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Monsanto's GM Crops Go to US High Court, Environmental Laws on the Line
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in its first-ever case involving genetically modified crops. The decision in this case may have a significant impact on both the future of genetically modified foods and government oversight of that and other environmental issues.
The case, Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, revolves around an herbicide-resistant alfalfa, the planting of which has been banned in the U.S. since a federal court prohibited the multinational Monsanto from selling the seeds in 2007. The case, Monsanto Co.
v. Geertson Seed Farms, revolves around an herbicide-resistant alfalfa,
the planting of which has been banned in the U.S. since a federal court
prohibited the multinational Monsanto from selling the seeds in 2007.
That
decision found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not do a
thorough enough study of the impacts the GM alfalfa would have on human
health and the environment and ordered the agency to do another
environmental impact statement (EIS) review.
Though a draft was
released in December, "there is no anticipated date" for the final EIS,
Suzanne Bond, a spokeswoman with the USDA division charged with
regulating GM organisms - the Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) - told IPS.
The law under which organic farmers
were allowed to challenge USDA's oversight of the GM alfalfa, the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), is what may suffer the most
from the court's eventual decision, which is expected in June at the
earliest. The law "requires federal agencies to integrate environmental
values into their decision-making processes by considering the
environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable
alternatives to those actions", said Bond.
It is also a key
legal tool for environmental groups seeking to challenge those
agencies' decisions. The vulnerability of NEPA is a key reason so many
such groups have joined the plaintiffs by filing amicus briefs against
Monsanto in this case.
The Centre for Biological Diversity, one
of those groups, does not normally get involved in GM issues, said the
Centre's Noah Greenwald, but this case "has broad implications for how
governments do environmental analysis and when they need to prepare
impact statements".
"The broader implications are why we got in this," he told IPS.
Doug
Gurian-Sherman, who wrote several expert opinions for the earlier cases
in lower courts and is a senior scientist at the food and environment
programme of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has also filed an
amicus brief, pointed to the need for the type of citizen oversight of
the government's own oversight that is granted by statutes like NEPA.
"The
big issue here is how much deference should be given to a regulatory
agency and its expertise in doing its job versus how much access or
deference should be given to the public in having the ability to
challenge the agency in court," he said.
"The issue here then
becomes how amenable is the Supreme Court going to be in terms of
allowing citizens to bring suit against an agency that is not doing its
job, and that I think is the gist of what this decision may be," he
added.
But the legal implications are only half the story. Also
implicated, at least potentially, is the future of GM crops in the U.S.
and elsewhere.
In the original court case, organic farmers
argued that the genes of the GM alfalfa would be carried to
neighbouring - potentially miles away - non-GM alfalfa by the bees that
pollinate the crop and that genetic contamination would hurt their
ability to market their alfalfa under the label "organic". This would
also preclude them from exporting to countries that prohibit GM crops.
"Consumers
may not accept products cross-contaminated with genetically-engineered
components and you can test for those and testing is done pretty
routinely and therefore the market could reject the contaminated
organic crops," explained Gurian-Sherman.
In addition to this
economic impact, they have argued that the planting of the Roundup
Ready alfalfa that is at issue here, used in conjunction with the
Monsanto-made herbicide Roundup, may also lead to increased
herbicide-resistance in weeds.
APHIS largely dismissed this as
an issue in its original analysis, says Gurian-Sherman, "even though
over the last couple years the incidence of resistant weeds and the
economic impacts they're having largely contradicts APHIS's analysis."
Though
questions over the environmental and economic impacts of growing GM
crops have existed for decades, the issue remains extremely complicated
from an ethical and health perspective. Depending on how broad the
Supreme Court's decision ends up being, it could go a long way to
deciding the fate of other GM crops.
A case on GM sugar beets is
currently ongoing. The court has allowed plantings this year, but has
reserved the right to prohibit them in the future. The USDA is in the
midst of preparing a draft impact statement for both these sugar beets
and a GM creeping bentgrass.
Gurian-Sherman has serious concerns
about the agency's actions on GM crops generally. "There's been several
indications beside this case that USDA has not been really doing an
adequate job regulating genetically-engineered seed&As a scientist,
having reviewed a number of environmental assessments that the agency
has done, in my opinion they've often done a very lax, scientifically
often unsupportable job in their analyses. It's not like they've been
completely negligent, but in my opinion they've made a number of errors
in either scientific reasoning or in their data or data analysis."
