NEWS RELEASE

10th July 2001

For Immediate Release

         Fair Trade Petition disproves UN claims about GM crops

The UK-based food and crop campaign Genetic Food Alert (GFA) have
condemned a report, to be launched on Tuesday 10th July by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP). They say that a petition, so far
endorsed by 291 groups from 54 nations, clearly disproves the claims
made in the UN's report (1).

GFA claim that The Human Development Report 2001, entitled "Making New
Technologies Work for Human Development" contains frightening echoes of
recent biotechnology industry propaganda. The report sings the praises
of GM crops as the way forward to 'feed the world', and is expected to
claim that opposition to the crops comes only from western environmental
groups who supposedly 'stand in the way of the technology' and are
uncaring about the needs of the 'third world' (2). It has already been
condemned in a report by the hunger campaign Food First (3) and in a
statement by leading Indian food rights campaigner Devinder Sharma.

GFA, in response to appeals from farmers groups in India, have been
compiling a petition (see attachment) to be delivered later this week to
'Fair Trade' organisation in Europe, the USA and Japan asking them to
keep "Fair Trade" products free from GMOs for reasons of social justice.
Crops such as GM cotton (4) and GM coffee (5) threaten the livelihoods of tens
of millions of smallholders and landless peasants in dozens of the
poorest nations.

Robert Vint, the GFA National Co-ordinator said:" The vast majority of
signatories to our petition are 'third world' groups - farmers unions,
welfare groups, development programmes, women's groups - we have almost
totally excluded western environmental groups because the issue is fair
trade. I have in front of me a pile of letters from 50 Indian farmer and
welfare groups, all headed 'Stop the Sale of Genetically Modified
Crops'. These come from the very people the biotech industry is claiming
it wants to feed and here they are appealing to rich world organisations
to represent their interests and stop GMOs. The UNDP would do well to
listen. The simple fact is that it is not just in affluent Europe that
GM crops are unwanted4 "

"The problem faced by the hungry in the 'third world' is unfair
distribution of land and other resources for food production." he
continued. "If the poor lose their jobs and land because crops are
introduce that favour total automation, 'prairie farming' and the needs
of the largest farms then they cannot access food - however much is
produced globally. Already food-grade crops from poor countries are fed
to animals in rich nations because the poor cannot afford to buy them.
This technology will only make the inequality worse. The UNDP ought to
be ashamed of themselves. It is about time we had the courage to deal
with the real problems of world hunger, and not take quick fix
pseudo-solutions marketed by corporations out to make a fast buck."

"This is another shameless move by an industry that is seeing its
markets disappear in the face of global resistance. Well respected
development organisations are having to divert valuable funds from their
work in the 'third world' to counter these insidious claims." (5,6).

ENDS

For more information contact:

Robert Vint, National Coordinator 
GFA 
Telephone : 01803 868523 
E-mail : coordinator@geneticfoodalert.org.uk

NOTES FOR THE EDITOR

1 The petition (see other attachment) is an invitation to fair trade
certifying bodies "to support a worldwide appeal to avoid the use of
genetically modified crops in the manufacture of Fair Trade products".
The groups supporting it are overwhelmingly 'third world' groups. Very
few of the environmental groups accused of 'hindering progress' for the
poor are signatories.

2. The UNDP report has been criticised as a "yet another biotechnology
industry sponsored study" by a leading Indian food rights campaigner,
Devinder Sharma (dsharma@ndf.vsnl.net.in)

3. Food First report: "Genetic Engineering of Food Crops for the Third
World: An Appropriate Response to Poverty, Hunger and Lagging
Productivity?" by Dr. Peter Rosset
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/biotech/belgium-gmo.html

4. This petition comes hot on the heels of a successful campaign by
Indian organisations to prevent the commercialisation of GM Cotton in
India www.hindubusinessline.com/stories/142103s7.htm The decision to
commercialise was postponed by a year. GMOs have been strongly resisted
by farmers' groups, who have even taken to pulling up and burning trial
plots to defend the livelihoods of 20 million workers.

5. ActionAid have recently launched a campaign against GM Coffee,
fearful of the damage it could do to the livelihoods of 60 million small
farmers. (www.actionaid.org)

6. Christian Aid have produced a report "Selling Suicide" condemning the
use of so called 'terminator' genes :
www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/9905suic/suicide1.htm