How
many of you know that large agri-producers have perfected sterile
seeds that will grow one plant but you can’t grow another plant
from saved seeds. This
not only forces us buy seeds every year, it is a clever way of
forcing all but the diehards to give up gardening altogether.
You must buy supermarket produce such as tomatoes
genetically engineered to have impenetrable skins and hard
flavorless meat so that they can be transported without damage as
would occur with an “old fashioned” tomato.
I feed real food but will now be very careful of
carrots….. read on. And
please, don’t shoot the messenger.
I am compelled to make this carefully suppressed
information available for all who believe they are protecting
their dogs by cooking for them or feeding raw meat and veggies.
Now you can not trust what you buy from the grocery store
either!
CALENDAR
OF CALAMITIES for the year 2000:
The
following political and media disasters struck the Agbiotech
industry since the BioSafety Protocol was adopted in January.
January,
2000 - Soiled reputation: As delegations readied for the Montreal
bio-safety meeting,
US and Venezuelan researchers confirmed that the Botulism toxin in
transgenic maize could (contrary to industry expectations) escape
into the soil killing larvae up to 25 days after the break-out.(1)
February,
2000 - Hard to resist: Canadian scientists acknowledged that
Monsanto's Roundup,
Cyanamid's Pursuit, and Aventis's Liberty herbicides lost their
effectiveness against weeds only 2 to 3 years after an Alberta
farmer planted the companies' GM canola seeds.(2)
March,
2000 - Vowel language: A long-suppressed U.S. Government memo
dating to 1993 revealed an experiment in which 4 of 20 female
rodents fed the FlavrSavr (a GM tomato now owned by Monsanto)
suffered gross stomach lesions.(3)
'Play possum' penis plot: New Zealand scientists proposed
to develop GM carrots engineered to sterilize possums when eaten.
Possums are threatening the country's crops.(4) Scientists
pooh-poohed concern that the carrots might have the same effect on
people, and insisted the carrots could be kept separate from the
human food chain if necessary.
The
'Which Blair Project': Tony Blair reversed his position of a year
earlier ('the Prime Minister is very strongly minded that these
[GM] products are safe.') and told readers of The Independent that
'there is no doubt that there is potential for harm from GM
food.'(5) Further flip flops are widely predicted.
April,
2000 - Weevil wars: It was found that GM cotton that 'volunteered'
in GM soybean fields may be bringing the dreaded cotton boll
weevil back into the USA as a major pest.(6)
A-maize-ing pace:, American maize growers were shunning GM
seeds because their 1998/99 exports to Europe had dropped to
137,000 tons from 2
million tons one year earlier.(7) The announcement came on the
heels of media reports that major potato processors and fast-food
chains were warning growers to avoid GM potatoes.
May,
2000 - 'Safe' wherever they are? GM seeds were routinely - though
accidentally - shipped to Europe by U.S. and Canadian seed
companies who couldn't seem to keep their conventional seeds
separate from their GM lines.(8) In the following days, the sloppy
inventory management problem spread throughout Western Europe as
country after country found their fields contaminated with illegal
and unwanted GM crops. (New Zealanders were assured that such
stock management problems could never occur with carrots.)
- 'Safe' whoever they are: Monsanto advised U.S. officials
that it had detected an unidentified strand of DNA making 'mystery
guest' appearances in its GM soybeans, Monsanto assured officials
that the unknown DNA was perfectly safe (and was not a virus
playing 'possum'). - German Bee Bellies: A researcher in Saxony
found that a gene had transferred from genetically engineered
rapeseed to bacteria and fungi discovered in the gut of honeybees.
Industry had previously claimed such a transfer was highly
unlikely or impossible.
June,
2000 - Spider man: A 'jumping gene' being used in genetic
engineering has crossed
the species barrier at least seven times, including one jump
between flies and humans. If organisms modified using this
footloose gene are released, there is risk of further unexpected
jumps.(9) (New Zealanders were assured the gene would not be used
in developing transgenic carrots).
'Safe' whatever they are: The New Zealand Government
admitted that there were at least 100 illicit GM crop experiments
underway in the country.(10) After checking on half the
experiments, the Government announced that (as with Monsanto)
everything was okay (and that none of the experiments could
possibly involve either possums or carrots.
July,
2000 - No safe refuge: Non-GM maize 'refuges' planted by farmers
near their GM maize
fields in order to slow resistance to the bacterial toxin in the
GM fields just don t work. The vulnerable insects in the refuge
plots refuse to breed with the resistant insects from the larger
GM fields. (Possums, however, are understood to find the corporate
designed plots to be ideal breeding grounds.)
Wander-lust? A large-scale study of the UK's oilseed rape
crop and indigenous weedy relatives proved that crosses can occur
and that traits such as GM herbicide-tolerance could leap to
weeds. (11)
Still
mad: UK authorities reported a new case of Mad Cow disease in one
cow born after stringent new controls were established in 1996.
(12) Public distrust of government and scientists over GM crops in
Europe began with their failures in handling Mad Cows.
