Publications

2 May 2008 ETC Group ANNOUNCEMENT www.etcgroup.org

ETC Group has posted two new job opportunities.

ETC Group, a non-profit international advocacy CSO, will hire a full-time English-language editor and a full-time programme manager to begin work in or around October 2008. Applications will be accepted until June 6, 2008. Details on the positions and the application process are available on our web site (and see below):

Programme Manager: http://www.etcgroup.org/. Editor: http://www.etcgroup.org/.   For three decades, ETC Group has been an international civil society leader in researching, writing, and advocating on issues of concern to marginalized peoples primarily in the global South. Our work is divided between food, agriculture and biodiversity concerns - and includes... Read more

(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 Bonn

Today 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, was the perfect place to... Read more

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 assessment” framework for nanotechnology.  These groups intend to circulate their proposed framework both in the U.S. and abroad for consideration and/or adoption by various relevant oversight organizations, including the U.S. Environmental... Read more

EMERGENCY: Please donate to Via Campesina Tsunami relief and reconstruction fund

Via Campesina launches initiative to raise funds for self-help by affected communities

Please support fisherfolk and peasant communities in their own relief and reconstruction from the Tsunami disaster

Via Campesina http://www.viacampesina.org - the global alliance of peasant, family farmer, farm worker, indigenous and landless peoples organizations, and other rural movements - calls for solidarity with the millions of people affected by the tsunami disaster and is launching a global fundraising campaign to channel assistance to affected communities of fisherfolk and peasants, for their own relief and reconstruction efforts, through grassroots organizations. We ask for your donation for direct emergency support to provide basic needs of food, clean drinking water, shelter and health care to affected fisherfolk and peasant families, as... Read more

(June 2003). ATOM TECHNOLOGY: Nanotechnology and Converging Technologies -The Implications of Atomic Modification for Europe and Beyond. June 11th Brussels. - a one day seminar in the European Parliament. ETC Group is organising a European seminar to examine the societal implications of nanotechnology. Sponsored by Yves Pietrasanta MEP This event is being organised in collaboration with The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament , Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, Greenpeace, Genewatch UK, Clean production Action and the Ecologist Magazine. Registration is free and open to policymakers, representatives of civil society groups and the media - however places are limited so please register early. Please note that this event has been moved to the afternoon.

COMUNICADO

Septiembre del 2001

"RAFI" se transforma en "ETC"

Cambio de nombre y nuevas actividades

"ETC Group" (con la intención de que se pronuncie “Etcétera”) es el nuevo nombre de la Fundación Internacional para el Progreso Rural (RAFI por sus siglas en inglés). El nombre completo es “Grupo de acción sobre Erosión, Tecnología y Concentración”. El cambio ocurrió oficialmente el 1º de septiembre, al comenzar el 16avo año de actividades de RAFI.

ETCETERA

“Recibimos cientos de sugerencias de nombres” dice Pat Mooney, el director ejecutivo de RAFI y ahora ETC, refiriéndose al llamado que RAFI hizo a principios de este año. “Muchas propuestas eran complementarias” recuerda Hope Shand, directora de investigación. “¡Pero la propuesta más común fue que no cambiáramos de nombre!” (El cambio tuvo que realizarse para asegurar el status de organización sin fines de lucro... Read more

ETC Group News ReleaseMonday, January 10, 2005www.etcgroup.orgSyngenta Claims Multi-Genome Monopoly

ETC Group's first Communiqué of 2005 focuses on Syngenta, the global gene giant that ranks first in agrochemicals and third in seeds. Syngenta has a patent pending in 115 countries that, if approved, would give it a multi-genome monopoly over at least 40 plant species.

Calling Syngenta's patent claims "an unprecedented bid for multi-genome monopoly," ETC Group (pronounced "et cetera") has written to the European Patent Office (EPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) demanding that the patents be rejected. Simultaneously, ETC Group has written to the Director-General of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and to the Chair of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) asking them to oppose Syngenta's applications, "on the grounds that they represent a... Read more

On March 5, the University of California (Davis, CA) issued a press release about its newly created Genetic Resources Recognition Fund" with the provocative headline: "Fund Aims to Repay Developing Nations for Valuable Genes."

The news release tells a fascinating story about one University of California scientist who developed a mechanism to compensate developing nations for the use of a disease resistant rice gene which was recently patented by the University.

In 1990, plant pathologist Pamela Ronald attended a meeting sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. Researchers at IRRI were then trying to locate a disease resistant gene they knew was present in a West African rice variety. Pamela Ronald was interested in doing further study on this disease resistant gene, and she was given samples of the African rice to take back to the United States. In 1995, Ronald successfully isolated the "Xa21"... Read more