Brasil: los dilemas del ALCA y nuestro futuro, por Joao Pedro Stédile

El ALCA es apenas un marco jurídico, un paraguas para dar legalidad a la libertad de acción que el capital de las quinientas mayores empresas de Estados Unidos necesita. Las empresas precisan del ALCA para hacer lo que ellas quieran en nuestro territorio, con nuestras riquezas, energía, agricultura, semillas, mercado, servicios, educación, moneda, y así aumentar sus ganancias y dominio sobre la economía y sociedad brasileña.

Para más información sobre el ALCA, les recomiendo la página web de la Campaña Continental Contra el ALCA.

The Trees

By Neil Peart

There is unrest in the Forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the Maples want more sunlight
And the Oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the Maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the Oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the Oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the Maples
Can't be happy in their shade?

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the Maples scream `Oppression!`
And the Oaks, just shake their heads

So the Maples formed a Union
And demanded equal rights
'The Oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more Oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet,
Axe,
And saw ...

Wired Magazine: GMOs Are Dead, the Science Has Moved On

Web Note:

Aside from several factual inaccuracies in this article (GE crops overall have not reduced pesticide use, but rather increased their use; GE cotton offers only a short-term reduction in pesticide use, after a few years weed and pest resistance causes more herbicide and pesticides to be used), this article by Richard Manning in Wired magazine is of major importance. Gene-mapping, combined with organic production and traditional cross-breeding (sometimes called "Marker Assisted Breeding), not gene-splicing, life form patents, and industrial agriculture, represents the real future of farming.

Ronnie Cummins


Super Organics

Forget Frankenfruit - the new-and-improved flavor of gene science is Earth-friendly and all-natural. Welcome to the golden age of smart breeding.

By Richard Manning

Behold the 2004 GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE WINNERS

A former middle school teacher who fought for environmental justice from Shell Chemical in her hometown of Norco, Louisiana, has been named the first African-American to receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. She joins two grassroots activists from Bhopal, India who have rallied the world in solidarity around Dow Chemical’s accountability for the world’s worst industrial disaster, and a brave Ghanaian public interest lawyer fighting the World Bank’s plan to privatize his country’s water supply. These activists are among the seven extraordinary recipients of the 15th annual Goldman Environmental Prize presented in San Francisco on April 19, 2004 and in Washington, D.C., on April 21, 2004.

The Goldman Environmental Prize, considered the “Nobel Prize for the Environment,” is given annually to grassroots environmental heroes from six geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. (Two winners will share the Asia award this year.) The Prize includes a no-strings-attached award of $125,000, the largest of its kind. The Goldman Environmental Prize is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and a survey of past recipients for the occasion revealed that their combined work has positively affected an estimated 102 million people worldwide.

Here is one fine information source on the concentration of corporate control over the media.

FREE PRESS

Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector.

We believe that a more democratic US media system will lead to better public policies — at home and abroad. As our world becomes more and more interconnected, it is imperative that any kind of development takes into account basic environment, economic, and human rights, while defining corporate and personal responsibilities. Free Press considers information to be among the most important resources to any society. We strive to open up the media system to allow more diversity of opinion to be expressed, to present a broader perspective, and to increase the caliber of information available to everyday people. This, in turn, will lead to a more participatory and accountable government and to more sustainable policies and practices regarding national and global development.

Este domingo es el mercado orgánico agrícola en la Placita Roosevelt. Dicho sea de paso, vean en la edición de hoy de El Nuevo Día el artículo sobre el mercado y otro sobre la compañía Butterfly Sprouts.

También este domingo, de 10 am a 12 del medio día estaré en el programa radial de Norman González Chacón en WKAQ, 580 AM, hablando sobre los TRANSGENICOS.

NUEVA INFORMACION DE CONTACTO

La semana pasada renuncié del periódico Claridad después de siete años ininterrumpidos de servicio. En este momento no espero relacionarme con el periódico de nuevo, así que tomen nota de mi nueva información de contacto:

Edificio Darlington, apartamento #703
Avenida Munoz Rivera 1007
San Juan, PR 00925
tel. 771-4473

http://www.biodiversidadla.org/article/articleview/4885/1/23/

Enfrentando la contaminación: cinco razones para rechazar la coexistencia con los cultivos genéticamente modificados, por GRAIN

La contaminación genética debe verse como lo que es: una consecuencia inevitable de la agricultura genéticamente modificada y la piedra angular de los esfuerzos de la industria biotecnológica para generar la aceptación global de los cultivos genéticamente modificados como un hecho consumado. La industria biotecnológica quiere que sus oponentes crean que la única opción que queda es “manejar” la coexistencia de la agricultura genéticamente modificada y no genéticamente modificada. La industria necesita que abandonemos la lucha para detener la ingeniería genética y dirijamos nuestros esfuerzos a salvar lo que queda de la agricultura no genéticamente modificada, en gran medida de la misma manera que ha intentado cooptar la lucha por la biodiversidad dentro de una campaña no amenazadora para proteger “zonas de alta biodiversidad” del planeta. Pero tal coexistencia llevará inevitablemente a un sistema global de alimentos y agricultura conformado por dos canales paralelos – un mercado específico libre de organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM) para los muy ricos y un abastecimiento contaminado con OGM para el resto de nosotros – con las mismas pocas corporaciones controlando ambos canales, desde las semillas hasta los supermercados. Contra esto, más y más gente está trabajando valerosamente, con todos los medios a su alcance, para mantener campos, zonas, provincias, estados, países y regiones libre de OGM.

