India: Biotech Activists Gather to Highlight Dangers of GE Food

CONTACT:

Debi Barker and/or Vandana Shiva

Sept.24/25/26 Bangalore International Hotel 91 11 226-8011

Sept.27/28/29 Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural
Resource Policy 91 11 696 8077

Sept. 30-Oct.5 Imperial Hotel 99 11 334-1234

NEW DELHI, India -- On September 25th in Bangalore, India, leading seed industry multinationals will meet to plot strategies to increase public acceptance of genetically engineered (GE) seeds in India - the largest agricultural nation in the Third World. While officials from corporations like Monsanto mingle with Indian government officials and agribusiness CEO's, India's farmers will be joined by farmers from around the world, environmentalists and opponents of the genetic engineering of food at a series of events called: Global People's Seed 2000 (GPS 2000).

GPS 2000 is an initiative organized by the New Delhi-based, Research
Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy (RFSTE) and
the California-based International Forum on Food and Agriculture - a
project of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) - to highlight
the dangers of GE and global industrialized agriculture.

GPS 2000 will kick off with a Seed Tribunal in Bangalore at
which farmers from around the world will highlight the dangers of the
so-called "green revolution" and failings of GE seeds. The Tribunal will
focus on travesties such as the Bt cotton fiasco - the failure of a GE
cotton product leading to crop damage and increased pest resistance to an
important natural pesticide - increased corporate control of seeds,
agricultural products and farmer's lives and the economic impact of
globalization on agriculture generally. According to Vandana Shiva,
director of RFSTE: "It is no coincidence that the multinational food
industry is bringing its act to India. India is a country facing a major
food and agriculture crisis. Skyrocketing food prices, declining food
production and increasing numbers of farmer suicides signal an impending
disaster, a disaster that is being accelerated by the globalization of
agriculture and its attendant reliance on genetic engineering technologies.

If the corporations can establish a foothold here, they will be positioned
to conquer developing countries worldwide. Global People's Seed 2000 will
address these dangers and outline strategies to counter this effort to
globalize food production at the expense of centuries old farming systems
and communities." Shiva added that GPS 2000 would call for a 10-year
moratorium on GE in India.

Following the Seed Tribunal on October 2nd (Mahatma Gandhi's birthday),
the IFA and the RFSTE will host the inaugural Albert Howard Memorial
Lecture at the India International Centre, Max Mueller Marg, Lodi Estates,
New Delhi featuring a series of talks by experts on sustainable, organic
agricultural systems from around the world. On October 3rd and 4th in
Dehra Dun, in Uttar Pradesh there will be a Seed Keepers and Organic
Farmers Gathering that will assist farmers in developing their own
sustainable systems.

There will be two press conferences to discuss these events:

Monday, September 25th At 3:00 PM

Venue: Gandhi Bhawan

Karnataka Gandhi Smarak Nidhi

Kumara Park East

Bangalore

Saturday, September 20th at 3:30 PM

Venue: Conference Room No. 2

India International Centre

Max Muellar Marg

New Delhi

• 181 Food and Agriculture