Jigmod CALL n°10

Focus on the Earth village

 The biggest distributed demonstration ever made by worldwide citizens happened on the 8th of April 2006, and this was all about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
The main message of this "Joint Internationational GMO Opposition Day" was: "No to GMO in fields and plates", which has then been expressed in various ways by nearly 300 teams across the world, with the support of one thousand local organizations.
  This global Day of actions was followed in November 2006 by the GMO Opposition Week in Japan.

 In 2007, such actions will develop from the 8th of April until the 8th of May (anniversary of the first joint actions in 2004), in the framework of the Joint International GMO Opposition Month (JIGMOM).

First elements of the JIGMOM Program
March 24	Official Announcement	Demonstration in Paris
April 8 - 10	Mexico Festival	Cities of Mexico
April 18 - 22	Actions of information during the Ecology Festival	Istanbul, Turkey
April 19 - 20	3rd Conference on GMO Free Regions, Biodiversity and Rural Development	Brussels, Belgium
April 20 - May 8	Sailing expedition above the polar circle, not far from the -under construction- Doomsday Seed Vault	Lofoten, Norway
April 20 - 21	Annual meeting of the European NGO Network on Genetic Engineering (GENET)	Brussels, Belgium
April 28 - May 5	"Rice planting Tour" during the Golden Week.	Japan
May 6	Outdoor Festival during the International Annual Convention of the Biotech Industry	Boston, USA
May 8		...back from northern territories Paris, France

Towards new legal actions against GMOs

  The German law expert Dr Christoph Palme (Institute for nature protection and nature protection law, Tübingen) and the Austrian expert on impacts of GMOs, as well as on the European legislation, Werner Müller** (Global2000) are ready to develop legal actions at several levels. The first one will concern the GM-Approval by European Parliament, which contradicts the precautionary principle of the European constitution.
**Original german version of the slide show at This Address.

For more information, you may contact either christiane Lüst or Christoph Palme.

Thanks to Wolfgang of Wuppertal for transmitting this news!

By decreasing human fertility [Scientific evidence], Roundown Ready contributes to protect the planet
Moonsanetoo : a Passion for Helping the Earth to Survive

Linda of Alberta	Yannick of Sonoma	Arpad of Hungary
Percy of Canada	Lanre of Nigeria	Hervé of Paris

VIDEO-CLIPS :

	We wish for the success of a GMO-free earth in 2007 ! from Japan
	!Happy New Year! 'May the force be with us'  From Turkey and Poland
	To the Health of the Earth  From France
	Cheers to a GMO-free World  From Portugal
	Cheers!  From Germany and France
	and Portugal

Jigmod CALL n°9

Focus on the US administration

 The "LLrice601 Scandal" is growing.
 Whereas the food chain of at least 24 countries has been contaminated, through export trade (see the Jigmod calls n°7 and n°6), by GM rice owned by the (German) Bayer company and cultivated in the USA, a global strategy develops to minimize the related financial impact on the GMO business :

1/ Deregulation of LL601 in the USA.
2/ Planned deregulation of GM food export trade.
3/ Lobbying of the European Union Parliament.

1/ Subcall A : On the 24th of November, The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) positively replied to Bayer's request, and approved LL601 for human consumption. However, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) fully disagreed with this decision and "will consider all legal options to put an end to USDA's 'approval-by-contamination' policy for new genetically engineered crops,". More in this Report. See also: CFS comments to USDA.

 Supports of the CFS by international activists and NGOs would be very welcome (coordinates of CFS at the end of the Report above)

2/ Subcall B : At the Codex Task Force on Food derived from Biotechnology, recently held in Japan, a "Working Group on Low Level Presence" has been created, notably co-chaired (certainly by chance) by US and Germany. The goal is to shortcut assessing low-level contamination by GMOs in food shipments. See the report of Phil of Seattle, in which he calls for more NGO representatives to participate in the next Codex meetings, as well as activists on the streets on these occasions.

3/ A Resolution Draft has swiftly been issued by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament. Despite a few amendments to be voted soon, this resolution entitled "on Biotechnology: Prospects and Challenges for Agriculture in Europe" could have been written some years ago by the Public Relation Department of Bayer or any other GMO big producer/trader.