PUERTO RICO: Casa Pueblo propone corredor ecológico

Luego de dos años de trabajo, la propuesta de la organización comunitaria adjunteña Casa Pueblo a la Junta de Planificación del Plan de Conservación de Areas Sensitivas para Adjuntas y Municipios Adyacentes se discutirá en Vista Pública el lunes 3 de mayo en la Alcaldía adjunteña.

"Esta iniciativa comunitaria crea un corredor ecológico que conservará unas 29,536 cuerdas ubicada en los municipios de Adjuntas, Jayuya, Ponce, Peñuelas, Guayanilla, Yauco, Juana Díaz, Orocovis, Ciales y Utuado", dice Casa Pueblo en un comunicado.

"Protegerá la cuenca hidrográfica del Río Grande de Arecibo que suple agua potable a más de un millón de habitantes, así como las cabeceras del Río Grande de Añasco, Portugüez, Tanamá, Viví e Inabón entre otros. Igualmente se protegerán las aguas para riego del Valle de Lajas que a través de un túnel desde Adjuntas atraviesa la Cordillera Central. Están incluídos el pico de mayor elevación de Puerto Rico, La Puntita y el Cerro Maravilla en Jayuya, también el Monte El Gigante Dormido y Silla Calderón en Adjuntas."

Si necesitan más información, se pueden comunicar a Casa Pueblo al (787) 829-4842 (casapueb@coqui.net).

STRANGE SCIENCE: A U.S. CORPORATION ENGINEERS RICE WITH HUMAN GENES

WORLD WATCH MAGAZINE —MAY/ JUNE 2004

(View full magazine)

(View full article)

Washington, D.C.—A California-based biotechnology company has been growing experimental fields of rice engineered with human genes to produce two proteins found naturally in human breast milk. According to the May/June issue of World Watch magazine, these test plots present significant risks to the environment, to people, and to the California rice industry.*

In “Silent Winter,” Claire Hope Cummings describes how state and federal regulators are failing to address the unprecedented agricultural, legal, environmental, economic, and ethical questions posed by newly created organisms. Ventria Bioscience, which plans to use its transgenic rice in poultry feed as an alternative to antibiotics and as a supplement in infant formula, has been free to plant experimental crops without taking sufficient precautions against exposing wildlife or other rice fields to these novel and untested transgenes. Under current law, the company can hide flaws in its products and the location of open-air test plots under the cloak of “confidential business information.”

El suplemento Masiosare del periódico La Jornada me publicó ayer mi artículo AUGE DE LA AGRICULTURA SUSTENTABLE. Mis planteamientos centrales en el artículo son los siguientes:

El paradigma científico occidental desprecia los conocimientos tradicionales de las culturas no occidentales y los clasifica como superstición e ignorancia, o como simples mañas irracionales de pueblos atrasados que no han cumplido con su deber de modernizarse.

Pero resulta que los pueblos indígenas y rurales, supuestamente retrógrados e ignorantes, han practicado la agricultura sustentable por miles de años y tienen conocimientos avanzados en un sinnúmero de áreas relacionadas con la salud humana y la protección del ambiente.

En los albores de este milenio se hace más y más claro que el paradigma científico occidental no era la última palabra en lo que se refiere al desarrollo humano. El eurocentrismo da paso a una valoración de otras culturas, pueblos y civilizaciones que supuestamente eran "primitivos".

La creación de una sociedad ecológica, fundamentada sobre una agricultura sustentable, requerirá de cambios revolucionarios en nuestras percepciones, los cuales no encontrarán cabida dentro del paradigma cartesiano.

The organic foods sector is growing and prospering all over the world. The organic market in the European Union has doubled in the last five years, American dairies are going organic and finding that it was a good business decision. And Costa Rica is fast becoming a powerhouse exporter of tropical organic produce.

But an increasing number of organic farmers, advocates and consumers are concerned that organic farming is being taken over by transnational corporations, a development which can ruin the ethical revolutionary principles it was founded upon. Read The food revolution that lost its soul, an article by David Nicholson Lord that came out in this month's issue of The New Scientist.

The Anderson Valley Advertiser published a great piece by John Ross about the persecution against Ignacio Chapela, a scientist who stood up against the biotech nidustry.

http://www.theava.com/04/0218-chapela.html

THE SAD SAGA OF IGNACIO CHAPELA: How to destroy Mexican corn, reap maximum profits, and buy a university in one easy lesson

"I am living proof of what happens when biotech buys a university. The first thing that goes is independent research", said Chapela. "The university is a delicate organism. When its mission and orientation are compromised, it dies. Corporate biotechnology is killing this university."

http://www.ecoportal.net/content/view/full/28053/

Petromilitarización del Continente y de la América de en medio

Por Gustavo Castro Soto

El proyecto económico hegemónico del gobierno de los Estados Unidos (EU) sobre el Continente Americano, sólo será posible si es garantizado bajo un proyecto militar que le dé sustento y viabilidad ante el disenso social cada vez más generalizado y el de algunos gobiernos de América Latina. Sólo con una alternativa económica distinta podrá ser posible la paz. Esta es nuestra hipótesis. La entrada en vigor en el 2005 del Area de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA) significaría la cúspide de un proceso de acumulación del capital del modelo económico neoliberal para el Continente. La eliminación de los Estados-Nación dará pie a la incorporación de toda la vida y la existencia a la lógica del mercado por medio de la apropiación de las corporaciones multinacionales sobre los recursos naturales, los bienes públicos y la economía de los espacios geoestratégicos sobre los que se militariza el Continente entero.

