-
-
Kenya: Government wants to impose GMOS 'by force'
The grand scheme to introduce genetically modified foods into Kenya seemed to shift into top gear after the Ministry of Agriculture launched a campaign last month to make the country appreciate them.
First, Minister for Agriculture, William Ruto, who has on several occasions publicly expressed his support for the introduction of GM foods into the country, launched the National Biotechnology Awareness Strategy last month.
According to a statement Ruto sent to the press, the strategy was aimed at offering Kenyans "accurate and reliable information and knowledge" about such branches of biotechnology as tissue culture, molecular breeding and genetic modification.
"This will enable Kenyans to make informed decisions and be involved in determining the pace of adoption of biotechnology in the country," he said.
However, Ruto went ahead to state that Kenya will embrace GMOs, making it appear the government had launched the awareness campaign merely to state its pro-GMO stance.
This has led to fresh fears that the government has irrevocably decided on introduction, cultivation and commercialisation of GMOs in the country.
snip
The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology has also been preparing to take back to parliament a Bill that was heavily criticised last year for failing to address the concerns of farmers and consumers and for merely seeking to create the necessary legal framework for the introduction of GMOs in Kenya.
snip
"They want to do it by force, the so-called national awareness strategy is a mere gimmick," said Josphat Ngonyo of the Africa Network for Animal Welfare. Mr Ngonyo said KBioC, of which he is a member, has attempted to get the agriculture minister to listen to its side of the GMO story to no avail. KBioC is anumbrella body representing over 50 farmers' groups, religious organisations, consumer organisations and NGOs.
snip
But one of the leading proponents of genetic engineering in Kenya, Dr Florence Wambugu, told The EastAfrican that those opposed to the introduction and proliferation of GMOs in Africa are profiteers and fearmongers.
"There are those who get business from fearmongering," she said. She also accused Greenpeace International of offering false information by claiming that some of the maize seeds grown in Kenya are contaminated by GM-materials.
This drew the ire of a Greenpeace official who accused Dr Wambugu of employing "scare tactics" in campaigning for GMOs in Africa.
"The genetic engineering industry, and their spokesperson for Africa, Florence Wambugu, must be really desperate if they are now resorting to lies, and ridiculous ones... Greenpeace never ever endangered the environment, the life of farmers and the health of consumers by putting a single genetically engineered seed into any soil anywhere in the world, and whoever suggests the opposite is completely out of touch with reality," said Jan Van Aken of Greenpeace's Sustainable Agriculture.
What is interesting is that even though she denied that Monsanto ever funded her in her pro-GMO campaign, Dr Wambugu nevertheless admitted that she gets money from such bodies as the United States Development Agency (USAid), Rockefeller Foundation, Dupont and CropLife International.
The latter is an organisation represented in 91 countries whose members include the global who's-who of the genetic engineering industry -- BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow Agrosciences, Dupont, FMC, Monsanto, Sumitomo and Syngenta. Dr Wambugu is the founder of Africa Harvest, which campaigns for GMOs in Africa.
_________________ The grand scheme to introduce genetically modified foods into Kenya seemed to shift into top gear after the Ministry of Agriculture la... more -
How Monsanto really makes GMOs
GMO's are made by manipulation of extremely deadly viruses & bacteria that have been engineered to be IMMUNE TO ANTIBIOTICS, such as E. coli (Pause video at 8:08). Monsanto spends millions of dollars each month to "sugar" coat and hide the truth of what they are doing or what is really behind how GMO's are made.
This video straight-forwardly explains the scientific facts how Monsanto manufactures their GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms) by removing all the corporate propaganda, the "smoke & mirrors" if you will.
**Please be warned, the once the mask is removed from what you are eating & feeding your children each day, it will outrage you and shock you to the core.
Monsanto's greed combined with their quest to totally monopolize all aspects of food on the planet, has knowingly allowed the proverbial Reaper free upon the world.
GMO's are now acting much like the deadly virus and pre-cancer cells they are made from... by infecting other organisms that were once pure and healthy.
The people of the world should be demanding Monsanto be held for crimes against humanity for the atrocities they have committed and what can be reasonably seen as the start of the end to all life as we know it.
The Bee's disappearance is in perfect unison with the time line of Monsanto's release of GMO's; this can not be argued but due to Monsanto's influence of corruption in governments across the globe, any scientist that tries to inform the public and raise the alarm about the Bee's & GMO's is destroyed financially, as well as their careers'.
Monsanto is the MOST ruthless corporation in the world, which basically controls many governments due to their near limitless resources, money and their "campaign contributions".
They buy WHO they need and crush those that try to stand in their way.
Now that you know, what will you do?
Will YOU decided to fight, right now, this very day or will you put it off for some other time?
After watching these videos, will you also knowingly look the other way and FEED your family GM foods; even though you now know you could be killing or permanently harming your child/family??? If so, call Monsanto for a job, for you have disgraced and shamed yourself for knowingly poisoning the people you claim to love and PROTECT!
