an open climate for a dialogue about the
environmental and social impacts of development projects.
The Three Gorges
Dam project is one of the ten cases
highlighted in the Amnesty
International and Sierra
Club report, "Environmentalists Under Fire."
Thank you for your ongoing interest in protecting those who
give the earth
a voice. Please let me know how we can
support your work.
In
Solidarity,
Lisa Sock
Human
Rights and the Environment Program
Amnesty
International USA
PUBLIC
AI Index: ASA 17/014/01
UA 102/00
Torture/arbitrary
detention/legal concern 23 April 2001
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
He Kechang
Ran Chongxin
Jiang Qingshan
Wen Dingchun
The four farmers named above have reportedly been detained
incommunicado
since March. He Kechang has reportedly
been tortured, and the others are
also believed to be
in danger. They are among thousands of people whose
homes will be flooded by the Three Gorges Dam, and they
were arrested when
they tried to complain that local
officials had embezzled funds intended to
pay for
resettling them.
All four are
from Gaoyang township, Yunyang county, in Chongqing
municipality. Gaoyang is in the centre of what will become
a giant
reservoir in 2003, when the dam on the Yangzi
river becomes operational.
The dam project has been
plagued with problems, including reported
widespread
corruption, embezzlement of resettlement funds intended to
compensate people whose homes will be flooded, and
environmental problems.
The
four were reportedly among eight farmers' representatives from Gaoyang,
who planned to go to Beijing in early March to present a
petition to the
government, complaining that local
officials had embezzled resettlement
funds. The local
police found out, and arrested Wen Dingchun on 8 March.
Four of the others reportedly fled the area, while He
Kechang, Ran Chongxin
and Jiang Qinshan went to
Beijing. Yunyang county police apparently
followed them
there, arrested them on 12 March and took them back to
Yunyang.
All are reportedly held in the Yunyang county police
Detention Centre. It
is believed they may be charged
with "disturbing social order" or "leaking
state
secrets". They are expected to be tried at the end of April.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Three Gorges dam will be the largest in the world. Over
a million
people will have to be resettled by the time
the dam is completed, of whom
300,000 have already
moved. The government in Beijing introduced new
regulations in February this year, to try to rid the
project of corruption
and prevent social unrest over
forced resettlement. According to some
experts, even
though the regulations are a positive step, they fail to
address some contentious issues and are being implemented
without the
public scrutiny that would be required to
alleviate the problems
surrounding the massive
displacement of people.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send
telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/airmail
letters in
English, Chinese or your own language:
- expressing concern that He Kechang, Ran Chongxin, Jiang
Qingshan and Wen
Dingchun are reported to have been
arbitrarily detained by Yunyang county
police,
Chongqing municipality, for peacefully attempting to exercise their
constitutional right to petition the government in Beijing;
- expressing concern that He Kechang has reportedly
been tortured in
custody, and urging the authorities to
take action immediately to ensure
that he and the
others do not face further torture or ill-treatment, and to
order an impartial investigation into the allegations;
- urging the authorities to order that the men are released
immediately and
unconditionally, unless they are to be
charged with a recognisably criminal
offence, and to
ensure that while they are in custody they have access to
their families, lawyers and doctors of their choosing.
APPEALS TO:
Premier of the People's Republic
of China
ZHU Rongji Zongli
Guowuyuan
9 Xihuangchenggenbeijie
Beijingshi 100032
People's
Republic of China
Telexes: 210070 FMPRC CN
or 22478 MFERT CN
Telegram: Premier Zhu
Rongji, Beijing, China
Salutation: Your Excellency
Procurator-General of the Supreme
People's Procuratorate of the People's
Republic of
China
HAN Zhubin Jianchazhang
Zuigao Renmin Jianchayuan
147
Beiheyan Dajie
Donganmen, Dongchengqu
Beijingshi 100726
People's
Republic of China
Telexes: 210070 FMPRC CN
or 22478 MFERT CN
(Please forward to the
Procurator-General)
Acting
Mayor of Chongqing Municipality, Bao Xuding
Email: cqgov@cq.gov.cn
Email: master@cq.gov.cn
COPIES TO:
The Sichuan Daily
Sichuan Ribao
Hongxingzhonglu
Chengdushi
610012
Sichuansheng
People's
Republic of China
Email: master@sconline.com.cn
and to diplomatic representatives
of the People's Republic of China
accredited to your
country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS
IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat,
or your section office, if sending appeals after 4 June
2001.
Paula Palmer, Executive Director
Global Response
PO Box 7490
Boulder CO 80306
Tel. 303-444-0306
Fax. 303-449-9794
Website:
www.globalresponse.org
Mission: Global Response empowers people of all
ages, cultures, and
nationalities to protect the
environment by creating partnerships for
effective
citizen action. At the request of indigenous peoples and
grassroots organizations, Global Response organizes
internatinoal
letter-writing campaigns to help
communities prevent environmental
destruction. Global Response involves young
people as well as adults in
these campaigns, to develop
in them the values and skills for global citizen
cooperation and earth stewardship.
from Rainforest Action Network April 24, 2001
U. WA LEADER SPEAKS AT OCCIDENTAL SHAREHOLDER'S MEETING
APRIL 26TH Day of
Action! Phone Zap Bernstein/Alliance Capital
In This Post:
1. Update on U. wa Day of Action/Phone Zap
2. Press release from Occidental Shareholder. s Meeting
3. Los Angeles Times Article #1 on U. wa at OXY
Shareholder. s Meeting 4.
Los Angeles Times Article #2
on U. wa visit to Los Angeles
For background info or downloadable materials check out :
www.ran.org <http://www.ran.org> www.amazonwatch.org
<http://www.amazonwatch.org> www.moles.org
<http://www.moles.org>
www.uwacolombia.org <http://www.uwacolombia.org>
#1 April 26th TAKE
ACTION!
April 26, 2001 is a
national day of action for the U. wa people. On this
day Roberto Perez, U. wa traditional authority leader will
be again
confronting representatives of Sanford
Bernstein/Alliance Capital urging
them to use their
role as Oxy largest investor to either getting the
drilling on U. wa land cancelled or divest from Occidental
Petroleum.
Take action now!
Contact a local organizer (listed below) to participate
in actions and events at Sanford Bernstein or Alliance
capital offices.
There are actions planned at 10 out of
13 offices. Action is still
needed at the Sanford
Bernstein offices in Cleveland, Ohio, West Palm
Beach
Florida and White Plains, New York. Even a few people standing
outside passing out flyers will send a message to Sanford
Bernstein.
Contact Heather at
fern@riseup.net if you can organize at one of these
offices.
Don. t have an office near you? No problem - organize a
phone zap. Find
the phone number of the Sanford
Bernstein office nearest you by
checking out
there www.bernstein.com/>locations.htm
<http://www.bernstein.com/>locations.htm>
, Have your friends, family,
and coworkers call Sanford
Bernstein and let them know you support the
U. wa
people and their campaign to non-violently resist the exploitation
of their land and culture. Urge Bernstein/Alliance Capital
to take
action for the U. wa! The choice is
simple get the drilling on U. wa land
stopped or divest
from Occidental Petroleum.
