Hi Keith ; -----cut----- > These critical remarks should be read in light of > growing evidence of > extremely serious impacts on health, environment and > the livelihoods > of Third World farmers. A European regulatory > requirement for genetic > safety testing, which is not required in Canada or > the US, has > revealed genetic instability in many GM crop > varieties. > > Scientists are finding harmful impacts on soil > micro-organisms, > beneficial insects and laboratory animals exposed to > genetically > modified crops and GE food. Farmers in India are > committing suicide > by the hundreds in Andra Pradesh and other states > because of GM crop > failures. > (www.navdanya.org/articles/seeds_suicide.htm) > > People and animals have become ill and even died > after consumption or > exposure to products containing genetically modified > organisms. > Unlike traditional plant breeding, in genetic > engineering of crops, > unrelated organisms, such as bacteria, are snipped > apart and sections > of their genes inserted into plants with > unpredictable results. -----cut------
While I agree wholeheartedly with the basis of the post, these types of posts seem to suggest that GM would be OK if all the problems with the environment and harmful effects could be solved. Sorry for repeating myself ad nausium, but GM is still incredibly dangerous even if there were NO harmful effects at all and they actually did produce bumper crops. Why? Answer : By purchasing and using GM products, we are supporting and allowing the GM industry to proliferate in knowledge, equipment, and people who know how to use it. And there has never been a single instance where a new technology has not been siezed by the military (and ordinary people as well) and examined for every possible method to harm and kill people. In addition to the military, sadly some people have bad intentions. For a small example, consider how many computer viruses there are. Who writes a computer virus and for what purpose? Some are for marketing and some are solely destructive. These poeple have taken a positive force (computers) and turned it into a highly negative and destructive force. These posts worry about accidental side effects. I am talking about deliberately designing an organism whose effect will be to kill people (either through disease or starvation or some other mechanism). So don't worry so much about the accidental side effects (which undoubtedly can be significant). Worry much more about the deliberate side effects from militaty usage where the goal is to kill people. If the accidental side effects of GM are disastrous, how much more so will the results of deliberate harmful and destructive actions by individuals or the military? BR Peter G. Thailand __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
