Workshop descriptions/May 16-17th
This is the final listing of concurrent workshops for Biodevastation 7: A
Forum on Environmental Racism, World Agriculture and Biowarfare
Via Campesina Call to Action for Sacramento
The international farmers’ movement Via Campesina denounces the Sacramento “Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology” and insists that governments do not participate in this event.
Press Release: Farmers vs. GE Wheat Coming to St. Louis
There is widespread opposition in the northern US and Canada to the
introduction of Roundup Ready wheat, a genetically modified (GM) crop
Monsanto hopes to market. Farmers in the forefront of this opposition will join with scientists, environmentalists and civil rights activists in St. Louis immediately prior to the World Agricultural Forum (WAF) and participate in a protest at the WAF.
Housing Information
Information on homestays, hostel and hotels…
Panel: Crop Contamination and the Future of Indigenous Agriculture
Bioprospecting, horizontal gene transfer and the contamination of traditional maize landraces in Mexico with transgenic DNA are just a few of the most notable threats posed by genetic engineering to indigenous agricultures around the world. Panelists will discuss these and other issues, and highlight the growing resistance to GMOs and biopiracy in Mexico.
SACRAMENTO MINISTERIAL CALL TO ACTION
RESIST CORPORATE DOMINATION OF THE WORLD’S FOOD SUPPLY. COME TO SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA JUNE 23-25TH.
The resistant spirit of Seattle, D.C., Prague, and Quebec is alive and
flows through Sacramento toward Cancún and beyond…
Tentative SCHEDULE for Biodevastation 7
Here is the current schedule, as of late April 2003…
Panel: Globalization, Food Imperialism and War
Leading critics of the global “free trade”/biotech agenda from the US, India and Africa will discuss corporate concentration, the role of international financial institutions (IMF, World Bank, WTO) and aid agencies such as USAID in promoting this agenda for world agriculture. With another global WTO ministerial on the horizon for this coming fall, the panel and related workshops will illustrate how agriculture has become the WTO’s “Achilles Heel.”
Panel: Environmental Racism
This panel will bring together leading environmental justice advocates with those who work on genetic engineering (GE) in agriculture and human genetic technologies. It will be a unique opportunity to discuss how genetic technologies may pose a hazard to the health of people of color and low-income people, and how the technologies are being used to discriminate against and exploit communities of color.
Who’s Behind the WAF?
WAF’s theme for 2003 is “A New Age in Agriculture: Working Together to Create the Future and Disabling the Barriers.” It will bring together trade and agriculture ministers and officials from the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific, agribusiness and biotech corporate executives, officials from multilateral financial institutions, the UN and the WTO, academics and a sprinkling of pro-biotech NGOs.