Contact Info for Organizers in Sanford Bernstein/Alliance
Capital
Cities-
Chicago-
Jennifer Smith
jmsmith@oddjob.uchicago.edu
New Jersey-
Catherine Moon-
Mooncat1@juno.com
Seattle-
Aaron Jackson
Aaron@forestethics.org
Texas-
Dallas-
Megan-boycottneimans@netzero.net
Or Anne at-
214-893-3594
San Antonio-
Carol-210-342-2210
Washington DC-
Andrew Fandino
andrewfandino@netscape.net
Los Angeles-
Kevin-kevin@amazonwatch.org
San
Francisco
Heather-fern@riseup.net
New York City-
Adam adam@wetlandspreserve.org <mailto:adam@wetlandspreserve.org>
or
Joan jer235@nyu.edu <mailto:jer235@nyu.edu> 212-966-4831
________________________________________________________
#2 PRESS RELEASE
Amazon Watch ¨ Action Resource Center ¨
Rainforest Action Network
News Release:
APRIL 20, 2001 -- UPDATED 6 pm PST
CONTACTS: Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch 310
455-0617
Sharon
Lungo, Action Resource Center, 310 396-3254
U'wa Tribal Chief Sends Message to Shareholders to Divest
from
Occidental Petroleum and Vows to Continue
Resistance against Drilling in
Colombia
-- Interviews, b-roll, images
available upon request --
LOS
ANGELES, CA - Roberto Perez, President of the U'wa Traditional
Authority of Colombia once again took center stage at a
lively demonstration on
Friday at Occidental
Petroleum's Annual Meeting in Santa Monica and delivered
his people's message of resistance to supporters outside
and shareholders
inside the meeting. "We will continue
resisting oil drilling, we will continue
defending our
sacred ancestral territory, we will continue to defend
our culture and our sacred sites," said the U'wa chief.
The U'wa have captured headlines
around the world for their crusade to
halt
Occidental's oil project in the Siriri block (formerly known as Samore)
and have stated they are willing to die to stop it.
Surrounded by scores of
supporters from labor, human
rights, and environmental organizations,
Perez called
on shareholders to divest. Actor Cary Elwes (Princess Bride,
Shadow of a Vampire) made a passionate plea inside the
meeting to the company
to stop the Gibraltar 1
exploratory well located on the peaceful U'wa
tribe's
sacred lands and reminded shareholders that the money they stand to
make from their Occidental Petroleum (OXY) stock is tainted
with the blood
and suffering of indigenous peoples.
The tribal chief was also joined
by Michelle Weber from Witness for
Peace-Southwest, and
Dave Campbell from PACE International Union, and
Dee Dominguez, a leader of the Kitanemuk Tribe of
Tejon Indians from Elk
Hills -- outside Bakersfield,
California --whose tribe is fighting OXY
to stop the
desecration of 97 burial and cultural sites threatened by the
company's operations.
Sister Laura Goedken, from the Sinsinawa Dominicans
accompanied the
U'wa chief inside the meeting to speak
on behalf of a shareholder resolution
calling for a
report on the risks and liabilities associated with OXY's
Colombia operations. The U'wa leader, then, attempted to
present a
prepared statment from his people to the
board of directors but was cut short
after 2 minutes by
an impatient and disrespectful CEO Ray Irani who did not
wait for a full translation of the statement. Irani instead
interrupted the
Chief saying that "we can't understand
you speaking Spanish."
Other
U'wa supporters asked management about the security costs of
Oxy's operations in Northeast Colombia including the
financial risks and
liabilities of guerrilla bombings,
resulting oil spill clean up costs
as well as the
effect of bad publicity on the company's image. OXY's
management dodged these questions merely saying that they
are a contractor for the
Colombian Government and thus
not responsible.
In
retaliation to the U.S. government's $1.3 billion military aid to
Colombia, attacks on Oxy's installations including bombings
of its Caño
Limon pipeline have dramatically escalated
in recent months --over
sixty attacks so far in 2001 --
forcing the company to declare "force
majeure" twice in
the past six months. Since 1986, the pipeline has been bombed
more than 800 times, spilling more than 2.3 million barrels
of crude oil
into rivers, ecosystems, and farmlands.
These spills are equivalent to 8
times the size of the
Exxon Valdez spill. Believing that such violence and
ecological disaster will spread to the heart of their
territory, the
U'wa say that they will continue their
uncompromising resistance.
Following the meeting, U'wa supporters vowed to step up the
divestment
campaign against Oxy and its top
shareholders. Activists claimed
partial victory that
after being hit with 75 protests across the US and Europe
last year, Fidelity Investments, one of Oxy's largest
shareholders and the
world's largest mutual fund,
dropped over $420 million or 60 percent of
its Oxy
holdings. The campaign will now be targeting Oxy's largest
shareholder, Berstein / Alliance Capital, which is in the
process of being acquired
by AXA Financial. Groups are
planning demonstrations on April 26 at the
company's
New York Headquarters as well as other Bernstein/Alliance
Capital offices nationwide to urge divestment from Oxy.
Robert Perez
will be traveling to Boston, New York,
Stratford, and Providence on a U.S.
speaking tour
through April 28.
______________________________________________________
#3
Los Angeles Times Business
April 21, 2001
http://www.latimes.com/business/20010421/t000033617.html
Protesters Call for End to
Occidental Drilling Project
Energy: Activists at firm's
annual meeting say test well is on sacred
native land
in Colombia.
By SARAH HALE, Times Staff Writer
Activists targeted Occidental
Petroleum Corp.'s annual meeting
Friday to press for an
end to an oil-drilling project on what they say is sacred
native land in Colombia, continuing what has become a noisy
and angry
tradition for the Los Angeles oil company.
As shareholders
arrived at Oxy's meeting in Santa Monica, they
were met
by about 100 protesters waving signs, beating drums and shouting
disapproving chants in English and Spanish. For the last
five years,
U'wa tribe supporters have picketed the
event in hopes of swaying
shareholders to divest from
Oxy.
The meeting is
traditionally held to showcase the company's
yearlong
efforts to boost earnings and reduce debt. However, company directors
fielded several questions about Oxy's potentially
profitable interest
in an oil-drilling project that
sits on land claimed by the U'wa.
Occidental, backed by
the Colombian government, began drilling a
long-delayed
test well in the area late last year. All 5,000 members of
the nature-worshiping U'wa tribe have threatened in the
past to walk off a
1,400-foot cliff in the Andes in a
mass suicide to protect the land
they say has belonged
to them for thousands of years. But Occidental continues
to maintain that its test-well site is in a developed area
outside the
U'wa reservation.
The activists, some of
whom own Occidental stock, also put forth a
non-management resolution asking company directors to
investigate the
financial, environmental and cultural
risks of the oil project. They
say adverse effects on
Oxy's public image, coupled with legal liabilities,
could hurt the company's long-term profitability. About 6%
of shareholders
voted for the resolution.
Colombia is key to the
firm's oil production in Latin America,
Chairman and
Chief Executive Ray R. Irani told shareholders. He said that the
test well in northwest Colombia should be completed this
year and that the
company had worked with the U.S. and
Colombian governments to ensure
that the project can be
completed without violence.