....BUT
If you are OUTRAGED at Monsanto's poisoning our food, milk (see my other video on milk!) and health; Please do the following actions, do them once a week... make a difference:
1) Call and WRITE (pen & paper) you're Legislators
(Emails are the very last thing you should do; most are scanned by software and are blocked/deleted when they contain certain key words. This is a fact.)
Demand:
2) That they FULLY endorse: "H.R. 6636 GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD RIGHT TO KNOW ACT"
3) An immediate moratorium on all GMO's and their Byproducts!
4) FDA change their findings on GMO's being "Generally Recognized As Safe"! This was done with ZERO testing by the FDA!
5) Demand a full investigation into the criminal conflicts of interest as it pertains to the head personal of Monsanto and the FDA being one in the same.
6) Demand congress pass a "whistle blowers protection" for all professional scientists so that Corporations, Universities and Colleges can no longer manipulate their research.
___________-
This is the description of the video written by the member who uploaded it. I concur with it. We need to wake up. Now. GMO's are made by manipulation of extremely deadly viruses & bacteria that have been engineered to be IMMUNE TO ANTIBIOTICS, ... more -
Monsanto and U.S. govt. pushing GMOs in Japan
No genetically modified crops are grown commercially in Japan, perhaps one of the countries in the world with the strongest consumer opposition to "unnatural" GM foods. Yet, Monsanto and the US government continue their shameless push for the stuff. Again and again, imported foods have been found to be contaminated with illegal GM varieties, including the infamous Starlink corn, that had not been approved in the US either (it was recalled and never heard from again).
Now, a US government official is visiting Tokyo to seek Japan's "help to promote the safety of genetically modified crops among Japanese consumers," as a way to "ease the global food crisis," notes NHK World.
Dr. Nina Fedoroff, the Science and Technology Adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was interviewed by NHK in Tokyo on Thursday, and said "the planting of genetically modified crops has been spreading rapidly in the United States and stressed the need to spread this kind of crop globally to cope with the food crisis."
Food crisis? This summer, what did Monsanto do? With US corn, 60 percent is GM -- and nearly all of it contains Monsanto's genes. During this global food crisis, Monsanto just raised the price of its corn seed $100 a bag. Talk about a novel way to solve the food crisis.
Linn Cohen-Cole at OpEdNews has more details:
"Notice, too, that Monsanto is drastically raising prices while it is making phenomenal profits, while food prices are rising dramatically (related often to its grains), leading to food riots around the world, and while fuel is skyrocketing and Monsanto's corn is now the basis of biofuel, and while our economy is tanking. All the while Monsanto claims that genetically engineering is a wonder - the way to help farmers around the world and to feed the hungry."
Time after time, Japanese consumer organizations, housewives, NGOs and co-ops have demonstrated in the streets of Tokyo to protest against imports of GM foods. Most of the soy and corn that enter Japan is either carefully sourced as "non-GM" (using expensive traceability schemes such as IP handling) or simply used as animal feed.
Food oil makers also don't need to disclose on food labels if they use GM oil seeds, and many consumers are surprised and angry when they learn that they have in fact been eating GM soy or corn, unwillingly. Consumers Union of Japan is particularly upset about how food exporting countries, such as Australia, side with the GM industry, ignoring consumer concerns. South Korean consumers also share the same concerns, making waves with large demonstrations in Seoul, and joining events here in Japan.
Keisuke Amagasa at the Tokyo-based 'No! GMO Campaign' will speak on October 16 at the World Foodless Day event about "How genetically modified foods are accelerating the food crisis." An outspoken critic of Monsanto and gene patenting policies, he says:
"Japan does not produce any GM crops. However, because Japan imports GM canola from Canada, GM contamination has already occurred and it is spreading to a much greater degree than one could imagine. If GM crops are cultivated, then this kind of pollution will spread even more. Judging by the ominous precedent of Canada, once GM crops are cultivated, segregation between GM and non-GM will become almost impossible, and keeping pure non-GM varieties away from GM contamination will be very hard. The clear conclusion from the findings is that cultivating or importing GM crops, leads to GM pollution and once this pollution begins, it can cause irreversible damage."
Despicable. No genetically modified crops are grown commercially in Japan, perhaps one of the countries in the world with the strongest consumer o... more -
LET'S TAKE BACK OUR GOVERNMENT - SHOCK THOSE RENEGADE TWO-PARTY CROOKS
If you are voting for the best of the worst of two parties, we will see no change. We need to put a stop to these moneygrabbing earth rapist this year, in this election. None of these crooks are listening to the people... they deaf ear us and go on with their business of getting it all at our expense. Obama and McCain support business as usual... Nothing will change with them in leadership. It will just keep spiraling with more corporate greed and house and senate buyouts! We need to do to them the unexpected... fight! Vote beyond the two party system this time... Elect Nader. He has been trying to get us to listen for many years. He is for real change! Check out the link and think. If you are voting for the best of the worst of two parties, we will see no change. We need to put a stop to these moneygrabbing earth... more
-
Open letter to Monsanto from Vietnamese Agent Orange victims
Len Aldis is Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society. He recently sent this open letter (item 1) to Monsanto's president and Chief Executive Officer.