Subcall C : Deadline = 19th of December, when the updated draft may be approved by the "Agriculture" Committee.
An open letter has been sent by ICPPC to all the MEPs, which contains a series of disturbing questions about the draft. You may write to MEPs as well (here are some addresses extracted from the EP Agricultural Committee) for telling them your personal feelings about the draft, and demanding them to respond ICPPC questions. Thank you to send us copies of any réaction/response you may receive.

Jadwiga&Julian of Krakow Call
The amendments vote has been delayed until mid-January!

Subcall D : Deadline = early January, when the final resolution may then be voted by the full Parliament.
Each point of the resolution draft will be commented and completed with references, using your contributions, updated daily and posted HERE, and sent to all the MEPs by the end of the year, as a Father Christmas present, to help them taking wise decisions in 2007.

Focus on Brazil

  On December 12th, the National Technical Commission on Biosecurity (CNTBio), linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology, will approve the commercial release of GE corn.
  If convinced by our statements, the President of Brazil could avoid this decision.

HERE is an example of letter that you can send to Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil. A personal letter, with your own words and arguments (ex: THERE), would be fine.

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Good News from Spain, Japan, and Bulgaria

- Release of an anti-GMO activist in Spain : Le juge de Lleida a acquitté Albert Ferré, who was being demanded around 500.000 euros in penalty payment for the destruction, on July 2004, of a GM wheat trial camp located in Catalonia. More Here

- The GMO Opposition Week : More than 400 Japanese farmers, fishermen and consumers got together in Chiba, east of Tokyo, from 26 November to 2 December (Full report here). Videos of international supporters, including José Bové, will be posted here, soon.

- A Working Group on GMOs just created in Bulgaria : Testing food, informing the general public. The bad side of the good news: GMOs were found in 3 out of 10 products sold on the Bulgarian food market. More Here

Jigmod CALL n°8

Focus on Turkey

  In March 2004 was founded the "No to GMOs Platform"...

To protect the biological diversity,
For sustainable agriculture,
For equal, just and safe food,
So that life cannot be patented!

  This network is composed of 90 organizations working in Turkey in the area of ecology, environment, agriculture, and consumer rights, including unions and professional chambers. Communication among members is coordinated through an Internet emailing group. A website and a news letter are aimed at communicating (in Turkish) about the platform activities, including: petitions, public and private meetings, information of the concerned actors, production of activist material (posters, stickers, guides...)
   For a more complete presentation of the "No to GMOs Platform", click HERE

  As recently - and unsuccessfully - tried in California (see Jigmod CALL n°7), a bill (draft seed law) is currently aimed at favouring the Biotech Industry in Turkey. This bill will start to be discussed from earliest 26th october, maybe up to the first week of november.
To learn more about the Turkish case, see...

the letter written by No to GMOs Platform.

Help stopping the BioTech Industry attempt to take control!

 In the name of your organization, add your signature to the letter to the Turkish Parliamentarians (in English and French) by sending your coordinates to this email box.

Current signatories

On October 7th, two concurrent events occurred in parallel in Athens, involving two different sets of the society :
- the 3rd International Biotechnology Conference "EuropaBio Hellas", supported by a few multinationals, the US and Israelian ambassies, state sponsors, three Greek ministries, some people of the academic world, the Greek Minister of education: Mrs Giannakou.
- a protest march, supported by GM-free municipalities and the vast majority of the population (video report HERE).

Report of the Order81 association

GMO Opposition Week in Japan Videos and messages of support have already been sent from around the world to Ryoko of Tokyo.    Don't hesitate to send yours! - Christian Vélot large video (55Mo) / small video (18Mo) / transcription - Dom of Chevreuse large video (118Mo) / small video (47Mo)/ transcription

Jigmod CALL n°7

Focus on Japan

  In 1996, the Japanese government approved the commercialization of GM crops for the first time. In the same year, the No! GMO Campaign was launched.
  The GMO Free Zone Campaign has been spreading nationwide since 2005. At the moment, Japanese farmers have declared over 5,000 ha of their land “GMO Free”.
  In March 2006, the first "National Conference on the GMO Free Zones" was held in Takashima City, a rice farming area in Shiga Prefecture.
 
