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Environmental Law Forum

(Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 -- CropChoice news) -- The following is an announcement from Oregon Tilth.

FCGP
5th Annual Meeting
Saturday, March 8 & Sunday, March 9
This years meeting will be an outstanding event, bringing together the diverse environmental and legal interests of the world renowned ELAW conference with the seed heads of organic agriculture. The combined efforts will make for one of the most exciting Oregon Tilth conferences ever! Attend this unique event to hear dynamic speakers, cutting edge updates, and learn how to explore and maintain our common heritage of plants.

2003 Meeting Agenda Keynote Presentations

Thursday 6:30 Vandana Shiva
Friday 6:30 Mae-Won Ho
Sunday 3:00 Ignacio Chapela

Panels Saturday, March 8

9:00 GE Trees and Fish
10:30 GE Activism
2:30 Testing, Regulation, & Technology
4:00 Biotech and Human Rights

Sunday, March 9

9:00 Trespass and Biotech
10:30 GE and the Public Domain

FCGP Annual Meeting

12:30 FCGP member lunch
2:00 Introductions
2:15 Annual Report & Cornell Update
3:00 Keynote Presentation
4:00 Project Updates
4:30 Objective Setting
5:30 Seed Exchange
6:00 Meeting adjourn
* Speakers and times subject to change

The Public Interest Environmental Law Forum

The ELAW Conference begins on Thursday, March 6 and registration runs from 8:00a.m.-5:00p.m. Thursday through Saturday at U of Oregon Law School.

Vandana Shiva will kick off the Conference with a keynote address Thursday evening. The ELAW Conference topic is “Environmental (In)justice in the Global Commons.” ELAW requests a sliding registration fee to cover conference costs and support the Land Air Water program.

The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference is the premier annual gathering for environmentalists in the world. Now in its 21st year, the Conference unites activists, attorneys, students, scientists and concerned citizents to share their expertise, experience and insights. With more than 125 panels, keynote addresses, workshop, films, and celebrations, the Conference has become world-renowned for its energy, innovation and inspiration for all who participate.

Accommodations

The FCGP has reserved a limited number of rooms at the Green Tree (Best Western) in Eugene. Reservations can be made by calling the hotel directly at (541) 485-2727. Get a discount rate of $59.50 for single room, and $69.50 for double by mentioning you are with the FCGP. The hotel is within short walking distance of the Conference. A very limited number of travel scholarships are available, and all those interested should contact the FCGP as soon as possible.

Pre-registration is not necessary, but please RSVP if you would like lunch on Sunday. All those interested in attending the meeting are encouraged to contact Heather heather@tilth.org or JJ jhapp@tilth.org. at the FCGP Office (541)998-3069 or via mail:

Speaker Bios

Dr. Vandana Shiva is recognized worldwide as a critic of the impact of the new global capitalist orders impact on food security, indigenous people’s intellectual property rights, and women’s health. Through her research and publications, Shiva is a leading voice calling for regulation of technology, questioning both the ethical and ecological basis of genetic engineering. Shiva’s work traces the evolution of the Green Revolution to today’s genetic engineering as the second green revolution, arguing that both have resulted in and will continue to result in the entrenchment of suffering and the destruction and appropriation of indigenous knowledge. She has campaigned to protect indigenous seeds as a way of insuring indigenous women’s control over development policies and right to participate in critical economic decisions. To advance her people’s program for biodiversity, Shiva founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy.

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Director of the Institute for Science in Society, is known by millions as a leading exponent of a new science of the organism which has implications for holistic health and sustainable systems. She gained her B.Sc. in Biology and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Hong Kong University, and is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Open University, UK and visiting Professor of Biophysics at the University of Catania, Sicily. She became scientific advisor to the Third World Network in 1994, and co-founded ISIS with her husband and long time collaborator, Prof. Peter Saunders, who shares her concerns about social accountability of science and science for sustainability. Her over 200 publications (including 10 books) on genetic engineering and related issues have been translated into many languages, posted on countless websites, and have been used by public interest organizations around the world in submissions to their governments.

Dr. Ignacio H. Chapela is Assistant Professor of Microbial Ecology at University of California, Berkeley, and Scientific Director, The Mycological Facility: Oaxaca, Capulalpam, Oaxaca, Mexico. A Mexican biologist dedicated to ecological research on fungi, his career has spanned from a purely biochemical/ecological base in Mexico through research stages in academia (Univ. of Wales, Cornell University) and three years of scientific research in the discovery of new pharmaceuticals with Sandoz, Ltd (Basel), to an involvement in the debate on biodiversity loss, its economic and social consequences, and the perspectives for future action. Returning to Mexico, he helped found the Mycological Facility: Oaxaca, where he now serves as Scientific Director.

Dr. Alan Kapuler is the founder of Peace Seeds, Seeds of Change, and Deep Diversity. With a background in the chemical and molecular sciences, Kapuler brings cutting insight and expertise to the field of plant breeding and organic agriculture. His seminal works include the Kinship Garden Layout, and the Amino Acid Analysis of Popular Vegetable Varieties. In his various capacities as plant breeder and research director, Kapuler has written extensively on new phylogenic layouts of the plant families and the primary nutrition required for cellular genesis. Kapuler is also a co-author of the original Oregon Tilth Certified Organic Standards Procedures Manual and The Transition Document. Kapuler maintains thousands of plants within his own collection, and has bred and re-introduced hundreds of varieties of vegetables and flowers, including Rainbow Inca Sweet Corn, Elephant Head Amaranth, and Red Russion Kale.

Dr.Stephen Jones is the winter wheat breeder at Washington State University and the former Chair of the National Wheat Crop Germplasm Committee. He has a Ph.D. degree in genetics from the University of California at Davis and has been at Washington State University since 1991. He has published numerous scientific articles on wheat breeding and molecular genetics. He has also published papers on the history and value of public wheat breeding and the urgent need to keep these and other Land Grant University programs public. The wheat breeding program that Stephen leads has been in existence since 1894 and is the only public wheat breeding program in the country to have declared itself GMO and corporate influence free.

Dr. Steven Strauss is a Professor in the Department of Forest Science at Oregon State University. He has published more than 100 scientific papers and given 125 invited lectures on genetics, evolution, and biotechnology of trees. He served on a number of panels at the US National Research Council, National Science Foundation, and Department of Agriculture. His current research focuses on genomic analysis and genetic engineering methods for trees, and he directs a university-industry consortium that is developing genetic engineering solutions to mitigate concerns of gene flow from transgenic plantations.

Mary O’ Brien, a botanist, is author of Making Environmental Decisions: Alternatives to Risk Assessment, which challenges risk-based regulation. She has served as staff scientist for toxics reform, environmental law, and conservation grassroots organizations. The former Executive Director for NCAP (NW Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticide).