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  • From: carolyn anderson <cschampagne@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] A Solution to the GMO Problem
  • Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:09:46 -0400

This is pretty heartbreaking.
I had thought that buying Heirloom seeds meant the growers were passionate
about protecting the purity of the strain of the seeds they pass on.
I joined SeedSavers recently with great enthusiasm.
Now I'm not sure where to turn for trusted seed for a small, backyard
garden.....

Challenges get greater as opportunities for new potential increase.
I'm counting on that adage.

best,
Carolyn

On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 12:43 PM, maria morehead
<spiralmother@gmail.com>wrote:

> >From a dear seed saver friend~
>
> Maria
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: jamesdavid Sneed <harvestcircle@hotmail.com>
> Date: Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 12:13 PM
> Subject: a solution to gmo problem
> To: spiralmother@gmail.com
> Cc: mary@cascadeharvest.org
>
>
> To secure safe seed for our needs, we must do some very simple but powerful
> things:
> FIRST, be honest with ourselves about how bad the situation is. Unless
> companies test their seed for the presence of GMO material, it is very
> likely they are selling us contaminated seeds. This includes small,
> regional
> outfits that can't afford to test, but buy from "organic" seed suppliers
> such as Alf Christiansen (now owned by Sakata's), and highly ethical folks
> like Turtle Tree who rely on small growers in places like the Willamette
> and
> Skagit valleys who may not be aware of local contaminating pollen sources
> "hidden" by odd provisions of the Patriot Act, as well as formerly trusted
> alternative outfits like Johnny's and Territorial.
> The organic certifiers rarely if ever test for the presence of GMO
> contamination, but should under the NOP rules. A couple of the biggest
> certifiers like QAI are totally bogus, and have hidden their corporate
> links
> with the defense department and the military industrial complex.
> Johnny's was one of the earliest backers of seed patenting laws, and has
> helped engineer (along with Goldman Sachs, the Rockefeller Foundation, Bill
> Gates and Monsanto) the takeover of Seed Saver's Exchange and the trading
> away the rights of patenting formerly open-source genetic material. They
> destroyed the east coast strain of the famous land race multi-purpose pea,
> Dwarf Grey Sugar Pod, for profit, turning it into a tendril-heavy,
> peapod-light abomination that shocked smaller companies and gardeners who
> depended on that variety. Like Territorial, Johnny's hides behind the safe
> seed pledge, which is bogus since the word "knowingly" protects them from
> legal and financial liability for selling contaminated seed. As long as
> they
> don't test, they don't "know" they are selling poison.
> Territorial was involved in the dismantling of the formerly wonderful
> Abundant Life Seed Foundation, buying it after a suspicious fire (which
> occurred after the staff refused to co-operate with the sale of the
> foundations' seed bank) and turned it into just another trendy outfit for
> hybrids. Territorial also ripped off several local seed breeders who
> thought
> they were helping Tom out. He also intentionally mislabels the species
> information in his catalog, so that gardeners have a hard time knowing what
> is actually crossing and what is not. Then, Territorial tells customers
> that
> the size or the color of the seed will indicate whether it is GMO tainted.
> Every geneticist I talk too says that is pure BS. Which chromosome carries
> the contamination is not public knowledge in most cases.
> SECOND Support only those who will give you a clear statement, preferably
> in
> writing, as to whether they test or not. Currently, I know that Seeds of
> Change tests, corn, beets and chard. Despite the fact that they are now a
> subsidiary of Mars Candy, which was the last candy company to sign on to
> using GMO sugar beets, the last nail in the coffin so to speak. At least
> the
> seed company is run independently.
> www.WildGardenSeeds.com <http://www.wildgardenseeds.com/>, tests their
> beets
> and chard, but have no corn. Frank and Karen, and their staff, are real
> heroes in the seed movement, and willingly share accurate advice.
> Baker Creek Seeds tests their corn, and Woods Prairie tests their chard.
> We must have zero tolerance, and encourage the smaller local outfits to
> test
> or to buy from tested seed. Lets try to get some grant money to help small
> growers test their local seed crops. Better yet, just take up a collection,
> and leave the foundations out of it.
> THIRD, Go proactive. Use the phone and the emails to hound every seed
> company you can think of, and get your friends to do the same. Be polite,
> be
> knowledgeable, brief, and firm. Tell them that those who consume the food
> you grow have zero tolerance for gmo contamination, and want to see a
> printed document describing the test results. Take no BS for an answer. No
> "I think my growers' fields are safe, remote enough" or any other BS.
> If we can get thousands of gardeners and farmers to demand this, the
> economic picture will get some of the folks to change. What Monsanto, Bayer
> and their ilk are doing, with their lackeys at Johnny's, Territorial, Alf
> Christiansen and others, is to wage war upon us...our bodies, our gardens,
> our children, the soil from which our lives spring, Fight back the best way
> we can. Zero Tolerance for GMO contamination.
> FINALLY educate yourself and others. Because of the need for growing out
> increasing amounts of seed BEFORE the 2009 sugar beet crop was planted, and
> each level of production takes two years as beets and chard are biennial
> crops, it is likely the first contamination occurred six to ten years ago.
> There are no easy answers, no easy way to rely on a list or on a
> certifier's
> word in this case. The enemy has attacked our seed on so many levels.
>
> Zero Tolerance for GMOs
>
>
> --
> "We are all longing to go home to some place... Somewhere, there are people
> to whom we can speak with passion without having the words catch in our
> throats. Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us, eyes will
> light up as we enter... Community means strength that joins our strength to
> do the work that needs to be done. Arms to hold us when we falter..."
> -Star Hawk
>
> "Love is never a relationship; love is relating. It is always a river,
> flowing, unending. Love knows no full stop; the honeymoon begins but never
> ends. It is not like a novel that starts at a certain point and ends at a
> certain point. It is an ongoing phenomenon. Lovers end, love continues– it
> is a continuum. It is a verb, not a noun." Osho
>
>
> “If one went to the extreme of giving the patient the full details of
> mortality and morbidity related to cesarean section, most of them would get
> up and go out and have their baby under a tree…”
> -Neel, J. Medicolegal pressure, MDs’ lack of patience cited in cesarean
> ‘epidemic.’ Ob.Gyn. News Vol 22 No 10
>
> Supporting vibrant health in my community by providing education,
> nutrition,
> herbal connection and ritual through grateful interaction with Gaia.
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