[OPIRG-EVENTS] Forcing GE "Food Aid" in Africa - Thurs. May 1, 7:30pm

[jfother@canada.com]

FORCING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED "FOOD AID" IN AFRICA: A
Critical View from the US. 

Please join us on Labour Day for this unique
opportunity to hear US Scientist and Consumer Advocate
Dr Michael Hansen

WHEN: Thursday, May 1st 2003, 7:30-9:00 pm

WHAT: A public talk on the issue of the U.S. government
forcing its surplus genetically engineered (GE) corn on
developing countries as "food aid."
African government's are facing tremendous pressure to
accept the GE food as safe - even though Europe and
Japan will not accept it.

WHO: Dr Michael Hansen is a scientist and consumer
advocate who is an authority on the regulation and
safety of GE food. He has spent considerable
time with African officials on the issue of GE food
aid. He is in Ottawa for the international Codex food
safety standard meetings. Dr Hansen will be
introduced by Steve Shallhorn, Director of Global
Campaigns at Consumers International in the UK. This
public talk is organized by the Polaris
Institute, Development and Peace, the Sierra Club of
Canada and OPIRG-Ottawa.

WHERE: Room 205 Morisset, 65 University, University of
Ottawa

For More Information: Lucy Sharratt (Polaris Institute)
613-237-1717.
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/polaris_project/bio_justice/events/events.html


MICHAEL K. HANSEN, PHD
Research Associate, Consumer Policy Institue
hansmi@consumer.org
http://www.consumersunion.org/

Michael K. Hansen Ph.D., a Research Associate with the
Consumer Policy
Institute, a division of Consumers Union (publisher of
Consumer Reports
magazine), currently works on biotechnology issues. He
is the author of
Biotechnology and Milk: Benefit or Threat?, published
in 1990. He has been
largely responsible for developing CU positions on
safety, testing and
labeling of genetically engineered food. Dr. Hansen has
testified at
hearings in Washington, D.C., many states, and Canada,
and has prepared
comments on various proposed U.S. governmental rules
and regulations on
biotechnology issues. He has been quoted widely in
national media on safety
of genetically engineered foods. He served on a
Biotechnology Advisory
Committee set up to advise the CGIAR (Consultative
Group on International
Agricultural Research) on biotechnology issues for the
public sector
International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs).
Dr. Hansen served as an
international expert in 1998 to the FAO/WHO Joint
Expert Committee on Food
Additives. Dr. Hansen currently serves on the USDA
Advisory committee on
Agricultural Biotechnology. During 1999 and into 2000
he has traveled
extensively in South Asia, Europe and the US as an
invited expert on
potential human health and environmental concerns
related to genetically
engineered crops.

In addition to the work outlined above, Dr. Hansen has
also written reports
for the Consumer Policy Institute and Consumers Union
on household pest
control, alternatives to agricultural pesticides in
developing countries,
and the pesticide and agriculture policies of the World
Bank and the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization.

Dr. Hansen received his undergraduate degree with
Highest Distinction from
Northwestern University and his doctorate in Ecology
and Evolutionary
Biology from the University of Michigan. He did
post-graduate study at the
University of Kentucky on the impacts of biotechnology
on agricultural
research.


Lucy Sharratt, Researcher, Polaris Institute
312 Cooper Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2P 0G7
(613) 237 1717 Fax: (613) 237 3359
www.polarisinstitute.org
-
This is the OPIRG-events@ox.org list. Participatory activist events only.
To unsubscribe, send email to opirg-events-request@ox.org, and put
"unsubscribe" in the body.
Archive at: http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/lists/html/opirg-events/