PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 1, 2002
HUNDREDS OF NGOS FROM MORE THAN 50 NATIONS ANNOUNCE SUPPORT OF A TREATY TO ESTABLISH THE GENE POOL AS A GLOBAL COMMONS
BIOTECH ACTIVISTS TO CHALLENGE GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE CLAIMS ON PATENTS ON LIFE
TREATY INITIATIVE ANNOUNCED IN NEW YORK AND PORTO ALEGRE
(New York) February 1, 2002 - Biotech activists from more than 50 nations announced today their support for a treaty
which would establish the earth's gene pool as a global commons. Non-Governmental Organizations' (NGOs) leaders say they
will challenge government and corporate claims on patents on life in every country. The treaty is the first globally
coordinated campaign among biotech activists, and already has the support of over 250 organizations.
The Treaty Initiative is being announced simultaneously in New York at the United Nations preparatory meetings for the
Rio Plus 10 meeting, and in Porto Alegre, Brazil at the World Social Forum.
Activists will be working with political parties to introduce the Treaty Initiative in parliaments around the world over
the next year. In September 2002, activists will demand that governmental delegates to the Rio +10 Conference in South
Africa endorse the Treaty to Share the Genetic Commons and make it the centerpiece of future biodiversity efforts.
Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, DC, says, "The gene pool should not be
allowed to be claimed as commercially negotiable genetic information or intellectual property by governments, commercial
enterprises, other institutions or individuals. The global gene pool is a shared legacy and, therefore, a collective
responsibility." Mr Rifkin added, "A global treaty to share the gene pool is the most important task ahead of us as we
make the transition into the Age of Biology."
The Treaty Initiative to Share the Genetic Commons aims to prohibit all patents on plant, microorganism, animal, and
human life.
"Currently, under the protection of the WTO, multinational corporations are exploiting critical genetic resources for
private gain," says Kristin Dawkins, Vice President of Global Programs at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy. "This ground-breaking global initiative represents a major new effort by NGOs to work within the existing global
system to change international law so that it works for all people."
"Biodiversity has been the base of agriculture and food security for 10,000 years," says Elizabeth Brazo, of Accion Eco
Log Ica (Ecuador). "The use of intellectual property rights has prevented this generation of new biodiversity. In fact,
we are losing genetic diversity every day."
"The exploitation of genetic material that permits human life would change forever the potential of mankind, said Bill
Christison, President of the National Family Farm Coalition which is the U.S. member of Via Campesina. "A major theme
supported by farmers and peasants in Via Campesina is that the world is not for sale and certainly this includes the
gene pools of the people of the world."
Eighteen organizations, including the Foundation on Economic Trends, the International Forum on Globalization, and the
National Family Farm Coalition in the US, Centro de Educacion y Tecnología in Chile, Comitato Scientifico
Antivivisezionista in Italy, the Indigenous Peoples' Biodiversity Network in Peru, Southeast Asia Regional Institute for
Community Education (SEARICE) in the Philippines, the Community Technology Development Trust in Zimbabwe, and Via
Campesina have formed an international committee working to create a civil society process which would lead to the
presentation of the Treaty to governments at the Rio+10 Conference in South Africa in the fall.
"This treaty is designed to ensure that governments and Indigenous Peoples are the caretakers of their part of the
genetic commons and to establish the appropriate statutory mechanisms needed to ensure both sovereignty and open access
to the worlds genetic diversity," says Hope
Shand, of ETC Group (formerly RAFI).
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For more information: · Bill Christison, National Family Farm Coalition, 660-646-9003 · Kristin Dawkins, Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy, 612-203-5648 · Julie Delahanty, ETC, 613-262-8519. · Kathy Ozer, National Family Farm
Coalition, 202-421-4544.
To read the Treaty, go to: www.tradeobservatory.org