Stephen Leahy

BROOKLIN, Canada, May 30 2005 (IPS) — A top African scientist and advocate of strong regulation of genetically engineered seeds and crops is demanding punitive action against Canada if authorities continue to try to block delegates like him from taking part in U.N.-sponsored talks.

Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, Africa’s chief negotiator for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Ethiopian government’s chief scientist, had been denied a visa to attend talks in Montreal on the international movement of genetically engineered organisms until pressure from international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) forced a last-minute reversal by the Canadian government. The talks opened Monday.

His call for punitive steps – possibly including shutting down U.N. offices in Montreal – came amid revelations that other delegates from developing countries had been denied access to the U.N. talks in Montreal.

Tewolde, in an open letter to Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, asked for a motion to censure Canada for the difficulty Tewolde had in getting a visa and for the continued difficulties he said are being experienced by other delegates to the Montreal conference on liability and labeling of genetically engineered organisms.

While Tewolde missed some meetings and arrived in Montreal May 27, a member of the Iranian delegation, Jafar Barmaki, was denied a visa.

Barmaki is a senior expert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for biodiversity-related international agreements. According to the Centre for Sustainable Development and Environment, an NGO in Tehran, Barmaki has played an important role in promoting biosafety in Iran.

An agricultural economist and a farmer from India also were denied visas to appear as speakers at a side event organised by NGOs at the Montreal biosafety meetings. Kavulakunpla Ramanna Chowdry, a professor and adviser to the Andhra Pradesh state government, and Kaka Ramakrishna, a cotton farmer said to have suffered huge losses, were scheduled to speak about their experiences with the genetically engineered cotton.

Several thousands farmers and the government of Andhra Pradesh have demanded compensation from biotechnology major Monsanto Co. and its Indian seed partner, the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Limited (Mahyco), over the failure of Bt cotton, a genetically modified variety, according to Afsar H. Jafri of New Delhi’s Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), a co-sponsor of the NGO event in Montreal.

”Professor Chowdry was prepared to tell the negotiators in Montreal (about) the extremely irresponsible and reckless behavior of Monsanto with the victim farmers and the government,” Jafri said in a statement.

Beth Burrows, director of the U.S.-based NGO Edmonds Institute, also a co-sponsor of the NGO event, added ”I never imagined this could happen in Canada. I have brought many people to lecture at side events before and never had a problem like this.”

Burrows said she also learned that an NGO from Togo was unable to obtain visas.

”People are impacted by this (genetic engineering) technology and their voices need to be heard,” she added.

Headquartered in Montreal, the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the biosafety protocol in 2000 to address the safe transfer, handling, and use of living genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that could harm the diversity of species living on the planet.

Burrows and others said they suspect Tewolde’s and the other visa rejections amounted to an attempt to censor voices opposed to Canada, the United States and other countries that grow GMO crops and that oppose labeling and liability for contamination by genetically engineered pollen and seed.

Canada’s department of foreign affairs has yet to officially comment and, despite several requests, declined to be interviewed by IPS.

Tewolde is firmly in support of bulk labeling of genetically engineered products and also liability and redress in the case of any damage to human health or the environment, said Julia Crosfield, a spokesperson for Consumers International, a coalition of 250 organisations in 115 countries.

”This is important to consumers who have rights to information, safety, and to a healthy and sustainable environment,” Crosfield said.

Canada has experienced extensive contamination by genetically engineered canola (oilseed rape), where the GMO plants have spread far and wide in the country’s western regions. Among the concerns with these crops is that they will mix with indigenous plants, change the genetic composition of valued species, and produce so-called superweeds, or wild plants that have been accidentally pollinated by a genetically modified plant and now contain that plant’s abilities to resist herbicides and kill insects.

Presently there is no legal liability in Canada for farmers, nor the producers of the seed, to prevent or clean up any contamination. However, lawsuits have been filed.

And there have been news reports that Canadian genetically engineered canola has been found growing around eight Japanese ports despite rules on handling that are supposed to prevent such contamination.

”The talk in the corridors here by delegates and NGOs is whether or not this was done on purpose,” said Lucy Sharatt of ETC Group, a Canadian-based NGO attending the Montreal meeting.

At the opening of the first meetings May 26, a delegate from Egypt expressed his regret at Tewolde’s absence and stressed that ”host countries are required to facilitate, not hinder, participation,” according to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin news service.

Such participation includes not only delegates but also members of civil society who are full participants in the open forums, said Sharatt.

”Some delegates are asking if Canada can be relied on for future meetings,” she said.

”If it was an error, why not apologise?” Sharatt asked.