Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Here's something from 1998...Looks like Delta Pine originally created the
terminator-I don't think they were bought recently.it probably was a hidden
owned company and they just made it out in the open and official...

Barb

Food Supply Update: June 5, 1998
 Seed Terminator and Mega-Merger Threaten Food and Freedom
Copyright © 1999, by Geri Guidetti


There have been times in human history when the line between genius and
insanity was so fine that it was barely perceptible. In the world of
biotechnology and food, that line has just been obliterated. Announcements
made over the past 90 days suggest that an ingenius scientific achievement
and subsequent, related business developments threaten to terminate the
natural, God-given right and ability of people everywhere to freely grow
food to feed themselves and others. Never before has man created such an
insidiously dangerous, far-reaching and potentially "perfect" plan to
control the livelihoods, food supply and even survival of all humans on the
planet. Overstatement? Judge for yourself.

On March 3, 1998, the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Delta
and Pine Land Company, a Mississippi firm and the largest cotton seed
company in the world, announced that they had jointly developed and
received a patent (US patent number 5,723,765) on a new, agricultural
biotechnology. Benignly titled, "Control of Plant Gene Expression", the new
patent will permit its owners and licensees to create sterile seed by
cleverly and selectively programming a plant's DNA to kill its own embryos.
The patent applies to plants and seeds of all species. The result? If saved
at harvest for future crops, the seed produced by these plants will not
grow. Pea pods, tomatoes, peppers, heads of wheat and ears of corn will
essentially become seed morgues. In one broad, brazen stroke of his hand,
man will have irretrievably broken the plant - to - seed - to - plant - to
- seed - cycle, THE cycle that supports most life on the planet. No seed,
no food unless unless you buy more seed. This is obviously good for seed
companies. As it turns out, it is also good for the US Department of
Agriculture.

In a recent interview with RAFI, the Canada-based Rural Advancement
Foundation International, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) spokesman,
Willard Phelps, explained that the USDA wants this technology to be "widely
licensed and made expeditiously available to many seed companies." The
goal, he said, is "to increase the value of proprietary seed owned by US
seed companies and to open up new markets in Second and Third World
countries." The USDA and Delta & Pine Land Co. have applied for patents on
the terminator technology in at least 78 countries!

Once the technology is commercialized, the USDA will earn royalties of
about 5% of net sales. "I think it will be profitable for USDA," Phelps
said. (Royalties? Profits? For a Department of the US Federal Government?
What's wrong with this picture?)

The Terminator Technology was created to prevent farmers from saving
non-hybrid, open-pollinated or genetically altered seed sold by seed
companies. Open-pollinated varieties of crops like wheat and rice staples
for most of the world's population are typical examples. The stated logic
for Terminator Technology is simple, really. A seed company invests money
to develop and produce new varieties of seed. It hopes to sell a lot of
that seed to recoup monies spent on crop research and seed development, and
then to realize a profit on their investment. Fair enough, it would seem,
but there are BIG concerns around the world about how much profit, how much
control many of these multinational seed companies actually seek. Many of
their proprietary seeds are no more than genetically altered versions of
older, reliable, conventionally bred strains that have been in the public
domain for many, many years. Change a gene to give a seed resistance to
some new strain of disease, the logic goes, and the seed no longer belongs
to the people to grow and save as they like, but to the seed company. In
the past several years the world community has been outraged as some
multinational seed companies have brazenly tried to claim ownership of
whole species of food plants based on the logic that they had altered a
gene in a member of that species and, hence, now owned its whole genome!

In a world of burgeoning population growth and, hence, demand for food,
giant, multi-national seed companies hope to sell a lot of proprietary,
genetically engineered seed. Food is a BIG business that will only get
bigger, and they want farmers around the world to need to come back to
them, year after year, to buy the seed and, in some cases, even the
chemicals, to grow it. Plant patents, gene licensing agreements,
intellectual property laws, investigations and lawsuits brought against
farm families for infringing on a seed company's monopoly on seed varieties
are some of the means now used to protect their interests.

The new Terminator Technology could render even these modern, legal
measures of control obsolete, as it is potentially so powerful, so
effective and so flawless in its applicability that its corporate owners
and licensees will literally have complete biological control over the food
crops in which it is applied. Seed companies have been working hard to
prevent farmers around the world from saving their own seed from plants
originally grown with seed purchased from these companies. They are also
trying to find ways to encourage farmers around the world in the U.S.,
Europe and especially the huge market represented by farmers in South
America, Mexico and Asia, to switch to genetically engineered, proprietary
seed instead of relying on the eons-old practice of saving their own
locally produced and conventionally bred seed. If they can produce and
offer their "improved" seed cheaply enough to convince even poorer, Second
and Third World farmers to switch, they will have captured much of the
global market. The Terminator will ensure that this market these farmers
and the communities and countries they feed will be completely dependent on
the company in order to continue to eat.

