Does Anyone Listen?

I must admit I wonder why I feel the inner need to send letters to government levels on issues which effect my own personal health. It must be some daft idea that eventually people will see that we're on the wrong track with our environment, our blind faith that "science" knows best - our blind eye that more and more the world is not about humanity. In fact I think one of these days we'll all wake up to find out that Humankind is now listed as an "endangered species"..

I do not worry abot myself so much as my children and my grandchildren - already some of them do not know what real food tastes like. That is until the come to Grandma's house ;-)

Inside me I feel quite sure they never get read by anyone who has a shred of interest - or who is in a position to do anything which I deem a positive stance. Illogically for some reason I feel the need to make my voice heard. Who knows - someday sanity, reliability, and even responsibility might reawaken within many levels of government. I truly feel our continued survival as inhabitants of tour shared planet is dependent on this happening some day.

This was todays missive:

Dear Sirs,

As a citizen of Canada dependent on unadulterated organic foods for health reasons; I stating my personal concerns about our Canadian Government's acceptance of Canada's Monsanto's continued disregard of organic agricultural production.. ( I do this mainly because most additive, chemical laden foods make me ill).

In Saturday's (Feb25,2006)Toronto Star - Science/Environment - Cameron Smith's column

Url inserted http://tinyurl.com/znanm with the hopes you might read this timely article.

I read about Canada's Monsanto - who is once again allowed by our government to bastardize alfalfa seeds to the detriment of our Organic Farming Community. Surely after the world's reaction to our products tainted with their GMO Canola you would have learnt that when something is not embraced with open arms by even a few there might actually be a logical reason. Unfortunately my and your government and the news media in general does not see fit to tell the general populace about these happenings - till after the fact.

I personally only am aware because it impacts my health, my life.

Sometimes the news media will report long after the fact ie: when other countries refuse to purchase our products with our GMO'd materials.

I must admit it takes away my faith in government at any level. I personally feel that no one in our government even listened to the hue and cry of the rest of the world when they negated our GMO'd Canola crops and products made with them; let alone to the few voices of Canadians who also feel the threat from these contaminated processes. Is there no avenue which one can walk wherein you who are responsible for these decisions can be made to actually listen - not with one's pocketbook but with one's mind andinner voice. When our government talks about accountability how can it ignore that some of these basic decisions will impact there own children and their children and generations beyond?

I feel Monsanto's moneyed arguments in court, somehow win over sanity in our court system; "that some how it is okay with all the powers which govern to ruin organic farming with their GMO seeds". That this new usurping where genetically modified seed takes precedent over pure natural seed just so some company can make dollars with a herbicide is beyond my comprehension.

Then in their infinite wisdom our government instead of taking heed with canola they allow Monsanto to once more repeat the process with alfalfa?

Why on earth do you, the decision makers of our country allow Monsanto - Canada to have the right to continue their quest to make Canada into the Frankenstein producer of the world?

Today, Monday - I receive from Chris Gupta her newsletter titled Terminator Corporations' Suicide Seeds

Url inserted http://tinyurl.com/hfbps with hopes you might read this time article which makes me wonder why on earth we bother to elect people to represent us - the continuation of negatives makes government for the people a farce.

Does nothing ever worry you folks who are supposed to be looking out for the good of all not just the chosen few who have the dollars to infiltrate the honesty of thought? When will government regain responsibility to the people - the folks who elect them.

I hope someday the people of Canada will finally wake up and demonstrate how this contaminated agriculture is NOT what they wish.

As long as our government believes this is the road to travel to prosperity for our agricultural well being; my hopes for a valid honest answer will not be forth coming.

Sincerely

Sharon Birzvilkis

Box 412

Apsley, Ontario

K0L1A0

This quote by Anne Cameron seems to fit my angst for today.

"Do not do anything in your life that will harm anyone seven generations in the future."

This email was sent to:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper or shall I say to the Office of the Prime Minister

No direct e-mail here so he is well cushioned from the thoughts of the elected people.

http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp

The Honourable Chuck Strahl

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board Via the online form provided.

http://www.agr.gc.ca/index_e.cfm?s1=contacts&page=emailmin - No direct e-mail here either, so he also is well cushioned from the thoughts of the elected people.

