Monsanto
is in the process of acquiring and patenting their newest technology,
known as "Terminator Technology." This technology is currently the
greatest threat to humanity. If it is used by Monsanto on a large-scale
basis, it will inevitably lead to famine and starvation on a worldwide
basis.
Billions of people on the planet are supported by farmers who save seeds
from the crops and replant these seeds the following year. Seeds are
planted. The crop is harvested. And the seeds from the harvest are
replanted the following year. Most farmers cannot afford to buy new
seeds every year, so collecting and replanting seeds is a crucial part
of the agricultural cycle. This is the way food has been grown
successfully for thousands of years.
With Monsanto's terminator technology, they will sell seeds to farmers
to plant crops. But these seeds have been genetically-engineered so that
when the crops are harvested, all new seeds from these crops are sterile
(e.g., dead, unusable). This forces farmers to pay Monsanto every year
for new seeds if they want to grow their crops.
In less rich countries, hundreds of millions of people rely heavily on
small farms which produce foods for the region. If these farms begin to
use Monsanto's terminator technology, and cannot afford to buy new
genetically engineered seeds from Monsanto the following year, many of
the people in the region may starve. Under normal circumstances, food
could be brought in from other regions. However, many of those other
regions will likely have the same problems with famine due to Monsanto's
terminator technology.
"It's terribly dangerous," says Hope Shand, "half the world's farmers
are poor and can't afford to buy seed every growing season, yet poor
farmers grow 15 to 20% of the world's food and they directly feed at
least 1.4 billion people - 100 million in Latin America, 300 million in
Africa, and 1 billion in Asia. These farmers depend upon saved seed and
their own breeding skills in adapting other varieties for use on their
(often marginal) lands."
What is even more frightening is that traits from genetically-engineered
crops can get passed on to other crops. Once the terminator seeds are
released into a region, the trait of seed sterility could be passed to
other non-genetically-engineered crops making most or all of the seeds
in the region sterile.
Camila Montecinos, an agronomist with the Chilean organization, CET, has
another concern, "We've talked to a number of crop geneticists who have
studied the patent," she says. "They're telling us that it's likely that
pollen from crops carrying the Terminator trait will infect the fields
of farmers who either reject or can't afford the technology. Their crop
won't be affected that season but when farmers reach into their bins to
sow seed the following season they could discover - too late - that some
of their seed is sterile. This could lead to very high yield losses. If
the technology is transmitted through recessive genes, we could see
several years of irregular harvests and a general - even dramatic -
decline in food security for the poorest farm communities."
Because of the worldwide condemnation of terminator seeds, Monsanto
appears to be verbally distancing itself from its own technology that it
is in the process of acquiring. Even without the threat of this
technology Monsanto is contributing significant to the destruction of
health and environment around the world. But if this technology is
released by Monsanto, it could spell disaster for hundreds of millions
of people around the world. How anyone could invest in such a company is
difficult to imagine!
Other resources for Monsanto Terminator Technology information on the
Internet:
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