[Imc-newsroom] Illinois OCA: ACTION ALERT--APRIL 10-17 CONTINENTAL CAMPAIGN & PROTESTS AGAINST GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CORN (fwd)

[Molly Stentz]

ACTION ALERT--APRIL 10-17  CONTINENTAL CAMPAIGN & PROTESTS AGAINST GENETICALLY
                           ENGINEERED CORN

Farmer, environmental, indigenous, and consumer groups will stage protests
and hold press conferences across North and South America the week of April
10-17th --launching a Continental CampaignAgainst Genetically Engineered Corn
(Campaña Continental Contra El Maíz Transgénico).

Rural and urban activists throughout the Americas will call on grain
exporters, the biotech industry, and the US and Canadian governments to stop
dumping untested and unlabeled genetically engineered corn on Mexico and
other nations, where irreplaceable corn varieties are being damaged by
"genetic pollution."

Campaign activists are also demanding that corporations and governments heed
the concerns of consumers, North and South, and remove genetically
engineered corn and other foods and crops from the market, unless they can
be proven to be safe for human health and the environment. Recently hundreds
of US consumers have reported allergic reactions to the FDA after eating
Kraft and other brand name products likely containing genetically engineered
corn. In Mexico researchers have detected widespread contamination of
traditional varieties of corn, caused by surreptitious imports of
genetically engineered corn into Mexico by grain export giants such as
Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill.

On April 10-17, activists in North and South America will dump corn and
organize picket lines, protests, and press conferences. Key demands will
include:
   (1) Stop dumping Genetically Engineered corn on Mexico and other
        centers of biodiversity;
   (2) Stop dumping GE corn on consumers; and
   (3) guarantee a fair price to all corn producers, North and South.

Protesters will  target US Embassies, Mexican Consulate offices, grain ports, corporateoffices (Kraft, Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Monsanto)
as well as major grain exchanges in Winnipeg, Minneapolis, and Chicago.

If you wish to help organize a protest or press event in your local area in the
US or Canada contact jessica at organicconsumers.org or call in the USA
(218-226-2164). In the USA protests are being organized by the Organic
Consumers Association, the Genetically Engineered Food Alert, Global
Exchange, and the Mexico Solidarity Network, among others.

In Latin America, the April 17 protests are being organized by leading
campesino, indigenous, environmental and environmental groups. To help
organize an event in Latin America contact rzinn at laneta.apc.org

For full background information on the global GE Corn Conflict see
BioDemocracy News #37
http://www.organicconsumers.org/newsletter/BiodNews37.cfm
and the April 17 section on the Organic Consumers Association website.
For full information in Spanish see
http://www.organicconsumers.org/newsletter/biod37espanol.cfm   and http://www.laneta.apc.org/biodiversidad/.

The OCA is part of the GE Food Alert Coalition (GEFA) which is
currently targeting Kraft and other major food corporations.
Kraft is the largest food company in the USA and continues to
use genetically engineered ingredients in their food products.

*** Call, Email, Write, or Fax Kraft Foods. ***
Tell them to send you a written guarantee that they will change
their policies on genetically engineered foods by removing
genetically engineered corn and other ingredients from their products,
or else you will no longer buy their products.

 Kraft Contact Information

Call: 1-800-323-0768
Email:  info at kraft.com
Fax: 1-847-646-6005

Write: Ms. Betsy Holden
President and CEO
Kraft Foods
3 Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093

PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR FRIENDS WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED.
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