[RUSTYME]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/03/monsanto-caused-an-estimated-150000-farmer-suicides.aspx

for all those who 'still' use roundup and think it is safe !!! , and who think GM crops are a good thing .... read the above link .


cheers

Russ

[Norfolk Newby]

I use Roundup when I have weed problems - currently on ragwort. But I use it as little as possible and with care. Other articles have reported that it damages the worm population in the soil and may have other bad effects as well.

On the GM side, not all development is by Monsanto to add resistance to Roundup to commercial crops. The John Innes research centre in Norwich is using genes from primitive potatoes to add resistance to blight to current commercial varieties. This seems like a potential good thing if it works. Locally, a lot of potatoes are grown and they have to be sprayed about every 2 weeks - 7 times during the summer. Giving potatoes resistance against this fungal disease would reduce this spraying considerably.

I think the potential good to come from GM is enormous once we get away from the idea of increasing (chemical and other) company profits. Ideas like adding vitamins to staple foods where deficiencies are common, showing where minerals in the soil like trace elements are missing so that soil fertility can be improved would help communities without leading to environmental damage.

I saw a report recently by a university in the US that has found wild plants across several states contaminated (if that's the correct term) with the modified genes from soya so these wild plants (weeds?) are now resistant to Roundup. Perhaps this is the first signs of Monsanto's downfall. If the stuff doesn't work any more - why use it?

NN

[Susie]

Can't be doing with Roundup or GM crops. It worries me that I must be buying some food that has GM ingredients in without me realising. I read up on Monsanto on the Corporate Watch website recently. It's amazing what big companies can get away with.

[knightquest]

I don't see how anyone can think that gm crops are safe in the long run (or even short run it seems) It just aint natural 

These big us companies are out of control trains hurtling us all in to the buffers at the end of the track. Money doesn't just talk, it sings, dances and plays every bleeding instrument in the orchestra!

Corruption prevails once again.

Ian

[Jackie]

Eventually the only people who will be growing crops the way they should be grown is us smalholders.

[Hilarysmum]

While people demand cheap food often below sustainable costs, then intensive farming and GM is going to creep in.  Its necessary to understand the value of the food you eat to be prepared to pay that bit extra for unadulterated food.

[RUSTYME]

sadly , even smallholders and gardeners won't be able to grow food the way it should be for that much longer . GM food isn't creeping in at all . Monsanto have been buying up many ,many other seed supply companies for over 20 years now , and they now own a huge number all over the world . 85-90% of all soy is now GM and wheat is set to be about the same , if in reality it isn't already . Canola ( rape seed) is another , sugar beet yet another . The list could go on .
GM contamination is everywhere GM crops are grown, totally unavoidable  .  People still think that they can buy clean seed and grow clean food ?  Well how many seeds are now F1 ? you won't be able to keep those seeds and old varieties have been dissappearing off of seed catalogue lists at an unbelievable rate over the last few years . How can you grow GM free cabbages when the farmer down the road grows GM ones , the same with potatoes or anything .
 The GM debate is no longer a debate ... it is fact ....we are eating GM food everyday . Kellogg's are one example . How many millions eat something of Kellogg's everyday ? and yet they use GM everything in their food .
 It won't be too long and there will be nowhere that you can buy non GM seed.
I am still trying to grow enough non GM veg to supply clean seed for myself and anyone else who wants some . But it is a slow process .
All we can do now , is buy all the old varieties of veg and leave the F1 and any GM seed on the shelf . Swap plants with others leave a few plants to go to seed and save them .
It may well be too late though .... the creep of GM is in fact a tsunami , with nearly all non GM seed getting washed away . 

cheers

Russ

[Gordon M]

You're absolutely correct Russ!
Try as we might, to save old seed varieties, it won't take long for GM seeds to contaminate them also and then we'll be at the mercy of Monsanto and co.
"GM food will feed a hungry planet" I don't think so, we're heading for mass extinction of the plants we have eaten for millenia thanks to terminator genes etc, where will we be then? We're heading for a barren planet that won't be able to support any land based life.
One of the first things that was done when Iraq was invaded, was the burning down of the Iraqi national seed bank, where do the Iraqi farmers get their seed from now? From government approved sources of course, i.e. Monsanto!
Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) is (was) one of the Vavilov Centres (I think it's called Vavilov anyway). There are about 12 of them on the planet and these are the areas where the food that we eat today originally came from. Won't be long until they're all gone, for the sake of market share and short term profit.
It really angers me!! High time these companies were shut down and their products destroyed in my opinion!!
The only way to counter it is not to buy any of their products but that's almost impossible as very few products are labelled as having GM ingredients and I don't think we'll see labelling anytime soon as most governments have their hands in the bio-tech companies pockets!

[knightquest]

What a depressing group of beings us humans are. We have to meddle with things all the time. These big corporations should have all their assets seized and distributed amongst all the people who have had their lives ruined by these monsters. Obviously that will never happen but we never learn lessons about the dangers of doing these type of things 

Ian

[Gordon M]

And here is the latest offering from the Bio-tech companies which the American FDA (Headed up by ex bio-tech employees and share holders)deems fit for consumption by humans.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/7983700/Fast-growing-GM-salmon-safe-to-be-farmed-and-eaten-claim-US-authorities.html#disqus_thread