CHARLA(S) SOBRE TRANSGENICOS

Este domingo 18 de abril ofreceré no una sino DOS charlas sobre el tema de los transgénicos. A las 11:30 am voy estar hablando en el MERCADO ORGANICO DE LA PLACITA ROOSEVELT y por la tarde ofreceré la charla de nuevo en el BOSQUE SAN PATRICIO.

La charla en el Bosque no sé a qué hora será exactamente, pero será después de las 2 pm. A esa hora comenzará una actividad para el público general que durará toda la tarde. No tengo el comunicado ahora mismo, así que no puedo darles detalles... pero no se la pierdan! Contacten a Javier Almeyda: jalmeyda@coqui.net para más información.

Tired of right-wing radio? Whine no more. Tune in to AIR AMERICA.

INEQUALITY IN THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

Today is Tax Day, so I'm going to give you some information that willl rattle you off: According to United for a Fair Economy, the CEO pay/worker pay ratio in the USA has reached 301-to-1; and the average worker takes home $517 a Week, while the average CEO $155,769 a week.

And if that doesn't make you wanna holler, this certainly will:

While corporations and the wealthy benefit from huge tax cuts poor, families still struggle, says the Children's Defense Fund.

WASHINGTON - April 14 - Huge tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans have robbed the federal government of much needed revenue that could help fund programs for children, the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) said today. According to statistics released by CDF, the lost revenue could provide enough funds in 2004 to pay for Head Start for all eligible children, provide comprehensive health insurance for the nation's more than nine million uninsured children, and ensure that all poor families have affordable housing.


For more info on inequality in the land of opportunity, read Jamie Court's "Corporateering" and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg Palast.

http://www.rebelion.org/venezuela/040415portillo.htm

ALCA/IIRSA, Plan Colombia y el Eje de Desarrollo Occidental

Lusbi Portillo

El Tratado de Libre Comercio para América del Norte (TLCAN, enero 1994), el Área de Libre Comercio para las Américas (ALCA, diciembre 1994), el Plan Colombia (1999), la Integración de la Infraestructura Regional Suramericana (IIRSA, septiembre 2000) y el Plan Puebla Panamá (PPP, marzo 2001) son distintos elementos estructurantes de la política hegemónica de los Estados Unidos para las Américas y el Caribe.

El TLCAN y el ALCA no son expresiones de simples acuerdos aduanales y de flexibilización jurídica para la búsqueda de un ingenuo libre comercio, ni el PPP ni el IIRSA son sólo ejes de integración propuestos para México, América Central y América del Sur, ni mucho menos el Plan Colombia se agota en asesorías técnico-militares y financiamientos antinarcóticos, o en acciones contra la subversión colombiana. Todo lo contrario son cinco piezas engranadas dinamizadoras de una misma realidad impuesta por la óptica imperial para la dominación y el saqueo de los pueblos americanos. Esta compleja realidad es la integración para y desde los Estados Unidos, es la nueva organización de su Patio Trasero en tiempos de la globalización. Por esta razón el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos propone que los ordenamientos jurídicos de cada uno de los 34 países comiencen desde ya a adaptarse a "las obligaciones del acuerdo del ALCA"1. De esta manera se entronizará definitivamente en América "el orden jurídico internacional liberal".

El profesor mexicano Gian C. Delgado es uno de los más elocuentes y coherentes teóricos de la globalización y la politica de los recursos naturales en el hemisferio americano. Lean su mas reciente monografía:

http://www.ecoportal.net/content/view/full/27843/

Territorio y Geopolítica Imperial del Agua: el caso de Mesoamérica
Por Gian Carlo Delgado Ramos

Si se observa un mapa de EUA, podemos dar cuenta que el grueso de las reservas naturales de agua dulce se encuentran en el lado este, donde saltan a la vista dos sistemas de relevancia mayor: el río Misissippi y los Grandes Lagos.

Los proyectos hidroeléctricos y el saqueo de nuestro oro azul y de otros recursos naturales estratégicos como la biodiversidad y el petróleo, de entrada se dificultarán si crecientemente se continúan enlazando y coordinando nuestros esfuerzos (según nuestras posibilidades y comenzando por nuestros propios espacios cotidianos). Abrir la posibilidad de revertirlos, depende de qué tan sólido se construye el muro social con el que se toparán los diversos proyectos en cuestión, y que sólo son posibles gracias al papel activo de una elite latinoamericana que los avala, y por si fuera poco, que los promueve y ejecuta principalmente a favor de la cúpula de poder del Norte. La guerra de clase que las elites latinoamericanas mantienen contra los pueblos de AL es fundamental en la ejecución de proyectos tipo PPP y ALCA, pero al mismo tiempo también es la que fortalece la lucha por la conciencia social como fundamento para la construcción de una alternativa económica, social y ecológicamente armónica.

