Erk! Terminator Rises Again...
It seems that the 2005 moratorium on producing and selling crops that will have sterile seeds when harvested is likely to be overturned. That is a scary and fearsome prospect for small and subsistence farmers the world over, but particularly in poorer, third world countries. Read all about it on GAFF, Grassroots Action on Food and Farming.
Why is it relevant to us? Well, there is the sheer greed and disgusting moral bankruptcy that starving small farmers out of existence for increased multi-national profits, but there's a much darker aspect. It seems that the multinationals who produce GM seed are arguing that the new sterile seed will stop the spread of genetically modified crops.
This clever new answer comes from the very people who modified the crop genes, and it's being sold to us as a solution. They will adulterate the earth with genetically modified crops and them make sure plants can't germinate to stop something we don't want from spreading. It's funny that the simpler solution of not using GM crops didn't occur to them really, but I suppose that would remove GM production profits and additional profits from selling us a corrupt and dangerous "solution" to the problem they have created.
I wonder if anyone had set up a petition on the 10 Downing Street website yet...?
posted by The Shepton Witch @ 12:51
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20 Comments:
Dear God - that post has really shocked me. Sometimes I am very, very disappointed in business. I find it shameful how certain people can hold the making of money so highly that it makes them so morally bankrupt.
Thankfully not everyone is like that...
I've been trying to compress all this information into 1,000 words and still keep it coherent so I can set up a petition on the Downing street site, but I'm struggling.
You get a title for the petition and then a maximum of 1,000 characters (not words) to explain what the petition is about - it's a nightmare trying to condense this whole argument into such a piddly space.
Any help appreciated and I'll kick off the petition!
As a supporter of the groups who protested against GM years ago by physically removing the crops from the ground, this makes me feel a deep sadness and a powerful rage! I just don't know how you can compete with these people anymore!
I'm rubbish at writing things, but will try and help if I can.
What you got so far? Or are you editing your post to reflect your changes?
hen
xxx
Hi Hen, how are you?
Thank you for offering to help. I had tried to condense the original article I made the link to and strip out the non-essential bits, but it was still about twice as long as I needed it to be. What I have so far is:
In 2000 the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recommended that governments do not field-test or commercialize genetic seed sterilisation technologies, creating a de facto international moratorium. Many governments, indigenous peoples and civil society organisations have repeatedly called for the CBD to ban Genetic Use Restriction Technology because it threatens biodiversity, indigenous knowledge systems, small-scale farmers and global food security.
Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURTs) is a broad term that refers to the use of an external chemical inducer to control the expression of a plant’s genetic trait. GURTs is often used as a synonym for genetic seed sterilisation.
Why is it a problem? Over 1.4 billion people, primarily small-scale farming families in the developing world, depend on farm-saved seed as their primary seed source. Sterile seeds will force dependence on external seed sources and disrupt local seed exchange practices and the practice of farmer selection and breeding, the foundation for local seed security.
Terminator is NOT a Biosafety Issue. The multinational seed industry is waging a public relations campaign to promote GURT technology as a way to contain unwanted gene flow from GM plants, particularly from new products being developed. Industry argues that engineered sterility offers a built-in safety feature for GM plants, because if genes from a GURT crop cross-pollinate with related plants nearby, the seed produced will not germinate. Escaped genes from GM plants are already causing genetic contamination with studies confirming that DNA from GM maize has contaminated traditional maize grown by indigenous farmers in Mexico.
The companies whose GM seeds are causing unwanted contamination are now suggesting that we accept a new and untested technology to contain genetic pollution. If GM seeds are unsafe the simple solution is to not use them. Most importantly, food security for small-scale farmers must not be sacrificed to solve the industry’s genetic pollution problem.
Terminator technology is a serious and immediate threat to crop diversity and food sovereignty worldwide. Governments are drafting proposals to permit the field-testing and commercialisation of Terminator seeds. The International Seed Federation now openly endorses Terminator and is working hand-in-hand with industry-friendly governments to dismantle the United Nations’ de facto moratorium. An all-out ban is the only defence against these seeds.
That's 2502 characters with spaces and more than twice what we can get on the Downing Street site. It's very cunning of them to limit the text down to 1,000 characters, as it's very difficult to make an argument like this in so few words.
