Friday 24th March 2006

Press Release

Brazil

Months of hard work lobbying against Terminator have paid off!



After representations in favour of case-by-case assessment of GURTS (New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, the US and Biotech Industry) and against (Argentina, Malaysia, Norway, human and indigenous rights organisations and the Ban Terminator campaign) yesterday, a small group of country representatives went into a "Friends of the Chair" meeting early this morning.

They emerged with a proposed text which no longer included language for "case-by-case" acceptance of GURTS (the controversial Article 2(b) which had been successfully pushed by Australia in the Working Group on 8j meeting in Spain earlier this year.) The text reaffirmed the international moratorium on GURTS, and reaffirmed the need for assessments on the impacts of the technology before field trials can even be considered. Civil society had been gearing up for a fight - and were perhaps surprised that things had gone so smoothly!

This is a huge victory, and one for farmers, indigenous peoples and activists around the world to celebrate, after months of hard work. We shall be able to celebrate properly once the COP8 meets for the final plenary, where the decision will be confirmed, at the end of next week. Although we are over the moon at the working group's decision, we must also hope that some countries don't try any last minute tricks...