Tuesday June 23, 2009, 6:29 pm
Thanks Tom:

excerpt:

"There's a lot of pressure right now to pass a new bill that would "help" the world's 1 billion hungry people, focusing on those in S. Asia and Africa, by promoting chemical agriculture in those parts of the world. We are devastating our own environment with these techniques, and doing so with little benefit to our farmers. Let's not export our bad ideas."

Tuesday June 23, 2009, 7:21 pm
As a student of agriculture I have learnt about both "chemical agriculture" as you call it, and organic farming. Realistically organic farming is the only way to go in the worlds poorer countries. Buying and supplying chemicals would just be too costly (as in $$). Not to mention the problems with chemical poisonings and the impact on the environment. Not necessarily because chemicals are ‘there’ but because there would not be enough understanding or equipment for farmers to use them safely. Promoting chemical use in these parts of the world would definitely not be “help” for the hungry people.

In traditional agriculture chemicals play an important role in crop management and production. Many producers are aware that they can cut chemical use and take steps to do so through integrated pest and weed management programs. Saying that chemical use has "little benefit to our farmers," shows a lack of understanding of large scale food production, to me anyway. It is not always successful to use legumes as a nitrogen source, sometimes they can't supply enough nitrogen. Other nutrients need to be supplied too. As for bio-control of insects, again on large scale often fails as pest pressure can be too high.

I’m not saying I don't think these measures work at all, just sometimes they are not appropriate. Go ahead, release lady bugs in your garden, fertilise with seaweed and dig up weeds by hand. Just don't expect all farmers to do this.

(Before anyone tells me to open my eyes or use my noggin again, please note that I don’t use chemicals in my vege patch, and I am well aware of the environmental impact of agriculture, organic and traditional.)

Tuesday June 23, 2009, 7:23 pm
This new bill is called the Global Food Security Act (S.384). There is a petition on change.org called "Support the Global Food Security Act (S.384)". PLEASE DON'T SIGN IT! WARN YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT IT. It is a stealth Monsanto bill that would create a federal mandate for genetically modified (GM) crop research as part of U.S. aid programs, despite evidence that these crops will fail to curb hunger.

Monsanto, the chemical polluter that brought us PCB's, Dioxin and Agent Orange, has reinvented itself into a food company by quietly patenting every commercially sold crop seed it could find after the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that living organisms could be patented! They want to own the food supply of the entire world and are using the US government to do it. The want to force world farmers to abandon organic gardening and only buy their genetically modified frankenseeds every year (no seed saving allowed) as a requirement for aid from the US. This is EVIL.

Remember, don't sign any "Monsanto" petitions (Global Food Security Act S.384). It's a sick money-grubbing scam. Read This Article and see the new movie, Food, Inc. (sign their petition instead) or google Monsanto for more information.

You have the power to fight Monsanto and their patented GM frankenseeds. Vote at your grocery store: buy more organic foods! Be careful what petitions you sign. Companies are placing bad petitions on sites like care2 and change.org because many people don't research what they are signing first. Example: People were fooled into signing a "Monsanto" petition here on care2. Go to this good petition "We Say No To GMOs PETITION to Congress & Obama, CARE & Change.org" for details. Spread the word. Big Business is infecting our petition sites like a computer virus. Be careful what you sign.

Tuesday June 23, 2009, 7:36 pm
Here are some more good anti-Monsanto petitions to sign:

"Tell your senator to oppose HR 875 and S 425: which outlaw organic farming!"

"No tax dollars for genetic engineering seed research"

And there's a good Daily Kos article about all this HERE.

Wednesday June 24, 2009, 3:38 am
thanks tom

Wednesday June 24, 2009, 3:55 am
Thanks Tom for this informative and thought-provoking post, and thank you, Rachael, for your input which reminds we need not to just "throw out the babay with the bath" by eliminating chemicals altogether without reflection, but to find the best and most ecological solutions for each situation - chemical and GM free whenever possible of course! :)

Wednesday June 24, 2009, 5:16 am
Tom, this story is right on. This bill is just a bad idea and the only people who stand to profit are the multinationals. Monsanto (along with Bill Gates) wants us to believe their motives are altruistic, when, in fact the opposite is true. GMOs have devastated India and contributed to a vast number of suicides there. Why should we ignore that and take the same misery to other developing nations and allow Monsanto and others to take advantage of a desperate situation?

Wednesday June 24, 2009, 9:48 am
I'm reading "Omnivore's Dilemma" on this issue and the whole thing is truly frightening. Best to spread the news to everyone you know and boycott these monster foods. Big Ag, FDA, USDA and government aren't going to help you live. Thanks Tom.

Wednesday June 24, 2009, 10:57 am
Signed all of the emails you requested, thanks Tom for this eye opener!

Wednesday June 24, 2009, 4:27 pm
I saw the documentary FOOD INC. with a friend ... last week ... go and see it ... Mon$anto is controlling everything ...

Wednesday June 24, 2009, 10:01 pm
Organic is not a fad it is our survial as a race. New blog on the Hx. of the ladybug: http://historyoftheladybug.blogspot.com/

Thursday June 25, 2009, 4:52 pm
Our food is altered, processed, treated with chemicals and antibiotics - milk is "preserved" with sugar as is salt...why does salt need a preservative? The oldest known natural preservative of food. Thanks for this Tom, Monsanto and others are helping to keep people poorly nourished, sick with diabetes and overweight, which seems to fit in nicely with reasons to deny health care by insurance companies and new expensive drugs. USA Inc needs a trust busting Teddy Roosevelt, if a company is too big to allow it to to fail then it should fail. Americans are behaving like such dupes.