Gordon Brown seems to be even more of a moron than Blair - see item 2.
"Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Canada wants all governments to accept the testing and commercialisation of 'terminator' crop varieties." (item 1)
1.Canada backs terminator seed
2.More double standards
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1.Canada backs terminator seed
John Vidal
Wednesday February 9, 2005
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,1408821,00.html
An international moratorium on the use of one of the world's most controversial GM food technologies may be broken today if the Canadian government gets seed sterilisation backed at a UN meeting.
Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Canada wants all governments to accept the testing and commercialisation of "terminator" crop varieties. These are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds which farmers cannot replant.
Jointly patented by the GM company Monsanto and the US government, the technology was condemned in the late 1990s by many African and Asian governments who called for a permanent ban.
Monsanto and other GM companies which were developing similar technologies voluntarily pulled out of research after concerns were also raised about the "terminator" genes spreading to non-GM crops, and international outrage that poor farmers would not be able to use seeds from their crops, as they have always done.
But leaked instructions to Canadian government negotiators at the Bangkok meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, a group which advises the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity, show that Canada will request today that all countries open their doors to the technology.
The papers, leaked to the environment group ETC, also show that the Canadian government will attack an official UN report critical of the potential impact of "terminator" seeds on small farmers and indigenous peoples. The report recommends that governments prohibit the technology.
The Canadian government team in Bangkok was last night unavailable for comment.
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2.More double standards
Ecosounding
John Vidal Wednesday February 9, 2005
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,7843,1408425,00.html
Who writes Gordon Brown's speeches? Last week, the chancellor not only talked to the sustainable communities conference in Manchester about the need for higher environmental standards but also to the Advancing Enterprise 2005 conference, which included in the audience Sir Terry Leahy, the head of Tesco, and Sir Tom McKillop, the chief executive of GM company Astra Zeneca. "I want Britain to lead the world in resolving the controversial issues of genetic research, animal experimentation and GM foods - so we can value and celebrate science and the joy and excitement of scientific discovery," said Brown. And just to upset even more the people who were not there, he added: "Globalisation is indeed made for Britain and British prosperity."