Defending the Truth

Not to mention the fat cat companies are making the third world dependant on their products (as a result of the self-terminating gene), and there's also the risk of contaminating the natural environment.

And let's face it, nature simply didn't intend it. Some of the mutations that are created as a result of genetic testing are downright creepy. It's just sad.

That's BS. You really need to provide a CREDIBLE link for that.

Sure thing. It all depends on what you consider credible, but I'll give you a few.

http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/mar26shah.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/339240.stm
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3325
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/1998...-sells-hunger/

Gotcha. And I pretty much knew you'd put up those links - or at least several like them.

I want to remind you that ALL of those sites use terms like "allege" and "fear" and "accuse". In addition, some of what they report is outright false. The article by Sonia Shah is blatantly false. The lady is an idiot!

I also want to remind you that my whole family is in agriculture and farming.

Here's the deal on these "scandalous" hybrids that American companies are SUPPOSEDLY using to starve third-world children to death: You CAN plant seed corn (or just about any other crop) right out of the bin. However, "bin-run seed" will NEVER produce more than about one-fourth the yield that hybrid seed produces. This past year, most of the farmers in my part of the country saw corn yields of OVER 200 bushels per acre (it was a great year). The few farmers who REFUSE to "support those corporations" and decided to plant bin-run seed got NO MORE THAN 50 bushels per acre. That is how hybrid genetics have ALWAYS worked. It is NOT a new development, and it is NOT some scandalous conspiracy.

So I ask you: Would poor farmers in India be better off planting corn that could yield them 5 bushels per acre, or 150 bushels per acre off the same ground? IF they are starving, this is a no-brainer!

In addition, the Monsanto Corporation developed what is known as "RoundUp Ready" Seed. You can plant it, then spray right over it with RoundUp - a herbicide that kills EVERYTHING - except crops that have been "genetically modified" to resist the RoundUp herbicide. This was one of the greatest developments, in recent times, for American farmers. However, before he can buy this RoundUp Ready Seed, a farmer MUST sign a contract agreeing that he will NOT plant "2nd Generation" or "bin-run" RoundUp Ready seed. Some farmers have been sued, by Monsanto, because after they signed the contract, they planted bin-run seed anyway.

My father - who is still farming even though he's 70 - has planted RoundUp Ready Seed for YEARS. He has had NO problems of any kind. In fact, it is an EXCELLENT resource.


The people that put up these blog-sites REALLY need to do more research into the genetics of all this before they post stuff that leads gullible people astray.

I can't believe someone actually just defended spraying food with herbicide as being a positive thing. This is exactly what is wrong with the logic of modern American farmers.

$$$$$$ over people in a capitalist society. Highest cancer rates in the world.

I'm really sorry you have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to agriculture.

FAMILY GENETICS have 10 times more to do with your likelihood of getting cancer than ANYTHING ELSE. In fact, it's more than everything else combined.

Now... next time you go buy your "organic" tomatoes, you might want to consider the FACT that they are FAR MORE LIKELY to be carrying bacteria and viruses because they are NOT sprayed. So enjoy those diseased tomatoes! Yum yum!

Now your a biochemist? The herbicides are running off into the ocean and killing everything. Herbicides do cause cancer and if you doubt it go do some research, then show us some links. You have none because your view is conjecture.

Nope, not a biochemist.

Give me some evidence that "herbicides are running off into the ocean and killing everything".


...and if you actually cared to read my post (which obviously you did NOT), I said that heredity is the #1 cause of cancer. I did NOT say that nothing else causes it.


But you do keep crying and screaming. It's helping you feel better!

You're ignoring many points that those articles made, and aside from that, you basically just steered the argument in a different direction.

What we're talking about here is dependency on Monsanto's products. Since Monsanto is patenting native crops, third world farmers can't plant them without buying them from Monsanto. These patents are abstract, they mean absolutely nothing to farming, yet they're forcing farmers to pay for the seeds they used to plant for free.

Can you please prove to me that this is false?

In addition to that, Monsanto's terminator gene ensures the crops' sterility, so after one season, the farmers buying these self-terminating crops have to come back for more.

Can you please prove to me that this is false?

The law of demand will have farmers in the third world investing in Monsanto's GM crops, and this is the most economical choice since their local seed companies have been bought, and their native seeds have been patented.

So I ask you: Will poor farmers ever develope their own means of creating food stability using their own natural, native crops, or will their dependancy on Monsanto only grow? If they are starving, this is a no-brainer!

It's a catch 22.

Also consider that the problem of famine has more to do with distribution of food rather than how much food a crop produces. There's plenty of food to feed the world, but who's buying it? The real issue, when it comes to famine, is poverty.

Also, if all the land used to grow animal feed, or graze animals was used to grow food for people, we could grow three times as much food. Unfortunately, that's all wasted to feed slaughter-bound cows, pigs, and poultry--half of which is wasted anyway since meat putrefies so quickly.

Oh good lord, you've got it so so so backwards!

Any 3rd world farmer CAN SAVE BACK HIS OWN SEED. The question is whether or not it is worth it.


And what do you propose happens to the hundreds of millions of cattle and hogs that are now being raised for slaughter? Turn them loose? Let them run wild?

Unbelievable!