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Subject: Take action before December 7 to support the ban on Terminator seeds

Support the Ban on Terminator Seeds in Canada!

Issued: Nov 21, 2006

Please distribute widely TAKE ACTION BEFORE DECEMBER 7!

Tell your Member of Parliament to support a Ban on Terminator Seeds in Canada!
On December 7th 2006 the House of Commons Agriculture and Agri-FoodCommittee will hold a one-hour hearing on Terminator technology.

WRITE to your Member of Parliament and the Minister of Agriculture before Dec 7th.

Sample letter:
http://www.banterminator.org/take_action/national_campaigns/canadian_campaign/sample_letter

Find your member of Parliament here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/PostalCode.asp?Source=SM

Please copy:
Hon. Chuck Strahl Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-2940
Fax: 613 944-9376
E-Mail: Strahl.C@parl.gc.ca

Right Hon. Stephen Harper Prime Minister
House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-4211
Fax: 613 941-6900
EMail: Harper.S@parl.gc.ca

Wayne Easter, Liberal Agriculture Critic
House of Commons Ottawa, OntarioK1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 992-2406
Fax: 613 995-7408
EMail: Easter.W@parl.gc.ca

André Bellavance Bloc Québécois Agriculture Critic
House of Commons Ottawa,OntarioK1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 995-1554
Fax: 613 995-2026
EMail: Bellavance.A@parl.gc.ca

Alex Atamanenko NDP Agriculture Critic
House of Commons Ottawa,Ontario K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613 996-8036
Fax: 613 943-0922
E-Mail: Atamanenko.A@parl.gc.ca




In March 2006 and February 2005, your letters stopped the Canadian government from acting to end the international moratorium onTerminator ("suicide seeds") at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. In March, the Canadian delegation to the UN meeting did not object to the reaffirmation and strengthening of the moratorium. Yet, our government supported the moratorium without actually stating a position on Terminator. Now we find out that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is preparing the road for approval of Terminator Seeds!!

DEMAND that the Canadian Government state its unqualified opposition to this dangerous technology and take immediate steps to legislate a ban on field-testing and commercialization in Canada. Terminator or Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURTs) is a technology of genetic engineering designed by the multinational seed industry to render seeds sterile after first harvest, thus preventing farmers from saving and re-using seed, forcing them to return to corporations to buy seed every season. This predatory strategy has been widely condemned, in Canada and across the world, because it threatens farmer livelihoods, food security, and agricultural biodiversity. And yet, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency continues to prepare for the potential introduction of Terminator seeds and there is no policy in Canada to address the devastating impacts Terminator would have onfarmers' livelihoods.

UPDATES: In August 2006, Monsanto announced that it will buy US seed company Delta & Pine Land. If the deal goes through, Monsanto will own the most advanced research on Terminator including the only greenhouse trials of Terminator seeds in the world. (Monsanto previously committed not to commercialize Terminator but has begun to reword this pledge.)

In October 2005, the Canadian Patent Office granted the first ever Canadian patent on a Terminator technology (owned byDelta & Pine Land and the U.S. Department of Agriculture). Swiss multinational Syngenta has requested a Canadian patent on Terminator potatoes.

FOR MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND A SAMPLE LETTER:http://www.bantermina... or contact the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network at info@cban.ca


This action is organized by the Canadian Biotechnology ActionNetwork http://www.cban.ca...
Please join us in the Campaign againstTerminator seeds and other forms of corporate control over seeds

Please contact us for more information or to donate. info@cban.ca613 241 2267 Lucy Sharratt, CoordinatorCanadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN)Collaborative Campaigning for Food Sovereignty and EnvironmentalJustice431 Gilmour Street, Second FloorOttawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 0R5Phone: 613 241 2267Fax: 613 241 2506coordinator@cban.cawww.cban.cawww.ba nterminator.org/p/282