In battles over genetically modified food (GM Food) and GM seed, farmers, family farms and consumers are losing. At risk is the right to save and replant crop seed. Technology Protection System (TPS) is a genetic trick that means GM crops fail to produce fertile seeds (slang name is the Terminator System.) A 2004 study¹ compared nutritional analysis of vegetables from 1950 to 1999 and found 6 of 13 nutrients/vitamins significantly reduced. It concluded changes in cultivated varieties were the likely reason.
Major Points
1) The right to save and replant crop seed, a practice and tradition of farmers since the world began, is under attack by owners of patented genetically engineered seeds through TPS and patenting of branded seeds.
2) Percy Schmeiser of Bruno, Saskatchewan, was ordered to pay Monsanto for genetically modified crops found growing in his fields, even if they blew there in the wind, and he never intended to plant them. (Read more in Blowing In The Wind by Kurt Kleiner, April 2001: New Scientist.Com.)
3) Contamination of natural plants can have devastating effects on insects, ecosystems, the environment, soil, humans, and the economy. (See "Warnings Against GMO")
4) A 2004 study inJournal of the American College of Nutrition, Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999, found substantial decreases in six of 13 nutrients measured, including 6% of protein and 38% of riboflavin. Reductions in calcium, phosphorus, iron and ascorbic acid were also found.¹
5) In a case in North Dakota between Monsanto and The Nelson Family Farm, Monsanto alleges they used saved Monsanto RR® seeds, without buying new seeds for the next year's crops. Farmers in this and similar cases sued by Monsanto allege their seed/ crops were contaminated with GE seeds and/or pollen. Read the family's harrowing story of intimidation at NelsonFarm.Net.
"The patent protection given to companies that develop new types of seed using genetic engineering has allowed seed to be licensed to farmers in much the same way that computer software is licensed to users. This has changed the balance of power in favor of the seed companies, allowing them to dictate terms and conditions previously unheard of. Some argue these companies are guilty of biopiracy." (Wikipedia/Agriculture)
Ethics
- Is it moral to force starving people to eat something they detest or to force poor farmers to pay high prices for seeds that won't reproduce?
- Is it moral to decrease nutrients in vegetables while pursuing higher profits?
- Is it moral to force people to eat food without knowing what is in it?
- Is it moral to endanger Earth's wild plants and natural resources?
Read more about Genetic Engineering, farms, GMOs, and GM seed at Vegetable Gardens.
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Copyright June 2006 by Sally Morton