My MPP: Barry Devolin - MOP for Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Brock

Who graciously does receive e-mail but hasn't replied as yet to any of my emails so who knows if he ever reads them.

You can locate your MPP here via name or postal code if you fancy knocking your head against the wall also: http://canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html

Perhaps if ever enough of us get irate someone might listen?

With a CC to Toronto Star columnist:

Cameron Smith - Science and Environment - One of the few columns worth reading regularly; especially now as his articles are now on line one doesn't have to worry about the stink of fresh newspaper ink.

http://tinyurl.com/znanm

Here is a wonderful page about Chemical Sensitivities:

In case the urls above are no longer working by the time you come across thess page - the two articles listed abobe are below:
Translation: A goal for very high prices for food that is unfit to eat to boot*....
This previous column is also well worth reading. Organic farming at stake Feb. 18, 2006. 01:00 AM CAMERON SMITH There's a fascinating legal case underway in Saskatchewan that should interest everyone who supports organic farming. The case alleges that Monsanto Canada Inc. and Bayer CropScience Inc. destroyed the ability of Saskatchewan farmers to produce organic canola because the farmers' crops were contaminated with genetically modified (GM) canola originating with either Monsanto or Bayer. The farmers are claiming damages for lost markets. Canola pollen drifts on the wind, so that pollen from a field of GM canola can drift into a field of organic canola and pollinate some of the plants there. When those plants mature, their seeds will contain the same modified GM genes as the plants that did the pollinating. The case alleges that once trace amounts of GM seeds are found in a crop, it cannot be certified and sold as organic. Monsanto sells a herbicide called Roundup and Bayer sells a different herbicide called Liberty Link. Both companies sell canola seeds that are genetically modified to resist their respective herbicides. When farmers spray their fields, the herbicides kill weeds, but not the canola. According to trial evidence, 70 per cent of all canola grown in Western Canada in 2003 was in fields where Roundup or Liberty Link was used. The first step in the case was a request to designate it as a class action on behalf of all organic grain farmers in Saskatchewan. The judge, Madam Justice G. A. Smith, refused to grant the request for a variety of reasons, but the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has agreed to hear an appeal of her decision. Two aspects of Smith's judgment struck me forcibly. The first was that she noted that Monsanto and Bayer had acknowledged cross-pollination was both foreseeable and inevitable. So, the companies knew that their GM plants would contaminate the fields of organic farmers. The second aspect concerns one of the many grounds Smith gave for dismissing the case. She said the statement of claim did not disclose a cause of action, and one reason was that no physical damage was done to the organic fields by GM contamination. She pointed out the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had declared the GM canolas were safe for use. "In effect," she said, "the alleged damage is not of physical harm to the plaintiffs' crops, but arises from the alleged inability to meet the requirements of organic certifiers or of foreign markets for organic canola. There is no allegation that GM canola is unhealthy or causes detrimental physical problems to humans or plant life." She also noted the claim was "for pure economic loss of a category not previously recognized by Canadian courts." It strikes me that she was trying to squeeze a contemporary issue into a format from the past, before DNA codes were mapped. The farmers weren't talking about canola plants that died or produced shrivelled seeds. They were talking about unwanted substitution, about changing the nature of what they planted. If my jacket disappears and I'm told another equally good is left in its place, do I have no right to complain? In their request for an appeal, the farmers argued that Smith set excessively exacting standards. This, said the judge who gave the green light to the appeal, "strike(s) me as an arguable proposition." Both judgments are available at http://www.saskorganic.com. At 175 pages, the trial decision is long, but at stake is the future of organic farming in Canada. Next week: Monsanto and alfalfa Cameron Smith can be reached at camsmith@kingston.net.	In case the links above aren't working the two articles mentioned above are as follows: Taking on chemical giant Feb. 25, 2006. 