From the Guardian

Ministers pave way for GM crops as 'zero cross-pollination' ruled out

· Contamination inevitable, says environment minister
· Organic movement angry at disregard for public

James Meikle
Friday July 21, 2006
The Guardian

Ministers yesterday paved the way for genetically modified crops to be grown commercially in Britain from 2009 and warned consumers of organic and conventional food they might have to put up with some GM contamination.
Ian Pearson, the environment minister, infuriated the organic movement by saying "in the real world, you can't have zero cross-pollination" between crops, and called instead for "precautionary, science-based and pragmatic co-existence".

The Soil Association, the standardbearer for the organic movement in Britain, condemned the government's position, claiming that the future of organic foods would be threatened unless a maximum limit of 0.1% GM contamination of foods could be guaranteed. The campaigners are concerned that consumer confidence would be eroded or that products would have to be labelled GM.

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Gus: Some morons in power are in the pockets of multinational and if they are not they're still morons for allowing contamination of natural supplies of food ,no matter how "safe" GM is deemed to be.

It's not... GM encourages the use of stronger herbicides and insecticides manufactured by the same people who make the GM seeds, often with terminator gene that stops natural reproduction... Although cross-genetic mutation are extraordinarily rare, by inducing them artificially is criminal to nature especially when it leads to the eradication or contamination of the original genepool. This GM food is only driven by profits, generated by copyrighting the GM seeds and exclusive manufacture of the weed-killers and insecticides, not by the betterment of humankind which in the long term will suffer more than what is realised at the moment.

Insecticides is Britain alone have already led to an enormous reduction in certain species of birds, some down by 90 per cent of their "normal" spread.

This is murdering the planet. These kinds of people in power are imbeciles.

A warning for the soya bean fanatics...

I have been lucky, I was born way before the soya-fad, I make my own bread out of stone-ground "organic" wheat and rye flours, and grow my own organic lettuces...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1828158,00.html

read on...

From the BBC

Venezuela's chocolate revolution
By Greg Morsbach
BBC News, Ocumare

Deep inside Venezuela's tropical forest a quiet [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5235804.stm|revolution] is taking place.

In the shade of the trees, pink cocoa pods ripen ready for the next harvest in early November. The pods carry the white, sticky pulp which is used to make cocoa beans and later chocolate. The type of agriculture being used just outside the village of Ocumare de la Costa, is having a big impact on the farming community and its families. Ocumare is just one of several communities in Venezuela to have switched from conventional to organic farming and they are now reaping the rewards.

Organic farmers
Jose Lugo spends five hours a day nurturing his three hectares of cacao trees to protect them against pests, insects and bad weather. "We don't use any artificial fertilisers, just natural compost," he says.
"It's twice as much work as before but it's definitely worth it."

From the ABC

PM should drink recycled water, Springborg says

Queensland's Opposition Leader says the Prime Minister should "[http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1704874.htm|lead by example]" and add recycled water to Canberra or Sydney's drinking supplies.

After Toowoomba voted no on the weekend, Prime Minister John Howard says south-east Queensland can not leave the issue until a referendum in 2008.

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg says the city's vote proves people are opposed to drinking recycling effluent, and Queenslanders should not have to be the nation's test case.

"Maybe the PM can start by putting it in Canberra's water supply or Sydney's water supply and lead by example," he said.

Gus: Good people-Recyclers, please note that the political sewage coming out of Canberra (especially from the Lodge) and Kirribilli is highly toxic and cannot be decontaminated, no matter how much one tries to remove the political effluent that is pumped out through the system... Lead? talk about lead balloon....

Monsanto dumped toxic waste in UK

Inquiry after chemicals found at site 30 years after their disposal

John Vidal, environment editor
Monday February 12, 2007
The Guardian

Evidence has emerged that the Monsanto chemical company paid contractors to dump thousands of tonnes of highly toxic waste in British landfill sites, knowing that their chemicals were liable to contaminate wildlife and people. Yesterday the Environment Agency said it had launched an inquiry after the chemicals were found to be polluting underground water supplies and the atmosphere 30 years after they were dumped.

According to the agency it could cost up to £100m to clean up a site in south Wales that has been called "one of the most contaminated" in the country.

From the Guardian

...

He pointed to Australia as a place where public opinion on GM technology was turned around. "There's a country that has gone through the moratoriums, has gone through the we're-not-sure, the NGOs have been in there and caused mayhem, and come out the other end saying this is a useful technology and the public support it."

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Gus: No sir, the informed public does not support GM crops... We have not turned around here. Many of us are trying to support organic and bio-dynamic farming practices as much as we can in opposition to the heavily financed industrial crops that try to force our governments to cave in. There are still moratoriums in place in most of Australia against GM crops... Some "types" of crops have been allowed in experimentally, but most of the public is still fighting the scourge of the GM...

And claiming GM crop as a "solution" against global warming is the biggest furphy of them all. Bio-fuel are not the solution to global warming... Bio-fuel are only a very small replacement for other fuel shortage — but the present worldwide fuel demand exceeds many time whatever the entire earth's surface could produce in bio-fuel should it be cultivated everywhere. The "higher" yields of GM crops is at best minimal and these crop demand for insecticides and herbicides strength is far in excess of what should be allowable... We are already poisoning the planet too much even without growing these GM crops — and these bio-fuel crops would have to encroach more and more on natural habitats. The cascade of present and future problems, including this destruction of habitats and contamination of other crops by GM crops — for food or fuel — is too big to risk the planet's health.