"Neither the U.S.
government nor the government of Colombia
recognize the
allegation that we are drilling on U'wa sacred land," Irani said.
The U'wa people, who
say the land is their home and the sacred
burial ground
of their ancestors, are afraid their cultural identity will be
forgotten, said Roberto Perez, the tribe's president.
"For eight years, we
have been fighting against Occidental for our
land,"
Perez told supporters before the meeting. "We will continue to
defend our ancestors, our culture and our sacred rights. .
. . Several
community members have been beaten,
mistreated and arrested. We hold Occidental
responsible."
Despite lengthy,
pointed questions from several stockholders and
U'wa
supporters in the audience, Irani tried to keep the focus on
Occidental's recent performance and outlook for coming
years. He noted that in 2000,
the company posted the
strongest financial performance in its 81 years of
operation. Driven by oil and natural gas operations, Oxy
reported net
income, before special items, of $1.3
billion on sales of $13.6
billion.
Company directors vowed
to use some of the record earnings to
reduce Oxy's debt
by $1 billion this year. Since December, the company has
trimmed its debt to $6.1 billion.
Oxy shares gained 35
cents to close at $27.42 on the New York
Stock
Exchange
__________________________________________________________
#4
LA Time - Science &
Environment 4/19/2001
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010419/tiv0013443.html
Event examines native
peoples and colonialism
Participants will explore
issues ranging from the environment to racial
identity.
By
PAM NOLES, PAM.NOLES@LATIMES.COM,
CLAREMONT -- Prominent
activists from around the world will gather
at Scripps
College this weekend to explore the history and impact of
colonialism on indigenous people.
Among the participants
will be the leader of a Colombian tribe
that once
threatened mass suicide over a planned oil project near its
ancestral home.
"Natural Sources,
Native Rights" begins today and runs through
Saturday,
part of a semester-long symposium sponsored by the Humanities
Institute at Scripps. This weekend's events explore the
myriad issues
surrounding the often controversial issue
-- from the environment to
racial identity through
talks and poetry readings. Participants, nearly all
scholar-activists, are from the United States, Australia,
Colombia and
other regions.
Friday's speakers
include Roberto Perez, president of the U'wa
Traditional Authority, who begins a U.S. speaking tour at
the
conference.
The battle
between the 5,000 members of his tribe, which lives in the
Andes mountains of Colombia, and Los Angeles-based
Occidental Petroleum began
in 1992 when Occidental and
another oil company were granted exploration
rights by
the Colombian government on land within the tribe's ancestral
territory, said Kevin Koenig, a campaigner for Amazon
Watch.
For the
U'wa, the fight to prevent the oil project and to protect
their homeland and culture is a matter of life and death,
Koenig said.
"What
they have stated is they are willing to die for this," he said.
Besides land issues,
the tribe is concerned the oil project will
trap
members in the cross-fire of a civil war between the Colombian
government and the National Liberation Army, a
Marxist-Leninist group that has
been waging a
revolutionary campaign for decades. This week, about 100
employees of the company were possibly kidnapped by the
guerrillas. In the past,
the group has used mass
abductions and frequent bombings of pipelines to
press
the Colombian government for concessions in peace talks.
"The key point that the
U'wa have continued to make is if oil
development comes
anywhere near their territory, oil infrastructure
becomes a strategic target in an ongoing civil war," Koenig
said.
Another
featured speaker is Haunai-Kay Trask, professor and
founder of the Center for Hawaiian Studies at the
University of Hawaii, Manoa. The
poet and author, who
is a key player in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement,
said she will focus on the effect the military and tourism
industries are
having on the island's land and native
culture.
Tourism
accounts for $10.8 billion of Hawaii's economy. By
contrast, pineapple and sugar together amount to about $269
million. The Hawaii
Visitors and Convention Bureau
estimates that a $7.87 million
advertising campaign it
mounted resulted in 757,000 tourist trips to the island
over a two-year period, $1.07 billion in visitor spending
and $75.5 million
earned in state and county taxes.
Tourism fuels
environmental damage, cultural oppression and a high
cost of living, painful when tourism wages are low, Trask
said. It brings
development that wastes land and
depletes water resources, a critical
issue because
"unlike California, we're not in a position to steal water from
other states," she said.
But stewardship of the
land, turning it into an agricultural
powerhouse, and
exploration of environmentally friendly ways to develop
the fishing industry could provide an economic alternative,
she said.
from League of Conservation Voters April 24, 2001
_____________________________________ Support LCV
______________
Add your voice to the tens of thousands
of citizens across the country
already holding elected
officials accountable for their votes on the
environment and helping to elect a pro-environment
Congress! Join LCV in
its fight to prevent the hard-won
progress of the last 30 years from being
dismantled.
Click https://lcv.org/join
==============================================
LCV WEEKLY ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATE April 23, 2001
==============================================
The League of Conservation Voters
(LCV) continues to monitor Congressional
and
Administration activity and highlight lawmakers for their actions on
important environmental issues. For a concise look at
current events on
Capitol Hill and beyond click below.
=====================================
Congress Watch
=====================================
* Congress returns to Washington
after a two-week recess with several
environmental
issues on the agenda including an escalating energy debate
and a host of appropriations hearings for the Fiscal Year
2002 Budget
* Although the
administration's budget outline passed the House, it
received a different reception in the Senate where
moderates from both
parties joined forces to increase
overall spending limits. The budget
resolution now
moves into a House-Senate conference. Several amendments
related to the environment were offered during Senate
consideration
* Plus, see this
week's schedule of events and committee hearings and
learn more about what members of Congress are doing on the
environment
* Click Congress
Watch
http://www.lcv.org/actioncenter/weekly_update/index.htm
=====================================
Eye on the Administration
=====================================
* LCV releases 100 days report on
the Bush administration's environmental
record! Get a
recap of which environmental laws survived the "Card Memo",
plus learn about specific spending proposals in Bush's
budget
* EPA Administrator
Christine Whitman announced support for two rules that
would expand reporting requirements for lead and close a
major loophole
that for years has allowed the
destruction of our precious wetlands. Learn
more about
these environmental policies and read LCV President Deb
Callahan's response
* Visit Eye on the Administration
http://www.lcv.org/presidential/index.htm
====================================================================
The LCV Environmental Update is brought to you by the
League of
Conservation Voters, the nonprofit political
voice of the environmental
community. LCV is the only
national organization dedicated full-time to
informing
the public about the environmental records of federally elected
officials and candidates.
Committee hearing schedules and floor votes in this update
are retrieved
from "Greensheets" at http://www.greensheets.com and "Environment and
Energy News Daily" at http://www.eenews.net.
LCV publishes annually the National Environmental
Scorecard, which rates
members of Congress on the most
critical environmental votes cast during
that year.
from League of Conservation Voters April 24, 2001
Environmental Assessment of Bush Administration's First 100
Days Released Today
League of
Conservation Voters says Bush fails first 100 days by putting
polluters before people
WASHINGTON (April 24, 2001) - Calling the first three
months of the Bush
administration an "environmental
failure," the League of Conservation
Voters (LCV) today
released a citizen's guide detailing the president's
environment actions during his first 100 days in office.
