Won't buy from Monsanto? Don't be too sure

[hypnofrogstevie]

Walmart of the seed world! Buy out the small companies till only their company exist

 

[ducks4you]

hoodat, since you and boggybranch are our official librarians, do you KNOW how virulent are the lab-created genes in these altered vegetables?
I want to be clear: I KNOW that they will cross-pollinate with any other flowers, heirloom or hybred, BUT, are they strong enough to affect other generations, like the genes traditionally bred into animals are strong enough to consistantly produce the same traits?

I want to know if they will stay on my property and breed traits if introduced by me or my neighbors?

OR, are these genes like "Dolly the Sheep" whose cloned genes turned out to old, like the donor, so cloning has turned out to be a poor way to replicate same.

Any studies or online articles on this?

WAAA, WAAA, WAAA--hijacked!! I want my question answered!! ...please?

 

[hoodat]

It isn't just seeds. Monsanto will not be happy till every penny of profit in seed, insecticide, herbicide, fertilizer and even the food in the supermarket belongs to them. In their view a perfect world would be one where the choice is deal with Monsanto or starve.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

True. I forgot about the other products. No wonder why local farmers suffer. Wonder whats next on their list to buy off?

 

[hoodat]

hoodat, since you and boggybranch are our official librarians, do you KNOW how virulent are the lab-created genes in these altered vegetables?
I want to be clear: I KNOW that they will cross-pollinate with any other flowers, heirloom or hybred, BUT, are they strong enough to affect other generations, like the genes traditionally bred into animals are strong enough to consistantly produce the same traits?

I want to know if they will stay on my property and breed traits if introduced by me or my neighbors?

OR, are these genes like "Dolly the Sheep" whose cloned genes turned out to old, like the donor, so cloning has turned out to be a poor way to replicate same.

Any studies or online articles on this?

WAAA, WAAA, WAAA--hijacked!! I want my question answered!! ...please?

Remember how they were created. The original genetic makeup was drastically altered. Parts were snipped out and others pasted in (in a manner of speaking). It might hold up for a generation or two but I think nature will try to correct the problem, in which case who knows what the results may be ten generations down the road?

 

[curly_kate]

It isn't just seeds. Monsanto will not be happy till every penny of profit in seed, insecticide, herbicide, fertilizer and even the food in the supermarket belongs to them. In their view a perfect world would be one where the choice is deal with Monsanto or starve.

I completely understand a company wanting to protect it's intellectual rights, but I completely agree with this point. They are definitely out for more than just protecting their genetic material.

 

[beavis]

In the early 1990's I worked for a company in Oregon that was an agricultural biotechnology company.

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, I NOW HAVE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT OUTLOOK ON THINGS.

The company I worked for was developing a gene that would delay the ripening process of tomatoes by inserting a gene that would slow down the ethylene synthesis.

Many fruits/vegetables produce ethylene gas in order to promote ripening (think Bananas).

I was one of the first in my company to "infect" the tomatoes with non-tumour forming Agrobacterium tumefactiens.

In nature, A. tumefaciens produces crown gall disease in certain plants, Its a natural way of inserting it own DNA package into the host plant.

Our company deleted the tumor-producing component of the A. bacterium, but the ability of the bacteria to infect a host plant was still viable.

Basically, in a laminar flow hood to maintain sterility, you chop up 5-7 day old seedings of the palnt (tomato) into small sections and place them on a petri dish flooded with a bacterial culture containing non-tumour A. tumefacians. The small tissues are transferred o a petri dish containing an antibiotic that was also inserted into the gene you hope to introduce into the plant. If the plant tissue can grow on the antibiotic petri dish media, there is a good chance that you have also introduced the desired gene into the plant ( in our case, delayed ethylene synthesis)

I did this job in a jobless economy in Oregon in my early thirties. At some point, my ethical professor I was working for was replaced by a considerable asshat( or hole) that had ties to seed companies and the evil Monsanto itself. This man was pure evil, he did not like me, and in less than six months I was laid off and replaced with his own "people".

Is Monsanto evil? Yes.
Is genetic engineering safe? Maybe. In the 1990's I would have answered yes, based purely on the science behind it.

But now... the greedy companies have manipulated the technology in order to get patents and profit, not for our overall well-being, but for their own wealth.

Now I am a 100% organic gardener, using seeds with no ties to big agribusiness.

I sleep well at night.

 

[hoodat]

hoodat, since you and boggybranch are our official librarians, do you KNOW how virulent are the lab-created genes in these altered vegetables?
I want to be clear: I KNOW that they will cross-pollinate with any other flowers, heirloom or hybred, BUT, are they strong enough to affect other generations, like the genes traditionally bred into animals are strong enough to consistantly produce the same traits?

I want to know if they will stay on my property and breed traits if introduced by me or my neighbors?

OR, are these genes like "Dolly the Sheep" whose cloned genes turned out to old, like the donor, so cloning has turned out to be a poor way to replicate same.

Any studies or online articles on this?

WAAA, WAAA, WAAA--hijacked!! I want my question answered!! ...please?

Remember how they were created. The original genetic makeup was drastically altered. Parts were snipped out and others pasted in (in a manner of speaking). It might hold up for a generation or two but I think nature will try to correct the problem, in which case who knows what the results may be ten generations down the road?

Apparently GMO plants are escaping and crossing with wild plants, passing the traits on to other generations. Here is an interesting article on the subject. Notice how Monsanto is trying to appear accomodating while actually trying to escape resposibility for what these crosses may develop into. Ironically one of these canola/mustard crosses seems to be developing into a weed that is immune to the very weed killers Monsanto sells. Ah brave new world.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=genetically-modified-crop

 

[wifezilla]

Monsanto will not be happy till every penny of profit in seed, insecticide, herbicide, fertilizer and even the food in the supermarket belongs to them. In their view a perfect world would be one where the choice is deal with Monsanto or starve.

You weren't supposed to notice. Now they have to kill you. RUN HOODAT!!!!

jk (well, sort of)

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks, all!