The demand to three independent administrative agencies

To:
Shigeru Kuroda, Director of the National Institute of Crop Science, National Agriculture and Bio-oriented Research Organization
Masaki Iwabuchi, Chairman of the Board of Directors, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Katsuyuki Minami, Chairman of the Board of Directors, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences


Demand

We, producers and consumers of Asia and Japan have held an International Year of Rice NGO Action on the theme "We don't want! We won't eat! We won't sell! We won't produce! GM rice
let's drive GM rice out of Asia" from November 2nd to 5th.

During this action, we heard detailed reports from the Asian participants concerning the reality of how the "Green Revolution" has destroyed local agriculture and the livelihoods of farmers. The "gene revolution" occurring now is far more powerful than the Green Revolution, and will inevitably lead to the control of seeds by transnational corporations, the further destruction of local agriculture, and the deprivation of the right to subsistence of the farmer.

GM rice varieties are at the center of the gene revolution in Asia. We have resolutely opposed the tide of the gene revolution moving towards rice ? the staple food that Asian peoples have lovingly cherished and consumed for thousands of years.

In Japan, private corporations and the research institutes of local authorities have one after another withdrawn or retreated from GM rice development. The JA-Zennoh (the Japanese National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations) is also reluctant to go ahead with commercialization of GM rice. In spite of this, the research institutes affiliated to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries alone, as represented by your research institute, have refused to change their positive stance towards GM rice development. We have difficulty understanding why you would want to push these projects forward even at the risk of alienating the citizens of Japan and of Asia.

In order to preserve the sustainable agriculture of Asia, the environment, and our staple food, we demand that your research institute withdraw from the development of GM rice and other GM crops.

5 November 2004

Steering Committee of the NGO Action for the International Year of Rice
Pesticide Action Network Asia-Pacific (PAN AP) Save Our Rice Campaign

Contact: NO! GM Food Campaign
TEL: 03 5155 4756, FAX: 03 5155 4767

[ November 18, 2004 | NGO's_infomation ]