Tech | April 11, 2011 | 39 comments

Monsanto and Gates Foundation have major control over large seed bank in Norway

source: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/campaign/save-our-seeds/seed-saving-and-seed-banks/

Image
JanforGore
My first experience with the perils of large scale seed banks was the scandal that erupted over the Fort Collins collection in the mid 1980s. Journalists had published stories dramatically detailing the grossly negligent manner in which deposits to the seed bank were treated. Numerous seed deposits were spilling out onto the floors of the facility, the facility was woefully understaffed, there was no testing of the seed and a virtually complete failure of required regeneration — in short a seed saving disaster. A legal petition by my organization to rectify the decision seemed to get the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) attention. But when no real action resulted we litigated. I was a very active member of that legal team. As such I reviewed much of the material in the case that documented USDA’s complete disregard for the safety and integrity of the seeds under its care. This litigation ultimately forced a settlement where USDA agreed to do an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and conditions at the seed bank improved somewhat.

Since that first experience I learned that bigger is definitely not better or safer when it comes to seed saving. As noted elsewhere on this site, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) strongly advocates for in situ protection of plant diversity, and when ex situ seed saving is required it should reside at the most local and ecologically appropriate level. This has been one of the bases for CFS’ longstanding concerns about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Not surprisingly these fears have recently been justified. In December 2010 NordGen, the entity overseeing Svalbard, fired its Director Jessica Kathle. Some at NordGen believed that she was a “scapegoat” for the seed bank’s well known problems including continuing deficits, significant understaffing, and failure to do routine tests on the deposited seed to determine viability. (http://dagendresen.wordpress.com/about/Dot.) Sadly it seems like the Fort Collins fiasco redux.

There is however yet another important concern about Svalbard. The Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT), which supports the operational costs of Svalbard, has received almost $30 million dollars in support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (Global Diversity Trust, “Funding Status 1-1-2011.” http://www.croptrust.org/main/funds.php)This is by far the largest support of any non-governmental entity. As is well known, the Gates Foundation has very close working ties to Monsanto. The Gates Foundation invested $23 million in Monsanto in 2010 to help the company through some financial woes, and has been a determined supporter of spreading Monsanto’s genetically engineered crops throughout the developing world. In 2006 the Gates Foundation hired Rob Horsch, a former Monsanto Vice President and a key scientist involved in the creation of the company’s Round Up Ready crops in the 1980s, as their Senior Program Officer for their International Agriculture Development Program. This Monsanto connection to Svalbard is very troubling as the corporation owns almost a quarter of all the world’s commercial seeds and is the world’s leader in the genetic engineering of crops and the patenting of plant genetics (including plant genes, cells and seeds). Monsanto has also had a decade long history of persecuting and prosecuting thousands of farmers for saving seeds.

Svalbard’s ties to the Gates Foundation and Monsanto are not the only issue. Only two private corporations have donated to the GCDT. Dupont/Pioneer Seeds has donated $1 million as has Syngenta. (Global Diversity Trust, “Funding Status 1-1-2011.” http://www.croptrust.org/main/funds.php)Together these two companies own another 25% of the world’s commercial seeds and are also among the leaders in agriculture biotechnology and in patenting of plant genetics. So a major question looms. Why this interest by these biotech companies and their surrogates in paying the operational costs of Svalbard? These companies have no record of altruistic concern for the integrity and diversity of seeds and have in fact been destroying that diversity through genetic engineering and patenting for decades. The most obvious hypothesis is that these corporations see in Svalbard an opportunity to gain further control of the world’s plant genetics — being able to utilize the seed bank as a resource for germplasm that can be used for creating patentable hybrid or genetically engineered seed varieties.

