• by IPS Correspondents (washington)
• Wednesday, November 23, 1994
• Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (IPS) - The environmental group Greenpeace called Tuesday for the United States to end its opposition to global efforts to control the transnational flow of genetically engineered organisms (GEOs).

Failure to control the international spread of genetically engineered organisms threatens to turn the world into a "nightmarish genetic playground", says the group, which released two reports here Tuesday to back up their concerns.

The group's appeal came just days before the Biodiversity Convention in the Bahamas Nov. 28 to Dec. 9. That meeting is expected to consider drafting an international protocol on the transboundary movement of genetically engineered organisms.

The U.S. delegation, however, is likely to arrive with a weak hand, due in part to the failure of the Senate to ratify he Convention, which was signed by virtually all governments at the Brazil Earth Summit in 1992. As a result, Washington will not be permitted to fully participate in the proceedings.

The Republican Party's takeover of Congress in mid-term elections earlier this month makes ratification even less likely in the coming two years, according to analysts here.

The world's developing nations, combined in the Group of 77, have long favoured a global protocol to protect their own environments and native species of plants and other organisms.

They also want to ensure that any profits gained by multinational corporations engaged in genetic engineering are shared with those countries whose territory or native species is used in the creation of a commercial product.

European nations are said to be split on the need for a protocol. Some are instead calling for technical guidelines to be issued in advance of such a protocol.

As of last August, however, the Bill Clinton administration took the position that any such effort could harm U.S. business and export opportunities. Washington also claims that field tests of genetically engineered organisms in the United States have shown no unique harm to human health or the environment.

It is proposing a preliminary process to determine whether any kind of international agreement is needed.

Greenpeace, which favours an immediate moratorium on the release of genetically engineered organisms into any environment, says such a process could take years and warns that such a delay could have potentially catastrophic effects.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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