Since
1992, USDA's APHIS division has granted non-regulated status to GM
plants in response to 80 petitions, according to Bond, including
multiple varieties of corn, soybeans, cotton, rapeseed, potato, tomato,
squash, papaya, plum, rice, sugar beet, tobacco, alfalfa, flax, and
chicory.
Tuesday's decision may have a significant influence on how that list changes in the future.
53 Comments so far
Show AllThis case is extremely important. Will the Court side with the people - if not maybe we are all doomed to a GMO world. Monsanto has a long history of aggressive legal tactics that are terrifying!
P.S. Of course this is only my opinion. (Had to add that in case Monsanto legal team is watching.)
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/three-approved-gmos-linked-to-organ-damage/
>>The Committee of Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) and Universities of Caen and Rouen obtained Monsanto’s confidential raw data of its 2002 feeding trials on rats after a European court made it public in 2005.
>>The data “clearly underlines adverse impacts on kidneys and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, as well as different levels of damages to heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system,” reported Gilles-Eric Séralini, a molecular biologist at the University of Caen.
My roomate allergic to corn based products, thus I eat very little of the stuff. I guess I should be grateful.
"Justice" Clarence Corporate Thomas was counsel for Monsanto, as as of this writing has not recused himself from this case. I doubt very much that there will be any justice dispensed in this case by this court.
When a factory pours its polluting waste chemicals directly in our rivers and destroys our drinking water, sometimes a government agency will put a stop to it.
When Monsanto spreads its polluted pollen into our air and destroys our crops, it is very doubtful than our corporate-owned Supreme Court will even consider putting a stop to it.
Get used to "Better living through chemistry", after all, "Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible". (Monsanto slogans.)
Actually, the slogan is "Better things for better living---through chemistry" --- and it was used by Dow Chemical Co. during the 1950's and '60's--- I recall it well from listening to radio programming sponsored by Dow Chemical. dh
Breyer has recused himself. Apparently, the lower judge who issued the injunction in N. California is a relative.
Breyer (whose focus was admin law and believes in increasing citizen participation in the government review) was one vote against Monsanto. Coincidence that this injunction is going up to the Court? I doubt it -- Monsanto's legal team probably leaped on this opportunity to silence Breyer.
We can expect a very damaging decision. This is bad news...
His brother, so I have read
BLIND FAITH -- DOWNFALL OF SOCIETY
Infinite are the physical facts and physical perfections
in nature that establish the reality of an intelligent
design in the creation of nature.
So why is it that while most educated people have no
knowledge in this theory called evolution, most
educated people have blind faith in a religion
called evolution?
I appreciate the comments to date. All provide interesting additional information to the article. Thanks!!! Just as aside: I ponder this issue (and so many more). I sit and wonder sometimes about the executives of these companies. Are they eating the products their companies' are generating when they sit down to dinner with their families (denial or ignorance) or are they shipping in and preparing guaranteed non-GMO fare (evil)?
You're stealing my thunder.
We have a couple regulars here (who should show up any minute now) espousing the benefits of GM food.
At which point I always tell them: PLEASE, I beg of you, eat lots and lots of GM corn!
I was gone for the day, just got home, sorry. I don't think anyone need worry about the Supreme's decision. Most of the Supreme's were picked by Republicans so I'm sure they would never side with corporations. I'm not so sure about the Democrats, but, oh, I forgot, there's no difference between the 2 parties.
Greg, try to keep up and get with the picture.
GW North:
“My roommate is allergic to corn based products, thus
I eat very little of the stuff. I guess I should be grateful.”
Processed corn, such as corn oil, this is pure chemicals
and poison to the body.
But corn that has not been processed by man or animal,
whole corn with none of the bulk, fiber, vitamins,
minerals or complex carbohydrates refined out,
this is a most perfect food.
CORN
80% complex carbohydrates, 10% protein and 10% fat
Super cheap diet also. Get a hand grinder, get feed corn
from a local farmer and make whole grain cereal,
corn/blueberry muffins, soy/corn waffles, corn bread, etc.
Also from the article cited by GwNorth earlier:
"Human health, of course, is of primary import to us, but ecological effects are also in play. Ninety-nine percent of GMO crops either tolerate or produce insecticide. This may be the reason we see bee colony collapse disorder and massive butterfly deaths. If GMOs are wiping out Earth’s pollinators, they are far more disastrous than the threat they pose to humans and other mammals."
