permaculture

["Thibaut d'ARGOEUVES" <tga@dyadel.net>]

At 14:31 04/08/99 -0700, you wrote:
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>
>To: permaculture <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 1999 8:05 AM
>Subject: GMO stuff for Guy
>
>
>> Guy: Here are a few bits on GMO's, though I haven't the time to find
>> references for you-this is just off the top of my head.
>>
>> GE plants require more fertilizer and other inputs to grow; this has been
>> established and the reason is simple physics. They are producing extra
>> proteins (Bt protein, or an anti-glyphosate enzyme for Roundup-Ready) and
>> it takes more energy to do this, hence more fertilizer. This is why yields
>> of GE plants are lower. And obviously a Roundup-ready plant will not
>lower,
>> but raise, the use of pesticides: that's the whole point of Monsanto's
>> marketing it. Glyphosate (Roundup) does not break down in the soil as
>> quickly as Monsanto says (3 weeks in ideal lab conditions); field tests
>> show that it remains in soil for at least a year, in river sediments for
>up
>> to 4 years. One study showed that when a field was sprayed with Roundup in
>> fall and planted with lettuce in spring, the lettuce contained significant
>> amounts of Roundup. It's also toxic to soil organisms, fish, and birds. It
>> is the largest cause of pesticide-related illness among farm workers in
>> California. The Journal of Pesticide Reform, circa 1996, is my source for
>> the Roundup data.
>>
>> Bt-containing potatoes and other plants will, as Monsanto researchers have
>> stated, eliminate the usefulness of Bt within 5-10 years as insects
>develop
>> resistance to such a widespread toxin. 5-10 years profit is enough
>> justification for Monsanto to wipe out a primary tool for organic farmers.
>>
>> Bacteria and viruses readily pick up useful DNA from other organisms (we
>> found viruses with human immune-suppressing genes in them-an awesome
>> adaptation!), so spreading the antibiotic resistance genes via Bt- and
>> other GE-crops will surely breed antibiotic-resistant microbes. I believe
>> it's already been documented (by the way, this weakens the argument that
>GE
>> crops are significantly different from hybrids or natural ones, since
>> nature swaps genes between species all the time. But I think the ethical
>> and economic arguments against GE are far more potent than the technical
>> ones).
>>
>> The revolving door is real. My old employer's head of Regulatory Affairs
>> was a former FDA official (he had lots of buddies on the drug approval
>> panel; the other panel members were scientists that many of our
>researchers
>> had worked with; that's not a conspiracy, though, it's just how the world
>> works since everyone knows others in their field, like we do. I will admit
>> that the scientist-panelists were very tough and fair).
>>
>> I'm not sure if you mentioned that we don't need more food, just better
>> distribution of what we have. The whole  bovine growth hormone thing is
>> nonsense, since we generate vastly more milk than we use already: we don't
>> need more productive cows. It just puts small farmers, who can't afford
>the
>> extra expense, out of business. Cows with BGH have far greater instances
>of
>> bovine mastitis and other disease, and die at a much younger age.
>>
>> A recent issue of "The Ecologist" printed a letter that Monsanto sent to
>> 30,000 farmers, informing them that they had sued the crap out of two
>> farmers who had dared to save seed from Bt-engineered soybeans. The letter
>> began "we thoght you'd like to know how this case is going" or something
>> like that; a simple threat. So farmers can no longer save seed, something
>> they've always done, because a company took a plant from the public domain
>> that thousands of breeders had worked on for centuries, made a very simple
>> change in the genome, and then removed it from the public domain.
>>
>> Enough for now; if I run across references I'll send them.
>> Toby
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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