[jd123]

heard about this in another thread, did a little research and thought id share what i found with the community

"Monsanto is in the process of acquiring and patenting their newest technology, known as "Terminator Technology." This technology is currently the greatest threat to humanity. If it is used by Monsanto on a large-scale basis, it will inevitably lead to famine and starvation on a worldwide basis.

Billions of people on the planet are supported by farmers who save seeds from the crops and replant these seeds the following year. Seeds are planted. The crop is harvested. And the seeds from the harvest are replanted the following year. Most farmers cannot afford to buy new seeds every year, so collecting and replanting seeds is a crucial part of the agricultural cycle. This is the way food has been grown successfully for thousands of years.

With Monsanto's terminator technology, they will sell seeds to farmers to plant crops. But these seeds have been genetically-engineered so that when the crops are harvested, all new seeds from these crops are sterile (e.g., dead, unusable). This forces farmers to pay Monsanto every year for new seeds if they want to grow their crops.

In less rich countries, hundreds of millions of people rely heavily on small farms which produce foods for the region. If these farms begin to use Monsanto's terminator technology, and cannot afford to buy new genetically engineered seeds from Monsanto the following year, many of the people in the region may starve. Under normal circumstances, food could be brought in from other regions. However, many of those other regions will likely have the same problems with famine due to Monsanto's terminator technology.


"It's terribly dangerous," says Hope Shand, "half the world's farmers are poor and can't afford to buy seed every growing season, yet poor farmers grow 15 to 20% of the world's food and they directly feed at least 1.4 billion people - 100 million in Latin America, 300 million in Africa, and 1 billion in Asia. These farmers depend upon saved seed and their own breeding skills in adapting other varieties for use on their (often marginal) lands."

What is even more frightening is that traits from genetically-engineered crops can get passed on to other crops. Once the terminator seeds are released into a region, the trait of seed sterility could be passed to other non-genetically-engineered crops making most or all of the seeds in the region sterile.


Camila Montecinos, an agronomist with the Chilean organization, CET, has another concern, "We've talked to a number of crop geneticists who have studied the patent," she says. "They're telling us that it's likely that pollen from crops carrying the Terminator trait will infect the fields of farmers who either reject or can't afford the technology. Their crop won't be affected that season but when farmers reach into their bins to sow seed the following season they could discover - too late - that some of their seed is sterile. This could lead to very high yield losses. If the technology is transmitted through recessive genes, we could see several years of irregular harvests and a general - even dramatic - decline in food security for the poorest farm communities."

Because of the worldwide condemnation of terminator seeds, Monsanto appears to be verbally distancing itself from its own technology that it is in the process of acquiring. Even without the threat of this technology Monsanto is contributing significant to the destruction of health and environment around the world. But if this technology is released by Monsanto, it could spell disaster for hundreds of millions of people around the world. How anyone could invest in such a company is difficult to imagine!"

quoted from http://www.ethicalinvesting.com/mons...rminator.shtml

[HighgradeWilly562]

Yes, thank you. Share the truth and open peoples eyes to the Evil corporations that are determined to destroy humanity for their own benefit. Monsanto is PURE EVIL and it hides behind false promises of curing famine. I've heard them spreading these lies on KCRW. :thumbdown:

[kennabis]

monsanto is satan on steroids, they are working on a technology that will give them a patent for, (hold on to your seats) "sunlight" :confused1:....

*US Patent 6734440 - Sunlight dosage indicator*(this belongs to monsanto)

[BrattonBasher]

There is no way our government will allow this to be used in the USA.

[jd123]

Originally Posted by BrattonBasher

There is no way our government will allow this to be used in the USA.

apparently they are already succesfully cultivating cannabis, tobacco, and cotton using terminator technology in greenhouse's. along with god knows what

I beileve you to be correct that our government is probably not stupid enough to allow such a thing to be released commercially. but the fact that this technology exists and is being experimented with is kinda freaky... what if it got into to the wrong hands.

heres some more info http://hightimes.com/news/ht_admin/3046

[BrattonBasher]

Originally Posted by jd123

apparently they are already succesfully cultivating cannabis, tobacco, and cotton using terminator technology in greenhouse's. along with god knows what

I beileve you to be correct that our government is probably not stupid enough to allow such a thing to be released commercially. but the fact that this technology exists and is being experimented with is kinda freaky... what if it got into to the wrong hands.

heres some more info http://hightimes.com/news/ht_admin/3046

This is going to be a hard-sell for Monsanto. And I certainly agree that this should be guarded closely!