01:00 AM CAMERON SMITH Alfalfa is the next battleground in the fight to control Canada's agricultural seeds, and so far, Monsanto Canada Inc. is winning. Already it has reached three key objectives. The first is that if farmers' crops are contaminated, through no fault of their own, with Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) strain, Monsanto will own all the GM plants in their crops. This principle was decided in a split 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court of Canada two years ago in the case brought by Monsanto against Percy Schmeiser of Saskatchewan. It creates a vexatious problem for organic farmers who need to separate GM from non-GM seeds to maintain their organic status. GM seeds look exactly like organic seeds, so even if farmers ask Monsanto to get its GM plants out of their fields, they can never be sure all are removed. They can never be sure their crop can be sold as organic. They have to live with uncertainty and, as with any business, that's bad news. Monsanto's second success came last May in a Saskatchewan court, where the judge in a class action application said Monsanto was not liable for damages if crops contaminated with one of its GM species no longer could be sold as organic. The decision is under appeal. The third success is that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) declared in July that Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa is safe for release into the environment. This leaves Monsanto with only one more approval to get from CFIA before its GM alfalfa seeds can be sold in Canada. The seeds will produce plants resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. The stakes in this battle are high. If Monsanto wins, it will profit from the sale of seeds and Roundup herbicide, and it will charge a fee of $15 an acre for the crop grown. On the other hand, if organic farmers are able to save GM-free seeds for replanting, there's no profit at all for Monsanto and minimal cost to the farmers. The card that Monsanto has up its sleeve is that if GM alfalfa is grown in Canada, it will assuredly contaminate organic alfalfa, just as canola has been contaminated. Canola is pollinated by wind, and Monsanto acknowledged in the class action application last May that canola contamination was both foreseeable and inevitable. Alfalfa is pollinated by bees that roam up to five kilometres from a farmer's field. So, cross-pollination from a GM field within bee-flight distance from an organic field is pretty well guaranteed. In addition, it's impossible to keep GM seeds from spreading. They get into hedgerows, and propagate from there. They're dropped by grain trucks and are disseminated by birds. Once in the wild, they'll move like any weed. Trish Jordan, spokesperson for Monsanto Canada, says that GM seeds are not a threat to organic growers because there will be minimum contamination — she calls it adventitious presence — and anyway, there is no such thing as varietal purity. In every crop grown, she says, there are minor levels of adventitious presence such as weeds, other species and chemical residues. The minor presence of GM alfalfa in an organic crop would be no different, she says. The crop could still be sold as organic, so organic farmers would not suffer. But is that good enough? Organic farmers say no. The CFIA says yes. And there is no labelling required in Canada to identify the presence of GM contamination in food, so consumers have no information base from which to respond. Next week: New rules for organics Url for Mr. Cameron Smith's recent columns: http://tinyurl.com/mzoq6
"There was a resounding negative response. For the time being corporations publicly moved back from the project. But behind the scenes academic, corporate and government laboratories connived to produce terminators with new and more potent capability. It seems clear that copious government funding is being squandered to promote the interests of rich corporations against the expressed will of the majority of people. The manner in which academe willingly and unquestioningly promotes research which acts against the rights of individual farmers should be brought to the attention of the public. The people must find a way to insure that that their governments act in their interests, not the interests of corporations. <http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2006/02/15/the_north_american_unionthe_metamorphosis_and_sabotage_of_canada_by_our_own_government.htm> As we proposed four years ago Terminators must be terminated!" This is a most important talk and clearly demonstrates how effectively the corporations have usurped our governments and hence our taxes. It clearly demonstrates how we are so easily manipulated. Pressure from the people only provides a temporary relief, and that only happens if they find out about the shenanigans taking place behind their backs in the first place. Then after a cool off period when most are thinking that the disaster has been prevented they they try again and it by chance fail again they simply wait and try again and so on. Monsanto is now, not surprisingly, breaking it's promise to create terminator seeds (which do not produce a 2nd crop and force farmers to purchase new seeds every year) again. Organic Consumers 2006 Feb 22 http://m1e.net/c?21703848-dXyiZrKLKdsAU%401469212-QP1mE5PTH15Ns Chris Gupta - http://tinyurl.com/hfbps *Forget any thought of local, sustainable organic farmer's markets, and cow sharing for raw dairy. Forget about listing all the ingredients on the label. Forget about producing foods that are free of MSG, GM foreign DNA and rogue proteins, modified corn starch, preservatives, dyes and aspartame. We can forget about Community Shared Agriculture. We can forget about raw live cultured foods like BioLacto sauerkraut from Quebec. Everything will come from the perchlorate-and-fertilizer-soaked and nutrient-depleted soils of the American southwest, irrigated with industrial waste fluoridated water and depleted uranium dust, and be genetically engineered and ultra high temperature pasteurized or irradiated, and NAFTA rules will probably be used to make Canadian food suppliers buy it preferentially. Oh, wait, we already have that now. Aliss Terminator Corporations' Suicide Seeds http://www.indsp.org/SWJoeCummins.php Joe Cummins http://www.oevca.ca/wineseeds/speakers.html#joe Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada Canada has become the world's leader in doing the wrong thing in the area of genetically modified (GM) food and feed. For example, Canada is the largest exporter of canola in the World. The Canadian government has promoted distribution and sale of GM canola and has encouraged open field testing of canola modified with pharmaceuticals such as the anticoagulant hirudin. There has been little effort to limit pollution of non-GM canola, and there is clear evidence that the canola of western Canada is extensively polluted with transgenes from GM crops [1]. The Canadian government has, in a sense, provided a welcome to GM pollution in order to promote the growth and distribution of GM crops. Nevertheless, corporations and their lackeys in the Canadian bureaucracy crave complete control of the seed and thus food and feed production. The government set up the Seed Sector Review advisory committee , which issued a report calling for changes to legislation to (a) collect royalties on farm-saved seeds, (b) compel farmers to buy officially certified seed, and (c) terminate the right of farmers to sell common seed. The report was financed by the Agriculture Ministry at a cost of nearly a million dollars to the Canadian taxpayers that essentially rubber-stamped the demands of multinational agricultural corporations [2]. In this way, the onerous licensing requirements of the biotechnology industry are to be extended to all seeds, imposing a form of serfdom on any remaining independent farmers. The development of „terminator‰ technology goes hand in hand with the corporate move to control use and production of seeds. Terminator technology is the use of genetic modification to produce seed that produce a crop with seed that is infertile (produces seeds that commit suicide when planted). In other words, terminator blocks viable seed production, production of pollen or ovule or production of flowers. The corporate gains complete control over production of seeds needed to produce food and feed. The first terminators were developed by the United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) and corporate interests, and that technology was patented jointly by the corporation and USDA. As in Canada, the regulator of GM crops also acts as an advocate and commercial developer of such crops (a clear conflict of interest). The first terminator patent was granted to USDA and The Delta and Pineland Corporation (later joined to Monsanto Corporation) in 1999. That patent provoked a flurry of opposition both on the basis of the fundamental right of farmers to save seed, and on the scientific ground that the genetic changes might harm those consuming the crops. In response to those concerns, Monsanto Corporation backed off from immediate production of terminator seeds. But in spite of that action a great deal of government sponsored research In US has focused on development of terminator technology to provide financial benefits for corporations. The government research granting agencies have been lavishly providing taxpayer funds to prestigious universities to develop new and more effective means of producing terminator crops that primarily benefit corporations and reduce independent farmers to serfdom. Beginning in 1999, The Institute of Science in Society in London, England has distributed a number of reports by Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and myself. In those reports we described the genetic technology of the original and later biotechnology inventions [3-7]. The basic design of the constructions has been to prevent reproductive tissue from developing in a way that allows the seed-producer to maintain fertile lines in order to produce commercial seeds that fails to produce pollen, or produce seeds that will not germinate. The genes used to produce such lines usually involve aborting reproductive cells with cell-suicide genes producing toxins such as barnase, a ribonuclease that digests cellular RNA, diptheria toxin or excess phytohormone production