THAILAND: Anti-GMO campaign launched in response to biotechnology conference

Activists are to join forces with agricultural groups and consumer protection organisations next week, to launch a People against GMOs campaign in Thailand. The campaign has been created as a response to an international conference on biotechnology, which is scheduled to take place in Thailand 10-12 July. The

July 6, 2001

Activists are to join forces with agricultural groups and consumer protection organisations next week, to launch a People against GMOs campaign in Thailand.

The campaign has been created as a response to an international conference on biotechnology, which is scheduled to take place in Thailand 10-12 July. The New Biotechnology Foods and Crops: Science, Safety and Society conference, which is organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is thought by many to be aiming to promote acceptance of GM products and divert attention in developing countries away from the socio-economic or the ethical side of the debate.

Saree Ongsomwang, of the Confederation of Consumers Organisations, maintained: “The conference is aimed at weakening the strong feeling against GMOs in developing countries while the OECD had failed to persuade their public to accept GM products.”

BioThai, a group network advocating protection of biological resources, is forming part of the campaign and has refused an invitation to become part of the conference’s steering committee. Other activists come from Greenpeace International, Consumer International and the Third World Network.