Market Farming

[Willie McKemie <mckemie AT austinfarm.org>]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2002 at 01:05:47PM -0600, Wiediger, Alison wrote:
> We quit watching 60 minutes last year when they had Dennis Avery spouting
> nonsense and lies about organic farming, and realized that the program is
> not very credible at best and sensationalist quite often.  Why support their
> ongoing existence by watching.  What was said ?  Paid advertisement by
> Monsanto I'd bet.

No, quite the opposite!  Seemingly, a hatchet job on RoundUp.  I didn't 
record it, though I wish I had.  I saw "sterilized soil" go by.  
RoundUp was presented as just the opposite of its common reputation as 
one of the safest, most benign agricultural chemical in use.  In 
Columbia(?), RoundUp is apparently being sprayed from the air on 
cocoa(?) plantations.  Personally, I don't see how anyone can afford to 
make such RoundUp applications!

The 60 Minutes people made much of regulatory contradictions such as 
"the chemical has no effect on mammals at common concentrations" 
contrasted with "it is not safe to enter a sprayed area until the spray 
is dry".  Of course, I paraphrase there.  I find many instances where a 
label allows crop consumption long before harvest is allowed.

For tens of years, 60 Minutes has been my favorite TV program.  Even 
though they have produced many stories that I consider to be un-fair, 
incorrect, and otherwise objectionable.

-- 
Willie  Onward! Through the Fog! http://austinfarm.org/homegrown
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