The guide
highlights the many environmental rollbacks,
delays and broken promises of
this administration,
while acknowledging several pro-environment steps for
which Bush has taken credit.
http://lcv.org/news/042401_100days.html
_________________________________________________________Join
LCV_________
Add your voice to the tens of thousands of
citizens across the country
already holding elected
officials accountable for their votes on the
environment and helping to elect a pro-environment
Congress. Join LCV in
its fight to prevent
the hard-won progress of the last 30 years from being
dismantled.
www.lcv.org/join_1
from Save Our Environment Action Center April 25, 2001
SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT ACTION CENTER UPDATE
By using the Save Our Environment
Action Center
[http://www.saveourenvironment.org], you are working
together with the nation's most influential environmental
advocacy groups in the crucial battles to protect our
air
and water, forests and oceans, climate, wilderness,
and
wildlife.
April 25, 2001
************************************************************
In the next two weeks, the Bush administration may try
to
reverse a ruling that protects the last 30 percent
of
America's national forests. Tell the president to
keep these
last unspoiled forest lands off-limits to
logging, mining
and drilling.
To send a free fax to President
Bush on this issue, just
reply to this email.
************************************************************
In January 2001, President
Clinton issued the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule,
ending virtually all logging,
roadbuilding, and coal,
gas, oil and other mineral leasing
in 58 million acres
of the wildest remaining national
forests lands. The
rule was the direct result of a
tremendous outpouring
of public support: over 600 public
hearings were held
around the nation, and people sent more
than 1.6
million comments on the rule -- more than for any
other
rule in the nation's history.
But the Bush administration has now taken steps to reverse
the rule. This eagerness to capitulate to the desires
of
timber interests despite overwhelming public support
for
protecting our wild forests puts millions of acres
of
precious lands at risk -- lands that serve as
habitat for
threatened and endangered species, provide
recreational
opportunities, protect against invasion of
non-native
species, and ensure clean drinking water.
Over the last two decades,
nearly a million acres of wild
national forests have
been logged or disrupted by
roadbuilding (these forests
currently contain more than nine
times more miles of
roads than our country's interstate
highway system).
The roadless rule protections would provide
valuable
long-term safeguards for the few wild areas that
remain. But industry continues to demand more access for
roadbuilding, mining, and logging -- and the Bush
administration is listening.
Please send the president a
message today. We've made it
easy for you -- just reply
to this email and we'll
automatically fax the message
below to President Bush. Or,
if you prefer to call the
president, the White House
comment line is
202-456-1414.
Once again,
thanks for being part of the Save Our
Environment
activist network and for taking action to help
preserve
and protect the Earth's natural treasures and
quality
of life. Remember, you can increase the impact of
your
support by encouraging your family and friends to visit
the Save Our Environment Action Center as well. We've made
it easy for you with our "Tell a Friend" feature which
allows you to send an electronic postcard right from
the
site.
Save Our Environment Action Center --
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/
************************************************************
Fax message -- just reply to this email and we'll send
this
message to President Bush.
Dear President Bush,
In the coming weeks, you have the
opportunity to stand up to
special interests and
implement the popular and balanced
environmental policy
that protects America's last unspoiled
national
forests, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
Most of our national forests are already open to logging,
mining and drilling. That's why after more than two
years of
public debate, 600 public hearings, 1.6
million comments,
and broad support across party lines,
the last 30 percent of
our wild national forest lands
were set aside as a haven for
wildlife and a heritage
for our children.
But now, the timber industry wants you to ignore the fact
that 95 percent of Americans supported this forest
conservation policy and instead allow them to log in these
last unspoiled areas too.
I urge you to implement the Roadless Area Conservation Rule
and protect these last wild forest lands so that they
will
remain a legacy for future generations. Because
once these
forests are gone, they're gone forever.
Sincerely,
[your name and address]
from Global Response April 26, 2001
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
For those of you who have been
writing letters in response to our appeals on
behalf of
jailed peasant environmentalists Rodolfo Montiel Flores and
Teodoro Cabrera, here's a statement given at the recent
Boise Cascade
Shareholders meeting by another member of
their peasant-environmentalist
organization.
Organization of Peasant Environmentalists
of the
Sierra of Petatlán and Coyuca de Catalán
Submitted by Enrique Rodriguez
April 19, 2001
To
the Boise Cascade Shareholder Meeting
I am Enrique Rodriguez
from Guerrero, Mexico, representing the
Organzation of
Peasant Environmentalists of the Sierra of Petatlan and
Coyuca de Catalan and Rodolfo Montiel nd Teodoro Cabrera.
I would like for your
shareholders to know the experience of a
group of men
and women that were able to remove from our country one of
the most voracious transnational companies that with the
liberties of
the North American Free Trade Agreement
NAFTA swallowed up part of our
forest, divided and
confronted the peasants, and justified the
persecution
of the leaders of the Organization of Peasant
Environmentalists of the Sierra of Petalán and Coyuca de
Catalán,
accusing them of being drug traffickers and
guerrillas.
Given the
weight of the reality that has been transmitted inside
and outside the country, now the same authorities recognize
the validity
of the denunciations that before they
ignored.
Friday, April
6th, the Minister of the Environment (SEMARNAT),
Víctor
Lichtinger Waissman, flew over the Sierra and admitted that the
situation of deforestation is dramatic.
For his part, the
representative of the state government of
Guerrero,
Héctor Popoca Boone, who the year before rejected the
environmental organization that denounced the plundering of
the forest,
said that he was now on the side of the
peasants that defend the forest.
Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro
Cabrera had better fortune than five
other companions
who died in different circumstances, but all linked to
the struggle for the protection of the forest and the
rivers.
Rodolfo Montiel
and Teodoro Cabrera have completed one year and 11
months in prison. The Mexican Army detained them
and tortured them
until they confessed to be guilty of
crimes that they didn't commit.
The National Commission
of Human Rights knows this and it was
demonstrated in
the trial that followed.
It's true that the
environmental organization resorted to the
blockade of
logging roads to impede the sacking of the forest, but it
did this after having used up the legal recourses of
written
denunciations, interviews with public officials
at all levels, and
declarations to the press.
For half a year the
authorities turned deaf ears to the complaints
of the
peasants.
Before, in the
government of Rubén Figueroa Alcocer, during whose
administration Boise Cascade arrived in Guerrero, there was
another
blockade of logging trucks in the municipality
of Coyuca de Benitez.
The government responded to this
action by the members of the Peasant
Organization of
the Southern Sierra with a bloodbath, ambushing them and
assassinating 17 peasants in 1995.
The governor of the state,
the last of the "dinosaurs" and
principal strongman of
Guerrero, left power but the forest policies
didn't
change.
Boise Cascade,
like all the transnational companies that go to poor
countries, had all the privileges needed to plunder our
forests, and
didn't even have to know about the living
conditions of the people. In
their method of
operation, they had local governments and community
leaders as their employees.
In the exploitation of the
forest in Guerrero, clear cuts were used
that left the
hills bald.
However, in
1998, the defense of the forest began to be a common
cause of the organized towns. Not the threats,
nor the assassinations,
nor the persecutions could
deter the clamor for life.
