431 Gilmour St, 2nd Floor
Ottawa, ON Canada K2P 0R5
Tel: 1(613) 241-2267
Fax: 1(613) 241-2506
etc@etcgroup.org
Human Rights / Farmers' Rights
Farmers' Rights, endorsed by FAO in 1989, recognizes that farmers and rural communities have contributed greatly- and continue to contribute- to the creation, conservation, exchange and enhancement of genetic resources, and that they should be recognized and strengthened in their work. The ETC group believes that Farmers' Rights must be recognized at the international level, and that its definition should be expanded by the human rights community as part of the Right to Food. ETC group is concerned about the erosion of Farmers' Rights and Human Rights, and about the impact of new technologies on democracy and dissent.
Latest Publications
Type: Other
Date: Jun 26, 2008
Language: English
Date: Jun 26, 2008
Language: English
"Failure as Usual" Food Summit
Download PDF (457 KB) - about 82 seconds on a 56k modemJune 2008
ETC Group Translator
Ciao FAO: Another "Failure-as-Usual" Food Summit
Contrary to the opinion of many, June's Food Summit actually did something. It signaled the beginning of the end for the multilateral system as we know it. Over the next six months the food emergency - and the international institutions designed to address it - could get worse.
The full text offers a line-by-line interpretation of the Food Summit's final declaration.
Issue: During the 3-5 June 2008 World Food Summit, governments patched together sufficient funds to keep the lid on food rebellions for a few months but all the fundamental and long-term institutional and financial problems remain. In Rome, governments opted for a mythical "techno-fix" led by agribusiness in collaboration with the Gates Foundation and... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations
Type: News Item
Date: May 21, 2008
Language: English
Date: May 21, 2008
Language: English
Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008
Download PDF (111 KB) - about 20 seconds on a 56k modem
Download PDF2 (4 MB) - about 765 seconds on a 56k modem(PDF2 above contains the complete poster)
News Release
Coalition Against Biopiracy
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
www.captainhookawards.org
www.etcgroup.org
Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008
The Coalition Against Biopiracy* exposes Hooks and celebrates Cogs
Winners announced at the UN’s Biodiversity Convention in BonnToday the world learned which corporations, governments, institutions and individuals earned a spot in biopiracy’s hall of shame when the Coalition Against Biopiracy (CAB) announced the winners of the 5th Captain Hook Awards at a lunch-time ceremony during the Ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn, Germany.
“The Maritim Hotel, where the CBD meets this week and next,... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Geoengineering, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Other, Synthetic Biology, Terminator & Traitor
Type: Communiqué
Date: May 13, 2008
Language: English
Date: May 13, 2008
Language: English
Patenting the "Climate Genes" ...and Capturing the Climate Agenda
Download PDF (766 KB) - about 137 seconds on a 56k modemCommuniqué
May/June 2008
Issue # 99
Patenting the “Climate Genes”…
And Capturing the Climate Agenda
Issue: The world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. BASF, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont and biotech partners have filed 532 patent documents (a total of 55 patent families) on so-called “climate ready” genes at patent offices around the world. In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the Gene Giants are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviours. The focus on so-called climate-ready genes is a golden... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations
Type: News Item
Date: May 12, 2008
Language: English
Date: May 12, 2008
Language: English
News Release: Gene Giants Grab "Climate Genes"
Download PDF (115 KB) - about 21 seconds on a 56k modemETC Group
News Release
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
www.etcgroup.org
Gene Giants Grab "Climate Genes"
Amid Global Food Crisis, Biotech Companies are Exposed asClimate Change Profiteers
A report released today by Canadian-based civil society organization, ETC Group, reveals that the world's largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses associated with climate change - including drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. ETC Group's report warns that - rather than a solution for confronting climate change - the promise of so-called "climate-ready"... Read More
Categories: Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations
Type: Communiqué
Date: Feb 26, 2008
Language: English
Date: Feb 26, 2008
Language: English
Svalbard's Doomsday Vault: The Global Seed Vault Raises Political/Conservation Debate
Download PDF (228 KB) - about 41 seconds on a 56k modemThe swarm of media attention focusing on today's opening of the Global Seed Vault in Norway's high Arctic may overshadow an even bigger news story. Yesterday, 26 February, the Norwegian government pledged to give 0.1% of money spent on commercial seed sales to support Farmers' Rights, and challenged other governments to do the same. The critical message is that even the most secure gene bank storage is not the ultimate solution. Governments must provide support to farmers to improve local conservation and breeding, and help them obtain access to far away seed accessions. Global food security depends upon a coherent in situ (on-farm) and ex situ (gene bank) strategy. The need to support farmers' on-farm conservation and breeding work is urgent.