To test that hypothesis I requested that the CFS legal team investigate the deposit agreements at Svalbard. The point of this analysis was to see if in some way the contract between Svalbard and depositors created an advantage for these corporations in their efforts to control and patent seed genetics. As the legal memorandum reveals, the answer to the question is “yes.” The Svalbard agreement does provide corporations seeking to patent plant genetics additional advantages in their efforts.

cont.
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  2. tags:
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39 comments // Monsanto and Gates Foundation have major control over large seed bank in Norway

  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • 0
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  

    • I repeat it again and again, and it still bears repeating, we need NEW GOVERNMENT NOW! Old Government is part of the Viking Horde that has been, and has every intention to continue raping and pillaging us with "scorched earth" tactics! It really is time for Revolution...nothing else will turn this glacier of corruption coming at us.

    • 1 year ago
  • Schnookums
  • PressCore
    • +1
      PressCore  
    • Image
    • Schnookums:

      If famous means you're familiar to us here on Current.com, then all the power
      to you, Snookums. As our social community member/contributor, and one
      sharp cookie, you might say you're the equivaqlent of famous Amos. Heh.

    • 1 year ago
  • queenofit
    • +4
      queenofit  
    • Image

    • How Big Ag, Big Oil & Big Government
      Are Hijacking the World’s Food Supply
      An Interview with Acres U.S.A. Magazine
      http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/GMO/gmo.html
      Interview from 2008 June.

      In that article, Mr Engdahl states " I’ve written two books now of what I plan as a trilogy. I’m working on the third. The third part of the Kissinger code was if you control money, you control the whole world. And the control of the seed supply in crucial food elements is an unbelievably powerful weapon. Let’s say China is beginning to develop a little independence and is not simply bowing to every request of George Bush and Dick Cheney, or whoever might be in Washington, and tries to assert a little bit of its own interest in Asia. The United States can say, “We’re cutting off your seed supply, you’ll no longer be able to cultivate rice after one harvest season unless you do exactly what we say."

      ----------------------------------------

      My comment: First, Jan THANKS again, for bringing to light another very important issue in today's world markets. What Mr Engdahl is referring to in his comment above, is the "terminator style seed" one that will ONLY produce one year. As he states in his article,“While Monsanto held this pious press conference announcing they were not going to commercialize Terminator, the Department of Agriculture defiantly said, ‘Well, we’re going ahead with our research and going to work with Delta & Pine Land full steam ahead.’”

      If that is the case and I have no reason to doubt it, then it concurs with CFS's article; not only moving genetics/eugenics along, but controlling the world. I don't know, this is all so surreal.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • queenofit:

      Yes. It's like science fiction but reality. They are even buying up small organic seed companies as well as reaping the benefits of their transgenic contamination. It is indeed an assault on our food supply. I used to have a listing here of all the seed companies they bought. I will look for that and post it again. And terminator technology is the most insidious of all. It is planting death. We should be so grateful to have people like Dr. Vandana Shiva and her organization, Navdanya. We will need to start more of them in order to counter this evil.

    • 1 year ago
  • rustyred
    • +3
      rustyred  

    • If this planet ever needs the seed bank, Monsanto and Gates cannot stop those of us who are left to take it. Expect us.

    • 1 year ago
  • rodstradamus
  • PressCore
    • +1
      PressCore  
    • rodstradamus:

      But not until they've enslaved everyone as far as their eyes can see first.
      As they used to say in the Nazi slave labor camps: " Arbeit macht frei "
      Translated from Orwellian doublespeak, in English: " Death is the only real
      freedom for you in our captivity because we're going to work you to death:
      stay tuned for further details. Our Banksters/Uber Rich are busy working on
      that pesky problem you've presented to us now that you think you have the
      " right " to vacations, sick leave, bereavement, and- gasp- retirement ???
      Bah humbug !!! " Are there no debtor's prisons, no poorhouses " If you'd
      rather die than go there, we suggest you do asap to decrease the surplus
      population. TIME IS MONEY !!! ( Your time is OUR money slaves )