 From 2000 to 2003, the Codex (World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization joint committee on food standards) Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Food Derived from Biotechnology was held in Chiba and Yokohama (Japan) to lay down guidelines for the conduct of food safety assessment of foods derived from genetically engineered plants and micro organisms.  

 The Task Force meets once a year, and this year, the 6th session of the task force is going to be held from 27 November to 1 December in Chiba City.
=> A GM Opposition Week will be held at the same time, same location.

Join in the GM Opposition Week from abroad!

  Record a video message of support from your world location, send it to this email address, and it will be shown on Sunday afternoon, November 26, during the "GMO Free Zones conference" at Chiba City.

Tentative Program

  Regarding LLrice601 and Bt rice contaminations,
a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan
and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare,
will be held on the 4th of October.

The contaminations file

• Letter to Food Agencies

  In connection with the Jigmod CALL n°6, a letter has been co-signed by scientists, organizations representatives and world citizens; it is aimed at the Food Administrations of the countries in which the chain food has recently been genetically contaminated.
 On Wednesday 27th of September, this open letter will be sent to the national medias and corporate shareholders of the firms which are responsible of this worrying situation. A Press Conference is held the very same day in Nicaragua, giving the results of tests carried out on food delivered by the United Nations. On the 4th of October, japaneese officials will be given this letter during another Press Conference.

Let your local press contacts know about this global initiative

• "Contaminated law" in Catalonia

State of GM crops in Catalonia

Call to Solidarity with the Catalan Opposition to GMOs

- Sunday 15 October, 11 am: Centro Cívico de Sant Agustí - c/ Comerç, 36 - Barcelona : Civil Court against GM Plants
- Thusday 19 October,10 am: Protest Meeting in front of the Court of Lérida

• The "Queen of genetic contamination" in Europe?

   The European Commission might approve the cultivation of 3 GM colzas. Colza crops easily and durably extend their territory : their light seeds, because they can stay "asleep" for ten years and can cross with some weeds, make colza an ideal agent of irreversible genetic contamination.

By signing this petition, and send it to this address, you can avoid this irreversibility.

Previous JIGMOD Calls

Jigmod CALL n°6

Focus on California

  Whereas 14 states of the USA are already not allowed to issue their own GM-free regulations, grass roots activists recently succeeded lobbying against a Monsanto-backed bill aimed at similar local restrictions in California. The recent discovery of the following potential scandal, of which califormian legislators have been informed by many activists, may have been decisive in this victory. See a report.

Seeds of scandal

  California, as well as 5 other States of the USA have undergone genetic contamination of their long-grain rice crops by the unapproved Bayer GM rice, LL601. Since last January, at least 140 000 tones of this contaminated rice have been exported to Europe. No doubt that it is now in the food chain and consumed by millions of people, including babies [ 1 ].

1/ The Riceland cooperative discovered the contamination in January, but did not notify the public nor the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA).

2/ Bayer knew about this in May, but did not inform the USDA until July 31 [ 2 ].

3/ The USDA hid the contamination for sake of money. At a press conference, the US secretary of agriculture indicated that an economic motive was behind the government's delay (nearly 3 weeks) in informing the public about the contamination, as the government anticipated foreign rice importers might reject the product.

Current reactions:
- The USDA minimized the problem [ 3 ]. See "Don't worry, Be happy!"
- Three major lawsuits launched by farmers against Bayer are already in motion with more on the way.
- Imports of the rice were stopped by Japan [ 4 ], and then by the European Commission, late August [ 5 ].
- However:
     + No plans to destroy or recall the rice:
Bayer is urgently trying to make the contaminant LL601 approved, instead.

Join in the related protest initiated by Dr Brian John

Formal Protest against the stated intent to deregulate LLRICE601

  + Except the New-York Times , Most medias remain silent on this topic, in every country.

INFORM your country MEDIAS and favourite POLITICIANS:
let them know about this case which actually deserves being known.
This is a unique opportunity to make the general public realize the actual risks generated by GMO firms.

