|
DEDICATED TO FREE THOUGHT AND FREE SPEECH IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Myth: the UC ag extension staff will give me objective information regarding the benefits and safety of GMO plants and seeds.
FACT: California's UC system has taken nearly a billion dollars from the bio-tech industry in the last few years, UC ag department's are now dependent on the bio-tech industry's money and have become some of their biggest supporters because their paychecks depend on it. There is no distinction between the research departments of private industry and the UC system, and neither is an objective source of information on the subject of GMOs.
Myth: The local Farm Bureau represents the sentiments of local growers on the GMO issue.
FACT: All local Farm Bureau chapters have to follow the state Farm Bureau's policy on GMOs or risk having their charters revoked. This happened recently in the Central Valley when farmers began to object to the introduction of GMO'd pharmaceutical rice and were told to shut up or lose their local Farm Bureau. The state Farm Bureau is run BY big agri-business FOR big agri-business, what local growers think is not reflected by the local Farm Bureau's stated policy on GMOs. Also, the few Farm Bureau members that have shared their views with the local chapter have been bombarded with a one-sided barrage of bio-tech industry propaganda, and even former Farm Bureau directors are in favor of a GMO ban for Lake County.
Myth: GMO crops will result in less pesticide use.
FACT: Many GMO crops are designed to be soaked in herbicides, which dramatically increases the use of those types of chemicals, and if the bio-tech industry really wanted farmers to use less pesticides they would do more to promote organic agriculture, which is well-suited to the three main crops grown in Lake County. The goal of the bio-tech industry is to make growers more dependant on them, not less.
Myth: GMO crops will help to end world hunger and starvation.
FACT: for the last three decades the farmers of the world have produced enough food to feed everyone, but lack of political will has kept the food from getting to the people who need it. GMO'd "terminator" seeds will make even the poorest farmer totally dependent on the bio-tech industry, since the age-old practice of seed saving will no longer work with "terminator" seeds.
Myth: The general public doesn't really care about the issue.
FACT: Every major fast-food chain in America has refused to use GMO products in their restaurants due to public concerns, and even the GMO industry doesn't like to use the term "GMO", since millions of dollars of marketing research has shown that it turns-off consumers in a hurry. In the recent GMO debate in Mendocino the bio-tech industry never used the term "GMO" in their failed million-dollar campaign against measure "H", and never addressed the safety concerns of their products.
# 01101 hits since July 19 2006