Content area
Full Text
LONDON, Oct. 11, 2005 (IPS/GIN) -- A group of Peruvian indigenous farmers have prepared an extensively researched counter to a Canadian move to revive "terminator" seeds.
Terminator seeds work only once, so farmers need to go back to sellers to plant a new crop.
A United Nations moratorium blocks commercialization of terminator seeds, but a group of countries led by Canada has challenged the U.N. safety regulation. This has led the Convention on Biological Diversity based in Montreal to open new discussions on relaxing the moratorium.
One of the strongest counters to the move so far has come not from experts and officials but by Peruvians, says Michel Pimbert from the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), which promotes sustainable development at local levels.
After monitoring cultivation methods, about 70 indigenous leaders representing 26 Andean and Amazon communities met in a mountain village over two days last month to assess the damage that could be caused by terminator seeds.
The farmers reported that small farmers worldwide "are dependent on...