GM Terminator ban upheld 28 April 2006
The international moratorium on Terminator technology has been upheld - despite some countries' efforts to water it down.
Terminator technology is a type of genetic modification that produces plants with sterile seeds. This forces farmers to buy new seed each season.
This would have destroyed traditional farming methods in much of the world - particularly in developing countries.
Governments at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity unanimously voted to keep the global moratorium.
They have actually strengthened it - any future research will also need to be conducted within the bounds of the moratorium.
A global coalition of farmers, civic societies, NGOs and indigenous people have campaigned for months to keep the ban. In the UK this helped convince 224 MPs to sign an Early Day Motion in support of the moratorium.
We are relieved that common sense has prevailed in Brazil and that the case-by-case approach, which would have allowed Terminator technology to get established without the essential global impact assessments, has been rejected.
Elizabeth Lopez,
UK Campaigning Group on Terminator Technology
Unfortunately the UK Government's position is still different.
It does not recognise that terminator technology is different from other GM technology. Decisions on approvals will therefore be made on a case by case basis, as they are with other GM crops and foods.
Friends of the Earth and other members of the UK Campaigning Group on Terminator Technology will continue to lobby the Government to bring its position in line with the international decision.
© Friends of the Earth
