'Suicide Seeds' Could Spell Death of Peasant Agriculture

[Clara T]

'Suicide Seeds' Could Spell Death of Peasant Agriculture, UN Meeting Told
by Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS - Groups fighting for the rights of peasant communities are stepping up pressure on governments to ban the use of genetically modified ''suicide seeds'' at UN-sponsored talks on biodiversity in Spain this week.

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''This technology is an assault on the traditional knowledge, innovation, and practices of local and indigenous communities,'' said Debra Harry, executive director of the U.S.-based Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism.

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Developed by multinational agribusinesses and the U.S. government, Terminator has the effect of preventing farmers from saving or replanting seeds from one growing season to the next.
The product is being tested in greenhouses throughout the United States. Opponents fear it is likely to be marketed soon unless governments impose a ban.

<snip>

If commercialized, activists said, Terminator would force farmers to return to the market for seeds every year, adding to their annual costs. This also would spell the end of locally adapted agriculture through seed selection, because most farmers in the world today routinely save seeds from their harvest for replanting.
''This seed technology is a fundamental violation of the human rights of indigenous people,'' Harry said of Terminator. ''It is a breach of the right of self-determination.''

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0126-07.htm

[Vincardog]

1. Mor e FREE TRADE at work

:puke:

[Selatius]

2. This is perfectly fine under capitalism.

These terminator seeds are merely an expression of ownership over the means of production.

There can be no capitalism if one cannot exert control over a resource in order to gain a benefit or an advantage from those who need that resource for survival or whatever other need.

This represents control over a resource, and it makes farmers dependent upon the controller. The controller's time and effort in engineering these terminator seeds is rewarded with money. In this example, we see that the engineer of these seeds has "capitalized" on the situation.

[jokerman93]

3. yep

And it's wrong. In so many ways.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Problem. What is the (Patent Life) on this satanic technology??

[Selatius]

5. That depends on how much you contribute to politicians' campaigns

For example, Disney Corp. has lobbied Congress for several decades to extent copyright laws in order to continue making money off of the works of the long dead Walt Disney and, specifically, Mickey Mouse. It's about making money, but control and restriction is needed.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. This pretty much sucks. I guess it is what capitalism is all about, I

got mine, how you gonna get yours??

[DemBones DemBones]

8. It's not fine when GM plants spread to other fields

and then the farmers are charged with "stealing" the GM plants that invaded their fields!

Monsanto has already done this; they even pay spies to go around and look for Monsanto-patented GM plants that have accidentally gotten into the fields of farmers who planted regular crops. Monsanto has then confiscated the farmers' entire crops and sued the farmers for "stealing" their precious patented plants.

Patenting organisms is a perversion of capitalism, anyway. In fact, it's just a perversion, period.

[Selatius]

10. I agree, but with several reservations

One of them being that the ultimate goal of GM is to rope everybody into the regime and thus force everybody to pay them for their creation. The fact that they have escaped into the wild, although an unforseen consequence, has only expedited the process towards the end goal: Domination and control over the means of production for the purpose of making more money.

I would argue capitalism itself is a perversion, and if I had my way, I would disconnect myself from such a system, but because it's everywhere, then my position on it is the same as nuclear power: It's a force that should be bottled, contained, and regulated, or it will destroy everything it touches.

[applegrove]

7. This is a nightmare.

[silverweb]

9. Pure evil.

This is absolutely unconscionable and must be stopped.

:grr:

[Shortyfuse]

11. Argentina

I was reading the Arg. papers. One of the new big business , now that they are back in the fold, Is a guy who makes millions selling genetically eng. seeds.