I knew about bee colony collapse, which has been blamed on all sorts of possible causes, but "massive butterfly deaths" I've not seen in the MSM. OTOH, I see fewer butterflies every year and fewer varieties of them.
If the pollinators die off, then food becomes more scarce and the price goes up. Neat program, eh!
The article on this thread also reports:
"Since 1992, USDA's APHIS division has granted non-regulated status to GM plants in response to 80 petitions, according to Bond, including multiple varieties of corn, soybeans, cotton, rapeseed, potato, tomato, squash, papaya, plum, rice, sugar beet, tobacco, alfalfa, flax, and chicory."
I knew only about corn, soy and cotton. What does "non-regulated status" mean? That they can grow and sell this shit with impunity, while we can't know whether we are eating GM food because no law requires labeling (not that bees and butterflies can read labels!)?
If ever there were a time when the Precautionary Principle should be vigorously applied, it is now. Contamination by GM genetic drift could be irreversible.
I think Monsanto is more dangerous than (non-nuclear) war. Pro-corporatist or not, some things are beyond the pale. Monsanto is playing God, and most members of SCOTUS seem to like that role as well, so I am not sanguine...
-30-
Corporate control of the food supply is perhaps the greatest evil man has ever engaged in.
If indeed GM seeds turn out to be toxic to people, animals or the environment it could become to become the greatest tragedy in human history.
Perhaps, except, of course, water. Nestle, Coca Cola and others are buying up water rights all over the world. Here in Florida, the state gives free access to corporate water interests. FREE access to the declining FL aquifer. Local water companies are raising customer rates! Someone in Tallahassee is lining their pockets. What the EFF!
At least Nestle and Coke aren't trying to genetically modify the water or control the entire world's water supply (yet). When they accomplish that I'll gladly give them the #1 evil designation.
I'm afraid we're doomed to eat genetically mutilated crapfood, and the human die-off will begin in earnest. It may be some time before major organ damage from gmo will be admitted as the culprit, owing to biotech's vicious watchdogs and their full time legal retainers who have seen to the ruin of the careers of those scientists who have come forward with the evidence.
Current organic certification verifies growing methods, and does not test for GMO crop contamination. Even when we buy organic and "almost organic" (those things that have labels saying peculiar things like "73 percent organic", we're often buying crapfood. One example is chips made from organic corn but fried in gmo canola oil.
It will come to the point where any boycott will involve simply limiting ourselves to foods that have not yet been genetically modified, and those will become fewer and fewer.
Two good sites for keeping up:
truefoodnow.org
and
www.organicconsumers.org
Can anything better demonstrate what an utter fabrication judicial impartiality has become than the certainty that the five stooges will vote as they're told by their corporate commandants?
I don't believe that they are mere puppets. Rather, they are corporate enthusiasts who seek out the company of corporate elites to play daily afternoons of golf. It is all about rich against poor. And as Warren Buffet pointed out, their side is winning or actually has won. This case will further ensconce the criminal Monsanto as the one and only purveyor of seed and food to the world.
Generally speaking the solution we have found is to buy LOCAL produce and meat; also there is a Buffalo ranch nearby. The young couple who raise the Buffalo, sell at the local farmer's markets and do very well. The independent supermarkets have got the message. We no longer see food imported from exotic locales. Now we have begun to see local free range chicken and eggs and other such food in the supermarkets. Although--- I did ask the manager of the vegetable section of Fred Meyer's if they sold GM produce. He didn't know. He said he would have to ask his superior. But not to worry, soon it will be against the law to label food GM FREE. Or even to inquire about its origins.
Impeach the Supreme Court FIVE!!!!!
Monsanto Dirge empirePie April 26th, 2010
Change the genotype and call it owned.
Dump the grant grain
Join the plenty of the labor chain.
Rearrange the bonus changers,
call us boned.
Change your chip, your pet, your phone.
Change your underwater loan.
Hush just listen to the sound of money.
Flush just listen to suck of money.
The market is just purging.
Soon it will be surging.
The market was just chilling
soon it will be filling
so...
Chill us out..the marks
Austerity needs the needy.
Riches need the greedy,
for money needs to rule
the markets only fool.
to think......
