The Battle for Biodiversity

[Billy]

The Battle for Biodiversity: Monsanto and Farmers Clash By ANNA LAPPÉ

MAR 28 2011, 12:48 PM ET

Does genetic modification lead to more and better crops? Or will it destroy the foundations of our food systems?

Two weeks ago, Monsanto announced the latest genetically engineered crop it hopes to bring to market: a soybean rejiggered to resist the herbicide dicamba. The new product, says Monsanto, will aid in weed control and "deliver peace of mind for growers." Meanwhile, half a world away, La Via Campesina, a farmers' movement of

150 organizations from 70 countries, had a slightly different idea about what would bring peace of mind to its millions of members: protecting biodiversity. In its statement to those gathered in Bali for the United Nations treaty on plant genetics, the organization urged treaty drafters to reevaluate the legal framework that allows seed patenting and the spread of genetically engineered crops, like those Monsanto soybeans. These genetically modified crops and the international patent regime, La Via Campesina said, block farmers' ability to save and share seeds, threatening biodiversity and food security.

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If you like weekends (8 hr./day & 40 hr./week), thank a labor union.

Bush's 3rd term: OBAMA

[Skylark]

i'd like to comment, first, on your labour union colonnard: do you like everything you wear, use for your house & personal self, food for your pets to eat & toys with which to play??? AND they're 'almost' ALL being made in china; more americans out of work since the "great depression" just because workers were convinced they NEEDED a

40-hour week, 2-full day weekends, and a minimum of a 2 week paid vacation??? then, thank an american labour union!!!!!!!! (don't forget, when the govt. is counting unemployment numbers, they're ONLY counting those ppl. who ARE working 40-hr. weeks of 8/hr./ day)

as to your original posting: one of monsanto's original genetic experiments was to intermix fish genes into 'beefsteak' tomatoes---- PLEASE, oh please, tell me how fish genes in tomatoes could do ANYTHING to enhance the lives of humans??!!!!??? and then, too, there have been similar experiments meant, of course, to improve mankind....??? wha? HUH???

[Billy]

colonnard????

I buy American, as I do organic, if I have a choice. Most jobs that I've had didn't include paid vacation time. There are 5 unemployed for every employment offer, and I do thank labor unions even when some of them became predatory in their own right. The Knights of Labor, IWW, and the International Longshoremen's Association are to to be respected for the benefits that they brought to American workers, that elevated them to the middle class, and created the backbone of American prosperity. Once again we see that workers who want a piece of the wealth that they produce are being called "Communists".

They were hoping to create a frost tolerant tomato.

It was more of an offering to Mammon, rather than an attempt to improve the bottom line, and in their rush to riches they turned a blind eye to any danger that their "creations" could pose for humanity.

Bottom line is that despite some cautionary studies on GMOs and their effects on the environment, and the animals that eat them, there have been no feeding studies done for the unmarked GMO food in the market place. We are the guinea pigs.

[Billy]

"Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Greater biodiversity implies greater health."

What does this then say about the loss of diversity over agricultural land ownership, and the loss of diversity over the ownership of the plants that grow on it? What are the consequences of the very few owning more and more of the agricultural land, and owning more and more of the plants that grow grow there?

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The history of agriculture in the United States during the twentieth-century involved a transition from a nation of independent farmers and craft workers to a nation of landless workers and urban consumers dependent on increasingly transnational corporate agribusiness producers, processors, and distributors of food. According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, in 1900, over one out of every three Americans was part of the farm-based population (29.8 million out of a total population of 76.2 million). By 1940, there were still 30.5 million individuals in the farm-based population out of a total population of

132.1 million or 23.1 percent. Rapid change followed after mid-century, and by 1970 only 9.7 million persons remained categorized as farm-based or roughly 5 percent of the total population of 203.3 million. The downward trend has continued, and in 1990 only 4.5 million persons were categorized as farm-based, or less than 2 percent of a total population of 248.7 million.