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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (2292)	7/17/1999 11:29:00 PM
From: Dan Spillane	Respond to of 2539

A good example of fascism in motion. Notice this article plays on the emotion of the reader, and places fears and negative expectations in the mind of the naive reader. Notice Holden provides no supporting data to back up any of his claims or points, but rather relies on emotional factors. Also notice, Holden specifically mentions fears about herbicide-tolerant crops, yet neglects to mention herbicide tolerance genes are also carried by crops created via other techniques (Dupont STS soybean, et. al) Read this message, and then look at my earlier set of letters to Europe: Message 10410805 Friday July 16 8:12 AM ET World May Go Non-Gm Says Campaigner Full Coverage Genetically Modified Food Debate By Christopher Lyddon LONDON (Reuters) - World agriculture could still turn its back on biotechnology according to one of the leaders of the organic movement. ''We're still saying we can have global agriculture without genetic modification,'' Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, told Reuters in a telephone interview. The Association promotes organic farming methods in Britain as well as providing certification for organic products. Holden predicted a sharp rise in opposition to biotechnology among the American public. ''The informed minority of American public opinion is strongly against GMOs,'' he said. ''You don't get concerned about genetic modification until you have the knowledge.'' The fact that European opposition had been so vocal was in itself making American consumers question biotechnology, he said. ''My prediction is that the American public will reject GMO's, with massive opposition within a year.'' The Soil Association itself had originally been open-minded about biotechnology, but it had eventually taken the position that genetic engineering had no place in food or agriculture. There were concerns over its impact on the environment. Holden cited fears that herbicide tolerance could affect bio-diversity, with new varieties ousting others. There were even concerns over bio-diversity in agriculture, he said, noting that the number of maize varieties grown in Mexico had fallen since the advent of GM types. And there were still potential fears over public health. Even though GM crops had been grown in the U.S. for several years, health problems could take a long time to surface. ''There was no food safety testing. These products were assumed to be safe,'' Holden said. He was sharply critical of Britain's trials. ''The GM planting in trial plots in this country is treating the environment as an open air laboratory,'' he said. In medical research there was a principle that no viable organisms should be released. In this research it was being done the opposite way round. ''It's unacceptable to impose a risk on the entire global population,'' he said. The government had not considered the effect of the deliberate release of GM material. But by accepting the idea of a minimum level for GM material in foods labeled as not modified the government was accepting that contamination was inevitable. ''Splicing'' genes was incompatible with sustainable agriculture. ''The biotech companies believe they can artificially create immunity by gene splicing,'' he said. ''I'm interested in growing plants which have their own vitality to protect them from attack.'' ''In a way it's a wholesale abandonment of that respect for nature in agriculture that all good farmers have.'' Researchers into biotechnology had ''a surprising lack of regard for that.''