Category Archives: Biotechnology

Japan Resources – 189

Please click here for our latest English newsletter (pdf): JR 189

Contents:

From the Editors: Over 90 Consumer Organisations Have Signed Our Peace Appeal!

Symposium: Let’s Connect Citizens for Peace in Asia! Peace Action by Japan, Korea and Taiwan

90 + Support For Our Consumer Peace Effort

GM Zucchini Found in South Korea: How about Japan?

Action Day to Bring Citizens’ and Farmers’ Voices to the G7 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to Stay GM Free

Open Letter of Inquiry on Artificial Turf

In the News: Corteva’s Genome-Edited Maize Not Commercially Cultivated at Present

From the Editors: Over 90 Consumer Organisations Have Signed Our Peace Appeal!

Consumers Union of Japan and Shufuren Association of Consumer Organizations, took the initiative to protest against Japan’s proposal to increase its military spending. Over 90 groups including many local co-operatives have now joined together. It is a pretty impressive movement!

For our Annual Meeting on 18 June we have invited speakers from Taiwan and South Korea, who share our views on peace in this region of the world. You can join us in Tokyo or follow the Peace Action online.

– Editors

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to stay GM free

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the world’s leading forest product certifier, has decided to back away from a process that critics said would have opened the door to overturning FSC’s long-time core certification policy that prohibits the commercial use of genetically modified (GM) trees. The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, which closely monitored the FSC discussions, noted: “The field testing and release of GM trees pose unprecedented threats to forests, wildlife, and communities that live near them.”

In November 2022, Consumers Union of Japan joined over 130 environmental and social justice groups from 34 countries that signed a statement to stop GM trees.

Japan Resources – 188

Please click here for our latest English newsletter (pdf): JR 188

Contents:

From the Editors: Peace of Mind

Press Event: Consumers in Japan Oppose Increased Military Spending

Blog: Breaking Bread

How about it, World, Do We Care about Biological Diversity, or Not?

Consumers Union of Japan has Signed the Global Appeal to Stop Gene Drives

In the News: Doubling the Defense Budget Won’t be Easy for Japan

From the Editors: Peace of Mind

Consumers Union of Japan took the initiative to protest against the proposal to increase Japan’s military spending. 28 consumer organisations joined together, wanting to protect ourselves and others from the potential risk that Japan will once again be involved in aggressive warfare.

This year, we will also step up our activities at home and abroad against the risks associated with genetic engineering, especially genome editing and gene drives. We are reaching out to like-minded groups in other countries to give a voice to consumers and citizens, who all want to live peacefully.

Please stay updated with CUJ’s activities and news on our English website, as well as on our English Twitter account: https://twitter.com/consumerunionjp/

Blog: Breaking Bread (CBD COP15)

Blog: Breaking Bread

The expression “Breaking bread” describes an ancient way of sharing food in a friendly way. It means to share a meal with others, and make sure everyone is fed. It is a term used in the Bible, and must have been common in the Middle East and Europe, when bread was made from rye, and harder than today.

I thought about this expression as I was following the final moments of the UN Convention of Biological Diversity, as they decided on how to share the benefits of biodiversity. Congo was unhappy with the final deal, the Framework, as it feels it will not get enough from the developed countries. Adoption of the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework is a step forward, but it really does not seem that there is strong will to change things. We wanted it to be tough on New GMOs and stop the spread of gene-drives and genome editing.

“We have in our hands a package which I think can guide us all to work together to halt and reverse biodiversity loss,” said Huang Runqiu, the Chinese president of COP15.

We should “break bread” with everyone, and share the benefits of biodiversity, without doing more harm to nature.

