Organic farmers fear spread of genetically altered alfalfa

[nosmokes]

Nobody asked for GMOs. No farmer or consumer ever said ya know, I really want someone to tinker around w/ my crops or my food and start adding genes from other species, hell other kingdoms into the food I eat even though we have absolutely no idea of what the outcome is.The Precautionary principle? Let's give it the ole size 12 Redwing right up the backside.And whatever you do by all means don't label it so I can make an informed decision as to what i buy and what i feed my family. Hell no! Leave me in the dark and allow me to place all of my trust blindly in corporations like Monsanto that have such ethical business practices they're hardly ever convicted of the bribery and anti-trust laws they flaunt on a regular basis. They usually just quietly settle for millions before it goes to trial where it might cost them billions. Never mind the people they've killed. But please let me put my faith in them that their studies are honest, that the parameters aren't skewed to promote a redetermined outcome, that they're run on the up and up(they aren't) and that they're telling the truth about their GMOs being safe(they aren't) and I should shut up because I'm an alarmist luddite. Well fuck ag biotech and the inadequate studies they run and FDA collusion. Contrary to much popular opinion there are things that are a helluva lot more important than the holy omnipotent allmighty dollar. The sun does not rise and set on the corporate bottom line, and it is possible to have enough w/o having it all.
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original-journalsentinenel

A change in the air

Organic farmers fear spread of genetically altered alfalfa

By RICK BARRETT
[e-mail]
Posted: Sept. 15, 2007

Wisconsin is a long way from the Pacific Northwest, but Coon Valley farmer Jim Munsch worries that genetically engineered alfalfa grown there could contaminate his farm and harm his organic beef business.

Alfalfa is used for livestock feed. Almost all of the seed comes from a concentration of growers in states such as Montana and Washington.

Munsch worries that genetically engineered alfalfa, called Roundup Ready, threatens to contaminate alfalfa seed farms in the Northwest and ruin traditional strains of the ubiquitous crop nationwide.

Other Wisconsin farmers worry that cross-pollination could occur in their own backyard if genetically engineered alfalfa spreads from field to field.

Either event could be very harmful for the fast-growing organic food industry nationwide.

It could scare away customers who pay premiums for food that's raised naturally without the use of biotechnology.

"If I were forced to feed a genetically modified crop to my animals, it would violate the trust I have with my customers," Munsch said. "They have formed opinions about what they will and won't eat. And one of those opinions is that anything genetically modified is not appropriate" in the food chain.

Roundup Ready alfalfa, from Monsanto Co., is genetically engineered to resist herbicides. It means that farmers can use Roundup Ready herbicide in their alfalfa fields to kill weeds but not harm the crop.

"From a conventional grower's perspective, there's really no down side to it," said Dan Undersander, a University of Wisconsin Extension agronomist.

But earlier this year, a U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco barred the planting of genetically altered alfalfa nationwide until the government can adequately study the crop's potential impact on organic and conventional varieties.

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complete article here

[KamaAina]

1. Roundup Ready is just perverse

What it does is protect plants with the gene against a particular herbicide, Roundup (made by Monsanto, of course). That way, all you have to do is hose the entire field down with Roundup, which will promptly kill everything that doesn't have the Roundup Ready gene. Of course, that means that the crops ultimately harvested will not only be GM but will be drenched with herbicide as well. :puke: But what's a little poison here and there when bloated agribusiness profits are at stake? :sarcasm:

Roundup factoid:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup

The largest single user of Roundup reportedly is the U.S. Government, which sprays huge quantities of the herbicide over the northern countries of South America in an effort to discourage cultivation of the coca plant.

You have probably already guessed what I'm thinking: What if someone came up with GM Roundup Ready coca?!