Japan Offspring Fund (JOF) did a demonstration today in central Tokyo together with Nodanro, the National Federation of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Cooperatives Workers' Unions.

We handed out leaflets with information about Genetically Modified Organisms. The leaflets said "Stop GM Rice" and explained in detail about risks of GM, such as monopolization, anti-safety and anti-diversity. The message was: "We support sustainable agriculture!" From Nodanro, the president Shiniciro Okada participated. There were lots of police but the event went really well. The demonstration took place outside Akasaka Prince Hotel, where the Japanese Agriculture Ministry and IRRI held a World Rice Research Conference about GM rice. 2004 is the International Year of Rice according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):

http://www.fao.org/rice2004/index_en.htm

International Rice Research Institute information about the World Rice Conference in Tokyo and Tsukuba, Nov 2004:

http://www.irri.org/wrrc2004/