Declaration of Victory "Citizens succeed in stopping Iwate prefecture's GM rice!"
Press Information - NO! GMO Campaign Japan
December 1, 2003
Declaration of
Victory
"Citizens succeed in stopping Iwate prefecture's GM
rice!"
On November 28, more than 450 people from all over Japan gathered
in Morioka city, Iwate, to participate in a gathering "No to GMO
National Assembly in Iwate".
At the Assembly more than 407,000 signatures were collated of
people from all over Japan who had expressed support for a
petition demanding a stop to the GM rice(*) research taking place
in Iwate
All the participants then set off down the street in the cold to
take the petition to the Iwate prefectural government. It was
taken into the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Department.
After receiving the 407,212 signatures from 20 representatives
from the Assembly, Mr. Masakatsu Sasaki, the Director of the
Agriculture Department, publicly stated that Iwate has decided to
abandon its GM rice research.
Iwate conducted an outdoor GM rice experiment this year, which
had been due to continue for a further year.
The Director also stated that Iwate will not conduct any further
outdoor experiments involving GM rice or any other GM
crops.
This is yet another victory for the citizens of Japan and follows
on from last year's success in halting Monsanto's GM rice in
Aichi prefecture.
As a result of that successful citizens' campaign to stop the
Monsanto-Aichi GM rice, Japanese private sector corporations
completely abandoned GM rice R&D. However the research
facility of the former Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) - now an independent administrative
corporation - together with the Iwate Biotechnology Research
Centre, maintained their strong commitment to develop GM
rice.
Despite which, peoplepower has now succeeded in halting this GM
rice research programme in Iwate.
MAFF is currently discussing how to tighten the regulation of
outdoor experimental releases of GM crops at research centres, in
order to accord with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which
will enter into force in Japan from 19 February 2004. Iwate's
decision is bound to have a strong influence on MAFF's
review.
It is now no longer at all easy to work on GM rice R&D in
Japan. The same applies to other GM foods as well.
"We do not want GM food! We do not eat GM food! We will not let
GM food be produced!". These are the words that are being
repeated again and again by the Citizens of Japan and their
efforts look set to bring some big results very soon.
In terms of a global perspective on GM farming, the US company
Monsanto's attempt to rest control over global food production
has not diminished, and the GM farming area is enlarging. In
addition, commercialisation for GM wheat is being sought in the
US and Canada.
NO! GMO Campaign's next step is to increase its cooperation with
other citizens from all over the world in order to bring a halt
to GM food.
NO! GMO Campaign
Keisuke Amagasa
For more information please contact:
Keisuke Amagasa (Mr)
Masako Koga (Ms)
no-gmo@jca.apc.org
NO! GMO Campaign
75-2F, Wasedamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0042 Japan
TEL: +81-3-5155-4756 FAX: +81-3-5155-4767
(*) The Iwate Biotechnology Research Center was established in
April 1992 with 100% funding from Iwate Prefecture. On 3 April
2003, the MAFF approved outdoor trials for a low-temperature
resistant rice variety "Sub29" developed by the Iwate
Biotechnology Research Center. This GM rice variety (Sasanishiki)
contains the glutathione-S-transferase gene, which imparts
multiple functions such as herbicide resistance and cold
resistance. The problem with this rice variety is that it
produces enzymes with multiple functions, and thus contains many
uncertain factors. Simply anything could happen, and it is
possible that previously unknown problems will arise with this
variety in the future. (Source: Citizens' Biotechnology
Information Center -CBIC)
Further reading:
NO! GMO Campaign: http://www.no-gmo.org/
Citizens' Biotechnology Information Center:
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~cbic/english/index.html
GM Rice Watch Center Japan:
http://www.gmrwatch.org/e/index.html
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Japan acceded on 21 November
2003)
http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety/signinglist.aspx?sts=rtf&ord=dt
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