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the future of food and farms?
- To: "Karen" <oldlace@sover.net>, "Phillip Augusta" <phillip@nh.ultranet.com>, "Bill Benton" <bbbenton@juno.com>, "Terry's Berries" <terryann@nwrain.com>, "Gregg Biggs" <GBiggs7775@aol.com>, "Dierdre M. Birmingham" <deirdreb@mindspring.com>, "Beverly Bishop" <bbishop@together.net>, "Bill Blake" <whblake@ix.netcom.com>, "Royal Blue Organics" <CAFEMAM@aol.com>, "Marty Bourque" <martinazo@igc.apc.org>, "Ron Chilcote" <ChilcoteR@aol.com>, "Dr. Dieter-M. Hoermann" <hoermann@ifgb.uni-hannover.de>, "Warren E. Clark" <ag-pr@agpr.com>, "John Fisher" <johnfish@cats.ucsc.edu>, "Rob Flory" <104117.3104@compuserve.com>, "Northeast Food Systems" <NEFOOD-L@SARDONYX.TUFTS.EDU>, "David Hammond" <dhammond@nature.berkeley.edu>, "Carla Marcelis" <carla@web.net>, "Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin" <rhaslettmarroquin@iatp.org>, "CSA member list" <csa-l@prairienet.org>, "Sara Moussavi" <s_moussavi@yahoo.com>, "Joanna Pearsall" <eartheal@wave.co.nz>, "Tom Peterson" <thomasp@iastate.edu>, "Ignacio Porzecanski-Kohen" <porzes@netgate.com.uy>, "Richard Roth" <rfarm@jps.net>, "Dennis Sauer" <samal@together.net>, "Bob Scowcroft et al" <research@ofrf.org>, "Tory Shade" <shadev@ext.missouri.edu>, "Rafael Solorzano" <altertec@guate.net>, "Zea Sonnebend" <Zea@well.com>, "Weyland Southon" <csawest@caff.org>, "Community Supported Agriculture" <xx206@prairienet.org>, "Paul Vidrine" <ghfpacon@adamswells.com>, "Carl W. Eidsness" <eidsness@sol.racsa.co.cr>, "Charlie Walkinshaw" <experintl@igc.org>, "Thomas Wittman" <TWittman@aol.com>, "Jil Zilligen" <jil_zilligen@patagonia.com>, "Matt Zimmerman" <mzimmerman9@hotmail.com>, "Vilija Guzyte/GAJA" <ekoimpulsas@post.sonexco.com>, "Matthew Hayes/Godollo" <matthew@nt.ktg.gau.hu>, "Arava Institute c/o N. Gressel" <noamgres@netvision.net.il>, "Christian Kerveadou/SESAME" <sesa@club-internet.fr>, "AHDEJUMUR c/o Raquel" <raquel@sdnhon.org.hn>, "Ramiro Velastegui" <fundagro@uio.telconet.net>, "KIOF c/o John Njoroge" <kiof@iconnect.co.ke>, "GRAN c/o C. Lopez" <gran@codetel.net.do>, "Dynamic Market" <jordan@plovdivnet.net>
- Subject: the future of food and farms?
- From: mesa <mesa@hooked.net>
- Date: Mon, 14 Dec 98 11:53:41 -0700
- Sender: owner-csa-l@prairienet.org
>I usually don't pass this stuff on, but this is well done and the
>issue is important.
>
>>>
>>> This is an urgent call to action to prevent possible disasters
>>> of unimaginable magnitude. The USDA is considering licensing
>>> Monsanto's technology to make seeds fertile for one generation
>>> only, which would mean that farmers would have to buy seed every
>>> year, putting them at the mercy of fluctuating market conditions,
>>> and possible communication and distribution problems. This could
>>> be especially disastrous in developing countries, where social
>>> unrest could interfere with receipt of American seed.
>>> There is also the probability that these genetically manipulated
>>> organisms will cross-pollinate with "wild" plants to inhibit seed
>>> production in naturally occurring species as well, which could
>>> create an ecological disaster. There is an urgent international
>>> email campaign on by RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation
>>> International) at:
>>>
>>> http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
>>>
>>> to stop the USDA from negotiating with Monsanto to license the
>>> Terminator technology. This feature of genetic manipulation
>>> sterilizes seeds from harvests so that farmers are forced to
>>> go back to the commercial seed market to purchase seeds for
>>> the next season. Traditionally farmers keep their seeds for
>>> the next season's planting. This is especially true in third
>>> world countries. And guess what? Monsanto has targeted
>>> developing countries as their main market...talk about
>>> strangleholds on the poor, much less the global food market.
>>>
>>> The campaign is fully automated, so one can send a letter to
>>> different senators and USDA officials with just a click of
>>> the mouse - you don't have to write anything. It also doesn't
>>> matter what country one is from. The negotiations are
>>> underway now and will be finalizing these coming weeks.
>>>
>>> Please take a few minutes to go into the RAFI web site
>>> http://www.rafi.org/usda.html and send a protest letter;
>>> or for maximum effectiveness, take a few more minutes
>>> and handwrite a few points and mail your letter to:
>>>
>>> The Honorable Dan Glickman
>>> Secretary of Agriculture
>>> 200-A Whitten Bldg.
>>> 1400 Independence Ave., SW
>>> Washington DC 20250
>>> USA
>>>
>>> Please pass on this information to all your friends,
>>> favorite news groups etc., and any international
>>> connections you may have. We were successful in
>>> saving Organic Standards (at least for the moment)
>>> in the U.S. with a similar letter-writing campaign,
>>> and this issue has even further-reaching consequences.
>
***********
Lauren E. Augusta, Executive Director
Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA)
5337 College Ave., #508, Oakland, CA 94618
Tel: 510-654-8858/ Fax: 510-843-6280
http://www.wenet.net/~mesa/
"Promoting sustainable farming communities around the world through
farmer-to-farmer exchange"