      The History channel has been cranking out Documentaries for years to
      prove the USA has been heading down that long slippery slope toward a
      resurgence of Nazi Germany. But thanks to the Hulu of TV, the proletariat
      have been suckered into presuming " It can't happen here " Que merde
      mas grande. It has been happening here since the 1930s with Prescott
      Bush, the Bundt, all the American NWO industrialists supporting Hitler.
      Even before the end of the 3rd Reich, Operation Odessa was under way
      to transmigrate a resurgence of it into the 4th Reich in the USA. George
      Bush jr/Cheney all showed it could be done. Bush jr picked Nobama to be
      his proxy server to continue the Nazi agenda by the false flag of terrorism.
      It's no secret Monsanto has plans to sterlize the 3rd world's population
      in every country it can exploit, take over real estate by bank loan default,
      and usurp their farmlands. On it's face it does seem benign to want to limit
      the population growth of the 5 Billion unsustainable lives only existing now
      because of the 150 year " magic trick " of fossilized plankton( oil ). But if
      you flip their coin to scope out the tails side, you'll see their methods are
      inconscionably evil. Meanwhile when the average Amercan sees " the
      Odessa Files " movie come up on their TV lineup, they'll yawn w/ machine
      consciousness and surf other channels.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
  • bailey78
  • CalgarC
  • extracrazykiwi2008
  • coxian_armada
  • samantha420
  • JanforGore
  • PressCore
    • 0
      PressCore  
    • samantha420:

      Well said. Thanks for the link, Samantha. Btw, the RealAge website sent me
      another Emailed benefit of taking a tablespoon full of cod liver oil every day.
      It will prevent macular degeneation too.

    • 1 year ago
  • NiceN
  • Conspiracy2Riot
    • +5
      Conspiracy2Riot  

    • Aside from letting loose an endless string of expletives, all I can do is recommend to others that they grow their own food and save their own seeds. I started 2 years ago and I can't believe how much viable seed I've saved.

      All I have to worry about is their effin' GE alfalfa and GE sugar beets contaminating mine now. And the USDA is saying 'screw the courts' and letting them do it in my area.

      Monsanto is top ranked when it comes to being evil, aggressive and willing to stop at nothing. My opinion is ONLY equally aggressive acts will stop them and I'm not talking about trying to do something the legal way. They don't HAVE to respect court rulings so that avenue is fruitless.

    • 1 year ago
  • sammykatz
    • +6
      sammykatz  

    • Monsanto and Dupont have been busy for the last twenty years or so in buying up seed companies and small farms. They then created coops and required the exclusive useage of the GM's as developed, without much thought given to any negative side effects either on the plants themselves or the effects on humans who ingest the plants. What has been documented is the decline of butterflies and bees who die after visiting fields of GM crops. Wonder how much of the increase in children being diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, and autisim are related to the foods mom ate during gestation, or the food stuffs children eat daily. Add to that diabetes, liver and kidney diseases...

      It is disappointing to read that the Gates Foundation has been involved in propping up those who are bastardizing our future food sources. GM's have not proven to be the "wunder" kid on the block and produce more food stuffs to help address worldwide hunger. The GM's are actually driving up food prices since Monsanto requires repurchasing same for each successive crop planting. Patenting GM's allows Monsanto et al to require that use of their seeds be paid for, and this is contributing to hunger in developing nations where small farmers don't have the resources to keep buying GM seeds.

      Another stellar example of global economics at work.

    • 1 year ago
  • milojacks
    • +2
      milojacks  
    • sammykatz:

      Monsanto doesn't just buy up the small farms, they steal them. When a small farmers crops become pollinated by GM pollen (floating freely on the wind) Monsanto files a patent infringement claim against the farmer allowing them to seize the entire crop. They then tie up the farmer in legal battles until he goes bankrupt so they can purchase the farm in foreclosure for pennies on the dollar.

    • 1 year ago
  • sammykatz
  • ampersand
    • +5
      ampersand  

    • One more project (out of more than I can count now) to add: creating a seed bank deep in the granite mountains that provide the fine backdrop to this place.
      On the positive side, at least this is a heads-up.
      The constant reminder here is to never imagine that someone else is taking care of the future for you.
      The future IS yours, if you insist on it.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • JanforGore
    • +10
      JanforGore  

    • I didn't write much in my last comment, because this incenses me. Who the hell do Bill Gates and Monsanto think they are as well as these other biotech companies to think that their money can BUY OUR FUTURE? Who the hell are they to tell us what we will eat? What we will grow? What we will save? All it will take is a major catastrophe (or a deliberately contrived one) regarding global food sources, and they will control IT ALL. And when they control it all, they control all of us.

