Seeds of Change...

Post #191,961 by dmcarls 1/27/05 12:26:57 PM Reply	Seeds of Change... [link\|http://www.organicconsumers.org/patent/iraq111704.cfm\|http://www.organicco...nt/iraq111704.cfm] ..."Iraq has the potential to feed itself. But instead of developing this capacity, the U.S. has shaped the future of Iraq's food and farming to serve the interests of US corporations." I know, I posted something like this some time ago, but here's a new link about seeds: [link\|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4209571.stm\|http://news.bbc.co.u...cific/4209571.stm] "Two Japanese manufacturers, toy makers Tomy and Takara, have both produced bean plants which sprout to reveal a special message. " A new medium for advertising! Imagine....
Post #191,962 by Arkadiy 1/27/05 12:31:46 PM Reply	Errr... If you buy seed from commercial provider, you cannot keep some of the harvest for use as seed the next year. You don't like it? Don't buy from commercial provider, stick with homegrown seed. I do not see where homegrown seed is being made illegal. What's wrong with that? -- - I was involuntarily self-promoted into management. [link\|http://kerneltrap.org/node/4484\|Richard Stallman]
Post #191,963 by broomberg 1/27/05 12:41:32 PM Reply	Can't do it. The pollen from your neighbor's field infects yours. You go to sell your crop, it gets tested, and then it "proves" you replanted or stole the seeds. Your crop is confiscated, you get fined, and possibly jailed. Once the law is in place, and a few crops planted, it will inevitably spread across the region.
Post #191,970 by jake123 1/27/05 1:21:18 PM Reply	This is 100% true there was a court case on just that a year or so back up here. The farmer (who previously had been an organic farmer) lost. He went broke. You can't do it, because the nature of patents mean it doesn't matter how that genetic material got into your crop; if it's there you have to pay, and buying the seed is not the only way for it to get there. It can also get there by blowing in from other fields (this was provent to the courts' satisfaction in the case up here). It underlines the absolute stupidity of patenting life forms. Life forms are not like other inventions, because they act, as well as being acted upon. They are agents. --\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca \n [link\|http://consultron.ca\|http://consultron.ca] [link\|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca\|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] \n Kingston Ontario Canada [link\|news://news.consultron.ca\|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
Post #191,974 by hnick 1/27/05 1:38:04 PM Reply	I rember discussion about that at the time... What I still don't understand is why the farmers who had their crops cross-pollinated by the bio-engineered plants can't sue for destruction of their property. Since they can't, I don't see what is keeping the agro-corps from loading a cropduster with seed and contaminating all non-engineered crops in a given area, and coming back if a couple months to collect from the victims. The only thing anybody would be able to prove is that there were engineered plants in the fields. This all seems incredibly stupid, and therefore very credible...
Post #192,019 by jake123 1/27/05 5:24:16 PM Reply	The Supreme Court up here said in the way that courts often do (ie- very indirectly) that the laws and regulations in question were not unconstitutional, but perhaps should be revisited by parliament. Needless to say, this has not happened yet. Of course, if they were, it's almost certain that new law to cover this would run afoul of WIPO. --\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca \n [link\|http://consultron.ca\|http://consultron.ca] [link\|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca\|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] \n Kingston Ontario Canada [link\|news://news.consultron.ca\|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------

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