I was a tool
Engage for terror;
Buy a pet chicken hawk,
Save the feathers for their nest.
Hush just listen to the sound of money.
Cha ching
The change is in the can
ah yes.....
“change we can be believe in.”
The change of bondage is in the can.
Non entity is called ‘The Man’
GM seeds must be completely banned. They are in direct opposition to the natural world and it's evolution. Why do these corporate monsters HATE the natural world so much? They hate this beautiful natural world so much that they seek to destroy it.
Corporation as Anti-christ. Sound too bizarre? Check it out.
Book of Rev as allegory.
Christ: Anti-Christ
Human: Artificial Person,
On and on...
Not a natural person, and without a soul, "monsanto" has a history of suing farmers when monsanto GM pollen infects the gene line of the farmer's crops. This absurd tactic by monsanto and its lawyers, turning logic on its head, was obviously a pre-emptive counter factual argument to block possible legal actions by farmers for the genetic pollution caused by GM crops. The farmer that has their crops infected is obviously the harmed party, and GM companies are responsible for creating products that cause genetic pollution and harm. With GM genetic pollution the damages can be infinite, because genetic harm can extend to all future generations.
So now what, folks?
Black Elk, from his biography by Neihardt, 1930s:
"The only things that work well are those things that work the way Nature works."
10,000 year old knowledge.
Homo Cleverass bites the dust.
stringbean___you might have a little trouble getting GM seeds banned when they are used voluntarily on about 75% of the acres planted now. Farmers know the yield advantages of GM crops and also the saving and safety of not needing poisonous chemicals to control harmful insects and other problems. If it was not working for farmers they would not be paying several hundred dollars for one bushel of seed to plant 2-3 acres. If these GM crops were toxic to animals, that would be apparent by now, as they have been in use for a number of years now and the livestock are still going. There is also promising work on drought resistant crops, which could save much precious water.
Just as GWNorth and OleManRiver predicted, the troll appears.
Your post ignores evidence cited by others in this thread that GM foods are harmful over time and that GM crops yields are really no better than those of conventional crops.
q
you might have a little trouble getting GM seeds banned when they are used voluntarily on about 75% of the acres planted now.
Of course "voluntarily" is a subjective term, as the farmers are using what is presented to them, PLUS there was a lot of mis-information given from the onset.
Farmers know the yield advantages of GM crops and also the saving and safety of not needing poisonous chemicals to control harmful insects and other problems.
Company hype?? MANY reports are stating exactly the opposite, that farmers are finding that they must use MORE insecticides and chemicals after a few years. The advantage seems to be only during the early "shock period" of usage, not over the long haul.
If it was not working for farmers they would not be paying several hundred dollars for one bushel of seed to plant 2-3 acres.
Since the GM crops are patent protected, the farmers can not save seeds to use, thus they MUST continue to buy seed once they've been duped into purchasing GM seeds. Farmers around the world are complaining that now they're trapped in the GM seed purchase cycle, they're not making any money, but barely surviving.
If these GM crops were toxic to animals, that would be apparent by now, as they have been in use for a number of years now and the livestock are still going.
Let's see, butterfly decline, honey bee decline, bat decline....hmmmm might be, might not be, but the SANE person errs on the side of caution. As for other 'livestock', since the USDA refuses to let ranchers do 100% check of cattle for a variety of diseases, this statement has little to no meaning what so ever. It has been the practice of the FDA, EPA and USDA to allow multiple changes in any given crop and/or animal husbandry opperation that it would be nearly impossible to put the blame for any ill effects on one entitiy. We kill off chickens after only eight weeks, much too early to determine if GMO crops cause tumors or not.... and in the layer hens, the growing conditions alone could account for some of the same attributes that may be caused by GM food crops. AS for HUMANS, we're showing far more incidences of obesety, ADHD, hypertension, diabeties, early cancers, asthma and the list goes on. Nobody can say that GM crops COULD NOT play a role in any of these factors. The sad truth is that NO testing was done on long term health effects before allowing these crops to go to market and again, the SANE person would err on the side of caution.
By your logic in the first sentence, there should be legalization of all drugs, since drugs are taken by the individual users "voluntarily". Given THIS scenerio, even a PRO-GMO advocate such as yourself will have to admit that there is indeed the possibility that GM crops could be made illegal. Probably not, but one can always hope.....
