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VICTORY FOR THE PUBLIC!!
Right to participate on GMO decisions granted for the Pan-European Region

Almaty (Kazakhastan)/Brussels, May 27, 2005. After four years of intensive and polarized discussions, the Meeting of the Parties to the UN Treaty, called the Aarhus Convention (AC), agreed today to grant the public of the Pan-European Region, including Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia the right to participate on decisions related to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). This is the first time that a pan-European legal obligation will provide the public with effective information and public participation on decisions to authorize a GMO release for experimental and for commercial purposes.

"This is a major victory for the public. No GMO will be introduced anymore in this region without public scrutiny and adequate information", said Juan Lopez, International Coordinator of Friends of the Earth Programme on Genetic Engineering.

Since 2001 the vast majority of countries from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia have constantly stated and restated the need for the Aarhus Convention to include a legally binding provision granting the public the right to participate in decisions related to GMO activities. The EU was divided and was never able until the meeting in Almaty to take a common position on the issue. The Biotech industry always opposed further requirements on public participation on GMOs in the framework of the Aarhus Convention.

Background information:

Ecoforum, FoEI, EEB Briefing:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/international_legislation/aarhus_convention.htm
Official Site 2nd Meeting of the Parties:
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/mop2.htm
UNECE Aarhus Convention GMO webpage:
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/gmo.htm
Ecoforum webpage:
http://www.participate.org/
Guidelines on access to information, public participation and access to justice with respect to Genetically Modified Organisms
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/documents/gmoguidelinesenglish.pdf
Position of the Biotechnology Industry Organization on GMOs in Aarhus:
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/gmo/lbbio.pdf

Contact Information:

Serhy Vykhryst, Ecoforum (Russian, English): +(32) 486512127
John Hontelez, European Environmental Bureau (English, Dutch, German, French): +(32) 486512127
Juan Lopez, Friends of the Earth International (English, Spanish, French): tel. Tel: +1 514 803-6718 or +39-333-1498049

Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the protection of the environment,
unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups
and is part of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.

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