      This is the hidden agenda you are not allowed to see on MSM. This is the hidden agenda our own government supports with their support of Monsanto and these companies. This is also not only a matter of the environment, but of our right to food! Bastards. Again, there is no need for GM seeds. We have more than enough food and more than enough seeds and ways to cross breed naturally to grow food to sustain our people on this planet. This is only a way to kill off biodiversity to put small farmers out of business to give monoculture streanlined production control to a few companies whose aim is to control you through their profits. I really do think it will take a revolution to bring them down.

    • 1 year ago
  • Dagum
    • +5
      Dagum  
    • JanforGore:

      It's more insidious than must can accept. You can look into more. Bill Gates and his foundation promote eugenics.

      Bill Gates and the upper crust already have billions. They are all egotistical. They have all the money they can spend. Money is now boring. They want god-like power to depopulate and remake the world in their image.

      Monsanto and their products are one tool for their agenda of depopulation.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • Dagum
    • +4
      Dagum  
    • JanforGore:

      The Gates foundation Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) recent purchase of half a million dollars of stock in Monsanto cements their Relationship.

      Bill gate along with other elite want to promote GMO not in spite of, but because of their adverse and well know life shortening effects, while he purchases shares in the seed vault for himself and his spawn to inherit the earth once the agenda is completed and most of us are gone.

      The God complex is what happens when you let people accumulate too much money.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  
    • Dagum:

      Yes I know of this, their landgrabs and their pushing GMOS down the throats of the farmers in Africa who are against it.They will do this by either killing off biodiversity, or through poverty because farmers will not be able to keep up the payments for seeds, contracts, imputs, etc. Farmers globally who wish to preserve biodiversity and food sovereignty must stand up now. This is why I support organizations such as La Via Campesina. We're not letting this go without a fight.

    • 1 year ago
  • Milieu
  • Jennifer_Guinn
    • +1
      Jennifer_Guinn  
    • Dagum:

      Then they will all be inbred and their faults will multiply, leading to who knows what kind of weird mutations, especially with the radiated and toxified Earth they are simultaneously creating while they engineer the demise of the rest of the population. All lose, all lose.

    • 1 year ago
  • Vierotchka
    • +7
      Vierotchka  

    • Not.Good.At.All. :(

      This said, we should all save and keep as many organic seeds as we can. I have a whole field's worth of wheat seeds and many other seeds in airtight jars in my cupboards. If we all did that, we might be able to stave off the disaster.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • CalgarC
  • JanforGore
  • PressCore
    • 0
      PressCore  
    • Vierotchka:

      I appreciate your good efforts, Vierotchka. Being a realist; not wanting
      to miss citing anything of equal importance, there was a trajedy that
      occurred circa a year ago in one of the Republics of the former Soviet
      Union. I only read a ltd amount of information in the news article, but it
      didn't look promising to have a happy ending. A major seed bank was
      due to be abandoned for lack of interest. They wanted to raze it to make
      way to pave a parking lot. Some of their citizens starved to death during
      WW2 rather than sacrifice their preservation of precious seed varieties
      of food crops. And though they sacrificed their lives to protect the future,
      when their future became our present, the cras were willing to throw away
      the precious sacrifice of their lives as if it all were valueless, and in vain.
      Many of my kin & forbears of my clan were organic farmers, so I take this
      most essential thing, like pure fresh water, to be of extreme importance.
      Man ist was mann isst, nicht wahr ?

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • JanforGore
    • +10
      JanforGore  

    • The ultimate plan to control all food and keep people from saving seed. This is and will be done through biotech schemes, biopiracy and patents. This must be stopped if we are to protect our right to seed saving, food sovereignty and biodiversity. This is war.

    • 1 year ago
  • Conspiracy2Riot
  • artemis6
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