American suburbanites' obsession with the perfect lawn combines with genetic engineering, with a frivolous and ridiculous result: GENETICALLY ENGINEERED LAWNS.

Bio-Engineered Lawn & Golf Course Grass May Spawn Superweeds

Gene-Altered Lawns-Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon?

http://organicconsumers.org/ge/indiadump041304.cfm

India is Fast Becoming a Dumping Ground for GE Crops

By Devinder Sharma

As the world wakes up to human health and environment nuisance from the
genetically modified (GM) crops, India is fast turning into a dustbin for
this new technology.

Nosotros los puertorriqueños estamos tan enajenados de lo que pasa en la República Dominicana, y eso que nos queda ahí al ladito. Por eso me alegro tanto de ver la página cibernética del grupo ecologista dominicano Sociedad Ecológica del Cibao, Inc. (SOECI).

La Sociedad Ecológica del Cibao, Inc. (SOECI) es una institución conservacionista y ambientalista, privada, compuesta por voluntarios, para la defensa del Medio Ambiente, no persigue fines lucrativos, políticos, ni religiosos. Es la primera en su género en la República Dominicana, miembro fundador de la Federación Dominicana de Asociaciones Ecologistas (FEDOMASEC).

Sus objetivos son:

• Luchar por la conservación y preservación de los recursos naturales.
• Desarrollar actividades de educación y concientización de la ciudadanía con el propósito de lograr un cambio de actitud ante el deterioro de la naturaleza.
• Demostrar que el ser humano es capaz de trabajar y lograr un desarrollo sostenido sin destruir su Medio Ambiente, por tanto, la vida misma.

Para el logro de estos objetivos esta institución realiza diversas actividades entre las que se encuentran:

* Ejecución del proyecto de conservación y manejo de la montaña Diego de Ocampo.
* Ejecución del proyecto de la Escuela de Agricultura Orgánica de Maizal, Tamboril.
* Programa de concientización y educación a la ciudadanía a través de charlas, conferencias, jornadas, películas y otros medios audiovisuales.
* Estudios e investigaciones sobre los problemas ambientales.
* Denuncias y agresiones que atentan contra el equilibrio natural.
* Promoción de la formación de grupos ecologistas.
* Asesoría a otras instituciones.
* Centro de Capacitación Agroecológica de la Manacla.
* Proyecto de Manejo Agroforestal de la Montaña Arroyo del Toro
* Proyecto de Gestión Ambiental de la Zona Norte de Santiago
* Establecimiento del Centro Demostrativo de Fuentes de Energías Alternativas

Hay sectores en España que no están muy entusiasmados con el Foro de Barcelona 2004. Lean Diez razones para estar contra el Fórum 2004 y Barcelona 2004: estamos perdiendo la batalla de la comunicación.

BARCELONA: NOT CRAZY ABOUT FORUM 2004

Hmm, now here's somebody who's not very happy at all with the Barcelona 2004 Forum. I knew I'd find critical perspectives somewhere, in a language other than Catalan that is.

Most important progressive event in history? Please, get a grip!

Now this is really PRETENTIOUS. The organizers of the Barcelona 2004 Forum claim that it will be the most important progressive event in history. Such VANITY! They never heard of the World Social Forum? Their press release makes not the slightest nod of acknowledgement to the annual WSF, which started in Porto Alegre in 2000 and took place in Mumbai this year. I don't know how progressive can the Barcelona Forum be, with speakers as mainstream as Bill Clinton (you know, Hillary's husband) and Mikhail Gorbachev, concerts by artists like Phil Collins (talk about VH-1 lite!) and corporate sponsors like Endesa, Toyota and Coca Cola.

GREAT NEWS FROM ANGOLA

Angola, one of the world's poorest countries, says no to genetically modified food "aid". The promoters of GM foods and crops and apologists of the biological industrial complex might want to offer an explanation. After all, they always say that those who reject agricultural biotech are all elite, white, privileged environmentalists from rich countries. Here is a message from the UK-based GAIA Foundation:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The US pressure on African countries to accept GM food aid continues in
Angola.

Angola is the latest country to implement its rights under the Biosafety Protocol, and has told the World Food Programme (WFP) that it does not wish to accept unmilled GM food aid. This means that food aid sent from the US, in the form of genetically modified maize, is not acceptable to Angola in grain form. Since the WFP says that it will not be possible to mill the US-donated maize, they may have to reject it altogether.

Angola has recognised that it cannot compromise its long-term agricultural biodiversity and food security through GM contamination.

While the Southern Africa director for the WFP has said that no-one is likely to starve as a result, the US media is churning out a great deal of propaganda, calling Angolans ³criminal², ³immoral², ³ignorant², ³avaricious²

and ³mindless². They seem to have conveniently forgotten that although Zambia made the same decision, and faced the same criticism in 2002, they produced a surplus of over 120,000 tonnes the following year.

In reality, it is USAID who must change their policy of forcing unwanted GM food on African countries. This practice only serves to contaminate local agriculture and undermine local markets with flooded imports. The EU policy of giving aid in the form of cash is much more beneficial to regions, as it allows the WFP to buy and transport regional surpluses, supporting local economies instead of undermining them.

The WFP must also take responsibility reduce their overdependence on USAID and their damaging practices, especially now that more countries will probably follow suit and reject GM food aid in the future, in accordance with the Biosafety Protocol.