My view is that if we can at least formulate some words and get a petition up, we have the networking ability to spread the link around and I'll push it on all my websites and basically spam everyone I know asking them to pass on the link and fill in a petition entry. If each of us who finds this wrong passes the link to the petition out, we should start to see an exponential growth in the numbers of people who add themselves to it and if we get enough, it might even be noticed. Want in?
Sounds great to me! I'm in!
I'll go through what you've got there tonight and get my boyfriend (who is brilliant at this sort of thing) to help too.
Thanks for this !!!
Shepton, thanks for bringing this to our notice. Its shocking, and when your petition is up and running, I will sign it happily, and promote it for you too
Leanne x
Me too. It's painful realising the ways people are exploited and used by others and how these terrible expolits are thought up, through and then defended and threaten the planet. Bill Gates, J K Rowling et al people with consciences and all that money are the sort of names that need to come on board too. Your article would fit well in Resurgence mag?
Peace Shepton Witch,
Allah! This makes me so very angry. Not only is it a crass breach of copyright - after all, did they create these seeds in the first place ? - it is also an act of greedy oppression.
I had a quick look through your text and it seems fine (though I've never set up a petition before).
Abdur Rahman
I just blinky well sent a really long comment and it broked!!! grumble!!
hang on...!!
"Governments are drafting proposals to permit the field-testing and commercialisation of Terminator seeds. The International Seed Federation now openly endorses Terminator and is working hand-in-hand with industry-friendly governments to dismantle the United Nations’ de facto moratorium.
What is Terminator?
Terminator technology refers to plants that have been genetically modified to give sterile seeds when harvested. Terminator technology was initially developed by the multinational seed/agrochemical industry and the US government to prevent farmers from re-planting harvested seed and to maximise seed industry profits. Terminator has not yet been commercialised or field-tested, although trials are currently being conducted in greenhouses in the US."
The comment above is what I posted on the river cottage forum.
It seemed to be quite concise and give the basic points. I don't know if that can help yuo at all though!
How you getting on bean??
hen
xxx
ooooh! What I posted misses out why it is bad to small farmers and third worlds.
x
It's brilliant Hen! So much more concise and relevant than what I was trying to do. Can I use it for the petition? If you're happy for that, I'll get the thing up today and we can start letting everyone know about it!
Well done you - and thank you so much!
Can you believe it? I jest went on to the Downing Street site and got this:
The e-Petitions service will be closed to new submissions during the Prime Minster's time away from Number 10. It will remain open as normal for the searching and signing of petitions.
This temporary closure will allow the Digital Communications team to deal more effectively with the large number of submissions that have built up due to the huge popularity of the service.
The e-Petitions system will re-open to new submissions when the Prime Minister returns to Downing Street after his summer break around 1 September.
Like life stops happening because one politician isn't home.
I added a bit to the bottom of your text that said:
Why Is It A Problem?
This could push subsistence farmers and less wealthy “first world” farmers into bankruptcy or even starvation – and why? For larger agrichemical profits.
Ah well, we shall have to do this in September. If he's on summer recess, he won't be breaking the moratorium... I hope!
That's awful!!! We'll have to keep our eye's peeled for any shannanigans in the mean time!!
I got that text out of the link you had on your post. Just took the bits that seemed to explain it! So I should think as long as you credit them it should be cool.
I love what you've written. Spot on!!!!!
What they are really trying to stop is anyone getting their hands on volunteer plants that have migrated through birds and seed. They don't want anyone getting their hands on their product.
Bastards really.
Really and absolutely!
Peace one and all...
Allah! Their product! Oh the utter arrogance
It's the saddest of days when the freely given gifts of the Earth are segregated away for vast profit. And then there's all the farmers who have struggled up out of the morass of debt to become organic and who now may not retain their certification because of this roughshod stamping over the countryside by agribusiness. Utterly repulsive and disgusting. You're doing great work with this!
Hiya - I've posted the same comment to bee-leaf - I posted in the Resurgence chatroom Gaias Cafe after reading about what you're doing and had one response -may be it's another place you may want to drum up interest too - and I wonder, would you think about writing an article for them and to Green Spirit? There's so much going on this issue must not get put at the bottom of the pile.
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