April 10, 2003

For Immediate Release

Contact: Kristin Dawkins, 612-870-3410, kdawkins@iatp.org

Ben Lilliston, 301-270-4787, blilliston@iatp.org

Minneapolis - The myths and machinations of seed, agri-chemical, and pharmaceutical companies and the international protocols that bolster them are spelled out in a new book by Kristin Dawkins, Vice-President of International Programs at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

First published in 1997, Gene Wars was a prescient work. Food insecurity and other biotechnology issues were relatively new in the U.S. In a newly updated edition, Dawkins demonstrates the link between the battle over genetic resources, corporate power, technology, and politics. Offering choices for the future, Dawkins maps out a strategy for addressing genetically engineered crops that includes a wide spectrum of stakeholders.

There have been a number of major developments biotech crops since Gene Wars was first published. New international treaties have been signed, the use of biotech crops has increased in the U.S., and conflicts with the European Union over biotech crops have escalated. At the same time, international organizing efforts opposing biotech crops, catalyzed by the Seattle World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in 1999, are building powerful cross-border alliances to challenge this new technology.

"Biotech corporations have promised an end to world hunger in our lifetime. Under this guise—and virtually unchecked—they've advanced biotechnology, patented and modified organic structures, and codified a system of international trade," writes Dawkins.. "But the system they've put in place threatens future generations with profound food insecurity and places ecosystems at risk of undergoing change that would be as irrevocable as it would be unpredictable."

Kristin Dawkins is the Vice President of International Programs at the Minneapolis-based Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy. She has published numerous articles in journals from the U.S., Europe, Brazil, Uruguay, Malaysia, India, South Africa, New Zealand and elsewhere.

Dawkins came to IATP from the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation, where she was senior writer for their international publication Consensus. From 1973 to 1989, Kristin worked in community development and related public policy in Philadelphia. Kristin has a master's degree in City Planning, specializing in International Environmental Negotiation, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of Global Governance forthcoming from Seven Stories Press in Spring 2003.

Gene Wars is published by Seven Stories Press. It can be purchased at bookstores or by going to: www.iatp.org.

 The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy.

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