Starbucks, a corporation that makes a lot of its social and environmental responsibility, is taking flak for its alleged hipocrisy. A report featured on the Organic Consumers Association news log claims that the company is one of 2003's top 10 environmental hypocrites because it has failed to uphold the promise of its Environmental Mission Statement to stay "committed to a role of environmental leadership".

Wanna know who are the other 9 hypocrites? Check out the full report.


The 12th annual Don't Be Fooled Report profiles the ten worst greenwashers of 2003.

The greenwashers profiled in this year's report include companies from the automobile, biotechnology, coffee, energy, personal care and cruise industries, trade organizations representing aquaculture, logging and chemical companies, and one government agency.

The ten worst greenwashers of 2003 are:

- Project Learning Tree : for teaching tens of millions of schoolchildren worldwide, "We cannot depend on nature alone to take care of our forests," and other lessons from the environmental education curriculum controlled by the American Forest Foundation, a logging trade group

- Avalon Natural Products : for labeling a range of personal care products as "Certified Organic", though they contain chemicals and synthetic preservatives and are composed primarily of water

- Starbucks : for failing to adhere to its Environmental Mission Statement by slipping from industry leader to laggard on Fair Trade, and for adopting a patchwork approach to sustainability through its "Commitment to Origins" line of coffees

- Royal Caribbean International : for using a variety of means, including advertisements, a self-issued environmental award and an open letter from the CEO, to shield customers from information about raw sewage dumping and other forms of cruise ship pollution

- Environmental Protection Agency : for its unprecedented and allegedly illegal use of taxpayer funds to purchase advertisements for the Clear Skies Act, which were targeted at urban communities with high rates of asthma

- BP : for suggesting in its "On the Street" marketing campaign that the oil company is satisfying consumers' environmental concerns, while its continued support for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is at odds with public opinion

- American Chemistry Council : for planning a covert public relations campaign funded by 3M, BASF, Dow, Dupont and other members of the chemical trade group, in order to undermine support for the precautionary principle among Californians worried about their body burden of industrial chemicals

- Salmon of the Americas , for hiring third-party experts and setting up front web-sites, such as pcbsinsalmon.com, to misinform the media and the public about toxic chemicals in Heritage, Majestic and other brands of farmed salmon

- Subaru : for reclassifying the Outback from a car to a light truck, thus skirting fuel economy standards and violating the distinction in its marketing campaign between Outbacks and SUVs

- Monsanto : for donating $2 million to a well-known conservation organization in order to mask the negative environmental impact of herbicides which earn the company more than $1 billion each year, and for sponsoring "Look Closer at Biotechnology", an activity book published by the biotech industry for 3 rd and 4 th graders

Nos informa La Jornada que EEUU ya tiene en Iraq diez mil mercenarios, muchos relacionados con guerras sucias en Sudáfrica, Chile e Irlanda del Norte.

Dice el reportaje: "El Pentágono hace frecuentes referencias a sus "socios de la coalición", las tropas de otros países que combaten al lado de las fuerzas estadunidenses en Irak, pero el contingente internacional más grande después de los estadunidenses no proviene de Gran Bretaña o España, sino de los contratistas militares privados que ahora tienen uno de cada 10 soldados en el terreno iraquí."

TAKE THAT, WAL-MART!

California voters say 'no' to Wal-Mart

Posted 4/8/04

INGLEWOOD, California (AP) -- Voters in this Los Angeles suburb rejected
a ballot measure Tuesday that would have allowed Wal-Mart to build a
warehouse-sized store while skirting zoning, traffic and environmental
reviews. With 25 of 29 precincts reporting, Inglewood voters opposed the
initiative, with 65.7 percent voting "no" and 34.2 percent voting "yes,"
said Gabby Contreras of the city clerk's office.

Transgénicos: víctimas y pruebas

por Silvia Ribeiro

Si usted fuera a una tienda y viera un anuncio de galletas que dice "no hay pruebas de que sean malas para la salud", ¿las compraría? Yo no. Y creo que nadie más. Sin embargo, este es el argumento que utilizan las multinacionales productoras de transgénicos y los científicos que los defienden, para decir que quienes se oponen a esos productos no son racionales. Y los gobiernos de varios países latinoamericanos compran esas "galletas" (sepa usted a qué precio y con qué dinero) y para justificarse hacen leyes que paradójicamente llaman de "bioseguridad", en teoría para regular los transgénicos, pero que la única seguridad que protegen es la de la inversión de las multinacionales.

My friend and colleague Karl Grossman brought this link to my attention. It's an intrepid biker's ride through Chernobyl, 17 years after the nuclear disaster there. This is a MUST SEE.

We often hear the word "hunger" accompanied by the word "scarcity". But terms like "overproduction", "dumping" and "agricultural subsidies" are much more helpful in understanding the reality of hunger and poverty in the Third World. A case in point is Mexico, flooded by American corn sold below the cost of production. Read NAFTA: Truth and Consequences on Corn Dumping, by Public Citizen.

The April issue of the Non GMO Source has a great piece about the persecution against scientists who raise objections against biotechnology.

Researchers That Raise Concerns About GM Crops Face Obstacles

Publishing research that raises concerns about genetically modified crops is not easy. University researchers can jeopardize their careers, endure criticism from GM crop proponents, and face publishing and funding obstacles.