--- ---
http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/300908/life_le.h...
Mr Hugh Grant
President and Chief Executive Officer
Monsanto
800 North Lindbergh Boulevard
St Louis. USA
Dear Mr Grant,
In 1961, three years after you were born, U.S. forces began their ten-year use of Agent Orange in South Vietnam. Over those years Eighty Million litres of the chemical was sprayed destroying forests, poisoning the rivers, lakes and the land. An even greater crime was the many thousands of Vietnamese people that died from the chemical and the hundreds of thousands that were crippled.
1981, six years after the American War on Vietnam ended; you joined the company that, along with others, was responsible for the manufacture of Agent Orange. Today in Vietnam there are 3.5 million people from new born babies to veterans suffering from the effects of the chemical your company made. Not to forget the many U.S. veterans also affected, like the Vietnamese many have died and are dying.
You were Mr Grant, at the time you joined Monsanto, fully aware of the effects that Agent Orange had had, you certainly knew when you became the company's president and its chief executive. Yet Mr Grant you failed to take any steps to alleviate the consequences of Monsanto's manufacture of Agent Orange. Indeed, not one word of regret to the Vietnamese victims has come from your lips despite facing lawsuit after lawsuit by victims from Vietnam, U.S. and South Korea.
Monsanto is, as you well know, the leading company involved with Genetic Modified (GM) crops. Your company has gone from creating one poison to another, both have and are still killing many thousands of people. Where does it end Mr Grant?
How can you live with the knowledge that you, and Monsanto through the use of Agent Orange and GM seeds etc are responsible for the deaths and physically crippling millions of people in the countries that your products were used and are sold?
I regret that here in my country Monsanto has also left a legacy, by its disposal of tonnes of chemical waste in a number of municipal sites. A particular site, Brofiscin Quarry in Wales, is causing acute concern by your chemical waste leaking into the water supply and into the atmosphere. Farmers nearby have reported abnormal births among their animals. Despite questions to government ministers it would appear that they, like Monsanto, are not concerned.
In August a junior minister Phil Woolas, MP from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), on the instructions of the Prime Minister, met with a group of companies that included Monsanto, Dow Chemical (one of your partners in the Agent Orange crime) to discuss introducing GM crops in the UK. This meeting and proposed policy has met with great hostility from people and organisations anxious about our food being poisoned by genetic engineering.
Thankfully, people here and in other countries are becoming more aware of the products of Monsanto and the danger they hold for the people. They are also becoming aware of the lawsuit brought by the Vietnamese people against your company and others in the U.S. Courts, and know that documents are being prepared to be placed before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking Justice for the crimes that Monsanto, Dow Chemical etc committed on the Vietnamese people.
Mr Grant, there is still time for you and your company to make amends for these crimes. Accept your responsibility for the manufacture of Agent Orange and its use on Vietnam. Make financial compensation to the victims, and their families. For many thousands of Vietnamese it is too late, they have died, their suffering is at an end, but for the present 3.5 million, their suffering continues.
Yours sincerely Len Aldis Secretary: Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society Len Aldis is Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society. He recently sent this open letter (item 1) to Monsanto's presid... more -
Monsanto and Michael Pollan talk about creating a world that can feed itself
This is like 36 minutes long, but it's definitely worth watching...
-
Monsanto profiteering condemned by President of UN General Assembly
Some very powerful points here from the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, made at the opening of the High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals at the UN in New York. Remember that Monsanto has been at the very heart of the biofuels lobby.
Snip (Note: I will be skipping around... if you wish to read it all refer to the link. Thanks.)
------
Opening remarks by H. E. M. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann
President of the General Assembly at the High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals 25 September 2008, United Nations, New York
7. Furthermore, unfair trade practices also delay development, as poor countries are shut out of markets and deprived of trade opportunities. The high tariffs that rich countries impose on poor countries' products amount to a "perverse tax" that deprives developing countries of funds for health care and education.
10. We have the technical and productive capacity to do this. It is incumbent on this Assembly to garner the strong sense of solidarity that will awaken the necessary political will to turn this crisis into an opportunity to transform a world system that denies the poor a right as basic as the right to food.
12. The developed countries' lavish agricultural subsidies have weakened agriculture in developing countries. At the same time, only a fraction of international aid is earmarked for improving agricultural productivity. Aid for agriculture has shrunk from 17 per cent of total development assistance, the high point reached in 1996, to 3 per cent today. Now some international donors are demanding an end to fertilizer subsidies. Faced with today's world food crisis we must speak out on behalf of our brothers and sisters and say "This is not right". It is not just to keep in place agricultural and energy policies that give rise to these kinds of distortions. Now is the time to help the poorest countries to boost their food prod agricultural products at the prices imposed on them and have undermined the ir ability to compete by heavily subsidizing the production and export of these products. Together these factors have shaped a food production system that puts private economic interests ahead of people's basic dietary needs.
