On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 12:18 PM, Ravi Shanker <[email protected]> wrote:
> *apart from the health issues... this is having another aspect. farmers > interests and rights are violated.* > ** > *http://www.indiatogether.org/agriculture/articles/twn-seed.htm* > ** > *"I've been using my own seed for years, and now farmers like me are being > told we can't do that anymore if our neighbours are growing (genetically > modified) crops that blow in. ... Basically, the right to use our own seed > has been taken away.*' says Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer. At the end > of March, a Canadian judge ordered farmer Percy Schmeiser to pay Monsanto > thousands of dollars because a genetically modified (GM) canola variety > patented by Monsanto was found growing on his field. This decision was > reached even though Schmeiser consistently stated that he did not grow these > seeds voluntarily, but that his crops were cross-pollinated by modified > plants from another farm. Although several similar lawsuits have been filed > against farmers in North America, this is the first case that ended up in a > trial." > ... > > > > 2009/11/27 jtd <[email protected]> > > On Thursday 26 November 2009, Arun SAG wrote: >> > Hi, >> > >> > Vandana shiva talks about how patenting of seeds by billg backed >> monstanto >> > harms farmers freedom and their interests . I think there is no harm in >> > sharing it here http://boycottnovell.com/videos/monsanto-patents.ogg >> > >> > Story at http://boycottnovell.com/2009/11/25/monsanto-video/ >> > >> > Cheers, >> >> Never mind the farmers are you sure that baingan bharta you just ate does >> not >> contain insect genes?. And the idli did not contain some fungus genes >> spliced >> in gratis. >> Even if the farmer did indeed benefit in some way, you and I face unseen >> risks >> in consuming genetic material which nature has for good measure kept >> separate >> for eons. >> >> I don't think it is anyone's contention that consuming natural life-forms is necessarily beneficial or even safe for humans. Poison ivy, for instance, is nearly always a bit of a nuisance. While cross-species evolution is not common, it is not unknown either, hence it is not possible to say 'such and such cannot happen'. However, that is a peculiar argument to justify deliberate mixtures, for the simple reason that we are unaware of what effect on the resulting life-form such splicing will take. We may think that this or that gene does exactly this or that, but it may do it only because of its peculiar positioning in the entire gene sequence, as much as its mere presence. Or there may be other factors, not properly researched yet, at play. Even natural splicing may end up with unpredictable results, but possibly these often get mitigated in the lengthy trial-and-error approach, since the end-objective is the key and not the technique. For farmers, especially Indian farmers, with our historical mismanagement of land resources, the shift to technology-based farming, with its host of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, is certainly a mixed blessing. The effect on soil and water is only now beginning to get computed. -- Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com
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