permaculture

[Dianne Forster <dforster@metz.une.edu.au>]

Dear Permaculture people,
Believe  this needs to be made more public around the world.  Warm regards
Deanna


Received this note from a fellow West Aussie. Thought it might interest
those that were discussing the GM issue.
     Happy Crafting & Kind Regards,
   Gail - E-mail majmer@bigpond.com
   Majestic Merino, Western Australia
http://worf.albanyis.com.au/~majestic

> Dear Gail
> A few months ago I attended a talk at Murdoch University on Chronic
Fatigue
> (the talk was supposed to have been on genetic engineering but the speaker
> could not make it.)  At the end of the talk, someone from the audience
asked
> the scientist what his views were on GE and he insisted that the tape
player
> be turned off as he did not want his comments recorded.  I immediately sat
> up.  He said that although scientists could do all sorts of genetic
> alterations and tricks it did upset the balance of nature and he gave us
the
> following example (80+ people also heard this).  Clover was genetically
> engineered to include methionine genes (essential amino acid) to enhance
the
> quality of the clover.  This new clover when fed to sheep, was to help
them
> produce a finer wool.  We could then tap into the Italian fine wool
market.
> He said the sheep produced finer wool ok, but they died.  The scientists
do
> not know why they died, but somehow the clover upset their gut.
>
> I telephoned the AG department with this information to try and find out
> more, but it was a closed shop.  The Gov scientist told me that this
> information would not be made available to the general public.  He was not
> able to say anything for fear of losing his job.
>
> Ironically the following day, I did an ABC interview with Grant Woodhams
> (Geraldton) (taped) and as it was going to the rural regions I thought
that
> farmers would want to know about this experiment.  It was cut from the
> interview.
>
> Farmers really need to be cautious when dealing with this technology.  It
is
> untested and no-one is prepared to make any guarantees that it will not
harm
> health or the environment.
>
> I am concerned when farmers tell me that they will only produce a crop due
> to consumer demand.  Demand alone is not a good guide as to why they
should
> grow a particular crop. It would be foolish to grow a GE crop just because
> someone was prepared to buy it.  The crop could very well fail, like the
GE
> soya.  In warmer climate countries the stems split resulting in major crop
> loss (New Scientist).  I can just see it becoming a legal nightmare.  I
hope
> this makes sense to you?  It's getting late and I have lots to do.



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Dianne Forster
Environmental Engineering
University of New England
Armidale NSW 2350 Australia
phone  02 6773 3110
fax 02 6773 3084