Japanese here

ブレイク・ブレッドは、親しみを込めて食べ物を分かち合うという、昔から使われている表現です。みんなで食事を分け合うことでみんなが食べられるという意味です。聖書にも出てくる言葉ですが、パンがライ麦から作られ、今よりも硬かった中近東やヨーロッパでは一般的だったのでしょう。
この表現について、私はカナダのモントリオールで開かれた国連の生物多様性条約COP15の最後の瞬間、生物多様性の利益をどう分配するかを決めるところを追っていた時に思い出しました。コンゴは、先進国から十分な利益を得られないと考え、最終的な取り決めである「枠組み」に不満を持っていました。
COP15では2030年までの新たな目標「昆明モントリオール目標」が採択されました。これは一歩前進ですが、本当に物事を変えようという強い意志があるようには思えません。New GMOを厳しく規制し、遺伝子ドライブやゲノム編集の普及を阻止してほしかったです。
生物多様性への影響に関して民間企業による監視や情報の公表についての責任が義務化されないことも大きな問題だと思います。
私たちは、これ以上自然に害を及ぼすことなく、生物多様性の恩恵を共有し、皆と一緒に「ブレイク・ブレッド」するべきです。
(マーティン・フリッド)

Continue reading Blog: Breaking Bread (CBD COP15)

How About It, World, Do We Care About Biological Diversity, Or Not?

Consumers Union of Japan and other groups that we work with, including the No! GMO Campaign, have a focus on the global negotiations to protect biological diversity.

We participated in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) conferences in Japan (2010), India (2012) and in South Korea (2014). We followed the 2022 conference in Montreal, Canada.

We are disappointed about the lack of urgency on new genetic technologies, such as gene-drives and genome-editing, and no progress on pesticides, which we know cause real harm. And why does the United Nation still not recognise the role consumers can play when given the information, and labelling? The concerns raised by civil society organisations working on the issues of synthetic biology and biotechnology remain unresolved.

We wanted a biotechnology related target to establish a process for horizon scanning (finding out what is going on), technology assessment (finding out what is really going on) and monitoring (finding out what is being done). It should also consider socioeconomic impacts of synthetic biology. We think this reinforces the need for a global moratorium on the environmental release of gene drives.

This was our hope for Target 17 but we got nothing like it. We are especially disappointed that all mention of “precaution” has been erased from Target 17.

Consumers Union of Japan

Please contact Michiyo Koketsu or Martin J. Frid for details about our work.

BBC Interview (UK/World)

ABC News (Australia)

Mail & Guardian (Africa)

“Consumers Union of Japan started the No! GMO Campaign in 1996, ” says Michiyo Kotetsu, CUJ. “There is no commercial farming of GMOs in Japan, but a lot of soy, corn and canola is being imported. We think the labelling should be better so consumers can avoid GMO food.”

 

Consumers Union of Japan has signed the global appeal to stop gene drives:

Gene drive technology uses new genetic engineering techniques including CRISPR/Cas9 to forcibly spread genetically engineered traits, including lethal ones, throughout entire populations and species of organisms. Once released into the environment, gene drive organisms cannot be recalled nor controlled thus preempting and overriding the ability of nations.

The company that has long reigned at the center of this domination has been the U.S. company Monsanto. For this reason, citizens around the world have been marking this day as Anti-Monsanto Day. Monsanto has now been absorbed by Bayer AG of Germany.

The campaign, Millions against Monsanto has now become Billions against Bayer.

New genome-editing technology foods have also been introduced here in Japan by local companies. We are very concerned that such efforts contradict the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and Codex Alimentarius rules regarding food safety.

We understand that in the Philippines, the cultivation of GM Yellow Rice is currently being pushed forward. In Japan, the application of genome-edited rice is also under consideration. In addition to seed domination, we regard these technologies as a direct threat to biodiversity and our food security.

We call this our strong international kizuna, the firm emotional bond of solidarity that connects us. This is how we promote our efforts to resist the schemes by multinational corporations and governments. We are really happy that the farmers and consumers of the Philippines and other Asian countries and Japan are working together in this way. If citizens around the world are connected through kizuna, we believe it is possible to stop the cultivation of GM rice and New GMO rice varieties.