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>Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1998 09:11:08 +0100
>To: [log in to unmask]
>From: David Cromwell <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: GM foods and MAI - letter in "The Independent"
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>The following was published on the letters page of The Independent
>newspaper, London, July 1, 1998. It was slightly edited (last sentence
>omitted). Feel free to re-use/re-post:
>
>
>Dear Sir,
>
>It is gratifying to hear that six council areas have struck a blow for local
>democracy by removing genetically modified foods from school menus (report,
>27 June). Unfortunately, there is a distinct possibility that transnational
>corporations such as the biotechnology company Monsanto will ultimately gain
>the upper hand.
>
>It's all down to the corporate-driven pact known as the Multilateral
>Agreement on Investment, the latest instalment of global economic
>"liberalisation" currently being negotiated by the rich nations of the OECD.
>If passed in its current form, the MAI would have a crippling effect on
>national and local policies on environmental protection and social justice.
>
>The MAI will confer greater power to TNCs but without concomitant binding
>obligations to protect workers, communities and nature. One of the many
>concerns held by anti-MAI campaigners centres on the MAI provision of
>"roll-back", the procedure by which countries will be forced to open up
>protected areas and remove measures considered in violation of the expanded
>"rights" of foreign investors.
>
>Under the MAI - which New Labour supports - Monsanto would have the right to
>sue the UK government for allowing local authorities to ban Monsanto's GM
>foods. If and when this corker of a court case takes place, who is going to
>pay the crippling costs of defending the local authorities? You've guessed -
>the tax payer.
>
>As for the court's decision, don't hold your breath. The court will consist
>of an undemocratic business-appointed tribunal whose decisions will be
>binding; investors will be able to sue national governments but the reverse
>will not be permitted. And if the experience of similar cases brought before
>the World Trade Organisation is anything to go by, TNCs will win out over
>the environment and communities every time.
>
>It is vital that OECD countries hold full public debates on the potential
>impact of MAI before the next Ministerial Meeting this October. At the same
>time, any attempt to slip in MAI-like provisions under the auspices of the
>United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Bank or IMF
>must be resisted.
>
>Yours faithfully,
>David Cromwell
>Southampton Green Party
>
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>
>
David Wood
PhD Student ('The Rural Peace Dividend')
Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Marketing
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
Tel: 0191 222 6615
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