|
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
USDA Conference on Agricultural Science and Technology
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is convening a ministerial-level Conference on Agricultural Science and Technology in Sacramento, CA, June 23-25, to promote the U.S. model of industrialized agriculture including genetically engineered crops, pesticides, irradiation and more. Over 180 ministers of agriculture and other areas, including environment and trade, from around the globe are expected to attend. Delegates to the conference, cosponsored by U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, will also include members of Congress, academia, industry representatives, and representatives from the World Bank and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
There has been a strong call of opposition to this meeting from around the world and across the Bay Area.
One reason is that it is clear that a focal point of the conference will be the safety and "promise" of genetically engineered crops. In a recent New York Times article Robert Zoellick, the U.S. trade representative, called the EU's opposition to GM foods as being "immoral," and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman added "our patience is just running out."
The Conference in Sacramento will be a major event to promote biotechnology and GM products as being the answer to the world's hunger and environmental woes. Commenting on the upcoming event, a senior USDA official noted: "If there is any doubt about our position on this issue, listen carefully. We must hold firm in our position that biotechnology remains one of our best tools and brightest hopes for addressing numerous global concerns, including hunger, malnutrition, water scarcity and environmental degradation. To take any other direction or hold any other position is irresponsible to the generation yet to arrive on this Mother Earth."
The Conference will also be an important stop on the road to the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003.
It is crucial that we counter this dangerous propaganda with the facts about the extreme harm caused by industrial agriculture and biotechnology and the advantages of small, local, organic and sustainable farming. We are working with organizations and activists from across the United States and around the world to raise awareness about this meeting as a crucial opportunity to educate ministers and challenge the U.S. government and industry lies.
Among other activities, the IFG is working with other groups to prepare educational materials for ministers, the media, elected officials and activists. We are also organizing a dinner briefing during the Conference with acclaimed Chef Alice Waters for ministers and elected officials to showcase locally-grown organic foods from sustainable farms that represent the powerful alternative to industrial and biotech agriculture. We hope that several members of the IFG Board will come to Sacramento during the Conference to provide voices from the South in opposition to U.S. government and industry plans and in favor of local alternatives.
Local, national and international activists are planning protests, rallies, teach-ins, street theater, press conferences, eco-tours of small, local, organic and sustainable agriculture within an hour from the conference site, briefings for ministers and elected officials and dozens of other events.
- Media/Information Packet. Many resources
for Sacramento
- "Who
Owns the Seeds?" San Francisco Chronicle, June 20, 2003.
- "German official out of ag expo; Her absence will highlight the gulf between the EU and U.S. on biotech food." Sacramento Bee, June 13, 2003
- Read IFG Board Member Tewolde BG Egziabher's interview with Sierra Magazine "Against the Grain: Why poor nations would lose in a biotech war on hunger"
- "El Sacramento de la biotecnología."La Jornada, MÈxico D.F. 14 de junio de 2003 (in Spanish)
- FRIENDS OF THE EARTH ‚ EUROPE Press Release GM TRADE WAR ó WHO DECIDES WHAT WE EAT?, May 14, 2003
- Public Citizen Denounces Bush Administration Attack on European Food Safety Policy at WTO; Press Release, May 13, 2003
- "U.S. Contests Europe's Ban on Some Food." The New York Times, May 14, 2003
- Statement by the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick and Agriciculture Secretary Ann Veneman: Press Release
- For more activist information, visit www.sacmobilization.org
- Or visit the USDA Conference web site http://www.fas.usda.gov/icd/stconf/conf_info.html
1009 General
Kennedy Avenue #2, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA |
Ph. 415.561.7650 | Fax 415.561.7651 | E-mail ifg@ifg.org