Jay Reynolds
Senior Member.
I am noticing a disturbing trend where these "truth" people are anything but.
I was googling aound and ran across this:
Haitian farmers burn 400 tons of Monsanto seeds
http://convozine.com/conversations/10825
So much BS.
First of all, Monsanto has not ever commercialized their 'Terminator' technology. Secondly, no one has to use fertilize, pesticide or anything else if they use a Monsanto patented seed Yes, there is a contract that says you can't save the seed for planting. But they say:
" The genetically-modified seeds such as those donated and later immolated, cannot be saved from year to year. Some so-called terminator seeds - the DNA of which is altered so as to not drop seed after harvest - require the farmer to buy new seeds from Monsanto the following year in a legally binding contract"
Not true. Doesn't even make sense. Most of the seed was corn, he author thinks that the corn seed doesn't drop seed? Why would that be useful in any way to plant corn that doesn't make seed?
There is no such stipulation in the contract. You don't have to buy any more seed if you don't want to.
Just two bogus claims.
But the real issue here is that 40 tons of very useful and valuable seeds needed in Haiti were destroyed by bunk.
Very sad.
Wish I had time to straighten this out.
So much bunk, so little time.
PS, on my organic farm I did try out the GMO corn which carried the bacillus thurigiensis gene which protects the corn from worms. Never in my life have I had corn so good, with no worms to dig out of the cobs. Yes, i signed a contract to not save the seed.
But, guess what? I never planted open pollinated corn seed anyway. The hybrid corn was always better, and hybrids( not genetically modifed) don't bear true after the first generation anyways, so I would have never saved the seed anyway.
My interest in GMO here is that the chemmies are worried that Monsanto's new aluminum toxicity seeds have something to do with their conspiracy theory. I got news for them. Almost no US farmer would ever need these seeds, mostly a tropical problem, and all that is needed in our developed country is to add lime to reduce the acidity, and aluminum isn't a problem anymore.
That doesn't help Pedro who lives 50 miles back in the bush in Brazil, whose soil is toxic and he can't haul 1000 lbs of lime to fix the problem. Pedro has anpother solution, though. He can burn down a new patch of forest every year. The ash neutralizes the soil for a season and he can grow a crop. Next year, burn again. Get the picture?
If the truthers got their way and stopped Monsanto or whoever from developing the aluminum resistant seeds, or tricking the residents into burning up free seeds like they did to the haitians.........
"One small victory for bunk, one great tragedy for mankind"
Another reason to debunk.
I should mention that this same stuff s getting repeated all around, here at a "Christian Left" site:
http://blog.sojo.net/2010/06/21/refusing-monsanto-preserving-haiti/
I was googling aound and ran across this:
Haitian farmers burn 400 tons of Monsanto seeds
http://convozine.com/conversations/10825
So much BS.
First of all, Monsanto has not ever commercialized their 'Terminator' technology. Secondly, no one has to use fertilize, pesticide or anything else if they use a Monsanto patented seed Yes, there is a contract that says you can't save the seed for planting. But they say:
" The genetically-modified seeds such as those donated and later immolated, cannot be saved from year to year. Some so-called terminator seeds - the DNA of which is altered so as to not drop seed after harvest - require the farmer to buy new seeds from Monsanto the following year in a legally binding contract"
Not true. Doesn't even make sense. Most of the seed was corn, he author thinks that the corn seed doesn't drop seed? Why would that be useful in any way to plant corn that doesn't make seed?
There is no such stipulation in the contract. You don't have to buy any more seed if you don't want to.
Just two bogus claims.
But the real issue here is that 40 tons of very useful and valuable seeds needed in Haiti were destroyed by bunk.
Very sad.
Wish I had time to straighten this out.
So much bunk, so little time.
PS, on my organic farm I did try out the GMO corn which carried the bacillus thurigiensis gene which protects the corn from worms. Never in my life have I had corn so good, with no worms to dig out of the cobs. Yes, i signed a contract to not save the seed.
But, guess what? I never planted open pollinated corn seed anyway. The hybrid corn was always better, and hybrids( not genetically modifed) don't bear true after the first generation anyways, so I would have never saved the seed anyway.
My interest in GMO here is that the chemmies are worried that Monsanto's new aluminum toxicity seeds have something to do with their conspiracy theory. I got news for them. Almost no US farmer would ever need these seeds, mostly a tropical problem, and all that is needed in our developed country is to add lime to reduce the acidity, and aluminum isn't a problem anymore.
That doesn't help Pedro who lives 50 miles back in the bush in Brazil, whose soil is toxic and he can't haul 1000 lbs of lime to fix the problem. Pedro has anpother solution, though. He can burn down a new patch of forest every year. The ash neutralizes the soil for a season and he can grow a crop. Next year, burn again. Get the picture?
If the truthers got their way and stopped Monsanto or whoever from developing the aluminum resistant seeds, or tricking the residents into burning up free seeds like they did to the haitians.........
"One small victory for bunk, one great tragedy for mankind"
Another reason to debunk.
I should mention that this same stuff s getting repeated all around, here at a "Christian Left" site:
http://blog.sojo.net/2010/06/21/refusing-monsanto-preserving-haiti/