"If we're going to die when
the water is finished off, better to
risk our lives now
defending life." This was the simple thought that
ran the length of the Sierra and unified the
towns. From Coahuayutla,
which is the
municipality furthest away and isolated, to the poorest
zone of La Montaña, the people have embraced the cause of
the forest and
the water.
In our view Boise Cascade
left Guerrero when they knew that they
would never have
a guarantee of supply with the people risen-up against
them.
Corrupted forest technicians
and public functionaries were made
accomplices to
violate the law and to accuse the environmentalists of
being guerrillas. The Federal Procurator of
Environmental Protection
was only able to carry out
forest audits to know the situation of the
logging
units when Boise Cascade left Guerrero.
Now it is the peasants of the
Sierra who are explaining to the
inhabitants of the
cities the causes for the scarcity of water. The
same as our companion Rodolfo Montiel, who states that the
spirit of the
water lives in the freshness of the
forest, our companions affirm that
without the forest,
the rain clouds pass by at a distance and don't
stop. Each time it rains less, the climate
changes, and the temperature
rises.
With neither rain nor tree
roots to hold the run-off, the rivers
dry up, the towns
suffer, and the animals and plants die.
It's the voice of our peoples
that demand control of the
voraciousness of the
transnational companies and stricter laws for
environmental protection.
We demand that Boise Cascade
invest in the restoration of the
forests and waterways
in Guerrero.
How will you be doing this?
I bring with me the voice of
the men, women, and children of the
Sierra de Petalán
and Coyuca de Catalán that have begun to spread
through
all of the Sierra the ten commandments of the environmentalists
that speak of protecting with their life the goods that God
created in
order to bequeath them to humanity.
from Natural Resources Defense Council April 26, 2001
========================================
NRDC EARTH ACTION:
The Bulletin
for Environmental Activists
April 26, 2001
========================================
In This Issue:
--Action alerts--
1. ARSENIC IN DRINKING WATER **URGENT UPDATE**: Tell the
EPA
not to delay the new arsenic-in-drinking-water
standard --
official comments due May 7!
2. MINING POLLUTION: Tell the Bush
administration to protect
our public lands from mining
pollution
3. NATIONAL
MONUMENTS: Urge Gale Norton to uphold
protections for
our national monuments
======================================================
You will also find these alerts in NRDC'S Earth Action
Center, which includes tools for taking action easily
online, at http://www.nrdc.org/action
(Please do not reply to this message; see the instructions
below for how to unsubscribe or contact NRDC with
questions
or comments.)
=============
Action alerts
=============
1. ARSENIC IN DRINKING WATER **URGENT UPDATE**
Tell the EPA not to delay the new arsenic-in-drinking-water
standard -- official comments due May 7!
Last month we told you about the
EPA's suspension of the new
arsenic-in-drinking-water
standard, and said we'd let you
know when the agency
announced an official public comment
period. This past
Monday (April 23rd) the EPA announced an
almost
unheard-of absurdly short timeframe -- 14 days! --
for
the public to be officially heard on this critical
issue. That means we have only until May 7th to speak out
against this outrageous plan.
== What to do ==
Send a message *by the May 7 comment deadline* telling the
EPA to abandon its plan to further delay implementing
the
new arsenic standard.
== Contact information ==
You can
send a message to the official comment email address
directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at
http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact
information
and sample letter below to send your own
message, and please
include your own reasons why
getting the arsenic out of our
drinking water is
important to you. (Please do not change
the subject
line of the sample message -- comments must
contain
this info in order to be officially counted.)
W-99-16-IV Arsenic Comments Clerk
Water Docket (MC-410)
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylavania
Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Email: ow-docket@epamail.epa.gov
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Arsenic Docket
#W-99-16-IV
To Administrator
Whitman and EPA staff,
I
strongly oppose your decision to suspend the new 10 parts
per billion arsenic-in-drinking-water standard and re-open
this issue to further study. The new standard was a
result
of more than a decade of scientific reviews,
public
hearings, and discussions with health experts
and industry.
In addition, the 10 ppb level is the
international standard
adopted several years ago by the
World Health Organization
and the European Union.
Delaying the implementation of the
10 ppb standard is a
transparent and unacceptable
capitulation to the mining
industry and other corporate
interests at the expense of
Americans' health. I urge
you to reverse your decision and
immediately implement
the 10 ppb standard. If you do decide
to re-open this
issue for further study, however, you should
adopt an
even stronger standard (3 ppb), not a weaker one.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
2. MINING POLLUTION
Tell the Bush
administration to protect our public lands
from mining
pollution
In January, after
four years of research, debate and public
comment, the
government established new, stronger mining
safeguards.
The new rules would allow the federal government
to
prohibit new mine sites on sensitive federal land and
prevent mining pollution from reaching waterways (an
estimated 12,000 miles of America's rivers and streams have
already been polluted by the mining industry's cyanide,
arsenic, and other toxic waste). The rules also would
require companies to pay for clean-up and restore
public
lands ruined by mining activities.
But after a few short weeks in
office, President Bush and
Interior secretary Gale
Norton proposed suspending the new
rules and replacing
them with the old ones, which haven't
been
substantially updated in decades. The administration
announced a 45-day comment period (which ends on May 7) to
effectively undo a four-year process. In the meantime,
new
mines are being proposed adjacent to people's
homes, upwind
from elementary schools, in wilderness
areas, at the
headwaters of critical fish habitat, in
fragile desert
ecosystems, and amidst the wild lands
that provide a home to
our few remaining grizzly bears.
== What to do ==
Send a message before the May 7 comment deadline telling
the
Bush administration (official comments are sent to
the
Bureau of Land Management) to leave the current
rules in
place.
== Contact information ==
You can
email the BLM directly from NRDC's Earth Action
Center
at http://www.nrdc.org/action (we'll send a copy of
your message to Interior secretary Gale Norton). Or use the
contact information and sample letter below to send
your own
message.
Bureau of Land Management
Administrative Record
401 LS, 1849
C St, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Email: WOComment@blm.gov
== Sample letter ==
Att'n: AD22 -- Don't roll back
mining regulations
Dear
Director,
I strongly oppose
your proposal to suspend the current
mining regulations
that became effective January 20 and
replace them with
the old, outdated, mining rules.
The old rules have left a legacy of streams and drinking
water polluted with acid, heavy metals like arsenic,
and
poisons like cyanide, while the current rules
contain
standards that would prevent mining pollution
from reaching
our waterways. The current rules also
allow the government
to deny mine proposals that would
irreparably harm the
environment; the old rules made it
close to impossible to
deny these permits.
And, the current rules require
mining companies, not
taxpayers, to pay for expensive
mine clean-ups. Too often,
the old rules allowed these
companies to walk away from
their environmental messes.
The current rules were
established after four years of
research, dozens of
public hearings and thousands of public
comments. The
mining industry may not like them, but the
rules should
stay in place.
Again, do not
suspend these regulations, and do not replace
them with
the old rules.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
3. NATIONAL MONUMENTS
Urge Gale Norton to uphold protections for our national
monuments
From the forests of the Pacific Northwest to the turquoise
seas of the Caribbean, America's national monuments
encompass areas containing exceptional ecological,
archeological, geological, and historical resources. Many
of
our nation's newest national monuments protect areas
of
critical importance to plant and wildlife species,
as well
as significant archeological sites. The Carrizo
Plain
National Monument provides crucial habitat to
thirteen
threatened or endangered plants and animals,
and protects
the last remnant of the vast grasslands
that once dominated
California's central valley. The
Upper Missouri River Breaks
National Monument protects
the last free-flowing stretches
of the Columbia River,
once traveled by Lewis and Clark.
