Terminator Seeds?!

This message was edited Tuesday, Mar 26th 6:25 PM

Monsanto has indeed produced sterile grain
http://abcnews.go.com/onair/CloserLook/wnt990802_hayes_story.html

They appear to have shelved the idea a couple of years back in a talk to Greenpeace and other environment organisations
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Monsanto/droptt.cfm

I don't recall sterile seeds being a huge topic here, the whole GM thing was a huge topic. I keep up with the weekly farming press and have heard nothing much about it for over 18 months. That isn't to say nothing is going on, of course, but it is something to be aware of.

This message was edited Saturday, Mar 23rd 6:08 AM

Frankenfood is real folks. If you have eaten a corn chip in the last couple of years,then you have most likely eaten 'Round-up Ready' corn. Pssticides are built right into the plant too...so you eat them right along with your salsa.

Lawsuits are real,and the big companies win them. Ask the poor guy whose sunflowers got crossed with some of Monsanto's pollen.He didn't save the seeds,he didn't market his crop with any mention of Monsanto,but since Monsanto 'owned' the patent on the seed,he was fined 250,000 for having his crop in a nearby field!

The terminator gene is real,but I'm not sure how much it is actually being used. We've got nuclear weapons we don't use either...but that dosen't make them any less dangerous,does it?

The 'plant police' are being put in place.They are mostly working with big business at the moment,but us little gardeners should be put on notice.They're coming.

Something similar happened about 60 years ago when hybrids were first introduced. The big seed companies spent large sums on advertising ,telling the public how wonderful,productive and disease resistant hybrids were. One drawback that never got much press...you couldn't save the seeds.Hybrids won't produce the same plant as their parents were. People were dependant on the big seed companies for new seeds each year...duh! Wonder who thought that one up????
Anyway,it took our small farms that were totally independant with a diversity of local seeds and changed farming into big business ,with pretty much the same stuff sold worldwide.

As for the pollen that contaminates someone's heirloom feild ...all of that work for generations.People lovingly saving the seeds of their ancestors.All gone by simply a change of wind direction.I go to great lengths to assure seed purity in my vegetables.No hybrids here!!! And there are some that I dare not plant because of pollen drift from the local frankenfood farmers. Disease resistance is pretty much big company PR anyway.Local open pollinated seeds have adapted to the various pests and are productive and vigorous.I have no more pest and disease problems than my hybrid touting neighbors.And my stuff tastes better! One thing they neglect to mention,when they are selecting traits that they want to have in their hybrid veggies...uniform shape,ease of harvest,tough skins for shipping...they never breed for better taste.They never breed for taste...period! That's why supermarket stuff tastes like cardboard...aside from the fact that it was harvested when waaay green.

I could go on for hours..it's a real fear for heirloom gardeners like myself. I will go on collecting heirloom seeds and planting them..I feel like it is preserving an endangered species. The plant police will have to come after me folks....I won't give up my seeds.