[cannadyke]

monsanto just sucks in every way possible.

people need to be buying organic non-modified foods. if more people supported organic companies/farmers the prices would eventually drop and companies like monsanto would have fewer farmers buying their poisonous products.

even food supplier sysco has increased the amount of organic produce and products that they are offering to restaurants and institutions because of higher demand.

[kennabis]

our government..?!? our government doesn't have a brain, it has "brains" and none of them think alike, and none of them are looking out for each other....:001_tt2:

monsanto can buy itself anywhere. we need more hero's and heroine's, who are willing to face the maddness.

our government goes on sleep overs with monsanto....

[BrattonBasher]

Originally Posted by kennabis

our government..?!? our government doesn't have a brain, it has "brains" and none of them think alike, and none of them are looking out for each other....:001_tt2:

monsanto can buy itself anywhere. we need more hero's and heroine's, who are willing to face the maddness.

our government goes on sleep overs with monsanto....

LOL You underestimate the Farm Lobby. Our Farmers would NOT grow crops from a non-renewable source. It's against Nature. They would thrash Monsanto in Court.

[kennabis]

Originally Posted by BrattonBasher

LOL You underestimate the Farm Lobby. Our Farmers would NOT grow crops from a non-renewable source. It's against Nature. They would thrash Monsanto in Court.

farmers are losing to monsanto in court all too often. the farmers of america have had no support, except bad, ever since america needed a place to hide its waste (chemical fertilizers), prior to that my dear friend, farmers didn't need to wear gas masks....

[stanley]

Before I retired, the company I worked for had a large Agribusiness component.

As a result, I read lots of info on both side of the equation.

Genetically engineered crops have been in use in the USA for quite a while.

A good many of the corn and soybean crops are HEAVILY genetically engineered. Ever heard of hybrids?

There has been a moderate amount of debate about the genetically modified foods entering the human food chain... it is supposedly used for animal feeds primarily... but those objections are getting lost in the shuffle.

The issue of genetically modified foods entering the human food chain gets even cloudier when you look at foods imported from the far east.

Most of the horror stories about contaminating downwind farms has been proven to be media hype. As far as I can find online right now, the last serious issue with that occurred more than 15 years ago in a field of modified strawberries...they cross pollinated an adjacent field. It was assumed it was actually done by either birds or rodents going from field to field. Since most hybrids (genetically modified crops) are sterile... they cannot cross pollinate anything...

Like any new technology, it needs to be proven and tested...

But, before you throw out genetically modified crops as dangerous... think about this:

One of the biggest reasons they try and modify these crops is of course to increase yield... but they also build in resistance to disease and bugs... meaning they dont have to use pesticides and poisons to protect the fields.

So, you find yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Use pesticides/poisons to protect your fields, or modified seeds.

No one really knows which one will be better in the long run.

Sure, it would be nice to do it all natural and organically... but we have long since shown that purely organic growing methods just are not economically feasible with existing world conditions...

[jd123]

Originally Posted by stanley

Before I retired, the company I worked for had a large Agribusiness component.

As a result, I read lots of info on both side of the equation.

Genetically engineered crops have been in use in the USA for quite a while.

A good many of the corn and soybean crops are HEAVILY genetically engineered. Ever heard of hybrids?

There has been a moderate amount of debate about the genetically modified foods entering the human food chain... it is supposedly used for animal feeds primarily... but those objections are getting lost in the shuffle.

The issue of genetically modified foods entering the human food chain gets even cloudier when you look at foods imported from the far east.

Most of the horror stories about contaminating downwind farms has been proven to be media hype. As far as I can find online right now, the last serious issue with that occurred more than 15 years ago in a field of modified strawberries...they cross pollinated an adjacent field. It was assumed it was actually done by either birds or rodents going from field to field. Since most hybrids (genetically modified crops) are sterile... they cannot cross pollinate anything...