Canyons of the
Ancients, a new monument in Colorado,
encompasses
irreplaceable Native American ruins such as
cliff-houses, adobe towers, and other ruins dating back
thousands of years. Without monument protection, these
sensitive areas would be seriously undermined by commercial
development, urban sprawl, and vandalism.
But today these and other areas
are in grave danger of
losing their protection. By
inviting elected officials to
suggest boundary or other
changes for nearly two dozen new
national monuments,
Interior secretary Gale Norton is
attempting to
undermine current protections for these
national
treasures. In doing so, she is ignoring the
extensive
participation the public, local officials, and
others
had in establishing these monuments and is failing to
heed the wishes of an overwhelming number of Americans who
have a legitimate stake in the future of these
treasured
lands.
== What to do ==
Send a message to
Secretary Norton, urging her to uphold the
public's
wishes by maintaining current protections for these
national monuments.
== Contact information ==
You can
email Secretary Norton directly from NRDC's Earth
Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the
contact information and sample letter below to send your
own
message, and please include your own reasons why
protecting
these unique places is important to you.
Secretary Gale A. Norton
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC
20240
Phone: 202-208-3100
Email: gale_norton@ios.doi.gov
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Protect our
treasured national monuments
Dear Secretary Norton,
I understand that you have requested elected officials'
comments on newly designated national monuments. These
monuments safeguard significant parts of our country's
unique natural heritage. I strongly urge you to heed the
public's wishes and maintain their current protections.
The new monuments safeguard
areas of tremendous ecological
importance. Monuments
such as the Carrizo Plain National
Monument in
California protect crucial habitat for many
threatened
and endangered plant and wildlife species. Upper
Missouri River Breaks National Monument safeguards the last
free-flowing part of the Columbia River -- an area of
tremendous natural beauty and historical significance.
Other
designations, such as Canyons of the Ancients,
contain
invaluable archeological ruins that are
testaments to our
country's rich and diverse heritage.
Their status as national
monuments ensures that these
singular places and their
resources will be protected from
the mounting threats
posed by commercial development and
urban sprawl. The
public was extensively involved in
establishing these
monuments and continues to overwhelming
support these
new designations. I urge you to maintain
current
protections for these treasures so that these
special
areas may be enjoyed by all Americans, now and in
the
future.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
==================================================
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==================================================
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==========
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==========
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit
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nationwide and a staff of scientists, attorneys and
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planet's wildlife and wild places and ensure a safe and
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For more information about NRDC or
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===========
from the Wilderness Society April 26, 2001
***************************
* WILD
ALERT
* Thursday, April 26, 2001
****************************
Dear WildAlert Subscriber,
Several weeks ago you received a WildAlert that described
the timber
industry assault on the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule, which would
protect the last
remaining wild forests from logging, road-building, and
mineral leasing. At that time we did not ask you to take
action.
Now we need your help.
In the next few weeks, the Bush administration may
try
to reverse the rule. These last pristine areas in our national forest
system provide recreational opportunities for millions of
Americans who go
to these places to hunt, fish, camp,
and hike. These wild forests are safe
harbors to
economically important fish and wildlife and provide clean
drinking water for thousands of communities.
Please tell the President to
implement the Roadless Area Conservation Rule
without
further delay and keep these last unspoiled forest lands
off-limits to industry.
Take action now from
http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/forests/20010425_roadless.htm
****************************
BACKGROUND
****************************
In January 2001, President Clinton issued the Roadless Area
Conservation
Rule, ending virtually all logging,
roadbuilding, and mineral leasing on
58.5 million acres
of unspoiled national forest lands. The action was the
direct result of a tremendous outpouring of public support:
citizens
attended over 600 public hearings and
submitted more than 1.1 million
comments in favor of
the rule.
But the Bush
administration appears to be taking steps to reverse the
Roadless Area Conservation Rule. First, the administration
delayed
implementation of the rule until May 12.
Second, it has mounted an anemic
defense to lawsuits
filed by Boise Cascade Company, the State of Idaho,
and
others to have the rule overturned. At a court hearing earlier this
spring, the administration promised to complete its review
of the rule and
submit a plan by May 4. Both Vice
President Dick Cheney and the new Forest
Service Chief
Dale Bosworth have recently complained about the rule's
impact on the timber industry.
This eagerness to capitulate to the desires of timber
interests despite
overwhelming public support for
protecting our wild forests puts millions
of acres of
precious lands at risk - lands that serve as habitat for
threatened and endangered species, provide recreational
opportunities,
protect against invasion of non-native
species, and ensure clean drinking
water. On
the other hand, protecting the roadless areas will affect less
than one-quarter of one percent of US timber supplies.
Over the last two decades,
millions of acres of wild national forests have
been
logged or disrupted by roadbuilding. The national forests currently
contain more than nine times more miles of roads than our
country's
interstate highway system. The Roadless Area
Conservation Rule would
provide valuable long-term
safeguards for the few wild areas that remain.
But
industry continues to demand more access for roadbuilding, mining, and
logging - and the Bush administration is listening.
****************************
TAKE ACTION
****************************
Please act today! The administration may make a decision
about the
Roadless Area Conservation Rule any time
before May 4. Send your comments
online at:
http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/forests/20010425_roadless.htm
Or contact the
administration directly at:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600
Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
202-456-1414 phone (business hours
only)
email: president@whitehouse.gov
Here are some points to make:
* The Roadless Area Conservation
Rule is a popular and environmentally
responsible
policy that is the result of a three year process, not some
last minute decision.
* The development of this policy included an astounding
amount of public
participation. The Forest Service held
more than 600 hearings nationwide
and over 1.1 million
people responded with comments that were in favor of
strong protection for our nation's wild forests.
* These pristine areas of national
forests are important to Americans.
They are special
places that we go to hunt, fish, camp, and hike. They
also serve as important habitat for fish and wildlife and
provide sources
of clean drinking water for thousands
of communities.
* Thus far the
Bush administration has neither implemented this popular
rule nor adequately defended it in court. The
administration should
respect the will of the American
people by implementing the Roadless Area
Conservation
Rule immediately.
***************************************************************
For a full list of Action Items, visit
http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm
***************************************************************
An archive of past Wildalerts can be found at
http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm
***************************************************************
WildAlert is an email action
alert system brought to you by The Wilderness
Society
to keep you apprised of threats to our wild lands - in the field
and in Washington. WildAlert messages include updates along
with clear,
concise actions you can take to protect
America's last wild places. You
are welcome to forward
Wildalerts to all those interested in saving
America's
wild lands.
FEEDBACK: Please
send your comments to <action@tws.org>.
If you simply hit "reply" to this
message, please
include your email address in the body of the message.
TO SUBSCRIBE: If you have been
forwarded this message and would like to
subscribe to
the list, send the following message to: <lyris@lists.wilderness.org>:
"subscribe
wilderness-alert" (inserted in the body of
the message, without quotes).
