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In the wake of ArcelorMittal - the global steel giant's local impacts  new

The publication shows how local residents, workers and the environment pay the price for ArcelorMittal's success. The compilation contains case studies examining Mittal's IFC- and EBRD-financed plants in Romania, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan.

http://www.bankwatch.org/publications/document.shtml?x=2093577

(Added: Fri May 16 2008   Hits: 2)

The Soy Case

Soy production has been booming the past 25 years. Most of this protein and oil containing bean goes as animal feed to the meat industry in Europe and China. Protein from fish meal has become scarce, other animal sources have been forbidden because of BSE, but the demand for meat is rising rapidly world-wide. As a result of the focus on monoculture export crops, such as soy, millions of people in one of the world's biggest food exporting regions are now suffering from malnutrition. GM-soy is contaminating the countryside and the risen use of pesticides is polluting water and soil. This resource discusses the soy case in Latin America. (A SEED, 2006)

http://aseed.tuxic.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=108

(Added: Wed May 24 2006   Hits: 300)

A brave new world : where biotechnology and human rights intersect

This is an overview of the international and domestic law, the law in other jurisdictions and academic commentary with regards to the human rights issues raised by selected applications of biotechnology. Chapters include: . The Current Domestic and International Human Rights Framework. Assisted Human Reproduction. Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis. A Right to Research. Human Rights Issues Related to Genetic Information and Privacy. Human Rights and Patenting. Biotechnology, Rights and Traditional Knowledge. (Government of Canada, March 2005)

http://www.biostrategy.gc.ca/HumanRights/HumanRightsE/toc_e.html

(Added: Thu Sep 07 2006   Hits: 273)

African hunger and GM maize

Author(s): Dickson, D. Produced by: SciDev.Net (2002)**African states should not be ridiculed too hastily for hesitating to accept food containing genetically-modified seeds. But a more rational discourse is needed. At first sight, the initial decision by the leaders of Zimbabwe and Zambia to reject US offers of maize to feed their growing ranks of starving people appears to invite ridicule. Their decision was based on the fact that the food on offer has components that have been genetically modified (GM). But the widely-feared health dangers from consuming such food remain theoretical; not one person is known to have died from doing so. In direct contrast, the imminent starvation faced by 13 million people as a result of a deadly combination of floods and droughts across six states in Southern Africa - Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia - is very real. In such circumstances, the reported statement last week-end by President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia that "we would rather starve than get something toxic" has a ominous echo of earlier remarks by another African leader, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, about the alleged dangers of widely-accepted drugs used against HIV/AIDS. On closer inspection, however, the decision by Zimbabwe and Zambia begins to lose some of its apparent naivety.

http://www.scidev.net/Editorials/index.cfm?fuseaction=readeditorials&itemid=21&language=1

(Added: Thu Nov 07 2002   Modified: Fri Jan 12 2007   Hits: 329)

Biopiracy in Africa

A patented strain of a 'trailing' Busy Lizzie is proving a hit with gardeners. Its secret lies in cross-breeding a traditional plant with a rare variety from Tanzania, yet the east African country will gain no benefit from this profitable use of its genetic resource. (Anthony Barnett, Guardian Weekly, September 2006)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianweekly/outlook/story/0,,1876943,00.html

(Added: Mon Sep 25 2006   Hits: 90)

Giant Experiment

GiantExperiment is a network of people committed to providing clear and accurate information to the GE debate. Formerly known as 90 Degrees, it was set up by individuals concerned about the prospect of releasing GE in New Zealand.

http://www.giantexperiment.co.nz/news/action.aspx

(Added: Thu Mar 10 2005   Modified: Thu Jun 29 2006   Hits: 461)

Groups in Africa, Latin America condemn World Bank biosafety projects

The World Bank is set to secure funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for two projects that will undermine public debate and aggressively drive GM crops into the heart of peasant agriculture. The two projects, one in West Africa and the other in Latin America, will hasten the spread of GM crops into farmer seed systems and even into certain centres of origin. The projects are clearly being driven by an outside corporate agenda, the complete disregard for genuine public debate manifest in the fact that the proposals have only been released in English, rather than the languages of the countries they threaten. (ETC Group, June 2006)

http://www.grain.org/front/?id=92

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Modified: Fri Jan 12 2007   Hits: 134)

Regulating the Use of Genetic Resources Between International Authorities

A large number of stakeholders are involved in the use of and the international transactions with genetic resources. This article explores whether and how the implementation of multilateral agreements on the use of genetic resources has a synergistic or disruptive effect on the international community. (G.K.Rosendal, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, 2006)

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC23865

(Added: Tue Apr 03 2007   Hits: 78)

The GM Tracker: tracking GM developments in Asia and the Pacific

This is simple, easy to use matrix that summarises 'who is doing what where?' that can easily identify what transgenic crop is being developed, field tested or commercialised, and who are the institutions and companies involved.

http://www.grain.org/gmtracker/

(Added: Wed Jun 28 2006   Hits: 82)