Biodevastation 7: St. Louis, May 16-18th
The May 2003 Biodevastation Gathering will be the cutting edge event defining links between environmental racism and the biotechnology industry. The Gateway Green Alliance is working with the Organization for Black Struggle in St. Louis to make this happen. Subtitled “A Forum on Environmental Racism, World Agriculture and Biowarfare,” the event is organized around five main panels:
There will be three concurrent workshop tracks for participants to explore one of these themes in depth. The Gathering will seek to attract attendees at the May 18-20 World Agricultural Forum (WAF) to hear a different perspective. On the day the two events overlap, there will be a peaceful and publicly visible activity featuring non-GE food and a major rally at the site of the WAF in downtown St. Louis.
Confirmed speakers for the 2003 event include some of the most accomplished scientists and organizers in the world: Vandana Shiva (Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, India), Mae-Wan Ho (Institute for Science in Society, London), Mwananyanda Mbikusita Lewanika (National Institute for Scientific & Industrial Research, Zambia), Anuradha Mittal (Institute for Food and Development Policy, California), Lawrence Tsimese (Ghana Organic Agriculture Network), Michael Dorsey (at Dartmouth, a long-time environmental justice activist from Detroit who is completing his dissertation on biopiracy in Ecuador), Edward Hammond (Sunshine Project, which researches bioweapons), Percy Schmeiser (Canadian farmer in a long-term legal battle with Monsanto), Mark Mitchell (Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice), Kristin Dawkins (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis), and Brian Tokar (Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project, Vermont).