cowboyji's Blog
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Eco Maniac: Sowing the Seeds of Life
- Posted on 05.25.09
My pal Deborah Garcia (widow of Jerry) made a documentary a few years ago called The Future of Food. It's all about genetically engineered seeds and the subsequent problems that has spawned for farmers and foodies. I watched it again last night after watching a talk yesterday given recently by Dr. Vandana Shiva on the same subject with a different spin.
What has happened over the past few decades is that patents have been granted on seeds and Monsanto has bought over 11,000 of them. It's bad enough that a corporation would stake a claim on something borne out of nature, but, once that door was open, things have gotten even worse. (One company claimed a patent on one of the cells that causes breast cancer and proceeded to sue every laboratory that was using that cell in their search for a cure.)
Monsanto took their patented seeds and proceeded to manipulate the cellular structure in order to create pesticide-resistant strains. In order to do that, all manner of ick is introduced into the cell because ick is what is required to break through the natural defenses. And by ick, I mean viruses and bacteria such as E. Coli. So they engineer seeds that are resistant to their own pesticides, then they add a further twist so that the seed actually requires a second chemical spraying to trigger its growth. Mind you, these pesticides were formulated from Agent Orange and other nerve gases, nevertheless a corner on the market Monsanto achieved.
Why stop there? Monsanto certainly hasn't seen a need to. As documented in The Future of Food, they proceeded to litigate every possible case of patent infringement they could find, even if accidental. One Canadian farmer had some Monsanto canola seed blow into his fields from a passing truck and contaminate the seed he and his wife had cultivated for 50 years. Monsanto sued. The case went all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court which ruled in favor of the evil behemoth. The farmer and his wife lost everything along the way.
And if that weren't enough evil doing for one mega-corp, they've even patented seeds from other countries and fought for royalties across the globe, putting millions of farmers out of business and into starvation. As Dr. Shiva points out, India has been devastated by the practice with many farmers committing suicide. Monsanto isn't above threatening anyone, including FOX News.
It's bad enough that monoculture farming is the norm these days. That alone decreases the quality and quantity of the food produced. Then there are the pesticides and herbicides, and the fact that tomatoes are being spliced with flounders and genetically engineered salmon could destroy the whole population of wild salmon. I don't care to dress my salad with nerve gas and E. Coli, and food should be grown in dirt, not a petri dish.
Related causes: Community, Environment
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