Founded in 1935, The Wilderness Society works to protect
America's
wilderness and to develop a nation-wide
network of wild lands through
public education,
scientific analysis and advocacy. Our goal is to ensure
that future generations will enjoy the clean air and water,
wildlife,
beauty and opportunities for recreation and
renewal that pristine forests,
rivers, deserts and
mountains provide. To take action on behalf of wild
lands today, visit our website at http://www.wilderness.org
***************************************************************
from Rural Advancement Foundation International April 27, 2001
RAFI
Rural Advancement Foundation
International
www.rafi.org | rafi@rafi.org
News
Release - 27 April 2001
Monsanto's "Submarine Patent" Torpedoes Ag Biotech
Monsanto & Syngenta Monopolize
Key Gene Marker Technologies
Note: RAFI's concern about monopolization of gene marker
systems and
other basic research tools should not be
interpreted as support for the
technology or for
genetic engineering. RAFI is not fundamentally opposed
to biotechnology, but we have profound concerns about the
way it is
being foisted upon the world. In the current
social, economic and
political context, genetic
engineering is not safe, and involves
unacceptable
levels of risk to people and the environment. For RAFI, the
fundamental issue is control. Monopolistic control of
marker gene
systems, as discussed below, illustrates
how a handful of Gene Giants
are using intellectual
property as a powerful market tool to stifle
innovation, shackle public sector research and foster
ever-increasing
industry consolidation.
A new US
patent, awarded to Monsanto on 16 January 2001, has blind-sided
biotech scientists and threatens to knee-cap public sector
research
because it gives Monsanto exclusive monopoly
rights on a crucial method
of identifying modified
plant cells in the laboratory.
US Patent No. 6,174,724 covers all practical methods of
making
transformed plants that employ antibiotic
resistance markers. The
technique, though
controversial, has been used in virtually all
commercial GM crops. The patent is valid only in the United
States.
"The technique is so
widely used that it could be a nightmare for
biotech
researchers," says Hope Shand, Research Director of RAFI, "It's
as if Monsanto had just patented the yellow pages as a
method for
finding a telephone number. A
technique that everyone thought was in
the public
domain is now the exclusive property of Monsanto - and the
only practical alternative is patented by Syngenta."
"It appears to be just another
nail in the coffin of public sector
researchers'
ability to produce transgenic plants with freedom to
operate," observes Gary Toenniessen, Director of Food
Security for the
Rockefeller Foundation.
Monsanto's controversial patent,
"Chimeric genes suitable for expression
in plant
cells," is described by patent experts as a particularly
sinister "submarine patent." The term refers to a patent
claim on a
technology that is already widely used by
competitors. When the surprise
monopoly surfaces, the
patent holder is positioned to demand licensing
fees
and royalties from its competitors - or to deny access to the
technology altogether. It's not the first time
that Mighty Monsanto has
torpedoed its competition. For
example, industry analysts speculate that
AgrEvo's
herbicide tolerant soybean program was stopped dead in the
water after Monsanto's CaMV 35S promoter patent issued.
Monsanto originally applied for
its patent on antibiotic resistance
markers in 1983; a
series of delays kept the patent under wraps until it
surfaced recently without warning - long since the
technology has been
routinely used by researchers
around the world.1
"It raises
very sharply the question of what we should do about
patented research tools," remarks Professor John Barton, an
intellectual
property specialist at Stanford Law
School. Barton refers to Monsanto's
new
patent as only the most recent in a line of extremely broad patents
covering biotech's most basic enabling technologies.
Breeding Controversy: Why are
antibiotic resistance marker genes so
widely used? And
why are they controversial?
Genetic engineering is an
imprecise technology. Antibiotic resistance
markers, or
selectable markers, are routinely used by genetic engineers
because they provide a cheap and easy way to find out
whether a new gene
has been successfully transferred to
a plant cell.
Scientists
commonly introduce antibiotic resistance marker genes along
with the primary gene of interest. To identify the cells
that have been
successfully transformed, scientists
simply expose all the cells to the
antibiotic and only
the cells that have the antibiotic resistant marker
gene will continue to grow. If the marker gene
is present, so is the
new gene. The technique is known
as "negative selection."
The
use of antibiotic resistance markers is controversial. If the marker
gene remains in genetically transformed plants that are
released in the
environment, there is concern that the
presence of antibiotic resistance
markers in soils and
food may decrease the efficacy of widely used
antibiotics, or increase the speed with which
disease-causing pathogens
become resistant to
antibiotics. Last year the European Union proposed
new
rules banning antibiotic resistance genes in GM crops. Government
regulators are thus forcing the biotech industry to phase
out the use of
antibiotic resistant genes in commercial
GM crops. But marker genes are
still widely
used in transgenic (GM) crops and in laboratory research.
Syngenta's Alternative - Patented
Positech: In March 2000 Syngenta
unveiled a new marker gene system called "Positech," that
enables plant
cell transformation and selection without
the use of antibiotic
resistance marker genes. The
Positech marker system gives plant cells
the ability to
digest mannose, a carbon source. Only the plant cells
that can digest the mannose-based food source will be able
to grow - all
the others (the non-transformed plant
cells) will die. The Positech
system is an example of
what is known as a "positive selection"
technique.
According to scientists interviewed by RAFI, Syngenta's broad
patent covers, in effect, the entire concept of positive
selection. (The
Positech technology - US Patent
5,767,378 and WO9420627A1 - was
originally claimed as
an invention by scientists at Denmark's Danisco (a
sugar company), who then sold the patent outright to
Sandoz, which later
became Novartis, which last year
became Syngenta.)
Syngenta
claims that it will make Positech "widely available" to both
industry and academic researchers through "simple licensing
procedures."2 It also boasts that it will provide
Positech "royalty-free
for subsistence farmers in
developing countries" through local
institutes or
companies.
"The reality is
totally different," explains RAFI's Shand. "Public
sector researchers who seek to license Syngenta's marker
system must
abide by a Material Transfer Agreement
(MTA) that gives Syngenta first
rights to any results
and prohibits the sharing of resulting materials
with
third parties. By licensing Positech under this type of MTA,
Syngenta has a significant number of public sector
researchers who are,
in effect, doing research for
Syngenta!" Will Monsanto follow suit in
the
licensing of its broad submarine patent?
Like all of the Gene Giants, Syngenta is desperately
seeking moral
legitimacy, especially in the wake of its
Golden Rice misfire. The
company thus claims to make
Positech available royalty-free to
subsistence farmers
in the developing world. But the reality is that
many
poor countries do not recognize Syngenta's patent. Governments (or
companies) have every legal right to utilize any technology
not patented
within their territories.
With the power of monopoly
patents, Monsanto and Syngenta have
essentially "locked
up" all currently viable marker selection
techniques.
In addition, MTAs are being used as a powerful market weapon
to control potentially lucrative scientific advances.
Scientific
Apartheid: "The biotech industry perpetually promises that
it will deliver for the public good, but the biotech
research agenda is
virtually monopolized by corporate
science in service to the Gene Giants
- not to poor
farmers or the environment," states RAFI's Shand.