There is another potential dark side to the Terminator. Molecular
biologists reviewing the technology are divided on whether or not there is
a risk of the Terminator function escaping the genome of the crops into
which it has been intentionally incorporated and moving into surrounding
open-pollinated crops or wild, related plants in fields nearby. The means
of this "infection" would be via pollen from Terminator-altered plants.
Given Nature's incredible adaptability, and the fact that the technology
has never been tested on a large scale, the possibility that the Terminator
may spread to surrounding food crops or to the natural environment MUST be
taken seriously. The gradual spread of sterility in seeding plants would
result in a global catastrophe that could eventually wipe out higher life
forms, including humans, from the planet.

According to USDA researchers, they have spent about $190,000 over four
years working on the joint project. (Yes, you and I supported this
research.) For its share, the Delta & Pine Land Company has reportedly
devoted $275,000 of in-house expenses, plus an additional $255,000.
Combined, these dollars are a mere drop in the bucket compared to the
potential profitability of the technology to its owners. According to
USDA's Willard Phelps, the Delta & Pine Land Co. retains the option to
exclusively license the jointly-developed technology. In its March 3rd
press release, the company claimed that the new technology has "the
prospect of opening significant worldwide seed markets to the sale of
transgenic technology for crops in which seed currently is saved and used
in subsequent plantings." In a recent communique, RAFI states: "If the
Terminator Technology is widely utilized, it will give the multinational
seed and agrochemical industry an unprecedented and extremely dangerous
capacity to control the world's food supply." That fear may be realized
much sooner than anyone could have imagined.

At the time of the March 3 announcement of the US government-supported
technology, it was common knowledge that multinational seed and pesticides
giant, Monsanto, was a minor (8%) shareholder in the Delta & Pine Land Co.
The two jointly have a cotton seed venture in China. On May 11th, a mere
nine weeks after the announcement of the Terminator Technology, Monsanto
bought the Delta & Pine Land Co. and, with it, the complete control of the
Terminator Technology. For an even bigger picture of the implications of
this acquisition, here's a summary of some published information on
Monsanto's current agricultural holdings and activities:

    * The purchase of Delta & Pine now gives Monsanto an overwhelming 85%
share of the US cotton seed market and a dominant global position in this
crop.
    * On May 11th, Monsanto also announced the take-over of Dekalb, the
second largest maize (corn) company in the US.
    * In January of 1997, Monsanto acquired Holden's Foundation Seeds. A
company spokesman said at the time that its goal was to get its
bioengineered seed on at least half of the then 40 million acres that
Monsanto had access to via its acquisitions. It is estimated that 25-35% of
US corn acreage is planted with Holden's products. The Holden and Dekalb
acquisitions make Monsanto the dominant player in the corn market.
    * In November, Monsanto acquired Brazilian seed company, Sementes
Agroceres. This acquisition gave Monsanto 30% of the Brazilian corn seed
business. Brazilian farmers who have been breeding and saving their own
seed for centuries are considered primary targets for terminator and
apomictic (below) corn seed products.
    * On January 20th, the USDA won another patent no. 5,710,367 covering
"apomictic maize". This corn trait speeds hybrid seed production by
allowing the plant to produce hybrid clones, lowering the price of hybrid
seed. Third World farmers unable to afford more expensive hybrid seed could
potentially buy these less expensive clones. Unlike other hybrids,
apomictic corn can be regrown but its genetic uniformity (remember, clones)
would make it more likely to lose its disease resistance more frequently,
forcing farmers to buy seed more often. There are fears that Monsanto will
obtain these license rights from the USDA. Monsanto's recent corn company
acquisitions and, now, near monopoly in corn, make this a critical concern.
    * A Washington connection, according to RAFI: "In the past two years, a
number of high-ranking White House and USDA officials have left Washngton
for the allure of Monsanto's headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri."
    * "In October 1997, Monsanto and Millenium Pharmaceuticals (another
US-based genomics company) announced a 5 year collaborative agreement worth
over US $118 million, including the creation of a new Monsanto subsidiary
with about 100 scientists to work exclusively with Millenium to use genomic
technologies. The exclusive agreement is not limited to a single crop or
geographic location, it covers all crop plants in all countries. Monsanto
considers the new subsidiary 'an integral part of its life sciences
strategy' and hopes to gain a competitive edge in the search for patentable
and likely 'Terminator-able' crop genes."
    * Monsanto has pioneered enforcement strategies for protection of its
plant patents. Much of this pioneering has been centered on its genetically
altered soybeans which have the ability to withstand spraying with the
company's leading herbicide, Roundup. (Weeds and other native plants die,
beans live.) In 1996 the company set a new precedent requiring farmers
buying its genetically engineered "Roundup Ready Soybeans" to sign and
adhere to the terms of its "1996 Roundup Ready Gene Agreement." Terms: The
farmer must pay a $5 per bag "technology fee"; the farmer must give
Monsanto the right to inspect, monitor and test his/her fields for up to 3
years; the farmer must use only Monsanto's brand of the glyphosate
herbicide it calls Roundup; the farmer must give up his/her right to save
and replant the patented seed; the farmer must agree not to sell or
otherwise supply the seed to "any other person or entity." The farmer must
also agree, in writing, to pay Monsanto "...100 times the then applicable
fee for the Roundup Ready gene, times the number of units of transferred
seed, plus reasonable attorney's fees and expenses..." should he violate
any portion of the agreement. The farmers' outcry against the stringent
inspection and monitoring of their private property caused Monsanto to
modify that part of the agreement in 1997.
    * The company has used a similar licensing agreement for its
genetically engineered cotton and, according to a spokeswoman, plans to
introduce licensing agreements with all genetically engineered seeds
Monsanto brings to market. These will include Roundup Ready canola (canola
oil), corn, sugarbeets, etc. (Keep in mind that now Monsanto has Terminator
Technology to license, as well. It is applicable to all food crops
according to its primary inventor.)