On the occasion of the opening of the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, ETC Group releases a new Communiqué, "Svalbard's... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, CGIAR, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Public / Private Relations
Type: Other
Date: Nov 04, 2007
Language: English
Date: Nov 04, 2007
Language: English
Backgrounder: Ocean Nourishment Corporation plans imminent urea dumping experiment in Southeast Asian seas
Download PDF (115 KB) - about 21 seconds on a 56k modemCategories: Geoengineering, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Other New Technologies
Type: News Item
Date: Nov 01, 2007
Language: English
Date: Nov 01, 2007
Language: English
Farmers Call for Suspension of Seed Treaty
Download PDF (116 KB) - about 21 seconds on a 56k modemFor immediate release – endorsed by the civil society and farmers’ organizations present at FAO
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Farmers Call for Suspension of Seed Treaty
Governments fail to meet minimal Treaty obligations UN conference told
Farmers’ organizations who were invited to attend a United Nations meeting on the Treaty that governs the exchange of crop seeds for research and plant breeding late yesterday told the assembled governments that the Treaty would have to be suspended. Speaking on behalf of 30 farmers’ and other civil society organizations, Ibrahima Coulibaly of ROPPA (regional farmers’ organization of West Africa) said that, “the Treaty, hosted in Rome by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), must halt the exchange of crop germplasm – the critical... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents
Type: News Item
Date: Jun 13, 2007
Language: English
Date: Jun 13, 2007
Language: English
Suicide-Seed Sequel: EU’s “Transcontainer” Turns Terminator into Zombie
Download PDF (142 KB) - about 25 seconds on a 56k modem
Download (142 KB) - about 25 seconds on a 56k modem* also available in french*
ETC Group today releases “Terminator: The Sequel,” a Communiqué reporting on new research related to “suicide seeds” and other genetically modified (GM) seed technologies that pose unacceptable threats to farmers, biodiversity and food sovereignty.
Today ETC Group reports on a new crop of genetic engineering technologies that are being promoted as a biosafety solution to the unwanted spread of transgenes from GM crops, trees and pharmaceutical-producing plants. In practice, these technologies, if commercialized, will allow the multinational seed industry to tighten its grasp on proprietary seeds and to restrict the rights of farmers.
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations, Terminator & Traitor
Type: Communiqué
Date: Jun 13, 2007
Language: English
Date: Jun 13, 2007
Language: English
Terminator: The Sequel
Download PDF (1 MB) - about 205 seconds on a 56k modem* also available in french*
Despite the fact that governments re-affirmed and strengthened the United Nations’ moratorium on Terminator technology (a.k.a. genetic use restriction technology [GURTs]) in March 2006, public and private sector researchers are developing a new generation of suicide seeds – using chemically induced “switches” to turn a genetically modified (GM) plant’s fertility on or off.
Issue: Under the guise of biosafety, the European Union’s 3-year Transcontainer Project is investing millions of euros in strategies that cannot promise fail-safe containment of transgenes from GM crops, but could nonetheless function as Terminator, posing unacceptable threats to farmers, biodiversity and food sovereignty. Terminator technology – genetic seed... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations, Terminator & Traitor
Type: News Item
Date: May 31, 2007
Language: English
Date: May 31, 2007
Language: English
Bill to Ban Terminator Introduced in Canada
Download PDF (84 KB) - about 15 seconds on a 56k modem
Download PDF2 (76 KB) - about 14 seconds on a 56k modemNews Release
ETC Group
May 31, 2007
www.etcgroup.org
Bill to Ban Terminator Introduced in Canada
A bill to prohibit field testing and commercialization of Terminator seed technology was introduced in the Canadian Parliament today. Terminator refers to plants that are genetically engineered to render sterile seeds at harvest - a technology that aims to maximize seed industry profits by preventing farmers from re-planting harvested seed.
"Canada needs to pass this bill into law because genetic seed sterilization is dangerous and blatantly anti-farmer - suicide seeds threaten to intensify corporate control over Canadian agriculture and offers no benefits for farmers," said Colleen Ross of the National Farmers Union.
