ACTION ALERT: Support the Terminator Seed Ban

June 1, 2007

Dear activists,

The Council of Canadians is a founding member of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network which is, "a national organization made up of groups from across Canada that are concerned about genetic engineering."

CBAN has reported that, "on May 31 a Private Members Bill to ban Terminator Seeds in Canada was tabled by Member of Parliament Alex Atamanenko, New Democratic Party Agriculture Critic and MP for BC Southern Interior."

His media release states, "Since 2005, the federal government has been working against global consensus on banning Terminator seeds. It does not recognize the current moratorium and says it will assess the technology on a case-by-case basis – a position which has been rejected by the UN Convention on Biodiversity...The Terminator Seed Ban Act is designed to protect the right of Canadian farmers to save seeds by banning the release, sale, importation and use of Variety Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (V-GURTs), more commonly known as Terminators, which genetically engineer seeds to be sterile after the first harvest."

The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) is working hard to make sure that Terminator seeds are never field-tested or commercialized in Canada.

For more information on CBAN, this issue, and to ask the Prime Minister to support the Terminator Seed Ban Act go to www.cban.ca.

Brent Patterson, Director of Organizing, The Council of Canadians