[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
ORGANIC FARMING IS GREEN PEACE WITH NATURE
GP Press release 24.09.97
>Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 08:54:45 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Purefood@aol.com
>Sender: owner-biotech-wg@igc.apc.org
>Subject: Fwd: GP Press release 24.09.97
>To: biotech-wg@igc.apc.org
>---------------------
>Forwarded message:
>From: Barbara.Kuepper@greenpeace.de
>To: gentech@tribe.ping.de
>Date: 97-09-26 02:16:50 EDT
>ORGANIC FARMING IS GREEN PEACE WITH NATURE
>Greenpeace head congratulates IFOAM, calls for co-operation against
>chemical and biological pollution
>OXFORD 24th September. 1997 -- Presenting Greenpeace's cordial
>congratulations on the 25th anniversary of the International
>Federation of Organic Agriculture Movemements (IFOAM) Dr. Thilo Bode,
>executive Director of Greenpeace International, called organic farming
>one of the world's most sophisticated and serious visions of
>sustainability.
>"Everybody talks about the fact that food production has to
>dramatically reduce energy consumption, toxic output and destructive
>methods that ruin soil and water resources and threaten the worlds
>biodiversity," Bode told representatives of the Organic Movement at
>their Conference in Oxford today, "But you just do it. And that is the
>style we like!"
>By practically proving that green peace with nature was actually
>possible, the organic movement was the most important beachhead to
>sustainable agriculture of the 21st century. Referring to a joint
>petition on a class of genetically modified plants (containing genes
>of Bacillus Thuringiensis), which Greenpeace and IFOAM filed against
>the US Environmental Protection Agency last week, Bode warned the
>delegates: "Genetic engineering will not solve the massive problems
>the chemical industry has created, but rather add a new, fundamental
>environmental threat: from chemical to biological pollution."
>Bode urged IFOAM to firmly stick to its present standards, which
>generally prohibit the use of genetically modified organisms. Bode
>congratulated IFOAM on the exponential growth of organic farming over
>the past few years not only in industrialised countries but also in
>the South, as well as their expansion to new sectors such as textiles,
>wood and fisheries.
>"Your success will not be left unchallenged, because every hectare
>that is converted to organic methods is a loss to the new powerful
>agro-chemical transnational companies, who now call themselves Life
>Science Industry," Bode warned, and suggested that co-operation
>between environmental groups and the organic community had to
>intensify and expand in the future.
>As the most important restriction to further growth of the organic
>sector and important field of co-operation Bode identified the present
>global terms of trade and a price system that did not properly reflect
>the costs of environmental destruction: "We need realistic prices for
>energy and global warming contribution, for toxic pollution and for
>the devaluating destruction of soil, water-resources and
>biodiversity."
>While the industrial vision on future agriculture continued, causing
>destructive overproduction at the expense of the environment but also
>at the expense of rural employment and livelihoods, organic farming
>offered hope for social sustainability: "Organic farming is probably
>one of the most promising global job creators", he said.
>In a world where still 800 millions are hungry while more food is
>produced and wasted than they can eat, the measure of efficiency is
>not how to further increase productivity at all costs, but how to
>provide access to food there is. The question is not "How can we feed
>the world," but "How can the people of the world feed themselves."
>"Environmentalists have to make it clear," Bode concluded, "that
>sustainable agriculture is not just an interesting alternative or
>niche market but an ecological imperative."
> ends
>For further information contact Benedikt Haerlin, Greenpeace
>International Genetic Engineering coordinator +49 40 30618-410, fax
>-140
>
>
><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>The address for any administrative command like unsubscribe,
>subscribe or help is:
>
> GENTECH-REQUEST@ping.de