Tuesday, February 03, 2004

 

Measure H related updates:

Monsanto Defends Biotech Wheat Plans, Eyes Growth

 

In their quest to take over the world's food supply.....and in effect, the world.... Monsanto has no bounds.

 

ST. LOUIS, MO. (Reuters) - Monsanto Co. Chairman Hugh Grant (~* HUGH GRANT?) on Thursday defended his company's plans to roll out the world's first genetically modified wheat from critics who said they fear it could endanger global food and environmental safety.

~*  But folks....HERE'S the part that really gets me......

Many questions raised at Thursday's meeting surrounded the company's efforts to launch its "Roundup Ready" wheat, which has been genetically altered to resist Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, helping farmers kill weeds easier.

~*  In other words.... they think it's a better strain of wheat... because it can withstand huge doses of herbicide!!!!!   

Grant acknowledged industry concerns but said Monsanto was not likely to back away from its biotech wheat.

~* Here's where the story gets downright diabolocal:

At the meeting, Susan Jordan, coordinator of the Midwest Coalition for Responsible Investment, presented a proposal asking Monsanto to detail the health risks and environmental impacts of biotech seeds, particularly biotech wheat.

She said research supporting biotech seeds has not been independent but has been largely funded by biotech companies, and she said there was evidence of regulatory "gaps" that precluded adequate government evaluation of biotech crops.

Food is not merely another market commodity. It is essential to life," Jordan said. "Companies using this technology, including Monsanto, need to be responsible, accountable and socially just.

~* How many of you expected the following response?

Monsanto opposed the proposal to provide such a report and shareholders' voted against it.

Shareholders also defeated a proposal seeking a report on Monsanto's international sales of pesticides that are banned in the United States.

~*Here's a related update to a story originally posted here by Randy bone:

Small Canadian Farmer Fights Monsanto

(The farmer's) lawyer argued that in light of another court ruling refusing to patent "a higher life form" — a genetically engineered mouse created by Harvard University — Monsanto's patent on the engineered gene in canola does not give it ownership of the entire plant.

Robert Hughes, Monsanto's lawyer, argued that the company wasn't seeking a patent on the entire canola plant, but rather an "ingredient" of the plant. He likened the company's patent to that of an inventor who develops a new kind of steel for automobiles and receives a patent for that component rather than the whole car.

"According to the Harvard Mouse ruling, I don't think the steel analogy works," countered Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour.

~*  This looks like an interesting related story, but the link can't be found by me at this time.  So I'll copy the paragraph from the search engine that provided it:

Judge Won't Step Down From Monsanto Case 

AP  -  Jan 15 10:10 PM

A federal judge on Thursday refused to recuse himself from presiding over a price-fixing case involving Monsanto Co., insisting he never worked on a Monsanto case despite being listed as a lawyer representing the company.
In Yahoo! News > Business > AP

 ~*  And it's brother against brother in the fields of agriculture:

Biotech wheat pits farmer vs. farmer

The battle has pitted farmer against farmer, with proponents of the new technology arguing that biotech wheat will pull the grain growers out of years of malaise and opponents worrying that it could contaminate their fields and scare off foreign customers who are wary of genetic modification.

 

~* The head of the state Senate's Agriculture Committee says:

"But I ask, `Can we afford to take the risk of maintaining the status quo?' I wouldn't have wanted to be the one who stopped Louis Pasteur or Thomas Edison, and just look at the opposition they faced."

 

~*  nice company he includes himself with.  Pasteur I mean, not Monsanto.

 

"I can't envision why we want to do this," said Jim Bobb, the grain division manager for Southwest Grain in Taylor, N.D. "Europe is opposed to this. [South] Korea doesn't want it. There are very few customers who have said they will take it."

 

An added protein in Monsanto's biotech wheat makes it tolerant of Roundup, the company's herbicide, which means the weeds are killed and the wheat remains intact. Monsanto says this would give farmers a significantly higher yield.

 

~*  Yeah but.....what will all of that Roundup do to US...?  Are WE to be genetically modified too?

 

 These are just the questions folks.  When do we get the answers?  AFTER the fact???

 

Once again.... I bid you goodnight

~Brahma*

posted by ~Brahma 2:09 AM