14. The essential purpose of food, which is to nourish people , has been subordinated to the economic aims of a handful of multinational corporations that monopolize all aspects of food production, from seeds to major distribution chains, and they have been the prime beneficiaries of the world crisis. A look at the figures for 2007, when the world food crisis began, shows that corporations such as Monsanto and Cargill, which control the cereals market, saw their profits increase by 45 and 60 per cent, respectively; the leading chemical fertilizer companies such as Mosaic Corporation, a subsidiary of Cargill, doubled their profits in a single year.
15. At the same time , in response to the financial crisis, major hedge funds have shifted millions of dollars into agricultural products. These funds control 60 per cent of the supply of wheat and other basic grains. Most of these crops are purchased as "futures". In other words, speculators have been increasingly active in food-related financial markets.
17. Today, 3 billion 140 million people live on less than $2.50 a day. Of these, about 44 per cent survive on less than $1.25 a day, according to a new World Bank report issued on 2 September 2008. Every day, more than 30,000 people die of malnutrition, avoidable diseases and hunger. Some 85 per cent of them are children under the age of 5.
18. The top 10 per cent of the world's people possess 84 per cent of the world's wealth, while the rest are left with the remaining 16 per cent. Yet we have the technical and productive capacity to adequately feed the whole planet. It is a matter of reorienting our priorities. We must now muster the resolve to feed the world's hungry. Some very powerful points here from the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, made at the opening of the High-level... more -
Codex Alimentarius, food, and Monsanto
The recent news regarding the FDA and irradiation of foods and their decision regarding genetically modified animals and crops is all related to the Codex Alimentarius.This video brings some of that to light to give people information about a global plan to control our food supply and work to weaken the effects of vitamins and supplements. It is information we all need to fight this and to protect our health and safety. The recent news regarding the FDA and irradiation of foods and their decision regarding genetically modified animals and crops is all ... more
-
Well, a long time has passed, since those words.... Review Previous articles new p...
DON'T IGNORE THE SIGNS - THEY ARE EVERYWHERE
Hear all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is:
Read JanforGore submissions, they will educate you on important things behind the scenes that are taking place in our world today, that threaten the sanctity of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness... Read and help, and please for me, shout out the word to save seeds now... I do not want pesticides in my seeds! SAVE ORGANIC SEEDS NOW!
THANKS FOR THE WORDS CURRENT COMMUNITY... DON'T IGNORE THE SIGNS - THEY ARE EVERYWHERE Hear all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: ... more -
Genetically modified crops' days may be numbered
Pressure from the president of the European Commission has not succeeded in advancing the cause of transgenic crops. In spite of the power wielded by the executive organ of the European Union, the bloc's member countries are gradually discontinuing the use of genetically modified seeds.
This is due in large measure to the difficulty of convincing European farmers to adopt the transgenic crop production model, which is being promoted by biotech giants, but also to increasingly vociferous protests from civil society, which is demanding that governments take an active role, according to an expert interviewed by IPS.
Genetically modified (GM) organisms, also called transgenics, are made in laboratories by inserting genes from other species of plants or animals into their original DNA, in order to improve their properties or confer resistance to external factors like pests or insecticides. Vectors, often viruses or bacteria, are used to insert the foreign genes.
In Spain and Portugal, which have the largest areas in the EU devoted to GM maize cultivation, people are beginning to question the benefits of sowing and harvesting transgenic varieties of maize, a crop native to the Americas which was the staple food of a number of indigenous cultures.
Maize was slow to be introduced in Europe, because the Central American areas where it was grown were colonised by the Spanish at the time when the Roman Catholic Church was conducting the Inquisition, and they believed that Europeans should not eat the same food as indigenous peoples because, in their view, the latter were not "children of God."
Widely used now as feed for animals, maize has been the subject of fierce controversy within the European Commission.
On the one hand, Commission President Jos; Manuel Duro Barroso is in favour of significantly increasing the production of GM maize within the EU. On the other, European Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, is dead set against it.
The European Commission works like a cabinet government and is made up of 27 Commissioners, one from each EU member state, although they must represent the interests of the EU as a whole, not just their home country.
In October 2007, Dimas opposed European Commission approval for cultivation in the EU of two GM varieties of maize, Bt-11 and 1507, because "possible long-term risks to the environment and biodiversity are not completely known, and environmental effects resulting from the cultivation of the GM maize lines are unacceptable."
"However, the majority of the Commissioners are in favour of GM maize, and the final decision has been postponed twice because a consensus could not be reached," Portuguese biologist Margarida Silva, the national coordinator of Plataforma Transgnicos Fora, comprising 12 Portuguese non-governmental organisations working on agriculture and the environment and networking with likeminded NGOs in the EU, told IPS.
Duro Barroso tried to convince Dimas to withdraw his objections in April, while simultaneously requesting an assessment by the European Food Safety Authority, "with the purpose of undermining the legitimacy of Dimas' stance," according to Silva, who is also a university professor.
Silva said that "the movement against transgenics is growing in civil society throughout Europe, and GM crops have already been banned in several countries."
snip
A huge, unified movement of people in favour of declaring a moratorium on the cultivation of GM crops has emerged in Spain and Portugal, following a similar decision taken in March by the French government that invoked the "safeguard clause" allowing an EU member state to bypass a community directive.