Is the US food supply the world's safest, as the USDA keeps saying over and over again? Scientist Charles Benbrook certainly doesn't think so. Check this piece: Debunking the Myth that the U.S. "Has the Safest Food in theWorld"

It's come to be one of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's most frequent sayings --- Americans have the cheapest, safest food supply in the world. While that statement is widely believed by many Americans, it does not mean
it's accurate, at least not by Charles Benbrook's standards.

"All of us in the agricultural world have heard this statement a million
times, but have you ever heard anyone explain the basis for such a claim?"
said Benbrook, an agricultural economist working as a consultant for The
Organic Center in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

PORTO ALEGRE LIGHT EN BARCELONA

La UNESCO y la Generalitat de Catalunya están preparando el Forum Barcelona 2004, una especie de feria mundial orientada hacia temas de paz y desarrollo sustentable, que durará de mayo a septiembre y costará $2,300 millones. El Forum, que parece ser una versión liviana y descafeinada del Foro Social Mundial de Porto Alegre, contará con la participación de celebridades livianas como Bill Clinton y Mikhail Gorbachev y la música liviana de Phil Collins.

Los materiales promocionales de esta actividad carecen de la más mínima referencia a controversia alguna, o planteamiento crítico alguno acerca de las actuaciones de los grandes intereses políticos y económicos. No tienen ni la sombra del combativo y solidario espíritu de Porto Alegre. Eso, por supuesto, no es ningún problema para los patrocinadores corporativos del Forum, que incluyen a Endesa, Toyota y Coca Cola.

The folks at GRAIN (Genetic Resources Action International) have released an eloquent communique debunking the biotech industry's affirmation that GM (genetically modified) and non-GM agriculture can co-exist: Confronting Contamination: Five reasons to reject GM co-existence

Apart from possible health and environmental hazards, GRAIN warns that GM contamination will further corporate control over agriculture:

Alliances and mergers between the biotech seed industry and agribusiness will take off, giving rise to tightly controlled “identity preservation” systems, where farmers grow particular varieties under contract to corporations dictating what inputs they must use. These identity preservation systems, whether for non-GM or “value-added” GM crops, will be based on certified seed. Meaning, in order to “guarantee” the identity of their crops, farmers will have to grow their crops from seeds purchased from the company, leaving no room for seed saving or exchange. Farmers growing farm-saved seed will have to sell their crops outside of the non-GM stream, unless they can find informal local markets.

Want more info? There's a long version.

Lean este perspicaz artículo de un periodista español sobre la privatización de la atmósfera y la compraventa de derechos a contaminar, facilitados por el Protocolo de Kioto.

La Atmósfera no Está en Venta
Por María José Atiénzar

En el Protocolo de Kioto (1997), los gobiernos de los países industrializados se comprometieron a reducir las emisiones de gases. Pero, también inventaron una especie de "mercado de emisiones de carbono" a fin de evitar cumplir esos compromisos.

Yo escribí un par de artículos sobre este asunto para Claridad, uno de los cuales, "Protocolo de Kyoto: compraventa de derechos a contaminar" salió en el portal argentino Biodiversidad en América Latina. Es un asunto muy importante que hay que discutir, para que los ambientalistas no sigan creyendo los cuentos de hadas del Protocolo de Kioto.

The controversy over the approval of biopharma rice in California rages on. Professor Joe Cummins warns about the health dangers in the OCA news log. He says:

There seems to be a culture that puts optimism ahead of experiment and distains labeling of products, crop production or field tests so that deleterious side effects of the crops or their products cannot be identified.

Why is the evidence of harmful side effects and dangerous mutant forms
presented at the safety evaluation of field tests and production sites? The answer seems to be that both proponents and regulators do not wish to alarm the public. Indeed, if and when the matter is brought up regulators and proponents will unleash teams of vicious lawyers whose job is to shift the burden of proof to those who mention harmful or dangerous side effects .

Nevertheless, if and when the dangerous tests or crop productions are undertaken people who are effected should begin to notice amyloidosis or autoimmune diseases including lupus and arthritis. The main geographical areas of concern are California where biopharmaceutical rice is being ³tested² on a large scale and in Washington state where large plots of biopharmaceutical barley is being ³tested².


OCA, the Consumers Union and other groups sent a letter to California authorities regarding this matter:

Your approval of this proposal would trigger the first commercial use of a food plant to produce drugs in the nation, and the first commercialization of a plant product engineered to contain human genes. The request raises very serious issues of human and environmental safety and potential economic impact This application deserves a full public hearing, allowing comment from consumer groups, farmers, scientists, physicians, businesses, and environmental groups, prior to permitting this drug-producing rice to be grown on large acreage.

My March 25 posting on Nobel laureate and Green Revolution patriarch Norman Borlaug, a man lauded by some and reviled by others, drew a thoughtful response from a reader. He agreed to let me forward his words, but asked not to be identified.


Carmelo,

Thank you for the message about Norman Borlaug, and the articles on his connections to biotechnology companies. Nonetheless, I have to take issue with some of the generalizations about Borlaug and his work.