Like any new technology, it needs to be proven and tested...

But, before you throw out genetically modified crops as dangerous... think about this:

One of the biggest reasons they try and modify these crops is of course to increase yield... but they also build in resistance to disease and bugs... meaning they dont have to use pesticides and poisons to protect the fields.

So, you find yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Use pesticides/poisons to protect your fields, or modified seeds.

No one really knows which one will be better in the long run.

Sure, it would be nice to do it all natural and organically... but we have long since shown that purely organic growing methods just are not economically feasible with existing world conditions...

its not the genetic modification that scares me. its the idea that the plants that produce sterile seeds can easily pass this genetic modification on to non-modified plants. until a method is set in place to ensure that using these genetically modified plants would not result in the eradication of non-sterile seed producing plants i dont think it should even be considered.

not to mention the whole idea behind it is EXTREMLY lucrative. i see no benefits from doing this other than more money in monsantos pocket. FORCING people to buy new seeds from monsanto to sow new crop?! even the rockafellers rich asses asked the company to abandon this rediculous idea. Monsantos claims that they are attempting to stabalize genetics seems foolish considering there are other ways of doing it.

its one thing to add wierd chemicals or enhance genetics to increase yeild or taste or something (which is a practice i dont really agree with). but to attempt to eradicate all gene pools except for the one monsanto sells is rediculous, and has deep seated wrongful intentions.

[kennabis]

Originally Posted by stanley

1.There has been a moderate amount of debate about the genetically modified foods entering the human food chain... it is supposedly used for animal feeds primarily... but those objections are getting lost in the shuffle.


2.Most of the horror stories about contaminating downwind farms has been proven to be media hype. As far as I can find online right now, the last serious issue with that occurred more than 15 years ago in a field of modified strawberries...they cross pollinated an adjacent field. It was assumed it was actually done by either birds or rodents going from field to field. Since most hybrids (genetically modified crops) are sterile... they cannot cross pollinate anything...


3.One of the biggest reasons they try and modify these crops is of course to increase yield... but they also build in resistance to disease and bugs... meaning they dont have to use pesticides and poisons to protect the fields.

4.So, you find yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Use pesticides/poisons to protect your fields, or modified seeds.

5.No one really knows which one will be better in the long run.

Sure, it would be nice to do it all natural and organically... but we have long since shown that purely organic growing methods just are not economically feasible with existing world conditions...

ok, i'll take em one at a time,
1. people are eating the animals they are feeding those frankenfoods.

2.wind, insect and animal is how pollen gets around period, and not all genetically altered plants are sterile...

3. yield has not been the topic as much as "round-up ready", bt and the such, altering, adding bacterias and blasting with dna gene guns aint fair, and it's unnecessary (see #4 for more on this)

4. they still spray all the gmo', they have to, especially if they are fertilizing with coal tar based fertilizers, the frankenplants are like little crack plants, living in the biologically dead soil. mono crops are killing the diversity of life.

modifying seed is cool without a gene gun, do it the field, not in the lab. we will create more jobs and opportunity if we pay attention to detail. the farm used to hire more hands than the family had to offer, and all was well. basf and bayer to the rescue, need i say more, ok, one more, i.g.farben, and dow....(i know, i said one)

5. shipping food all over the world is weird :001_huh:, go to trader joe's and have a real international feast, their shit is from all over the globe, don't those people over there need it..?!? or maybe they have a trader joe's too..?!? it would/will be economical to keep the foods close to where they were grown, to stimulate the local economy, cut down on the transportation and blah blah blah.

also growing large mono crops are not good all around, but, to change all of this, we are going to need people, willing to go to work, learn new trades, share our failures and success', get back to the farm, where people live and children play. now a days commercial farms are toxic, from fertilizers, to pesticides and herbicides, kinda hard to wash that shit off, especially when it finds its way into the fats of whatever they sprayed (mostly ends up in the seed).

i broke stanley' post down, so i could argue another approach, not to argue stanley. i can only believe in natural gardening, with as little of mans help as necessary, so deep understanding and preparation are the tools.

from the organisms (everyone forgets about) in the soil, to the birds in the air, we are all one.......

[superface13]

Monsanto is the Beast!!!!!