August,
2000 - And madder still: Human deaths from Mad Cow Disease in the
UK were reported
to have increased markedly in the first half of 2000 compared to
1999. There were 15 deaths to August 2000 compared to only 18 in
all of 1999.(13) - The real Golden Rice: A U.S. university study
of 'sticky' rice varieties in China and the Philippines showed
that planting a number of diverse varieties increased yields by
89% while reducing disease by 98%.
Their conclusion: diversity outperforms genetically uniform
GM varieties.(14) - Better flee butterfly! - Researchers in Iowa
(USA) confirmed a controversial Cornell study proving that GM
maize is a threat to Monarch butterflies. Industry had disputed
the earlier Cornell findings.(15) Possum labels? - Bowing to
public pressure, both New Zealand and Australia announced they
would require labeling for almost all GM foods.
This brought the two countries close to Europe and further
isolated Canada and the USA who still oppose labeling. (16)
September,
2000 - Taco bulls: A GM maize variety ('Starlink') banned in the
USA for human consumption (because of fears of allergic reactions)
but permitted as a livestock feed, showed up in taco shells served
at Taco Bell restaurants. The Aventis variety raised new concerns
about industry's and government's capacity to regulate and manage
GM products. Golden
fleeced: The May surrender of the public sector’s Golden Rice
technology to AstraZeneca due to fears that the Vitamin A enhanced
GM cereal contravened up to 105 intellectual property arrangements
was shown to be false. At most 11 patents could be implicated and
all would likely be surrendered upon request.
'Safe' whatever part it is? U.S. researchers warned of a
loophole in biosafety regulations for GM crops such as tomatoes
and potatoes where the rule of 'substantial equivalence' applies
only to the edible portion of the plant and neglects changes that
might occur in roots or leaves. Failure to test for significant
genetic alteration of the inedible parts could risk the
environment they warned. (17)
October,
2000 - Power Ranger epi-needles: The Taco Bell scandal spread to
Kellogg's
corn
flakes as the giant cereal company closed down one plant for fear
that the illicit GM StarLink maize had infected breakfast cereals.
(StarLink was approved for animal feed but not for human
consumption.) In a panic, the White House sent emissaries to Japan
and Europe to try to calm concerns that Aventis's 'Starlink' had
illegally entered their
countries.
Consumers joked that breakfast cereal makers would have to give
away epi-needles or epi-pens (injections to treat anaphylactic
shock) in cereal boxes instead of Power Rangers or StarWars toys,
for fear of allergic reactions in children. (18) Super sugarweeds:
German researchers reported that a GM sugarbeet designed to resist
one herbicide accidentally acquired resistance to a second
herbicide. EU biosafety rules do not permit double-resistance
because of the increased possibility of gene diffusion into weeds
and the creation of superweeds. (19) Slow learners: Mad Cow
disease = the food crisis that sparked distrust of scientific
judgement and government regulatory competence, appeared to be
taking hold in France with new reports of diseased animals. (20)
Possum patent policy: A policy change that would have allowed the
world's largest agricultural research network devoted to Third
World food security to patent genes and gene sequences was turned
down when the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR) met in Washington. The move would also have
encouraged a shift toward GM crops.
November,
2000 - Unethical monopolies: The first meeting of the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization's Ethics Panel (a group of
world-renowned agronomists and ethicists)
concluded that GM crops are risky, Terminator technology is
immoral; and that patenting genes and other genetic material leads
to crop genetic erosion and unacceptable
monopoly. (22) Biotech's
billion dollar mistake: With the Aventis 'Starlink' scandal
spreading to hundreds of food products and companies, the company
estimated that its clean-up costs would be less than $1 billion.
Then the GM maize turned up in Japan and Korea (23)
December,
2000 - Montpellier's Monsanto rescue: The world's 'biocrats'
gathered in France to debate biosafety rules and rescue Monsanto.
Never before have so many gathered to debate biosafety for so few!
In essence, the $2.5 billion GM seed market involves 4 major
industrial crops (soybean, maize, cotton and canola) grown in 3
countries (the US, Argentina, and Canada accounted for 98% of the
total GM area in 2000). In 1999, Monsanto s GM seed traits
accounted for over four-fifths of the total world area devoted to
GM crops.(24) Demand for GM seeds almost flattened in 2000 with an
increase of only 8% after years of doubling and redoubling.
Analysts predicted that, at least until 2003, demand would
remain flat or decline. In other words, the purpose of Montpellier was to rescue Monsanto, the USA,
Canada and Argentina from their GM blunder! Possums' 'pay'-TV:
Australian researchers may have found the answer to New Zealand's
possum problems. Reports earlier in the year that Aussie possums
were dropping like flies from above-ground cable TV wiring has
stirred speculation in the island country that a similar emphasis
on overhead wires could eliminate the need for GM carrots.
Extensive
footnotes provided by RAFI: Rural Advancement Foundation
International available
at the website: http://www.rafi.org/
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