Silva said France based its decision "on a set of 25 scientific studies indicating risks to the environment, farming and human health derived from the cultivation of GM maize."
_______________
Photo credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony_penfold/2657046712/ Pressure from the president of the European Commission has not succeeded in advancing the cause of transgenic crops. In spite of the p... more -
Monsanto expects Roundup to generate 1.8 billion in profits for 2008
That's a lot of poison in our rivers, streams, food, air and stomachs. Poison for profit. That should be their slogan. And why are these profits so high? Well, because they have bought up close to 90% of the global seed market thus forcing farmers to sign their bogus contracts holding them to buying their seeds and poison every year. They cannot save the seeds, and they have to buy the poison sprays with the seeds yearly. And the pesticides sprayed on crops made by these companies have also been found in higher levels in beehives, suggesting that it is possible that when bees have tried to pollinate GM crops they carry these pesticides back to the hives which makes them sick, thus causing them to desert the hives. Imagine what their seeds with built in pesticides can do for your salad!
And yet, the FDA states there is no difference between this poison and the conventional crops that farmers once grew and could regrow with saved seeds as has been the tradition in agriculture since ancient times. That way they also get out of responsibility from labelling the food you eat. That way you don't know the poisons you are consuming. And even if you are an organic farmer, chances are your crops have also been poisoned by their transgenic pollution. Even without selling you the seeds, you are a part of their big happy poison family.
Oh, and of course, these fake seeds with the poison centers are feeding the world! Don't pay attention to all of the starving people in Haiti, Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Don't let the real truth blind you to their propaganda... profit is good even at the expense of morality, truth, and this planet. That's the Monsanto way.
--------------
From the entry noted:
Monsanto positions itself as a green company.
"Using the tools of modern biology," its website informs us, "we help farmers grow more yield sustainably so they can produce more and conserve more."
Compare that twaddle to this bit from Monsanto's announcement on Tuesday:
[Monsanto's Chief Financial Officer Terry] Crews will indicate that Monsanto's Roundup® and other glyphosate-based herbicides business is on track to be above $1.9 billion of gross profit for the 2008 fiscal year, ahead of the previous forecast. Wow. Nearly $2 billion in profit, from Roundup alone. As recently as February, Monsanto was expecting to make $1.4 billion from its herbicide division this year. I guess farmers applied it even more copiously than expected.
But the company isn't just churning out profit by peddling weed-killer. Its seeds are doing pretty well, too -- particularly corn:
Crews will also note that for the 2008 fiscal year, the company's corn business should exceed $2 billion in gross-profit generation for the first time. Interesting. So it makes nearly as much on herbicide as it does on corn seeds. (Overall, the company expects to make $3.8 billion on seeds in '08).
Investors applauded Monsanto's announcement, sending shares up 7.5 percent Tuesday.
I wonder if they're being short-sighted. Monsanto's success rests on Roundup Ready technology -- selling seeds genetically engineered to withstand heavy doses of its flagship herbicide.
But Roundup-tolerant weeds (so-called "superweeds") are on the rise. Eventully, farmers will have to shift away from Roundup -- Monsanto's $1.8 billion cash cow.
Meanwhile, Bayer is rolling out a new line of herbicide-tolerant seeds, this one designed to withstand doses of Bayer's glufosinate herbicide. Ain't the agrichemical industry grand? That's a lot of poison in our rivers, streams, food, air and stomachs. Poison for profit. That should be their slogan. And why ar... more -
Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.-ERS/USDA Data
It's getting harder to avoid GM foods. Certified organic, locally grown food....the only way to go.
-
Nebraska farmer regarding Monsanto: it used to be mine
(That was) then
When I was a boy growing up here outside of Langdon, everything on the farm belonged to my family.
At about the age of ten, Dad taught me how to raise hogs. The sows we grew from Hampshire gilts were ours. So was the alfalfa field where we grew hay and hog pasture. Planted to Vernal seed (a public variety), it was where piglets played and slept in the warm summer sun. The wheat field we harvested later that summer was planted to Gage seed, another public variety. We harvested that wheat in July, then sold some for seed and some for grain. Dad saved seed for next years crop, and Mother cooked a little into breakfast cereal and even ground some flour.
After the wheat harvest, we mowed the stubble and baled the straw. The same pigs that grazed the alfalfa were farrowed and later bedded in our wheat straw as the days grew cooler, and Dad fed the shoats our own corn.
When we fed the hogs Dad told me about how he used to go to the corncrib and select ears of open pollinated seed corn from the thousands he had there. He told me how he'd sort through them and choose only the very best of what he'd grown.
And then he told me about how single cross seed corn had replaced open pollinated varieties that he had planted since he was a boy on his father's farm, where everything they grew belonged to them.
The open pollinated ears of corn from Dad 's crib were never worth more than about a penny apiece.
The cloth sacks that held the first single cross seeds he planted still rest in the attic of my home. Most of the seed company imprints on the sacks would be unrecognizable to young farmers today, but they tell a story that is very up-to-date. It is a story of progress, a story of consolidation, and a story of control.