- The banks and Insurance companies which still support Bayer (see the Jigmod CALL n°5) will be made aware of the situation.

- US medias should also be contacted from abroad, to let them know about the international concern. For getting their addresses, see The Campaign.

self-confidence self-satisfaction

11th IUPAC International Congress of Pesticide Chemicals in Kobe, Japan, 2006: Alexander of Bayer, Head of Research, outlined "the important role of innovation and modern tools for active ingredient discovery at Bayer CropScience".

N.B.: Food products illegally contaminated with genetically modified (GM) rice from China have then been also discovered in the UK, France and Germany (see the reaction of Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace)

Good News from France Biogemma, a company majority owned by seed-maker Limagrain has renounced its open-air experiments in France after 12 of its 18 GM fields had been visited by the so-called Voluntary Reapers, this Summer. Biogemma is now looking for other host-countries, including India (partnership with Avesthagen) and the USA. Any Voluntary Partners?

Global support to GMO investors

  Some corporate shareholders are not properly informed.
  Otherwise, GM crops and GM food would have never been developed nor traded.
  Let us help them!

  Among other pieces of information, such as those available in the one-page Memorandum, they probably ignore the correspondance between GM cotton cultures and farmers suicides (thanks to Priya of Delhi for having transmitted the document below).

Map of farmers suicides in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra (India)

STAGE 1 : Collect the names and addresses of the banks which support at least one of the following multinationals : Monsanto, Dupont-Pioneer, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF.
Send the result of your investigations to this address

GMO firms supporters list

   At the G8-Civil held in Moscow, July 3-4, President Putin signaled support to our concern about GMO trading, saying he felt surrounded "by kindred spirits". He said that our statements were not exaggerated, and that the norms suggested by the NGOs should be considered, despite the WTO trend to impose the free trading of GMOs.

One talk among others

The JIGMOD partners who met in Moscow proposed that the global network be enhanced for implementing

Global support to local initiatives	Export of local initiatives /expertise

Examples of recent local/global initiatives : South-american letter to Netherland medias (in Spanish) / Dutch version (Netherlands) Spanish organizations against coexistence [Original version (Catalan)]

Jigmod CALL n°4

Global support to a transnational action from Bolivia to the Netherlands

  The Network for a GM-Free Latin America (Red por una América Latina Libre de Transgénicos -RALLT- ) wrote the article below, to be issued in the Netherland Press after having been co-signed by worldwide organizations.
  If your organization feels like signing this article, let us know before Wednesday June 28 at this email address by a message of the following type :
"Buenos días Joceljin,
Nuestra organización (NAME of your organization) desea firmar el artículo "El consumo de loa piensos transgenicos en Holanda tiene serios impactos para los pequeños agricultores y el medioambiente en Latina América."
Cordialmente,
Your name"

Original article (in Spanish) 
 (rough) translation in English

   In the post Soviet countries, the antiGMO organizations are united by the "CIS Alliance for Biosafety".
  On the 8th of April, this alliance has initiated the declaration of GM-free zones in CIS, and carried out several informatory actions in schools, universities, supermarkets, as well as on the Internet (russian language).
The Alliance partners of the JIGMOD have just been able to organize an International "GMO forum" in the frame of the Civil G8 - 2006, held in Moscow, July 3-4.
  Given this last-minute opportunity, not every partner will be represented at this forum, during which the global resistance to GMO trading will be addressed. This is why you are greatly encouraged to make suggestions on this matter, for them to be read (on your behalf) during the meeting.

email address for sending your proposal(s)

 Good News from Hawaii
Aloha (...) While our focus is to stop GMOs, the patenting of crops is certainly part of it. All of our GMO-Free Hawai`i island groups (now together called Hawai`i SEED) have worked on this taro patent campaign. In case you aren't familiar, taro is what poi is made from & is one of the world's only 100% non-allergenic foods.
Peace, Bonnie Bonse of GMO-Free Maui

Activists tear up 3 UH patents for taro

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Action notably promoted by the jigmod CALL n°3 : 208 Members of the Europen Parliament have signed the statement permitting each region to forbid the cultivation of GMOs in its area. They should have been 364 instead, for it to be considered as a Declaration.

