Senator
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

RE: OPPOSE the FTAA!

Dear Senator ,

I am very deeply concerned about the possible impact of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) which was the subject of a recent meeting of trade representatives in Miami. The FTAA threatens to accelerate the "race to the bottom" toward lower wages and environmental standards by facilitating the flow of capital to where the costs of doing business are lowest. It would promote more privatization and corporate control of natural resources and essential services. It would provide more rights for companies to sue governments if they feel that their profits are being limited by regulations that protect workers or the environment. And it contains commitments to privatize services such as education, health care, and energy and water utilities. Such deregulation would hurt nearly everyone, but would especially harm the people that the proponents of "free trade" claim to want to help--working people and the poor.

The FTAA would accelerate environmental destruction. Similar agreements have destroyed ecosystems around the world, forcing developing nations to cut down their forests, overfish their waters and exploit other natural resources to earn hard currency. Since NAFTA, 15 U.S. wood product companies have expanded into Mexico, and logging there has increased dramatically. In the Mexican state of Guerrero, 40 percent of the forests have been lost in the last eight years, and massive clearcutting has led to soil erosion and habitat destruction. The FTAA will facilitate similar activities throughout the hemisphere.

The FTAA would seriously subvert democracy in the United States and the entire hemisphere by granting multi-national corporations rights to override laws and regulations passed by sovereign democratic governments. Provisions for "investor-to-state" lawsuits, similar to those in NAFTA, allow corporations to sue governments for compensation if they feel that any government action, including the enforcement of public health and safety laws, cuts into their profits. Such lawsuits have already been used to weaken or overturn U.S. laws that promote local businesses, protect our environment, or protect the rights of citizens and workers.

The FTAA would seriously threaten the environment, families' livelihoods, human rights, and democracy. This sweeping "free trade" agreement places commercial interests above all other values. It would seriously harm the great majority of U.S. citizens and of people throughout the western hemisphere. I strongly urge you to speak out against the FTAA and to do everything in your power to ensure that Congress rejects the FTAA as well as any bilateral agreement with similar provisions. I urge you to work instead toward global economic policies that promote social justice and environmental protection, not the well being of multinationals at the expense of everyone else.

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