In his Minnesota testimony (reprinted in the Des Moines Register) Jim
Riddle said:
> ú Over 30 patents have already been issued for Terminator and Traitor
> technology, which is designed to make farmers chemically dependent and
> prevent them from saving their own seeds. This is the most transparently
> greedy and ecologically dangerous technology of all.
To which I would add, it is also a tremendous national security risk.
Concentrated targets are vulnerable targets, and any agricultural
technology making a large percent of the harvest dependent on
*front-end* application of a trigger chemical supplied by one company
(and manufactured in one facility !) ... is nothing if not a
concentrated target. America's agriculture is also vulnerable to
attack by introduction of livestock pathogens (foot & mouth, avian
influenza, etc.) into concentrated hog, cattle, and poultry operations.
> ú Farmers who plant GE crops must sign licensing agreements allowing biotech
> companies unlimited access to their farms. The farmers don't buy the seed -
> they only lease the right to grow it.
Now, if only we could get to the point where farmers don't buy the
land, but only lease the right to be stewards thereof ... problem is,
however, who would own the land. State ownership would be even worse
than what we have now. But that's another discussion. I simply find it
interesting that large numbers of "independent" farmers willingly sign
over powers to a corporation that they would *never* allow a government
to have --- and a *government* you can at least vote out of office.
Bart
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