Canada wants Terminator Seeds
09 Feb 2005 04:53 GMTA confidential document leaked today to the NGO ETC Group reveals that the Canadian government will attempt to overturn an international moratorium on genetic seed sterilisation technology, known universally as Terminator seeds. at a United Nations meeting in Bangkok 7-11 Feb 7-11. Even worse, the Canadian government has instructed its negotiators to "block consensus" on any other option.
Terminator technology was first developed by the US government and the seed industry to prevent farmers from re-planting saved seed and is considered the most controversial and immoral agricultural application of genetic engineering so far. When first made public in 1998, "suicide seeds" triggered an avalanche of public opposition, forcing Monsanto to abandon the technology and prompting the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to impose a de facto moratorium on its further development. According to the leaked instructions to Canadian negotiators at SBSTTA 10 (a scientific advisory body to the CBD), Canada will insist on Wednesday (9 Feb.) that governments accept the field testing and commercialization of Terminator varieties (referred to as GURTS -- Genetic Use Restriction Technologies). Canada will also attack an official UN report, prepared by an international expert group, which is critical of the potential impacts of Terminator seeds on small farmers and Indigenous Peoples. In stark contrast to Canada's position, the expert report recommends that governments seek prohibitions on the technology.
[ Stop Terminator Action Alert | ETC Group | Terminator Technology | Convention on Biological Diversity | Earth Negociations Bulletin in Bangkok | IMC Biotech ]
stand up
fsda 09.Feb.2005 16:29
who should we contact about this? The canadian gov is incredibly corrupt - what amazes me is how they have gained such a good reputation internationally although i guess that's more the result of the complete consolodation of the major media outlets into a cowtowing bendover noncritical bunch of sheep!
we need to know who in the gov to contact directly though, help...
i'm confused
joe 09.Feb.2005 21:39
I'm confused. Wouldn't you want a genetically engineered plant to not be able to reproduce? Wouldn't this protect the ecosystem from being overrun by GMOs?
Yeah, they are self infertile....
King Amdo 09.Feb.2005 22:09
...so that the farmer has to buy the seed each year instead of seed saving...but the genetics spread through the (male) pollen....for many miles....probably around the globe and even outer space.
http://www.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/ritual_abuse/111339/latest/1
Is it really that dangerous?
Who knows. Maybe, probably will cause problems in the balance of nature being generated from money force...'the beast'...like computors, by the way....'coming from' a bad place...
This manifesting as wierd and destructive and problematic mutations...and of course as regards 'terminator' genetics ...infertility.
So problems for those trapped in this literal hell that is being 'created'...
The other paper, however, does describe escape routes from this reality in a literal sense. It's a state of mind...if your state of mind is liberated enough, then the reality around you literally changes!!! (sort of like the oppsosite of the christian thesis of possible reward in 'heaven' when you die. the above tract is real liberation theology.
Blessed be.
Om Shiva!
maddnes
jezik 11.Feb.2005 05:59
That (suicide seeds)is the worst most selfish idea the human race has come up with, and thats saying alot. These seeds could potentially wipe out all of nature, us with it and in a slow nasty painful way, the way of watching all you love destroyed....slowly watching our environment become deformed and sick, its a f-ing nightmare, mabye canada wants to rule the world even if it will only be for a generation or two, never stopped america....we should all focus some effort over here....fast. Does anyone think someone who would be pushing this is even capable of listening to reason? Thanks for the info.
please explain
joe 11.Feb.2005 13:57
>That (suicide seeds)is the worst most selfish idea the human race has come up
>with, and thats saying alot.
How are suicide seeds selfish? I understand that farmers won't get seeds next
year if they use seeds with a Terminator gene but, the solution to that is not
to use the seeds. If the crop with the Terminator gene is genetically modified
to be a better crop then the question becomes is the GM organism so much better
that buying new seeds each year is the way to go. If it isn't, then don't
buy the seeds, use the natural variety.
>These seeds could potentially wipe out all of nature... (etc)
If a GMO organism is allowed into the environment with the ability to reproduce,
doesn't that mean it could overtake native species? I would swing the other
way as I would rather see all GMOs be sterile. If there is some Frankenstein type problem well, they won't be around in the next generation so it will be only a temporary problem.
>mabye canada wants to rule the world ...
How is a technology like this going to allow Canada to rule the world? Please elaborate for me.