First, like all scientists, Borlaug is a creature of his time. A native Midwesterner, he grew up in the depths of the Great Depression, attended a land-grant school for college, and took from that experience a faith in science and technology as engines for social progress. It was this faith that motivated him to develop his fast-growing strains of wheat, corn, and other cereals. To ignore the historical circumstances that propelled Borlaug's faith, however misplaced, is to turn the man into a simple caricature instead of a complicated historical actor. Moreover, given (George) McGovern and (Jimmy) Carter's commitment to international peace and development, an outgrowth of the era in which they both held political power, it should come as no surprise that they honored Borlaug; his ideology, at least in terms of famine relief and a particular perspective on development, is consistent with theirs.

Second, the evidence is incontrovertible that when Borlaug first introduced his super wheat and other grains to developing nations, such as India and Pakistan, crop yields did increase. Certain strains of his cereal crops are more drought resistant, and are better suited for marginal lands, such as those in western India and Mexico's central highlands. Even critics of Borlaug admit this. And for the short run, Borlaug's crops did help to stem, albeit temporarily, famine and malnutrition in such places as the Indian subcontinent and Latin America.

The question in the long run, of course, is whether the power that Borlaug unleashed is appropriate for developing countries, since his "green revolution" is predicated not on genetically-modified crops alone but ever increasing inputs of water, chemicals, and capital--things that come with significant costs to human communities and the ecosystems they depend upon. On this point, I agree with you, Carmelo.

I grew up with stories about how Borlaug saved lives and saved farms. Since then, I've come to see agronomists like Wes Jackson as my true heroes, but childhood attachments die a hard death.

For another perspective on Borlaug's work, look at Gregg Easterbook "Forgotten Benefactor of Humanity," _Atlantic Monthly_ Volume 279, No. 1
(January 1997): 75-82. I have problems with Easterbook's Pollyanna take
on nature and science, but he does provide a different view on Borlaug's
legacy.

¡POBRE ERIN BROKOVICH!

Nos da pena por Erin Brokovich. Las hazañas de esta activista ambiental fueron el tema de una aclamada película de Hollywood cuyo nombre no recuerdo en este momento. Pero acaba de ser pasada por la piedra y desprestigiada ante la opinión pública por una reportera de un periódico casi desconocido.

Hace unos meses, Brokovich y su jefe, el abogado Ed Masry, estaban sonando la alarma acerca de un supuesto escape de gases tóxicos en la escuela Beverly Hills High. Esta escuela es de las más cachendosas del mundo entero., y no solamente por ser uno de los distritos escolares más adinerados del mundo. Fue escenario de la película Clueless, la exitosa serie televisiva Beverly Hills 90210 y cuenta con graduados tan célebres como Nicholas Cage y Monica Lewinsky.

Brokovich y Masry alegaban que unos pozos petroleros vecinos a las aulas estaban emitiendo gases carcinógenos al aire. Los medios de prensa, desde el New York Times hasta la revista inglesa The Economist y el programa televisivo Good Morning America, repitieron estas afirmaciones sin verificarlas. Pero en eso llegó la quisquillosa reportera Norma Zager del Beverly Hills Courier, una gacetilla semanal que nadie compra... porque que se reparte gratis.

Zager pidió ver los datos de los estudios de calidad de aire pagados por la firma de Brokovich y Masry, pero estos se rehusaron. Un tribunal eventualmente los obligó a hacerlos públicos, y estos no mostraron anomalía alguna en los niveles de contaminantes. Con la excepción de Zager, la prensa nunca dudó de la veracidad de lo que decían Brokovich y Masry. Ningún medio reseñó este fiasco, con la excepción del Columbia Journalism Review.

Se esfumó así la imagen de Brokovich que le hizo Hollywood, la de ama de casa valiente y comprometida con la verdad. Pero si los cineastas se toman tantas libertades distorsionando historias verídicas, como hicieron en A Beautiful Mind y Black Hawk Down, entonces nada nos debe sorprender.

Cool quote of the day:

While consumer tastes may have provoked the general high-tech boom, they were hardly responsible for Microsoft's notorious efforts to require use of its web navigator with Windows software, the use of internet cookies to track web surfers, ubiquitous internet pop-up advertising that freezes computers, and shrink-wrapped software that precludes any liability for the corporation once the seal is broken.

- Taken from Jamie Court's book CORPORATEERING: HOW CORPORATE POWER STEALS YOUR PERSONAL FREEDOM AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. Tarcher Putnam Books, 2003.

Vandana Shiva es un@ de l@s pensadore(a)s que más yo admiro en el mundo. Acaba de publicar en IPS una impactante columna sobre la biopiratería en su país:

Monsanto y el pan nuestro de cada día

La India está siendo afectada por una epidemia de biopiratería de la cual son responsables las corporaciones transnacionales, que patentan indebidamente la biodiversidad local y los conocimientos tradicionales de los campesinos.

Primero fue la planta neem y luego el arroz basmati. Después le tocó el turno de ser patentado por las agrocorporaciones a nuestro trigo, a nuestra "atta" (harina de trigo integral) y a nuestro "chapati" (pan ázimo).

A Conagra, la empresa estadounidense, le fue otorgada una patente por la atta en agosto del 2000. En 1996, se le concedió otra patente a Unilever/Monsanto, que afirmó haber "inventado" el uso de harina para hacer unos tipos tradicionales de pan indio como el chapati. En mayo del 2003, la Oficina Europea de Patentes otorgó una patente con el simple título de "plantas" a Monsanto, el mayor comerciante del mundo en plantas modificadas genéticamente. La patente incluye un trigo que presenta una cualidad especial de baja elasticidad para la cocción al horno. Un trigo con esas características fue desarrollado originalmente en la India, pero ahora Monsanto tiene el monopolio para cultivarlo, reproducirlo y procesarlo.