Even as privatized seed came into being, competition made it difficult for one seed company to dominate another. Seed sales depended simply on appearance, the hybrid's ability to withstand stress, its harvestability, marketing, and most of all yield.
Those were the basic parameters of operating a successful hybrid seed company. Farmers might spend a little more for the very best hybrid, but the bottom line was always about profit on the farm. For a hybrid to be good, it had to be profitable because, after all, the profits belonged to the farmers who grew the crops.
snip
(Then came) Monsanto
The seed company where I bought my first private soybean variety seed was purchased lock, stock, and barrel, by Monsanto.
Monsanto was the first commercial company to patent seed, and first to aggressively enforce its rights as a patent holder of living things.
Monsanto has actively sued many farmers for seed patent infringement. Given the power of a billion dollars in earnings, Monsanto never loses a case. Right or wrong, the company can afford to maintain lawsuits in the courts for years. Eventually, farmers who may or may not have done what they were accused of are forced to capitulate or spend the farm to defend themselves.
Thanks to higher land costs and higher prices for petroleum, machinery, chemicals, fertilizer and seed, the cost to grow an acre of soybeans now approaches $500 per acre.
The 2008 national average soybean yield is predicted to be 40.5 bushels per acre -- or about the same yield I got from the public varieties I planted nearly 40 years ago.
At today's price of about $12 per bushel, an average acre of soybeans is worth $486 [barely a break-even price before federal subsidies.]
As a commercial grower who produces soybeans for the price of $12 per bushel, I haven't simply lost the right to plant my own seed.
I may also have lost the right to earn a profit.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What Monsanto is doing to farming and the livelihoods of farmers is nothing less than a crime. And for those who wanted proof of that, there it is straight out of the farmer's pen. (That was) then When I was a boy growing up here outside of Langdon, everything on the farm belonged to my family. ... more -
Superheroes: Exclusive Interview with Anna Lappe
Discussed: Disconnect/Phobia of Nature, Community Supported Agriculture, Federal Trade Commission, Industry Supported Lies, Center for Global Food Issues, Chemical Farming, Monsanto, Against the Grain, Permaculture and Ancient Agriculture
There are a few voices that speak with resonant clarity through the noise of the “too much information generation.” They are the conscientious mavericks whose passion and diligence in finding the truth of things have elevated them beyond mere mortal thoughtless drones but as hyper-human change makers, or as we like to call them, superheroes.
One such individual is Anna Lappe, co-autohor of Grub and Hope’s Edge, founding principal for the Small Planet Institute and the Small Planet Fund. Her literary work brandishes a samurai blade in the face of the chemically tainted, spurious battle against the evils of the commercial agriculture and biotech industries. Her ambitious work with the Small Planet Institute prods and ignites the basic human tendency toward social mimicry by generating a broad spectrum of “entry points” through media to understand, accept, and impart democratic social change.
Follow the link to the full audio interview and transcript. Discussed: Disconnect/Phobia of Nature, Community Supported Agriculture, Federal Trade Commission, Industry Supported Lies, Center for... more -
Codex Summary - Is food the best population/genocide control and reserved for the ...
This just further reiterates that our food is becoming more detrimental to our health... i.e., poisioned, and soon good health will only be for the privileged. This just further reiterates that our food is becoming more detrimental to our health... i.e., poisioned, and soon good health will on... more
-
Genetically modified seeds pose more problems than natural varieties
The processes of hybridization involving repeated combinations of genetic material were limited for a long time by the fact that natural reproduction only takes place between plants of the same species. But Genetic Engineering took off with the unravelling of the full structure of the DNA 20 years ago. It became possible to insert a gene of one species into the DNA of another, thus offering immense agricultural possibilities.
Some examples include the modification of plants that fix the nitrogen of the air without belonging to the Leguminous family, plants resistant to certain diseases or to dry environments; the possibility of producing drugs and vaccines by genetically modifying bacteria, and many others.
Farmers were thus promised higher incomes; traders were promised lower costs of production and better quality of produce; and the companies producing such foods saw huge profits appearing on the horizon through monopolies and patents of such modified foods. Naturally, their research showed that there was no difference between the natural and engineered foods, that these were safe, and that they would solve the problem of famine in the world.
But if GM foods were all that their producers claimed them to be, why was the process conducted by stealth and sprung on the public without notice? This policy of the fait accompli began with the US government, which neither informed nor consulted its citizens about GM crops nor, worse still, did it require GM foods to be labelled, so as to give the public the democratic choice of whether to buy or not. After this GM foods were imposed on one country after another, in the same utterly undemocratic atmosphere of secrecy.
For a full understanding of the import of GM foods, two sets of results need to be considered: social results on the countries that have adopted them and biological results of the genetically modified foods. Further, GM foods must be analysed as part and parcel of the much touted globalization,to which we now turn.
