| Table of Contents Issue 21, 2002 Editorial Articles for future publications are welcome. |
Echoes from elsewhere An introduction to ECHOES magazine in reactions, facts and issues from all over the world Whose DNA? Tonga & Iceland, biotech, ownership and consent In November 2000, Australian biotech company Autogen announced it had secured the exclusive rights to the entire gene pool of the Tongan people through a contract signed with Tonga's Ministry of Health. Due to adverse public reaction in Tonga, Autogen is supposed to have withdrawn its interest in August 2001. However, other biotech companies are interested in the Tongan people because they are genetically isolated. If Autogen has indeed withdrawn its interest, it is one battle won in the ongoing struggle by Indigenous peoples to assert their sovereignty over their own resources. The agreement was originally negotiated without any publicity or public debate in Tonga. By comparison, the consent given by Icelandic people to their agreement with the commercial firm de-Code, was achieved after being hotly debated in the parliament and the media, and was described variously as "democratic" and "acrimonious, polarised and pitting laymen against experts". When informed consent becomes a political activity, which questions take priority? Will biotech take "no" for an answer, if that is the decision? Co-presented by Lopeti Senituli and Margaret Boyes, Australasian Bioethics Association Annual Conference, Adelaide, February 14-16 2002. Five years after civil war, Guatemala is still waiting for the fruits of peace Guatemala City (ENI).Guatemala's civil war came to an end just over five years ago, but the country has yet to enjoy the peace that most hoped would follow in the wake of the 36-year armed conflict. Political parties are weak, civil society remains fragmented, and the government appears incapable of meeting society's basic needs or of extending democratic reforms. "The peace process has stalled because there is no political will for it to prosper, because there are sectors of the powerful who are addicted to unjust economic and political structures, and they don't want to see things change," the Rev. José Pilar Alvarez, a Lutheran pastor in the eastern Guatemalan city of Zacapa, told ENI. Geneva (ENI). As European Union foreign ministers discuss the crisis in the Middle East at a meeting in Luxembourg, church organisations are demanding that the EU impose sanctions against Israel. The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Konrad Raiser, has called on the EU ministers to suspend an agreement that gives privileged trade status to Israel. Similar calls have come from Christian Aid, the church aid agency in Britain and Ireland, and from Aprodev, an association of 15 European Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox development agencies. Last week the European Parliament voted to suspend the trade agreement with Israel, but the vote is not binding on EU foreign ministers. Filipino church leaders warn against increased US military presence Manila (ENI).Church leaders in the Philippines have condemned plans to increase the number of United States troops in the country. The Philippine church leaders claim that the escalation of the US war against terrorism here may lead to greater antagonism between Filipino Muslims and Christians and the further erosion of Philippine sovereignty. Vancouver (ENI). A Canadian ecumenical campaign is targeting one of Canada's biggest oil companies which is opposed to a major United Nations^' agreement on climate change. Representatives of the campaign, including Lois Wilson, a former president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and former moderator of the United Church of Canada (UCC), took part this week in the shareholders' meeting of Imperial Oil, one of Canada's biggest integrated petro-leum companies. Wilson, who has just retired as a Canadian senator and has had national assignments on energy-related matters, questioned the policies of Imperial Oil with regard to climate change and future energy options. |
