09 February 2005 - A UN summit discussing the effect on GM ‘terminator seeds’ on biological diversity must resist calls from the Canadian government to overturn the worldwide ban on their development, Greens in the European parliament have warned.

“Terminator seeds run entirely counter to the interests of farmers and fly in the face of common sense - and the moratorium must be maintained,” said Caroline Lucas, South-East England’s Green Euro-MP and a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee.

The ‘terminator’ seeds, based on Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTS), are designed to remain sterile and prevent farmers from reusing saved seeds from one harvest to plant the following year’s crop. Farmers have warned their use could destroy traditional farming methods in much of the world – and threaten a bio-diversity catastrophe if the artificial sterility gene transfers into wild plant species.

They are currently subject to a de facto worldwide moratorium, but the ban is being reconsidered at the request of the Canadian government, at the Bangkok meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity taking place this week. Canada wants the EU and other governments to lift the moratorium and authorize testing and cultivation of terminator seeds.

“Terminator seed technology was developed to prevent farmers from reusing seeds from one harvest to the next, forcing them to buy new seeds from the agribusiness companies every year,” said Dr Lucas.

“This is, frankly, a perversion of nature in the name of biopiracy, and is in no-one’s interests except the agribusiness firms that will benefit from the patenting of seeds and dominating farmers world-wide for the sake of shareholder profit.

“The moratorium must be upheld – or the developing world will pay the price in terms we can all understand: poverty and weakened food security.”

ENDS