All methods of producing
genetically modified crops are covered by
multiple and
overlapping intellectual property constraints. All methods
of delivering DNA to plant cells are also proprietary,
usually covered
by multiple patents. The
irony is that many of these "inventions" were
made at
public institutions with public funding and then exclusively
licensed to companies who use them to capture more public
sector
research results.
Consolidation Countdown:
5-4-3-2-1: Armed with obscenely broad patents
on basic enabling technologies, a handful of Gene Giants
are legally
empowered to determine who gets access to
proprietary science, and at
what price. Not
surprisingly, today's GM harvest is characterized by
uniformity and concentration on a global scale:
* Five major Gene
Giants - Pharmacia (Monsanto), DuPont, Syngenta,
Aventis, Dow - dominate agbiotech.
* Four industrial crop commodities (soybeans, maize,
cotton, canola)
accounted for 100% of the commercial GM
crop area in 2000.
* Three countries (US,
Argentina and Canada) accounted for 98% of the
global
transgenic area in 2000.
* Two genetically engineered
traits - herbicide tolerance and B.t.
insect resistance
- accounted for virtually all of the 44.2 million
hectares devoted to GM crops last year.
* Two patents controlled by Monsanto & Syngenta have
"locked up"
currently viable marker selection
techniques - a basic enabling
technology for agbiotech.
* One company's GM seed technology (Monsanto's)
accounted for 94% of
the total world area devoted to
commercial GM crops last year.
* * * * * *
For more information, contact: Hope Shand,
RAFI. Telephone: 919
960-5223;
email: hope@rafi.org
RAFI (the Rural Advancement Foundation International) is an
international civil society organization based in
Canada. RAFI is
dedicated to the conservation and
sustainable use of biodiversity, and
to the socially
responsible development of technologies useful to rural
societies. RAFI is concerned about the loss of
biodiversity, and the
impact of intellectual property
on farmers and food security.
1 US patent law was amended
recently to curtail submarine patent
tactics. For
example, US patents filed after 29 November 2000 will
automatically be published 18 months after they are filed.
2 Syngenta, News Release, "Positech breakthrough offers
alternative to
antibiotic resistance marker genes for
genetically enhanced crops," 23
May 2000. Available on
the Internet:
www.info.novartis.com/media/index.html
from Defenders of Wildlife April 27. 2001
DEN Alert:
Urge the White House to Protect our Remaining Wild Forests!
President Bush is preparing to
scuttle one of the greatest
conservation initiatives in
our nation's history -- new federal
rules making 58
million acres of prized national forest off-limits
to
road-building, logging, mining and drilling. Development would
fragment habitat for grizzly bears, lynx and other
endangered
wildlife. It would also cause erosion,
filling streams with sediment
and choking aquatic
species like salmon. Despite more than 600
public
hearings and widespread citizen support for the preservation
of these wild lands, President Bush delayed implementation
of the
new forest rules on the day he took office. Now,
he has instructed
the Justice Department to research
ways to eliminate the rules
altogether. Our remaining
intact forests must be protected.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Send a free e-mail TODAY to the White House demanding that
the Bush
Administration honor the will of the American
people and protect
these remaining untouched forests as
critical habitat for threatened
wildlife and as an
important natural legacy for future generations.
President Bush needs to make a decision by a court-ordered
MAY 4th
deadline, so please send your e-mail TODAY.
Thanks for doing your
part to speak up for our wild
forests and the wildlife that depend
on them!
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE
WEB:
If you have access to the
web, simply click on the link below which
will take you
to the DEN Action Center web site:
http://www.denaction.org
If you don't have access to the
Internet, please mail your letter to:
President George
W. Bush, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20500 or e-mail your letter to:
president@whitehouse.gov
Sample Letter:
Dear President Bush:
As a concerned citizen, I strongly
urge you to stand up to special
interests and implement
the popular and balanced environmental
policy that
protects America's last unspoiled National Forests, the
Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
Most of America's National Forests
are already open to logging,
mining and drilling.
That's why after more than two years of public
debate,
600 public hearings, and 1.6 million comments of which 95%
were overwhelmingly in support, the last of our wild
National Forest
lands were set aside as a haven for
wildlife and a heritage for our
children. Unfragmented
forest lands are extremely important for
wildlife. The
National Forest System provides a home to more than
3,000 wildlife species. Species like brown bears, wolves,
moose,
bald eagles, otters, salmon and migratory song
birds all need wild,
pristine areas to flourish. Roads,
even unimproved dirt roads, can
seriously degrade the
quality of habitat for these species, and
increase
risks from fire, poaching and hunting pressure, invasive
species, and disease.
I urge you to take leadership and support our last wild
forest lands
by implementing the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule so that they
will remain a legacy for
future generations. We can not allow
special interests
to convince you to dismantle what many Americans
have
supported . a strong protection plan for our remaining pristine
wild forests.
Sincerely,
====================================================================
To subscribe, visit Defenders' website at http://www.defenders.org/den
or send an e-mail to denlines@defenders.org and put the
word SUBSCRIBE
in the subject line.
====================================================================
Defenders of Wildlife is a leading national
conservation organization
recognized as one of the
nation's most progressive advocates for
wildlife and
its habitat and known for its effective leadership on
saving endangered species such as brown bears and gray
wolves, Defenders
advocates new approaches to wildlife
conservation that protect species
before they become
endangered. Founded in 1947, Defenders is a nonprofit
501(c)(3)organization with more than 420,000 members and
supporters.
Defenders
of Wildlife
1101
14th Street, NW, Suite 1400
Washington,
DC 20005
http://www.defenders.org
http://www.kidsplanet.org
from World Wildlife Fund April 27, 2001
Protect Marine Life
Dear WWF Conservation
Action Network Activist:
We need your help to convince Trader Joe's
grocery stores to stop
carrying Chilean sea bass. Also known as
the Patagonian toothfish,
Chilean sea bass is one of the most heavily
overfished species in the
world, with some populations expected to become
commercially
extinct within the next five years. Rapidly
increasing demand in the
United States and other major consumer countries is
fueling an
extraordinary level of unsustainable fishing. Sadly,
in addition to
decimating toothfish populations, fishermen hook and drown
hundreds
of thousands of seabirds as the birds dive for the fish bait. This
dire
situation has prompted the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition
(ASOC), a group of more than 240 conservation organizations in more
than
40 countries, to call for a moratorium on commercial fishing for
Chilean sea
bass.
Trader Joe's has told us that they will listen to
consumers. Please go
to http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/
to send a free message urging
the CEO of Trader Joe's to refuse to sell
Chilean sea bass. Even if you
don't shop at Trader Joe's, please
send the message so he knows how
important marine conservation is to people
across the country. Please
also do not purchase Chilean sea bass
in stores or restaurants.
P.S. The Bureau of Land Management
is listening to your messages
opposing its policy of allowing the shooting
of prairie dogs, the
primary food of the endangered black-footed
ferret. Referring to the
many messages his agency has received, a
BLM official quoted in the
"Billings Gazette" in Montana said the campaign
was elevating
BLM's awareness. "And that's good," he
added. On another front,
your pleas to Congress for support for
legislation to protect the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling
have helped increase the
number of House cosponsors to 136. Thank
you. If you haven't taken
either of these two actions, please do
so today!