Dr Vandana Shiva is an India physicist, founder and president of the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology, and one of India's leading activists. She describes in one of her papers how the transformation of peasant agriculture in India to a globally industrialized model, which has GM foods as a supporting pillar, has reduced food security, threatened local businesses and biodiversity, driven farmers off their lands, and opened the door for global corporations to take over the nation's food processing.
The common claim by globalization enthusiasts is that it is natural, inevitable, and evolutionary. Dr Shiva sees it otherwise. Globalization is not a natural process of inclusion. It is a planned project of exclusion that has siphoned the resources and knowledge of the poor of India onto the global marketplace, stripping people of their life-support systems, livelihoods, and lifestyles.
Global trade rules, as enshrined in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) and in the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement, are primarily camouflaged rules of robbery.
The WTO's overall goal: promoting market competition serves two purposes. First, it transforms culture, biodiversity, food, water, livelihoods, needs, and rights into commodities for sale to be conveyed to markets. Second, it justifies the destruction of nature, culture, and livelihoods in terms of rules of competition.
Its officials attack ethical and ecological rules that sustain and promote life, dubbing them as protectionist barriers to trade.
Globalized food and agriculture in effect, means the corporate takeover of the food chain, the erosion of food rights, the destruction of the cultural diversity of food and the biological diversity of crops, and the displacement of millions from land-based, rural livelihoods. The processes of hybridization involving repeated combinations of genetic material were limited for a long time by the fact that natur... more -
China plans massive $3.5 billion GM crops push
Driven by the increasingly pressing need to provide a stable food supply for its surging population (1.3 billion and growing), China has decided to engineer its own "Green Revolution" by embarking on a massive $3.5 billion GM crops R&D initiative, reports Science's Richard Stone. With this new biotechnology infrastructure in place, the Chinese hope to discover and patent their own genes "of great value" -- engaging in direct competition with the likes of Monsanto and ADM -- and to help their farms evolve "from high-input and extensive cultivation" to "high-tech and intensive cultivation."
Uh oh!! Driven by the increasingly pressing need to provide a stable food supply for its surging population (1.3 billion and growing), China h... more -
Poison in your stomach: genetically modified eggplants
After experimenting with rats, goats, sheep and cows, it is now the turn of Indian people. In a few months from now, if the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of India has its way, the first genetically modified food crop Bt Brinjal will be on your table.
Whether it is the laboratory rats or higher mammals, the animal kingdom has been more discerning possibly owing to a sixth instinct which human beings sadly lack. There is otherwise no explanation for why laboratory rats, for instance, should always be spurning GM foods. And when force fed, rats have invariably developed tumours and deformed body organs, including kidneys and livers, as well as serious diseases and ailments.
We have heard repeatedly of the death of sheep and goats when left to graze in the Bt cotton fields of India. First it was reported from Andhra Pradesh, and now newspaper reports point to the south-Indian state of Orissa. However, not much is public about how the cattle react. Several farmers in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have told me that cows avoid the Bt cotton fields when left to openly graze.
The Bt gene that has been infused in Bt cotton (or Bt corn on which most of the laboratory rat studies have been conducted) is no different from the same gene drawn from a soil bacterium scientifically called Bt that is now being incorporated in Brinjal. This gene releases a toxin within the plant that kills fruit-and-shoot borer insects. The Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), which is spearheading research on Bt Brinjal, claims that the genetically-modified Brinjal is safe for human consumption.
I have never been placated by the safety claims made by these companies. For several decades now we were told that cigarette smoking wasn't harmful to human health, that chemical pesticides were completely safe, and that white sugar poses no danger to the human body. These are not the only products that received the safety certificate - the list is endless. And yet decades later, after inflicting a heavy human cost the world over, most of these products are being banned or phased out. Long since sugar-based food products hit the market and were vouched safe, diabetes has suddenly assumed epidemic proportions.
Diabetes is a case in point: notwithstanding that the disease is growing at an alarming scale, the disappearance of the traditionally-cultivated Brinjal from the market will surely take away one of the simple home remedies and widely-practiced dietary solutions to combating the Type-2 diabetes. I too suffer from Type-2 diabetes, and therefore find it appalling that no scientific organisation, including the GEAC, is coming clean on what the genetically modified Brinjal will mean for people like me.
snip
If you don't believe me, let us listen to Prof Dave Schubert of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California: The Bt toxin is 1000 times more concentrated than in Bt sprays, which do not themselves have a history of safe use. In other words, what Dr Schubert says is that genetically modified Bt plants, and that includes Bt Brinjal, carry a toxin that is a thousand times more potent than what is used to kill insects. Strains of Bt have been used as sprays to control harmful insets. Spine chilling, isn't it?
The problem is that once Bt Brinjal enters the market, there is no way you can distinguish it from the normal ones. Your vegetable vendor will never be able to sell you the normal Brinjal that you are so used to buying. Moreover, once the genie is out, there is no way to call it back.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
India is once again to be the guinea pig to make biotech companies profits. As the article states, there is no shortage of eggplants (brinjal) in India. There is no other reason for this but profit at the expense of health. And once again without disclosure. It is despicable. After experimenting with rats, goats, sheep and cows, it is now the turn of Indian people. In a few months from now, if the Genetic En... more -
Federal court upholds ban on Monsanto's genetically engineered alfalfa
We know you're just dying to taste that delectable genetically modified alfalfa, but you'll have to wait: an appeals court today ruled that the feds must review the potential environmental effects of the biotech seeds before farmers can plant them.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals forces the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue an environmental impact statement on Roundup Ready alfalfa seeds, which are made by ag giant Monsanto and would be planted exclusively by Forage Genetics International.
