Third Meeting of Amman National Committee for
Genetically Modified Organisms
The third meeting of the Amman National Committee was held in Amman,
Jordan on Feb-7-2006. The meeting was organized by the Arab Group for
Protection of Nature. The meeting brought together participants
representing public and private bodies, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOS) from Jordan.
Participants:
1. Mr. Rami Barhoush, Board of Director Member at APN.
2. Bassam Al-Qawasmi, Jordan Environment Society.
3. Abdul Fattah Kilani, Consumers Protection Organization, Jordan
Veterinarian Association.
4. Razan Zuayter , Director at APN.
5. Rauof Al-Dabbas, Friend of Environment Society (FOES).
6. Mahmoud Al-Ouran, Jordan Farmer Union (JFU).
7. Madi Al-Jaghbeer, Union of Medical Doctors.
8. Asem Al-Shehabi, Jordan University/ Faculty of Medicine, APN Member.
9. Ruba Afani, Project coordinator at APN.
10. Ola Shunnar, Project coordinator assistant at APN.
11. Hala Al-Khayat, Al-Ghad Newspaper.
Discussed Topics:
A. Call for a GE Free Zone
There are 100 GE free zones and 3,500 GE Free localities in Europe.
A GE Free Zone will commit to the following:
1. Ban GE crops.
2. Eliminate GMOs in animal feed...
3. Institute mandatory GMO labeling, as in Europe.
4. Adopt policies to foster ecologically and socially sustainable
agriculture.
5. Publicize the GE-free zone and encourage other governments and
localities to follow suit.
B. Call for a Ban on Terminator Seeds at COP8 Next Month
Terminator technology refers to plants that have been genetically
modified to render sterile seeds at harvest (also called Genetic Use
Restriction Technology or GURTs). Terminator was developed by the
multinational seed/agrochemical industry and the United States
government to prevent farmers from saving and re-planting harvested
seed. Terminator has not yet been commercialized or field-tested but
tests are currently being conducted in greenhouses in the United States.
Our government will send a delegation to the 8th Conference of the
Parties (COP8) to the Convention on Biological Diversity March 20-31
2006 in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, where the future of Terminator will be
discussed. We can help ensure that this meeting strengthens the
moratorium on Terminator and takes steps to ban it once and for all.
C. Take Action at the local level
1. Stay informed: keep up with latest news on the fight against GMOs
around the world
2. Inform and inspire other individuals
3. Inform and inspire Opinion Leaders in the government and the media
4. Write to Parliament members, Ministers and public officials
5. Inspire Food Manufacturers to Remove GMOs
6. Local Action, jointly with other NGO's businesses and individuals
7. Restaurants: Ask them to remove GMO's from their menus, and to
publicize it