Initially developed by the US Department of Agriculture and... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Corporate Concentration, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Terminator & Traitor
Type: News Item
Date: May 03, 2007
Language: English
Date: May 03, 2007
Language: English
REVOKED!! Monsanto Monopoly Nixed in Munich
Download PDF (112 KB) - about 20 seconds on a 56k modem
Download (135 KB) - about 24 seconds on a 56k modemETC Group
News Release
3 May 2007
www.etcgroup.org
REVOKED!! Monsanto Monopoly Nixed in Munich
but little joy in foiling soy ploy at this late dateMunich – The European Patent Office today put the brakes on Monsanto’s over-the-top corporate greed by revoking its species-wide patent on all genetically modified soybeans (EP0301749) – a patent unprecedented in its broad scope. ETC Group, an international civil society organization based in Canada, won its 13-year legal challenge against Monsanto’s species-wide soybean patent when an EPO appeal board ruled that the patent was not new or sufficient (i.e., the invention claimed was not sufficiently described for a skilled person to repeat it). The patent challenge was supported by Greenpeace and “No Patents on Life!” Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher of UK-based EcoNexus also joined... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, "New Enclosures", Public / Private Relations, Terminator & Traitor
Type: News Item
Date: Apr 30, 2007
Language: English
Date: Apr 30, 2007
Language: English
World's Top 10 Seed Companies
Download PDF (133 KB) - about 24 seconds on a 56k modemETC Group
April 30, 2007
www.etcgroup.org
The World's Top 10 Seed Companies - 2006
Based on 2006 Seed Revenues
| Company | 2006 seed sales US $ millions |
| 1. Monsanto (US) | $4,028 |
| 2. Dupont (US) | $2,781 |
| 3. Syngenta (Switzerland) | $1,743 |
| 4. Groupe Limagrain (France) | $1,035 |
| 5. Land O' Lakes (US) | $756 |
| 6. KWS AG (Germany) | ... Read More
Categories: Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents
Type: Communiqué
Date: Apr 16, 2007
Language: English
Date: Apr 16, 2007
Language: English
Green Revolution 2.0 for Africa?
Download PDF (3 MB) - about 508 seconds on a 56k modem
Download (2 MB) - about 333 seconds on a 56k modemMarch/April 2007
Issue # 94
Issue # 94
Green Revolution 2.0 for Africa?
This time the “silver bullet” has a gun
Issue: Everybody’s trying to jump-start science – and, especially, agricultural science – in Africa. Starting with the G8 meeting in Canada five years ago – and pledges by four of its members to build new centers of scientific excellence in Africa – the Syngenta Foundation, CGIAR, Jeffrey Sachs’s Earth Institute, and now, Google, Gates, and Rockefeller are all pushing new initiatives for the continent. While there is no denying that Africans deserve support in their struggle to address hunger, disease and climate change, science and technology are no... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents
Type: News Item
Date: Apr 16, 2007
Language: English
Date: Apr 16, 2007
Language: English
News Release: Food Sovereignty or Green Revolution 2.0?
Download PDF (132 KB) - about 24 seconds on a 56k modem
Download (128 KB) - about 23 seconds on a 56k modemETC Group
News Release
April 16, 2007
www.etcgroup.org
Food Sovereignty or Green Revolution 2.0?
This time the “silver bullet” has a gunETC Group today releases a 16-page review of five new initiatives intended to launch what ETC dubs “Green Revolution 2.0” in Africa. Leading the charge is a plan to construct four Centers of Excellence together with a second initiative called the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. “The Green Revolution that followed World War II focused on semi-dwarf, high-yielding plant varieties” says Pat Mooney, ETC Group’s Executive Director. “It was a one-size-fits-all, take-it-or-leave-it silver bullet,” Mooney adds, “Africa left it.” In other... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights
Type: News Item
Date: Apr 12, 2007
Language: English
Date: Apr 12, 2007
Language: English
Civil Society/Labor Coalition Rejects Fundamentally Flawed Dupont-ED Proposed Nanotechnology Framework
Download PDF (24 KB) - about 4 seconds on a 56k modem
Download (29 KB) - about 5 seconds on a 56k modemAN OPEN LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY AT LARGE
Civil Society-Labor Coalition Rejects Fundamentally Flawed DuPont-ED Proposed Framework
Urges All Parties To Reject The Public Relations Campaign
Civil Society-Labor Coalition Rejects Fundamentally Flawed DuPont-ED Proposed Framework
Urges All Parties To Reject The Public Relations Campaign
April 12, 2007
To All Interested Parties:
We, the undersigned, submit this open letter to the international nanotechnology community at large. We are a coalition of public interest, non-profit and labor organizations that actively work on nanotechnology issues, including workplace safety, consumer health, environmental welfare, and broader societal impacts.
DuPont Chemical Company (DuPont) and Environmental Defense (ED) jointly have proposed a voluntary “risk... Read More
Categories: Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Nanotechnology, Other New Technologies, Other