The idea that gm seeds prevent the use of poisonous insecticides is an illusion. Bt corn has insecticide in every cell. It isn't fit for human consumption, and is harmful to wildlife, including beneficial insect life. When gmo grain has escaped into the human food supply, recalls have been made, but not before people were sickened by it. Eventually insects will become immune to it, and the solution that you perceive as clean and safe will be a nonstarter. Even Monsanto has admitted this. Most genetically modified seed is engineered to withstand multiple applications of Roundup which is a poison that runs off into our water supplies.
As for the safety of gmo to animals, it used to be customary in some parts of the world for sheep to eat the waste of harvested cotton fields. Entire herds of sheep who have eaten the post-harvest fields of Bt cotton have died, entire herds dead. And nobody knows what's going on with the bees. It's interesting that European studies produce different results than American studies (which means the studies that Monsanto doesn't suppress) with regard to toxins that show up in the eggs, milk and flesh of animals that have been fed a diet of gmo feed.
GMO is not about feeding the world either. If we can't solve hunger now, in a time when earth's countries produce enough food for nine billion while our population hovers around six billion, we never will solve hunger, and believe me, Monsanto's mission statement is not "to save the world". Monsanto considers genetically modified organisms as products to sell, and they have said that their objective is to make money, and that it's up to government agencies to say whether or not their products are safe.
no genetic modifuckation!
Kernelz,
Like many apologists for industrial agriculture and the crop "protectants" it spawns, you confuse "yield advantages" with proven yield increases. There are NO GM crops that can boast any higher proven yield increases than conventional crops. What GM crop proponents can say is that GM varieties can reduce YIELD LOSS. There's a hell of a difference between a variety with a proven yield increase and one that can reduce yield loss. A lot of GM crop proponents claim that biotechnology will "feed the world." Until GM crops get away from being the equivalent of registered pesticides, the manufacturers of herbicides and insecticides could make the same claim. In short, GM crops make farming easier (agronomic advantages) and make corporations richer, but these crops have yet to demonstrate a consumer benefit, such as improved nutritional attributes or cheaper prices due to demonstrably increased yields.
cubsfan,
I am not an apologist for any company as I have been farming for over 50 years and have seen with my own eyes the difference in the crops we used to raise that barely paid expenses and the new GM crops. We had stalks falling down, corn ears falling off, and general problems even with using chemicals when planting and spraying insects once or twice. GM corn stands well and holds ears because it is healthy instead of riddled with all kinds of pests. My wife got deathly sick twice because we were forced to use spray to save the crop from damage so I know from much experience the advantages of GM seeds. We have no need to spray now so do not try to tell my wife how wonderful the old straight bred varieties are. They are still available but are mostly used for refuge requirements to keep insects and bugs from developing immunity. Farmers still can plant their entire crop with ordinary seed which is cheaper if they want, but few do that. We do not buy GM seed because we are forced to but because it works well. It would be a good idea for some posters that read the scare stories to talk to a few farmers that actually know from experience what the situation is our on the farms.
A good number of my family still farms. They avoid GM crops like the plague. Their yields are as good as any other farms in the area. They turn profit without having to be subsidized because they do not have to pay extra for seed, pesticides and herbicides.
Insects and weeds become unmanageable due to poor farming practices. Herbicides , pesticides and GM crops are cheats for those who would rather not practice sound farming methods. Grow corn over and over again on the same land and the problems with pests and weeds goes up . Proper crop rotation and allowing land to go to pasture will see a dramatic drop in the number of pests or weeds.
Way back when in Sumeria the lands of Mesopotamia were the richest and most fertile in the known world. Records show crops of barley coming of those lands that yielded more per acre then the very highest yield crops we have today.
This before pesticides, Herbicides and GM crops.
This went on for many generations until the people decided they could raise even more crops via irrigation and overutilization of the land. Rather then practice sound and sustainable methods of agriculture they wanted to maximize the number of times they could take a crop off a given piece of land in a year and they wanted to use more marginal lands for the same.
This lead to plummetting yields as the land became burned out, requiring more in the way of fertilizers and and ever higher usage of the same land. The soil became salinated and sterile and much of it still desert to this day.
Your GM crops, herbicides and pesticides are bandaid solutions that only FUEL the downward spiral of land productivity. The food raised from GM drops is unfit for human consumption. But hey...get what you can now is the mantra. SQUEEZE.
SCOTUS is ruling on the environmental impact vs. a mega corporation?
