| European Consumers oppose UNDP report on GMO The Consumers oppose UNDP report about GMO food AEC - Association of European Consumers, socially and environmentally aware, today opposes the UNDP report "Making New Technologies Work For Human Development". We are surprised that UNDP in their report published 10 July, supports genetic engineering, a technology that has not in any way proven to give benefits to consumers or family farmers in countries were it has been introduced, such as the U.S., Canada and Argentina. The report also claims that concerns about GMO foods are a luxury for the industrialised countries. However, from our many contacts within Consumers International all over the World, we know that the concerns about GMO foods are actually even bigger in poorer countries. In less developed areas, consumers have much more to loose if their food turns out to be dangerous or if the harvest is damaged. Within the United Nation the GMO food issue has been much debated, especially by Codex (FAO/WHO), and we have clearly seen how American interests influence this debate. We have participated actively in Codex meetings about GMO foods, where in spite of protests by delegates from the developing countries, it is usually the GMO industry and the American view that "wins". Some examples are the position against labelling, traceability and producer liability. Developing countries, who want to protect their agro-genetic resources have indeed reacted strongly against the American position on other UN agreements, such as the Rio agreements from 1992. We also note that Mark Malloch Brown, the author of the report, previously was Vice President for External Affairs at the World Bank. We do not want UNDP to become heavily influenced by such commercial interests. AEC - Association of European Consumers welcomes the conclusions in the report about DNA patenting. UNDP's concern about intellectual property rights in the WTO is similar to the arguments that consumer, environment and development NGOs have been putting forward. In our view, patents give the transnational corporations a tremendous power over the farmers who will grow the World's food. Because the WTO agreement says countries must have patent rules also for DNA, including plants and animals, the developing countries will have enormous difficulties. We hope the UNDP report will make it possible to renegotiate the WTO agreement to make it possible to not award patents on life. AEC - Association of European Consumers will also continue to oppose the researchers and corporations that use developing countries and starving people to argue in favour of controversial and unnecessary GMO foods. Responsible for this info is Bengt Ingerstam, president (tel. +46 495 49834) and Martin Frid, Food and Trade Policy officer (tel. +46 479 10713) Association of European Consumers - AEC - Association Europeenne des Consommateurs 70-72, rue du Commerce B-1040 Bruxelles/ Brussels Tel: 0032 (0)2 545 90 74 Fax: 0032 (0)2 545 90 76 e-mail: aec@belgacom.net www.consumer-aec.org