Four days ago, the scope of the potential impact of the Terminator
Technology on global agriculture broadened explosively with the
announcement that American Home Products Corporation (AHP) had agreed to
buy Monsanto Co. for $33.9 billion in stock. "AHP," according to its press
release, "is one of the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical and
health care products companies....It is also a global leader in vaccines,
biotechnology, agricultural products and animal health care." Reuters
reports that the acquisition will create "a powerful pharmaceutical company
with a massive presence in the growing market for genetically engieered
agricultural products."

Actually, AHP is a family of companies including American Cyanamid, Cyamid
Agricultural Products Group, Wyeth Ayerst, and others. It is the third
largest in the US in herbicides, insecticides and fungicides but, with its
acquisition of Monsanto, it is now estimated that the combined companies
will become the largest agrochemical/life industries company in the world,
beating Swiss global giant, Novartis. It does not take a giant mental leap
to see the massive potential for the application and marketing of
Monsanto's Roundup Ready seed and licensing agreements and the Terminator
Technology to an increasing number of companies and food crops. If the
Terminator technology is not globally banned, its eventual incorporation
into all genetically engineered and open-pollinated, non-hybrid food crops
is predictable.

As most of you are aware, I have often fretted in these pages about the
vulnerabilities of our increasingly centralized, computer-based,
bottom-line driven, large corporation-dominated food production, processing
and distribution system. Extreme weather patterns, toxic waste-contaminated
fertilizers, epidemic bacterial contamination of food and the year-2000
crash of computers responsible for keeping the whole, complex system
running have been big concerns. I have warned you of the planned
disappearance of non-hybrid, open-pollinated seeds. Seeds that let you
retain the means of growing your own food if you want or need to. Seeds
that ensure protective biodiversity. Seeds that may provide personal food
security in insecure times. Now the Terminator threatens even these.

Make no mistake about it's widespread global adoption of the newly patented
Terminator Technology will ensure absolute dependence of farmers, and the
people they feed, on multinational corporations for their seed and food.
Dependence does not foster freedom. On the contrary, dependence fosters a
loss of freedom. Dependence does not increase personal power, it diminishes
it. When you are dependent, you relinquish control. History is full of
examples of peoples and cultures who lost fundamental freedoms, who were
controlled by their need for food. This shouldn't happen to Second and
Third World farmers. It shouldn't happen in any of the 78 countries in
which the patent has been applied for. It shouldn't happen here.

The Terminator Technology is brilliant science and arguably "good
business", but it has crossed the line, the tenuous line between genius and
insanity. It is a dangerous, bad idea that should be banned.
Period..........Geri Guidetti, The Ark Institute

 http://www.arkinstitute.com/98/up0606.htm