Positive Feedbacks from French MEPs : André Laignel, Marielle de Sarnez, Marie-Arlette Carlotti, Martine Roure, Marie-Line Reynaud, Nathalie Griesbeck, Anne Claire Jacquin, Bernadette Vergnaud
Half-positive : Jean-Marie Cavada

Comments of Jadwiga Lopata and Julian Rose, of the Polish ICPPC

Focus on Poland

In less than two years, this country has declared all its regions "GM-free".
How did the ICPPC (International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside) obtain this exemplary result?
- Promotion of an INTERNATIONAL solidarity, as expressed in the organization name.
- Information of citizens, cooperation with politicians.

  Politicians need to be informed for taking wise decisions. The same arguments, your arguments, can be sent to them now, with two possible aims:

1/ URGENT!! Letter to the Members of the European Parliament for them to recognize the declaration proposed by 4 MEPs (including Mr Wojciechowski, Poland). The declaration demands a change in the European law, permitting each member state and each region to forbid the cultivation of GMOs in its area. You may add the Memorandum to your letter for supporting your request.
EXTENDED DEADLINE!! quite a few signatures are missing...
The deadline for the 350 signatures required to carry the Statement is June 16th

document in several languages. http://icppc.pl/pl/gmo/index.php?id=198
Letter from Mr Wojciechowski: www.icppc.pl/sciagnij/en-letter.pdf

Written Declaration on genetically modified food and seeds

List of the MEPs who already supported this declaration

List of all MEPs

2/ ( Letter to the polish president for ratifying that no GM crops will be included into the Polish Plant Record. example of letter, and more information ) N.B.: President Lech Kaczynski has now signed the parliamentary act introducing a ban on the trading of genetically modified seeds in Poland. Thank you to those who contributed to this historical result!

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CALL n°2 outcome : more than 100 messages of support, not mentioned by the counsels, but included after the trial into the file of the 49 accused of Orleans.

On the 9th of December 2005, the court of Orleans, France has acquitted 49 people for having destroyed genetically modified crops in 2004 and 2005. The judges said the protesters “proved that they committed voluntary acts of damage on the goods of a third party in response to the needs of the situation…..a necessity driven by the uncontrolled release of modified genes that constitutes a real and present danger, and may be a source of undesired contamination and pollution”.

The plaintiff, American seeds giant Monsanto, is to appeal against the decision on the 15th of May 2006.

Messages showing an international support may influence the final decision. If the previous judgement is confirmed, this will have great consequences for the (non-) future of GM crops in France and elsewhere.

In connection with the trial on appeal, a 3-days meeting program will start this Sunday,
with partners from India, Spain and Switzerland.
For more information (in French) Click Here

Support the protesters (Voluntary Reapers) by sending an email / video here and there
Among many messages already received : Supporters

International Press Release , translated by partners :
Spanish version (by Marcos of Puerto Rico)
Portuguese Version (by Gualter of Portugal)

Indian Mutiny (more HERE) The revolt began on the 10th of May 1857 and developed into a widespread uprising against British rule in India. Later on, the "East India Company" was abolished.
Why not Monsanto-India in 2006?

On May 10, to coincide with the 149th anniversary of the first movement of Independence of 1857, action will be taken to boycott Monsanto's Bt cotton seeds and launch "Asha Yatras" (Pilgrimages of Hope) in regions where Bt Cotton aggravated farmers' suicides". Farmers will be offered hope through distribution of open-pollinated varieties of diverse crops and training on ecology and organic farming," Dr. Shiva said.

More information in the India's National Newspaper << click here

Support this action by sending now your message here, there and everywhere.
Ex: "I am a farmer in the "Auvergne" French region, within the production area of the "Limagrain" agro (pro-GMO) company to which my husband and I offer resistance in our way. We are both actively involved in the "Voluntary reapers" movement.
Receive our support. Thank you.
Chantal and Jean-Sébastien Gascuel"

Message from French to Indian activists (2mn video - 38 Mo)

Hawaï protest near Monsanto's corn field test site on April 8th (1mn20 video clip - 9 Mo)