1
1
1
I was about to go to sleep when an e-mail arrived. Now I am so blazingly angry I will not sleep at all! What upset me? This prime piece of idiocy on the part of some simpletons, who have succumbed to the Monsanto-Dow-Syngenta Koolaid!
Major wheat industry organizations from the US, Canada and Australia have announced that they intend to work together to commercialize genetically modified (GM) wheat crops.
Although other GM crops have been in use for several years, there is currently not a single GM wheat variety commercially available. This is partly due to consumer resistance to GM wheat, particularly in Europe, a situation that has resulted in a dearth of funding for biotech wheat research.
So, seeing as Europe is a major purchaser of our Aussie wheat, and quite a lot from Canada and USA, too, HOW will this improve sales?
In a joint statement issued on Thursday, the organizations said: “While none of us hold a veto over the actions of others, we believe it is in all of our best interests to introduce biotech wheat varieties in a coordinated fashion to minimize market disruptions and shorten the period of adjustment.”
Excuse me? In whose best interest? They assume that they can bluff us, by acting as a group? They seem to forget citizens are a larger group.
Competition from GM
The organizations said that one of the main problems they face is declining acreage planted to wheat as arable farmers turn to other grains with “the advantages of biotech traits.”
Pure bull! Subsidized crops for ethanol in the USA have a whole lot more to do with that factor!
GM crops have long been promoted as a possible solution for world hunger, but a recent report from Friends of the Earth pointed out that promised traits such as increased yield and enhanced nutrition still do not exist. It added that herbicide tolerance is the most prevalent trait currently in use, accounting for 82 percent of GM crop acreage in 2007.
On the contentious issue of GM crop safety, the wheat industry statement said: “Over 10 years of global experience with biotechnology has demonstrated a convincing record of safety and environmental benefits as well as quality and productivity gains.”
Safety? Environmental benefits? Higher than ever pesticide use, and herbicide resistance, outcrossing to other species, and herbicide resistant wild radish, oats and skeleton weed in Australia has increased in paddocks that Round-Up is used on, the weed loves it! 24D used to destroy RR resistant weeds does not reduce chemical or enviro-damage in any way shape or form.
No independent research has found quality or productivity gains either, only Monsanto's blurb says that!
Read my full piece here.