in the reproductive tissue. In some cases, anti-sense genes have been used to block reproductive cells from maturing. Anti-sense genes are complementary copies of the RNA gene messages governing reproductive cell maturation forming double stranded RNA that is recognized as an invading virus by the plant cell and destroyed. During the 1990s, a startling new discovery in plant molecular genetics led to the identification of homeotic genes that govern the pathways leading to cell differentiation. These proteins recognize short stretches of DNA called MADS-boxes, regions controlling transcription of the genes involved in formation of reproductive tissue, leaves, roots branches, etc. that govern plant development [9]. That discovery has led to a flood of inventions employing the MADS-boxes transcription factors to control flowering and gamete production as terminators in trees and in crops. Steven Strauss of the US Forest Service in Oregon has been field-testing poplar trees modified with cell suicide genes to eliminate flowering and plans to extend that system to shade trees. Finish researchers at Sopanen University are developing sterile silver birch [10]. Along with the cell suicide toxins and their impact on animal life, the sterile trees must be propagated asexually and thus lack genetic diversity rendering them sensitive to attack by emerging pathogens and without a reservoir of diversity to mitigate the attack of the novel pathogen. A flood of patent applications has begun to appear for control of flowering or sexual development in both evergreen trees and crop plants [11]. I have described an armamentarium of evolving ways to produce terminator trees and crops. The current array of genetic tools has been added to a large array of genetic tools for sterilizing or castrating crops and trees to protect corporate control and profits. When the first proposals to develop terminator plants were put forward, response from independent farmers and the public was strong and vocal. There was a resounding negative response. For the time being corporations publicly moved back from the project. But behind the scenes academic, corporate and government laboratories connived to produce terminators with new and more potent capability. It seems clear that copious government funding is being squandered to promote the interests of rich corporations against the expressed will of the majority of people. The manner in which academe willingly and unquestioningly promotes research which acts against the rights of individual farmers should be brought to the attention of the public. The people must find a way to insure that that their governments act in their interests, not the interests of corporations. As we proposed four years ago Terminators must be terminated! References Cummins J. Transgenic contamination of seed certified seed stock Science in Society 2003, 19, 48. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php Agriculture andAgri-Food Canada The report of the seed sector advisory committee 2004 http://www.seedsectorreview.com Ho MW and Cummins J. Chronicle of an Ecological Disaster Foretold . ISIS Report, 20 February 2003 ; also Science in Society 2003, Spring, 18 , 26-27. Ho MW. Terminator technologies in new guises. ISIS News 3 , December 1999, ISSN: 1474-1547 (print), ISSN: 1474-1814 (online) Cummins J. Terminator gene product alert. ISIS News 6 , September 2000, ISSN: 1474-1547 (print), ISSN: 1474-1814 (online) Ho MW, Cummins J and Bartlett J. Killing fields near you. Terminator crops at large. ISIS News 7/8 , February 2001, ISSN: 1474-1547 (print), ISSN: 1474-1814 (online) Ho MW and Cummins J. Terminator patents decoded. ISIS News 11/12 , October 2001, ISSN: 1474-1547 (print), ISSN: 1474-1814 (online) Cummins J and Ho MW. New terminator crops coming Science in Society 2003, 19, 48. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php Cummins J. View from MADS house. Science in Society 2005, 26, 22. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php Cummins J and Ho MW. Terminator Trees Science in Society 2005, 26, 16-18. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php Cummins J. Lurking terminators 2005 in preparation Lecture presented at "Sustainable World International Conference", 14-15 July 2005 http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/cgi-bin/ http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SWCFA.php London and at "An Evening of Wine and Seeds", February 23, 2006 http://www.oevca.ca/wineseeds/index.html Walk in Peace in the warmth of Grandfather Sun's Smile. Sharon "Touch the Earth Listen to the Rocks They Remember . . . " If you have any comments or would like to contact me: birzz@yahoo.com

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February 27,2006 - Does Anyone Listen?

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February 27,2006 - Does Anyone Listen?

Feb.20 - Mother of Willendorf <---- Diary Home Page ----> Mar.1st Memories via Mussels

Feb.20 - Mother of Willendorf <---- Diary
Home Page
----> Mar.1st Memories via Mussels