permaculture

[Marsha Hanzi <hanzibra@svn.com.br>]

Toby-- the worst part of the gobbledygook here is that they insist that  
agriculture
must be "modern" in order to  be more "productive".  Brazil is STILL GE-free, 
thanks
mostly to Greenpeace efforts.  If we can hold them back one more month, at 
least this
year there will be no more time to plant.
    By the way thanks  to all of you-- and you were many-- who sent me " fuel 
for the
fire". The material has been forwarded to Greenpeace and to the major soy 
cooperatives,
so it has been most useful...

Marsha

Toby Hemenway escreveu:

> Periodically in this list people comment on or repost statements about
> genetic engineering. I feel I ought to do a bit of a de-lurk here: I spent
> 12 years as a medical (not agro) genetic engineering researcher, so I'm
> happy to offer myself as a resource if people have questions on the
> subject. It's an arcane and tricky field, and ag-biotech companies often
> rely on this to bamboozle the public.
>
> Where do I stand? I got into genetics because it provides fascinating
> insights into evolution and ecology, but became really unhappy at where the
> field went when it was commercialized. I see some limited applications of
> GE in medicine, although these (such as cancer and arthritis treatments,
> two of the most successful areas addressed by GE) merely bolster allopathic
> medicine, ignoring prevention and less aggressive methods (that's part of
> why I quit). The work in ag-biotech, to me, ranges from idiotic to
> sinister: I see no use for GE seed other than making a few huge
> corporations richer, and further harming the small farmer. The social and
> environmental costs of ag-biotech vastly outweigh any conceivable benefit.
> We don't need more food or "better" plants, just wiser use of what we have.
>
> So if you need any genetic gobbledygook translated, I'm here.
>
> Toby
>
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