[untothislast]

Read this one, if you're still in any doubt that the world's 'moral' leaders are anything more than a coalition of the purely evil. This is the Terminator Gene technology reaching its 'rubber-stamped and almost ready to go' phase - purely to make profits for big business, of course. I wonder what arch-dupes Bob Geldof and Bono make of it all?

God, it seems, is going to be awfully busy judging Blair & Co.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environme ... 349331.ece

[woodman]

The greedy bastards want to play a very dangerous game.

[Specop_007]

I dont exactly understand the big stink over this technology. Its already existed for years and years in the form of hybrids.

[hippiegunlover]

Hybrids are different in that if you plant them, you will still be able to grow your crop, but it will not be the same as the hybrid you planted before. You will still get a crop, and be able to eat it. The crop may not have the disease or drought resistence, flavor, color or size of the original hybrid.

With this technology, any seed you save will be useless. This will force farmers to buy new seed every year. No money? No seed/no food.

[Etalon]

Thing is, if it doesnt have the terminator gene, it could crossbreed with other local species. Not really anyway out of it, except not to use GM at all.

[airstrip1]

Yeah , great idea. If it gets out into the wild and wipes out one of the world main food crops such as wheat, rice or maize then peak oil will be the least of your worries. Most of humanity can simply kiss their arse good bye. The problem for the big biotech companies in the US is that they ultimately rely on the political, military and economic might of their government to enforce their patents. Now that the US depends on the kindness of strangers to fund their empire you have to wonder how much longer this is going to last.

[lateStarter]

It would be difficult to make up scarier sh*t. Truth is always stranger than fiction. I'm glad that I'm already an old man. Remember to save 1 bullet for yourself.

[cube]

Do you think in the future we'll have code breakers and hackers for genes...much like what we have for computers today?

Imagine if someone cracked the code for the terminator gene and placed it on the internet...I'm quite sure the bio-tech companies would be pretty upset. My knowledge of biology is pretty weak so I don't even know if this is even realistic. My guess would be NO.

I believe the reason why software is so weak on security today is b/c the computer companies purposesly make it that way. There's more $$$ to be made by selling substandard products that will need future servicing rather then selling quality products that will last.

[rogerhb]

It shows how far from actual production of food the people who make decisions like this really are.

[jaws]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hippiegunlover', 'W')ith this technology, any seed you save will be useless. This will force farmers to buy new seed every year. No money? No seed/no food.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jaws', 'S')o why don't they just keep growing the old seeds?

[jaws]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', 'H')owever this one sounds like something going very wrong.

PAY DAMAGES FOR WIND-BLOWN GM SEEDS, SAYS CANADIAN COURT

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')eneva, 2 April (South Development News) -- A Canadian judge has ordered a farmer to pay Monsanto thousands of dollars for violating the Gene Giant's monopoly patent on genetically modified canola seed, which had blown into his fields, according to information by the Canada-based RAFI-Rural Advancement Foundation International.

[The_Toecutter]

That's what happens when the polluters are financing the campaigns of those in government.

[coyote]

My God, this is one of the most catastrophically stupid ideas I've heard of in a long time. If they actually manage to push this through and implement it globally, they're practically ensuring a dieoff at Peak Oil, or even if something else goes wrong. This is practically the definition of short-term thinking. What incredible stupid arrogance, screwing with nature like that. I'm blown away.

[TITAN]

Oh well, It's not like anyone is going to do anything about this. Why worry if you are just going to sit and do nothing?

Which is exactly WHY it IS happening, they know the general public will DO NOTHING...

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jaws', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hippiegunlover', 'W')ith this technology, any seed you save will be useless. This will force farmers to buy new seed every year. No money? No seed/no food.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TITAN', 'W')hich is exactly WHY it IS happening, they know the general public will DO NOTHING...

[untothislast]

Ah, the old terminator gene debate . . . the rule of thumb being, once you finally to get to read about something, it's only because it's already out there. What I didn't know, is that it's already been trialled across Europe since about 1990.

Read:

http://www.biotech-info.net/terminator_alert.html

Here's one of the highlights:

"The technology is ineffective in preventing gene flow, and it makes use of two very dangerous genes that should never , never be released." Says Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Director of the Institute of Science in Society. The first is the gene coding for 'barnase', an enzyme that breaks down RNA, an intermediate in the expression of all genes, and that is why it is a universal cell poison. "It kills all cells", says Dr. Joe Cummins, Emeritus Professor of Genetics, University of Western Ontario, Canada. "Experiments have shown that it causes cell-death when introduced into animal and human cells, and causes kidney damage when perfused into rat kidneys."

Bear in mind (because what's sprung on Third World countries today, is inevitably our tomorrow), that this attack on our supposedly inalienable right to grow our own foodstuffs, is part of a wider strategy. Corporations have already taken out a wide-range of patents on existing modified seedstocks, which don't contain the terminator gene, so you can be sure their cronies in government will be doing everything they can to make sure you're left with no alternatives.


Interestingly, despite several authoritative field trials suggesting GM technology is ultimately pernicious, the Blair government is still steadily scheming away trying to undermine all opposition to its deployment. What corporations want - corporations get. We're just there to make up the numbers.