Los nuevos caminos que conducen a la privatización de la biodiversidad

"Varias son las nuevas formas, mecanismos y vías utilizadas por el capital transnacional y sus aliados locales para tener el control de recursos estratégicos y mercados. Estrategias que van desde la órbita internacional de la OMC y los diversos tratados comerciales, hasta las de control territorial, como son las propuestas privatizadoras de conservación de la biodiversidad y los ejes de integración de infraestructura en América Latina."

Los Transgénicos en el Mundo
Por José Santamarta

"Los cultivos transgénicos están muy concentrados en apenas 6 países, en unos pocos cultivos y en unas pocas características. Aunque hay muchas plantas transgénicas, sólo unas pocas se cultivan."

The latest issue of the Village Voice features a piece by veteran investigative reporter James Ridgeway on Uncle Sam's use of mercenaries in Iraq. Particularly timely, in light of the killing of those civilian contractors over there yesterday.


So Ralph Nader is running, even though every single American progressive I know of is against it, including the ones who supported him in 2000. The man is self-deluded enough to make himself believe that he can actually get votes from disgruntled Republicans. Even if he could get some, does he really think he would get enough of those to make the smallest dent in the GOP's numbers?


Poor Erin Brokovich. She was nailed really bad by California reporter Norma Zager and by the Columbia Journalism Review. This is so far removed from the image of the muckraking, crusading, hellraising single mom played by Julia Roberts in that movie, what was its name? It doesn't surprise me. Hollywood just loves to add lots of fiction to movies based on real events and real people's lives. Examples: A Beautiful Mind, Black Hawk Down.

Have any of you checked out the Barcelona 2004 Forum? It seems like an outrageously naive, decaffeinated, light version of the Porto Alegre-Mumbai fora. It will feature light speakers like Gorbachev and Bill Clinton, and light music by Phil Collins. I've been wanting to find some critical perspectives on this VH1-type event but all I found was a piece in Alternet by someone who seems to be very moved and impressed by the whole thing. I tried the Barcelona Indymedia site, but it's all in Catalan. As far as I am concerned, the World Social Forum remains the real thing.

Californian citizens are organizing to ban genetically engineered (GE) crops from their state. They are particularly concerned about GE rice, and have just sent out an urgent action alert on biopharmaceutical rice:

"On March 29th, the California Rice Commission gave their approval for the planting and milling of two genetically engineered drug-producing rice varieties spliced with synthetic human genes. This will be the first commercial pharmaceutical food crop in the world and could be planted anywhere in the state."


NANO'S TROUBLED WATERS. The ETC warns about the health hazards of nanotech. According to this latest report:

Latest toxic warning shows nanoparticles cause brain damage in aquatic species and highlights need for a moratorium on the release of new nanomaterials

"A new study revealing that engineered carbon molecules known as "buckyballs" cause brain damage in fish is one more brick in the wall of evidence suggesting that manufactured nanoparticles are harmful to the environment and to health. The results of the study highlight the urgency to heed ETC Group’s 2002 call for a moratorium on manufactured nanoparticles in commercial products and they back up last month’s recommendation by the Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftforschung – in a report commissioned by the European Parliament – that nanoparticles should not be released into the environment.(1) Recent scientific studies have raised serious concerns about the toxicity of nanoparticles (see "Ten Toxic Warnings," below). This latest study, which has yet to be published, is the first to simulate what could happen when nanoparticles are released into the environment."

(Tomado de las Breves Ambientales de CLARIDAD, 1 de abril 2004)

PUERTO RICO: Estudiantes de intermedia analizan alimentos orgánicos

Los alimentos orgánicos generalmente son más nutritivos que los convencionales, fue la conclusión de un estudio científico realizado por estudiantes de octavo grado del Colegio Nuestra Señora de la Providencia en Río Piedras.

Las estudiantes Flavia Tejeda Bayrón, Auraluz Guzmán Torres y Odemaris Rivera Córdova, con la ayuda y apoyo de su maestra de ciencia, Silvia Ferrer, y la profesora María Plaza, del Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez, analizaron muestras de calabaza, china, zanahoria, tomate y papaya para determinar su contenido de ácido ascórbico (vitamina C). Se usaron muestras orgánicas que proveyeron agricultores puertorriqueños que no usan agroquímicos, mas un grupo de control compuesto por frutos comprados en el supermercado.

Tras analizar los contenidos de vitamina C en las muestras (procedimiento detallada y minuciosamente descrito en su informe), las estudiantes determinaron que en el caso de tres de los cinco frutos- la calabaza, el tomate y la papaya- los niveles de la vitamina fueron más altos en las muestras orgánicas que en las convencionales.

“Al presentar mayor valor nutritivo en vitamina C los alimentos orgánicos, estos contribuyen a mejorar nuestra calidad de vida, aumentando nuestra resistencia a enfermedades cardiovasculares y cáncer”, concluyeron las tres investigadoras, y recomendaron en sus conclusiones ampliar la investigación del valor nutricional de los alimentos orgánicos, incluyendo mayor variedad de nutrientes y alimentos.