>Hi Folks
Please read the following and think what gobal capitalism can do to harm
the environment and our farm crops. This will have huge implications for
birdlife also, if this horror scenario come to fruitation.
Regards from Niels
>>From: Hardin Tibbs <>
>>To: "Victorian Greenleap Project" <>
>>Subject: Biotech concerns
>>Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 20:52:53 +1100
-
>>-------------------------------------------------------
>>STOP DANGEROUS PLANT-CASTRATING "TERMINATOR TECHNOLOGY"
>>-------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>December 18th, 1998
>>
>>To whom it should concern:
>>
>>Hi. My name is Bob Mueller. I'm not a paid activist, nor am I really an
>>activist at all, aside from the fact that I've been jostled out of
>>complacency enough to
>>write this alert. I am, however, an ordinary citizen who is quite unsettled
>>by one specific issue: U.S. Patent 5,723,765, entitled "Control of Plant
Gene
>>Expression". The patent covers technology referred to as a plant
>>"Technology Protection System" (TPS), otherwise known as Terminator
>>Technology.
>>
>>My goal is simple: to share my concern with you, in the hope that you will
>>be alarmed enough to more completely educate yourself regarding this
>>matter. For if I
>>can accomplish this, I am convinced, you will surely ACT.
>>
>>The USDA, spending public money, has developed a technology whereby seeds
>>can be stripped of their ability to propagate. They are in the process of
>>patenting the process worldwide on behalf of Monsanto, through a subsidiary
>>(Delta and Pine Land Company).
>>
>>The driving force behind the Terminator technology is the ability for
>>Monsanto, and Delta and Pine Land Co., to protect their "inventions" from
>being
>>"duplicated" unlawfully, which, granted, sounds appropriate and fair.
>>
>>The result, however, will be to replace natural crops worldwide, with
>>genetically enhanced, superior, high yield crops. Superior, that is, except
>>for the fact that
>>they can no longer reproduce themselves, effectively forcing farmers
>>worldwide to buy their seeds annually from Monsanto...the world's only
>>supplier.
>>
>>The patent applies to ALL PLANTS.
>>
>>This is the ultimate in Capitalism. We're going to remove nature's ability
>>to propagate herself, so we can charge money for that privilege.
>>
>>However, I only wish this were the full extent of the issue. The part that
>>pushes my button; the part that really unnerves me, is the probability
>>that, for all their
>>careful planning, this genetically altered organism will share its suicidal
>>genes with OTHER plant species.
>>
>>Most children know about the "birds and the bees" ...
>>
>>Indeed, Martha L. Crouch, Associate Professor of Biology at Indiana
>>University, has published a series of papers specifying how the resulting
>>castrated plants
>>WILL be able to sterilize nearby normal species, via the spread of
>>Terminator pollen. Not only that, but how these plants will be able to
>>actually *pass* the
>>toxin gene to other plant species through cross-pollination:
>>
>> when farmers plant the Terminator seeds, the seeds already will have
>>been treated with tetracycline, and thus
>> the recombinase will have acted, and the toxin coding sequence will be
>>next to the seed-specific promoter,
>> and will be ready to act when the end of seed development comes
>>around. The seeds will grow into plants, and
>> make pollen. Every pollen grain will carry a ready-to-act toxin gene.
>>If the Terminator crop is next to a
>> field planted in a normal variety, and pollen is taken by insects or
>>the wind to that field, any eggs
>> fertilized by the Terminator pollen will now have one toxin gene. It
>>will be activated late in that seed's
>> development, and the seed will die. However, it is unlikely that the
>>person growing the normal variety will
>> be able to tell, because the seed will probably look normal. Only when
>>that seed is planted, and doesn't
>> germinate, will the change become apparent.
>>
>> In most cases, the toxin gene will not be passed on any further,
>>because dead plants don't reproduce.
>> However, under certain conditions I will discuss later, it is possible
>>for the toxin gene to be inherited.
>>
>>http://www.bio.indiana.edu/people/terminator.html
>>
>>Yet this "product" has been virtually assured of being passed as safe, in
>>the USDA's own words: "These approvals are expected because there appear to
>>be no
>>crop or food safety risks to the new technology. There also appear to be no
>>environmental risks."
>>
>>http://www.rafi.org/translator/termtrans.html
>>
>>Now why would the USDA come to this conclusion on a technology that has
>>only been tested by those having a vested interest in its commercial
success?
>>
>>Could it be because it's worth an estimated 1.5 billion dollars a year in
>>licensing fees alone, and the USDA is LICENSING the technology to Monsanto?
>>
>>Awesome economics on a global scale. Patent has been applied for in 87
>>countries.
>>
>>Please, please, go to the following web page, and read the data... both
>>sides of the story. There are many more potential problems with this
>>technology than I
>>have outlined here. Follow the links. Assure yourself that you are, indeed,
>>awake, for you may be tempted to think this is merely a bad dream -- or a
>>science-fiction story.
>>
>>http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
>>
>>If you are as affected by the nature of this venture as I was, at the very
>>least, please use the RAFI site to model a letter of protest that will be
>sent
>>simultaneously to the Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture, the
>>Administrator of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the Chair of the
>>US House
>>of Representatives Agriculture Committee, and the Chair of the US Senate
>>Agriculture Committee.
>>
>>This technology has NOT yet been commercialized. We are, in fact, in the
>>uncommon position of being able to say no before it becomes widespread --
pun
>>intended.
>>
>>I hope I have convinced you to examine this issue.
>>
>>As a concerned individual, I thank you for your time.
>>
>>Bob Mueller 10/18/98
>>
>>(Again, I am in no way affiliated with the above web sites or any organized
>>"campaign" against this technology. I write to inform. Please feel free to
>>forward this
>>notice to your family and friends. Post where appropriate. However, I ask
>>that this message be posted or forwarded in its entirety, without editing.)
>>===============================================
>>Editorial on Monsanto by Molly Ivins (1/4/1999)
>>http://www.startext.com/today/news/columnist/ivins2.htm
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>.........................................................................
>>
>>Hardin Tibbs, Managing Director
>>Ecostructure
>>1 Pelham Close, Chapman
>>Canberra ACT 2611 Australia
>>Telephone: + 61 2 6287 3448
>>Facsimile: + 61 2 6287 3447
>>Email:
>>
>>Strategic management consulting focused on
>>sustainability and industrial ecology
>>(Ecostructure is a Division of
>>Synthesys Strategic Consulting Pty Limited)
>>
>>Industrial ecology: http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/articles/indecol.htm
>>Sustainability analysis (excerpt):
>http://www.gbn.org/Scenarios/Sustainability
>>
>>
>>
>Dr. Meg Keen
>Lecturer
>Human Ecology Program
>Geography Department
>ANU, ACT 0200, AUSTRALIA
>Ph. (61-2) 6249-2611; Fax (61-2) 6249-3770
>E-mail:
>
>
>
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