CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS FOR BIODEVASTATION 7
This is the final listing of concurrent workshops for Biodevastation 7: A
Forum on Environmental Racism, World Agriculture and Biowarfare.
For each of the three sessions, select one workshop to go to. People attending in groups would get most out of the sessions by having people attend different workshops and discussing them afterwards.
CONCURRENT WORKSHOP SESSION 1 (Fri May 16, 2 – 3:45 pm)
Workshop 1:
The Fluid Genome
2 – 3:45 pm Friday, May 16
Mae-Wan Ho, The Institute for Science in Society, London
One of the most persistent dogmas in western science is genetic determinism,
the belief that our genetic makeup, or our birth, ultimately determines who
and what we are. Dr. Ho will demonstrate why the entire biotech enterprise,
from GM crops and gene drugs to human cloning, is a phenomenal waste of
public finance and scientific imagination, and, most importantly, what it
means to be living with the fluid genome.
Workshop 2:
Is Your School for Sale? – Challenging Corporate Biotech on Campus
2 – 3:45 pm Friday, May 16
Dr Ignacio Chapela, Assistant Professor (Microbial Ecology), UC Berkeley
Sarah Bantz, MORAGE – Missouri Resistance Against Genetic Engineering
Jesse Reynolds, Former member of Students for Responsible Research, UC
Berkeley
Lucy Sharratt, Researcher, Polaris Institute, Canada
John Peck, Executive Director, Family Farm Defenders, Wisconsin
This workshop will examine crucial university-corporate connections and
strategize to end corporate biotech power on campus.
Workshop 3.
The ABC’s of Biotechnology for Students from 10 to 80
2 – 3:45 pm Friday, May 16
Daniel “digger” Romano, Missouri Green Party, Confluence
Suzanne Renard, Catholic Worker, Home Groan Organic Troupe
Learn the basics of genetic engineering and how it can contaminate food,
damage helpful species (such as butterflies), and hurt farmers in Africa,
Asia and the Americas. The workshop will begin with a Mayan myth about the
origin of corn.
Workshop 4:
WTO and the Road to Cancun
2 – 3:45 pm Friday, May 16
Vandana Shiva, Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, India
John Kinsman, Family Farm Defenders, Wisconsin
The upcoming WTO Ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico this fall will likely
determine the future of corporate globalism and the neoliberal “free
trade” agenda. Agriculture has recently been called the WTO’s “Achilles
Heel.” Shiva and Kinsman will discuss the ways global civil society, and particularly farmers, are playing a pivotal role in challenging “free trade” and
defending the integrity of local communities, and will address participants’ questions about this important event.
CONCURRENT WORKSHOP SESSION 2 (Sat May 17, 1:45 – 3:30 pm)
Workshop 6:
The New Human Genetic Technologies: Social and Political Implications
1:45 – 3:30 pm Saturday, May 17
Jesse Reynolds, Center for Genetics and Society
This workshop explores the new human genetic reproductive technologies,
particularly cloning and inheritable genetic modification, with a focus on
implications on women, people of color, and the socio-economically
disadvantaged.
Workshop 7:
Resisting GMOs in Africa
1:45 – 3:30 pm Saturday, May 17
Dr. Mwananyanda Mbikusita Lewanika, Lyambayi Institute of Development, Zambia
Lawrence Tsimese, Agricultural Reform Movement, Ghana
Raymond Bokor, Agricultural Reform Movement, Ghana
This workshop will offer an intensive discussion of the potential impacts of
biotechnology on Africa’s food crisis, including questions of agricultural
and economic performance and the effects of GMOs on the continent’s enormous biological diversity. Speakers from Zambia and Ghana will present case studies of the resistance to genetic engineering in several African
countries, focusing on opposition to GM crops and to the multinational
companies that supply GM foods and seeds.
Workshop 8:
Biotech Superbugs: Genetically Engineering Disease
1:45 – 3:30 pm Saturday, May 17
Peter Shorett, Council for Responsible Genetics, Welcome/Introduction and moderator/discussant
Mae Wan Ho, I-SIS, London, UK, Overview of some cutting-edge biotechnologies with application to biowarfare
Edward Hammond, The Sunshine Project, Who drank the anthrax kool-aid?
Pitfalls of biotechnological defense
Workshop 9:
Health Hazards and US Regulation: What the Government Won’t Tell You
1:45 – 3:30 pm Saturday, May 17
Dr. Michael Hansen, Research Associate, Consumer Policy Institute, Consumers
Union, NY
Lucy Sharratt, Researcher, Polaris Institute, Canada
Dr. Michael Hansen will present the latest information on health concerns and
testing as well as expose weak US regulation. Equip yourself with information
on how the government really regulates and what this means for people in the
US and around the world — get your questions answered here! Lucy Sharratt will add an important Canadian perspective.
Workshop 10:
GMOs and Free Trade in Mexico and Central America
1:45 – 3:30 pm Saturday, May 17
S’ra DeSantis, Institute for Social Ecology’s Biotechnology Project
Ignacio Chapela, University of California at Berkeley
Ana Ruiz Diaz, Permaculture Network of M�xico
Workshop presenters will discuss the current status of genetic engineering in
Mexico and Central America. They will highlight the discovery of genetic
contamination in Mexico and the relationship between free trade agreements
and GMOs, and discuss ways activists in the US and Latin America can more
actively collaborate.
CONCURRENT WORKSHOP SESSION 3 (Sat May 17, 3:45 – 5:30 pm)
Workshop 11:
Organizing Farmers in North America
3:45 – 5:30 pm, Saturday May 17
Bill Wenzel, Farmer to Farmer Campaign on Genetic Engineering
Felder Freeman, Federation of Southern Co-operatives
Percy Schmeiser, Canadian farmer in legal battle with Monsanto
George Naylor, National Family Farm Coalition
A number of farm groups have organized effective farmer-driven campaigns
against GMOs. This workshop will feature farmers and farm group leaders who
will discuss the strategies that they have used in grassroots campaign
organizing.
Workshop 12:
Organizing against Environmental Racism
3:45 – 5:30 pm, Saturday May 17
Dr. Mark Mitchell, Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice
Percy Green, ACTION Reunion 2003
This workshop will look at the corporate habit of locating the most toxic
production and waste disposal facilities in communities of color and the
disproportionately higher rates of disease that result. It will emphasize
how communities have successfully fought for their right to safe and healthy
environments.
Workshop 13:
Confronting the Biolabs: Grassroots Organizing and Coalition-Building
3:45-5:30 pm, Saturday, May 17
Building Local and National Dialog on the Hazards of Biological Weapons
Research
Steve Erickson, Citizens Education Project, Opening Remarks
Inga Olsen, Tri-Valley CAREs with Colin King, Nuclear Watch of NM, Citizens’
responses to Department of Energy biological weapons research
Nancy Price, Stop the UCD Biolab Now!
Organizing and activism on the Western National Center for Biodefense
Workshop 15:
Round Table on Local Organizing Against GE
3:45 – 5:30 pm Saturday, May 17
Mitchel Cohen, No Spray Coalition, Green Party USA
Brian Tokar, Institute for Social Ecology
S’ra DeSantis, Institute for Social Ecology’s Biotechnology Project
Others TBA
Activists from across the US will discuss some of the diverse strategies
being employed to oppose genetic engineering, while furthering the
empowerment of local communities around food security, public health and the
advancement of directly democratic alternatives. Panelists will briefly
discuss their own recent experiences, followed by a wide-ranging discussion
of ways this movement can continue to grow and develop in an effective and
creative manner.