They've been wiping out small farmers who refuse to buy their seed. I've seen the CEO of Monsanto say they are trying to feed the world, but from their actions, they must be the keepers of the Georgia Guidestones!

[cephas]

One of the biggest problems in the world today is that while money itself is very finite, the expectation/desire to make money is infinite.

Monsanto makes plenty of profits. They do not need more, it must end somewhere, and I say it cannot be allowed to end with the average person forced to live in unending debt and poverty.

Whomever it was that came up with the idea for Monsanto to begin this path should have been bitch-slapped, lost his/her job, then been publicly ridiculed for being an a**hole. Instead that person most likely got a 6-7 figure bonus, a promotion, a boob job for his wife, a hotter stripper for a girlfriend, and additional respect amongst his peers.

As a society we need to change and put the emphasis on things other than profits and bank accounts....if we do this amongst ourselves,...and we refuse to be party to anything else, (ie: the scientist who developed the tech simply said "No." even if it means losing his/her job. Some things are too important to compromise)....this will all change.

I'd get off my soapbox now, but I think it got glued to my shoes at some point.....:blush:

[stanley]

Originally Posted by jd123

its not the genetic modification that scares me. its the idea that the plants that produce sterile seeds can easily pass this genetic modification on to non-modified plants.

.

I dont mean to pick on jd123, that isnt the point of this post at all.

But his post points out why folks shouldnt fire from the hip on stuff they dont understand.

How exactly does a STERILE seed pass on anything? It's sterile. It wont germinate. It wont grow. It wont make a new plant. Period.

I have seen claims in this thread that Monsanto is trying to destroy the entire gene pool of all other competing plants.

Anyone care to prove this?

Or is this just another EXTREME claim made to prop up an argument that is lacking in actual FACTS?

Look, I am not defending genetically modified crops. I think there is a good chance that we have a situation where our technology has outstripped our ability to MONITOR the technology.

Nature has slowly been genetically modifying every living thing since the beginning... so modification isnt necessarily a bad thing. Unchecked, untested modification COULD be bad.

Are you really going to tell me that creating a higher yielding grain is a bad idea when the world is starving?

It simply needs to be done responsibly, with GOOD solid scientific oversight.

You know, science isnt necessarily bad.... Nor is all pharm bad.... ever heard of Polio? Smallpox? Malaria? Cholera?

get real folks.

[jd123]

Originally Posted by stanley

I dont mean to pick on jd123, that isnt the point of this post at all.

But his post points out why folks shouldnt fire from the hip on stuff they dont understand.

How exactly does a STERILE seed pass on anything? It's sterile. It wont germinate. It wont grow. It wont make a new plant. Period.

I have seen claims in this thread that Monsanto is trying to destroy the entire gene pool of all other competing plants.

Anyone care to prove this?

Or is this just another EXTREME claim made to prop up an argument that is lacking in actual FACTS?

Look, I am not defending genetically modified crops. I think there is a good chance that we have a situation where our technology has outstripped our ability to MONITOR the technology.

Nature has slowly been genetically modifying every living thing since the beginning... so modification isnt necessarily a bad thing. Unchecked, untested modification COULD be bad.

Are you really going to tell me that creating a higher yielding grain is a bad idea when the world is starving?

It simply needs to be done responsibly, with GOOD solid scientific oversight.

You know, science isnt necessarily bad.... Nor is all pharm bad.... ever heard of Polio? Smallpox? Malaria? Cholera?

get real folks.

stanley, the sterile seed doesnt pass on the genetics. the POLLEN that isnt sterile from the males of the modified plant passes it on to non modified females that results in sterile seeds.... unfortunatly if all the famers using Non-modified crops start getting sterile seeds cause all there rich neibers have terminator crops, there fucked. how is that ok, and how do i not understand what im talking about?

i didnt say science or genetically modifying plants is evil or bad. but TERMINATOR genetics are evil. the name says it all.

Even IF monsanto doesnt plan evil with these genetics.... people will use them for the wrong kind of things. like eliminating there competition.

Check out the 2005 documentary, The Future of Food. Rave reviews and Monsanto is in the thick of it, not looking good.

www.thefutureoffood.com