does anyone have info about how iraqi farmers must now plant GM foods?

[UpsideDownFlag]

i heard it on mike malloy just now, hadn't heard it before. I dunno, that's at least as sinister as oil.

[whistle]

1. Genetically modified foods are all that will grow in an . . .

. . . environment contaminated with DU (depleted uranium).

[Imperialism Inc.]

2. I've heard that before as well.

I can't seem to find a mainstream source for it though. (imagine that!). I have heard it from the alternative press several times though. I think it is tied to agricultural aid. Obviously they can't force everyone in the entire country to use it.

[KT2000]

3. Here is one source

I am still looking for the report from an organic food group that spells out the laws governing seeds.
But - the seed provision is included in Annex D which Palast reports about in this article:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/adventure_capitalism.php

[utahgirl]

4. A story on the law requiring them to grow GM foods

I don't think it has anything to do with depleted uranium, but everything to do with more corporate greed.

http://www.fpif.org/papers/0411grain.html

"For generations, small farmers in Iraq operated in an essentially unregulated, informal seed supply system. Farm-saved seed, agricultural experimentation, and the unrestricted exchange of planting materials among farming communities has long been the basis of Iraq’s cultivation practices. All this is rendered illegal by the new law. The seeds that farmers are now allowed to plant--“protected” crop varieties brought into Iraq by transnational corporations in the name of agricultural reconstruction--will be the property of the corporations."

utahgirl

[UpsideDownFlag]

6. thanks nt

[eridani]

5. Another reference

http://www.todaysalternativenews.com/index.php?event=link,150&values%5b0%5d=&values%5b1%5d=1942

When the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) celebrates biodiversity on World Food Day on October 16, Iraqi farmers will be mourning its loss.

A new report <1> by GRAIN and Focus on the Global South has found that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations. This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security. While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by these new regulations.

"The US has been imposing patents on life around the world through trade deals. In this case, they invaded the country first, then imposed their patents. This is both immoral and unacceptable", said Shalini Bhutani, one of the report's authors.

The new law in question <2> heralds the entry into Iraqi law of patents on life forms - this first one affecting plants and seeds. This law fits in neatly into the US vision of Iraqi agriculture in the future - that of an industrial agricultural system dependent on large corporations providing inputs and seeds.

In 2002, FAO estimated that 97 percent of Iraqi farmers used saved seed from their own stocks from last year's harvest or purchased from local markets. When the new law - on plant variety protection (PVP) - is put into effect, seed saving will be illegal and the market will only offer proprietary "PVP-protected" planting material "invented" by transnational agribusiness corporations. The new law totally ignores all the contributions Iraqi farmers have made to development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and pulses. Its consequences are the loss of farmers' freedoms and a grave threat to food sovereignty in Iraq. In this way, the US has declared a new war against the Iraqi farmer.

[Imperialism Inc.]

8. Oops sorry for the dupe below

[Imperialism Inc.]

7. World Food Day: Iraqi Farmers Aren't Celebrating

http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/hunger/economy/2004/1015iraq.htm

When the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) celebrates biodiversity on World Food Day on October 16, Iraqi farmers will be mourning its loss. A new report <1> by GRAIN and Focus on the Global South has found that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations. This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security. While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by these new regulations.

"The US has been imposing patents on life around the world through trade deals. In this case, they invaded the country first, then imposed their patents. This is both immoral and unacceptable", said Shalini Bhutani, one of the report's authors. The new law in question <2> heralds the entry into Iraqi law of patents on life forms - this first one affecting plants and seeds. This law fits in neatly into the US vision of Iraqi agriculture in the future - that of an industrial agricultural system dependent on large corporations providing inputs and seeds.

In 2002, FAO estimated that 97 percent of Iraqi farmers used saved seed from their own stocks from last year's harvest or purchased from local markets. When the new law - on plant variety protection (PVP) - is put into effect, seed saving will be illegal and the market will only offer proprietary "PVP-protected" planting material "invented" by transnational agribusiness corporations. The new law totally ignores all the contributions Iraqi farmers have made to development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and pulses. Its consequences are the loss of farmers' freedoms and a grave threat to food sovereignty in Iraq. In this way, the US has declared a new war against the Iraqi farmer.

"If the FAO is celebrating 'Biodiversity for Food Security' this year, it needs to demonstrate some real commitment", says Henk Hobbelink of GRAIN, pointing out that the FAO has recently been cozying up with industry and offering support for genetic engineering <3>. "Most importantly, the FAO must recognize that biodiversity-rich farming and industry-led agriculture are worlds apart, and that industrial agriculture is one of the leading causes of the catastrophic decline in agricultural biodiversity that we have witnessed in recent decades. The FAO cannot hope to embrace biodiversity while holding industry's hand", he added.

[bemildred]

9. The law is there, the means to enforce it are not.

It was one or Bremer's parting brilliancies.