Gee, let me take a wild guess their ruling favors Monsanto.
The Supreme Court has turned into a gang of dangerously powerful corporate hacks.
I have no doubt the outcome. Monsanto, Wall St. and Obama's been wanting this for a long time. It's a done deal.
The court theatrics will be an exercise for legitimacy.
Man you nailed that one.. This is the court of the corporate citizen.. I only wish that
the rest of the people would wake up but that is not going to happen..
I only wish I had left the country in 1970 when you could still escape to Canada..silly me
thought we could make a change.. Well my friend the war is over and the corporation won.
SUPPORT THE EMPIRE SEND YOUR NEIGHBOURS KIDS
Google Brave New Hay. It explains roundup ready alfala and the missing bees.
My wife just returned from germany where she had many conversations concerning GM crops. Apparently all GM crops are banned from the bavarian region and interestingly they have no reported problems of missing bees.
Win or lose, GM has already won half the battle by having the markets to themselves thanks to years of wiping out genuine competition which would have forced the GM corporations out of business. Still, while I am not optimistic about the likely outcome of this case, we might as well test the public on their awareness of what they are ready to find acceptable or unacceptable to eat.
Is there anywhere to buy plant seeds that haven't been affected by contamination from Monsanto?
I once saw a program that talked about how all of the seeds of the world are being stored deep underground in a seed bank. It was in country which had a lot of snow., so I hope it wasn't Iceland.
Does anyone know what I am talking about, and if so, were these seeds non-polluted Monsanto seeds, and the real deal of Nature?
The Future of food is a excellent and worth watching informational documentary on this subject. It will or should open a person eyes.
There are still a FEW companines dealing in heirlooms. You may find a link at www.organicconsumers.org or try www.attra.org.
As for the seed bank, they just opened a new one in Norway I believe. The US "use to" have a repository (in Colorado I think - but not sure). The USDA was suppose to plant a percentage of each variety every so often to keep renewing the seeds and keeping them viable. Anyway, the one in the US is defunct because they've not grown out the seeds periodically to refresh the supply. Lots of speculation as to why this is, some say because there is not enough open land available not subject to GMO drift, some say because the USDA was 'bought off' by agra-business (read Monsanto) with the promise that with GM technology the seed companies could 're-engineer' any of the old varieties at a later date. Don't know for sure, but the US is NOT the leader in this field. Lots of the information for organics and heirlooms has to be gotten from off shore sources.
try the following site for 'organic seeds' suppliers
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/organic_seed/
good luck in your gardening efforts.
Outside of the the Svalbard International Seed Vault in Norway, which is unique in it has been built on an island 1300 Km from the North Pole and can take a direct hit from a nuclear weapon. It has approximately 500,000 seeds mostly of food crops and is a dooms day vault in case the 1400 existing seed banks are eliminated.
In fort Worth Texas we have a research facility that is adjacent to our World Class Botanic Gardens. It is called The Botanical Research Institute, or BRIT.
We have in excess of one million specimens hand collected from all corners of the earth. In addition to this plant collection we have a seed bank inclusive of every specimen in our collection. It is not part of the public collection and remains sealed at most times.
Monsanto is the monster in the room. With owning the seed available to farmers they make acquiring round-up expensive unless you buy their seed. There is anti-trust action taking place but I don't know if it will stand up to political pressure.
Monsanto at the meeting of stockholders stated their plan to bundle Round-up with GM seed would increase profits by 100-150% nest year and the cost per acre to plant will go from an average of $ 25 per acre to $125 per acre putting private and family farms at a great disadvantage as the ability to borrow enough to plant is in question.
Monsanto has already won a suite against a farmer whose corn fields were down wind from a Monsanto GM corn field. Monsanto stated that his corn had their patented genetic material in it and there for were owed for his use of their pollen. The farmer paid out of court as he could not afford a long legal battle.
Monsanto who brought us Agent Orange and poisoned millions of people including over 1,000,000 American Service men, would not for moment hesitate to poison us all if it brought in profits after risk anyalisis. They are insured in all aspects of their attempt to corner the seed market and will succeed unless we all speak with one voice.
Please add yours to your Congressmen, Senators, elected judges and the FDA which from my own personal experience is not run in the public's interest.
Science/Technology provides two bits of benefit to the people for every six bits of benefit to elites.