"It’s a historic moment of a court requiring an environmental review, and until it's done Monsanto can't plant or sell its seed," said Kevin Golden, a staff attorney for the Center for Food Safety (CFS), which along with eight other parties sued the government green-lighting the seeds. "It puts on notice the government and creators of this technology -- Monsanto in particular -- that if it wants to bring GE (genetically engineered) crops into the American agricultural system, it must do its work to show that farmers and consumers will be protected and non-GE crops won't be affected."
The decision upholds an injunction issued by a district court judge last year. CFS and other critics worry that tiny genetically modified alfalfa seeds will contaminate organic and conventional crops through cross-pollination.
"The concern is there will one day not be organic alfalfa, which is the primary food for cattle in this country," Golden said. "If you lose organic alfalfa, you lose organic cheese."
Representatives from USDA, Monsanto and Forage Genetics International didn't immediately respond for comment.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wow, first the passing of the bill in California protecting farmers from Monsanto's frivolous greed driven lawsuits regarding transgenic pollination, and now this. Is the tide turning? I sure hope so. And as this article mentions, since alfalfa is a main source of food for cows, their round about attempt to poison our cheese and milk as well by hoping this fake alfalfa cross pollinates in the wind to ruin organic crops cows eat needs to be banned. This is truly an evil company. I have no doubt they want their seeds to cross pollinate in order to ruin organic crops to mutate them to control the market even of those farmers who do not plant their seeds! And then they sue the farmers! Good to see them being held accountable. It is more than the USDA and FDA have done in the past. These people are relentless! How much is enough? We know you're just dying to taste that delectable genetically modified alfalfa, but you'll have to wait: an appeals court t... more -
California legislature passes bill protecting farmers against Monsanto lawsuits
NOTE: More good news from the US. This is a major step forward. California's is the 8th largest economy in the world.
EXTRACT: Currently, farmers with crops that become contaminated by patented seeds or pollen have been the target of harassing lawsuits brought by biotech patent holders, particularly Monsanto. --- --- California Legislature Passes Bill Protecting Farmers Against Monsanto Lawsuits
First State Bill Regarding Genetically Engineered Crops Awaits Governor's Signature
PRESS RELEASE, The Genetic Engineering Policy Project
August 31 2008 - A landmark piece of legislation protecting California's farmers from crippling lawsuits was passed through both legislative houses this week in an end-of-session flurry. The Senate voted 23 - 14 to support it, and the Assembly was unanimous in their support. The bill, AB 541 (Huffman, D-Marin/Sonoma), is now headed to the Governor's desk for his signature. Sponsored by diverse organizations, some of whom are traditionally opposed on farm issues, AB 541 is the first bill passed by the California legislature that brings much-needed regulation to genetically engineered (GE) crops.
"I am very pleased that my office, working with the stakeholders on both sides of this historically divisive issue, was able to find common ground and pass California's first legislation on genetic engineered crops," stated Assemblymember Huffman. "While there is still work to be done on other aspects of genetic engineering, AB 541 is an important step in establishing basic protections for California's farmers."
AB 541 enacts protections against lawsuits brought against California farmers who have not been able to prevent the inevitable - the drift of GE pollen or seed onto their land and the subsequent contamination of their non-GE crops. Currently, farmers with crops that become contaminated by patented seeds or pollen have been the target of harassing lawsuits brought by biotech patent holders, particularly Monsanto. The bill also establishes a mandatory crop sampling protocol to prevent biotech companies that are investigating alleged violations from sampling crops without the explicit permission of farmers.
AB 541 has the support of organizations traditionally on opposite sides of the GE issue, and its sponsors are confident that the Governor will sign it. The bill was sponsored by a thirteen-member coalition including Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Earthbound Farm, California Certified Organic Farmers, United Natural Foods Inc., as well as California Farmers Union and the California Farm Bureau, and several others.
"AB 541 is a move in the right direction," stated Renata Brillinger, director of the Genetic Engineering Policy Project, the coalition of organic and conventional farmers, food industry, environmental, and faith organizations sponsoring AB 541. "It provides much needed protection for farmers who typically lack the resources to fight lawsuits brought by biotech conglomerates."
A copy of the bill can be downloaded at:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is GOOD news! I hope other states use California as a model and work on bills that also give protection to farmers sued by Monsanto out of greed. Transgenic pollution and pollination is not the fault of the farmer, and Monsanto should not be allowed to indiscriminately sue farmers trying to make a living simply because they don't plant their frankenfood. NOTE: More good news from the US. This is a major step forward. California's is the 8th largest economy in the world. ... more
-