Sounds OK only on the surface
Paul Campbell 11.Feb.2005 19:21
On the surface it would seem terminator seeds have some merit. If they truly prevented the spread of GMOs (which I have no knowedge of) and if they truly resulted in superior crops. However if we look under the covers we find GE crops in general are a serious and permanent danger to our ecosystem. One type of GE plant is created by splicing genes from a plant that produces a natural pesticide. These plants kills beneficial insects in addition to the bad ones. The bad insects develop resistance to the pesticide inside the plants. Oh, by the way, with conventional crops, pesticide is washed off (mostly). With GE crops, it's inside the food. Once these genes are released into the ecosystem, we cannot get them back. Another type of GE plant is one that is manipulated to be resistant to Roundup. You know, that spray that kills every kind of plant. Where does all that poison go? Into the ground water. 1/4 of water wells now contain levels that are considered unsafe.
Also, terminator seeds lock farmers into paying for seeds every year. This is really hurts small and mid-size farmers.
The only ones that benefit from this are corporations. So, whose side are you on? Farmers who are trying to make a living? People that have to eat and drink to survive? Wildlife that must do the same? Or stockholders?
The answer to the problem is environmentally sustainable farming. Not short-term profits.
One more thing...
Paul Campbell 11.Feb.2005 19:28
Hundreds of scientists from around the world, that is those among the 5 percent of the scientists in this field that don't work for companies that produce GE seeds, have called for a world-wide moratorium on GE crops.
explained maddnes
jezik 12.Feb.2005 06:30
The terminator seed can reproduce at will with native species as well as heirloom seeds. There is no superior crop; there is only a crop that is suited to its bioregion and the needs of its people and eco system. Good farming, is creating a healthy environment that also produces food. These GMO/Terminator seeds can destroy the patient and rewarding work that is seed saving in one season, than as has happened, the corporation that patented the freak sues the farmer...and wins, that’s justice in the court system.
Good media can convince some people to swallow poison, and has. Givin enough fear tactic and rhetoric people will buy it. Not because its better, because someone doesn’t have the time to think or doesn’t want to give the effort to learn how to farm or how to think about someone other than ones self.
This doesn’t give every other farmer in the world any choices. It robs them of an opinion. If the Terminator seed cross breeds, its over for them, unless of course they want to pay for the chemical that makes it germinate. Then when that happens whoever sells that chemical will have control, of a world poisoned and dying, but to some people, selfishness is a virtue. No one corporation/government has the right to make that choice for me or anyone else.
Simple explanation!
FRee 06.Mar.2005 13:44
This is a very simple issue..
http://www.zmag.org/biotechwatch.htm
Our genetic 'modification' tech. is in the stone age, when a gene is inserted with a our current tools, much more damage is done to the gene than is changed on purpose. There is also a method using virii to carry new genetic material into organisms which represents VERY scary consequences (uses). In light of our primitive tech., it would be very foolish to use it for selfish economic 'gains'. Many of the GMO crops are simply 'RoundUp Ready' which does not appetize anyone sane (you ate it!). Monsanto makes RoundUp. RoundUp is a neurotoxin, and also contains toxic 'surfactants'. This issue is nothing more than war on the environment and all things living for selfish economic gain (sound familiar?). Monsanto has a long history of benefiting from military contracts (Agent Orange etc.) Terminator seeds are just an extension of their endless greed. What really gets me choked is that they are NOT REQUIRED to label GMO foods in Canada.
Armageddon seeds
Bender 31.Mar.2005 05:29
These seeds are Armageddon.
Do you trust the scientists? These corporate-fueled eggheads who came up with this crap? These are the same breed of assholes that brought you all those chemicals throughout the years they called "safe," like Thalidimyde and Asbestos, to name just two.
These maniacs have only managed to get the plants to do weird things on the surface, and they have no damn idea what these Frankenspawns will do to the world's ecosystems, which are more intricate than these pigfuckers can imagine.
When science can cure the common cold, all other diseases and allow me to grow myself an 11 inch penis in a petri dish, maybe THEN we can trust them. We can't. The guys who made these horrors and just well paid stooges. They buy a big car and a nice house and the corporation that owns the seeds hires a big PM firm and convinces most people how great this new shit is. Everybody goes home rich, and then when it blows up in the world's face, none of the motherfuckers who brought us this nightmare will give a shit.