Genetic modification has two bits of benefit to the people for every six bits of benefit to elites.
Genetic modification is like fossil fuel: It provides elites a mechanism to hook the people on something the people cannot acquire independently. This means market control, societal control, world control, for the elites.
Kaka on the elites and their rackets. Plant heirloom, open-pollinated food varieties in your garden this spring, and keep your independence, and all the benefits.
I am one of the Muslim people of the world who protest against GMO food crops because we don't really know what genes did all the scientists of biotechnologies have secretly injected into our food crops. Are they pig genes, cow genes, snake genes, dog genes, cat genes, mouse genes, crab genes or cockcroach genes hidden in our next meal? As much as all knowledgeable Muslim consumers of Halal perishables hate GMO foods, I strongly believe no genuine Buddhism and Hinduism followers who are a full-time vegetarian would like to have a vegetarian meal with Haram animal or insect genes hidden in it as well. Neither those who are only allergic to peanuts would like to consume cashew nuts secretly injected with peanut genes. Some sufferers vulnerable to peanuts might have died eating GMO cashew nuts that we might not know whether peanut genes are secretly injected into them. Where are the human rights and respect for the safety of everyone? Biotechnologists should not play God because all their scientific tests are a fake as all biotechnologists have not lived a lifetime of more than a century to prove their GMO food crops are safe for human consumption and could improve our health condition in reality. Now you decide about it with a simple art of common sense, if you do have it. This is truly serious to everyone because it is a matter of life and death situation if we allow biolotechnolgists to continue tampering with our Halal perishables at our expense. No one with sanity would like to eat GMO foods and be complacent what may badly happen to our future health. Please do not gamble with our life with GMO foods that are not clinically-proven safe for 100 years. Okay, let's be more flexible and discount 50%, there are not even one GMO food to certify it has proven safe for 50 years at least. Where are the labels of scientific proofs of GMO foods are safe for our daily consumption, right now? No scientific authority and the committees of World Health Organization are willing to declare any GMO foods are excellent and healthy for everyone or anyone. Morevover, most GMO food crops need insecticide and herbicide chemical killers more than non-GMO food crops do. Why? Who is the great idiot who would tell us that GMO foods are safe without any written evidence? Prove it now if you do have it! GwNorth, thank you for your support.
Ray Berthiaume
Muhammad, thank you for your insightful remarks. I am a Christian vegetarian and never thought of the possibility of animal genes put into vegetables!
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GMcropsfailed.php
This link will show a mutlitude of studies that show GH type crops in fact have reduced yields and over time require more pesticide and herbicide use when compared to non modified crops.
They are also much more susceptible to catastrophic loss.
From the article is this tidbit on how farmers deal with certain pests on other countries without the use of pesticides and herbicides.
>>Low-tech innovations by Southern farmers have boosted production [21]. For example, in East Africa, corn faces two major pests – stem borer and Striga, a parasitic plant. By planting a local weed (napier grass) that the stem borer prefers, pests are lured away from the corn into a honey trap – the grass produces a sticky substance that kills stem borer larvae. By planting another weed, Desmodium, between rows of corn, Striga won’t grow, as it is adverse to Desmodium. Pesticides are replaced by natural predators, and fertilisers by natural dung, crop wastes and plants that fix nitrogen from the air.
Unlike herbicides and pesticides, this method does not lead to the pest becoming immune to the same which then requires more herbicide and pesticide use.
Here is an excerpt from an article titled "IRAQI ORDER 81" by Rosemarie Jackowski
"...Iraqi Order 81 is of special interest because it goes a long way in
affecting every living being on the planet. This order prohibits
Iraqi farmers from using the methods of agriculture that they have
used for centuries. The common worldwide practice of saving heirloom
seeds from one year to the next is now illegal in Iraq. Order 81
wages war on Iraqi farmers. They have lost the freedom and liberty
to choose their own methods of agriculture.
The food chain has been under worldwide assault by U.S. corporations
for some time now. The Master Race of corporations has seized
control of the very essence of life itself. We are now in the age of
Genetically Modified Doomsday Seeds...."
When will this terrorizing company finally be put to rest? They shouldn't just go after Monsanto but also after those corrupt politicians, in whose backpockets Monsanto is comfortably lodged, who have facilitated Monsanto's evil deeds. Are these people so effing stupid not to realize that not only we are being poisoned but also they?