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gentech-voedselhulp: VS "verbiedt" weigeren
climatefreak - 06.12.2002 17:15
Kan het nog gekker: VS verklaart dat Afrikaanse regeringsleiders die Genetische gemanipuleerde voedselhulp (uit de VS) weigeren, schuldig zijn aan misdaden tegen de mensheid.
On 6 Dec 2002 at 6:45,  ngin@gmwatch.org wrote:
NGIN - GM WATCH daily:  http://www.ngin.org.uk
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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05442798
US calls food aid refusal a crime against humanity
Reuters
BRUSSELS, Dec 5 (Reuters) - African leaders who refuse to accept food
aid
due to fears of genetically modified products are committing crimes
against humanity and should be put on trial, a senior U.S. official
said
on Thursday.
He said Europe, which has effectively banned the development and import
of new genetically modified crops, should do more to help millions of
people facing famine in southern Africa and reassure them over the
safety of such crops.
"People that deny food to their people, that are in fact starving
people
to death should be held responsible...for the highest crimes against
humanity in the highest courts in the world," Tony Hall, U.S.
Ambassador
to the United Nations food agencies, told reporters.
His words were principally directed at Zambia, which has banned GM
food,
and to some extent Zimbabwe, where he said red tape was delaying food
shipments although it had in principle accepted aid.
He said up to 15 million people were facing food shortages in southern
Africa.
Hall, who recently visited Zimbabwe and Malawi, said he was in Brussels
to press the European Union to step up efforts to avert the looming
famine.
He called on the EU to do more to persuade southern African countries
that GM food was safe.
"The EU has made some great statements (on the safety of GM food), at
the
same time there are people who have thrown a lot of doubts, who have
been
neutral," he said.
"We cannot be neutral on this issue...We need strong statements. We are
beyond this discussion (on GM) here."
The EU's approach to genetically modified foods has been wary, partly
due to consumer fears about safety.
The bloc has refused to license any GM strains for use in the EU since
1998 pending regulations aimed at ensuring consumers can avoid GM foods
if they wish.
EU environment ministers will hold talks on the issue next week which
could open the way for such goods to be more easily imported and
produced.
Hall said the EU should also boost efforts to help southern Africa by
increasing financial and food contributions.
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How the US violates the Food Aid Convention
http://ngin.tripod.com/forcefeed.htm
The US is a signatory of the 1999 Food Aid Convention, which recognises
that food aid should be bought from the most cost effective source, be
culturally acceptable and if possible purchased locally so that
regional
markets do not suffer. Despite this...
The US is refusing southern African governments loans that are not tied
to the purchase of GM contaminated grain from the US.
The US says it is impossible for it to provide anything other than GM
contaminated grain in spite of the fact that many US elevators can and
do segregate GM and non-GM grains and some only take non-GM grain.
The US refuses to mill the GM grain even though African countries
facing
famine have requested this
The US boasts that "The principal beneficiary of America's foreign
assistance programs has always been the United States"
The US introduced Public Law 480 to ensure that food aid never
interfered with "domestic production or marketing"
USAID also states one of its roles is to "integrate GM into local food
systems."
George Bush has increased the US aid budget specifically for the
purpose
of encouraging the uptake of biotechnology. Earlier this year, USAID
launched a $100m programme for bringing biotechnology to developing
countries. USAID's "training" and "awareness raising programmes" will,
its website reveals, provide companies such as "Syngenta, Pioneer
Hi-Bred and Monsanto" with opportunities for "technology transfer".
Monsanto, in turn, provides financial support for USAID.
---
According to Noam Chomsky, if the principles that underlay the
Nuremburg
trials had continued to be enforced, the leader of every US
administration since World War 2 would have had to be hanged.
 Website: http://ngin.org.uk
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| aanvullingen | | | En nu? | mevr. vraagteken - 06.12.2002 18:43
Aaaargh!!
En wie o wie gaat hier nu WAT tegen ondernemen?? Dit soort zwaar geschut bestrijd je niet meer met enkel het vernielen van proefveldjes of het plakken van stickers in supermarkten, lijkt me (hoe nuttig ook). Maar wat helpt hier dan nog wel tegen? Grote artikelen in de krant (opiniepagina's)? Axies bij het ministerie (o nee, staatssecretariaat) van ontwikkelingssamenwerking? Of juist bij min. van landbouw of buza??? Ik hoop dat er iemand thuis is in deze gentech-materie en goede ideeen lanceert!! Greenpeace? XminY? AKB? Wie o wie???
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